A Night Of Firsts

I was twelve and my sister, Sylvia, was thirteen.  I was in sixth grade and I wanted to go with my school to see a performance of the Young People’s Symphony, put on at the civic auditorium.  It was at night time and we were going on a bus.  I really wanted to go.  I had never been to a music performance and I had never been to the symphony.  My teacher, Mr. Cassinelli, had talked it up.  It was the first time the symphony was putting on a performance for kids and if it wasn’t popular, they wouldn’t do it again.  Mr. Cassinelli said we were responsible for making it popular so that other kids could enjoy it in the future.

My parents wouldn’t let me go.  I kept asking them and pleading until finally, they said I could go if I would pay for the bus and the performance out of my babysitting money and if Sylvia could go with me.  I would have to pay for her to go, too.  I really wanted to go so I said I would pay for us with my money but I didn’t know if the school would let Sylvia go because she didn’t go to that school anymore.  The next day, I told Mr. Cassinelli and he said he would talk to Mr. Baker, the Principal,  and get permission for Sylvia to go.  He promised he would make it okay.  After lunch, Mr. Cassinelli told me that Mr. Baker had said it was okay as long as we had a permission slip for Sylvia.

The plan was to take the bus to the civic for the performance and then, on the way back to school, the bus would stop so we could have a snack at a new place that had just opened on Story Road.  We hadn’t been there and I knew we wouldn’t be going there for a long time because we never got to go eat any place.  My parents always said it was too expensive for the nine of us to go.  There weren’t a lot of these food places yet.  They sold hamburgers and fries and shakes.  They were called McDonald’s.  I was excited to be going there; almost as excited as I was about going to the concert, but there was one problem.  I was spending all my money to pay for Sylvia and I to see the concert and ride the bus.  I didn’t have money to buy anything to eat or drink at the McDonald’s.  I was afraid everyone would laugh at me.  First they would laugh because my sister had to go with me then because we had no money for the McDonald’s afterwards.  But I really wanted to go to the symphony performance so I figured Sylvia and I could just pretend that we had money but didn’t want anything to eat or drink.

The night of the field trip, our parents surprised us.  They gave us each fifty cents to spend.  We had a dollar between the two of us.  I was glad because we could show we had money but we didn’t want anything.  I didn’t think fifty cents would buy us very much at a restaurant but I didn’t know because we never went to any restaurants.  Maybe we could buy a soda.  I was going to the symphony.  We would get dressed up because the letter to parents said we had to wear something nice to the performance.  I was so excited that it didn’t even matter that my friends would make fun of me because my big sister had to go with me and because we didn’t have money to spend like the others did.

At the symphony, the Conductor came out and talked to us before the music began.  He told us about the music we would be hearing and about the instruments.  He introduced each instrument we would hear and the sound each would make.  He talked a little about a crescendo and a vibrato and pizzicatto and other musical techniques we would hear that night and each was demonstrated or us.  I knew a little about the techniques he spoke about because I had taken violin lessons for one year at school when I was in third grade.  Everyone around us behaved.  We could hear every word the Conductor said and no one clapped when they weren’t supposed to.

Then came the music. I loved it. The symphony played songs from Peter and the Wolf and other familiar compositions. Then they played the Beatles’ “I Am the Walrus” and everyone enjoyed hearing it by the symphony instead of the way we knew it by the Beatles. The tuba made interesting sounds, supposedly like a walrus. Then it was over. We all waited for the Conductor’s wand to stop moving, like he had taught us. Then we applauded. We had all been well-behaved and the Conductor and the musicians applauded us!

On the way home, the bus took us to McDonald’s. Sylvia and I were both hungry. We decided to put our money together. With our one dollar, we bought a hamburger, a small order of fries, and a small soda. We shared it all. We pretended that we had more money but weren’t that hungry. We pulled it off. We sat at a table with a bunch of my friends and we laughed and talked and ate our food. Everyone put their food together and shared. We got more like that, at lest Sylvia and I did. My friend Letty even let me taste her milkshake. I liked McDonald’s. The smell of the French fries was so good. My mother never made French fries so we rarely ate them. I only had them in the cafeteria at school. I worked in the school cafeteria every day during fifth and sixth grade so that I could get a free lunch. That’s when I first tasted French fries. And catsup! We never had that at home so it was very special. The hamburger was okay but not great. It only had one little slice of a pickle. I loved pickles but the slice on our hamburger was on Sylvia’s half so I didn’t get it.

That first visit to McDonald’s was the highlight of the memorable evening of firsts which was the first of many visits to McDonald’s and the first of several visits to the symphony.