Several years ago, we bought a beautiful, antique piano. It had been refurbished and was in excellent condition. The case had some wear–dents, chips and softened edges–from years of use; but the keys stood tall and straight, each spaced just right. All broken ivory had been replaced, the ebony had been refinished.
I was proud of the instrument we had acquired; but, several months later, I noticed the keys had begun to sag and tilt to the side. Some keys were close together and gaps were found between others. Ivory mysteriously turned up broken, when no one had been playing and the piano was closed. (I never have found so much as a chip of what has broken off.) I found this turn of events very upsetting, and vowed to take better care of this instrument. I set a humidifier and had it tuned.
A few days later, the keys looked normal again. I had solved the problem by stabilizing the surroundings. Or had I?
Right before my last child was born, the keys went haywire again. When he was about a month old, they straightened out again, without any intervention from me. That got me curious: what was really going on?
I began taking note of the keys, when they sag, how much they sag or tilt, and when they right themselves. For the most part, they stand straight and tall, evenly spaced, and the piano sounds good; but, some days they are a little off.
On these days, I have learned to be aware. It seems emotions run high and feelings are hurt easily. It seems poor financial decisions are made, or items that I should know right where they are at, turn up missing. It is an indicator. It is a warning system. A bell to be heeded…
Many people have different warning systems. A friend told me that her mother’s left ear burned every time two of her daughters were about to do something they shouldn’t. These two girls could not even get into spontaneous trouble while in college–their mother would call and say “What ever you are up to–stop it now–my ear is burning again.”
My sister has ‘weather cracks’ that appear on her hands in different places, to indicate different things…not all of which she has identified. We used to drive a car that would give hints to the quality of a person’s character.
Indicators are everywhere. They speak of the things that our eyes and ears can not tell us about. They alert our attention to things we need to be aware of. Things that will have an impact on us.
When my piano goes haywire and the keys appear to never have been restored, I can be sure some sort of disaster is coming. A natural disaster, that no man can prevent.
The first time they leaned like crazy, there was a tsunami in Indonesia. The next time, an earthquake killed thousands in Pakistan. Then there was the earthquake in China last year–it did not register as heavily on my keyboard as the other’s had, but it was there: One key in particular, the one the kids call the ‘dead key’, had sunk all the way down just days before that quake…
Two days ago, the keys went haywire again and the sound became unbearable. Today they are better, though not perfect, and the sound is good again.
What happened? No earthshaking news has made the front page or broken the airwaves…
Is my piano off? Have I misjudged it’s ability to predict? Has man intervened or God been gracious and turned His wrath? Or was my piano warning me of the shaking I felt last night?
While it did not and will not make headline news, we had a 3.8 quake last night. 9:20 pm, local time. The epicenter was 7 miles from my home. As far as I know, it caused no damage.
Update: Within minutes of publishing this, the keys began to lean again. Then the highchair broke. The keys are still leaning, and I am off to pack an emergency bag. We have our routes worked out. Are you prepared?
