Delirium

This day exactly a year ago I got informed that my mum passed away. She was 64 years old at that time and the last year of her life she spent in a hospital in my hometown Detroit. My dad left my mum 2 months before I was born. We lived in a truck and could hardly get the money for the food. I was young and didn’t really understand much. My mum didn’t have a real job, so she would agree to do everything just to get a little money to buy some food. My mum then met a guy, who fell in love with her and for a couple of years we lived with no major problems. His name was Joshua Alby. He was working as a translator in a small company in Detroit. To say that he was earning a lot of money would be a lie, but he still earned enough money to provide me and my mum with the things we really needed a lot. He bought a house and we moved in. 2 days later he died in car accident. I was 18 at the time. My mum struggled a lot to be honest, and the fact that she could still maintain the smile on her face was something not many people could do. I didn’t study good at school, because my all-time dream was to become a pianist so that was the only thing, I paid attention to. Joshua bought me a piano when I was 16. I was sure that everything will be just fine, and I would end up being a good pianist, because playing a piano was the only thing, I was good at. At the age 18, two months after Joshua died, I decided to drop out of the college and concentrate on playing a piano. This came as a shock to my mum and we a lot of arguments.

Being a pianist was the only hope left for me and my mum, and luckily playing a piano started making me some money. I was far from starting a career yet, but I was slowly but surely going for my dream. In a couple of years, I got so good at playing the piano, that becoming a professional pianist was inevitable. Finally, I could see my mum happy. I was making enough money to buy everything we needed. Things were getting better and better and it seemed like nothing could stop it anymore, nothing but the fate.

September 26, 1975, a man wearing an expensive suit knocked the door of our house. I opened the door and realized that this man has got no problem with money at all. His clothes, his watch and everything he had on him probably costed more than I could ever make. He was a short man with a face one in a billion. He comes in, my mum offers some tea, but the man just refused, saying that he had no time. He sat down, took his time, and said.

-My name is Jack Farley, and I’m a conductor. I’m planning to go on a tour this year, and you my friend, you are needed. I heard you playing in the club the other day, and I was amazed. Here is my phone number, call me tomorrow I’ll tell you where to come. I hope you accept the offer my friend, see you tomorrow.

He didn’t even wait for my response, just shook my hand and left the house. I thought this was it, my professional career as a pianist was about to start. I hardly slept that night, and at 10am I called Jack. He told me the place where I was supposed to go. I didn’t even know what I was going to do, but I was ready. I had my breakfast and left the house. After I walked for about 10 minutes, I saw Jack. I got so excited, that I decided to run and passed the street without even looking. The next thing I remember is I woke up in the hospital. I couldn’t feel my hands, or my feet. The doctor came in and started asking me some random questions, but I interrupted him and asked.

“Where’s Jack?”

The doctor looked at me confused and asked.

“Who’s Jack?”

I realized that I’m alone, and the dream that was so close, is now far-far away. For a couple of days, I stayed in the hospital with my mum. She got stressed even more than I did. But the bad news was yet to come.

Jack never answered my calls, it made my mum stress even more, and just 4 days after my accident, we found out that my mum is sick. The doctor tried to explain me the disease, but the words he was saying were unavailable for a college dropout. When I thought that things cannot get any worse anymore, I got informed that I could never play the piano again.