Oh, The Drama...

This all happened at the opera tonight.

Two crazy ladies.  I will call them Lady A and Lady B.  Lady A was sitting right next to me.  Lady B was one row ahead and two chairs over. Both of an older generation, we'll say.

Phone rings behind us during Act 1.  No one is turning it off.

Lady A, full voice:  Will you turn that off, please?! (I agreed with her on this one).

A little bit later, I decide I am a little peckish, and ready for my power bar.  I get it out and unwrap, very carefully, and very quietly.  I can barely hear it myself.

Lady B: SHHH! (Remember, she is one row ahead and two seats over).  I am so surprised that I stop eating.  But was annoyed just the same.

In the meantime, Lady A very nearly clocks me in the face with her cane as she is moving it from one side the other.  She doesn't even notice.  Then a little while later, back on my side, her can falls on my foot.  No big deal.  I give it back to her and smile as she apologizes.

Then, Lady A starts to go into her bag for a snack, rustling a plastic bag softly.  Lady B turns her head a bit; I can tell she is annoyed.  Two seats on the other side of me, my roommate Karen opens another bag, quietly, for a snack herself.  Lady B PLUGS HER EAR.  She has the hearing of a dog.  Need I remind you we are OUTDOORS.  It is totally acceptable to eat during an outdoor, taped event.  I am just enjoying watching her get all out of sorts, plugging her own ear and looking thoroughly put out that TWO people in this world are deciding to eat at the same time.

Climax: Act 3.  Lady B's umbrella falls back behind her chair, on to Lady A's foot.  All hell breaks loose.  Full voice:

Lady A: Ow!
Lady B: I'm sorry. (Reaches behind to pick up umbrella.)
Lady A: You just HIT me so HARD with that!
Lady A: (Picks up umbrella as if to give it back, then thrusts it away from Lady B, over toward ME).
???
 I pick it up, and hand it to Lady B without saying a word.  The woman who shushed me an hour before. 
Lady B: It FELL.
Lady A: Shut up.
Me: (What. Just. Happened.  And why did I love it SO MUCH??  Night made.)

Oh, and by the way, we were watching a prerecorded taping of the Metropolitan Opera's Aida.  Outside in the glorious Labor Day evening on the Lincoln Center Plaza.  No biggie.  Just a summer night in the NYC.  :-)

It was amazing.  I seriously love all there is to do in NYC in the summertime.  And I love old lady New Yorkers.  I can't decide what part of the evening I enjoyed more, honestly.

SHUT UP.