But I really *do* have a 'So then she said, "That's not my arm" story (see Yavin's write-up under So then she said...) --- and though it's been almost a year since it happened, this is the first time I'm telling it.

My then-boyfriend and I had been good friends in high school and hooked up just a couple of days before we left for separate colleges (out of desperation, but that's another story). After that, we met up at each of our colleges once so the other could have a look around, then rode home together. Although I had been home every weekend, his college was much further away than mine, and the new separation was really getting to his family, so when we got into town at about ten o'clock at night, he was eager to greet his parents.

His father was outside smoking when we got there, but his mother was in bed. Part of an affectionate family, he bounded down the hall into the dark room and bounced down on the bed next to her to hug her. They exchanged I-love-yous and I-missed-yous while I lingered outside the doorway, then she asked a strange question.

"Where is your hand?"

"Well, I'm kind-of laying on it, it's hard to hug you when you're laying down," he explained.

"No," she said, "your other hand."

"On your arm."

So, then she said, "That's not my arm."

When the realization hit him, he popped straight up in the air and went into convulsive shudders of revulsion. His mother thought it was funny as hell and burst into uncontrollable laughter.

Of course, his father had to come see what the commotion was about, and he also thought it was hilarious. As we fled the scene, his mother made kissing noises at him.

I think the funniest part was that he was honestly so horrified by the incident, while the rest of us thought the only importance in it was providing a laugh.