One of the things many things I like about living in Mexico City’s El Centro Historico district is hearing all the street musicians, especially those that play to the crowds at the bars and cafe’s downstairs from my apartment building.
One Friday April 2016 evening, I was at home having a cocktail listening to classical music. I went to change the channel on my iPad, and though I was no longer streaming music on my iPad, I continued to hear classical music – cello at that AND from where? I stepped outside onto my balcony and saw that two young cello musicians where playing down stairs. This was the second time I had heard them before.
Being that I did not provide a tip the first time I heard them play, I decided to go downstairs and hear them and to also make a donation. It was all lovely. The boys, who appeared to be older teenagers or early twenty’s played well.
After listening for awhile, I decide to give them a tip and go back up stairs to my apartment and cocktail. As you will note in the picture above, they had a red glass tip jar, an old flower vase. I pulled some change out of my pocket and counted some coins out.
As to not miss my mark: I stood over the jar lowered my arm to drop the my coins in. THEN IT HAPPENED!!! There was a crash and glass flew. The boys stopped playing their cellos and yelled at me, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? OMG, I clucked my pearls, for I thought that they were thinking that I was putting my hand into their jar to take money, not put any in! A THIEF!!!
I said, I don’t know what happened: I was just putting some money in. You have an old jar I exclaimed. They believed me cause they told me not to worry about it. I said sorry and went on my way, but too, I knew I had a smilier vase I was not using. So I ran up stairs to my apartment, grabbed the red vase, cleaned it and ran outside.
As I got near to the musicians, they were putting things away, with one young man asking the seated crowd for change — of course without their vase! LOL
I went to the young man that was asking for the money and tapped his shoulder and he looked at me like: you again! I told him I was sorry for breaking their vase and that I wanted to replace it. The kid said, you didn’t have to. He accepted my gift, and said Thank You with a cute big dental braces smile: I live guys with braces. I gave them the vase and walked away.
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Jesus Chairez is a writer, published author, photographer, originally from Dallas, Texas now living in México City. Follow him on Twitter @JesusChairez or on FaceBook/JesusChairez
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