I point at one of the inmates who offers a lopsided grin from her wheelchair before saying, "Away from here."
"What about you Jim?" I ask the old man in his wheelchair.
"To not be here!" he forcefully replies.
"You?" I point at an old woman sitting in a chair.
"To be with my family," she sighs. "Not here."
To the person, each and every member of the audience wishes to be somewhere besides the Nursing Home we play music at as a ministry of Bar Church.
We break into "I'll Fly Away" and they wistfully clap, shake tambourines and sing along ... wishing they could.
Lona, another member of the band, breaks into several happier songs, trying to bring everyone up and make them feel better.
My songs center around sailing away or telling the staff to kiss off ... "The mystery masked man was smart, he got himself a Tonto cause Tonto's do the dirty work for free ... but Tonto he was smarter, and one day said Ke-mo Sabee, kiss my ass I bought a boat and I'm going out to Sea!"
The inmates love it and laugh as they sing the line.
"Hey," I proclaim as we near the end, "I got a call from a company wanting to sponsor us here. They'll pay for stuff and maybe help with a Christmas party or something."
They appear delighted and clap.
"It's a Hospice," I tell them.
"We don't want 'em," they yell which makes me laugh.
We finish up the show singing "Knocking on Heaven's Door" and they are ... but I'm convinced they really want to be.
