On my road trip driving over from California to Colorado six weeks ago, one of the CDs I listened to the most was an old album of Meredith Brooks, “Deconstruction”. One of my favorite songs from this album is “Sin City” and I still listen to it very often, sometimes on repeat. I really like the tune and lyrics of the whole song, but the chorus has a particular pull on me and I often enjoy singing just the refrain to myself.
I love to sing (although this thyroid issue is making it harder on my throat) and since the pandemic I have started doing so more often in public places that are wide open and where I feel nobody will really notice me (or I won’t really bother anyone).
I was doing so today as I walked through the hospital’s parking-lot after getting blood tests done — singing the refrain from Meredith Brooks song “Sin City” over and over totally unselfconsciously. And when I got to my car, I just sang one more round, thinking there was nobody nearby. But then, when I finished, I heard a voice from right behind me say, “Thank you”. At first I didn’t turn around, I was partly embarrassed and partly convinced it wasn’t directed at me. But then the voice came again: “Thank you — Hello!?”. So I turned around and saw this person in their car right next to where mine was parked, smiling and reaching out of their window to give me a yellow flower. “That was lovely” they said as they handed me the yellow flower. “Here, this is for you, a flower of peace”.
It made my day.
The Little Prince and the Fox 