The proceeds from sales of this book through the end of the year (2024) will go toward helping the victims of the three recent hurricanes that devastated people's lives along the West Florida coast. The funds will be donated through the Rotary Club of Holiday in Florida.
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- 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.
Reader Reaction from Julie in Ramona, California:
"O.M.G!! John York! What the heck?! All the time we were practically neighbors, I had no idea what an amazing writer you are! Lol! Started your book by the pool the other day...and never put it down! My Gawd! The sweet poignancy, the double entendre's, the quotes, the profound insight and honesty. Fantasy based in harsh reality. Relatable. And the ending!! Omg! I was bawling!! "Determined personal road trip" and "if a spirit can miss someone..." So creative and imaginative, yet brutally down-to-earth. We are all Everett and we are all simultaneously Jerry."
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, 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.