edelweiss

When Allie and I went to the open mic at a coffee shop on Troost last night we expected a cool, inner-city black-white thing. After all, Troost is the racial dividing line in this city.

But when we arrived, a group called the Sugar Plums was singing a folk song.

We bought our hot beverages and found a couple of seats in the back. There were dozens of people there, only one of whom was black. Just then, one of the Sugar Plums took the mic and said she was going to sing Edelweiss. Allie said, "Oh my god. Can you get any whiter?"

While the woman sang the song, and as others lifted their coffee cups and sang along, we tried hard not to stare at the black man. Sitting alone, he smiled, though not broadly, and we imagined that he was, with great effort, suppressing laughter, and wondering how on earth he wound up in this place on a Friday night.

But who knows? Maybe he was digging the hell out of it.

We quietly left after the song ended and went to Chipotle for McMexican.