Once upon a time … many, many years ago … my dad and I went somewhere. I don’t remember where. It’s not important. When was it? I don’t remember that either. I think I was a teenager, but I might have been in my twenties. That’s not important either. We were in Rhode Island. I remember that much. Or maybe Massachusetts. We stopped for gas. It was $.89/gallon. She’s Waiting by Eric Clapton was on the radio. It’s a great song. At the end it sort of trails off and fades into whistling. My dad was pumping gas and when he got back into the car we were both whistling.
We didn’t talk, just kept whistling until the end of the song, both of us slapping the dashboard in time to the music. It was a moment, y’know? It was cool. The next song was Invisible Touch by Genesis and we both knew all the words to that one, too. We sang the whole thing together, just grooving through traffic. Neither one of us said anything about it, and when the song was finished and a commercial started, we resumed talking about whatever it was we had been talking.
Now, x number of years later, whenever I hear one of those songs, I think about that day.
