This Side Up

Opera and the iPad

By John Howell
Posted 11/10/15

“What’s going to happen, Peppy?”

It’s not what I expected from Alex, who with her twin sister, Sydney, spent the night with me Saturday.

It was 9:30 p.m. and past their bedtime, but …

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This Side Up

Opera and the iPad

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“What’s going to happen, Peppy?”

It’s not what I expected from Alex, who with her twin sister, Sydney, spent the night with me Saturday.

It was 9:30 p.m. and past their bedtime, but neither had moved since I turned on the television.

I had no idea what we would watch and started flipping through the channels. I didn’t go far before landing on “Great Performances” and the first act of the New York Metropolitan Opera’s performance of Gaetano Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore. I paused, expecting a chorus of complaints. Instead, I found the girls reading the subtitles. Surely they would tire of all this singing in Italian.

I expected them to get out their iPads and play Minecraft. But this comic story – which is more about the singing than the plot – of the village beauty Adina and the amicable Nemorino, and his mad crush for her, had captivated them.

Opera was the furthest thing from my plan to keep them entertained while Ted and Erica joined friends in Boston. After deciding which beds they wanted to sleep in and dropping off their pillow cases of “favorite” stuffed animals that had to come along, I figured I’d let them choose where they’d like to go out for dinner.

Carol was out of town at a church conference in Cincinnati, so this was going to be my big chance to be grandpa. Erica suggested pizza and even volunteered to pick one up on the way over to the house, so I thought I should start there.

“Shall we go out for pizza?” I asked, making it sound that this was dining at the Four Seasons.

The girls didn’t need to answer, but before crossing off Italian cuisine, I suggested chicken parmesan, garlic bread and pasta.

That didn’t generate any enthusiasm, either. I went through the list, offering Mexican, Chinese and even Vietnamese food. There was a lot more indecision with nothing as an obvious choice. It looked like it was up to me, so I said, “Let’s go to Chick-fil-A.”

Carol and I took them there the week the place opened. It was pouring and it was mobbed. I left them in the car and finally returned with a couple of orders of chicken nuggets and waffle fries.

“Maybe we’ll get a seat,” Sydney volunteered. I quickly agreed before the twins could change their minds.

We found seats and, as it turned out, I got much more than the salad I ordered.

Being with grandkids and their parents and being with them alone are two entirely different experiences. Both are fun.

We found a corner table across from a table where a couple of kids about their age were waiting for their mother to return with their order and alongside another table with three teenagers – a boy, who was showing off, and two girls. All three of them were holding smart phones and, between texting and taking selfies, taking bites of sandwiches.

The twins opened their bags and pulled out chicken strips and waffle fries.

“You’re going to need forks,” I suggested. Their mother would have thought of that, but I hadn’t.

“I’ll get them,” Sydney offered, sliding out from behind the table. She knew exactly where to find them.

We all started digging in. There was silence for a moment, but not for long.

The kids across for us were trying of their wait, slumping in their seats and pushing off the table with their feet. Furniture was moving and edging into the space of other customers.

The twins ventured there would be hell to pay when their mother returned. But that scene didn’t have the entertainment value of the teens, who were in a world of their own.

Sydney leaned across the table and whispered, “Peppy, did you hear that, they’re trying to make faces like gargoyles?” Alex and Sydney cast occasional glances and giggled. The teens kept taking selfies of their protruding tongues.

The girls got ice cream cones, but we weren’t ready to leave. Sydney and Alex slowing licked their cones following the two shows playing out. And then before leaving, they wanted to try out the kids’ room with its slide. Once was enough.

“It stinks up there,” Alex announced. Sydney agreed.

Back in the car they announced, “It was fun.”

Clearly the food wasn’t the attraction. I was learning what going out to dinner is all about for a nine-year old.

Back at the house we launched into the one pre-planned activity of the visit. The twins wanted to make applesauce. I got out the peelers and we gathered the trash bin, accidentally dropping more than one nearly peeled apple into the trash.

Sydney knew just what to do. She pulled them out and washed them off.

With a pot half full of cut up apples, we added a little water, some salt and sugar. After boiling for five minutes, I turned off the concocting and handed out mashers. In another five minutes we were eating spoons of warm applesauce.

Then came the surprise of the evening, the opera.

The twins made it halfway through the second act before deciding it was time to go to bed – they made that determination. I was impressed. We went up, found the strategic locations for night-lights, and exchanged hugs and kisses.

The next morning they both wanted to know what happened. Did Nemorino win Adina’s heart, had the elixir [we called it magic portion] worked?

I asked them what they liked most about the opera. The girls were in agreement – “the story and the singing.”

For me, it was not having them turn on their iPads.

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