Madness and Women
Stories
Poetry
the piano teachers
his mom gave him piano lessons when he was six.
she taught him music was a mathematical language.
for example the distances between the notes and chords were calculated and measured.
she hoped combining math and music would help with his fixation on numbers.
it was a pathological and relentless obsession.
it often took over his mind and he became dysfunctional.
it was poisoning him as time went on.
he never connected with music like she hoped for.
_____
when he was older he got a job washing dishes at a nightclub.
one shift he was the last person in the place and sat by the piano in the dark.
he remembered listening to his mom play as a child.
she passed away a few years back and he thought about her often.
_____
that's when she sat down next to him and told him to listen carefully.
she arranged for a musician to give him piano lessons.
the man also taught music using math equations like she did.
he didn't understand.
she explained unless he got those numbers in his head under control they'd push him over the edge and destroy him.
she wasn't going to let that happen.
_____
he saw two men in the shadows wearing trenchcoats and fedora hats.
they had no faces.
it was time to keep her part of the bargain.
one of them touched her arm and the three of them disappeared.