The following four are from last week.
This one is non-fiction for the most part.
Try it some time.


CLOSE YOUR EYES

My piano man could coax the sweetest jazz and most wrenching blues out of his keyboard. He lived alone and he had always been blind.

I drove to his little house in Venice, California four times a week to rehearse our act. I watched his face while I sang “My Funny Valentine” or “As Time Goes By”, but he watched nothing. He told me he heard the music with his ears and felt it on the surface of his skin. I asked him once if he could read music, and he laughed. Then he showed me the Braille scores he’d written, guiding my fingertips over the bumps I couldn’t translate.

When my throat was sore from singing, we’d take a break and he would walk through his living room to the kitchen, heat water for tea, and pour two steaming mugs, deftly handing me mine. He never stubbed his toes on the furniture or overfilled the cups, or missed my hands. One day I asked him how he did it.

He grinned at me and said, “Its all tricks, anyone can do it. I never move the furniture and I’ve memorized where everything is. When I fill a cup, I put the tip of my index finger inside and listen to the water. The tone changes as it fills, and I can hear how full it is before it touches my finger. The finger’s just a back-up. And I can tell exactly where your hands are by your voice. If I hold out a cup to you, you’ll always reach for it.” And he was right, I would.

He walked back to the living room confidently and sat on his couch. “Most people rely so much on their vision they miss out on a banquet of input from their other senses. Too bad more folks don’t cultivate those other inputs.”

“I want to,” I said. “How do I do that?”

And he said, “It’s easy. When you get home tonight, do whatever it is you usually do, but this time, close your eyes and keep em closed. Then pay attention.” He laughed again.

“What are you laughing about now?” I asked him.

“I’m thinking about all the bruises you’re going to get before you get the hang of it.” He said.

I did get bruises, but I also eventually learned how to see with my eyes closed, and I still use it after all these years.

The gift of un-sight.