You got a reaction, didn't you?

An awkward moment in my life:

On Sunday afternoon, I was at Pizza Inn, "working." I had nothing to do, so I was watching television: an old episode of Family Feud, courtesy of the Game Show Network. Richard Dawson was hosting in all his 1970s glory, and the screen was awash with open collars and bell-bottomed pants.

Hopefully, you remember how Family Feud works, but if not, it's pretty simple. A family is given a survey question the producers of the show gave to 100 people. (As a kid, I often wondered if it was the same 100 people for every question, and if so, did they get credit as being a writer for the show?) The contestants must try to guess the most popular answers. Truly inane, yes, but mildly entertaining.

The question this time was "Name a fictional character with a beard."

Obviously, someone leaps all over the number one answer, Santa Claus. The next few answers go by pretty quickly: Bluebeard, Rip Van Winkle. But the family gets stuck on the last one -- nobody can get it.

A few customers in the store start lobbing out answers. I come up with several, in my head, but none would be an appopriate answer for a 70s game show -- Hagrid, for instance, did not exist yet.

I was coming up with answers, yes, in my head, when, for no reason I can discern, I blurt aloud, "God!"

They gave me funny looks. I wandered back to the kitchen.

Never did see what that last answer was. Even money says it wasn't God.

(And lyrics by the White Stripes make great post titles. "You think not telling is the same as not lying, don't you?" (from "Red Rain") is just begging to be used for a rant about Bush, isn't it? As is "I said it once before, but it bears repeating now.")