The Choir Boy
Some
years ago, a friend of mine's wife passed away. She was a nice lady who had
suffered with severe emphysema for many years. Her husband Joe was known and
loved by most of the town, and they had a big family. I was friends with many
of them.
A
service was being held at a local church. I arrived on time but the
church was full of people who like me, wanted to show their respect. I looked
around, but no seats were available. I went upstairs to the balcony where I found
her son Sparo. Sparo is a talented singer and guitarist. He had set up an
amp and microphone in the balcony to sing a song for his deceased mom at some
point during the service. The balcony looked full to me but when I spoke to
Sparrow, and gave him my condolences, he pointed out a seat on the opposite
side from where he would be singing.
He
said, " There's a seat over there Jer, go over there!" So I
did, not wanting to disrupt the proceedings that were beginning.
The
seat I found was in the front row so I had a really great view of everything
and everybody in the seating below. The service started and everything was
beautiful. Then they announced that Sparo was going to sing a song
for his mom, and he did. It was very emotional for everyone. Then they
announced that the choir would sing one of her favorite songs. With that
everyone in my section stood up with hymnal in hand and began to sing. It
was then I discovered I was sitting in the first row of the choir. Without a
book all I could do was lip-sync the unfamiliar songs. I was handed a
book that I opened to no particular page so it looked as though I knew what I
was doing. Looking down at all the people on the main floor, most, if not all
had turned around in their seats to see the choir and listen to the music. I
knew many of them and thought I could read their lips. Look, Jerry's in the
choir. I thought I would die of embarrassment. My mind raced wondering what I
should do. Should I walk off? Should I remain seated? I was
mortified. I decided to stand there and do my best Milli Vanilli lip -
sync till it was over and I could crawl out of there.
Nothing,
no matter how bad it is can lasts forever. I stuck it out and no one it seemed
knew the difference. Well, except for the Choir that probably wondered who
the heck I was and what I was doing there.
The
service was very nice and no one was the worse for my inadvertently sitting in
the wrong section, or pretending to be part of the choir. I can’t help but wonder if anyone in that
little church remembers the Choirboy that never returned. I hope I never
make that mistake again.
