Ebullient

I am having an old fashioned breakfast in a Greek Diner in a bleak part of the city. Trying to wash away a little of the grit, I order orange juice, toast and scrambled eggs. I spread the newspaper out before me and read meditatively. At a booth across from me I notice that an older rough looking guy with gnarled hands is fiddling with one of the video jukeboxes that all the booths seem to have.

I make a mental bet with myself trying to imagine which song he might pick. He looks like an acoustic Bruce Springsteen man. I imagine he will pick something dark and mournful. I watch as he feeds a crumpled bill into the machine.

I am flabbergasted when a children’s song, “Return To Pooh Corner,” by Kenny Loggins emerges from the tiny speakers of his table.

“So help me if you can
I've got to get back
To the House at Pooh Corner by one
You'd be surprised
There's so much to be done
Count all the bees in the hive
Chase all the clouds from the sky
Back to the days of Christopher Robin and Pooh …”

I just can’t wrap my head around this peculiar turn of events. While I am puzzling this out in my head, a very young girl calls out, “Grandpa,” and runs and jumps into his booth, singing along, ebullient in all her splendor.