Just Beyond the Curve Read Free Page B

He
smiled, knowing he had often felt that way. He had also learned
that once he got to work he forgot about not wanting to be there
and enjoyed his time there.
    He walked down the sidewalk several blocks, passing
several storefronts before seeing a large sign that read HALL’S
MUSIC EMPORIUM, in bright red letters on a white background. Then
he saw a smaller sign that read INSTRUMENTS and ALL YOUR MUSICAL
NEEDS. He crossed the street and as he neared the door he saw a
wide collection of musical instruments in the showroom. He figured
if anyone could teach him how to play the guitar it would be the
man who owned this wide array of instruments. Wouldn’t he have to
know how to play them all? Wouldn’t he have to be able to in order
to demonstrate each instrument to potential customers?
    He was about to sit the Strat case down and pull the
door open when he saw the black lettered “CLOSED” sign. Underneath
was a store hours schedule. It would not open until 9:00 A.M. He
sat down to wait.
    He had a guitar case on each side of him and his arms
crossed on his knees. He rested his head on his crossed arms and
was soon drifting into sleep. He was exhausted.
    The rattling of the keys in the door lock woke him
up. He startled and looked at the door, seeing no one. He stood and
stepped over to it, pulled it and it opened. He realized it had
been unlocked from the inside. He picked his cases up, struggled to
open the door, then stepped inside the coolness and dimness of the
big clean smelling store.
    “Mornin’ son,” a man’s pleasant voice said off to one
side. “You’re almighty anxious for something. Maybe I can help
you?”
    “Maybe,” John replied sitting the cases down. “Can
you show me how to play these?”
    “Fraid not,” the kindly man said. “I’m a brass and
piano man myself.”
    John studied the tall, elderly, white haired man as
if he had heard his answer wrong. Deciding he had heard right, he
took the backpack off and removed one of the files of music from
it. “Can you read this?” he asked, handing the man the thick
folder.
    The man took the file and walked over to a Steinway,
grand piano and took several sheets of the music out. He studied
them for a few seconds, then looked up at John. “Did you write
this?” he asked.
    “No, Sir. My daddy wrote ‘em before he died.”
    “I’ll be damned,” the man exclaimed half under his
breath. “I thought the name was familiar. Well, let’s see if they
work. Unusual arrangement,” he mumbled, placing the sheets in front
of him. After a second of concentration he began playing them
flawlessly.
    John stood big eyed watching every move the man’s
hands and feet made. To him, every move the man made made perfect
sense. It was like a roadmap in his mind and for some reason he
knew he could replicate what the man had done.
    “Beautiful!” the man said with a big smile, beginning
to rock with the beat of the music flowing from his fingers across
the ivory keys. “Your daddy was a genius!” he said when he finished
the piece.
    “It didn’t look that hard,” John said. “Mind if I try
it?”
    “Sure, help yourself,” Hall replied looking smug as
John took a seat on the bench.
    After three false starts John smiled up at the man
and said, “Ain’t as easy as it looked. Is it?”
    The man laughed. “No, nothing ever is...” He began to
stammer as John’s fingers began to find the keys in the proper
sequence and the music began to flow from the Steinway.
    “I’ll be damned,” the man whispered. “A real idiot
savant! Right here in Hall’s Music Emporium!”
    John continued to play the song until he reached the
end. He looked up with a smile. “Pretty simple, really. Once I got
the hang of it. Thought it would be harder.”
    “Let me show you another,” Hall said. “It’s a little
harder. See if you can play it.”
    The man chose a sonnet from Midsummer’s Night
Dream . When he finished and stood, John sat and as if replaying
the man’s