This week has been kinda busy, so I haven't had time to write anything. In fact, I'm just gonna copy and paste my personal narrative I had to write for language arts and share it with you guys. Honestly, not a whole lot of it's true; I have a terrible memory and this happened a few years ago. Anyway, enjoy reading my not-so-personal narrative. I'm outta here.
I carefully planned out my next words in my head, but they dissolved as I opened my mouth and ended up blurting, “Dad, can we get a piano?” I crossed my fingers under the dinner table and hoped he would say yes. I knew, of course, I wasn’t going to get a straight answer right away, in fact, it was foolish for me to ask the question phrased in a way that sounded it could have been answered with yes or no, right then and there. I also knew that I had a shot at getting what I wanted, even if it wasn’t in a few months; my dad had played piano when he was younger.
My dad didn’t answer right away, not even a “maybe”. I fully suspected this, though. He chewed his food thoughtfully and glanced at my mom. She gave him a “we’ll talk about it later” kind of look. At least, I think she did; I viewed her from the side.
After several long seconds of silence, it was my mom who answered, “Well, maybe. Why do you want a piano?”
“I’d like to learn how to play. Claire plays piano, and it seems like fun.” Taking lessons, of course, was my reason for the piano in the first place. It was intriguing to me; eighty-eight keys to play with only ten fingers to play them. I had heard beautiful piano compositions in music class from legendary pianists like Beethoven, Mozart, and Wolfgang, and wanted to take par t in the creative process of music making. Piano seemed like the perfect instrument for it.
“We’ll see. Pianos aren’t cheap, so if we do end up getting one, it could be months before we even find one we like with a reasonable price.”
“I know, Dad. I just think it’d be a cool instrument to play. A lot of other girls my age take lessons.” I was fairly certain that the “everybody else has it” persuasion technique wasn’t going to work with my parents, but since I already had a chance at getting the piano, I threw it in for good measure. Again, my dad took his time chewing his food before answering.
“I wouldn’t mind having a piano, actually. It’d be nice to have one around.” I cheered silently in my head. My dad had a soft side for things he enjoyed; liking the same things as him was a great advantage. I considered him on my side; we just had to convince my mom. I doubted my sister would join my dad and me, but I hoped she remained mutual at the least.
Once dinner was over, I retreated to my room as I did for the next few weeks, until one night, I was informed that my parents decided to invest in getting a piano. This meant another week of waiting, I was sure, but I was excited; we were going to get a piano! I’d learn how to play and make compositions of my own some day. In the next month to come, I spent my weekends looking at piano catalogs and visiting various music stores. My family finally decided on a brown Kawai digital piano. It wasn’t a real piano, but it sounded and looked just like one. The only difference was buttons running along the top to change the voice that sounded from the keys.
My dad and I were the only ones in the car on the way to pick up our requested piano; my mom was taking my sister to skate at the Chiller as usual. I remember the joy that built up inside of me as we loaded the heavy piano into our van with help from a worker at the store it was purchased from. The back seat had been lowered into the floor to make room for the large instrument. I, sitting in the middle section of the van, held on to the piano, even though it most likely wouldn’t have fallen over. We arrived home safely, and the piano was still in great shape. My dad waited for my mom to get home to unload the piano, so I waited by the front door patiently for a half an hour.
My mom finally returned home and helped my dad bring the piano into the living room. It seemed to belong there, in its space by the corner. I sat on the accompanied bench, eagerly wanting to be the first one to play it.
Four years have passed, and I’ve been taking lessons for three. The piano is still my favorite instrument, even though my musical ability has spread to the saxophone and guitar. Compositions by Melinda (I don't want random people stalking me, so I took out my last name) are still waiting to be written, but I’m sure they’ll come soon.
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