I was a guest comedian at the famous Nellie's Italian Restaurant one Saturday evening. They loved my stand-up routine, “Idiots Are Me.” The place was packed with over 100 people. But as soon as dinner was about to be served all eyes were fixed on the waitress Nellie whose parents owned the restaurant. She was a young freckled-face overweight girl with rainbow-colored hair, who wore a cheerless, gloomy face which was enough to make anyone cry. Dodos can't cry, of course, but I would if I could.

“Little Noodles is very special,” the headwaiter added. “She loves to eat spaghetti, and we love to watch her do it.” Out of the blue, people started singing “Little Noodles Nellie loves to eat spaghetti” over and over.

God only knows why they were getting so excited about someone eating spaghetti? Just then a waiter brought her a plate overfilled with spaghetti and sauce. Her green eyes gleamed and turned a fiery red. Her gloominess changed into a devilish smirk as she slowly rolled the spaghetti onto her fork and dipped it into a dish of sauce.

In one fast move she flung it up onto the popcorn ceiling. Spaghetti strands are gooey and gluey and stick pretty much to anything. They were hanging on for dear life just itching to make their way back down. Everyone was looking up, clapping, and singing again, “Little Noodles Nellie loves to eat spaghetti. Little Noodles Nellie loves to eat spaghetti.”

Looking up at the ceiling she opened her mouth wider than the Grand Canyon and attempted to catch as many strands as possible.

“THAT'S ONE, NELLIE. THAT'S TWO,” they shouted. She'd miss one then another and another. You'd hear oohs, aahs, and words of encouragement. “Don't give up Nellie. You'll get the next one. Here comes one now. Go for it Nellie. Open your mouth wider.”

By now it was raining spaghetti strands like cats and dogs. Sauce-drenched little wormies covered and colored her cute face beet-red. But she still wasn't laughing.

Just then I realized that this was the perfect time to play Dodoball, my favorite game from Dodo Sports of Sorts . I shouted out “DODOBALL ROCK & ROLL FREE FOR ALL.” Immediately, everyone sprung into action and joined in a spaghetti flinging food fight. Nellie first looked at me, then at the customers' faces, and exploded with the laughter of a gazillion Dodos. The customers, who were mostly overweight, had a shocked look of relief on their faces. Everyone it seems lost their appetite.

It just goes to show you that messy food fights are big laughing matters. Also, the more we throw at each other, and the less we eat, the less we all get fatter.

It seems like wherever I went, people were everywhere—tall, skinny, short, fat, smart, and even goofy ones almost like me. Characters are everywhere. No matter where I go I seem to run into them. I'm starting to think that maybe everyone is a character in their own special way. Yet I love every single one of them. I want to save them all just as soon as I figure out what kind of saving each one needs.

So here come the characters … characters with or without character, whatever that means.

Lilly Lollipop told me there were 6½ billion of them on planet earth. That sure is a big number. But there's only one Dodo bird. If I could meet them all, I would know what kind of saving each one needed. But the question was how was I going to save so many and complete my mission? Boy, did I need help or did I need more than help!

So I went on a people-meeting mission again. Meet one, meet them all, and have a ball.

As I waddled over to the library with Lilly Lollipop, her wisdom was bouncing around in my empty head. After saying my Dodo goodbyes, off she went to work inside. Meanwhile, I sat there on the library steps thinking about all the things my teacher had told me.