Elizabeth, I

‘Snow can wait, I forgot my mittens,’ she sang. ‘Wipe my nose, get my new boots on.’ If there is such a thing as love at first listen, I fell helplessly, hopelessly in love from that very first lyric. ‘When you gonna make up your mind?’ she asked me, accompanied by the gentlest, tenderest notes from a Bösendorfer piano. ‘When you gonna love you as much as I do?’ Maxx and Nick Patrick (a wrestling referee and our co-pilot for this particular road trip) had seen her play the song on Leno or Letterman and were interrupting my private concert to discuss her unusual piano-playing style. Apparently, the late-night appearance had created quite a visual memory for them. I didn’t even know what she looked like. But I thought this was the most beautiful song I had ever heard.