Thursday, November 12, 2009

Recruiting



Every year in Shakespeare Club, I think, "This is it. The last. The end."

And then when I see the performance, I think, "Well okay, maybe one more year."

It's a slippery slope, this business of falling in love with children as they fall in love with themselves. The other hazard is the constant scouting I find myself doing. I notice little kids in stores and in libraries...and then it's Halloween and they come right up to the front door — in costume — like miniature actors showing up for an audition.

We had 150 trick-or-treaters this year. Raggedy Annes, Transformers, princess after princess, and a kid dressed as a UPS delivery guy, carrying a brown parcel for his treats.

A pair of brothers arrived, surrounded by a gang of ghosts, witches and Spider-Mans. I kneeled down to the three-year-old on my left and the five-year-old to my right. The younger held a small green lightsaber.

"Well hello, fellas, and what are you?'"

"I Yoda," the smallest announced in a big voice.

"Oh, I love Yoda," I said.

"He's not really Yoda," the older pointed out. "He doesn't have the head."

"And who are you?" I asked him.

"Jedi warrior." And he was because he had the outfit, but our conversation was interrupted by the little guy, quite put-out.

"I YODA!!!" he cried in an even bigger voice.

"No, you don't have the head!" His brother was adamant on this point.

The Harry Potter and Yankees baseball player were getting impatient waiting for the argument to end.

"Of course you are, I can clearly see you're a perfect Yoda," I answered, slipping packets of Doritos and Cheetos into all the bags thrust forward.

The boys ran down the driveway to meet their dad and I had to stop myself from calling out, "What school are you considering for your sons?"

I want that Yoda. The kid's recruitable. Imagine hearing:

"I Hamlet!"

"I Romeo!"

"I Macbeth!"

I have to stop this.

The end.

CHILDREN'S WRITES: A Journal Entry
In The Shakespeare Club I hope to learn more about Shakespeare and learn to a better actor and be less shy so I can act better.
—Theresa, 5th grade

2 comments:

  1. You'll never stop and thank God for that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Really? Good to know....now I can plan my life.

    ReplyDelete

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