Surviving Retirement

What I was going to was to turn the lobby and concession area into a speakeasy with drinks made of Bathtub Gin(ger ale) and (Butter)Scotch cheesecake. We would also have other sodas and coffee. But I would have the ticket confirmation notice sent out with a note to come early and have dessert before the show. The Art Department made up signs using slogans from Prohibition of the evils of alcohol

October 14, Week 24, At the college

I'm not going to write much tonight. We have been working twelve hours a day, but we open next weekend and everything is coming together. The sets are complete and look really good. Abby is pleased with what the students are doing and is almost concerned that they are peaking a little early. I suggested that we do the dress rehearsal as planned on Wednesday but on Thursday, we have a pizza party at the house and let them all just chill out and relax. She liked that idea so I have arranged for one of the pizza places that make the pizzas, but deliver them uncooked. We will bake them in our oven so that they will be hot when they are ready to eat. I ordered ten basic ones with just a few basic toppings and then bought other toppings to be added as people wanted. I also ordered a large salad for thirty to be prepared and delivered from an Italian restaurant. Megan and Bob said that they would come over and help us in the kitchen. We didn't want anyone to get drunk so we decided to have only a few bottles of wine available.

So now, we are in the final stages of putting our creation together. I can't explain the excitement I feel at being part of this process. I feel alive and part of every single prop and set on stage. Abby said that this was a very special feeling for everyone. We are all part of the process and success. When it is over we will all go in different directions, but there will always be a bond between the people who have come together to make this happen. I can already sort of feel that building inside me.

October 28, Week 26, At the college

I am on such a high, I can't even describe it. We opened the show last weekend and I felt the rush that Abby had talked to the students about. She had told them to relax and do what we rehearsed. If we got too wound up, we would try to be too perfect and mistakes would happen. She added, if we didn't do it in rehearsal, don't do it on stage; that would be high school stuff. Then she added that mistakes and dropped lines were going to happen and to just stay in character and keep on going forward. The audience would never know the difference. I had the backstage people ready and we opened on Friday night with 150 people.

On the Tuesday before opening, I had a whim and asked the costumer where she had gotten the police uniform we were using. She said that the local costume shop had eight or ten of them available. I immediately went there and rented five of them. Then I worked up a simple ticket that said "You have been arrested for patronizing the Campus Speakeasy. You can pay your fine by coming back again and bringing a friend and receive a discount on your next visit." I had the five students who were helping in the concession area change into the uniforms after the intermission and hand out the tickets to the people as they were leaving. I hoped that this would attract more people to come back and bring new people to the theater. I told the business office to ask people if they had a ticket and if so, to give them a 25% discount on the new reservations. I wanted to break even financially, but I felt that improving our average audience was a better thing for the future and would accept a small loss in exchange.

I couldn't believe the results. We had 150 people each night on opening weekend but then had around 125 for each of the week night performances. The business office told me that our last weekend was totally sold out. Abby decided to add a Sunday matinee and even with the short notice, we sold 150 tickets in advance. I won't know the final count until tomorrow, but I am confident that this will go down as one of the most successful productions the school has ever done. Abby has been floating on air all week.

I just looked and was shocked to realize that it has been six months since I started on this journey. That is unbelievable. I still think about Ellen every day and hope that she is having as good a time as I am. From what we having coming up, I can't see me just coasting to the finish.

I am still riding the high of the play. When I got the final numbers in, we averaged almost 200 tickets sold for the run including the matinee. We don't have all of the costs in, but from what I knew and could project, we would make a profit for the show. I was happy; Abby was happy; the Head of the Department was over the top excited. They had never had a show even break even before.

By everyone's request, we held the cast party at our house. I had a caterer bring out a nice range of sandwiches and chips and dips. I told everyone that there would be beer and wine and if they were going to drink to bring a sleeping bag and we would find a place for them to sleep. Megan and Bob once again were there to help. It turned out to be a great party that finally broke up around two. The only surprise was that Cindi slept with her Nathan Detroit from the musical. Abby told me to not worry as this was common. The closeness and bonding of doing a show frequently carried over for a short while after the close. The next morning, Abby and I slept late but Megan and Bob worked together to make pancakes for people as they got up.

For the rest of the week, I oversaw the tear down and disposal or storage of everything and by Wednesday, the entire stage was clear again and our creation was now a memory. On Friday, I came to Abby's office right after her last class and told her to come with me. She looked confused, but followed me to my truck. Then she badgered me to know where I was taking her because she planned on a quiet weekend at home. When I finally drove into Seattle and checked into a hotel built out over Puget Sound and we opened our first bottle of wine on the patio, she looked at me and said, "I can't for the life of me understand how I could fall in love with such an asshole."

I replied, "It must be my magnetic personality."

"I am thinking about two or three other qualities that rank higher than that. We will explore a couple of those after dinner tonight." She had said the "I love you" words and it would have been very easy to say them back to her, but an image of Ellen flashed in front of me and I knew that I wasn't ready to make that leap yet or maybe ever. We spent the weekend making love and eating in interesting restaurants and going to the market place. The one thing she didn't want to do was go to see the touring company perform Phantom of the Opera. She said that she wasn't ready to just be the audience yet. I understood what she meant.

We got back Sunday night to find the usual group there cooking burgers under the watchful eyes of Megan and Bob. They had stayed at the house while we were gone. After the others left, we discussed the coming weekend for the Halloween gig at the hotel. It was a little farther away than the other one. We decided that Bob would take them down in the camper on Thursday and get set up and Abby and I would drive down on Saturday and see the Saturday and Sunday shows.

They did beautifully as we expected. My only concern was that Megan had her opera showcase this week. I shouldn't have worried as she nailed her two showcase arias beautifully. There were a number of Professional Artistic Directors there scouting out talent for their next season and all of them had taken her resume and cd.

November 12, Week 28, At the college

The wind down from the show has been slow. I can't get over the feeling of completion that the experience brought me. Instead of wondering what I am going to do next, I already have a slate of things in front of me. The ending has brought its own new beginning. Abby and I went to Seattle for a weekend to unwind and had a great time. As we were packing, she tossed me a script and told me to read it. She had a gleam in her eyes.

I asked, "Do you already have another show to direct?"

She replied, "No, you do. Get familiar with this because rehearsals start this week. The faculty Christmas dinner is the weekend before Christmas. I am directing a short play before dinner and one before dessert. You are directing the one after dessert. I have already cast it. All you have to do is make it work."

"You must be kidding. I have never directed anything in my life." I replied.

"Honey, you have been directing things all of your life; you just didn't realize it. Look at this like a business project and do what you normally do anyway. You have great instincts once you get a feel for what needs to happen. I have seen it in your preparation for the musical, but also in how you worked with people leading up to it. This is your next baby. Consider it payback for dragging me here and fucking me all weekend long."

"Are you complaining?"

"Not even a little bit. Let's get going. Our first rehearsal is Wednesday at four."

I think I said something profound like, "Shit!"

When we got back from Seattle and the party had died down, Abby went to bed and I stayed up and read the script. The first time, it was just a book with words. The second time I read it slower and even read some of the dialogue out loud. The third time I read it, I began to see the story that I could wrap around it. It was a Christmas story and seemed to feature a confrontation between a mother and daughter. It seemed almost too bittersweet to be a Christmas story. It just didn't seem to feel right.

On Wednesday at four, I went to the small theater and found Abby and the wife of the President of the college sitting there smiling. I asked, "Ok, I'm here; where is my cast?"

Abby said sweetly, "We are here. I am the young woman and Samantha is the older woman. By the way, Samantha wrote this and you can't ask her anything about anything. It is your show to make happen."

I repeated my earlier profound statement, "Oh shit!" The both laughed and got up ready to work. I did what I remembered Abby do and told them to free-form around the stage and read the lines like they felt them. Five minutes later, I could tell that Samantha had previous acting experience. The two just worked so well together. It was then that I realized that it couldn't be a mother and daughter, but an older mentor with a younger protégé. Now the words didn't seem so bittersweet; they seemed poignant. I pictured the setting as the two washing dishes after a Christmas dinner as they reflected on the meaning of Christmas and how it played out that night from the older and more traditional point of view and the younger, more modern point of view.

Between their schedules and the Thanksgiving break, we only had two weeks to put this together after the holidays. I asked them both to be off book when we returned. They both agreed. That would give me time to put together the set I wanted and work out a couple more details.

Abby and I also began talking about plans for Thanksgiving and then Christmas. We quickly agreed that we would stay at home for Thanksgiving and host any students who couldn't go home for the holiday. We knew that we would have to do it ourselves since Megan and Bob were going to her parents for dinner and Cindi was going home to see her father. Something had changed there and she wanted to find out what it was. She was trying to finagle a ride when I told her to just take the truck. It wasn't going anywhere and besides, she needed to be back on Thursday so we could go to their gig on Friday. She agreed and thanked me profusely.

The past two weeks went by quickly even though things slowed down when the students migrated out for the holiday week. Megan and Bob left to go to her parents and Cindi drove to her father's house. Abby and I stayed busy as the Department Head approved the choice of South Pacific for the spring. We worked out the schedule that Abby wanted. Her biggest concern was that the play called for three older men and none of the students fit that mold. I suggested that we audition for those from the community.

She asked if we could do that. A visit to the Department Head's office confirmed that we could. She also mentioned that she had heard of places where the college program and the local Community Theater worked together on some productions. She thought that this was a great idea and if we wanted to pursue it, she would support it. So now, Abby could cast for older men. Auditions would be in early February with rehearsals starting shortly afterwards. The production was set for April. I already had ideas about what we could do with the entrance and the lobby for this.

It turned out that we had almost fifty people for Thanksgiving dinner. I had ordered three large roasted turkeys with dressing and side dishes, but when we saw how many people might show up, I changed it to four.

The dinner went well and a number of people brought something to eat and drink and we had plenty. Megan and Bob got back early enough to help as they had enjoyed their dinner the day before. Megan was also sporting a diamond ring on her left hand. Bob had asked her father for permission to ask her after dinner on Wednesday and then had asked her. Both Megan and her mother cried as she babbled out a yes. They decided to get married as soon as graduation was over. Cindi came back higher than a kite. Her father had quit drinking and had found another job. She also said that her mother and father had been talking and that there was the possibility of reconciliation. If not, then they could continue as friends with a common interest in their daughter.

The trip to the Thanksgiving gig went well with all five of us in the camper. The musician was going to join us there as it was close to his home. Bob and Megan spent a lot of the drive in the bed in back making out. Cindi laughed at them. Abby and I held hands and grinned at the youngsters. The big surprise was last night. Abby had invited her agent to come see the girls perform and he eagerly talked to them afterwards over a glass of wine. He wanted to know what their interests were. They explained their individual plans, but also said that as long as they could work out the scheduling, they would like to continue performing together. Neither of them felt like it was work; it was a pleasure and a respite to get away from the routine. He told them that he had many contacts in the industry and would see what might be on the horizon for them and would get back to them before the first of the year.

He left this morning and the girls were floating on air again. Our plan was to pack thing up and I would drive most of the night to get back home. The young ones could sleep in back while Abby and I drove.

Chapter 5

November 26, Week 30, At the college

The past week was filled with promise. Abby's agent is going to look into opportunities from the girls and might sign to represent them. Their performances were even better than before. I can see them growing almost daily. Cindi has her family back and Megan has her husband to be locked up. I already knew what I was going to give them as a wedding present.

I guess the biggest personal thing that I had to face was on the drive back to campus, Abby asked me if I would like to go home with her for Christmas and meet her parents. I was immediately stuck in a state of uncertainty. Abby was my present; Ellen was my past and perhaps my future. Add to that the mere thought of staying alone over the holidays promised to be very lonely and I wasn't looking forward to that at all. On the whole, I felt that I had to stay with the present, but I knew that part of my mind would be somewhere else. After thinking about it for an hour, I told Abby that I would like that very much.

She took my hand and replied, "I know what you are thinking and I won't push you. I just want for them to meet you since I told them how close we have become working together and that you would be alone otherwise. We won't talk about her unless you want to." I replied, "Thank you." She held my hand for the rest of the trip.

I spent that time driving back asking myself if it was possible for a man to love two women. If it wasn't possible, I was breaking new ground for humanity. Then I asked myself that if I did love two women, how could that work at all? I mean, I could travel across the country to spend time with each one, but that would mean I was short changing one of them every time I left. I couldn't let myself do that. The perfect situation would be if we were all in the same place together and could work out an arrangement. I immediately realized that this was possible, but that it would take two very strong and open women to be able to agree to that and make it work. I was almost afraid to admit it to myself, but both Ellen and Abby fit the strong and intelligent qualifications very nicely. As we drove into town, I put those thoughts away. I had a little less than six months to see how things worked out with Abby. For now, I had to get back and begin rehearsing Abby and Samantha. Their performance was in two weeks. Abby would be busy giving final exams and the students would be busy studying.

I successfully put away the thought about Ellen and Christmas and focused on Abby and the play for the faculty. We would only have five rehearsals to prepare and I needed to keep focus on it. The first thing I did was to go to the hardware store and buy a sink, faucet, two storage tanks, and a small pump that could run on batteries. My idea was to have the two women doing dishes after Christmas dinner. I intended for them to wear as costumes whatever they would wear to the real party. When the time came, they would each stand and carry a stack of dishes to the sink where one would wash and dry using real soap and water. I had a thirty gallon tank to hold the clean water to use and a forty gallon tank to collect the rinse water. That would insure that it would be real, but could not overflow. There might be some splash, but it would be minimal.

I took the materials to our shop guy and set builder and told him what I wanted to do. He thought that this would be a great idea and that we might be able to use it in other plays. I hadn't thought about that. When I told Abby and Samantha about it, they both loved it. Samantha even had a dress that would be perfect and if it got wet or dirty, she didn't care. Abby was going to have to find a suitable dress, but she wasn't worried about it either. She also picked up on being able to use the sink in South Pacific for the I'm Going to Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair scene.

I was amazed at how well the women worked together. I knew that it wasn't because of me. They understood the script completely. All I could do was alter their focus in a couple of places. The two weeks of finals kept Abby busy and I began the year end process of closing out the books for the Theater Department. We lost money because of the previous spring show, but had reduced the deficit with the profit from the fall show and everything else was within budget.

At last, we had our last rehearsal for the Christmas party. Both women felt good about it. The next night, was the dinner and I would set the props and lights up the next afternoon. We were going to use the light from the girl's show and the wireless mikes since they were expecting over 200 people to crowd the faculty dining room. We left the rehearsal that night feeling good, but I also felt a nagging inside that I couldn't put my finger on. Nothing was wrong but something needed to be tweaked to make it right. I tried to figure it out that night without success. The next morning it hit me when Abby came down and gave me a kiss good morning. Now I had to decide if it was too late to make that change. Abby had always told people to not add anything that we hadn't rehearsed. This wasn't a huge change, but it could impact the ending. I didn't say anything all morning or afternoon when I went home to clean up and change.