The Spice of Life

By the time intermission was over, Lora and Ellie were pretty much exhausted, but they didn't want to admit it to themselves. Lora went into a frenzy during "Spice Up Your Life," which is actually a pretty decent tune, but as soon as it was over, she crumpled to the ground and nearly fell asleep. And although she was hit by another jolt of adrenaline during the encore, the results were problematic; she danced so hard that she wound up tumbling backward down the hill and bumping her head. It wasn't much of an injury--at first, she laughed at it. An instant later, though, she started to scream, and this time it wasn't for joy. Feeling left out, Ellie then walked into my elbow and began to cry as well.

After helping our daughters get themselves under control again, Deb and I suggested that we leave and were pleasantly surprised when they didn't protest. We were almost back to our car, flanked by other parents who looked as relieved as we were to be escaping a few minutes early, when we happened across two teenagers in punk-rock regalia. The first of them, a boy with a buzz cut, held two homemade signs: "Anti-Spice" and "Save the Planet: Kill a Spice Girl." But Lora and Ellie were oblivious to them. They were asleep as soon as they hit the backseat, no doubt dreaming of sugar--and Spice.