“She used to play by ear,” her daughters had told me. “She was really good.”
Knowing this, I wheeled Samantha towards the piano. She was agitated, and crying out for assistance. I had a feeling that the piano may calm her down.
“No, no, no, no,” Samantha said. “I don’t know any songs…I can’t play…I don’t know any songs…” she protested as I rolled her wheelchair up to the instrument.
Samantha quieted suddenly as she reached the piano, resting her hands confidently on the keys.
She watched her fingers as they moved, playing a song that she could not identify by name. Samantha was clearly a woman who had played piano many times before.
The song was beautiful, and the music flowed easily from her fingers.
Her song finished, and she turned to me.
“See, I don’t know anything else,” Samantha said to me. “I can’t play,” she began saying again, taking her fingers off the keys.
