Musicals DO happen!

This story took place several years ago while I was teaching.

Hello everyone. I had an interesting day today, and I wanted to share it with you all. Here goes . . .

OK, I've never been a big fan of musicals, mainly because they're so unrealistic. I mean, come on, how many times do you go through your day and suddenly see a group of people break out into spontaneous singing and dancing? Never, right? That's what I always said too. Until today, that is. Let me start at the beginning though.

Today being Saturday, I had an entire day ahead of me, and lots of schoolwork. I was putting a bunch of stuff off until the weekend when I would have more time. Part of my work was to get ready to teach a unit on Indians to my fifth and sixth graders. I wanted to go to the library to do my work because I just have a hard time working at home-- too many distractions. Plus, all of the books about Indians were at the library. Following me so far? Good.

I got to the library this morning and noticed that it was a bit more crowded than normal. I looked around for an open table and found the only one– right by the children's books. About five minutes after I got there, I heard an announcement come on that said that story hour was going to start in five minutes in-- guess where? - the children's section, of course. Oh well, how bad could it be? Some lady was probably going to come in and sit on her rocking chair and read some story to the kids.

Wrong!

It was some storyteller guy (not that there's anything wrong with that). And of course, me being in the children's section (the only open table, remember?), I was right behind the bookshelf that all of the kids were sitting next to. I couldn't see anything that was going on, but I definitely heard it. I always thought that the library was a place to go to get your work done in a quiet place.

Wrong again!

This guy was soooo loud! He was shouting his stories to the kids. I was thinking the whole time "Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!!" But I didn't say anything. The kids were enjoying story hour, so I just put up with it. I listened to him tell about the magic geckos, Jack, and some guys named See-well, Hear-well and Eat-well, or something like that. I listened to the kids respond back every time he said "gecko" by echoing loudly on cue "gecko gecko gecko!" It was all very annoying, especially considering the fact that I went there to get away from distractions. He ended his first story and, no lie, told some story about horse poop that people kept stepping in. He was shouting this story about horse poop across the whole library!

OK, so his stories ended after about 45 minutes or so. I thought story time was done. Wrong again!

The next thing I know, I hear more voices introducing the next guests. I looked over the bookshelf and saw an eight piece "band" all with these huge bongo drum-type things. They started banging on their drums and singing and chanting these African spirituals. Each one lasted about five minutes, and they all sounded the same. I thought the gecko/horse poop guy was loud, but this band was insanely loud. You wouldn't have even been able to hear the person next to you talk it was so loud. Still with me? Good, here's where it gets good.

The next thing I know, people are standing up, dancing! These innocent, unexpecting library patrons seemed to be in some sort of a trance or something, because they were dancing. Going down the aisles dancing and clapping and flailing their arms and stomping their feet like a bunch of madmen. I stood up again at this point to see what was really going on. People were standing and watching them, dancing around and getting pumped up by this music. The librarians were behind the desk dancing with each other. Total strangers were moving in time to the music with each other. People ran up to play some of the drums. I felt like screaming "What's wrong with you people? Don't you realize where you are? Shouldn't you be reading or something? Besides, what happened to STORY HOUR?!" But suddenly, I realized what was going on. It became all too clear where I was.

I was in the middle of a musical. I really think I was. This must be what it's like to be in a musical, I thought. Never knowing when the music is going to start. Never knowing who's going to be going by you singing and dancing. Never knowing if you're going to be caught up in the music yourself and start dancing (I didn't, by the way). I just sat there and took it all in. It was like nothing I had ever seen before.

The music ended. The people sat down and went back to their lives like nothing ever happened. To them it was normal, I guess. But I am changed forever. I am now a believer. Musicals DO happen.