Outside, the snow is up to my knees. Inside, the fire warms our single room. The table in the center of the room has a bowl of old apples and I wish I could give my family more.
I hold my fiddle and my bow and watch them.
“Next request?”
“You know papa!”
“The Apple Reel!”
I start the reel slow to tease them. They giggle and slap the beat on the table, speeding up to encourage me to go faster. I don’t. Instead I pause, grab an apple and toss it to one of them. Without losing the rhythm, I continue the music. This round, I speed up a bit, pause, toss the apple, and continue. Speed up, pause, toss, play and soon I’m going as fast as I can and full out laughter fills the room as the apples fly in all directions.
Life is good!
A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy?
Albert Einstein
148 words
Bearing Untold Stories 