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CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) -- Little Natasha is a giggling, wriggling bundle of mischief. She adores Barney the Dinosaur, claps along to her favorite songs, and throws a typical 3-year-old's temper tantrums. Natasha, who picked up the AIDS virus in her mother's womb, also suffers from hearing problems, rashes and stomach upsets, and can't play outdoors too often because she easily catches cold. But she is alive. So very alive. Natasha's health represents a small but significant victory ove...

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CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Little Natasha is a giggling, wriggling bundle of mischief. She adores Barney the Dinosaur, claps along to her favorite songs, and throws a typical 3-year-old's temper tantrums.

Natasha, who picked up the AIDS virus in her mother's womb, also suffers from hearing problems, rashes and stomach upsets, and can't play outdoors too often because she easily catches cold.

But she is alive. So very alive.

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In show business, depression can turn to elation on a dime. For producer Don Hughes, that moment came in 1973 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He had just mounted a production of Stephen Sondheim's award-winning musical "A Little Night Music" and had both an artistic success and a financial nightmare on his hands. No one was buying tickets.

Hughes happened to be visited in this moment of crisis by Ken Hai, founder of what later would be called The Peking Acrobats, who wanted the producer to book his show. He did, and had a big hit on his hands, one that sold out for four weeks in Johannesburg, and then several weeks more in Cape Town and Durban, South Africa.

"I'd never seen Chinese acrobats, and they blew me away," Hughes says. In fact, the group's success transformed the producer's life.

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When American sportsmen spend the time and money for an African hunting trip, most of them are going for big game. In fact, most sportsmen don't realize that Africa offers some of the world's top bird hunting.

In May, Plano's Mike Gleason found out just how good the bird hunting in South Africa can be. Gleason and his nephew, Geoff Buell of Brockport, N.Y., spent 10 days hunting on huge farms about 150 miles from Johannesburg.

Gleason has hunted birds extensively in the U.S., Europe, Mexico and South America. "I was looking for a different kind of hunt, and I found it in South Africa," he said. "I grew up hunting feral pigeons in the barns near our home, and I'm a huge fan of pigeon hunting. Hunters think doves are hard to hit with a shotgun, but pigeons are more difficult. Pigeons fly faster than doves, and they react to the slightest movement by a hunter."

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In show business, depression can turn to elation on a dime. For producer Don Hughes, that moment came in 1973 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He had just mounted a production of Stephen Sondheim's award-winning musical "A Little Night Music" and had both an artistic success and a financial nightmare on his hands. No one was buying tickets.

Hughes happened to be visited in this moment of crisis by Ken Hai, founder of what later would be called The Peking Acrobats, who wanted the producer to book his show. He did, and had a big hit on his hands, one that sold out for four weeks in Johannesburg, and then several weeks more in Cape Town and Durban, South Africa.

"I'd never seen Chinese acrobats, and they blew me away," Hughes says. In fact, the group's success transformed the producer's life.

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