Piano Therapy

Louis's Big Idea!

This part begins immediately where part 1 ended 

"Do you remember the day we first met? When I played you Oh My Darling Clementine, and AJ was mesmerized by it?" Louis asked Clem. "Absolutely" Clem nodded, "that's when I realized how much of a dork you were, already making it obvious you liked me as soon as you met me." Louis chuckled, "yeah well it's a fun song to play and it fit perfectly given your name and all." "Why are you bringing it up now" Clem asked, wondering what Louis was thinking. "He clearly seemed like he loved the music and sound of the piano," Louis explained, "if you're okay with it, maybe I could try teaching him how to play, none of the other kids have much interest in music, sure Vi and Minnie are good singers,but neither of them have ever been interested in being a real musician and playing a real instrument like me" Clem observed AJ for a few seconds before answering, "good point, he does seem to enjoy music, and the chances he has to get it these days are few and far between, in fact, you singing was the first time he'd ever experienced hearing music. I'll try to talk to him during dinner and see if he wants to try it."

"Alright everyone!" Chef Omar exclaimed from his usual cooking fire close to the admin building, "it's time to eat!" Because Louis and Clem were sitting so close by on the steps of the admin building they were the first ones in line, so they got their piping hot bowls of stew first. "I notice AJ hasn't quite made it back from lookout duty" Omar said, "don't worry, I won't make him wait in line." He ladeled out a second heaping bowl of stew and handed it to Clem. "I'm sure the little dude is hungry after a long shift keeping us all safe." "Thanks" Clem said with a smile, I'm sure he'll appreciate that." She and Louis then walker back towards the picnic tables together. "So I'll give you and the little dude some space to talk about it and if you need me to come talk to him I'll be over there with Aasim and Willy" he pointed at a picnic table about fifteen yards away from the table he and Clem usually sat at most nights. "Okay sounds good" Clem said, "enjoy dinner." He smiled and gave her hand a quick squeeze, "you too."

"Hey Clem!" AJ exclaimed, running over from the lookout tower, "on look out duty today I saw one of those scavenger birds you told me about eating a dead turtle!" Clem winced, "wow, thanks for making me picture that right before dinner, I think I might have lost my appetite" she grinned and winked at him to let him know she was just joking. AJ laughed, "Come on Clem, I know you're not that much of a Shitbird." They walked over to the table and Clem set AJ and her bowls of stew across from each other. "Remember the talk we had earlier about finding something you enjoy?" She asked. "Yeah" AJ replied "you called it a niche."  "Wow, nice work remembering to say that word." Clem said. "Anyway, I was chatting with Louis earlier and he said he'd love to help you learn how to play the piano like he does. We could both see how much you liked it back when he played that song for us when we first met." AJs eyes lit up briefly and then faded into a sad expression. "That sounds really cool Clem, but that piano is so big and I'm so little with such small hands, it would be really hard for me." Clem paused, this wasn't quite the response she'd hoped for. Luckily for her, Louis was just walking by to give his empty stew bowl to Omar and overheard the last part of the conversation. "That's okay buddy" Louis chimed in, "I was little like you when I first started and I was intimidated by it too. Luckily I know just the trick for that, I'll start you off nice and slow teaching you easy songs involving only a few keys, and as you get older and bigger, we will keep adding more from there."  "Cool!" AJ said, count me in, I want to be a mu....a musi..." "A musician" Louis and Clem responded in perfect unison. "Yeah that" AJ said with a big smile, "I want to be a musician"  Louis laughed and said "first lesson is tomorrow morning after breakfast, be ready to have some fun!" 

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