Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

A publicity photo from the Lost Nation Theater's production of Othello.

Day Eight: Handkerchief Tales (Saturday, Sept. 27 & Sunday, Sept. 28)

I spent much of the day sneezing. The normal morning sneezes extended into a day of misery. At first I thought it might have been the sweater I was wearing, which I'd bought used. It smelled a little bit like perfume, and I thought that might have been it. But even after I changed, the sneezing and sniffling continued.

I wasn't the only one having a bad day. When I took my dog, Una, outside this morning, I discovered Pulsar (my brother's dog and Una's mom) had spent the night outside. We think she must have slipped out an open door, unnoticed, and then been locked out. The funny thing is, I would have gladly let her in if she had only made a noise, but as far as I could tell, she didn't try.

The bad morning would soon spill over to us all. The Ogre's son came knocking on the kitchen door, wanting to talk about the driveway situation. There were clothes in the dryer, so I could barely hear what they were saying. Not to mention, I was having a contest of wills with Una, trying to convince her to lie down on her dog bed and be quiet.

The conversation sounded pleasant enough, but my brother and his wife were troubled by it, nonetheless. They said the Ogre's son has been playing "good cop, bad cop" all by himself and that even though he was in good cop mode, they didn't trust him.

Since we were all going to see Othello in Montpelier today, and it didn't start until 2 p.m., my brother mowed the lawn, Dad picked up trash in the woods (the previous owners threw a lot of stuff there), my brother's wife did laundry, and I read more of Crackpots by Sara Pritchard.

When my brother had had a shower and his wife had eaten lunch, we ran some errands. I bought a necklace for Mom as a souvenir. Then we picked up the TV my Dad had bought for my brother's birthday.

The TV took up so much space in the car that we couldn't all fit, so Dad and my brother drove it back to their place while his wife and I browsed downtown. We quite accidentally watched a parade. A local high school was having their homecoming. The parade was led by a marching band, who wore bright blue band jackets, matching exercise pants and red baseball caps.

Then came four floats containing representatives of all four classes. They threw us candy: Sweet Tarts and cinnamon hard candies.

We went into a shoe store and bought new insoles and then to a leather store to buy shoe polish to repair the shoes Una had damaged the other day. Then we dawdled in a book store until the others came to meet us.

Although we felt certain we would be late for the play in Montpelier, we made it just in time.

Othello was great. It was the first time I'd seen it performed live, and all the main characters performed excellently. Gus Kaikkonen, who played Iago, was particularly well-suited to the role, playing so convincingly that if he had not assured us time and time again that he was a villain, we would have been fooled, as well.

Esau Pritchett, who played Othello, was equally well-cast, playing a noble man who yet had within him equal capacity for righteous rage in the fever of his misbegotten jealousy.

The staging was minimal — a number of compartmentalized stage platforms, with stylized rigging that could function as walls. Much was conveyed through careful use of sound effects and lighting. Excellent well.

After the play, we all raved about it. My brother's wife signed her name to the mailing list.

We did a small amount of shopping and then drove to Applebee's for my brother's birthday dinner (a day late). There was a horrible line outside, but we sent my brother in to find out about the wait and they seated us right away.

We told the waiter it was my brother's birthday. The wait staff brought him a special dessert and sang to him. He protested, but with a big smile.

Back at his place, with Dad's help, he hooked up his new TV.

When that task was complete, we watched a French movie, Read My Lips. It's about a deaf woman who falls in with a thief and then is talked into helping to rob a mobster. It sounds fascinating, but the movie was slow moving. I drifted off several times, and even so, I don't feel as if I missed anything.

After a good night's sleep, I woke up and my sneezing problem was miraculously gone. We think it might have had something to do with a neighbor burning leaves. I took a few pictures of my brother's place, to remember the trip and all the progress they've made on the house.

The drive back was gray and rainy, with the sun not bursting through until we reached Pennsylvania. It's good to be home, but I'll miss my brother and his wife, in their little home in the Green Mountains of Vermont.

Dad in the dining room, ready for the return journey.

Copyright 2003 by Alyce Wilson

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