Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2005 03:45:46 -0400 (EDT)
From: Sean R <seanr_13@yahoo.ca>
Subject: The Missing Piece of a Piano - 19

The Missing Piece of a Piano
By: Sean Roberts

E-mail: seanr_13@yahoo.ca

Author's Note: I would like to say a very heartful thank-you
to the two people who took the time to do an absolutely
incredible job of editing this work for me.  I would
also like to thank everybody who wrote me--you are
my encouragement and you made every moment I spent
composing this piece worthwhile.  I hope that for
all of you, the music will never stop.

Faye, if you ever read this, I lost you but my love
for you will never die.  Thanks for the inspiration.

Bar 19

The gathering of a family--everybody is there except for
Keith.  An elaborate dinner has been arranged by Daniel's
parents; set up as a buffet on the dining table, pushed against
the wall.  Everybody is with plates in their hands.

Mr. and Mrs. Lewis, before taking food, approach Faye.
Daniel introduces them.  He can hear the love in their voices
when they tell her how absolutely beautifully she played
tonight.  They leave to get food and Daniel steals a kiss on her
cheek.  "You really did," he says.  She smiles at him.

Everybody has met.  Because of the relationships of their
children they have come together tonight.  Daniel's sadness is
being relieved by the love everybody in the room feels towards
him.  Seth, demanding silence, graces them with the song he has
been practicing.  When he finishes Daniel goes up to him and
shakes his hand in an official manner.  Well done.  Seth smiles
up at him.  Behind Daniel, Seth's parents are beaming.  Daniel's
parents are proud of their son and Ashley's parents miss their
own more than ever.  But as they watch Daniel take a bite of
food, they are reminded of the time they had with their son and
are grateful for the friendship the boys were able to give each
other.  Ashley begins to talk to Faye.  Mark stares at his
brother, knowing he still has a lot to learn.  Keith smiles.
Daniel turns to look out the window and he sees a star brighten.

*

He sits in the dark corner.  Johann Sebastian Bach leans
against the nearest file cabinet.  Daniel's legs are crossed,
his violin raised up to his chin.  He watches the notes and he
plays.  He does it quietly so as to not disturb anybody else who
might be in the library.  He knows if he plays too loudly the
sound will carry.

His eyes stay open.  He reads ahead and in the time he has
before he has to look at the music again he stares around at the
still room.  The room is now truly full of music.  His life is
full of music.  He thinks of Faye at the piano.  He thinks of
her smile and how it gives him a feeling of warmth.  He loves,
most of all, sitting beside her and watching her play.  He can
hear the sound more clearly; he can hear the taps of the keys
and sometimes the clicks of her fingernails against them.  He
can hear her breathing and he can touch her leg.  He can smell
the shampoo in her hair.


The smiles that make him smile.


He remembers Keith's smile.  He remembers the time he said
to Faye, So you don't believe in magic?  Keith's smile lives in
Daniel's heart with the missing piece of a piano Daniel found
and shared with world.

The End