Oh Sherri

An African-American woman named Sherri, and one of her friends, sat down at a table next to me in a Barnes & Noble coffee shop last night.

“Are you doing homework?” she asked. “We don’t want to bother you.” Her friend was listening to music, but I could barely hear it.

“You’re fine.”

“She’s listening to me,” Sherri said. She went on to tell me she entered a song on a singing competition website and she asked me to vote for her. If she gets enough votes, she will advance in the contest and has a chance to win a $5,000 cruise.

I opened a browser, went to the page she directed me to and placed my vote for her.

“Are you doing homework?” she asked.

“I’m a writer.”

“Oh, do you have a card?”

I handed her one.

“Thank you, Mr. Lee.” She handed me her card. The tagline on it says “God Loves Me Too!” She went to my website on her tablet. “Oh, you’re a Christian writer? Do you have any books? We’re in a book club.”

“I do. You can find them all on my website.”

“I’ll check them out!”

After Sherri and her friend left, I went back to the website she sent me to so I could listen to her song. It was a cover of the R&B tune “Mr. Melody” by Natalie Cole. I have never heard Cole’s version, but Sherri’s is quite good – maybe good enough to win. I’m pulling for her. Maybe she’s pulling for me, too.