whether or not you eat your lunch son Mrs Houston and Victoria walked behind more leisurely Mrs Houston admiring the pretty flower boxes adorning the fronts of the small white houses Victoria looking hopefully for a beauty store As they turned onto the side street they found Mr Houston and Darren noses pressed hard against a shop window Looking up Mrs Houston noticed the sign above the store Larkspur Music She and her daughter joined the others and they too pressed their noses against the window to see the instruments stored inside Though everything looked pretty dusty the family was thrilled to see a range of musical instruments a cello some violins guitars a huge drum kit that took up most of the left side of the window and much more Let’s go in Mrs Houston said glancing at the open sign on the front of the door Though neither she nor her husband had any musical skills to speak of Mrs Houston had always wanted to be able to 12
play something Pushing open the door the family entered the shop and there right in the center stood the most beautiful piano they had ever seen Predominantly white it stood proudly with its lid open showing polished keys that seemed to simply cry out for someone to play them Victoria three years into piano lessons was the first to run her fingers along the keys please Mr Houston was aghast Buy it Victoria You can’t be serious Do you know how much these things cost Put the lid down you’re not supposed to touch you know intervened I can understand how she feels It really is beautiful own fingers along the keys As a child Mrs Houston She too moved closer to the piano and ran her Oh Mom Dad it’s perfect can we buy it Don’t be so hard on her dear Mrs Houston 14
Can I help you came a voice from the far end had hoped her parents would send her to piano lessons but unfortunately the money was always needed elsewhere and she had never fulfilled her dream of the store An elderly man was walking toward them Ah you’ve taken a liking to the piano have you my dear He smiled at Victoria Well yes it is so beautiful she said I didn’t mean to touch it really I just couldn’t help myself Oh don’t worry about that he returned Most people who come in here are drawn to the piano Have a seat What about you young man Would you like to sit on the stool alongside your sister Darren was seated on the stool almost before the words had left the owner’s mouth His sister seated half on and half off grimaced at her brother before gently touching the keys while Darren brasher than Victoria began to roughly play his scales Would you be interested in buying sir madam 15
