Around 9:00 this evening Kathy called me from the Racine Theater Guild where she was working in the box office. And here’s how our conversation ensued:
GB: Hello, dear.
KB: You are going to scream.
GB: Huh?
KB: I have to tell you something and when you hear it, you’re going to scream.
GB: Oh no! What?
KB: You’re going to scream.
GB: You said that already. What’s wrong.
KB: You’re going to scream.
GB: Tell me.
KB: (brief pause) You forgot to play for Mount Pleasant tonight at 5.
GB: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARR
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was supposed to play the organ tonight at Mount Pleasant Lutheran Church for Sue Cawley. . . and somehow, both Kathy and I forgot all about it. My memory flub is not exactly an earthshaking surprise, but Kathy’s is headline-making news – and thanks to our mutual amnesia, about forty worshippers at Mount Pleasant had to sing a cappella, and I’m sure were thinking unkind thoughts about me all the while. And what’s worst about it is that there is absolutely nothing I can do about it now, save for good old fashioned groveling for forgiveness. The damage is irreparably done. At least we’re not talking about the death of baby seals or the worsening of the whole in the ozone – but on the other hand, inconveniencing forty people is not exactly the way to be nominated for Man of the Year. And how and to whom do I apologize? I suppose I could point out to them a bit of strange irony- that a couple of months ago, I showed up on a Saturday to play for this same service, only to find Holy Communion’s Randy Fischer already there and ready to play. Somehow, both of us had been asked to play for the service, and I ended up letting him do it and I headed on home. I wish there were some mathematical axiom that would allow today’s gaffe and that unnecessary trip to Mount Pleasant to somehow cancel each other out. But I don’t think it works that way. I’m still up to my eyeballs in deep do-do (or is it doo-doo?) and wishing there was some way out of it.
Suggestions are gratefully appreciated.
And for a bit of deja vu, check out my blog entry for June 4, 2007 in the archive.