The mans hands formed the complicated signs with practiced ease. Keen on the other hand, struggled with his fingers to form the basic alphabet. Patiently he signed out “You know why I am here”
The man nodded. He sat on the grass, warming himself in the sun. He pointed to a wooden box lying next to him.
“They are in there” signed Keen. Again, the man nodded.
Keen glanced at the box. It didn’t look booby-trapped.
“I wasn’t expecting it to be easy” he muttered. He signed, “You are just giving them back?”
The man nodded.
“Why?” Keen signed.
In response, the man handed over several sheets of paper. It was sheet music. Lots of it.
“I don’t understand” signed Keen.
The man prodded him with a pencil. Sometimes Keen felt stupid. This was one of those times.
The man took the paper, and scrawled across the top of the page. “I wrote this music”
He tapped the box with pencil, and wrote “I needed to hear it.”
“So why give it back?” wondered Keen.
The man wrote “It sounds better in here” and tapped his head.