Please note that the memories and artwork contained herein are copyrighted 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011

Sitting at a piano Memory

A quick flash of sitting at a piano.

I am dressed in black formal wear.  A tuxedo with tails.  Not sure who I am yet.  Is it Manfred or Siegfried?

It is evening because the room is dark and lit with the yellowy light of oil lamps.  It must be the Siegfried lifetime.  I am in the room I described in the first memory that occurred.  I can see the fireplace mantle looking through the piano.  It's a baby grand piano that is a dark color and the flap or panel that is opened to allow the sound to come out fully is propped open and I can see through the propped up panel.  I feel like there is a formal party happening at the house.  I am dressed up very nice.  There are also candles that are lit in the room.

I am sitting on the piano bench seat.  I am fingering the keys but I don't seem to be playing.  I am not sure if I really know how to play.  I think I know how to play basic scales.  There is music placed on the piano.  It looks handwritten.   ¾ time.  So it may be a waltz.  Strauss comes to mind.  I don't know if this is from him or it just reminds me of him.

The household is full of guests.  I can hear the chatter of so many people throughout the house.  Why am I in this room and am I alone?  How old am I?

The impression I get is that I am still a teenager.  Perhaps about 15 or 16 years old.  I think I am waiting for someone.  A girl.  I hear a soft knock on the door and then it opens.  I can see a girl wearing white gloves, carrying a fan, wearing a long multi-ruffled dress that appears to be a white with pink ribbon accents.  The collar of the dress sets just off her shoulders and her hair is reddish brown and is put up with sausage curls hanging down.  I don't know if I explained that correctly, but it seems to be a hairstyle I have see in movies and in books concerning the era.  She has lovely white skin and a small bow shaped mouth.

She looks about the room with a curious eye.  I don't think she has seen this room before.  I ask her if she would like to have a seat.  She smiles at me and accepts my offer.  She sits down on the love seat.  I am not sure if I should sit next to her or not.  Was she sitting there to allow me to sit next to her or because there was plenty of room for that dress?

I stood there perplexed, and then she looked up at me and asked, "Aren't you going to have a seat?"  She patted the space next her on the love seat.  "Oh yes," I replied sitting down next to her.

I asked her if she was enjoying the festivities and she said she was.  She said something to the effect that she had been to many nice parties like this before, but she especially liked our family's home.  She was close to my age, but I was not sure actually how old she was.  She was the daughter of one of my parent's guests.  I don't think I had ever met her before.  She was very pretty and very lady like, but I was still not completely sure about her.  I could not tell if she liked me or not or was just being polite.  She looked about the room and commented on the shelves of books.  She seemed impressed and asked if I had read them all.

I almost laughed and answered no that I had not, but I suspected that my father might have.  Some of the books were written in languages that I never mastered, so I probably would never be able to read them all.  I asked her if she liked to read and what she liked to read about.  She replied that she liked poetry the best, and then she asked if I read poetry.  I wasn't sure how to reply to that other than that I did not read much poetry.  I was more interested in history and tales about knights and battles.  She made a little disappointed sigh, so I quickly piped that I was sure that there were some books of poetry in the library.  I mentioned that we had the Iliad and Odyssey, which got a strange reaction from her.

She said that was not the kind of poetry that she was interested in.  She then asked if I played the piano.  I told her that I had taken some lessons, but I was not very good at it.  I told her my sister Rose was the best piano player in the family.  I was starting to sense that I was not going to win any points with this girl.  I smiled at her and said that perhaps I could ask Rose to play something for her, and that I was more of the horseback riding type of guy and that I occasionally liked to paint, which was the most artistic thing that I did.

She smiled at me warmly and said that she liked horses as well and would love to see some of my artwork.  She took my hand into hers and said that perhaps in the morning she would be allowed to come back and go riding.  She then suggested that we return to the party before anyone noticed that we were missing.  I was amicable to this idea as well.

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