On top of spaghetti, all covered with cheese. There lay my poor Meatball. That is, until somebody sneezed.
This sneeze forever changed the life of my poor Meatball. It was thrown headlong from its perch high atop spaghetti. The fall knocked it unconscious. It fell off the table onto the floor. It rolled down the hallway, and right out the door. It didn’t even get the chance to say goodbye.
When my poor meatball finally came to, it found that it had taken a Swedish lover and relocated to Hollywood, CA. Meatball had a short-lived but successful career playing Rob Reiner’s part in All In the Family fan films before figuring out what it really wanted to do was write. After seeing Bill Murray play Space Invaders in a Burbank 7-11, Meatball wrote what would become his Opus. Meatballs premiered in 1979, followed by Meatballs II in 1984, Meatballs III in 1987, and Meatballs IV in 1992, although the latter three were ghostwritten after the title rights were purchased for $24 in wampum beads. Or was that Manhattan Island? Either way.
Meatball’s success took its toll. Drugs, greed, and a really really hungry producer got the best of Meatball. But now, whenever I see someone’s food hurled across a room by a sneeze, a tear comes to my eye. Then, after I removed the food from my eye, I remember my poor meatball, all covered with cheese, sitting quietly on top of spaghetti.