Getting the Giggles

Getting the Giggles

by Nancy Martin    

My dear Aunt Nancy fell into quicksand and nearly died . . . laughing.

She recently told me her story because I've been thinking about the concept of stickiness---my new book, STICKY FINGERS, was released yesterday!  Buy it here!  Or anywhere!--and I've been figuring various ways to use "sticky" to sell the book to anyone who'll stand still long enough to listen to my pitch.

Anyway, what happened is this:  Aunt Nancy--who was a young, single traveller of the world with her many girlfriends--(they drove up to the front door of the Vatican in her VW bug, left it there and went inside to look around) found herself in Mexico with no, uh, necessary facilities, so she stopped the car (yes, another VW bug) and wandered off to find a private spot to take care of bizness.  In a sylvan glade, she stepped onto a nice, smooth-looking patch of ground which immediately swallowed her whole leg. Naturally, she lost her balance and fell headlong into quicksand.  It was definitely sticky--very liquid and goopy, and she couldn't get out.  She flailed around and finally got the giggles.

Now, this story would be a lot funnier if you could see Aunt Nancy, so let me do my best to describe her:  She is a Very Buoyant Person.  Does that give you the mental picture of a large, apple-cheeked, curly-haired lady who used Nice n Easy Lucille Ball Red #3, bobbing like a cork in a picturesque pool of green slime? That was her--large and laughing while her girlfriends howled with hilarity at her predicament.

Now, we all have stories about inappropriate laughter.  (Mine:  At the moment the funeral director ushered my family into the presence of my grandmother's coffin, his stomach let out the loudest, gurgling growl I have ever heard, and my sister and I went into hysterical laughter. I thought my father was going to strangle us.)  I want to hear your stories today. So, tell, tell.

In the quicksand, Aunt Nancy laughed and laughed until she was totally exhausted, whereupon she floated on top of the quicksand.  Her friends managed to grab her foot and drag her out, and she was fine.  Saved by laughter. The mental picture of Nancy and her three equally large friends climbing back into the VW---well, I can't help thinking the green slime was a good lubricant.

Here's a video of some newscasters who lost their self-control.  Watch it without laughing. Go on, I challenge you.

I'm hoping STICKY FINGERS provides a few laughs for readers.  (If you've read it and enjoyed it, how about going out into the world and plugging it for me? Tweets, online reviews, mentions on Facebook--I'd appreciate any of that and would do the same for you.) As the TLC regulars know, the first week of sales in really important, so your support would be lovingly accepted.

Meanwhile, tell me about the time you got the uncontrollabe giggles.  Can't wait to hear.

STICKY FINGERS is the 2nd book in Nancy Martin's chick-a-boom-boom Roxy Abruzzo series.  When Roxy is asked to kidnap her high school nemesis, all hell breaks loose in Pittsburgh.  Starred review in Publisher's Weekly and Kirkus.