somehow they got me to sing verdi cries. my voice was barely audible and shakey, so shakey, and the la la las crashed instead of drifted into the air. i only remembered the first few lines; they clapped anyway.

alone in my car that night, i started humming the song and wouldn't you know, it all came back to me -- the words, the melody and my voice.

i sang it over and over again, all the way home.