Tie a Tie

I was early for the play. Well, actually, it was the dress rehearsal, but anyway, I was early. I ran my fingers along the costume rack, feeling the different textures. I smelled that delicious smell of Odess Theater, soon to be tainted by the smell of  hairspray and makeup. I heard some of the boys coming in and I decided to put on my makeup before I got my costume on. When I was done, I got on my pants and tucked in my white button up shirt in. I stared blankly at the awful red plaid tie I was supposed to wear.

Olivia Wilcox walked in and I asked, “Olivia! Do you know how to tie a tie? Because I really need some help!”

“Sure,” she said. “Once I get dressed.”

“Phew! Because no one else was here yet and I have no idea what to do!”

She got dressed pretty quickly.

“It’s okay, calm down, I can’t tie it if you’re jumping around!” she told me.

“Can you just do it for me and then I can try it tomorrow?” I asked.

“Sure,” she said.

“First you wrap it around, and then again, and then you bring through, and slip it through,” she muttered as she was doing it.

“Whoah!” I said, amazed.

We then went outside the dressing room to look for Mary Boose, our head costumer, to see if the tie would be sufficient.

“I wonder where she is,” said Olivia.

“Right there,” I said, pointing.

Mary was over by the boys’ dressing room talking to Zeke, our director. We ran up to her and Olivia asked,

“Is this tie alright?”

“Yes, it’s very nice,” she said in her quiet, calm voice.

“Awesome! Thanks!” I said to her.

“Thanks,” echoed Olivia.

“Oh my goodness, thank you so, so, so much!” I exclaimed as we walked away.

“Your welcome,” she said.

“ I figuratively would have died if it wasn’t for you!” I exclaimed, over exaggerating, as usual.

“I would have saved you anyway,” she said in a fake heroic voice.

“My knight in shining armor!” I said, and we collapsed into giggles.

Composing herself, she said, “Of course, my lady,” she bowed.

Then Zeke came out and asked (jokingly), “What is all this noise?”

We started laughing again.

“I just tied her tie for her,” Olivia answered.

“Oh, great! Could you spread the word around that we’re going to do warm-ups in fifteen to twenty minutes?”

“Sure,” we replied.

I think this not only a fun skill to have, but also kind of important. I love acting and am often cast as roles of the opposite gender, so tying a tie might come in handy some day. Yeah, yeah it may not be as important, as say, driving a car, but like I said, it’s fun. The play went well, and we all had fun. There was a cast party afterward and we had fun. I had a great time during The Merry Wives of Windsor!