THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 30, 1994 TAG: 9410280234
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Long : 139 lines
A science teacher gets into an argument with a female student. After a couple of minutes, he sighs. ``OK, you're absolutely right. Here's a tip, guys,'' he announces to his male students.
``Every time you get into an argument with a woman, just tell her she's right. Otherwise,'' he concludes grimly, ``you'll never win.''
- Latrisse Goffigan THURSDAY, OCT. 20 10 a.m. - Laskin Road.
The woman behind the service desk at the Infiniti car dealership is on the phone.
``Yes, a dinosaur. A big one. That's right. And if you could put blood on some of the teeth, that'd be great. And some palm trees, you know, like a jungle scene,'' she nods, the receiver at her ear. ``Casey. It should say happy birthday Casey.''
A customer waiting to drop off her car listens to the cake order and laughs.
``I've got a 6-year-old, too. I can identify,'' she says, chuckling.
- Krys Stefansky 10:30 a.m. - Princess Anne Produce on London Bridge Road.
Hundreds of pre-school and schoolchildren run out of control through the pumpkin patch.
Little fingers poke through wire cages where ponies, pigs and a bull are displayed despite warnings from teachers that the animals may bite.
Head counts are made every few minutes. Stragglers are corralled like animals.
So, it's easy to understand one teacher's reaction to an enormous device that looks like a giant mouse trap placed where the children gather to take hay rides.
It reads ``Stay in Line. Kid Trap.''
The pre-school teacher turns to her colleague, smirks and nods, ``Uh huh.''
- Debbie Messina FRIDAY, OCT. 21 4 p.m. - Owls Creek Pet Hotel.
A woman has booked her dog to board at the kennel for the wrong days. She is apologizing for getting confused to the employee behind the desk.
``I'm so sorry,'' she says. ``It gets kind of zoo-y around my house sometimes.''
``Oh, we understand,'' says the employee good-naturedly. ``It's like a zoo all the time around here!''
- Mary Reid Barrow 7:15 p.m. - Standard Discount, Lynnhaven Mall.
A school-aged girl wanders the aisles of the drug store with her older cousin, checking out the various holiday displays.
After walking down an aisle covered with Christmas merchandise, she looks to her older and wiser cousin and asks, ``Why do they have Christmas stuff out already? It's not even Halloween.''
The cousin smiles, pats the young one's head and gives her best answer: ``I'm nearly 20 and I don't have an answer for that one.''
- Holly Wester SATURDAY, OCT. 22 11:30 p.m. - An Oceanfront bar.
A young man wearing a baseball cap and T-shirt approaches the bar and waves down one of the four bartenders on duty. He asks for his tab and begins fishing for money from the pockets of his baggy jeans.
``Wow,'' he says to the woman next to him, after reviewing the price of his check. ``These guys always look out for me. I have the best bar tabs!''
Excited by his ``bargain'' tab, he finds a $50 bill and a $20 bill, hands them to the bartender and leaves with a smile.
- Holly Wester TUESDAY, OCT. 26 12:45 p.m. - PJ Baggan on Laskin Road.
A young woman enters the coffee house carrying a chubby baby. He's adorable, with huge sky-blue eyes, white blond hair and a sweet smile. Two women waiting to order become smitten with the infant and they coo and smile at him.
``He is just beautiful,'' one of the women says to the beaming mom. ``He looks like a happy baby - is he?''
``Oh, he's wonderful,'' Mom answers. ``He has his moments but he has been a joy.''
``Have you ever thought of putting him in showbiz or something?'' the woman asks. ``Seriously, he
looks like he could be the Gerber baby.''
The mother laughs heartily and smiles.
``You know, everyone tells me that,'' she says. ``Maybe I should look into it.''
- Pam Starr 7:30 p.m. - North End feeder road.
As the moving shadow of a jogger comes into view, a young black cat crouches down behind a bush adjacent to the road. Out the cat comes, springing high with hair standing on end, ready to pounce on the shadow.
In the instant it takes to make the leap, however, the cat discovers he's almost captured a real jogger instead.
The startled jogger does a quick side step and just misses getting his feet all tangled up with the animal. The equally startled cat darts back to the safety of its bush.
``You don't know how that scared me,'' says the relieved man as he runs on down the road.
- Mary Reid Barrow WEDNESDAY, OCT. 26 7 p.m. - A conference room at The Airport Hilton.
A group of 600 or so people, mostly women, are listening to journalist Linda Ellerbee recount her battle with breast cancer.
After Ellerbee finishes her story, the group is invited to offer testimonials of their own experiences or thoughts.
One of the last women to raise a hand to speak is young.
She stands and offers a warning to women who aren't commonly known to develop breast cancer - those under age 35.
``I'm 29 years old. I had a mastectomy five months ago. At the time I was six months pregnant,'' she tells the shocked group, as tears course down her face. ``And the reason I'm standing up here is to let you know that younger women are developing breast cancer, too. And we need to make them aware.''
Ellerbee answers, ``By standing up, you already have.''
- Patty Jenkins ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
The globe in orange
We already knew that pumpkins had a lot of useful purposes - from
pies to jack-o'-lanterns, but Debbielou Hague found a new
educational use. The world geography teacher at First Colonial High
School suggested a neat seasonal idea for her students. She asked
them to carve pumpkins with features of the world. Some carved, some
drew the continents. Ninth-graders Nathaniel Williams, Nathan Porter
and Jeffrey Chapman came up with three of the more imaginative
approaches.
by CNB