and a trip down memory lane...
Cinderella and her Prince Charming with a lady in waiting in the middle. This is my eldest daughter who currently resides in Ireland and has a new website
Expat Squared. She was about 18 in this photo and was playing two roles in
Raleigh Little Theater's annual Christmas musical rendition of
Cinderella. She played the role of a lady in waiting and had the fun, and heavy work, of wearing a very elaborate costume. She also had a role as a one of the dancing villagers.
We were all very excited about Aimee's opportunity to have not only one role, but two, in this very popular Christmas tradition in Raleigh. If I remember correctly we were given some free tickets to attend one of the evenings of this large and fun production. I brought to the show that night a large number of the children one of whom was Benjamin who had just turned four but with his small stature did not look more than three. An important fact, the importance of which will come to bear shortly.
I recall after the play, which all of Aimee's siblings had enjoyed immensely, visiting with the actors in the lobby. The children strolled amongst all of the guests, sometimes shyly approaching such characters as The Ugly Step Mother or the Fairy God Mother to chat and ask questions. The youngest child with me that evening was the Benjamin with his darling smile and sharp brown eyes that twinkling under his long bangs.
Eventually all of the actors, including Aimee, headed down the back stairs to the basement where they made ready to escape all of their finery. The jewels, heavy yarn wigs, corsets made of bone and layers and layers of skirts, blouses and hose. Then there were the layers of theatrical makeup to wash off. All of this took quite some time.
Time we spent strolling about the now fairly empty lobby. The older children were standing by the front doors watching cars drive by and debating if it might actually snow as it was drizzling and rather cold. We had actually worn mittens and scarves that night - it was that chilly. Another important fact, the importance of which will also come to bear shortly. I was quite tired and sitting on a bench while trying to keep count of the many heads that were bobbing about and moving to and fro.
I called to Anna and Gabriela to corral up their younger brother Noah and then all come and sit on the bench beside me where Benjamin was already quietly sitting.
Sitting...
Staring...
Reaching...
...for the bright shiny red lever that was right at his eye level from where he sat on the bench. As it dawned on me exactly what that red box was that his chubby little fingers were now brushing, I gasped and grabbed at his hand.
Too late.
It was rather like reaching out for that falling vase as it flows past your fingers tips before crashing on the ground and you forever wonder if you had stretched just a micro millimeter further might you have actually caught it?
The bells pierce the air as I stood quickly and called to one of the employees nearby, "It's a false alarm, my son pulled it!" The look of horror on her face showed she understood me.
"Oh Dear, let me see if I can catch them downstairs before the begin evacuating everyone. "
Too late, all of the unlucky actors and actresses were already being shepherded outside in various levels of undress, where they stood in a huddle hissing their wrath upon whoever it was that saw fit to pull the alarm on a night like this.
My daughter listened to plots of murder and mayhem and prayed fervently that 'it had
please God NOT been one of her siblings.'
While we sat awaiting the arrival of the fire department so that we could, red faced, explain that there was no fire- simply the curiosity of a four year old behind the pulling of the alarm, the members of the company began to pick their way through the puddles and ice cold drizzle back to the warmth of their dressing rooms.
Aimee's ears were warmed with more expressions of wrath and anger at the little sod that had pulled a false alarm. She quickly dressed and joined us upstairs where she found a fireman kneeling in front of a tearful little boy who listened as the fireman gently explained when you pull, and do not pull, a fire alarm.
Did you know that if you are a small child (and perhaps even an adult) and you are in fear of a stranger - that is a perfectly good reason to pull a red alarm if you are near one. The fireman very kindly explained all of this to my little son and was not angry with him at all. He understood the temptation to pull a nice bright shiny red lever and was willing to forgive and forget; this time.
By now other members of the company were arriving and when they saw Aimee's little brother, whom they all agreed could not be more than three, had been the guilty culprit; well, he was immediately forgiven. And Aimee, for the duration of the play, never saw fit to correct their mistake. Nor, for that matter, did I!
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