"You Still Got It!"

Many years ago, there was a store in Tomie's hometown of Meriden, Connecticut, called New England House of Collectibles/Three Cheers. It was a huge store.

When Tomie visited the store for the first time for an autographing, he was greeted by an enormous crowd. The autographing lasted nearly four hours. Friends from childhood would approach the autographing table and ask, "Do you know who I am?" His childhood dancing school teacher, Miss Leah, was in line, and tap danced with Tomie. It was a funny day... exhausting, but funny.

(The following day Tomie autographed pre-sold books for another four hours.)

At the end of the "live" autographing, as we were leaving the store, a young, tall and rather large girl at the cash register bellowed, "I don't know what you got, Tom, but you still got it!"

We've repeated that line many times since that autographing. A few minutes ago, we used a variation of that line, and received a great audience reaction. That is, we both laughed.