Various Happenstances of SethAugust 26, 2005There is an art to storytelling. For example, the entirety of this post could be summed up by "I have finally acquired a piano." But this would not really do it justice. Because if my life is a sitcom, it's that kind of sitcom where the episodes aren't self-contained, but often rely on the viewer having seen previous episodes to get the joke.* In this case, those three previous episodes are in order here, here, and here. Now that you've read that, I could say, "Now, I have finally acquired a piano." However, this would still be lacking. I need to provide you with a few details so you connect with the piano, and then the tale of madcap frustration so you can appreciate the triumph of the piano. Here are some details about the piano: It is the old piano from my parents' house, a black upright that I've been playing on for 15 years (albeit not continuously). My parents decided to drive it up from Rhode Island for me as a birthday present. Here is the madcap frustration: My parents decided to rent a trailer from U-Haul. It's entirely possible that people have used U-Haul with no problems and had excellent service. It's also entirely possible to guess tomorrow's winning Powerball numbers. But nobody I know has done either. My parents had called up to inquire what would be needed for a trailer, and were told they'd need to a) rent the trailer, and b) have a hitch on the back of the car. They asked if anything else was necessary, and were told no. So, they went to purchase the hitch**. All is fine until the day they are supposed to get the trailer. They are told, in spite of the fact that they had previously reserved a trailer at a location proximal to the house, that the only available trailer in the state is now 40 minutes away. So, off they drive to get the trailer. Upon arriving, they are told that the trailer can't be hooked up without the light hookup. "What light hookup?", they inquire. "You need it so the brake lights on the trailer work," they are told. My parents protest that they had specifically asked if any other parts were needed, and were told no, but their words fall on deaf ears. So, they just buy the light hookup and pay them to install it, right? Wrong. The light hookup is only sold at another location, across the state. And when they go there to buy the light hookup, they are told, "Oh, we just sell them, we can't install them. You'd need to go to our other location for that." So more travelling to another U-Haul place where the part is installed, then back to the first location with the only available trailer in the state, and then back home to get the piano, where along the way they pass a U-Haul lot filled with trailers. A good way to ruin a story is to provide so much detail that your audience loses interest. Were I to explain to you the number of local movers I called, and our conversations, you might be bored. Or were I to detail the wooden and concrete structures constructed to aid the piano up my front steps, and name all the parties who assisted, you might well lose interest. Suffice to say that when movers wanted too much money, my housemate capably took care of all the logistics so my piano could be moved in without incident. Now, I have finally acquired a piano.
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**Here I am tempted to point out that when renting from U-Haul, your plan is so unlikely to go off without a hitch that they provide the hitch for you, and make you pay for it. This is both literally and metaphorically true.
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