THE CHOIR BOY

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.