With so few suitable days remaining in the season, I ventured out on Monday despite the cool temperature. It was just 60 degrees, and the sparse crowds at Bethesda Fountain wore hats, coats and scarves. Singing in the sun kept me warm.<\/p>\n
A trio of Italians got off their bikes near me and started to take pictures. The boats on the lake, fall colors on the far shore, and crystal blue sky above complemented the brick, stone and bronze of the place. As the others remounted, a young man came toward me and placed a dollar in my case. It lay there alone for some time until a thin elderly woman got up off the bench to add a handful of quarters.<\/p>\n
Barreling down the path came a large group of teenagers. \u201cHave you guys got time for a hula today?\u201d There was a scrum for leis, then the kids lined up and danced to \u201cThe Hukilau Song.\u201d They were 8th graders from Gloucester, NJ, and were in no hurry at all. After the dance, the group colonized the grassy hill beyond the benches, tossing a frisbee, snacking, and generally slacking off until their next activity. Three times, a gaggle of girls broke away and asked to dance again. For variety, I played \u201cMy Little Grass Shack\u201d and \u201cHonolulu Eyes,\u201d but the last group of girls wanted to go to the hukilau again. All told, I collected $2 and change. Two unaffiliated boys of the same age had been sitting by the fountain to watch the show. When the group finally gathered to leave, the boys each gave me a dollar.<\/p>\n
Maybe because there were so few tourists today, I became aware of some new presences. A tall, muscular man in jeans and a tee shirt walked slowly around the fountain, asking loudly who had accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior; he offered baptism right then and there. A man set up on the opposite side of the fountain with a microphone and tape recorder. He was lip-syncing to Frank Sinatra\u2019s \u201cNew York, New York.\u201d <\/p>\n
I was packing up to leave when the saxophone player sat down near me. \u201cAre you coming or going?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all yours,\u201d I said. <\/p>\n
He rolled his eyes toward Frank. \u201cThere\u2019s something new here every day,\u201d he said, warming up with scales. As I walked away, I heard the sax\u2019s rendition of \u201cNew York, New York,\u201d a jazzy fortissimo. Frank didn\u2019t stand a chance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"