For a number of years, near the city where I live, there was a ten-day celebration around mid-summer that celebrated the settlement of the American West. It involved Native Americans, cowboys, gunslingers, a circled wagon train, craftsmen making everything from saddles to brooms, stagecoach rides, panning for gold, and frontier cuisine at the food stands. There was a theatrical presentation each night depicting the history of the West in song and dance. Local singers and dancers rehearsed for weeks in preparation. And there was even a professional dance group from a neighboring city who would come and participate in the presentation each year. Patrons would come from almost every state in the nation, and local schools totally enjoyed the historical nature of the event–even if it was in the middle of summer and school was not in session. I admit, I am a history buff, so I volunteered my time each year (along with dozens of other local people) to make it all happen. Over the years, I worked in food booths, running errands, constructing the frontier street, clean up efforts, taking a part in the production to replace a cast member who had a last minute emergency, and just working wherever I was needed–enjoying every minute of the time spent there. One year, I was given the assignment of cleaning the dressing rooms for the theatrical performers each night. There was one room for the male cast, one for the female cast, and two rooms for the male and female members of the professional dance group. (Over the years, I had gotten to know most of the professional dancers quite well, since many of them returned each year. They were a fun-loving group, and took delight in playing small pranks on the local cast members and each other. It made for some exciting and frustrating situations during rehearsals.) After the performance one night, I waited patiently for the participants to change out of their costumes, then began to clean the dressing rooms. I finished the men’s dressing room, but as usual, there were some stragglers in the women’s dressing room. I noticed the light was off in the men’s dressing room for the professional dancers, and decided to clean that room next.
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