From My Grandmother's Files: The Piano
by Shirley A. Littleford Johnsen, edited by Kirsten Ellen Johnsen
The arrival of the piano in August 1932 at our mining camp home came as a joyful surprise. We hadn’t realized we had been so long without any kind of music, such an important part of our lives back in California.
I don’t know whether or not my father had told my Mother about his purchase beforehand. He was a great one for surprises, and she kept secrets equally well. We children learned of the piano only minutes before a truck, with its blanket-covered load, rolled into the driveway.
As soon as the truck stopped, we all gathered around. Two of our houseboys, Sixpence and Philemon, came at my father’s call to help unload the rectangular object. They settled the shrouded piano in a corner of the living room.
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