THREE...Who in the world is Bunky LeCompte anyway?

So before I go traipsing off to Dallas, I guess I should explain a little about Bunky. Born Elizabeth Anne Edwards, the oldest daughter of Clinton and Maxine Edwards, I have been called Bunky since birth. That had a great deal to do with the fact that Clint and Max lost their precious "Bunkybird" the week before I was born. Bunkybird was a schizophrenic parakeet who went everywhere on Clint's shoulder... work, barrooms, church (occasionally), sporting events, shopping. And it was at a Tulane-Alabama baseball game that Bunkybird decided to make his/her run for it, never to be seen again. So, yes, for lack of a better story, I was named for a parakeet. How romantic. Anyway, Bunky I became (and praise God it was shortened or Bunkybird I would be today).

I married Pierre LeCompte, a coonass from Crowley, a year after graduation from LSU. His mama still calls him Pierre, but most everyone except our banker calls him Pete. It fits him well...very nice guy, a bit anal most of the time, but friendly and nice and usually a little more upright than uptight. Straight, but not too straight. Funny, having actually been voted Most Humorous in his senior class at Crowley High School. And very much fun, but only when it's completely appropriate to be so. Oh, and did I say he was always a very good sport?

Pete and I met on a blind date set up by Max's hairdresser, Crazy Sheila, shortly after I came home after finishing college. Max was a Neonatal Nurse in the hoppingest maternity hospital in the south, and Crazy Sheila did the hair of all the nurses from Labor & Delivery, the Newborn Nursery and NICU. My Mama had not only worked her way into the top 100 nurses in the South, but also into the prestigious 3:30 p.m. Friday appointment with Sheila. I had been home from college for a few weeks now, working downtown, and dating all my old high school flames. I was living with my folks and looking for a cheap, safe apartment, but they weren't very happy with the company I was currently keeping (more on that later). I can see Max in Shirley's chair now and hear the conversation:

Sheila: Isn't Bunky home from LSU for the summer?

Max: She's home for good...finished school on her birthday last month, and started a job the next day. Great to have her home, but she's dating that Cal guy again, and she thinks Clint & I don't know it.

Sheila: So does she think y'all are stupid? Hey! Pammy's fiance has a friend who just got home from Viet Nam. A cajun boy from Lafayette or somewhere. Maybe they could fix her up with him. I hear he's pretty cute.

Well, Mama came home that afternoon, and told me that Crazy Sheila wanted to fix me up with some Pete guy who had just gotten out of the Navy. Wow! That's exactly what I had in mind...going out with a perfect stranger, right out of Nam, who I'd never met, but was a friend of my mother's hairdresser's daughter's fiance! Great qualifications, yes???

I found excuses on the next 2 Fridays, but when I realized they wouldn't let up until I succumbed, I finally agreed to meet Pammy, her fiance, and their veteran sidekick at a bar in Fat City the night of Pammy's birthday.