Sep 11 2012
Little Glass Piano
He gave me a glass piano in a box full of anguish. Its simple and angled clarity came tainted with the intentions of inciting undeserved guilt. It’s a shame, really. How could something so…pretty, so quaint, remind me of everything that I’ve been trying to forget. You see, this glass piano’s a gift. He remembered how I cautiously walked through Gun Hill Road and practiced my scales next to the heavily calloused hands of my piano teacher. He recalled how both sets of my grandparents had pianos at their houses and how they sometimes served as an extra laundry table, buffet table, frame holder. He remembered how I’ve owned a cheap, bulky, silver Yamaha keyboard since I was ten. And so he buys a little glass piano, shipped all the way from Hong Kong. Belated Happy Birthday from a thoughtful friend. But, it wasn’t as simple as that. He was never as simple as that. The piano was sent to make a point. How he’s always the one to be considerate, kind, generous. How he’s the one to always sacrifice and do things for others. How I’ve been the selfish one for not being enough of a friend yet here he is sending me a little glass piano shipped all the way from Hong Kong. You know, I wish his intentions were as pure as this glass. But, life’s not always clear, this little piano tells me. And it’s a part of growing up to realize that. And it’s a part of growing up to do what’s right for one’s self even if it means to distance from others. So to you, this may be just a little glass piano, but for me, it’s the reassurance that I’ve done what was right. At the moment when I first realized that, I felt like myself.
Do you feel that writing on the piano actually tainted and destroyed its intended purpose of making you feel guilty? It was such a pretty little piano and you basically defaced it and changed it completely. I felt the piano became a sign of right for you rather than your guilt. I would have loved to know the story behind the piano and who that person was, but the mystery definitely made the story more compelling. And your sister really knows how to take photos.
I wouldn’t say defaced, exactly. To me, I just surfaced the story hidden within the glass. Now that I think about it though, the ink on it can be a physical metaphor for the tainted intentions. Thanks for pointing that out; I hadn’t thought about it that way until now!
The piano was always a sign of right because I knew that the guilt he was trying to bring about was and still is undeserved. So in a way, I agree with you. I’d love to go into it sometime. Just… not on another small and easily smudged surface.
I’m still impressed that you were able to write all of this on the piano. Kudos to you Natalie! Also, the style of writing is incredible. Leaving out the person’s name made the story all the more compelling and mysterious. It takes strength to look past all the implications you saw in the gift and ‘feel like yourself’ as you said. A very inspirational story!
Thanks! I really enjoyed your writing style also. Because of the glass surface, I had trouble keeping the actual words there. At one point I took glass cleaner, wiped off an entire smudged part, and re-wrote it. And leaving out the details was partly due to my limited space. I really liked how it turned out stylistically, though, so I just went with it.