The Lady With The Guitar

The clouds had cast a dark grey shadow that seemed to suck all of the happiness out of everything. The already sad town looked especially miserable on this dreary day. Oliver had always loved these sort of days, of course. He had always been that way and it wasn’t that he hated being happy, (which people loved to say) it was just that the overall sadness was more satisfying. His favorite thing to do when it was like this was to walk through the town where the giant puddles formed and the rain plummeted off the rooftops. The puddles reminded him of the ocean that he so longed to see. He hadn’t ever seen a large body of water like the ocean, living in Idaho and every time he asked to go see the coast his parents would refuse. It made sense, they had never had much money to travel or anything. He was fine with it, of course, as long as he got to venture into town and admire the puddles on rainy evenings.

Today, Oliver had a job to do, which did mean that unfortunately he did not get to admire the puddles as thoroughly. His mother had sent him out in town to get groceries, since she knew he was already planning on going out. The walk to the store was a bit farther than he usually went which meant he had to walk by the park that always creeped him out. No one was ever there because it was not well kept and all of the trees were missing their leaves. It was the type of sadness that Oliver was not so fond of. As he rounded a corner the park became visible and he noticed that something was definitely different about it. To start off, there was a woman sitting there. She really looked happy, too, which was odd, considering the heavy rainfall and that she was sitting in the horrible park. She was also playing some sort of instrument and these lovely sounds were coming out of it. Once he made it to the edge of the park he stopped and frowned, completely confused by this person. She seemed to notice and stopped strumming the strings on their instrument to look up and give him a smile.

“How are you doing today, young man?”

“What sort of instrument is that?” he asked, completely disregarding her question.

“It’s a guitar, of course” she replied ,looking slightly confused

He really had never heard something so pleasing in his life before, “I’ve never heard of it, but it sounds great.”

“Thank you very much.”

He accepted her thanks and decided that he must be on his way in order to get home soon. Even once he made it to the store, he was still thinking about the amazing sounds coming from the instrument she called a “guitar”. He had never really liked music, because it always seemed so cliché and shallow. He now thought that maybe he should rethink, because he liked what that person at the park was playing very much. It made him forget all about the overwhelming sadness of the park and considerably brightened his mood.

Once he was finished shopping he made sure to go the way past the park to hear the music again, but once he got there the park was empty and the unhappiness had returned. He was admittedly rather sad, but he planned on going back out tomorrow in hopes of seeing her again.

He returned the next day, even though the weather was nice and all the puddles had dried up. As he was hoping, she was once again sitting on a bench playing her guitar. This time the sounds were different, a little more sad, but definitely still wonderful. He walked up to her and sat down right next to her on the bench.

“Hello again,” she said to him.

“Hi, I’m sorry, I don’t mean to bother, I just wanted to hear you play again.”

“You’re not a bother,” she said with a kind smile.” I could teach you if you wanted. 

“Really?” he questioned, bewildered why she would want to.

“Of course, here,” she handed him the guitar. It was a little too big for him, but it felt very right sitting on his lap. She showed him how to strum the strings, and where to put his fingers in order to achieve different sounds. He was amazed by how right it felt. He certainly was not an expert, but in an hour he had learned two chords and was content with himself. She told him that if he came back she could teach him more chords to play and he obviously said he would.

He came back to that newly cheerful park three days later. Unfortunately ,he could not have come earlier because he was needed at home. The day was especially rainy and dark which Oliver was quite glad about as he got to admire the large puddles on his way to the park.

When he approached the park the woman looked up and gave him the contagious smile she always does and motioned for him to sit down. As the weeks went by he kept coming back to learn more about the instrument. By two months he had learned to play most of the chords and was really rather skilled for the time he had been playing. 

One sunny day when the view of the park came into view he was surprised to see it was empty. Once he came closer he saw that the guitar was sitting at their usual bench with a note on top of it. He picked up the note hesitant to read it, in case it was bad news. 

 I’m sorry , I know this is sudden, but I had to leave Idaho, so I left my guitar for you. I think it will be much better in your hands than mine, for you have much potential. 

- The lady with the guitar

He was amazed that she had let him have the guitar. He was planning on saving up his chore money to buy one, but apparently that was unnecessary. An ache in his heart also appeared. He hadn’t known her for long, but she had been the beginning of changes in his life. He had found something that filled up his emptiness and caused him to feel complete. Playing guitar had become one of the most important things in his life and he was glad that he wouldn’t lose it. He only wished he could have wished her farewell.

“And that’s it the story of how I started playing guitar” he said feeling like it had only happened yesterday.”

“Wow, that seems like the sort of stuff you hear in books.”

“Yeah I guess,” he shrugged, “so what do you think? Can I teach you?”

“ I feel like I have to, for ‘the lady with the guitar’”