Second Chance (Anthony Rizzo)

(15) The Student And The Teacher

Anthony

It was a beautiful day here in Chicago. It wasn't often we have off days but I finally found one here in the middle of July. So I grab my girlfriend and we decided to go for a walk. To see the city and let our feet take us wherever we want to go.

We end up at water tower and do a little window shopping not really looking for anything specific. To just walk around and see what's out in this world we possibly don't know about yet.

After we get to the fourth floor we hear a piano playing and Jess perks up. You can tell it was live and not just a audio playing through the speakers, someone was here right now creating this beautiful music. I can see in her eyes she wanted to go wherever the music was coming from so I let her pull me around. Eventually we find a older lady sitting at a piano and she smiles so big.

"She's brilliant" Jessie claims.

"You know, I know how to play piano" I tell her and her eyes get big.

"Really" she gasps as I smile.

I learned when I was a kid but didn't really pick it up until more recently. I actually have a piano at home that Jess had gotten for me for Christmas a few years ago. I had taught her quite a few songs and she was a natural. She surpassed me within months but I didn't mind. In jess' own words, she was brilliant.

"Maybe she will let me play a few keys" I suggest.

"Please don't bother the poor woman" she giggles trying to pull me away.

"I'm sure she won't mind" I insist.

We walk over and I softly tap the lady on her shoulder. She stops playing and looks up at me with the biggest smile.

"Well, what a beautiful young couple. What can I do for you" she asks ever so nicely.

"Do you think I can play a little something" I ask as I point to the piano next to her.

"Of course not. It was just about time for my lunch break so you both can hold it down until I get back" she claims.

The nice old lady gets up and tells us she will be back in about thirty minutes. So Jess and I sit down behind the piano and get to work. I play a few things to warm up before I start to play a song. I haven't really played recently, it's not the same without her sitting on the bench next to me. But now I have this and I feel like it's the only times.

"Oh! This is... The Scientist, Coldplay" she announces and I smile.

"You have been listening to the music I gave you" I accuse.

"Every single day" she smiles big.

"I can teach you a few things" I offer.

"Seriously" she questions.

"Yeah. I think you'll be really good" I assure her.

I play some notes and she copies me in a different key. I play a few more notes and she follows along perfectly. Finally we put what we had together and she absolutely nails it.

"Okay I love this" she claims making me smile. It's good to see that some things she gets to fall in love with all over again. She might not know it but she has more of what she used to have than she even knows.

"Okay try this" I say as I do something new. She picks it up immediately and I just shake my head. I forgot how good she was at this.

"You sure you haven't played before" I tease.

"I'm sure I have. I always wanted to learn just never had access to a piano when I was growing up. But I do love playing, it's a lot of fun" she claims.

"That it is" I agree.

We play the whole 30 minutes the nice lady was on her break. Once she was back we stop bothering her and let her do her job. We continue on our quest to completely waste the day away.

"I think I'm going to look into taking piano lessons. I would love a teacher, I'll do my best to be a good student" Jess says as she looks up at me with those ocean eyes. She could ask me to steal a puppy with those things and I would.

"I can teach you up to a certain point but I don't think it would take long before you surpass me, you pick up really fast" I insist.

"That's what YouTube is for" she teases. "Maybe I just want another excuse to be with you."

"In that case, call me teacher" I smirk.

We walk around for a while before we find some pretzels to snack on and take a seat. We decide to hang out near the lady playing piano and admire her work some more.

"What makes you like piano so much" I ask randomly as she just shrugs.

"I don't know, I think it's a beautiful instrument. So many keys gives so many possibilities. You can create something so beautiful by just sitting and playing. I've always wanted to learn to play but especially since my accident I want to learn. To give my brain practice in remembering and create good memories along the way" she explains.

"Unless you're like me and forget how to play sometimes" I laugh.

"That's the thing about memories. You never truly lose memories, they don't go anywhere, they just are in the part of your brain you cannot reach. Humans only use a small fraction of their brains full capability. So everything we've ever seen and ever done is in there, we just can't reach them all.

So you still know everything you've ever learned about piano, it's just in the part of your brain you aren't using. And the worst part is it is all there, for me the last five years of my own life are just sitting there, blocked off by the damage that was done. I'll never be able to reach those memories again, all the things I've learned, all the ways I felt. They're gone and I hate it" she says softly.

"Come here" I say as I wrap my arm around her. She lets out a long sigh as I start to rub her arm. "Think of it this way. Now you can learn whatever you want all over again, like piano. And even if you can't remember everything, you'll still know how to play piano and make new memories."

"My favorite things to do is make memories with you, teacher Anthony" she jokes.

"And I'm excited to teach you, my student" I laugh.