el tambor

Favorite Song: Late in the Evening

Dad’s stereo is in the den. The speakers are huge. The music makes everything buzz. Dad says that rhythm is finding the heartbeat of a song—clap, clap, clap-clap-clap. Each song has a different heartbeat. Other things, like sidewalks beneath skates, mixers full of cookie dough, and even, sometimes, the rain, have heartbeats, too.

Dad’s favorite singer is Paul Simon. Dad plays the song Late in the Evening so that it fills the den with the sounds of horns and drums and guitar. When it’s time to dance, my whole body is the clap, clap, clap-clap-clap, the heartbeat of Late in the Evening. The song is too short, so Dad plays it again.