Magical Sunday Night

Moon rising behind my house

Tonight is the last night of the Montreal 27th Jazz Festival and my son the B-Boy has asked me to come see his final show. I have avoided going to the previous shows with various excuses (I'm busy, the dog is sick, it's raining, etc.) but now I'm like a cornered rat: no more excuses, no way out.

It turned out to be not too bad. His venue was a bit out of the way, so there was no huge mass of people milling about, ready to crush me, like I feared. After the show, I decided to walk home. I live quite a long way from the Festival location, but I was wearing confortable shoes and I had my mp3 player and earphones on, so I survived the ordeal. But that super long walk made me realize how nice Montreal can be in the summer. The roads were full of cars, inching along bumper to bumper, many of them adorned with the Italian flag. They were honking incessantly, their passengers hollering and whooping in celebration of Italy's victory over France. Pedestrians on the sidewalks were waving and clapping, huge grins on every face. A frigging traffic jam at night and the ambiance was loving kindness all around.

Lots of tourists, of course, but also lots of local couples walking hand in hand. The girls all had big frizzy hair and they were wearing low hanging mini skirts and super short tops, revealing adipose hips and distended bellies. The rule seemed to be: the bigger the belly, the barer it was. Their wedged high heels made their feet look like hooves, and they had a cellphone pressed to their ear. And their voices! Even with my earphones on and the volume turned on high, I could still hear their high-pitched nasal voices and their shrieking laughs over the honking and yelling from the traffic. You'd think the boyfriends would look at them with revulsion and nausea, but no, they smiled on their girls adoringly, so I guess I'm just an old coot.

As I approached my house, suddenly all the circumstances converged to create a perfect moment. There was an evening breeze and the moon was out: huge, with a tinge of orange and hanging low in the sky. I was alone in the street and the mp3 player hit a Beatle song, so I was able to sing out loud:

You say you've seen seven wonders
And your bird is green,
But you can't see me,
You can't see.....MEEEEEEE!!!!

Picture: http://home.arcor.de/moonlight-shadowcastle/