Mere Minutes: Amazing Grace

down, down, down the stairs into the pit of the underground tunnel. we aren't as cool here in seattle with ts and els and subways. instead we have electric buses that travel from the north to south under the city.

so i stood on the tile allowing the steam to cease spouting from my ears. another day. of smiling, nodding, gritting my worn teeth. i close my eyes instead of reading about hitler's atrocities in poland. not for long. i see joseph walking down the stairs.

good to see him. i feel a little better. and then i start with the venting. vent vent vent. i can't believe what he said. yes, i talked to him at length. no, i can't tell if anything will come of it. but anything's better than what we've got now, isn't it?

the bus comes. we sit and talk some more. how all of our weekends until after new years are booked solid. how we have gifts to buy and send. cards to sign and send. a party to host. parties to attend. trees and villages and cookies and dinners and company parties and seventeen to two hundred three other things.

we are close to home. when suddenly there boards a thin old man wearing a ratty ballcap. to the man sitting in the first seat he announces that he's drunk and sixty-five. to which the man in the first seat - a middle aged asian - answers something unintelligible. not to be bested, the old ratty capped man sits adjacently and begins an equally unintelligible conversation. or should i say argument. joseph and i look at each other and just enjoy the scenery. random insanity seems suitable.

then, it happens. ratty cap guy starts singing amazing grace. off key, to be certain, but with runs and random notes that would rival the likes of mariah carey, he belted out the song. stopping and looking around every so often - especially when emphasizing the word wretch, which he mentioned more than once (i don't think it was used more than once in the song, and if you're catholic, not at all) - he wanted someone to comment. no one wanted any more crazy in their lives than was already included.

he sat and sulked for the remainder of the trip. trying desperately to make some kid of eye contact. until finally, he answered a cell phone that hadn't rung and began to talk to his son in iraq...