(GK: Garrison Keillor; SS: Sue Scott; TR: Tim Russell; TK: Tom Keith)

GK: ----after a message from the Catchup Advisory Board. (MUSIC)

SS: Jim?

TR: Yeah?

SS: Are you listening?

TR: Right.

SS: Do you ever think about what a thrill it'd be to run the marathon next year?

TR: No, I don't.

SS: I want to run the marathon, Jim.

TR: Barb, you say this every fall, right after the marathon.

SS: You don't think I could do it, do you?

TR: I'm just remembering how tired you were after going to the Fall White Sale at the factory outlet yesterday. You came home with three sets of percale sheets and went straight to bed.

SS: That's different. I need a challenge, Jim. We don't challenge ourselves. We need new goals, a world to conquer. Something.

TR: I don't know. I'm facing the challenge of how to change the melody on my cell phone. I'm starting to really hate the 1812 Overture.

SS: I mean a big challenge, Jim.

TR: Life itself is the challenge, Barb. And you need to grab it by the neck; the neck of a ketchup bottle.

SS: Oh, Jim--

TR: Ketchup has natural mellowing agents that put you on top of the world without your having to go to Nepal.

RD: Sun in the morning, shining through the trees,
The cosmic vibrations of natural harmonies
Flowing, like ketchup on the cottage cheese.

GK: Ketchup-- for the good times.

RD: Ketchup-- ketchup--

© Garrison Keillor 2002