Do Not Touch!

"Tell a man there are 300 million stars in the universe and he'll believe you. Tell him a bench has wet paint on it, and he'll have to touch it to make sure." That was the thought of today that was sent to me yesterday. And as I read it, I couldn't help but smile and agree. Last December, one of the area piano dealers set up a display of pianos in the Park City Mall. One of our fellow walkers, who was a piano teacher, enjoyed stopping her morning walk to play Christmas carols. She was a friend of the owner. She would always invite Dianne to stop and play some impromptu duets with her. The mall walkers enjoyed these unexpected "concerts" and it added to the holiday spirit. This year the same store wasn't there, but a company we never heard of, Piano Direct, set up a display there in November. Unlike the local store, they apparently didn't have covers for their pianos, but they did pay somebody to guard, and I guess try to sell, the pianos during the hours the mall was open. Now I can't blame them at all. Pianos are very expensive and people could have spilled food on them, scraped their finishes, or done other damage. And, in addition to the patroling guards who looked like never smiling bulldogs, they taped the keyboards shut and displayed large signs "Do Not Touch" on each of the pianos. The pianos were protected, but it certainly was not a friendly or even a consumer friendly environment. We never heard any of the pianos played and never saw any customers. And there weren't any "concerts" like there were last year. Now I admit that my carnal nature rose up many days and I enjoyed making a quick touch as I passed them. Why are we like that? I actually wanted to take the tape off and play a few notes, but I also didn't want to get arrested. So I didn't tempt fate, except in my mind where I guess I am guilty. An interesting side note is that they closed their display and moved out November 30. Did they sell any? I really don't know.