Paperback and ebook are available on
Amazon.com - purchase
now
You can view the book trailer here
- I Am
Everett
I am Everett. That’s my name. Although I’m rather certain you will find this difficult to believe, I’m a piano, a grand piano to be precise. Not grand in the sense of being magnificent but rather a description of the type of instrument I represent.
“Impossible,” you say.
Yes, I know, but as unlikely as it may seem, it is true. If you bear with me, I’ll tell you how my life as a piano came to pass and recount the many experiences, encounters, and adventures of my long existence. I beg you to keep an open mind. I admit that the story I’m about to share with you seems improbable, and I confess that I don’t fully understand the phenomenon myself. I suppose that I am ultimately an enigma — even to myself
This is the unusual story of a sentient piano’s adventures and experiences over 123 years after his birth in 1901. Everett can feel, hear, and talk, but, like any other piano, he can’t move.
The story examines what it means to be alive yet unable to control one’s life. Throughout his existence, Everett wonders who is really is, what he is, and why is he here?
Through his unique friendships, he learns about the world around him and over time begins to understand the nature of his being.
A sudden awareness of being, as if a switch had been flicked on, is the very first thing I’m able to remember. I recall being in a large, closed space and a man hovering over my keyboard. I can still see his face as if it occurred yesterday. In that same instant, I became cognizant of having a keyboard. I immediately knew its function because I could feel the man touching the keys and hearing, as well as feeling, the music resulting from his touch. As he continued to play, I became enveloped and transformed by the experience, blossoming into a full consciousness of myself and my surroundings. I focused on the man. His dark hair and beard contrasted with his white skin. The twinkle in his brown eyes complimented the joyous smile on his thin lips. I remember that he wore a white shirt with a four-in-hand gray tie, and a dark gray notch-collar sack coat. I later learned that he was 38 years old at this first meeting, but at that seminal moment I didn’t see him as young or old or any particular age, just that the very sight of him was mesmerizing.
The word hello emerged from somewhere within
me.
The man returned my greeting in a very soft,
yet resonant voice. I understood every word he said. He welcomed me
into this life and told me he was my father. Sensations and
realizations flooded my new being, and although I didn’t understand
exactly what this meant at the time, I remember feeling
joyful.
Before he left me that day, he explained
that I would be moving into his home, that he had acquired me
because he considered me to be the perfect piano.
That’s what he told me, and, though I could not fathom how the word
perfect applied to me, I understood what being a piano meant. I
reveled in a state of puerile euphoria, and, combined with all the
new sensory experiences bombarding my virgin consciousness, I very
nearly became overwhelmed.