Behind the northern benches at the entrance to the park, lantana and celosia are having a second blooming.\u00a0 The wood anemone derby, in which the two plants compete for the number of open flowers, is tied at 3.\u00a0 The south-facing catalpa pods, dangling like string beans, are reddening into ripeness.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As I set up at Bethesda Fountain, the cowboy introduced himself as Colin.\u00a0 I gave him my card.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
My first dancers were a young Bulgarian couple, who seemed delighted to be asked to hula.\u00a0 They put a dollar in my case as I turned to entice a toddler in a straw hat with my baby lei.\u00a0 He threw it on the ground, at which time his parents led him away.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Another little boy seemed inclined to dance.\u00a0 His mom gave him a dollar for me.\u00a0 He dropped it in my case, then grabbed a lei and ran back to his mom.\u00a0 He put on the lei and started to walk away.\u00a0 I decided not to run after him; as it turned out, his mom walked the lei back to me.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
One of the snake boys came down from the terrace in front of the arcade.\u00a0 He started hustling all around me.\u00a0 After collecting some money for photos with the snake, he approached me.\u00a0 \u201cHow about some Beatle songs?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cHow about you take your snake back where you came from,\u201d I said.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m working here.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A family from Orlando stopped to let their little girl dance.\u00a0 \u201cI know how to hula,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cWe were just in Hawaii.\u00a0 The boys do this,\u201d she waved her arms to the left, \u201cand the girls do this,\u201d waving her arms to the right.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cSince your brother won\u2019t dance,\u201d I said, \u201cyou\u2019ll have to dance both parts.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
After the dance, her dad and I discussed Hurricane Irma.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re here,\u201d he told me, folding up a fiver and laying it in my case.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Two young men, with back packs and hiking boots, slowed to study my solar-powered hula girls.\u00a0 One of them bent down to get a closer look.\u00a0 When he got up, he gave me a buck.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A couple from the bench, having finished their lunch, also chipped in a buck.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A large man with a crew cut waited for me to finish \u201cAll of Me.\u201d\u00a0 His name was Carl and he engaged me in a wide-ranging conversation about ukes.\u00a0 \u201cDo you play?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cA little,\u201d he said.\u00a0 I offered him my uke and he proceeded to tune it before plucking out a ditty.\u00a0 He handed it back and told me he ran a music school.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll be seeing a lot of you,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cI come to the park a lot.\u00a0 Play me a tune.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I played 8 bars of \u201cI Wonder Where My Hula Girl Has Gone,\u201d then switched to \u201cMaking Love Ukulele Style.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cThat was written by Dean Martin,\u201d I told him.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cHe did lots of interesting musical things,\u201d Carl told me, then he walked away.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t give me any money, but he\u2019d tuned my uke perfectly; it sounded better than it had all summer.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
After Carl, no one else came by.\u00a0 I exited the park with $10 in my pocket, and a well-tuned uke on my back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"