Friday, January 01, 2010

Laughing to Death

Another time right before a show, we were eating with the youth pastor and his wife. We had done a show at his church the year before. When we were finished with that show, everyone quickly left the building. In fact, when it came time to leave, we were the only ones left in the church. We wondered if we should lock up as we left.

Here we were, with menus in hand, talking with the same guy who had brought us in the previous year. He asked if we thought that it was strange how everyone left us there the last time we were there. We fibbed and said, “No!”

He then proceeded to tell us that his mom died that night. We asked if she had been sick. He said that no, she was one of the ladies setting up chairs before it began. She got to laughing so hard during the show that she had a heart attack. She slipped out of the church and called “911.” Then, she died on the way to the hospital.

Obviously, the guy was still in shock, because he was telling this story like he was talking about the weather. Then, his wife must have realized by the looks on our faces that her husband had basically just told us that we’d killed his mom, so she tried to smooth it over.

She said that his mom was a great Christian, and in a way, she seemed ready to go be with the Lord. The dinner conversation that night had just taken a huge turn! We spent the rest of the meal trying to change the subject. Obviously, the couple was not upset with us at all, because they brought us back the next year!

That night, you better believe that I was checking people at the door. I was looking to see if everyone looked in good health. We thought about putting a disclosure on our contract. “Excessive laughter may occur. Beware!”

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