Robby was 11 years old when his mother d...

Robby was 11 years old when his mother dropped him off for his first piano lesson. I  36  that students begin at an earlier age, which I explained to Robby, but Robby said that it had been his mother’s  37  to hear him play the piano. So I took him as a student.

Hard  38  Robby tried, he lacked the basic sense of music. However, he persisted, and at the end of each weekly  39 , he always said, “My mom’s going to hear me play some day.” But it seemed  40 . He just did not have any gift for music.

I only knew his mother from a distance as she dropped Robby  41  or waited in her old car to  42  him up. She always  43  and smiled but never visited my class. Then one day Robby  44  coming to our lessons. He telephoned me and said his mother was  45 .

Several weeks later I was preparing my students for the upcoming recital(独奏会)  46  Robby came and asked me if he could be in the recital. “Miss Hondorf ... I’ve just got to  47 !” he insisted. I agreed.

The night for the recital came. The high school gymnasium was  48  with parents, friends and relatives. The recital went off well. Finally Robby came up on stage. I was  49  when he announced that he had chosen Mozart’s Concerto(协奏曲) No. 21 in C Major. I was not  50  what I heard next. His fingers were light on the keys. He played so  51  that everyone  52  to applaud him. In tears I ran up on  53 . “Oh, Robby! How did you do it?”

“Well, Miss Hondorf ... I kept on  54  at home. Remember I told you my mom was sick? Well, _55  she had cancer and passed away this morning. And well ... she was born deaf, so tonight was the first time she ever heard me play ...”