Life tern. My fatirred from our sleep, and t golden  tove, stirring oatmeal or frying breakfast in a pan; tceady feet. ture  aside ure iges remained. An old barn, red paint souring to a dark mauve, no-rail fence t fronted ty  stick by stick. t angle of brambles t Dad only boto mo to abandon farming in tant neigeads and acreage to developers. But ill a quiet, lonesome place.

    trick of groo remember to groal part of becoming tention to every detail of  no amount of preparation for t for ts family ory—memories of bygone birties and otimacies—t one must pretend to remember. ory is easy enougo fake; stick around anyone long enougco any plot. But ots and flaity. For-tunately  of farmland out in try.

    Near my first Cmas, o tairs and I idled by t t door. On tood a man  cigar mixing ly medicinal aroma of  once, alt seen him before.

    quot;; ;As I live and breat;

    I stood fixed to t clue as to ly at t, trode past me into tively up tairs. quot;Is your mot?quot;

    o visit in t occasion-ally tes, driving out from too the house.

    ossed  on turned to face me again. quot; been,  look like youve gro;

    I stared at tranger and did not knoo say.

    quot;Run up tairs and tell your mama Im . Go on no;

    quot;;

    quot;;

    quot;But I dont ;

    t;Are you okay, ;  doo look me in t;No actually your uncle, son, but your mamas oldest friend. A friend of t say.quot;

    My motair sranger, so to embrace ook advantage of to slip away.

    A close call, but not as bad as ter. In t feill s during tions, and overalk.

    quot;iced anyt tely?quot;

    So bed beside ;Odd?quot;

    quot;t;

    quot;;

    quot;And t;

    I looked at my  of proportion.

    quot;I t. Billy, ;

    quot;And toes.quot;

    I curled up my toes in my bed upstairs.

    quot;And o  an inc on not a pound all er long.quot;

    quot;;

    toward ;;

    quot;Billy ... stop.quot;

    I resolved t nigo become a true boy and begin paying closer at-tention to  be considered normal. Once sucake  very oes and invite furticism, but I could stretc of me a bit eac and keep up  a point to avoid Dad as much as possible.

    trigued me as a o ingratiate myself  listening to crooners on t dial in ticularly on a Sunday. Bac my ant past. But I o figure ao mention my interest  Mom realizing t e conversa-tions could be ter  or intimate. Fortunately, t Cmas, my distant grandparents sent toy piano. No bigger t, it produced but a tinny octave of notes, and from Ney coat. I rescued toy and sat in tunes from distant memory. My sisters, as usual,  like tranced yogis as I tested my memory on ted range. Dust rag in ood in tening intently. From tcc completely unexpected.

    In ting time betune of sorts, and gradually revealed my native talent, but s t. My sc drop t t a ook music lessons, rips, I pretended t til my fato cut t out. I made a point of  fe beg, but bided my time, until so believe t played out o ty to see a man about piano lessons.

    e left toddlers  up front in my fat spring morning in our Sun-day clot too sc to Mass, and onto to ty. S as ions. e  faster t been to ty in nearly one o like an old friend, one  beador stared at us from teering o follow us.

    On our approaco ty, tories on tskirts appeared first, great smokestacks exreams of dark clouds, furnaces s of fire. A bend in t once, a vieretco oer it loomed, until suddenly reets. t a cross street, a trol-ley scraped along, its pole sing sparks to ts doors opened like a bello poured a cros and s; tood on a concrete island in treet, ing for t to cment store ions of sraffic cops mingled s on man-nequins, ly still.

    quot;I dont knoo like coming into ty. Ill never find parking.quot;

    Moms rig out. quot;t ;

    Riding up in tor, my fat pocket for a Camel, and as t up. e es early, and o go in, I o tered. Mr. Martin may not  all and te , . Copo gen-teel seed. Beood t beautiful maco a ality of tos propped-open lid. ty ty of every beautiful sound. I oo dumbstruck to ansime.

    quot;May I ;

    quot;Im o learn everyt;

    quot;My dear young man,quot; ;Im afraid ts impossi-ble.quot;

    I o t at t of tant memory of a stern German instructor ordering me to in-crease tempo. I stretc as possible, testing my span, and laid t eliciting an accidental tone. Mr. Martin glided beudying my ;;

    quot;Once upon a time ...quot;

    quot;Find me middle C, Mr. Day.quot;

    And  t thumb.

    My motered te ain o greet troductions, I played scales from tones from triggered poing scores t I knew by . A voice in my ig, ig—more passion, more feeling.

    quot;You said ;

    quot;; my mot;I dont t;

    quot;tural.quot;

    For fun, I plinked out quot;ttle Star,quot; t for my sisters. I o use only one finger, as if t a toy.

    quot;aug,quot; Mom said. quot;On a tiny piano t you migra. And oo, sing like a bird.quot;

    Dad s me a quick sideoo busy sizing up my motin did not notice ttled on about all of my talents, but nobody listened. In measures too slo, I practiced my C even old Martin did not dis-cover the melody.

    quot;Mr. Day, Mrs. Day, I agree to take on your son. My minimum require-ment,   a time, ednesday afternoons and Saturdays. I can teac; tioned, in a voice barely above a ohe window.

    quot;But for your sonquot;—;for uition, but you must commit to sixteen ;

    I picked out a rudimentary quot;; My fatapped me on ting o leave. o Mom and grabbed ly by t of he elbow.

    quot;Ill call you Monday,quot; ;at ty. ell t over.quot;

    Mr. Martin bo;

    As tered incessantly, dreaming ture, planning our lives. Billy, rated on thing.

    quot;Ill buy some laying s ed to turn our place back into a real farm? Ill start a brood of c oo. And ake to treetcar, and treetcar into toreetcar Saturdays?quot;

    quot;I could do co earn t;

    quot;You see, Billy, s to learn? , t Mr. Martin said. And  piano?  s every day.quot;

    My fat an inco let in a roar of fresh air.

    quot;Did you o You, like  it forever? Its s . S.quot;

    quot;ice, Ruto play every day, and I migo afford piano lessons, but I certainly cant afford a piano in t;

    quot;t sc; I said. quot;Nobody uses it. Im sure if I asked, t me stay after....quot;

    quot; about your   to see your grades slipping.quot;

    quot;Nine times nine is eige is spelled S-E-P-A-R-A-t-E. Oppenook care of trin-ity is t, and it is a ery t no one can figure out.quot;

    quot;All rigein. You can try it, but for eig to be sure. And your moto raise to eac in t sc;

    Rutudied e, s-ting bet, lacking any guilt over t t I  t of tle families.

    As  at t of tures doo a s, o a c till existed alarmed me, for I ten t t made me ill, and I  to beg my fato pull off t  up anotte and opened ed my nausea, if not my fear.

    Mom broke t;Didnt Mr. Martin ask us to commit to four mont;

    quot;Ill call  a deal. Lets try tually, at first. See if t.quot;

    For t eigook piano lessons, and it  time of all my lives. If I came in early to sco let me practice at t in ter on, t me into to learn t substitute organist t under ting eggs, and eacer-noon, my fingers upon ting my tecurdays, trip into ty proved a tonic, ao civilization. No longer somet a creature of cul-ture, on my o becoming a virtuoso once again.