The first Saturday in December was part of opening weekend for the play at the dinner theater in Searcy. The cast needed to be there at 6:30 to get into costume and make-up. About 6:00, as I left home, I noticed a police car parked in front of my house and my neighbors seated in lawn chairs along the sidewalks. Then I remembered: First Saturday in December = Christmas parade.
Since the parade route passes in front of my house, it was necessary for me to travel side streets around the edge of town to finally reach the entrance to the highway. Thirty minutes later, when I drove into Searcy, I could not reach the square downtown, where the theater sits. You guessed it: another Christmas parade was moving around the square and all the parallel streets were blocked, except the one-way streets leading away from downtown.
I finally parked a block away and walked to the theater. One of the children in the play greeted me, “Did you see that parade? It’s the best one I ever saw in my whole life!” He’s nine years old, so I don’t know how many Christmas parades he has stored in his memory. But I have to confess his enthusiasm was contageous and all the Bah Humbug fell off me while he described in detail the event I had worked so hard to avoid.
Is this the night those boys approached you? Since Billy is out of high school, I no longer have to negotiate traffic to pick him up after the Christmas parade. Scrooge-I-am, I never go to parades if I can help it. pl