Shhhhhhh!

OUR Rio de Janeiro Group had been permitted to meet in a room of the Associacao Federacao Brasileira da Imprensa building (Brazilian Press Association) as we had then, as now, no permanent headquarters. Occasionally officials checked up on strange faces in the building to make sure that some member had sponsored their presence. Once, on the night of our weekly meeting, the door opened and a rather young official entered and very apologetically asked whether any of us were members and what was the purpose of our meeting (no political meetings are allowed in the building). Our secretary explained, rather vaguely, that "we were holding an AA meeting" and showed our authority for the use of the room. The letter was OK, but the official insisted on knowing more about AA as he did not get the idea. "Well," began our secretary, "AA stands for Alcoholics Anonymous and. . ." "Oh, I see now," interrupted the young man, with envious admiration, "you gentlemen like to drink and, not wanting to be found out, you come here to do it in secret."