the medal and the spoon

Around thirty years ago, I created an alter-ego and named him Joey Thumpe. Actually, Joseph Efrem Thumpe, but that's another matter. Using the Thumpe name I wrote to a variety of celebrities, politicians and captains of industry. This is the story of one such exchange.

I saw an ad (or a PSA?) in Sports Illustrated. It showed a picture of Colin Powell, who was then the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and a message about opportunities in the military. This got Joey Thumpe to write to the General.

Of course, I didn't expect General Powell to send me one of his medals. He was gracious though, sending a nice response and an autographed photo.

I wrote back with a different request:

At this point, the General bowed out of the conversation, and left his staff to take care of it.

And it probably would have ended there if only Captain Sheffield had enclosed the spoon...

Well, I wasn't gonna get a medal, but they made dang sure they didn't leave my spoon out of a second envelope.

And, in case you're interested, this is the spoon: