Not A Cloud In The Sky

I’m sure she meant well. High school, and we were out on an educational trip. The first stop was at a government-run drug treatment facility south of the city. We were shown what one could assume was the “receiving area”. The people there were mostly new patients; still at the very early stages of treatment. Almost all of them still were visibly still reeling from the effects of substance abuse and were suffering varying degrees of withdrawal.

The old horn-type speaker crackled, a few seconds of mind-numbing feedback followed and then the announcement came. “As a special treat for you all, one of our visitors will be singing a song. Let’s make her feel welcome. Palakpakan po natin siya.” Then it happened. By the time Nando and I took a break from laughing our behinds off, miss singer had just begun (no pun intended; wait for it) the second verse of the Carpenters’ hit, “Top of the World”. I’m sure she meant well. =)