Chapter 3
Playing the songs in my music books was hard at first because I had so much to learn, but I practiced and practiced and went to my lesson every Monday. Ms. Thompson was pleased with my progress and had begun to give me more advanced pieces to play. “You play by ear, my dear,” she said one afternoon. “After hearing a song just once or twice, you can play it and play it quite well.”
All at once, I had the answer to why I’d been able to sit down and play first for Mr. Cutler and then for Thomas after he’d tuned that fine grand piano in the house on the hill. I had heard those songs over and over again in my head, so actually playing them for real had come easily to me.
The following Monday, when I arrived for my lesson, Ms. Thompson announced that in two weeks I’d be playing in my first piano recital along with several other students. It would be held at Steinway Hall, one of the finest concert halls in New York City.
“Are you sure I’m ready for a recital?” I asked with a shocked look on my face.
Ms. Thompson chuckled. “I’m sure or I’d never have listed your name on the program as one of those performing in the upcoming recital. You play beautifully. You’ve been given a tremendous gift, Anna Louise.”
“Thank you, but I’ve never performed on stage in front of an audience before.”
“You’ll do fine once you start to play. Everything else around you will disappear.”
When the day of the recital arrived, I woke up to butterflies taking over my stomach. I had never been this nervous in my life. But knowing how important this day would be, I’d even gone out and bought myself a long, flowing, light-pink gown to wear for my performance. I was about to walk out the door when my phone rang.
“Hello,” I said in a hurried voice.
“Anna Louise. It’s your sister Charlotte. I’m calling to tell you I’m getting married. Frank and I are so happy. We’re going to have a country club wedding reception.”
“Congratulations, Charlotte, but I have to go. I was on my way out the door.” My sister and Frank Sullivan had dated since she was a junior and he a senior in high school. Both were now attending the same college not far from home. All of Wisteria would be invited to this grand event.
“You’ll come home and be in my wedding, won’t you?”
“I will if I can, Charlotte. Email me the information and I’ll let you know.” I realized I didn’t know if I wanted to go back home yet.
I heard Charlotte yell for Mom and before I knew it Mom was on the phone. “You will come home for your sister’s wedding. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Do you hear me?”
“I hear you, Mom, but I have to go. Talk to you later.” I hung up, knowing the consequences would be harsh if I went back home now. I didn’t have time to think about that as I raced out the door of my apartment and hailed a cab to Steinway Hall.
Ms. Thompson greeted me as I entered the concert hall. Pointing to my name on the program, she exclaimed, “You’re up next, Anna Louise. Are you okay? You’re shaking like a leaf.”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Thompson, but I had an unpleasant phone call right before coming to the recital. I’m nervous, but I’m ready to play.”
“The main thing is to relax and play your very best once you’re seated at the piano. You can do it, Anna Louise. By the way, you look like an angel in that dress.”
Ms. Thompson gave me a hug and sent me out to play in my first piano recital. As I looked out at the audience and did my curtsy, I spotted Chase out there in the front row, but to my surprise, Mr. Cutler sat right next to him. I smiled wide at both of them, then sat down at the piano to play the same song I’d played for Thomas that first day while at the big house on the hill. It was my favorite song, and Ms. Thompson had approved it for my first official performance on stage.
As the lights reflected off the shiny baby grand piano, I touched the keys and began to play. Hearing the sound of the song in my head, I played for the next few minutes without ever glancing away from the keys. Music filled the hall from corner to corner. As the final notes brought my piece to an end, the crowd began to clap. Then, when I stood to take a bow, the claps erupted into applause. I bowed several times before leaving the stage, waving to the crowd as I left. Happiness filled me for the first time in my life.
After the concert, I noticed Mr. Cutler talking with Ms. Thompson as Chase made his way toward me. “You look gorgeous, Anna Louise. The song you played is the most incredible thing I’ve ever heard. Did you write that song? What’s the title of it?”
Getting caught up in his praise, I replied, “I did write that song, but all I knew at the time was that I wanted to get out of Wisteria as soon as I graduated. I didn’t even think to give it a title, so you can have the honor, if you like.”
“I’d like to.” He thought for a moment, then said, “I think ‘The Gift of Goodbye’ would be the perfect title for that amazing song performed by my brilliant friend, Anna Louise Armstrong.”
“I love it, Chase. My farewell to Wisteria. Must be the journalist in you coming out again.”
Chase gave me his wicked grin and put his arm out. “Can I take you for a soda or an ice cream to celebrate your first recital, Miss Anna Louise?”
“That would be a very nice way to end the day. Thank you, Mr. Monroe.” I took one arm as he flagged a cab with the other, then we were off to share a treat, marking my first piano performance in public. Ever.
~ ~ ~
Mara Holbrook, my best friend from high school, chatted away on the other end of the phone as I was trying to hurry out the door of the Emporium and into a cab for my first piano lesson since the recital. Mara attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago now. But, I can still see her bebopping along down Poppy Street with her medium-length, curly, brown hair blowing in the breeze that always seemed to be around her as she carried one of her delightful paintings under her arm. Being Mara, she was always a few steps ahead of me as we made our way downtown to the Shelby Art Gallery where her newest painting would be taken into consignment and hung on the wall for all of Wisteria to see. Back then I could sit for hours watching her paint a portrait, a landscape, or an abstract that said nothing to me, but everything to her. “Mara, I’m now sitting in front of The School of Musical Arts and need to pay the cab driver before going inside for my lesson. I’ll email you tonight about my sister’s wedding. Bye.”
Inside, with Ms. Thompson waiting for me, I set my backpack down on a chair and took out my music books. Sliding on to the piano bench, I opened my books to today’s lesson.
“Which song would you like me to play first?” I asked.
“We’ll wait on that for right now,” she said, sitting down on the piano bench next to me. “I have something for you to commemorate your first recital. I hope you like it.” Ms. Thompson smiled and handed me a small, black velvet box.
“Thank you, Ms. Thompson.” I opened the box to find this splendid brooch in the form of a copper-colored baby grand piano with my name and the date of the recital inscribed in a beautiful script on it. In-between, one glittering diamond sparkled up at me. Unfamiliar tears rolled down my cheeks. “This means everything to me, Ms. Thompson. I’ve never received a keepsake like this before.”
“Anna Louise, I know in my heart this is just the first of many for you. If you continue to improve at the rate you are, you’ll be able to complete our program in the year that your scholarship is scheduled for.” She put her arm around me. “You are one of just a handful who have ever done that. Would you like to play something now?”
I swished away the tears and turned to the first song of my assignment. Touching the keys and playing again brought it all back to me. I leaned in to make the music vibrate throughout the room. Ms. Thompson smiled when I glanced over at her. I had played these songs on Mr. Cutler’s piano and knew them by heart. I made a few mistakes, but mostly the piano hummed with the sound of the songs in my music books. When I finished, Ms. Thompson assigned another lesson, then handed me a sheet of music. My eyes popped when I saw the name of the concerto on the sheet music, “Beethoven’s No. 5, E-flat Major.”
“Thank you, Ms. Thompson. I’ll spend as much time practicing this week as I can. See you next Monday.”
“Congratulations on the recital. You had an outstanding performance. Just do the best you can with the sheet music this week and I’ll see you on Monday.”
~ ~ ~
That night, I curled up on the least damaged of the sofa cushions with my laptop to email Mara about my sister’s wedding, asking her what I should do. She knew me better than anyone in the world and I trusted her advice. I sent it off, knowing it wouldn’t be long before I received a response. That was just the way my friend Mara Holbrook was.
A couple minutes later, she replied:
My family received an invitation to your sister’s wedding, but neither Blake nor I will be able to attend. Mom and Dad will be, though. They wouldn’t want to miss Wisteria’s grandest social affair of the year. It sounds like your mom is already angry at you for hanging up on her, so how much more angry could she be if you don’t go home for the wedding?
I wrote back:
I want to be there for my dad, but I just don’t know if I can face my mom and my sister yet. Charlotte with her long, blond hair and blue eyes is my mom’s pretty ballerina. Mom’s once-blond hair, which is now highlighted in shades of blond so that her friends can’t see the gray, has molded Charlotte into a younger version of herself. A mold I certainly don’t fit into.
Mara answered:
I assume your sister has a phone. Call her and explain to her that you won’t be coming home for her wedding, but you wish her all the best and would be sending her a very nice gift, which is what she’s interested in anyway if I remember Charlotte at all.
I responded:
I don’t know how I’d be able to try on the bridesmaid dress she and Mom would pick out for me without going home days before the wedding, and I’m not doing that. Sorry, a text just came in on my phone. I’ll call Charlotte like you said. Thanks, friend, for the advice. Hope all is well with you and that your studies are going well, too. Love ya.
Studies going well. Love you, too, sailed back into my inbox.
I found my phone on the kitchen counter and read the text from Chase.
I’m covering an upcoming concert for the Times. Would you like to go? It’s Bruno Mars, a rock and hip-hop kind of guy.
Sure. Sounds like fun. When is it?
This Friday night at nine o’clock. Can you make it?
It’s on my calendar. Thanks for inviting me to my first big concert in New York.
I’ll knock three times around seven o’clock. We wouldn’t want to miss the opening band.
See you Friday at seven, Mr. Reporter Man.
Funny, Miss Piano Girl.
Then, before I could put the phone down, it started to ring. Oh no, my mother. As I was about to say hello, I heard her say. . .
“Anna Louise Armstrong, you get on a plane from your fancy New York and get home here to Kansas for your sister’s wedding.”
“Glad you called, Mom. I was going to call Charlotte to say I can’t make it home for her big day. I know she’s excited. And she should be. But, I won’t be there.”
“You certainly will be, young lady.”
“No, Mother, I won’t be.”
“Here, talk to your father.” The next voice I heard was my dad’s.
“Anna Louise. What’s so important you can’t come home for your sister’s wedding?”
“Dad, I just can’t. I work on Saturdays and I wouldn’t be able to take a week off to come home ahead of the wedding. Charlotte doesn’t need me. I’ll send her a nice gift in my place.”
“Is there anything I could say to change your mind? I miss you and Mara rushing in and out of the house these days.”
“I miss you, too, Dad. I just need more time away from Mom. I hope you understand. I love my job and I’m taking piano lessons now.”
“You are? You’ve wanted to do that for a long time.” His voice seemed to smile back at me. “I’m so proud of you, sweetheart.”
“Thanks, Dad.” I replied “Someday you’ll have to come listen to me play.
“I’ll be there. Will I get a front-row seat?”
“You sure will. Please explain to Mom the best you can about the wedding. I love you.”
“It’ll be okay. I love you, too. Bye.”
“Bye, Dad.”
Now I was sad. I missed my dad and even my brother, Grant, a little bit. Grant was the athlete in the family and he was good at whatever sport he played. He had dark hair like Dad and me and already towered over my five-foot-seven inches. Playing soccer was Grant’s favorite thing to do, but he also played football and basketball for the Wisteria Wizards. Mom and Charlotte were like two peas in a pod. Dad and Grant were the macho males in the family. Then, there was me: the misfit. That was okay because now I was doing the things I loved, and Mom couldn’t hurt me anymore.
~ ~ ~
The air was electric as Chase escorted me into Madison Square Garden for the concert of a lifetime. Everyone was screaming and shouting as the opening band, Electric Lights, came on stage to perform. Colored lights were flashing all over the place. I hung on tight to Chase’s arm.
“You’ll be okay now,” Chase said as he smiled over at me. “Raise your arms in the air like this and start rocking with the band.”
“It’s crazy loud in here, Chase.” I tried raising my arms in the air, and sure enough, I could do it. “Hey, look at me.”
“Now start rocking to the music.” Chase stood behind me and placed his hands around my waist so I could feel how he was moving back and forth. “Relax into it, Anna Louise. That’s it, you’re getting the hang of it.”
Before long, I was rocking and rolling right along with Chase and the rest of the crowd. Then, as Bruno Mars and his band, The Hooligans, appeared on stage, I went crazy right along with the rest of the crowd. Bruno took my heart away, the band rocked, and the show created an incredible electricity, but above all, the intensity of the music deserved every decibel that bounced off the walls of the arena. The unbelievable excitement in the building, as Bruno performed each and every song, made me press my hands over my heart. It was amazing!
“Watch, Anna Louise,” Chase shouted in my ear. “Bruno is going to play the piano.”
“I’m watching, Chase. Thank you for bringing me here.” I put my arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. “Bruno rocks!”
“I kind of thought you might like him.” Chase laughed. “He’s almost as talented as you are.”
“Thanks, but I could never perform like Bruno does. And I bet you’re just as good at your job as Bruno is at his.”
“Maybe someday we’ll both be as good as Bruno is right now.”
“Amen to that.” I put my arms in the air and started rocking right into Chase.
After the show, Chase took me to a place where concert goers hang out. It was loud and raucous in there, but everyone was having a good time, even me from a small town in Kansas. I smiled over at Chase as he handed me my usual diet soda, then we toasted the concert and clinked our glasses together. I slowly sipped away at my drink while watching a table of young people become more and more intoxicated, remembering how hard I had tried not to cry whenever my mother would hit me one more time for good measure. I had vowed over and over again I would never be like her, and I wouldn’t. Chase and I tried to talk over the crowd noise, but to little avail. Finally, he smiled and said, "Let’s hail a cab back to the Blue Sky and call it a night.”
“Let’s,” I replied. “Think I used up all of my energy at the concert.”
Chase walked me to my door, then pulled me close and kissed me gently on the lips. “Hope you enjoyed the concert tonight.”
“More than you could ever know.” I blinked back a tear. “Thanks, Chase, for an exciting and electrifying night.”