It was a cool day, 60 degrees, if that.\u00a0 Yet I went to the park anyway.\u00a0 There wasn\u2019t much new growth since my last outing…the opposite, in fact.\u00a0 The dead daffodils were a little browner, the mauve tulips drooped to the ground, dead, the colorless stems of the remaining tulips deader still.\u00a0 Pansies and South African daisies were holding up; the fritillaria?\u00a0 Dead.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The mood in the park was decidedly down.\u00a0 No Beatle tunes at the Imagine Mosaic; it was change of shift for the guitarists.\u00a0 An old woman, homeless, slept on a small patch of lawn between some azaleas and the road.\u00a0 Across the road, a young man in a hoodie combed through the trash for bottles and cans.\u00a0 Before the day was over, the police would announce that 2 bodies had been pulled from Central Park lakes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A young man on his cell phone was plucking references from his resume in response to the voice on the other end of the call.\u00a0 He was confident that he could make a contribution to the future of (insert name of hedge fund here).\u00a0 At Cherry Hill I stopped for 3 horse-drawn carriages, while all around the pedicabs hustled for fares. \u00a0Victorian London meets modern Dhaka.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I had hopes for Bethesda Fountain, that under a warm sun I might dispel the gloom, but a young man with an accordion was playing some lugubrious minor-key folk song. On my way to the Norway Maple I passed the Ukrainian art vendor on his bench, feeding the squirrels. \u00a0A bird landed on his leg.\u00a0 He later told me the accordionist was Russian, and he did not like Russians.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I laid out my gear.\u00a0 Very little sun penetrated the leaf canopy; I hopped around from one side of my case to the other for warmth.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
After 30 minutes a couple from England gave me a dollar.\u00a0 They laughingly refused to hula.\u00a0 But an Australian family got the spirit from a youngster of 2-3, who stopped to stare.\u00a0 \u201cHave you got time for a hula today?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He shook his head yes.\u00a0 His enthusiastic dad helped him put on a lei, then off we went to the hukilau.\u00a0 An older sister showed him some moves, for which I awarded her a lei, and mom stood proudly by.\u00a0 \u201cI always wanted to go to Hawaii,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cYet you came to New York for a hula.\u201d\u00a0 A dollar passed from mom to dad to the toddler to me.\u00a0 \u201cAloha.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A teenaged boy gave me a quarter.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A woman walking by didn\u2019t stop to hula, but she gave me a word.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s the only Hawaiian word I know.\u00a0 Pulelehua.\u00a0 It means butterfly.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t getting any warmer.\u00a0 I launched into my final song, \u201cLittle Grass Shack,\u201d when a 30-something woman, bundled up in down vest, hat and hiking boots, put a dollar in my case, bringing my take to $3.25 cents, 45 cents more than my $2.70 break-even.\u00a0 All things considered, I was lucky to get out of there with my life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"