The Piano (Outro)

Washington County, New York

September 1977

There’s something in the house. It wants his friend. His friend is afraid. The boy can see it on his face.

The boy doesn’t know fear, only love. Love for his friend. The boy leaves his friend and goes into the house, not because his friend tells him to go away—he doesn’t mean that—but because he loves his friend and the thing that’s alive in the basement doesn’t. The boy goes down to the basement. His friend will be safe now.

He feels something that isn’t love. It is hunger and uncertainty.

The boy has found something new. He has found a way to stay with his friend. They can grow up together. His friend will make his music, and the boy will be with him. They can be together forever, his friend making music, and the boy helping him. They can grow old together, or maybe just stay young forever. Playing.

Above, in the room with the piano, his friend plays a melody. The boy laughs. The melody is the beginning, and there is no end.