Five weeks and counting

I ventured down to DC this past week to see how things are shaping up for the big event, now five weeks away. I parked on Capital Hill and took the short stroll past the Library of Congress over to the capital. It was unseasonably warm, in the sixties, and I sweat through my shirt, under my jacket. There were a few tourists milling around. One asked me directions to the new--six hundred million dollar--Capital Visitors Center. I couldn’t help her. I’d been looking for it too, to no avail. (It’s on the east side and underground, almost all 580,00 square feet of it, so as not to detract from the Olmsted grand plan of the Capital.)
As I came across the lawn (roped off with sprinklers sprinkling, getting it ready for a party of four million), I saw a group of young people dancing, or performing, or something on the west front. They were singing a mantra of lyrics, Jesus is my savior, Jesus is my friend, over and over. They were Asian. There were two guitarists and a drummer and a man, who looked as if he were in charge, standing under a naked tree, arms crossed, watching them and occasionally flashing a hand signal. Three capital policemen stood close by. They seemed to be enjoying a sort of special bliss there in front of the construction fence. They expressions conveyed as much.
Behind them bleachers were going up. They looked nice, wood, and appeared to be constructed by carpenters. They seemed substantial and much nicer than my old high school bleachers but not as nice as box seats at a Ravens game. The workers seemed ernest enough, suitable for such an estimable event. Overall, I was surprised by the seeming permanence of the construction, as if it weren’t going to all come down after the inauguration. I looked around. I checked the lamp posts for banners. Nothing. I turned around and gazed down the Mall to the Washington Monument and tried to envision it full of people, like it occasionally has been in history. But today it was empty, despite the balmy weather, empty but for the sounds of construction and young Asians praising the Lord.