Nina approached a man playing a piano. Already used to the fact that the most interesting things were happening on the other side of the fence, she came closer to the barbed wire. She thought that the nape of his neck looked familiar.
“David!”
Her heart was beating fast and she wanted to dance and jump over the fence to hug him. He continued to play.
“I am here to help you.”
“By playing music for me?”
“No, well, yes, that too, but I will take your backpack to make the crossing easier.”
“What crossing?”
“You will have to climb the mountain soon.”
If her backpack got to the sea, they would too. The odd equation sounded logical to Nina. When you jump over a fence, you throw your things over first; then you join them. She noticed tears in his eyes.
“Why are you crying?”
“I can’t stand all this beauty,” he said.
“I also sometimes cry for beauty.”
It was him. She felt her heart beating faster and wanted to touch him, but the children were heavy.
“This much beauty breaks my heart.”
Nina turned around bewildered. Burnt-down houses and buildings, tree stumps where trees hundreds of years old once stood, dried soil, scorched grass. Then she noticed that he had an old guidebook in front of him on the music stand, instead of music sheets. She could not see clearly (she definitely needed glasses) but she guessed that it was a book about her hometown from before the black snow.
“When I play the piano, I see beauty. Where you see a destroyed house, I see a white lace tablecloth, a vase of flowers, a teapot and a plate of cookies. If you say this is wasteland, I will convince you that what you see is an orchard on a hot late summer day, full of ripe fruit waiting to be picked.”
He just continued playing, first the “Turkish March,” then Chopin’s “Revolutionary Étude.” It brought tears to Nina’s eyes. No matter when and where she heard this composition, no matter how badly it was played, Nina was moved to tears. The music also brought Ada out of the pocket. Entranced, she stared at the piano.
“I want to play, too.”
Dino just mumbled, “A grown man who cries.”
“I’ll play and play and never hear the bombs again,” said Ada.
“I would gladly give you this piano, but it needs tuning. Do you know a piano tuner? I could bring one and he would tune all the pianos in your city. You could play and play and never hear the bombs again.”
What is this man talking about? Music doesn’t stop bombs, Nina thought angrily. A child could think that, but not a grown man.
“You said you were going to help me.”
“Yes, yes, I am. You need a piano and a piano tuner.”
“No, I need to get to the sea. I must find it. I long for it, the deep green of the sea, the unmarred blue of the sky, the sun glinting on the waves, the salt air, the fresh tang of the sea.” Nina realized that she got carried away in front of a stranger. No, he wasn’t a stranger. It was David, for sure.
“Be patient, please. Forgive me, I haven’t introduced myself.”
“Your name is David, we’ve met before.”
“No, you are mistaken. My name is Antoine.”
“Will you at least take my backpack?”
“I will, I will, but not now. I have to hurry to find a piano tuner first. Otherwise we’ll be completely lost.”
You are already lost, thought Nina, You’ve lost your mind. But Ada jumped with excitement.
“Hurry up, hurry up, I have to start playing as soon as possible.”
He walks like David. He is David. Why does he pretend he doesn’t know me?
I have been walking for a very long time now and I still haven’t found the way out. He might be right, I have to be patient. It is easy to say, ‘Be patient’ when you are on the other side of the fence. But, the burden is too heavy. She started justifying her anger and her disappointment to the invisible audience. She softened her voice to rouse their compassion…. I mean, I trusted him, I thought he was going to show us the way out. I even fell in love and followed him…
And he, he talks crazy, about piano tuners! He should try walking in my shoes. I bet he would not survive a single day. I don’t know what to believe anymore, Nina shrugged helplessly. Her hopes were at their lowest, so she decided to sit down and rest for a while and think about beautiful things, until she restored her energy.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” Antoine (if that really was his name) said, suddenly appearing again. “Your friend sent you this.” He gave her a white plastic bag. Nina looked in and found a pair of light-brown shoes. She took them out. They were soft and beautiful. The piece of paper stuck in them said, “Nothing can harm you when you wear these shoes. You can step on glass and debris and blood, and there won’t be a speck of dust on them. And you can climb any mountain. Love, Lisa.”