Leslie Schram won the quiz with his correct answer of "Munchkin." His was one of only 7 correct entries.
While you may have seen notes from Dick stuck to my journal pages addressed in various ways the key was to recall the nickname only Dick uses. And it is "Munchkin."
Why? I don't really know. I've never asked. Perhaps it's because I'm short and my shoes all tend to curl up at the toes like elf shoes—he always points this out. I believe my shoes' tendency to do this is because 99.9 percent of the time I'm wearing runners of some sort. They naturally break in that way. He seems to think some other force is at work. Or so his comments would lead me to suspect. While I love the movie, "The Wizard of Oz" (and actually know all the songs and dialog) it isn't my favorite movie by any means. Maybe it started as a response to my singing lyrics like the "Lollipop Guild" and anything else from the arrival of Dorothy in Oz; I'm quite a fan of the Coroner. I know I would have been singing that at some point early in our relationship, because I'm still always doing that. His use of the nickname predates the bitches coming to live with us. Emma was named Emma by me, because quite frankly she was Emma. When I met Dottie I had no plan in mind for names, but the little spots on her toe pads made me think of dots, Dottie, Dorothy. And so she became Dorothy, because a split second later I realized that made Emma Auntie Em. (Yes, I know it's Emily, but Emily is a derivative of Emma.) And so then there was a theme and of course no looking back.
While there are several posts in which one might have read "Munchkin" my favorite is Roz and Dick Go To the Mall of America; and a Celebration.
My ninja days are indeed over.
The gouache will go out to Leslie as soon as I get his postal address back.
Thank you to everyone who participated. Even if you didn't have the right answer your answers all showed that you have been reading the blog and I'm grateful for your readership. I hope you'll all continue reading. And of course there will be another quiz. There always is.
