THREE STRIKES AND YOU'RE OUT!

It had been 9 months since I'd seen my cardiologist and I sat facing him as he perused my records behind his desk. He glanced up, smiled and asked, "So how have you been? What's new?" and then helped answer his own question by saying, "Older (strike one!) and wider (strike two!)" referring to me obviously. I looked down at my blouse and thought, "Well, I guess the boat neck and puffed sleeves might make me look a bit wider although I've gotten complements on this." I laughed and agreed (!) with him. Not about to let that get the best of me, I talked on and all of a sudden I heard him repeat to himself a word I had just spoken and realized he was smiling and imitating my accent (strike three!). That started me off on an explanation of how, if one wants to speak a foreign language without an accent, one must learn that language by the age of 16 or at the most 18. All of a sudden he was serioius, "No, you speak Portuguese very well." Well, Okay, Doctor, I thought I'd struck out.