Behind Blue Eyes
Copyright© 2025 by DB86
Chapter 18
Once Robert left, Janice and Benji took care of the dishes.
Once they were done with the cleaning, Janice and Benji returned to the living room and sat down on the couch.
“Is that upright piano a decoration only?”
A tiny smile bent the corner of her son’s mouth. “My grandfather gave it to us when Grandma died. He said she wanted me to have it because I always liked to make noise on it when we went to their house.”
“What a fabulous gift. Your grandmother must have loved you a lot.”
Benji nodded. “Dad told me I’d better learn to play it so it wouldn’t go to waste.”
“Did you learn to play?”
“Kind of. In fourth grade, I started taking piano lessons from a very respected teacher. He used a well-known piano method and taught me page by page through the levels. It was boring.”
“That was not what you wanted.”
“No, I don’t want to be a classical music performer. I never learned to play songs by ear. I never learned chords and how they work together in a song.”
“Would you do me a huge favor and let me hear you?”
“Okay. But promise you won’t laugh.”
“I would never do that.” Janice crossed her heart.
Benji pulled some sheet music from the piano bench. After a false start, he played a familiar Beethoven prelude with surprisingly good technique. Janice clapped enthusiastically.
Benji had executed a very good rendition of Beethoven’s Piano piece Fur Elise.
“That was terrific! You’re a fine player,” Janice declared when he finished. “Play something else, please.”
“Would you like to play a duet with me, Mom?”
“Do you have sheet music?”
With a smile on her face, Benji moved off the bench so Janice could look through the music sheets. Her eye fell on a book of duets. She drew it out and closed the piano bench.
“Have you learned any pieces from this yet?”
Benji nodded. “The Magic Flute, by Mozart. My teacher and I used to play it at four hands.”
“I bet you had to learn the top part.”
“Yes. How do you know that?”
“Because I took piano lessons since I was seven until I was sixteen. My teacher made me learn this piece, too. Come on. Let’s see how we sound together.”
Janice had the time of her life, playing the lower part of the duet with her son. They did several run-throughs to work out the kinks, then pulled off a fairly polished performance.
When they’d finished, their cry of triumph was drowned out by someone clapping. Janice turned around on the bench. Robert had come into the living room without them being aware of it.
Benji ran over and hugged his father. “Can you believe Mom plays the piano, too?”
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