Piano Man

[There is no explicit sex in this story. My intention is to elicit an emotional response from the reader. Please let me know with votes and comments how well I succeeded.]

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When Josh's Mom decided her boy needed to learn to play the piano he was seven. She found and bought a used upright, installing it in the family living room. Over three months she stripped the old finish off the wood, sanded and used steel wool to get the surface prepared and then used a marine grade polyurethane to make the older piano look new. She had studied piano for three years when she was young and as she worked on the piano she relived the good memories of spending time with her mother at their piano. Somehow the memories of the tedious hours each week practicing weren't a part of her reminiscing.

Josh had watched Mom working on the piano as he went about the very important jobs that were a part of being seven and a boy. Mom took time away from her project to do all the mom stuff; cooking, cleaning, reminding, bandaging Josh when he needed it and tucking him in each night.

Josh and his Mom and Dad lived in a small town in Nebraska. There were kids on every block, three city parks, two elementary schools, a middle school that still had the sign on the front that said, "Abraham Lincoln Junior High School," and a high school named for the town. All the boys Josh knew were interested in sports, all sports and in going fast.

At dinner one night about a month before his eighth birthday Josh volunteered that what he wanted for his birthday was a bike. He was very specific about what he wanted. He handed his Dad a hand written list of specifications including model numbers, color and where this wonderful bike could be bought. His Dad smiled until he got to the price. He couldn't believe he was asking for a bike that cost nearly five hundred dollars!

Internally he wanted to tell Josh, "No, damn way I'm shelling out five hundred for a bike for an eight year old!" However, he didn't want to crush the boy. So, what came out of his mouth was, "Wow! I'll have to do some checking into this. That's pretty expensive."

Josh smiled and finished his dinner. He believed his Dad would see what a great bike it was and on his birthday he'd ride all over town showing off his new bright yellow TREK trail bike.

After Josh was in bed asleep Barbara, Josh's Mom, asked his Dad, "What does the bike cost?"

"Five hundred. It's too much for a bike for an eight year old!"

Barbara was quiet as she did her nightly ritual. She was thinking. As she and Brad got into bed she said, "Can I have the page he gave you? I want to see if I can find one used or one like it."

"Sure. I think two hundred would be Ok, but not five hundred." They kissed, pulled the covers up and Barbara shut off the light.

The next day Barbara called the biggest TREK store within five hundred miles and asked to speak to the manager. She described the bike her son wanted and asked if they carried that bike. He said, "Yes, I've got three in stock. A dark blue, a white and a yellow."

"Do you have any posters of that bike?"

"As a matter of fact I do. It's even a yellow one in the picture."

"He wants that bike. I want him to earn it. Can I buy the poster? I want to hang it in his room as the incentive for him to earn it."

"You want an eight year old to earn five hundred dollars?"

"No. Better grades, chores without fights, and maybe one or two other things."

"Ok, Give me your address. I'll send you the poster, but you have to promise that when you buy the bike you buy from me."

"I promise." She gave him their address and smiled the rest of the day. She went to the town library that afternoon and used their computer. She ordered a CD of piano music, making sure the one she bought had the tune she was looking for on it. She also ordered a subscription to a magazine called, "Bicycling."

She got home and went to work. The house got cleaned, the laundry done, a roast went into the oven and she set a timer to go off when school let out. The dryer made soft background noise as Barbara sat at the piano for the first time, to play. She remembered back to when she was seven and her mom had started teaching her. Her fingers remembered. She made mistakes, but after half an hour she could feel she was improving.

That night she didn't say anything about Josh's birthday or the piano while Josh was awake. After he was asleep she sat beside Brad and said, "I have an idea. Hear me out?"

"Sure." He faced her, making sure she knew he was paying attention.

She outlined what she had learned about the bike. She said, "I want Josh to learn to play the piano. I know boys aren't interested in the piano at his age but I want to give him an incentive. We'll give him a subscription to Bicycling magazine and a poster of the bike he wants. I'll give him a CD with a certain piece of piano music on it. When he can play that piece of music he gets the bike. I think it will take him two years to earn the bike."

"He'll be ten when he gets it?"

"Yes! He'll be bigger, stronger and he'll have learned to play the piano too."

"Who teaches piano here in town?"

"I'll teach him." Barb smiled.

Brad sat and thought. The longer he thought the smarter he realized his wife was. "Ok! I agree! But, he has to get something for his birthday. Something he'll like."

They agreed on a skateboard. Barbara ordered one the next day. Three days before Josh's birthday the poster came in the mail along with the CD Barbara had ordered. The day before his birthday the first issue of Bicycling arrived in the mail. The UPS truck delivered the skateboard later that day. Barb got them all wrapped and hidden before Josh got home from school.

During dinner she asked Josh what he wanted for his birthday dinner. He picked pizza and a lemon cake with vanilla ice cream. Josh had trouble going to sleep that night. When the alarm woke him the next morning he bounded out of bed and ran into his parent's room and said, "I'm eight!" They acted surprised and asked if he was sure. He wanted to know when he got his presents.

Brad said, "Presents are given after dinner." He said it so sternly that Josh didn't even attempt to convince him otherwise.

Rather than make a pizza at home Barb had one delivered, with everything. Josh ate bell peppers, tomatoes, onions, pepperoni and sausage that night, without a fuss. He had two big pieces. Barb brought out the cake and they sang "Happy Birthday".

Barb explained to Josh that she wanted to make a deal with him. He wanted to know what kind of deal.

"The bike you want is expensive. We want you to earn it. You still get a good present right now but as soon as you earn the bike, we'll buy it. What do you think?"

"I don't have a job!"

"We're about to give you a job. You'll work for me and earn the bike."

"How long will it take?" He worried they would make it take forever.

"That depends on how hard you work."

With visions of spending the entire summer on his knees in the garden pulling weeds he asked, "What do I have to do?"

"You have to play my favorite song on the piano." Barb smiled at him.

"What? I don't know how to play the piano!"

"So, you learn. When you've learned enough to play my favorite song, you've earned the bike." Barb got the package with the poster in it and said, "Here's the first of your three presents for today."

He looked at the package. It was almost three feet long and three inches in diameter, a tube almost like it could hold a baseball bat. But when he held it it was too light to have a bat in it. He moved it around like maybe it was a light saber and he heard something jingle and move around inside. Josh carefully unwrapped the package and found the poster. Brad helped him unroll it and they looked it over.

"That's the one!" Josh screamed. "That's the exact bike I want!"

"We cam put this up on your wall tonight if you want." His Dad offered. Josh nodded, his eyes still taking in every detail.

When he thanked them Barb handed him the second present. She had put the first issue of Bicycling in a shirt box and wrapped it in paper with drawings of bicycles on it. He quickly tore the package open and saw the first issue. He noticed that the subscription on the cover had his name on it. Dad said, "You get an issue every month."

Five minutes passed while Josh looked through the issue, checking every picture. After he thanked them both Barb asked him to get her what was under his bed. He ran to his bedroom and found the skateboard, wrapped and hidden right under his bed.

He carried it back to the dinner table and asked, "How long has it been hiding under there?"

Dad said, "We knew you never clean under your bed so we knew it would be safe."

Mom asked, "So what is it?"

Josh tore the package open and said, "A skateboard! A great skateboard!" He got it completely unwrapped and discovered in the center of the deck was a sticker from TREK, the makers of the bike he wanted.

Josh agreed it was a great birthday. Mom and Dad watched him ride the skateboard for twenty minutes and then they went back in the house. The next day Josh rode his new board to school. In his back pack he carried his books, school supplies and his Bicycling magazine.

After school that day and after he had done his homework, he had lesson number one. Mom showed him how to find middle "C". She had him run outside and come back in and show her which key was middle "C" . She gave him a sheet of paper that showed the names of the lines and spaces between the lines on sheet music. She told him, "As soon as you have learned that you can have lesson number two."

The next day when his homework was done he showed her he knew where middle "C" was and identified all the lines and spaces on the blank music sheet. She gave him lesson number two.

Day after day she gave him tiny pieces to learn. She made sure she praised him along every little step of the way. By the end of the second week he could easily hit Middle "C" and could hit and name all eighty-eight keys.

Between the end of homework and bedtime he had free access to the piano. At the start of the second month he was playing chop-sticks. By the end of the second month he was playing five different two-finger songs. Barb was beginning to remember the practice sessions she had done as a child and why she hated "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."

The weather got warmer, the days got longer and the boys of the world wanted to play baseball. Josh let the lessons slide for two weeks. Mom didn't demand he practice. She didn't remind him.

When two weeks had passed without the keyboard cover being lifted Mom got a blessing. It rained one day. When Barb saw her boy coming home from school she sat at the piano and played a song as he came through the door. He stopped and watched. When she was done she said, "Remember what you played last time you sat here?"

"Yeah. "Twinkle, Twinkle."

"If you can sit here right now and play it, I'll get us pizza for dinner."

"Easy!" He sat next to her and put his hands on the keys. He made it through "Twinkle, Twinkle little star" and died at "How I wonder..." Mom said, "When you don't repeat it often enough it goes away. Your fingers forget how to do it." She sent him off to do his homework and she made chicken for dinner.

After dinner they had a lesson. Josh still played baseball with his friends. When school let out for the summer he played more baseball, soccer, went swimming and played the piano. Barb never asked him if he practiced. She remembered how she hated that word. She asked him once in a while if he had played piano today. Kids like being asked if they played, as if the yes was a good thing.

While Josh was out doing boy stuff, Barb played. She was relearning so she could teach Josh. He hadn't asked once what song he needed to play. He knew it was a tough one. It was worth five hundred dollars.

One Saturday during that summer Brad was working in the flower bed outside the front of the house and heard the piano playing. He was glad that it wasn't "Twinkle, Twinkle..." He recognized the new song, it was "Ode to Joy" by Beethoven. He went back to work thinking it was Barb playing.

The fourth time it was played he was shocked when he heard Barb's voice say, "Isn't he getting good?"

He turned and saw her standing near him as the music kept playing. He kissed her and said, "I need to tell him." Dad went inside and said, "Son, I'm impressed. I heard you playing and I thought it was your Mom. Play it again, please I love that one."

Josh played it fifteen more times that day.

When Josh started fourth grade the new teacher asked if any of her students played an instrument. Josh raised his hand as did three girls. Two of the girls said they were learning the piano, the other girl said she was learning the violin.

When he came home he told Barb that the other boys wanted to know why he was learning the piano. He said they said the piano was for girls.

Barb took him to the computer and they did a search. They discovered that baseball players make more, football players make more too. So Barb helped him search and see how many men play professional baseball and how many play pro-football. She helped him with the math and they discovered that out of a million boys less than three thousand would ever make any money playing pro sports. Further they discovered there were millions of people making a good living from playing piano, composing music and teaching. She just let him digest the information and the implications about the future of doing both.

She noticed he slacked off from piano for a couple weeks. He didn't stop but he didn't play every day either.

As it got closer to Christmas the school decided they wanted a Winter Holiday celebration where the classes would perform skits and sing or dance for the whole school and the parents.

The teacher asked the two girls who said they were learning piano to play some Christmas carols while the class sang. Neither girl could do it. They both said, "I can't. I've only been practicing for two years."

Josh sat down at the piano and played "Ode to Joy." The whole class sat stunned as he played. Then the teacher asked if he could play "Frosty the Snowman" and maybe one other song at the Winter Holiday celebration. Josh said he'd ask his Mom.

After school he got lots of compliments on how well he played. He knocked out his homework quickly that afternoon and was at the piano playing "Frosty" when Mrs. Brown, his teacher called. She spoke with Barb and told her what was happening as well as asking if Josh could play. Barb answered that she'd talk it over with the family and get back to Mrs. Brown the next day.

At dinner she asked Josh if he wanted to play for the program at school. Josh said he thought it would be fun. Dad asked what they were talking about. Josh explained it to him. He looked at Barb and said, "He's only been learning for nine months. Can he do it?"

Barb said, "Josh, can you play "Frosty"? He left the table and sat at the piano. He had spent an hour learning it after school. He played it without looking at the page once. When he finished Dad and Mom clapped. He jumped off the bench and bowed. He ran back to the table and said, "Can I play for the whole school?"

He played. All his peers sang. His Mom got calls and started teaching other kids piano.

Josh still played baseball, basketball, and soccer. He ran, climbed, swam and rode his skateboard around too. And, he played piano almost every day.

At dinner exactly one month before he was turning nine his Dad asked, "You ready for the bike for your birthday?"

He looked up at his Mom and said, "What's the song I have to play?"

She smiled and got the CD off the shelf. She put it in the stereo and hit play. She had found a recording of a piano soloist playing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". After the first ten notes Josh said, "Turn it up, please." He closed his eyes and listened.

When it was over he asked, "Again, please?" Mom hit the buttons and they listened again.

When the music stopped Josh said, "I can do this! Invite Grandma and Grandpa over for Sunday dinner and I'll play it for all of you."

"Are you sure?" Dad asked. "That's a long piece of music. It sounds complicated, too."

Josh smiled and said, "Order the bike Dad. It's in the bag."

Dad worked every day. Barb was at home, listening. Josh played the CD four or five times a day and spent hours playing different sections of the piece. He came home from school with CD's he'd checked out of the library and he listened to those renditions of the "Battle Hymn" as well. By Thursday Barb ordered the bike. She called the store in Colorado and asked to speak to Frank.

"Frank, this is Barbara. I spoke to you a year ago about getting a TREK poster for my boy."

"Right! I remember. Shall I order the bike?"

"Yes! He did more that any of us believed he could do."

"What exactly did he need to do to earn the bike, if I can be nosey and ask?"

"He needed to play the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" on the piano."

"How long has he been playing?"

"He started the day after his birthday last year."

"I took piano when I was a kid. No way he learned piano in a year! I studied for three years and I wasn't good enough to play that."

"He's playing it for his grandparents, his Dad and I this Sunday. Bring his bike and have dinner with us."

"I just might do that!" They finished the business part of the call and an hour later he called back. "Can I bring my wife?"

They were coming to hear Josh play. Barb told Brad, but not Josh. She invited the grandparents to drive two hours for Sunday dinner. When she said why, they agreed to come. Barb's Dad asked, "Why the "Battle Hymn"?

"Cause he's a boy. I'd rather he played "clare de lune", but that's because I'm a girl."

Sunday came. At noon the phone rang. Josh answered. "Peterson residence, Josh speaking."

A voice he didn't recognize said, "This is Frank Willows. May I speak to Barbra Peterson please?"

He covered the mouthpiece and loudly called out, "Mom, it's for you." Then he spoke into the phone, "Mom's making a big dinner right now. She'll be to the phone in just a minute."

"Thank you."

A minute later Barb picked up the phone and said, "Yes?"

Frank asked for street by street directions from the train station. Barb called Josh back to the phone and handed it to him. She said, "This man and his wife are coming for dinner. They are at the train station and need directions. Help them get here, OK?"

Ten minutes later a gray four door truck parked in front. On the side doors was a logo of a bicycle and the words, "Biggest Bike Shop in Colorado!" In the bed of the truck was something covered with a tarp. Frank and his wife were dressed for church as they got out of the truck. If Josh had seen the truck he would have exploded. The man, Frank and his wife covered the whole truck with a nylon cover and walked to the front door. Josh ran to answer the door when the bell rang. Barb and Dad were setting food on the table. They stopped and met their guests.

Before the introductions were over a twenty year old pick up painted John Deere green parked in the driveway and Josh's grandparents got out. They didn't knock. They walked in and greeted each person with a hug. Everyone except Frank and his wife also got a kiss from Grandma.

Barb assigned seats and everyone sat down for dinner. Food was passed and conversations held. Grandpa wanted to know why someone would drive all the way from Colorado for dinner. Barb answered. "Dad, Frank plays piano too. He heard Josh was gonna play today and he asked if he could come listen. I said yes."

Grandpa said, "Damn long drive to listen to a kid!" Then he took another big fork full of mashed potatoes with peas in them and shoveled it into his mouth. His wife of forty-two years thought, "Choke, you old goat", but she didn't say anything. Grandpa was actually Brad's dad not hers and when he mouthed off like that she was glad he wasn't her Dad.