It was another monochromatic day at the entrance to the park, with spring flowers fading and summer yet to blossom.  Daniel Webster cradled a bird’s nest in the crook of his right elbow, where his right hand disappears beneath his lapel.  Azaleas brightened things up around the fountain, and the first dog rose, still in bud, revealed a bright red petal, yet to emerge.

Bethesda Fountain swarmed with people enjoying the sun after days of rain.  A group from Sweden sat near me at the rim of the fountain.  When they got up to leave, a man approached.  “Is it all right?” he said, holding a fistful of change.

“Thank you,” said I, and 6-8 quarters rained down into my case.

A lady with a baby stopped to listen.  She gave me a dollar to pose for a selfie.  A pre-teen boy peeled away from his parents and tossed me a nickel.  More coins came my way, until an Indian dad gave each of his 2 children a paper dollar to put in my case.

It was shaping up to be a low-earning day, when late in my set a quartet of Canadian teens from Nova Scotia stopped to give me money.  The first thing I saw was a ten-spot from one of the girls, followed by singles from the others.  “Have you got time for a hula today?”

They danced to both verses of “The Hukilau Song,” and when they were done, some of their classmates stopped by.  “Too bad you guys missed the hula.”

“It’s not too late,” I said, putting leis around their necks.  “Do you guys know how to hula?”  They did not, so I recruited one of the first group of dancers to lead them.  This time we danced to “Little Grass Shack.”

Giving back the leis, the recruited dancer said, “We’ve been in New York 3 days, and you are the coolest person we’ve met so far.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s true, the coolest.”

Delighted, they walked away.  Delighted, I counted out $16.65.