title: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Beach: True Tall Tales of Zany Animals and Crazy People Making Mayhem in the Mangroves of Florida
author: Bernard Rath
description: The author served as Executive Director of both the Canadian and American Booksellers Associations from 1979 until 1997. He has lived in Naples Florida since 2004.
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  ONE
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](../Images/DyNdRd_0786856866_img_1.png)
  
  
  
  
  
  ### MY BEST FRIEND SHOPS FOR A WEDDING DRESS
  
  
  
  
  
  My nightmare started like this.
  
  
  
  
  
  I was standing on a deserted street in some little beach town. It was the
  middle of the night. A storm was blowing. Wind and rain ripped at the palm
  trees along the sidewalk. Pink and yellow stucco buildings lined the street,
  their windows boarded up. A block away, past a line of hibiscus bushes, the
  ocean churned.
  
  
  
  
  
  Florida, I thought. Though I wasn’t sure how I knew that. I’d never been to
  Florida.
  
  
  
  
  
  Then I heard hooves clattering against the pavement. I turned and saw my
  friend Grover running for his life.
  
  
  
  
  
  Yeah, I said hooves.
  
  
  
  
  
  Grover is a satyr. From the waist up, he looks like a typical gangly teenager
  with a peach-fuzz goatee and a bad case of acne. He walks with a strange limp,
  but unless you happen to catch him without his pants on (which I don’t
  recommend), you’d never know there was anything un-human about him. Baggy