Oompa Loompa Dupidty Doo - Amelia's Got a Riddle for You!

We've all been there, right? We're sitting in an "informational" parent meeting for the school musical (or insert any other after school activity) and the sign up sheet for volunteers goes around. We're new to my daughter's school this year so I thought helping out with the Middle School Musical would be a good way to meet other parents and do my part. (Yeah, I know, you're thinking I'm soooo naive! And you're right!). Two days later I receive an email from the Director thanking me (and my committee for signing up) and telling them to direct all their questions to Bonita Deering, the Prop Supervisor! Yikes, how did THAT happen? The only thing I can think is that my name had appeared first on the list of parents interested in helping with props. (Note to self, NEVER SIGN UP FIRST!)

The next thing I know, I (and my equally naive committee) were going through a list of items that we needed to procure. A list that included (and I am NOT kidding on this one) a fluglehorn. What in the world is a fluglehorn? You see, my child was an "Oompa Loompa" in the Elgin Academy production of Willy Wonka, Jr. and so for the next two months my life would revolve around the search for all things Wonka.

Long story short (and you know how good I am about that!), it came to opening night of the muscial. Patrick and I were settled in the second row and enjoying the musical when the most horrible feeling of dread came over me. You see, amongst the props I was responsible for were the candy bars WITH and WITHOUT the golden tickets. If you know the story of Charlie Bucket, he opens several Wonka bars BEFORE he finds the one with the golden ticket. AND, I had gone to great pains to put the candy bars WITH the golden tickets in one ziploc bag (labeled accordingly) and the ones WITHOUT golden tickets in another labeled bag. BUT, while sitting in that darkened theatre it struck me that in the chaos of the back stage activities AND middle schoolers being...well, middle schoolers, those candy bars could have been taken out and confused.

Now I'm in a sweaty panic. What if Charlie opens the wrong candy bar. The one he gets for his birthday. When he's supposed to open it, find NO golden ticket and then be serenaded by his family to "Cheer Up Charlie". How misplaced would THAT song be if, in fact, he opened the candy bar to find a GOLDEN TICKET. OMG - it never crossed my mind that I should have marked the individual bars differently so that the actors on stage would know which was which. WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT UNTIL NOW.

So...I spent the twenty minutes between the opening of the first candy bar and the last when, Charlie, in fact, DOES find the golden ticket, feeling nauseous and wondering how popular I would be when word got around that it was Prop Supervisor Bonita Deering who screwed it all up and ruined the Middle School Musical. How would they know, they had my name in big, bold letters listed as PROP SUPERVISOR right in the program for all to see. During those twenty minutes, I'm invisioning having to home school Amelia when she is shunned from all school activities or at the very least being banned from all parental volunteering duties (oh wait, that part might not be too bad! :))

But...thanks to fate and the organizational skills of the wonderful Director, Charlie opened the right candy bar each and every time (in both performances) AND I've been asked to help with props again next year. Wait a minute...maybe this didn't turn out so great after all!