List, This is rather long and definitely off-topic, but before we all get back into our grinds after a long weekend (which I hope everyone enjoyed) and because of some encouragement from another list I'm on, I'm posting this here. One person who responded to it said it better than I ever could. His comments: >Beautiful story, Thank you for sharing it and I have something to add. >As I am not very good at writing, I hope you understand the meaning. > >This made me think. Even though this is a list for a piano forum because it >is what we have in common, we are also human and not machines. I am sure >this kind of post humanizes us more. We share so many things that sometimes >even without knowing each other, we could consider ourselves friends. I know >everybody has his own problems and sometimes doesn´t want to bother others >or be bothered by other problems, but also sometimes, just listening to >somebody in the right moment, and answering like Avery´s post can help a >lot. In my opinion we should encourage this kind of post on the list. It >makes it more humane and shows us we can make a better world for ourselves, >even if it is in our list. This was sent to me by a relative and because of something that was said on the other list, I posted this story. The point, for all of us, is we never know whose life we might influence and by how much. If there are any flames about doing this, please send them to me privately. Regards, Avery ************************************************************************ N e v e r U n d e r e s t i m a t e....!!!!! When I was quite young, my father had one of the first telephones in our neighborhood. I remember well the polished old case fastened to the wall. The shiny receiver hung on the side of the box. I was too little to reach the telephone, but listened with fascination when my mother used to talk to it. Then I discovered that somewhere inside the wonderful device lived an amazing person - her name was Information Please and there was nothing she did not know. Information Please could supply anybody's number and the correct time. My first personal experience with this genie-in the-bottle came one day while my mother was visiting a neighbor. Amusing myself at the tool bench in the basement, I whacked my finger with a hammer. The pain was terrible, but there didn't seem to be any reason in crying because there was no one home to give sympathy. I walked around the house sucking my throbbing finger, finally arriving at the stairway. The telephone! Quickly, I ran for the foot stool in the parlor and dragged it to the landing. Climbing up, I unhooked the receiver in the parlor and held it to my ear. "Information Please", I said into the mouthpiece just above my head. A click or two and a small, clear voice spoke into my ear. "Information, I hurt my finger", I wailed into the phone. The tears came readily enough now that I had an audience. "Isn't your mother home?" came the question. "Nobody's home but me", I blubbered. "Are you bleeding?" "No", I replied. "I hit my finger with the hammer and it hurts". "Can you open your icebox?" she asked. I said I could. "Then chip off a little piece of ice and hold it to your finger", said the voice. After that, I called Information Please for everything. I asked her for help with my geography and she told me where Philadelphia was. She helped me with my math. She told me my pet chipmunk that I had caught in the park the day before would eat fruit and nuts. Then there was the time Petey, our pet canary died. I called Information Please and told her the sad story. She listened, then said the usual things grown-ups say to soothe a child. But I was not consoled. I asked her, "Why is it that birds should sing so beautifully and bring joy to all families, only to end up as a heap of feathers on the bottom of a cage"? She must have sensed my deep concern, for she said quietly, "Paul, always remember that there are other worlds to sing in". Somehow I felt better. Another day I was on the telephone. "Information Please". "Information", said the now familiar voice. "How do you spell fix?", I asked. All this took place in a small town in the Pacific Northwest. When I was 9 years old, we moved across the country to Boston. I missed my friend very much. Information Please belonged in that old wooden box back home and I somehow never thought of trying the tall, shiny new phone that sat on the table in the hall. As I grew into my teens, the memories of those childhood conversations never really left me. Often, in moments of doubt and perplexity, I would recall the serene sense of security I had then. I appreciated now how patient, understanding and kind she was to have spent her time on a little boy. A few years later, on my way west to college, my plane put down in Seattle. I had about half an hour or so between planes. I spent 15 minutes or so on the phone with my sister, who lived there now. Then without thinking what I was doing, I dialed my hometown operator and said, "Information, Please". Miraculously, I heard the small, clear voice I knew so well, "Information". I hadn't planned this but I heard myself saying, "Could you please tell me how to spell fix"? There was a long pause. Then came the soft-spoken answer, "I guess your finger must have healed by now". I laughed. "So it's really still you," I said. "I wonder if you have any idea how much you meant to me during that time." "I wonder," she said, "if you know how much your calls meant to me. I never had any children and I used to look forward to your calls." I told her how often I had thought of her over the years and I asked If I could call her again when I came back to visit my sister. "Please do," she said. "Just ask for Sally." Three months later I was back in Seattle. A different voice answered "Information". I asked for Sally. "Are you a friend?", she said. "Yes, a very old friend", I answered. "I'm sorry to have to tell you this", she said. "Sally had been working part-time the last few years because she was sick. She died five weeks ago." Before I could hang up she said, "Wait a minute. Did you say your name was Paul?" "Yes." "Well, Sally left a message for you. She wrote it down in case you called. Let me read it to you. The note says, 'Tell him I still say there are other worlds to sing in. He'll know what I mean'." I thanked her and hung up. I knew what Sally meant.
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