I was picked up by Forest (Brighten's brother) at three because he was in town at the time, and they wanted to save an extra trip on their, or our part. So it was that I got plucked out of the middle of my father's frenzy to get everything packed for the move to Utah. I was rather glad for the offer, because packing stuff isn't what I usually think of as fun.
I found myself at the Godfrey's in the midst of a frenzy of thier own. It seems the had discovered that a colony of mice had taken up temporary residence in one of their closets. I say temporary, however I doubt if the mice had that in mind when they carefully selected the Godfrey Closet. At any rate, they had hired someone to patch up a hole in the closet, and were having a difficult time instructing him as to what to do while at the same time getting ready for the jaunt to Spring Green. I was, thankfully, excluded from this frenzy, however, since there wasn't really anything I could do.
We finally left at about a quarter to five. I had been assured before hand that we wouldn't actually be leaving at four. That was simply Eric Godfrey's (father/husband of the Godfrey family) optimism speaking, and we probably wouldn't actually leave until half past at the very earliest.
Nothing worth note happened during the several hour trip to Spring Green (how many monumental things usually happen on a car trip?) but we did stop for dinner at a little white school house. I suppose, in the strictest sence of the word, one could call this monumental, because that little white school house is a monument, but...
We arrived at the Player's Theater without a moment to spare (well, maybe a moment or two). Some people would call it 'Perfect Timing' while others would say we 'Cut it too Close'. Either way you prefer, we made it, and didn't miss any of the play.
I had been to 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' on one other occasion (at the Cedar City Shakespearian Festivals in Utah, but that was several years ago, and I had been rather young, perhaps too young to really appreciate it. I could remember bits and peices of it, however, most of it was lost to the hazy places of my memory. This time though, I found it superb. The actors and actresses portrayed their parts splendidly, the seats were good, the acoustics grand, and since the theater was outdoors, that leant an air of authenticity to the production.
There was one problem though. The forecast had called for rain over fourty percent of Wisconsin, and wouldn't you know it, we were in part of that fourty percent. Most people simply pulled on thier rain coats, and settled back in to watch the show. I had a jacket to put on, however it had no hood. I didn't mind that much though. Then it began thundering and lightninging. This, surprisingly leant to the show. There were several places where the crack of thunder broke into the lines at appropriate places, as happens in all those cheesy horror movies.
At one point in the show, Sir John Fastolfe was in a woods appealing to the gods for help. As part of the ritual, he was wearing a helmate with long horns sticking out. At the very moment that his plea reached its climax, there was a bolt of lightning that struck (miles away, of course) right between his horns. It was the only actual lightning bolt to be seen throughout the whole show, and I beleive it was very well placed!
After the show, we tromped back to the car, and left with the flood of people flowing out of the parking lot. Several hours later, we were home.