Just before my sixth birthday, Mom came home with a CD she'd bought. "Tessie, I've a treat for you," she said. "It's a Mozart symphony."

At first I only half listened because I was busy putting together a puzzle. But then the sounds filled my head, crowding out the puzzle pieces, and I went to sit close to the music pouring out of the player.

I shut my eyes and imagined that it was flying up into the air and filling the sky with beautiful colors. "When the music ended I started it over again, and this time I saw shapes of sound running across staffs of music; saw more notes played more ways than I had words for.

I ran for paper and crayons, and I covered page after page with notes and lines and swirls, using every crayon I had because there were so many kinds of sounds.

Mom looked over my shoulder "Whatever are you doing?"

"Drawing the symphony," I said, "so that I can play it. Listen."

I got my violin and found the first note, which I'd colored pale purple because it was a halting note, a note feeling its way. Then I played all my pages straight through. I played exciting runs and quiet, slow sections; played steep climbs and sad little Ms, although, of course, I couldn't make my violin sound like all the different instruments. It just sounded like itself.

I played after I ran out of pages and kept playing until I lost my way. "I can't remember what's next," I said. "I need to hear it again."

"Tessie, when did you learn that?" Mom asked in an odd voice.

"Just now," I answered. "It's what you put on for me to listen to."

"But you must have known it from someplace!"

I shook my head. I knew I'd never heard that perfect music before because if I had, I wouldn't have forgotten it.

MOM TOOK MY drawings to my violin lesson the next day. After I'd played them for Mr. Dreyden, he looked at me with an expression as odd as the tone in Mom's voice the afternoon before. "Good lord," he said. "I never dreamed ... Oh, my dear young Tess."

Mom and Dad talked late that night, their muffled words going on long after they put me to bed.

At breakfast the next morning the conversation became a triangle. Mom talked to me. "Tessie, your father is having a hard time grasping the significance of what you've done."

Dad talked to her "Sharon, I'm not minimizing Tessie's accomplishment."

Mom told me, "We've been discussing the next step. I think it's time to place you with a teacher who can make the most of your talent. But your father doesn't understand—"

Dad interrupted her with a wave. "I'm not saying she doesn't have a gift, but we've got Drey to thank for bringing it out. He's a fine musician and a good friend, and I don't see how you can tell him we want somebody better."

"You'd put a friend before your daughter?" Mom asked. She turned back to me. "Tessie, get your violin and play the start of that symphony for your father."

"I heard it last night," Dad told her.

"Tessie," Mom said, "your violin."

Dad folded his arms across his chest and kept them that way while I played. He stopped looking so certain, though.

When I lowered my violin, Mom asked, "Well, Stephen? Do you really think Drey's feelings are more important than Tessie's future?"

Dad put his hand under my chin and tilted my face so that he could look into my eyes. "Pumpkin?"

Because I wasn't sure what he was asking, I didn't answer.

Mom said, "Remember I was right about when to give Tessie a violin and when to start her on lessons."

Dad smoothed back my hair before he stood up. "I hope you were right. I wish I could be as sure as you." He pulled on his jacket. "Do as you think necessary, but don't lost sight of our daughter She's still a child."

After he left, Mom loaded dishes into the dishwasher while I stayed at the table and thought over everything they'd said. When I was sure I had it right, I said, "Please don't make Mr. Dreyden stop being my teacher."

Mom didn't answer so I said it again louder "Mom, please don't make Mr. Dreyden stop being my teacher."

She wedged a pitcher into the bottom rack and then sat down next to me. "Your father trusts me to know what's best for you, Tessie, and you must also." She gave me a smile that I didn't all-the-way believe. "It's not as if you won't ever see Mr. Dreyden again. You can visit him, and when you give your first recital, we'll be sure to send him an invitation."