[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/04/15/burnett.book.gi.art.jpg caption="Carol Burnett's book "This Time Together: Laughter and Reflection" is seen on display in New York City."]
From “This Time Together”
By Carol Burnett
Jimmy Stewart
My grandmother Nanny and I were at the picture show. I hadn’t reached two digits yet in age because I distinctly remember my feet couldn’t touch the floor of the movie house. Nanny and I were still living in San Antonio, Texas. My mama and daddy had gone ahead to California, where Nanny and I would later wind up.
The feature had just begun, and his face lit up the screen. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. He was talking to a beautiful lady in a nightclub somewhere. I’m not sure what the movie was. It didn’t matter. He had a kind of crooked smile and spoke with a soft . . . what kind of voice was it? A drawl? The camera followed him as he stood up. You could see how very long his legs were. I was sure his feet never had trouble reaching the floor.
“Skinny as a string bean,” Nanny said. After the picture show, we went home to the old house, and I couldn’t get the man in the movie out of my mind. He wasn’t just an actor like all the others I’d seen in picture shows. This man was different. He spoke to me. I tried to explain this to Nanny.
“Nanny, I know that man.”
“What do you mean, you know him?”
“I just do. He’s my friend; we just haven’t met yet.”
“That’s nice, dear. Drink your Ovaltine and go to bed.”
Reprinted from “This Time Together” by Carol Burnett. Copyright © 2010. Published by Harmony Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group.