At a certain point, Macy began describing the physical aspects of his role, and the many gestures and facial expressions he had developed for his character. All of a sudden, I found myself in Austria - in a restaurant in Vienna, transported back to those tender years where I sat laughing like nothing could ever make me feel sad, where I was young and eager and full of crazy inexperience (I thought happiness was always at arm's length), and where a giant living oyster was seated before me, leaning down and gobbling up his schnitzel.

I stood up blindly and started wiping the ash from around my eyes. When I opened them, I saw Nike staring at me from across the room. He had the most dumbfounded expression I have ever seen. And there we stood for a long moment: a very long moment. "Turn around," I said, and he obeyed; but, as I slowly and steadily reached for my skirt, he began to laugh - and he kept laughing. "What's so funny?" I said. "Haven't you ever seen a naked girl in blackface before?" But he couldn't control himself. He just kept laughing and laughing. When I finished dressing and came up to him with the most serious demeanor I could muster, he still couldn't stop laughing. "Never speak of this to anyone," I said. "Understood?" But he was still laughing it up. There was only one thing on his mind: "Whatever were you doing, Jo? My God!"

As charming as it must seem now, I have to confess I was not in the best mood to accommodate Macy's excitement over having recognized me. Truth be told, I could hardly remember in what context we had met on campus, and his efforts to describe this or that party were not proving fruitful. But of course he was handsome, and exceedingly charming. In fact, I made a remark to my companion some time later that week, complimenting Macy's amazing control over his own face, and after I explained to her that I meant his ability to draw on a multitude of expressions, each very appropriate, and sometimes quite telling for a given circumstance, she had to agree completely.