Beautiful
“Hikari, we are here to find an instrument for you. What kind of instrument do you want to play?”
“Hmm…” the young girl squeezed her eyebrows together. After accidentally stepping on the soccer ball and landing on her back, her mother pulled her from the soccer team. Now, her mother wanted her to pick an instrument, but as she looked about the room there were too many for her to choose from. When she finally came to a decision, she looked up to her mother. “I want to play all of them!”
“Hikari, you know that is impossible.” Her mother said, tapping her foot out of frustration. “Why don't we look at the pianos? Sora-chan’s Mom has her playing one. Don’t you want to play the piano like Sora?”
“No, Sora is stupid!” Hikari said, putting her hands on her hips. Her face distorted as anger formed.
“Hikari, that’s not nice to say. Sora-chan is your friend.” Her mother said, kneeling down to be level with the young girl. “Please do not say such things in public, Hikari.”
“But it’s true!” Hikari huffed. Her mother wouldn’t understand. Sora had told everyone in their class about the soccer game. Stupid, Sora.
Turning away from her mother, she spotted a shiny instrument hanging on a wall. It was silver and so thin and small.
“Mommy, Mommy, I want to play that one.” She said pointing, as she began rushing towards the instrument.
“Hikari, watch where you’re-” her mother fell quiet as she hit the leg of a piano and fell to the ground.
“Oh my dear, are you okay?” The store’s employee rushed towards the child, but before she could get there, Hikari was back on her feet.
“Don’t worry, she does it all the time. She’s fine.” Her mother said, following her slowly behind. She’d given up chasing after the girl long ago, and knew that if any real damage occurred, Hikari would let her know.
“Hi there little girl, this is a flute. Do you want to hold it?” A man said, pulling down the flute from its spot on the wall, but Hikari’s eyes were already on something else.
“Mommy, what’s that? I want to play that.” She said, walking towards the instrument as she pointed at it. Her feet were taking her towards the back of the store, where the electric guitars were held. When she stopped in front of a purple one, she turned back to her mother. “Mommy, Mommy, it looks like Daddy’s eyes.”
“And your eyes too, Hikari. But I don’t think this instrument is exactly what you should be learning right now.” Her mother said, when she finally caught up. She reconsidered if she should have better worded the plan for finding an instrument. If her daughter couldn’t play soccer to hold up their family name, she would have to play something respectable, not a loud electric instrument.
“Oh, what about that one.” She said pointing back towards the front of the building where the pianos were.
“Hikari, that’s the piano I was tell you about before.” Her mother started to follow behind, but almost bumped into Hikari as she stopped dead in her tracks.
“Mommy, what’s that sound?”
It took her mother a moment to understand what she was talking about. A moment too long, as Hikari ran passed her and into the back of the store.
Hikari followed the light melody, as it flowed through the store. When she found the room where the sound was coming from, her eyes widened and jaw dropped. He had his eyes closed, but his body moved with the instrument. Each note shook Hikari’s heart.
The music stopped as the man opened his eyes and looked down to the small girl. He flashed her a smile before placing the instrument under his right arm.
“Hello, who might you be?”
“My name is Hikari! What are you playing, mister?”
He glanced down to the instrument, “this is called a violin. It’s a stringed instrument. Do you like the sound?”
She nodded her head, as he held out the instrument for her to see.
“I do too.”
“I’m so sorry,” her mother interrupted, bowing down to the man. Perhaps she should have followed closer. “I did not mean for her to interrupt your playing.”
“It’s not a problem.” The man said, smiling up to her mother. “Musicians are always looking for those interested in learning.”
“I want to play it!” Hikari announced, her hands on her hips as she nodded her head in confirmation.
“Hikari, we can go back up to the front of the store and find you one that fits you.” Her mother pushed, hoping to leave the man at peace.
“Here you go,” he said, handing his instrument over. “Do you know how to hold the bow?”
Hikari took the hollow, wooden instrument in her hand. The wood was smooth and as soft as its tone in her hand. She took the bow in her other hand and shook her head.
“You have to hold it with your thumb and pointer finger, like this.” She watched as he mimicked his right hand, and tried her best to do the same. Her fingers were too small for the full sized instrument, but she was determined to do just as the violin man said. When her hand got ahold of the bow the right way, she beamed up at him.
“Just like that, look you’re a natural.” He said, smiling down at her.
Lifting the instrument up to her chin, like she’d seen him do, she moved to bow hair to the closest, smallest string. Pushing down, she pulled the bow towards the ground and a great screeching sound echoed out of the instrument. Her mother covered her ears, a look of disgust flashed across her face. When Hikari pulled the bow away from the strings she stared down at the instrument.
“What do you think?” The man asked.
Her eyes began to fill up with tears, “it’s beautiful.”
