[alyasa]

Jim couldn't believe it. His incredulity was matched only by his insistent yearning to actually let it be true. He looked at the boy, his eyes shining, a lump forming in his throat, making it difficult to swallow. The boy took his hands off the keys, putting them on his lap and sat there shyly, gazing downward at the keys, as if they would suddenly materialize into a menancing set of chattering teeth. "How..."

The boy just sat there with his downward cast, this time his eyes began to look as if they would burst into tears any moment. Jim couldn't take it anymore, a grin spread over his face; like a billowing cloud blowing across the sky. He jumped, startling the boy, who, at any moment now, would burst his dams and gush forth like a raging river. Grinning uncontrollably now, his teeth like rows of ivory pillars looming in some colossal African parthenon; he made the boy stand in front of him; and putting the boy's hands in his own, exclaimed gently, "Oh, you silly boy, do you know what you've done? Do you have any idea what you just did?" He looked down at the boy's hands, "These hands are going to make us rich, boy. Rich..."