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Think of that family. So large, you say, so many boisterous and talented children (rule-benders as well as Straight Arrows; take your pick depending on birth order.)
In the many years of ballyhooed togetherness, there was exactly one occasion when we played together, as a group. This is nuts, you'll say. But it's true—and it happened a year before the sixth one was born, so only five of us played together—and only once in 18 years. That I can remember, of course.
We were alone, at 12, 10, 8, 6, and 5. Who would leave this gang of sprouts alone, these disparate, unassimilated strangers forced by birth into the same space? Well, our parents did that Sunday afternoon. They went--where? To a wedding. A funeral. An anniversary party. (Our town was big on celebrating milestones: twenty-five years of marriage warranted a formal photographic portrait in the local paper and a gathering of family and friends for coffee and cookies.) Well, for whatever reason they left us at home.
The 12-year old was left in charge and, taking his responsibility seriously, he came up with the day's activity: we would put on a play.
I remember: finding costumes (the house was full of fancy clothes, vintage clothes, clothes that once fit someone and now fit no one); setting up a curtain between the living room and the dining room (a double-wide space that probably once had sported French doors), using a blanket and a broomstick; a strong sense of working toward a common purpose, something so rare in the family that it could have been called non-existent. I remember excitement as we prepared. I remember the clamour when the parents came through the front door and all of us at once told them what we'd been doing and invited them to sit down immediately and watch our play.
I do NOT remember one single thing about the nature of the play or who played what role—only that the drama (surely a comedy, given the family genes) offered parts for each of us, even the five-year-old.
This singular day made me so happy that I have remembered the feeling—if not the particulars—ever since. Just imagine how different things might be if playing together had been the rule and not the exception!
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