Dateline Boston — The big night came. I accidentally faked Amy out by opening my door in jeans and a tee shirt, after I had told her to dress nicely. I reassured her that I just hadn’t gotten changed yet. I changed into nice clothes, and we went out to a nice Thai restaurant for dinner.
Over dinner I explained to Amy that even though I was a writer, I had a terrible time writing emotional cards. I told her that if I were to write her a card, it would say, “I’m glad you’re alive.” Of course I teared up and said that I couldn’t really say anything else. I mean, what can you say to your best friend who almost died? Easy and succinct to say, “Glad you’re alive.” Period. Amy thanked me for being there. Period.
A Lovely Arrangement
We drove to the theater and arrived in the rain, tickets in hand. What a gorgeous locale! The theater was ornate-chandeliers, balconies on the upper level, and an open floor plan down below. For this night, small tables had been set up with folding chairs at each table, slanted so that it looked like there was seating for two. There was a row of chairs behind each table. It looked a little weird, and Amy wondered if the chairs were for the tables. “Nah”, I said, “I’m sure the chairs are just to separate the rows.”
Each table had a number on it, and there was a menu card on the table. We looked at the menu and half-heartedly checked off what we wanted, not really planning on ordering anything. I checked off my fantasy order — gourmet cupcakes! Amy checked coffee. Then we noticed that there were people walking around with drinks. We decided to walk around and get the layout of the land.
We found a fancy bathroom, gave the lady sitting there a dollar just because she was sitting there, and saw what amounted to a refreshment and snack stand. You could get coffee, tea, soda, cookies, candy bars, and little sandwiches. I named all the things I wanted to get, and didn’t get any of them. Amy got a cup of coffee for three dollars.
When we got back to our seats, there were two more people sitting at our table. What a surprise! We introduced ourselves and met Eric and Karen, a married couple, also American Idol fans. A few minutes later, Andy, a Harvard student, joined us. We all squeezed in, and saw that the tables around us were doing the same thing. What a strange arrangement. A woman named Jill came over and told us she was our waitress. She said when we were finished with our card, we should just hold it up and she’d come over and take it. Amy had had her coffee, so we didn’t order anything, just left the card where it was (we had forgotten we’d checked things off). We joked about being at an auction and made waving motions with our card. Amy and I can get pretty silly sometimes.
After a few minutes, the concert started.
(to be continued…)
Ms. Campbell may be contacted at campbellalexandra@hotmail.com
