Jammed in knee to knee with all the other pre-primary students, I feel a soft lulling as the piano starts to play. Cross-legged in the front row of the school hall, I can see the middle-aged woman laboring at the keys from side-on. She seems very big to me from my vantage point on the floor. The piano playing is an interlude between the announcements and the awards and the year two's rendition of You are my sunshine. Outside, the dusty playground is baking in the early morning sun. Already it is too hot to play out there. Inside, the large air conditioner wheezes on. Beyond the walls of the school, a whole world that I will never know is well into its day. The call to prayer commands the people to action at first light.
But all I hear is the sound of the piano, and the soft, sweet lulling feeling intensifies. I close my eyes for a moment, and when I open them I am no longer on the floor. I can see the piano and the big lady playing it from above. I can see me with my eyes still closed, neatly lined up in a row of tiny humans. I can see everything in the hall as I float close to the ceiling. The peace inside of me is consuming. My body is completely relaxed. Whatever I am doing right now, the music is the trigger. I am anchor-less for the duration of the song. I don't go anywhere. There is nowhere to go. I am just me, floating above me in the school assembly. When the music stops I come back down.
It happens all the time.
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