...A Place To Hide

RAINY DAYS

Today was no different than the last rainy day. Or the one before that. It would never be different and there was something comforting in that.

I think he may have been a musical prodigy though he�d never admit it. He was wonderful on the piano. His singing voice wasn�t bad either. He would sit down at the piano and just play. He would play made up tunes that would blend in with the thunder. He never wrote them down and he never remembered them, but he didn�t have to. But like I said, today was the same thing.

When I woke up this morning, it was raining. I showered as usual and got dressed and drove over to his house. I knew he would be home and I knew he would be expecting me. I couldn�t even tell you how this tradition, if you will, started. I walked into his house without knocking as I always did. I knew he�d know it was me. He was already on the couch with blanket and hot cocoa in hand. It always started out with us sitting on the couch together under a warm blanket, drinking hot cocoa, and watching a movie. And that�s how it started today. I can�t tell you what movie we watched today, but it�s not important either. I do remember asking him about halfway through the movie if he would play for me. I don�t think we�ve ever finished a movie on a rainy day. He smiled because he knew it was coming, it was just a matter of when. Then he got up, sat down in front of the piano and started playing. He could stay like that for hours, just playing on the piano as if the whole world didn�t exist. It was just him and the piano, him and the keys. He got lost in a world of music and that was all that mattered. I didn�t mind because he made beautiful music and I was comforted. I would lie there on his couch under the blanket and get lost in a world too. His music and the storm outside blended together. Just like him, I could lay there for hours just listening to his playing. Maybe it was our common bond. But really I know the bond goes deeper than his music. It goes back to our past but that�s another story saved for another time.

I changed something today though. Today I got up and sat down on the piano bench with him watching his hands fly over the keys. I studied his face. His eyes were closed and little wisps of his hair were hanging down in his face. When I reached to move them he didn�t flinch. He was in total concentration. I laid my head down on his shoulder continuing to watch his hands. He noticed I was there then and turned his head to look at me his fingers never ceasing. I don�t know how long we sat there but it doesn�t matter. Eventually the time came when he quit playing as it always does and we sat back down on the couch. We don�t talk much but we don�t need to.

Sunny days are happier and we spend them together too though we have a different routine. Sometimes one may wonder why I don�t move in with him. But to us that is unthinkable because he is only my best friend. That�s as far as our feelings extend.

So when I fell asleep at his place that night on the couch as I usually do on those rainy days, he covered me up, kissed my forehead, and went off to bed himself.

� Sara - August 14, 2002

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