D'oh! Re, Mi...

The Reds and I went to Cobourg Beach this morning. Waiting for Mark's parents to arrive, the boys raced up the stairs of the empty bandshell, eager to give me their precious and always adorable rendition of "The ABC Song."

Laughing, proud and wishing I'd remembered my camera, I urged them to try "Do Re Mi" from The Sound of Music, but Ganny and Haha appeared, and my request got lost in all the excitement.

No matter. Ganny snapped a few photos of the giddy pair, while I stood below. Turned to see a dad and daughter duo - she, about two, blond hair, angelic face. He - confident, tall, fit: "Cop. Detective, " flitted through my mind and I smiled a greeting.

"I'm trying to convince them to perform some Sound of Music stuff, but they're just not co-operating," I explained and then grinned as his daughter marched up the stairs to her father's encouraging calls for "Encore, Encore!"

"Oh, really?" he smiled back, something like recognition sparking in his eyes.

"Do Re Mi, actually," I offered, "I'm trying to teach them hand motions but...well...they run amok too much!"

"Have you seen the show?"

"Yes, I have. Just last week, as a matter of fact!" Me: Happy to be able to answer in the affirmative, instinctively wanting to please.

"Did you enjoy it?"

"I did - it was awesome! Although, Captain von Trapp was extremely disappointing, I must say."

"Which production did you see?"

"Uh...a matinee, last Wednesday. She was incredible, the girl playing Maria."

"Yes, Elicia won the contest."

Mr. Cop's eyes were now firmly focused on my face, causing me to babble nervously on:

"I was worried that "Edelweiss" would be forever ruined for me, by this Captain von Trapp, but he utterly saved it. He had a beautiful voice. He just couldn't act."

"Hmmm...really. Do you remember his name?"

"Um, well, no. But he had dark hair and is American, apparently."

"Burke." With absolute certainty he rocked back on his heels, crossing his arms, eyes now on his daughter, but waiting, or so it seemed to me, for me to say more.

"So, you've seen the show, obviously!" I smiled, conspiratorally.

Slight dramatic pause.


"I'm in it."

(Well, shit. Doesn't that just freakin' figure?)

BIG dramatic pause while I willed my cheeks NOT go up in flames and mimicked his stance, as if I could care less that I was just, as usual, wanting the Earth to open up and swallow me whole.

"Really?" I asked, in what I hoped was a casual tone, not the high-pitched, panicked, shrieking one reverberating in my brain. "Who do you play?"

(Please, please, please God, do NOT let him say that HE'S Captain von Trapp....please!!!!!)

"I play The Admiral."

At my confused look, (mostly, I was so relieved that he wasn't the Captain, that if he'd told me that he was Brad Pitt, I'd likely have worn the same expression) he explained that he plays Admiral von Schreiber, the man responsible for giving Captain von Trapp his orders to report following the Salzburg Festival. I remembered Swastika-laden flags suddenly appeared in the audience - a chillingly effective and oddly poignant moment during the production.

We chit-chatted a bit longer (well, he chatted, I gushed, because holy crap, what the heck else wasI gonna do?) and then I escaped to the playground, mentally cursing.

Why, why, why do these things always seem to happen to me? What are the freakin' chances that an actor in a Toronto show that I've only just seen, would be at the Cobourg Beach, just in time for me to open my stupid mouth about it?

In my world? Seems the chances are pretty good.

Sheesh.