One trick is to tell 'em stories that don't go anywhere.... like the time I took the ferry to Shelbyville!
I needed a new heel for my shoe. Sooo, I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, which in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em! "Gimme five bees for a quarter", you'd say.
Now, where were we? Oh yeah, the important thing was I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn't have white onions, because of the war. The only ones you could get were those big yellow ones...