Ask does not wait for an answer

[simplsol at aol.com]

I hope there is a simple answer to this. I have the following code in a 
field:

 on closeField
 if fld "Ship Date 1" is empty
 then
 ask "Enter a date for this shipment:" with the short date
 if the result is "Cancel" then exit closeField
 put it into fld "Ship Date 1"
 end if
 end closeField

 If I step through it in the debugger, it works as expected.
  If I trigger it by closing the field, it will show the Ask dialog box, 
and, as it does so, it will put:

 ask plainEnter a date for this shipment:2/7/6

  into field "Ship Date 1" - without waiting for either the OK or Cancel 
buttons being clicked in the Ask dialog.
  I have written this several different way (different if/then 
constructions, etc.) nothing seems to work, and I can't debug it 
because it works perfectly in the debugger.

 I appreciate you help.
 Paul Looney