Merry Christmas - The Lost Harp

["Jack Ely" <jely2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

                               T H E  L O S T  H A R P
                           A Harmonica Satire...  Reprint
                                        by Jack Ely
             (Solution to a childhood mystery?  (Hmmm..... maybe)

DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR FIRST HARMONICA? Most of us admit to getting our first
harmonica around the age of 6 or 7, maybe a little older. But think back;
way back. Was there a harmonica in your life even at an earlier age? A
friend and I were musing this possibility the other day and we think we
figured out what really happened. How many of you, in your teen years say
15 - 18, found a harmonica in an old dresser drawer or some other obscure
storage place like an attic chest or cupboard? You either didn't remember
where it came from or maybe vaguely remember having one of these way back
when you were just a toddler 3 or 4 years of age. You probably didn't think
much of it and proceeded to actually learn to play the instrument, even
adding more harmonicas to your collection - a habit that continues to this
day for most of us. Well, we theorize that every child in the world received
their first harmonica by the age of four, no later. And here is what REALLY
happened. It didn't take us long to put the thing in our mouths (as we did
everything we got our hands on then) and accidentally discover that it made
noise (no - sounds, by gosh, it's music) when we breathed through it. More
experimenting revealed the capability of producing sound when we breathed in
or out through this fascinating new (excuse the term) toy; and that the
volume increased in magnitude the more holes we got our mouth around. Now
you remember don't you? - Blow, Draw, Blow, Draw, Blow, Draw, Blow - you
never had to come up for air, this was wonderful! You couldn't do this with
dad's fluegelhorn! Wow man - Draw, Blow, Draw, Blow, Draw - Honk, Squawk,
Screech, Rack, Sploot, Rasp! - Music to my ears! Ecstasy! Music?

Well, not to adult ears. No, nope, not! That first harmonica very soon
mysteriously disappeared. The average life cycle being, I would guess, less
than 24 hours. Search as we might, we could not find that wonderful gift we
had found in our Christmas stocking early that morning. "Mom, Dad, have you
seen my harmonica?" "Why no dear, we can't imagine what could have happened
to it." - Years later, when long forgotten, the little instrument
re-surfaced and the joy of the harmonica, which would last a lifetime, was
discovered anew.

Merry Christmas
          and
Happy Harmonica

jne