Degas, are you the same tough guy who served a year on Devil's Island before overpowering five sissy guards and escaping in a hot air balloon piloted by a lovely French maiden?

To look back on dangers past is a far different thing from looking forward to dangers still to come. This is especially true when one is being kissed by a wild tigeress.

Little did I know what grave perils lay ahead as I hugged Camille to my side and laughed like a madman as the ballon floated out of rifle range of the defeated guards manning that hellhole called Devil's Island.

Camille's intense love for me would be tested again soon after we left the steaming jungle and floated across the storm-tossed Atlantic Ocean to a tiny french outpost on the rocky coast of Africa.

It started harmlessly enough when ..... .

Little did we know that Hosé was waiting, to once again claim Camille as his own.

Lordie Lou.......someday I wanna meet this Degas fella, LOL!!!

Was Camille with Pup?

No, Juan Hoseman was long dead. It was my bad luck to run across, his evil twinbrother, Jorge Hoseman. A cruel, vicious swine cut exactly from the same bloody cloth!

are you sure it's not Lou?

Now wait just a minute here! I dated a handsome, confident young man named Jorge Hoseman one summer while in college.

He went on a sudden trip to study tittsue flies in Africa, but came back in the fall with a long, jagged scar across his face, vacant eyes, and hands that wouldn't stop trembling.

No Uncle Same, that was Scarlett with the Pup, that is another story ((F))

Shoot! I met him too, chatnoir, but he had roman hands so I walked away but Camille was there waiting anyway.

Chat, all I can say is that Jorge was no match against my skilled sword on a field of honor! That coward ran at the first horrific gush of blood! I have a tape of the duel if you care to see it.

I sincerely hope he did not befoul you after advancing some clever ruse! He knows better than to dare cross my path again.

Was that a sword??? I thought you were just glad to see me.?

WHile I do not understand why the European love shack thread was shut down, Christmas has come at last with one of Degas' stories!!! I started laughing before I finished the first few lines! You are SO TALENTED!

Tell me Camille is not an overweight matron running a boarding house on the outskirts of Paris, petting her cats and ordering frying pans and spandex pants from the Home Shopping Network!

May she still be swinging from the light fixtures between croissant breaks.

Waiting for Degas to post a picture of his beloved Camille.

cigale - how about one of himself!

I think he's Uncle Sam and he gave a description of himself and that other thread.

Still laughing. I gotta get a life!

Calamari, I knew a true romantic like yourself would enjoy this sad, tragic tale of love, betrayal, turmoil, and redemption.

Camille had a huge impact on my life and I wish her only happiness and peace. We parted ways under bizare conditions, but I know in my heart she is living life to the fullest in Europe.

Perhaps some day she will reach out to us and give us some insight into what has transpired over these many long years of forced seperation.

Degas, too funny. I almost missed this one. Parting is such sweet sorrow.

degas, discard the little woman, 'cause another waits for you, scarlett. behold the fodor's chatboard couple of 2004.