It was amazing how lost I felt the day after the ice show was over. For six weeks I had done nothing but show things like making the costume, trying to learn how to skate better, going to rehearsals everyday and still trying to run a home and a business. I spent a couple of days letting my blistered feet heal and bemoaning the fact the my showtime was over.
The time came when I needed to call all my clients back that I tried to ignore during the ice show time. Top of the list was Claire. Claire lived in my old neighborhood in Farmington. She had me come and wallpaper her kitchen during all my turmoil with the divorce and my oldest son, Wes, deciding not to speak to me. Nothing like making a complete fool of yourself crying while you are hanging wallpaper in some total strangers kitchen.
She was super however and told me some things she had gone through when she got a divorce. She was married now to a very nice guy who was an attorney for Ford Motor Company. They had two little boys, Jay who was nine and Mark, who was five and was born with Downs Syndrome. She managed to make me feel rather lucky after all she had been through. We had visited a few times before I moved and during the ice show she called to say they had bought a home in Bloomfield Hills that needed a lot of work. One of the reasons they decided to move was that Jim, her husband, had ordered a new car that was delivered to their house. The neighbors instantly became rude to her.
The new house was built in the 60's and had all the possibilities of being a showplace. How many houses have a wrapping closet in the upstairs hall or full servants quarters complete with a kitchen in the basement. It was more than a little mind boggling but I knew it would be fun to do especially because it was Claire and Jim. Who knows whether it was fate or karma that got us together but for both of us it was the beginning of a friendship rather than just a working experience. As they used to say in the New Neighbors League in Kansas City people don't just pop up on your porch and want to be your friend.
Maybe Claire and I were both in the right place and needed a friend.
Out of curiosity I went to the costume sale at the arena the first week in June. All the costumes from the show were the property of Ice Company and the director, Ron Basten, sold some of them at the end of each show. He sold ones he knew he would not use again and evidently had some in storage he would pull out to sell. The gold lame' thing with all the beads that I wore was on sale along with the Toy Soldier ones. I had no intention of buying anything but how could I pass them up especially since I had worked so hard on the gold one.
Ron, who had done quite a bit of yelling, was surprised to see me. When he greeted me by name and told me he was glad to see me I almost fainted. Maybe he remembered me out of a cast of 134 because I was the worst skater. The sale was not very busy that day and we sat and talked for a hour or so. I asked a lot of questions and found out that he had been a US Champion Pairs skater years ago and then skated all over the world with Ice Capades for fifteen years. That made me realize that the format of Southfield's show was the same as Ice Capades with the kiddie number thrown in for new skaters and lots of parents in attendance. He asked a lot about me and by the time I got ready to go home he asked me if I would be interested in being a costume chairman for next year's show. I had not even thought about being in the next show but of course I jumped at the chance.
Charles had told me that he would definitely not be interested in doing another skating show. He did not give me a reason and I did not ask why. I know he was struggling with the skating part but there was something more than that. I think Charles was very homophobic. That was never a subject he and I discussed but I guess it would be difficult to be in a dressing room with twenty some men who were gay. I am not prejudice in any way but that was just how I was taught.
Actually Charles had a very interesting story. He was the son of Jewish Russian immigrants. His father disappeared shortly after he was born and it was just Charles and his Mother. She had a job but it was not enough to really support them. He remembers coming home from school a few times only to find all their belongs on the street because they were evicted. He only had two pair of pants, a couple of shirts and one pair of shoes when he was in high school. So he did not look poor he would wash one pair of pants every night and polish his only pair of shoes. There was never money for movies or anything but if he had a dime he would ride the bus the the Museum of Art and spend the day.
After high school he went to cosmetology school and by the seventies he owned a very successful beauty salon. He married and had two girls and had a nice home and money to go more places than the art museum although he still went on a pretty regular basis. Charles was not any taller than I am and had a small frame. I can imagine because he owned a beauty salon there were those who thought he was gay.
Wally did not like him at first but not liking him had nothing to do with Charles himself. It was perhaps a fear of someone new coming into our lives. But I wasn't ready for anyone more than just a friend. So we would see each other at the skating rink, Charles would come over to see Bowser and feed him expensive cheese and he would take Wally and I to dinner. If Wally was at his Dad's Charles would take me to dinner or to the Museum of Art so I guess we were dating.
When school was out the middle of June I was rather concerned about leaving Wally alone when I had to go to work but a lot of times he would go with me. He learned how to paste and hang wallpaper that summer and we went camping a lot. Living a mile or so from the Detroit Zoo we spent a lot of time visiting with all the animals. All in all it was a very nice laid back summer. That was a good thing as Wally would start middle school in the fall and there a lot of other interesting developments.
Now you see why I titled this the Cast Of Characters. Wally, Bowser, Charles and Claire. There will be lots of adventures and fun with this group.
No comments:
Post a Comment