(In which something made me look forward.)
***
During the heavy times when I was uploading Sandy’s pictures and making the draft for my post about her, I was able to get lot of help from teachers who luckily brought their gadgets necessary for file transfer. And inside one thumb drive I found a huge playlist of MP3’s and copied more than a couple.
The day Sandy left for Korea, the academy seemed to emit a sudden air of lonesomeness and quietness. And what a strange air it was! For there were no more tiny feet running here and there or an army of children following and clinging to Judah in search for his dangerous cigarettes or bodies rolling on the floor while laughing. I somehow felt happy that the absence of Sandy was at least felt – she’s not just another soul that came and went. And I thought that’s how she wants it too.
It was so quiet even during lunchtime when the academy used to transform into a playground and an arena. The silence was so alive it seemed to be as solid as the walls. And that’s when I wanted to hear some music.
The moment the first note was hit, I felt a sudden flow of emotions run through me. It felt as though all the energy was set to the minimum and I was put into a delicious state of drowsiness. And then one by one, the words came and I melted. I listened and listened and felt as if the song was sung for me. All the while, I had Radiusim on. I saw the site logo blink on one of the windows showing a response to my message. The magic the song has on me still lingered and I asked him.
“Do you know the song ‘I Could Not Ask For More’?”
“What about it?”
“It’s been playing ten times on my player already.”
“Why don’t you choose another song then?”
“It was so beautiful I set it to play repeatedly.”
“I see. Make it twenty.”
There was an exchange of virtual laughter. I moved on.
“I think it is optimistic. Do you think so?”
“I don’t know. People keep on asking for more.”
“I disagree. So you don’t think it is optimistic?”
“I’m not sure. Who sang it?”
Edwin McCain. We pressed enter the same time.
“Oh, yeah. It’s him,” he replied back and the momentum was regained.
“Yes. I think it is sad but it is still optimistic.”
“It’s not sad. It says 'I could not ask for more than this time together'. That’s not sad. It’s actually meant for lovers.”
“Is it? But it made me feel sad. And it could be meant for singles too. Or maybe I am just weird. Now I remember something that happened in my classroom last year. Come to think of it, it happened sometime in late January or February.”
“Go on.”
“In the classroom I used to have, another class had an activity. It’s like a Valentine card making activity. One of the students wrote to her parents. The other made a hilarious card for his friends. The other one made a card for his wife. I wondered at first because he doesn’t even have a girlfriend.”
“That’s possible. He must be reserving it for the future.”
Well, he almost hit it. I continued. “So it turned out that he wrote that for his future wife. He said he wants her to have a happy Valentine’s Day even if he’s not with her and that he’ll make it more special when they meet.”
“I see.”
“That’s why I thought this song isn't just meant for couples.”
“Wow! That was cool!”
