Ten-Seventeen and a Piece of Hard Candy.

I only got $10.17 and a piece of hard candy by the end of the day. Minus the bus fare and that’s only $8.32 and a piece of candy. So this evening, and a chilly one it was, we went to this subway station – not even sure what the name of it was. I took out my guitar as she made sure my case stayed wide open – there had to be a big enough space for passersby to throw some coins in, maybe even bills if I’m lucky; no money means no food. Phoebe, well I call her Pheebs, laid out a sheet on the ground and as we tried to get comfortable on the shoeprint stained floor, a TTC streetcar stopped right infront of us. Quickly, I got my act together and drew in a deep breath. The words flowed out of my mouth as quickly as they entered my brain; a melody escaped from somewhere deep inside of me, so rich it was that I wanted to cry. I didn’t have to think anymore; all of my worries and problems drifted away. But soon, it hit me that I was probably singing too softly against the monstrous roar of the subway trains; I guess that would explain why there was nothing in the case yet.

Pheebs said that she needed to leave; for once, her mother was expecting her home for dinner. I said okay and that was that. You could say that I felt kinda nervous alone but the more I sang, the more I began to relax. That was when I started noticing things. Some people were walking by so quickly, I knew right away that they must have had a destination in mind. It was easier to tell the tourists apart from the regular people who live in this city. Tourists had maps and would always carry either a confused or excited expression, while the regulars would just have a blank expression. They knew they couldn’t go anywhere, they knew they were stuck here, unlike the tourists. I only got $10.17 and a piece of hard candy by the end of the day. But I guess that’s not so bad for a rookie like me. Maybe Pheebs and I will go again tomorrow.

(written October 14th, 2009)