Stolen Dreams: The Piano Player

Jasmine, the fifteen-year old daughter of a single mother, was babysitting her four-year old sister, Trisha, while her mother was at work. She loved her little sister dearly, and liked taking care of her because it was fun, but she really wanted to do her own thing.

"How do I tell Mom?" she wondered. "I just want to be a piano player, play piano all of the time and do nothing else." Jasmine had beautiful dreams for her future. Little did she know that all of her dreams would suddenly come crashing down.

"Trisha, come and sit down on the piano bench beside me. I have to practice." 

She scolded her sister, who was running around the living room and jumping on the furniture. "I am going to be the best piano player in the entire world. You will see! It is hard work, but I have to do this."

Trisha sat for just a moment, but she was far too restless to sit anywhere for very long, and went from one thing to another. 

"I'm hungry!" 

Jasmine just kept on playing the piano, not paying any attention to Trisha. She imagined herself sitting on a stage in front of a large audience. They were all clapping for her as someone handed her a bouquet of roses.

Suddenly, she heard a loud scream and a crash.

"Trisha!" she cried. 

Moments later, she dialed 911. "Help me, please. My little sister is lying on the floor. One of the kitchen cupboards has fallen on her."

Trisha had climbed up on the cupboard to get a bowl of cereal and had pulled the entire cupboard over on herself.

Over the next few days, Jasmine and her mother spent all of their time at the hospital. Jasmine soon realized that her dreams had crashed too, when she learned that Trisha had suffered a severe concussion and spinal injury. She would need continual care, probably for the rest of her life.

"If only I had gotten up and given her some breakfast!" she said to her mother. "My dreams have been stolen. No! That's not true. It was all my fault. I should have been there for her, not playing the piano and chasing my own dreams."