Emily's Piano - Softcover

Charlotte Gingras is the award-winning author of nine books for young readers. She lives in Montreal.

Stéphane Jorisch is the illustrator of more than a dozen books for children and a winner of multiple Governor General's Awards. He lives in Montreal.

Our mother cried

The piano is gone. The flowered couch, too. And my parents' bed. We've gone in one direction, my grandma in another. It's a terrible monstrous move. The day before, I heard my father say to my mom, in a voice not to be argued with, "We'll sell the piano and some of the furniture. There won't be enough room in the new apartment."

It's true the piano was out of tune, abandoned at the back of the long living room. No one had played it for years. I was the only one who still visited it, stroking its sides, sitting under its belly to read or daydream.

In our home, we didn't celebrate Christmas or birthdays anymore. There was so much empty space, even with my grandma shut in her bedroom, that I could hear my steps echo in the hallway.

I didn't get to see the move. That day, one of my big sisters babysat me at her place and forced me to play with my whining nephew. "Emily," she ordered, "pick up the baby's toys. Emily, change the baby's diaper." I stood with my arms crossed, without moving, or speaking. My twin sisters treat me like their servant.

The next Sunday, my other sister said to her twin, "Wasn't it strange the way our mother cried when they took away the piano?" Of course she cried! My sisters are so clueless. They never understand anything.

I still wonder how the movers managed to get the piano out of the apartment. The front door wouldn't have been wide enough. Maybe they took it through the dining room window. But then, how did they get it down the winding staircase?

I miss our piano.