Saturday night. Happy hour. New Orleans Bar is just getting to be filled-up but everyone is still relaxed. Anyone who’s here will sense that the ambience kind of makes you feel you’re somewhere in the beach with all the stars above you and beautiful people around you. You start looking for a fireplace. The open air set-up makes you forget that you’re actually in this miniscule piece of Bonifacio High.

Instead, a male pianist is seen on the side of the bar. With him is another male bass guitarist. Together they flare up the place with jazzy tunes borrowed from Antonio Carlos Jobim. In a short while, a Brazilian-looking, beautifully tanned lady in her 30s comes out in her spaghetti strapped outfit whose color mingles with the artistry of the bar’s side walls. She sits on a stool and begins to hum, probably setting the pace to blend in well. Then she starts singing the classic mellow tunes with samba flavors. They include “The Shadow of Your Smile,” “All the Things You Are,” “So Nice,” “Dream a little Dream of Me” and many more.

People especially expats in their 40s and 50s start to pay attention. Someone even manages to get the courage to go to her and whispers in her ear a special request of his group. She nods her head with a smile and signals her pianist and bass guitarist to shift gears. “Besame, besame mucho…” The man and his group are raving to their heart’s content.

She seems prepared to oblige whatever songs people would request from her. After all, this is her free square. To her this is hardly “work”. She’ll gladly sing for free if it were to be so. And that makes it her perfect gig.

I begin to wonder who she is. How often does she do this? Daily? Weekly? Occasionally? Is she rich or is she married to someone rich? Or is she still single? Does she have a day job? How can she afford to have the perfect gig I have been dreaming of? What if I really want this gig as much as she does more than I am afraid of it?

I do not know who she is but here’s something I know for sure. She is extremely confident, daring and happy about herself and what she does. It shows in her voice and in the way she moves.

“ Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, not do the children of humankind as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or it is nothing at all.” - Helen Keller

“If you have a dream, give it a chance to happen” – Richard de Vos