ERNIE AND ERNESTINA: The Writer, His Wife, and their Afterlife

Book One, Part One, Chapter 47: Opening Night

Joshua auditions for Anything Goes and comes back that night with a splitting headache. A few days later Mr. Walsh, his drama teacher and the play’s director, posts the cast list. Joshua’s given two roles: The Bishop, with a few lines, and Navy Man, part of the chorus of singers and dancers.

“I wanted a bigger role,” he tells us. “I wanted the lead.”

“Keep at it. You’ll get a lead soon enough,” Ernie says.

“It’s your first audition, Joshua, your first play,” I say. “It’s unrealistic to think you’d get the lead.”

“Nobody else has any more experience than I do. . . . Well, there is Jerod. His father directs the city’s ballet company, and his mother’s the lead ballerina. I guess Jerod has more stage experience than I do. He probably played a toy soldier in The Nutcracker. And some of the guys and gals have really great voices.”

Every weekday, Joshua gets up at four a.m. to throw papers, then comes back for a short nap before awakening again at seven to get ready for school. He washes dishes at the pasta shop after school, and now heads back to school in the evening for rehearsals. One night, because the Benz is on the blink, he walks home in the rain carrying his bishop’s costume over his shoulder. Some distant part of my mind realizes he’s on overload, but . . .

On Opening Night, Ernie and I sit in the first row of the balcony. In the row behind us is Mr. Walsh, and sitting next to him are Jerod’s parents — the ballet director and the ballerina. Early in the show, Joshua strides on stage in the flowing white robe of the bishop and, in the bishop’s booming voice, delivers his lines. Later, in sailor whites, he dances the Charleston, criss-crossing his long arms before his knees — making his knees look wavy — and singing as he dances. What a marvel. I didn’t know he could dance, too.

With the cast taking its final bow, Ernie, clapping enthusiastically, turns to me. “I think Joshua’s found his role in life.” Then he turns to face Bill Walsh, who’s on his feet, still clapping. “Congratulations on a great show,” Ernie says to him. “By the way, I’m Joshua’s father.”

It’s the first time Ernie’s ever introduced himself in just this way.