It was a busy Saturday afternoon at the mall and I had just returned to the piano after taking a break. I was mostly playing what I wanted to, but also taking a few requests as people stopped by the piano. Escalators were on each side of center court and on the second floor there were balconies with railings above, overlooking the piano in center court. Many times people would stand leaning against the railings looking down at the piano. Sometimes they would wave or shout out a request from above.

Well, this particular day I noticed a well dressed lady on the second floor, sometimes leaning against the railing, sometimes pacing as if she was waiting for someone. She was a blonde lady, sporting an iconic pink suit, with a matching pillbox hat, similar to an outfit that Princess Diana had worn in the past. She moved from one side of the balcony to the other and I could almost hear her high heels clicking as she walked.  

I continued to play, as if she wasn’t there, but at the same time I was very aware of her. Maybe it was the way she was dressed, or maybe it was that she was hanging around for such a long time, or maybe it was because I thought she was staring at me. Whatever it was, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

After about a half hour, my manager approached me saying in a rather serious tone, “Shannon, if you feel like you need to take another break, go ahead and do so.” I was in the middle of a song as she passed by saying those words and I responded by saying, “I’m fine.” Puzzled, I couldn’t understand what she was talking about. She had never said that before. I always could take breaks when I felt I needed to and I had just taken a break about a half hour before. So I just shrugged it off and kept playing.

Another 15 or so minutes passed as I played and the lady was still up on the second floor, listening, waiting, pacing, staring or whatever and it was really starting to make me feel uncomfortable. I thought again of the words of my manager, wondering what was going on. Just then, straight ahead of me coming down the escalator is this lady, click, click, clicking her heels as she approaches me. I’m in the middle of playing a song and I look up at her face and OH MY! As wrong clunker notes are coming from my fingers and echoing throughout the store, I see heavy pancake makeup on a five o’clock shadow, black false eye lashes, hot pink lipstick and a blonde bombshell wig! This is no SHE, this is a HE!  

I’m in a state of shock, completely speechless when she, I mean he, says to me in a deep masculine voice, “Do you take tips?” And with a hairy masculine hand, complete with large rings, long fake fingernails painted hot pink; he slaps a five dollar bill on the piano and says, “You’re good!” He then click, click, click, walks out of the store.

I then NEEDED a break, so I hurried to the back, straight to my manager and said, “I now understand what you meant!” I told her what had just happened and she explained to me that before I was even aware of this person, he had been watching me and that they had been watching him.

Yikes, freak out! I can easily “lose myself” in my music, but this incident really helped me be more aware of who is around me and I learned the lesson that things are not always as they seem.