Signing books at Barnes & Noble in ABQ, an elderly woman approached me and told me how fantastic I looked. She was amazed by all my accomplishments and couldn't wait to read my latest work. When I thanked her, she told me that I had lost my accent. I didn't know I had an accent, but smiled. She wondered if I was still devastated by the death of Dudley Moore.
"Dudley Moore?" I asked. "The short guy in the movie with Bo Derek?"
"Wasn't he your best friend?"
I had seen the film, and had a crush on the aforementioned Ms. Derek, but the passing of Dudley Moore did not affect me that much. "Are you confusing me with someone else?"
"Aren't you Jonathan Miller from Beyond the Fringe?"
I had lived in Roswell, but I was puzzled for a moment until I realized that she was confusing me with Jonathan Wolfe Miller, a British knight, physician, opera buff and the co-founder of a comedy troupe called "Beyond the Fringe" with the late Dudley Moore. Jonathan Miller has written medical and opera books. He has lived in Santa Fe.
I have a popular name. Take a minute and google Jonathan Miller. In addition to the British Knight from Beyond the Fringe, there was a President of AOL. He also wrote a book. There is another Jonathan Miller who writes darkly comic legal thrillers, whose book is placed next to mine.
The woman was looking at my book, and seemed torn. "It doesn't look like your usual stuff," she said.
She read a few pages and actually laughed out loud. She handed me a book for my signature. "I'll take one copy and one copy for my friend."
"Thank you so much," I said. "And thank you on behalf of Dudley."
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