Oh Snowy Day

So they said it would start snowing around 10 a.m. The worst would be mid afternoon and in to the evening. Should continue through Saturday morning.

Yeah, right.

I got up at 7 a.m. and guess what?

Hey, you guessed it! It was already snowing.

I went on a couple errands mid-morning. By the time I got back home I had decided to reschedule the afternoon job that was to begin at 3:30. I hate rescheduling. I feel like I'm letting the customer down. But I hate driving in treacherous conditions even more. I got home and noticed that the Caller ID and answering machine were both blinking. It was my afternoon customer. I had done a lot of keywork and was to return with them today and also tune the piano. A $355 job that I hated to postpone but...... The customer left a message that considering the weather, it would be okay to come anytime...earlier or another day, whatever I wanted.

I called back and told him I would be there in 20 minutes.

It was an uneventful drive. The streets had been well salted and were just wet. Mr. H met me in the driveway and carried my tool kit while I carried the piano keys in to his house. I told him I would be approximately an hour and a half on the job and he left me to get busy.

About fifteen minutes before I was finished (I just had some final pedal adjustments to make), Mr H. asked for the bill and said he would be heading for the local ATM machine, "Would cash be all right?"

You bet.

I finished up and got my tools put away. Mr. H returned and sat down at the piano. Oh my, that guy can play! He played and listened, played and listened, tried different chord progressions and crisp repetitions. He listened some more. I was starting to get nervous. Was he hearing something that he didn't like? After a few more progressions he stopped and looked over at me. "This is good," he said with a grin. "This is really fine."

I started breathing again.

We chatted a bit about some local jazz performers and about Mr. H's plans for a recording studio. Mr. H counted out twenties as we were talking. Then he asked me to double check the bill count. He insisted. I started counting out piles of twenty dollar bills, stacking them in fives. I got to $360 and noticed there was still another pile. I stopped. "You've got far too much here," I said. "No," said Mr. H. "You take it all, please."

$460!!!!

Quite a snow day.