The Gift
by Dorothy Elggren
Part 4

See Part 1 for comments.

	"Okay, Mark," Nick said as they sat side by side on the piano
bench.  "We're going to start with learning the keys, and exercises to
strengthen your hands and limber them up.  Some of it will seem kind
of boring, but the key to being good at anything is being able to do
the basic stuff in your sleep."
	"I am going to learn to play some songs, though, aren't I?"
Mark asked.  "What's the point of exercises, if you don't get to play
something at the end?  Grandpa taught me this neato Indian song."
	Mark put both hands down and played the short piece for Nick.
"See?" he said with a grin.
	Nick grinned back.  "Yes, we'll learn songs, but I've got to
know what you know and don't know first and fill in all the gaps,
so..."
	"It's alphabet and exercises," Mark said with a sigh.
	"Yeah."
	"Yeah, but you'll see.  Not for long.  I'm gonna play neat
stuff."
	Nick laughed.  "Yes, you are, but you're always going to
exercise, too."
	Mark screwed up his nose.  "No!"
	"Yeah, some things you always have to do to stay sharp."
	"I'll be sharp," Mark vowed.
	Nick watched, amazed, at Mark's enthusiasm for every piece of
music that was put in front of him.  Even the exercises were met and
conquered with determination and excitement.  And as the weeks and
months and years went by his passion only seemed to grow.
	"Mark," Nick said one day as he played a menuet by Bach.  It
was only four lines long, but difficult, in all the ways Bach could be
difficult.  "Can you feel the music?"
	Mark looked up at Nick.  "What do you mean?"
	"What sensation does it give you?" Nick asked.  He already
knew Mark felt it, but he wasn't sure he'd identified what music did
to him.
	Mark closed his eyes and thought for a moment.  "Flying," he
said finally.  "It feels like flying.  Through clouds," he added.
	Nick smiled.  "What else?"
	"What d'ya mean?" Mark asked.  Didn't flying cover it?
	"This particular passage," Nick said, "is light.  It's full of
air.  It floats.  That's why it feels like flying.  What about the
Brahms piece you just played?  What was it like?"
	Mark grinned.  "It was like being in a forest.  Dark and
quiet.  Peaceful."
	"Yes," Nick said.  "Every piece has feeling and sensation, it
evokes things deep inside of you.  When you play, Mark, *feel* it."
	
	"Want some more coffee?" Nick asked, noticing that Natalie was
hugging her empty coffee cup.
	"Wha...?  Nick, don't change subjects like that.  I was busy
feeling the music there!"
	Nick grinned.  "Yeah, Mark was...is amazing.  He was so good,
so talented, and from the first he knew he wanted to be a concert
pianist."
	"Goal-oriented, huh?"
	Nick nodded.  "And without a chance of making it.  Do you know
how hard it is to become a concert pianist, Nat?"
	Natalie shook her head.
	"About as tough as it is to become an Olympic ice skater.
There are so many competitions at every level.  The U.S. has local,
state and national competitions that weed out thousands of hopeful,
gifted kids."  Nick drummed his fingers on the table.  "And then
there's the small fact that he and his mother had no money for the
type of teaching he needed, or a chance to attend a conservatory.  Not
only that, but she's Irish.  Practical.  She wanted him to have a
normal life and not put too many hopes in a dream that might not
work--probably wouldn't work."
	"So what did you do?" Natalie asked curious.
	Nick grinned.  "Well, I cheated.  There's no use in having
money, if you don't spend it once in a while."
	"Naturally," Natalie said dryly.

	Nick anxiously checked his watch and hurried faster down the
hall.  He hated that the days were getting longer.  It had been touch
and go getting to Mark's first solo piano recital.  He slipped through
the stage door.  Mark met his gaze immediately from where he stood by
the curtain, ready to go out onto stage.  His spine sagged in relief
and a huge smile lit his face showing off the space where a tooth was
conspicuously missing.
	"I didn't think you'd get here," Mark whispered.
	Nick grinned.  "You didn't think I would miss this, did you?"
	"No, but the sun's still up."
	"In times of national emergency," Nick informed him with an
upraised eyebrow, "I do go out."
	"I'm an emergency?"
	"The only one," Nick assured him.  "Go get 'em tiger."
	Mark grinned and turned and walked out onto the stage with
easy grace for an eleven year old.  Nick watched him with pride.  He
knew Mark was going to make his dreams come true.  Something Nick
could only hope for himself.
	Margaret O'Donnell slipped up besides Nick and tilted her head
to look up at Nick.  "Mr. Knight," she said.
	"Mrs. O'Donnell," Nick replied with a smile.
	"D'you think he'll do good?" she asked suddenly nervous and
yet beaming with pride.
	"He'll do great.  And if things go well, he'll get offered a
chance to join a conservatory."
	Margaret shook her head.  "I can't afford it, you know that."
	"Scholarship," Nick reminded her.
	"I want him to have a good academic foundation," she insisted,
"a normal life.  This...," she said pointing out towards the stage,
"this is a dream."
	"Just think about it," Nick whispered as Mark began his
recital.

	"So, did she?" Nat asked with pursed lips.
	Nick grinned.  "Yeah, she did.  He wowed them at the concert,
and he was offered a scholarship at a great Institute.  Imagine,
having your college scholarship all locked up and taken care of at age
eleven.  It was great, and the older Mark got, the better he got.  The
only thing he didn't have at home was a piano, so guess where he spent
hours practicing?"
	"Gee, let me guess, could it be your place?" Natalie asked
with a laugh.
	"Mine.  I just gave him a key, and he'd practice day and
night."
	"Day and night?  Hmm, how'd you ever get any sleep."
	"I soundproofed the bedroom."
	"Are you serious?" Natalie asked laughing.
	"Serious," Nick said smugly.
	"I should have known."  Natalie sighed and stretched.  Then
she yawned.  "I'm going to have to go, I've got to be in early
tonight."  She picked up her purse as Nick stood and came around to
hug her.  "But I am looking forward to the concert Friday.  Does he
know you'll be there?"
	Nick, in the act of kissing her on the brow, stilled.
	"Nick," Natalie asked twisting around to look up at him.
	"No," he said softly.
	"Why not?  Oh, Nick...," Natalie whispered, "you didn't just
disappear on him, did you?"
	Nick walked away from her abruptly and circled the table.  At
last, safe behind it's bulk he looked at her.  "I had to."
	"But...didn't he guess about you?  Being so close for so
long?"
	Nick shook his head.  "No."
	"So, you just disappeared?  That must have been so hard for
you...and for Mark."
	Nick shrugged and looked away.  "It was hard for me, it always
is, but...it's better that way.  Safer.  I don't know how Mark felt
about it."
	Natalie walked around the table slowly, while Nick watched her
warily.  It amazed her how he could go from being friend and companion
to a cornered wild animal in the blink of an eye.  He let her touch
him and after a moment she circled behind him and put her arms around
him, but he stood stiff in her embrace.  She leaned her head against
his back.
	"Tell me what happened?"
	"I thought you had to go," he said stiffly.
	"I'll sleep on the couch."
	"Nat..." Nick protested.
	"Nick," Natalie said.  "Don't you know that you were that
boy's hero?  You were his father figure and friend and mentor.  You
were everything to him.  You made his dreams possible.  You helped
open up his soul and find the music...and then you just disappeared."
	Nick turned to stone in her embrace.  "I know," he said
thickly.
	"And he was everything to you."
	Silence swallowed every sound in the room as they stood locked
together for what seemed like eternity to Natalie.
	"Yes...," Nick whispered finally.
	Natalie let go of Nick, walked around in front of him, and
took his hand.  Nick looked at her but did not actively resist.
Encouraged, Natalie pulled him to the couch and pushed him down into
the soft leather seat.  Nick seemed to sink into the cushion like a
drowning man going down for the last time.  Natalie sat down next to
him and took his hand once more.
	"What happened?" she asked.  There was neither condemnation
nor accusation in her tones.
	Nick stared moodily down at her hand.  "It was several things,
actually, just coming to a head.  I had been there since '64, and
after a while you just have to move on.  It's the way it is.  I'd
rejected two promotions, and was getting to the point where it was
time.  It had been eight years, Nat.  That's a long time for me to
stay in one place.  Even so, I really didn't want to leave."
	"Why?" Natalie asked, "because of Mark?"
	"Yes, because of Mark.  But also because LaCroix left me
almost entirely alone.  I think I saw him three or four times during
that period.  When I first moved there and signed on with the police,
he dropped in for a little chat."  Nick shook his head at something
that caused a shadow to slip across his face, but Natalie didn't
pursue it.  She could guess.
	"Anyway," Nick continued, "that was in '64.  He didn't return
to Chicago until the democratic convention in '68.  I know he knew
about Mark, but for some reason he left it alone.  I don't know
why--it really wasn't like him.  I do remember I was prepared to leave
town immediately if he even made the slightest move in Mark's
direction.  But he didn't.  Perhaps it was because of what happened
with Daniel."  Nick shrugged, "I really don't know.  I just know I was
thankful for it.  But I was pushing my luck.  It would only be a
matter of time before he would be back--and if he thought Mark was too
important to me-- he would do something.  I wasn't prepared to let
that happen.
	"Then I was up for another promotion.  One that I really
couldn't turn down. Too good of a record, too many refusals to
promotions before that, and my Captain was getting...suspicious.
Enough things weren't adding up.  It was time to go.  So I went."
	"Without telling Mark," Natalie said.
	"No--I told him.  He was well on his way, but I wanted to make
sure he got through to college.  So I made up this nice plausible
story and gave him an address where he could write.  Natalie, he was
fifteen at the time and just starting to reach his potential.  It was
the hardest thing I ever did.  I arranged for him to study with the
best teachers and I also bought him a piano--and," Nick laughed,
"don't think his mother didn't have a fit about that."
	Natalie looked at him quizzically, but Nick shook his head and
went on.  "Mark was also getting old enough that I was afraid he would
start noticing things he shouldn't.  Why he didn't before, I don't
know."
	"I wonder if he did notice something?" Natalie asked
thoughtfully.  "Kids, you know, are very observant."
	"I don't know.  If he did, he didn't give any indication.  But
he could have.  I let Mark get closer to me than anyone had in a long
time.  The only person who has gotten closer is...you," Nick said
softly.
	"So how did you ever tell him goodbye?"

End Part 4
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