After
the donation was over, a black woman in her thirties rose .She was of great
height, plump , sexy , above all, healthy , reminding me of dark brown soil in
vast fields stretching far far away. Somehow the warm breath of earth came over
me immediately.
The woman sort of danced while she sang. Her
voice rang as she moved slowly around the rows of chairs to the beat of the
song. I could not understand what she sang, but the volume and pitch of the
song amazed me. With no music to accompany her, she caught all of us with her
clear , high-pitched and somewhat rough voice. Something about her moved me. I
do not know what it was. Maybe it was the spontaneous issuing of the song, her
own indulgence in the music itself, the sadness (which I felt) revealed that
rendered the singing vivid and natural. It
was completely still. All the eyes were on her. Clearly the spell was on
everyone. 
After the service was over, I had a chat
with the woman sitting next to me , and the guy sitting behind me. Both of them
had moved into New Haven recently, the woman following her son , the guy dong
research job in a company nearby. It seems to me that people in New Haven are
highly mobile.
In the fellowship we joined in , we had more
talk with people present.. Everyone was so kind, ready to give whatever help
they could. One old woman offered to take me to various free programs . The
preacher hoped that we would go again. It seemed more like a social gathering.
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