I got a story to tell every word of it true, except for the parts I made up for you, just some

history that has been reworded into a mystery called The Way I Heard It.

Hello, friends, this is episode number 318 of The Way I Heard It. It's a bonus episode,

which means it's a short one, just 10 minutes

long or so. It's called That's Gonna Leave a Mark. And back by popular demand. I think the

demand's been popular. Many of you have said, why don't you write those short stories anymore, Mike?

Well, I started writing them again, and we're getting one up a month on average,

and so far the feedback has been splendid. So thanks. Give it a listen, try and figure out who in the

world I'm talking about along the way. That's the fun of it. That's going to leave a mark.

The nightingales were a quartet of classically trained musicians who sang popular songs and performed dramatic readings of classic poetry on the vaudeville circuit.

On this particular afternoon, they were on stage at the Nacadocious Opera House,

attempting to entertain an audience of restless Texans. It was a matinee performance, and the crowd was not enthused by the musical stylings of four young men in sailor suits, white straw hats,

clip-on bow ties, and paper-lapel roses, singing songs like,

Let me call you sweetheart, camp-town ladies, goodbye, my Coney Island baby, and everybody's favorite,

My wild Irish rose, the sweetest flower that grows, you may search everywhere, but none can compare

to my wild Irish rose. The nightingales accompanied themselves on guitar, mandolin, and violin, and they made quite a racket.

But 20 minutes into their act, many of those in attendance had nodded off, and many others were on the verge of joining them.

The nightingales were doing their best, but the crowd just wasn't singing their tune.

It was at this point that the very first car to ever drive through Nacadocious

entered the downtown area.

The vehicle traveled south on Church Street and then turned onto East Main,

just a few blocks from the opera house,

...