After the ice, E. Thetford, VT — by Robin Osborne
Welcome to “Dear Daybreak”, a weekly Daybreak column. It features short vignettes about life in the Upper Valley: an encounter, a wry exchange, a poem or anecdote or reflection… Anything that happened in this region or relates to it and that might strike us all as interesting or funny or poignant.
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Dear Daybreak:
Just out of the Lebanon Co-op and more than a little hungry, I got in my car and tried to open a nice new bag of potato chips. I pulled and tugged and was about to resort to using my teeth when there was a knock on the car window. A woman in the next car over had been watching me and now she was holding up a pair of scissors. She, too, finds it hard to open things and always keeps scissors in her car. I should do that, too, she said. And now I do.
— Virginia Barlow, Corinth
Dear Daybreak:
Windstorm
As if the tree’s retort
To the wind was a wide-
Angled projectile
Shooting limbs at squirrels
As if the crush of rain
Embedded frozen droplets
Within my car’s fragile windshield
As if the ice, then snow
Knew to gather in crystals
Upon the whitened tail of a turkey
Clamoring to be warm
As if the fingered sticks
I plucked from my front yard
The morning after
Could tell the tale
— Dave Celone
Dear Daybreak:
Back before the holidays, my wife Anne and I made a point of trying to make it to all of the holiday movies playing for free at our wonderful local theater, The Playhouse, in Randolph. One Saturday afternoon, the movie was “White Christmas” with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye.
As we walked down to the theater, I expected our typical experience at the movies. Some nice, fresh popcorn and sitting in community with at least a handful of others who still believe in seeing movies on the big screen. The cold air and the walk invigorated me on the way down. I was pleased to see that the seats were quite full. I have sat in the theater plenty of times with only a handful of others, so this was already a remarkable day. The smell of popcorn greeted us as we entered the theater. We found our seats, and I went to the concession window for our usual popcorn and a drink. Back in our seats, we chatted with people around us, and everyone seemed to be in a good mood.
The lights dimmed and the movie started to play, but there was no sound. There was a clatter at the back of the theater as Tom, the manager, went upstairs to troubleshoot the problem. The chatter in the audience resumed. An announcement was made that Tom was working on things, but it might take a few minutes. The movie started again several times with the same result. The opening credits rolled silently by and then the actors appeared on screen, mouthing their lines.
One of the board members of the Playhouse got up and talked about upcoming movies, showing off a magnificent white hat that looked like a giant snowball on her head. She was stalling for time, of course, but she did it with style, a sense of humor, and grace. Tom asked for patience as he rebooted the system to try to fix the problem. He is well aware of the first thing that IT always tells you to do - “turn it off and turn it back on again”.
Conversations picked back up. Two young boys (ages 1 and 3) from a family we know in town cavorted at the front of the audience, providing real entertainment as the parents tried to corral them. I was encouraged by the patience demonstrated by the parents, especially once the boys’ attention was drawn to the Christmas tree at the front of the theater. There were plenty of ways for two curious kids to get themselves into trouble.
Tom started the movie again, still trying to determine how to correct the stubborn problem. This time, he let it roll a little further with subtitles turned on. After the opening scene, Bing Crosby was on stage singing “White Christmas”. With the lyrics scrolling across the bottom of the screen, a couple of audience members started singing along. Others joined in, and soon the song could be heard clearly throughout the theater. Just as we started in on a second chorus, the sound magically turned on. The crowd cheered and clapped. Tom started the movie from the beginning, this time with sound, and we all settled back to enjoy the show. No one got mad. A few people left, but the majority of us waited things out. We watched the antics of the two young boys, talked to friends, neighbors, and even to strangers. We all sang together in this community building that has been showing movies since 1919. We laughed at the old movie, marveled at the elaborate dance numbers, and all clapped at the end. Even though it was a small thing in a small town in Vermont, it felt a little like a Christmas miracle.
— Jon Kaplan, Randolph
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