A Melody Haunting (standard:horror, 2779 words)
Author: radiodenver	Added: Dec 09 2004	Views/Reads: 4626/2930	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
"...Mrs. Bullard leaned closer to Angelina and with a serious whisper began to explain. Angelina's eyes grew wide as she sat upright, staring at the old photograph..."

Two months before moving to San Francisco, I found an antique Piano at
an estate auction in Chicago.  It was a Steinway upright, model 1877.  
I have always been attracted to old furniture, and the piano though a 
bit roughed up through the years, was in excellent condition and a 
bargain I couldn't resist.  The bench was original and tucked neatly 
inside it was an old tattered music book from the turn of the century. 

The piano was part of an estate sale.  The auctioneer told me that it
belonged to an old woman who had recently passed away, her children 
saved some of her furniture but other pieces were collected and put up 
for consignment to the auction house.  The piano had been purchased and 
shipped to San Francisco before the turn of the century around 1877.  
It was a family heirloom, and had been played very little over the 
years.  How the old lady came into possession of the instrument wasn't 
known.  How it came to settle in Chicago wasn't known either.  All that 
the man knew was that the piano was haunted. 

When I enquired as to the nature of this haunting, the auctioneer
couldn't provide me with much detail. 

"All I know is that it is supposed to play by itself."  The auctioneer
said. 

"Have you ever heard it play?"  I asked. 

"Nope.  The family says they never heard it neither.  The old lady swore
up and down to the day she died that it was haunted.  Nobody ever 
believed her." 

"Maybe that is why they didn't want to keep it."  I replied. 

"Could be.  What ever the case, it's a good piano and in beautiful
shape.  We have a delivery company that will deliver it for $250.  They 
do lots of work for us."  I wrote the check for the piano and a second 
for the delivery fee. 

When we moved two months later, the piano was shipped along with the
rest of my furniture.  In some small way, I felt like it was returning 
home.  A pleasing feeling. 

We found a nice Victorian house, built in the early 1900's near the
Mission District.  The piano was placed along the living room wall as a 
center piece.  We decorated the remainder of the house in a manner 
reminiscent of the 1890's.  It was very comfortable. 

Our daughter, Angelina, was born a year later.  As she grew older, one
of her favorite things was attempting to play the old piano.  When she 
was eight years old, we decided to give her piano lessons.  We hired a 
lovely elderly lady, Mrs. Bullard, to visit our house once a week for 
lessons.  When she saw our Steinway for the first time, she sighed with 
joy. 

"What a lovely piano.  It looks just like one I played as a little
girl.” 

"We purchased it in Chicago before moving out here."  I said.  "The
auctioneer said it originally came from San Francisco." 

"That's interesting."  She replied.  "My great-grandmother's sister
played a piano like this.  I never knew her; she died before I was 
born.  She was a piano teacher just like me, and there were family 
stories about her piano being haunted." 

"Is that true?"  I asked.  "The fellow I bought this piano from said
that this one is haunted.  Maybe there is something about pianos from 
San Francisco."  We laughed a bit. 

"You know, I've got an old diary and a photograph.  Maybe I should bring
them over and we can see if it's the same piano."  She said jokingly. 

"Why don't you.  I'm sure we'd get a kick out of that." 

A week later, following our daughters next lesson, Mrs. Bullard
commented on Angelina's playing. 



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