Shakespearean Professor Jasper Nickel was a lonely old man whose imagination most always got the best of him. He taught Shakespeare’s works at a local university and, as innocuous as that job was, he always came home feeling as though he had been living a day during Shakespeare’s time. As interesting as some of his stories the stories he tells in the classroom are, I will be telling you another story. An extraordinary story about what happened when Professor Nickel came home on what he thought was just another ordinary night.
One day, on that cold and stormy night, an old man was walking to his cottage after a very long day at work. He sighed as he opened the door and went to go make himself some tea.
Professor Nickel’s cabin was very small-some might call it quaint- and he owned very little. He had lost his wife ten years ago in a horrible accident and had since then started living very simple. In the living room, he had all of Shakespeare’s work, neatly stacked on the shelf. He had a couch in the corner where he slept. And in the middle of the living room was a huge grand piano. The piano took up almost the entire room and he used to play it often. That is, until his hands started aching. His hands weren’t the only thing hurting him these days. Old age had taken its toll on Professor Nickel, and sometimes he had to struggle just to get out of bed.                                                                                    Tonight, he was going to bed early and was putting his head down on the pillow when a note on the piano played. Terrified, he stayed frozen to the couch. Nobody was home except for him. After five silent minutes, another note played, and then another. Soon, a beautiful melody was playing throughout the cabin. Professor Nickel walked over to the piano, not knowing what to find. What he saw made him stop in his tracks. The keys were being pushed down by what seemed like an invisible hand. As he walked closer, he could no longer see the piano, but what looked like a great big black hole! He was falling down and there was nothing he could do to stop himself. Instead of having a disastrous landing, he fell very lightly onto the ground in a place he did not recognize.
It was a very beautiful green meadow that seemed to stretch on for acres. He found that he was in a sitting position and he braced himself for a very painful rise to his feet. But as he started to work, he found out that his body felt no pain at all. He got up and ran until he was out of breath. He hadn’t had this much exercise in a long time. After walking around a bit he noticed a grand piano in the middle of the field that surely had not been there before. Sitting on the bench, was his wife, just as she looked ten years ago. He walked over to the piano bench and just sat there next to his her.  After a while, she started playing the same melody that the invisible hands were playing at his cottage. He then started playing the piano himself, harmonizing with her. He closed his eyes and let the music take him away to a time when both he and his wife would play together daily. He then started falling. But this time he expected it. He was falling faster and harder. With a jolt he landed on his couch.
He thought maybe he was in a dream, but it all seemed so real. He sat down on the piano bench and started playing one note at a time. It was a little out of tune, but the music sounded more beautiful to him than ever. He noticed the small aches and pains in his wrists and fingers, but tonight he found it easier to discover the music that was lost long ago.     

Copyright Tatum Rochin 2009