Moving Music

I forgot! One last story re. Player Pianos.
Because we moved a lot . . .

Player pianos are HEAVY!
About 400 pounds heavier than a normal upright grand.
Ugh.
The first (and only) time we moved it ourselves, it took a crew of eight men and a donkey to get it the four blocks from our old rental to our newly purchased.
I'm sure friendships were strained along with the muscles.
We vowed never to test our friends again, and, when we moved next, this time from Edmonton to Beaumont, shelled out the bucks to hire a professional moving company.
Dorcy's.
It came highly recommended.
I made the call.
On moving day, two burly men (wearing weight belts over their clothes) showed up.
With a little, square, leather-covered dolly.
That was it.
Two men. And a dolly.
Sounds like a movie title.
As first I studied them suspiciously. Even took a gander through the window to see the big, clean Dorcy's truck parked outside. (I wasn't about to let impostors in, let alone allow them to touch our 800 pound treasure.)
But they were legit. And they knew their stuff. They sat the dolly down beside the piano, each took an end and hrruummpp! they lifted that beastie and set it down on the dolly. Then squeekee-squeekee-squeekee-squeekee, they shoved it out the door and into their waiting truck.
It took about five minutes.
Or less.
I watched them go, thinking of the effort and strain and bad language that had accompanied that last move.
Dorcy's had just become our greatest friends.
Our next move from Beaumont to a farm just outside Beaumont was handled by the same men.
With the same dolly.
And in about the same time.
Then the move back to town when we sold the farm.
In the words of the new Dorcy's employee: We took the call to pick up a piano just outside of Beaumont. My co-worker handed me the sheet and I wondered at the look on his face. As we grew closer to the address, he started to sweat a little. Then, when your driveway appeared and grew closer, he uttered these words, "No . . . No . . . NOOOOO!!!!"
Not only was our piano popular in our family, it had finally achieved infamy.
That has been our last move.
To date.
I still have Dorcy's on speed dial.

Herman