The Piano Man

VII. Give Me a Minute

"Memory is the diary we all carry about with us." Oscar Wilde

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VII. Give Me a Minute

"What do you mean she is like you?" Sophie asked, still absolutely overwhelmed after her marathon of a morning. Sophie could not comprehend any sort of explanation that led her to believe that Maddie was exceptionally bright.

However much she would want this for Maddie, she had just been told by three seasoned educators that Maddie needed to see a paediatrician and a psychologist for suspected autism!

"Look, I can't be sure, and I don't want to get your hopes up, but Maddie reminds me so much of myself as a kid," Noah replied.

"How?" pressed Sophie.

"Look at what she's doing," Noah gestured to Maddie at the piano. "Has she ever had a lesson?"

Sophie shook her head. Maddie had never even expressed interest in taking music lessons. She saw that piano every day and had never even asked to have a play with it.

And now she was playing it, knowing exactly which keys to press to complete her song.

"Have you ever heard of an eidetic memory before?"

"Is that sort of like a photographic memory?" Sophie asked.

"Not sort of, exactly," clarified Noah. "I have an eidetic memory. What that means for me is anything I see, anything I read or watch or notice, once I understand it, I never forget it," he explained quietly.

Sophie had heard of people with a memory like that. They were able to pass examinations without studying. What Sophie would have done to get through her GCSE's with an eidetic memory.

But was Noah actually suggesting that Maddie could have a memory like that? Wouldn't Sophie have noticed? Wouldn't that mean that she could know her readers without having to look back at the pages?

"I also have an auditory eidetic memory," Noah continued. "It's helped me a lot in my career as a musician. Anything I hear, any conversation I have, any sound, any tune, any melody, anything I come up with, I'm never at risk of losing it in my short-term memory. I don't forget it."

"Well, that's extraordinary, Noah, but I don't understand how Maddie could have something like this without me knowing," Sophie said, shaking her head.

Noah crossed his arms across his chest and called out to Maddie. "Hey, kid."

Maddie stopped playing and turned to look at Noah.

"Play your mom the song I was working on today. The one that you liked," Noah encouraged.

Maddie nodded excitedly as she turned back to the keys, her little tongue sticking out of her mouth as she concentrated. She found the right notes, and she began to play a proper, professional piece of music.

If Sophie's jaw could hit the ground, it would have. She fumbled getting her phone out of her back pocket so that she could take a video. She needed to show this to Maddie's teacher.

"She doesn't know the notes yet. She can't read the music. But she saw what my hands were doing. She remembered the tune, and she understood the process. That is how she's able to reproduce it now," Noah said proudly. "When you have this ability, it's very easy to become overwhelmed, to lash out, and to definitely check out. You're smarter than a lot of people, and it takes something really interesting to draw you out of your head."

The piece of music was short, and Maddie finished with a delighted grin.

"Take a bow, kid," Noah instructed, demonstrating from next to Sophie how it should look.