Last week, my students at Windham Christian Academy, AKA the LOL Juggling Team, were scheduled to be part of dinner and a show at the Root Cellar in Lewiston, Maine's second largest city.  The Root Cellar is, basically, an inner city mission in a neighborhood that, as the director explains it, is a combination of African immigrants and refugees and post-Catholic Franco-Americans. It is in a very low income neighborhood. My home church, Bridgton (ME) Alliance, would be sending up a team of about a dozen to prepare a meal for the families who live there.

Then there were problems with the school 15 passenger van.  Less than 24 hours before the gig, I was told not to drive it, and it was time to scramble.  In the end, I did the show that night, and LOL will take my turn there later this winter.  The van problems, of course, didn't effect the cooks from Bridgton Alliance, so things ended up coming together pretty well. 

The cooks were already there when I arrived, and they were already whipping up Moroccan stew, salad, corn bread and more.  After setting up my show, there was time to kill as I had gone straight there  from work. As often happens there when there is a community event, kids began gathering at the double glass doors quite early.  I enjoyed entertaining them from the inside (We were not to let anyone in early) with some magic and basic juggling.  Of course, I saved my better material for the show itself.

Once the door opened, the families came in and settled down at the tables.  An estimated 40 to 50 people were there.  Some were white, but many were first generation Africans.  The little Muslim girls in there colorful head scarves were beautiful.  Other African families were Christian, but they were all neighbors enjoying a community meal.  Before starting, a teenager named Ali told me he would sit up front and figure out every trick I did.  After producing a live dove from a tray and crystal boxes of flowers from a paper bag, Ali was literally holding his head repeating, "How'd you do that?" over and over.  I love it when an old guy like me humbles the younger generation. 

I did a 30 minute show, and we all had fun.  It was especially nice for me to be there with members of my rural, home church: teens, men, women.  As I drove home, I realized that, having to cut the show to 30 minutes was easier for me than it would have been for LOL, and the time I had to wait was, too.  When LOL takes my turn at the Root Cellar, it will be for a different program in which they will get to do their full 50 minutes, and not have as much down time prior to going on (twenty-two 7th and 8th graders don't 'wait patiently', very well.)  So, in the end, the last minute changes were probably all for the best.