The Place: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
The Date: circa 1975
The Event: My elementary school's pageant "A Year of Holidays"
There I was, one of three second graders chosen to sing one of the Thanksgiving songs. Me and the other two "Indians" were dressed to the nines in our big brown mens T shirts that were cut into fringe along the bottom and braids with feathers sticking out of them.
We stepped up to the front of the stage, the lights dimmed, the spotlight trained on us and the crowd settled into an awed silence as we began to sing.....
Come let's play we're big tall Indians creeping everywhere
Through the woods and thickest forest looking for a bear
We are hungry for some bearmeat Hi Hi Ho Hi Hi Ho!
Bearmeat good and we must find some Hi Hi Ho Hi Hi Ho!
Well, actually, just the two other Indians sang. I don't know if it was nerves or the realization that we were about to perform a really stupid song, but I erupted into a laughing fit. We're talking hysterical, tears running down my face, my stomach hurts, I can't stop LAUGHTER! Amazingly though, as soon as the song ended, so did the laughter and I quietly returned to my spot in the chorus so that the Christmas people could take center stage.
But the doody hit the fan when we got back to our classroom. Right in front of the whole class, my blue cotton-candy haired witch of a teacher announced, "Boys and girls, you will all stand up and thank Tracy for
ruining the pageant". And the evil little brats DID!
