May 12
14
Hi there,
It’s me Mophe.
Wow – what a great day! I’ve clowned around before — dressed up and road my unicycle — but I’ve never been a mime. It adds a whole new dimension to clowning.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. On the way to the parade a car zooming passed me on the highway. All of a sudden it slowed down right next to me. The two ladies in the car laughed hysterically at the clown driving a car.
Before the parade started I had a great time with the people waiting to be in the parade. Several asked if they could ride my unicycle but I declined. Some had pictures taken with me. I gave a real show to a group of majorettes — the old “acting like I can’t ride a unicycle”. It was a blast. They were encouraging me to keep trying until I succeeded. There was also a group of leprechauns trying to pelt me with bouncy balls. Be nice guys!
The best time was with a couple of girls who around 10 and 12 years old. The older one did all the talking and she was amazed that I did not speak a word. She said she could never do it. Later they came back with their Mom and other young ladies. They were all trying to get me to talk. It was a riot. They thought they had me when they asked my name, but I didn’t speak. I spelled out “MOPHE” on my shirt but that didn’t completely work. They called me “mop”, “mop head”, “Moephee”, Maaph”, and many other things until their Mom got it right — Mophe (it rhymes with loaf).
Pretty soon the parade started and I followed a row of Cooper cars. I was going from one side of the street to the other giving “high fives”. One guy said he wanted me to teach him how to ride. I took a spill on purpose and looked back at him. He said, “maybe not!” Further down the street I walked a little way and then acted like I didn’t know how to ride the unicycle. I got to the point where I was riding erratically and all of a sudden a guy ran on to the street saying, “I’ll save him”. I cut to the right and left again and just missed him. Whew! With all the playing around, I fell behind the Coopers by at least a half block, so I sprinted to catch up. To those of you watching the parade during the sprint, I’m sorry you didn’t get to see much of the performance. Next time I’ll keep my own pace. Everyone really enjoyed the clown with the blue hair and striped socks on the unicycle and got many pictures. If you find your way to my website, please send me a couple of your pix.
I really had a great time in Memphis and hope to return there someday.
