A first

I played a concert last night.  That in itself is somewhat unusual, although it has become less so these last few months.  I was just playing along, enjoy the beautiful Gluck and thinking that my fingers are at last remembering how to play the viola.  It was a very nice feeling.  We came to the end of a phrase, and I had to quickly put my mute on.  As I did so...was I not careful in my haste?  was it the heat of the lights and things?  was it leaning already and I hadn't noticed?  Whatever it was, let me tell you that if your bridge ever pops out in the middle of a concert, it makes a terrific noise and you immediately become the center of attention.  I not-very-discreetly left the stage, and looked the situation over.  Fortunately, the bridge hadn't broken and the soundpost hadn't fallen, so it was a matter of a couple of minutes to put the bridge back in place, tighten up the strings, locate someone's tuner and tune, and re-tune, and
re-tune...and I was not-so-discreetly back onstage shortly after the beginning of the next piece.  After about 30 seconds, I had to avoid all open strings until the opportunity came to tune again, but things could've been a lot worse.