Summer evenings

I was happy to go for a jog this evening, as I hadn’t had a chance to do so in the last couple of days. It was a hot and sultry day per usual. The air was so heavy with humidity it felt like jogging through liquid. Towards the end of my jog, I picked up the sounds of singing and guitar in the distance, and headed in the direction of the music.

There was an acoustic band playing on the riverfront, and a small audience gathered around. I jogged towards it and sat down on the cool stone steps to listen. The band was playing slow Tracy Chapman songs, and the singer’s low voice was powerful, and yet soothing. Behind her, the river flowed languorously by, reflecting a myriad of sunset colours. And beyond it twinkled the impressive Manhattan skyline. A couple of ferries were gliding silently along. A gentle breeze ruffled my hair caressingly.

Strum, strum. “Talkin’ about a revolution….”

A little dog sidled up to me, laid its head tentatively on my lap, and looked up at me enquiringly. It wasn’t the drooling-shedding kind, so I gave it a welcoming scratch behind its ear. At once it made itself comfortable on my lap with the sense of immediate friendship that only dogs can possess.

“Forgive me. Forgive me. You can say baby…” strum, strum.

Nearby, two children had approached an ice cream truck and were trying to decide what flavours to have. One finally settled on a strawberry-chocolate combination, and the other chose vanilla. I was surprised to hear a child choose vanilla, it seems such an adult mature flavour somehow. I was impressed with her discerning sense for subtle tastes.

“She’s got a ticket, you know she’s gonna use it…”

After listening to the music for a while, I started off home. On the way I met a friend of mine who lives nearby.
“Hey,” he said. “What you up to this evening?”
“Nothing. You?”
“Nothing.”
So we headed off together to a nearby café (I had vetoed bars on account of my feeling healthy after my jog), and had some life-rejuvenating juices. I had orange-passionfruit, one of my favourites, and he had pineapple (I made a face as I always do when someone chooses pineapple).