A PIANO AT THE TRAIN STATION
Pine Hill is a quiet little town in the east of Canada, with a green park and a few small cafés. Every morning, its train station is full of people. When they walk in, they often hear music. An old piano stands near the trains, and anyone can sit down and play it.(lines 1–3)
The piano was not always at the station. For many years, it stood in the music room of an old school nearby. When the school closed, the town brought the piano here. Tom Miller works at the station. "Music on the way to work makes people happy," he explains. "And when a train is late, the wait doesn't feel so long."(lines 4–7)
But a station is not an easy home for an old piano. Winters there are very cold, and cold air can hurt a piano. So the people of the town take care of it. Every evening, they put a warm blanket* over it, and in the morning someone takes the blanket off again.(lines 8–10)
The piano has many fans in Pine Hill. One of them is Sara Green, a nurse. On Friday mornings, she plays at the station for a few minutes. When she finishes, she gets on the train to the city, where she works at a hospital. "It makes my whole day better," she says.(lines 11–13)