JEST FOR FUN

A Michigan woman and her family were vacationing in a small
New England town where Paul Newman and his family often
visited. One Sunday morning, the woman got up early to take
a long walk. After a brisk five-mile hike, she decided to treat
herself to a double-dip chocolate ice cream cone. She hopped
in the car, drove to the center of the village, and went straight
to the combination bakery/ice cream parlor.

There was only one other patron in the store: Paul Newman,
sitting at the counter having a doughnut and coffee. The woman's
heart skipped a beat as her eyes made contact with those
famous baby-blue eyes. The actor nodded graciously and the
star-struck woman smiled demurely.

"Pull yourself together!" she chided herself silently. "You're a happily
married woman with three children, you're forty-five years old,
not a teenager!"

The clerk filled her order and she took the double-dip chocolate
ice cream cone in one hand and her change in the other. Then
she went out the door, avoiding even a glance in Paul Newman's
direction.

When she reached her car, she realized that she had a handful
of change but her other hand was empty. Where's my ice cream
cone? Did I leave it in the store? Back into the shop she went,
expecting to see the cone still in the clerk's hand or in a holder
on the counter or something! No ice cream cone was in sight.

With that, she happened to look over at Paul Newman. His face
broke into his familiar, warm, friendly grin and he said to the
woman, "You put it in your purse."