Life, in A Minor  Anyone with a modicum of music in their lives can recognize an A Minor chord when it’s played.  Dark and foreboding, it demands your immediate attention.  You’ll hear it in the movies, when the camera abruptly switches from the triumphant hero at the end of a brutal gunfight, to the smart-alecky kid that was cracking wise throughout the whole thing.    You liked that kid, except now, he’s just sitting on the porch, and his eyes have a funny look in them, like they can’t focus so well.  He’s gamely trying to join the celebration.  You can tell his first thought was to jump off that porch and land among the townsfolk crowding around the sheriff.  If he can only get his legs to move…  The camera begins to pull out a little, but you all ready know.  You know because of that chord.  There will be no happy ending for the kid.  The dice have been rolled, you see, and his number came up, and you heard that chord.  A-freaking Minor.  Unexpected, and nonnegotiable, it is the musical signature for the expression, “Damn.”    I had an A Minor moment this week.  The first one I had was about 25 years ago, when my sister made her first suicide attempt.  I came home at midnight and was surprised to find the front door unlocked.  Surprise turned to alarm at the sight of the overturned chairs in the kitchen.  A break-in?  I called her name – silence.  There was some blood.  Then the phone rang.  Where’s the phone??  It was my mother.  She sounded tired, but relieved to have finally gotten to me.    “Ma the place is a wreck, and Sara’s not here.”  “Your sister is in the hospital.  She tried to kill herself tonight”  Damn.  Earlier this week, I obtained what can best be described as too much information regarding a member of the wife’s family.  I was looking for an email address.  The person I spoke to asked that I send her their sympathies regarding her recent miscarriage. “….?”  “She didn’t tell you?  She was only pregnant for about a week"  “…..Damn.” Yesterday I verified that the wife does not know about this.  So add this to the growing list of deceptions that I am perpetrating upon her.  The family member finally reported back to me that she has already moved on, and would not be discussing it any further.  Fair enough and I'm relieved to know that she is leaning on a few people to get through this.   I cared a lot for this girl, and made it a point to say so often.  She has been a lifeline to my wife over the years, and is especially supportive of her now.  I'll admit to being a little bummed upon learning that I was never really part of her inner circle, but I can hardly save myself at the moment, so no big deal.  The wife is another story.  The anvil will be singing its usual refrain if she ever discovers this secret, and my complicity in keeping it from her. So here I sit, in my usual spot between the hammer and the hard place.  Swing away, Lord.  You know the key. GDAD