Bye Bye Birdie

I wanted to be a singing and dancing actress! But I never sang. We weren't allowed to make noise at home but I got parts in all of the school plays -- one liners! Once I memorized the Cowardly Lions speech from the Wizard of Oz for an oratorical contest. I remember improvising half of it as my mind went googly. I looked down and saw pink in my hand. My red lipsticked triangle painted on my nose had been accidentally wiped off. I won anyway. A bunch of us did. That's how it should be. 42 years later I still remember the Murray Avenue school auditorium with wooden folding chairs and pale blue walls, my costume made of yellow yarn with yellow body suit that snapped at the crotch, my braided tail pinned on my butt, my teacher, my parents who were very preoccupied with medical things that day, annoyed by my excitement.