Fan Fiction ❯ Finding Forever ❯ Part VI ( Chapter 6 )

It was the one thing I took to loving more than almost anything. I took note of it before at some of the nicer strip clubs. Just the way some people could stroke it, this one lady better than any of them, pressing a certain key, sometimes banging it. But it always made such a sweet song. The lady who played on most days, and man was she a player— not to mention her gorgeous tanned legs and talented fingers, made it look so easy, and I knew doing it the way she did would be something of a challenge, but I was willing to learn.

 

“Right here,” she said placing a finger down delicately as I sat next to her one rainy day.

“Then here and here.” I used three fingers.

 

“Yes!” she said.

 

The piano's notes were soft, blotted out over the hammer of the rain outside.

 

“Now this one right next to it. Good, good, and then this flat. Excellent! Now you can play a scale!” Her name was Rosanne, a nice gal who had seen better days, but she was eager to make something out of life, so I was a good start. People sometimes wonder, why on earth would I take up piano when I'm eighteen years old? Well I didn't exactly have much of a choice really. Father worked an earnest job. He hadn't given up drinking, but he had let up on women so much as well as knocking down his dose of nicotine to an occasional cigarette. He told me, “Koji, I want you to make something out of life. You work a fair job, your grades have improved and it's near graduation. Damn kid, you've had your ass hanging around with an old bachelor like me for way to long. I want ya spending more time in the world.”

 

I didn't know whether my father was just trying to get rid of me or if he seriously meant it, but either way I had found a passion in music, specifically for the piano. I loved to dance to the sounds of the key's vibrations as it filled the air, and at first I thought if I did get good enough to play that I wouldn't be able to play without dancing, but after a slow month or so of practicing hard I knew several scales and songs. They weren't the most complicated of songs but I was making progress. Rosanne had plenty of time to spare, and I did for the most part as well. Aside from school, I had cut a few hours of work to make room for learning music.

 

I worked endless hours for the next few months.