The Organ

When Richard is not busy watering his tomato plants or wondering which move he should make next on online chess, he thinks about how lucky he his to be moving in with the most wonderful girl, his friend Emilie. Their new apartment would be perfect; sunny with yellow walls and beside a parking lot, none the less! There was only one thing missing, one thing that would be crucial to their lives: They needed a piano. A piano would allow the possibility for jam sessions, for collective singing of popular songs at parties and of course for Emilie to properly express her deep melodramatic emotions. Emilie already had an old piano she liked to call Larry.

"It's much too heavy to move to the new place. And it'll cost a fortune to tune."
"It would still be cheaper than buying a new one."
"It's not worth it. It's just out of the question!"
Women, thought Richard.

So began Richard's quest for the keyboard. After deleting his Facebook account because of his strong opposition to social networking, Richard went to Craig's List, a website that allows people to connect and contact each other for all sorts of reasons. Richard went to the "For Sale" section and typed in "Piano". Hundreds of results came up. He grazed through them quickly and noticed an ad for an electric organ. Richard got to thinking, an organ, eh? He could already here the Bach preludes in his head. So he typed "Organ" into the search bar. One of the search results really caught his eye.

Organ for sale
50$
Ask for Joe

Wow! Fifty bucks! Richard scrambled to his phone and called the number. A man with a scratchy voice answered.
"Hi, I'm calling about the ad for the organ?"
"Yeah, I've got a couple. What are you looking for?"
"I don't know much about organs! I'm just looking for something cheap."
"When can you come by?"

Richard arranged to go over to Joe's place later that day to check out his organ collection. He called up his friend Felix and asked him to join him just in case he decided to buy one and needed help lifting.

Joe lived on a little street in Cote St-Luc. The neighborhood was pretty gloomy and sketchy, but at least it gave Richard and Felix something to make clever remarks about. They found the address; it turned out to be a little white house on a tiny lot. They knocked on the door. A greasy fat guy wearing a wife-beater answered.

Richard greeted him with a big smile "Joe?"
"Yeah, you're the one who called?"
"Hello, I'm Richard and this is my friend Felix. He's also a musician."
"Right. Follow me."

The house smelled like cigarettes and old people. There were clothes and dirty dishes everywhere. It was a real dump, but Richard was not one to judge and kept an open mind about his new acquaintance.

"I keep them in the basement," said Joe.

He led them down a shaky staircase. He pulled the light switch and they found themselves in a small, unfinished basement. Tons of junk was piled up everywhere, but no organ in sight. Richard noticed a giant purple exercise ball and couldn't help but think to himself that it might do Joe some good to take it back out from storage. On the far back wall there was a door with a framed picture of Jesus nailed to it. Joe opened the door and the boys followed him into a second tiny room. Inside it was empty except for a fridge and a large white freezer. Richard and Felix looked at each other, confused.

Joe opened the freezer. He looked back at his guests expectantly. Richard took a few steps forward and peered inside.

"Oh. I wasn’t looking for that kind of organ!"