Question:
I have finally experienced a Mardi Gras parade!
I walked out to Gen De Gaulle last night to view the Cleopatra Krewe.
While walking past all the floats waiting in line I was stopped by
three young teenage girls dressed in costumes and asked for a light.
Gladly I delivered the required flames and instead of thanking me....
they told me I was going to be 'bombed' from float 20. hmmmmm
I forgot about it and continued on to find a wee spot on the street
between a family of young girls with a ladder contraption and an old
man on a lawn chair.
The parade was half an hour late starting. I have the flu and I was
considering going home when the sirens started and the wheels moved -
finally! I waved to everyone and clapped in time with the numerous
high school bands. I worried for the wee cheerleaders trying to avoid
the deposits left by the preceding horses. The floats came along
spasmodically and threw their beads at me.... I was clonked in the
head a few times so I stood back a little. I wasn't quick or
desperate enough to grab the flying trinkets - when I did make eye
contact with someone on a float who threw me something I had to
contend with the clutching hands of the people on either side of me
ripping my prizes from me.
An hour and a half later I ended up with a few strings around my
neck.... but my poor sick aching bones from the flu had me dreaming of
a hot bath and warm sheets. Walking back down the parade route gave
me opportunity to see the different family groups and young people and
how they set up their spaces for comfort and easy access to the
prizes. Kids were holding overflowing plastic Shweggman's bags full
of cups and beads at the same time as screaming for more from the
hyped float riders.
I walked on beads unseen in the grass behind the thronging crowds at
the parade's beginning.... the people thinned out as I continued to
make my way home, beads swinging around my neck.
As I passed by the last few floats, eager women in costumes called out
to me asking if I wanted more beads.... they had been waiting a good
number of hours and hadn't seen the crowds yet. I quickly realized
that if I looked up at them I would be dodging more stuff... so I kept
my eyes down and my pace fast.
In this fashion I passed float 20, completely forgetting the earlier
threat. I heard screams of "The girl with the light!!!" right before
I was hit.... I'm not talking a couple of strings of beads.... these
girls were serious. I was covered in them.... I froze as more and
more stuff rained down on me. All I could do was laugh as they threw
stuffed animals, plastic cups and whole handfuls of beads at my head.
There was no-one around.... just me and the street cleaners in the
distance beginning their first few yards of steaming the street behind
the floats. I couldn't hold everything so I dropped my armfuls to the
grass, waved and yelled "Thank You" to the girls as their float moved
off, and attempted to sort out the beads so I could carry them home
around my neck.
I was carrying pounds and pounds of beads - I could hardly breathe. I
walked slowly, still half a mile before my apartment complex,
listening to the carnival music and cheering crowds in the distance.
Once home I dumped my incredible haul on the living room floor and
just stared at it. What on earth do I DO with these things now??
Yet I found myself craving a bigger pile.... Jason's parade on
Sunday... YES! I'll get MORE beads!
Then if I go into the Quarter I'm sure to find myself with another
neck full. Wait.... I'll take a bag and fill that too!
It doesn't matter that I can't possibly fit them in my suitcase to
take home, and Fred already has a couple of strings around the rear
view mirror in the truck.
NOW I know what the attraction is.... no wonder girls are lifting
their shirts if it means they achieve the ultimate Mardi Gras goal.
The important thing is this addictive and essential Mardi Gras spirit
of collecting more and more beads!!!
Answer:
Glad you could finally check out Mardi Gras. Going for all that stuff is
great, but let me tell you what eventually happens to it. We literally
have over thirty years of beads sitting in the attic. Now if you think
those plastic beads are bad, they used to be made of glass. And if you
fought someone for them, well, they just broke up and nobody won. But
getting pelted by those is a more harrowing experience than the plastics...
Anyway, over time and the heat of a New Orleans attic, those plastic beads
and trinkets melt into a wonderful grand fused mess inside that
Schwegmann's bag sitting on the attic floor. If you don't believe me, some
of you old-timers go up there and look at them.
So, don't ask me why a million people stand out there and make fools of
themselves catching worthless trinkets. ... Hey, what time is the next
parade?
