A Ticket to Ride
In which I find community and transport through committment.
SHOW GIRL posts are for paid subscribers and will chronicle my experience performing in a local theater guild’s Fall 2024 production of The Music Man—my first foray into musical theater in over 30 years. Get the background here and here, and please consider upgrading your subscription to support my future writing efforts.
I am sitting in the front seat of a truck. I couldn’t tell you the model or make because these are not things I pay attention to. Behind me, three girls between the ages of 8 and 10 seem to have overdosed on Halloween candy. There’s screeching. There’s squealing. There’s lots of wiggling within the confines of one’s seatbelt. While we are not going far—about three miles or 10 minutes—the ride feels endless.
I occasionally turn my head to flash a curious, but not-at-all-bothered smile because I strive to be the cool adult not-at-all bothered by such mayhem. But also, I don’t want to offend the other adult in the car—the driver who is kindly giving me a ride—by expressing my near brain-exploding state lest he not offer to include me in this carpool again.