Sometimes, Good Deeds Go Rewarded

Last night, my parents and I ventured out to visit Sullivan, Il, which is known for its live production theatre, Little Theatre On the Square. The theatre, in fact, has been written up in USA Today as one of the top ten best places to see theatre off-off Broadway (way off-off Broadway!). I had heard two ladies in town talking about the production they saw last weekend of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," and thought, man, that was one play that I had wanted my parents to see (myself having seen a college production of it last spring at Auburn). I looked up the theatre and, to my glee, they still had one weekend left of shows. We called and managed to get tickets on the second row (close enough for you?). Not knowing exactly where the theatre was, we left early and got into the town at 5:30. With lots of time to kill (curtain was at 8), we looked around for dinner. Just off the square, we found a place called Jibby's and walked in. The hostess asked if we had reservations. Really? I thought. For this small of a town? Turns out, they only had two empty slots for the whole night and we could take one of them right then (everyone going to the play must eat there!). And no wonder the place was booked—it was delicious! After dinner, with still plenty of time to kill, we walked causally around the square. We then got our tickets (still early) and waited in the lobby. I wanted to be in the lobby to try to find the guy who was looking for audience spellers. Having seen the show before, I knew he would be out there and I thought it would be funny if I could get Daddy into the show. Finally, the man came out. I went over to talk to him but, before I could, Daddy pushed me forward saying "She'd love to spell!" Ha. Ha. No. I wouldn't. Spelling is the only subject in school that I was bad at. Seriously. Besides, I had already seen the show and knew what would be coming (part of the funniness of the onstage spellers is that they have no idea what to expect). I told the man I had seen the show before. Now, hopefully, he wouldn't pick me. Show started and, to my relief, I was not called up to be a speller (Mental Yay!). During Pandemonium, a song rant about how the element of luck makes the bee unfair after the word "cow" was given to an audience member, Olive threw a lot of index cards that landed in the house covering the aisle and 1^st and 2^nd row. A bunch landed on me, so I read them (they had one word on them each- words for the bee). At intermission, I collected the cards from the floor and aisle way, making a nice stack, and placed them on the corner of the stage. Why? Well, I thought it would be nice. Plus, actors were going up and down the stage there (one on skates too) and they didn't need to slide on the cards. As intermission was coming to a close, a stagehand walked out of a side door and said, "I heard that someone cleaned up my cards for me, thank you." He then handed me a bag of m&ms. It just goes to show you that, sometimes, good deeds go rewarded…