Midnight serenade
About eight or ten of us close out the evening singing and playing guitar. We have the hotel’s lounge area to ourselves except for a family playing checkers with their kids at the other end. Our young Oxford law student, Charles, takes a turn with the guitar singing a song he loves and bringing us all along with him.
One of our friends from South Africa, Graham, has a turn and begins singing Neil Young. That’s all it takes for me. “Harvest” is one of my all-time favorite albums, and his choice of artists seems appropriate on this somewhat melancholy evening. I close my eyes and lean back in my chair to take it all in. He is a very talented singer.
After a few songs, he pauses and then surprises me. “This one’s for Elise,” 
he says in that unforgettable accent all of our new friends from South Africa have that sounds a bit like an Aussie, a Brit and a New Zealander all rolled into one but with an exotic flair I can never quite put my finger on. He beckons me to come stand beside him while he sings.
Perhaps he could read it on my face – what I was feeling and maybe what all of us were feeling. Ready to go home and yet a sadness to leave this all behind. He sang “Needle and the Damage Done,” and his small gift of a song puts a smile back on my face. Thanks to Graham and Neil Young, we manage to keep our feelings at bay, even if for just one more night.
