Why.....

SaturdayMorningComingDown*
MyTown

.....Can Art Make You Weep?

Truth be told, I have no idea.

But it happened this morning.

And I never saw it coming as I was driving north along that not-quite-banal stretch of Renfrew where the land dips below the mountain view just before you get to the PNE.

My youngest kid, E, was strapped in the back of the VW (notso)microbus banging away on our travel version of hungry hippo, her tap shoes lying on the seat beside her.

I was fiddling with the radio up front while simultaneously trying to coax a few, last drops of yesterday's cold coffee out of a blue thermos mug with the 'Roche' logo on the side scratched off (on purpose).

As we climbed back out of the frog's hollow, a car shot out of the side street, maybe it was Adanac. It really didn't come close to hitting us but I pulled out my best Phil Hartmanesque 'caveman lawyer' voice anyway and yelled, 'What are you - Drunk?'

This caused E to look up from her non-digital hand-ear coordination game and ask 'Why did you say that Dad?".

I told her not to worry. I was only joking.

Like I said already, the scene was not... quite.... banal.

But as the old Arthur Black timeslot drew to a close, Brent Banbury quit his snappy snarking on the radio and played a long, looping, live version of Damien Rice's lullaby titled 'Eskimo'.

God, it was beautiful; especially the cello and the soaring voices.

So I drove slowly on purpose and even went around the block a couple of times, risking the wrath of the tap dance teacher, just to make sure we could listen to all of it.

I parked on Kaslo right near Tom and Jerry's, the diner where all the cops go, and pulled back the sliding door, popped E out of the carseat, and swung her, carousel-like, to the ground underneath the cherryblossoms.

****

We walked hand-in-hand towards Hastings behind a tottering old lady in overcoat and stockings who was having some difficulty walking, either because of a wobbly heel on her scuffed velvet grandma pumps or a very sore ankle - E thought it was the latter, and whispered as much to me.

As we passed her E looked up at the lady, squinted into the sunlight, and smiled.

It only took a moment for the lady's mask of pain and worry to slide away so that she could smile back.

Me?

I had to glance away.

To look for my eskimo friends and to hide the tears of joy in my eyes.


______
Apologies to JR Cash and Driftglass

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