By the hand of good fortune I came into possession of a derelict piano which was missing a leg. It reminded me of this three legged stray dog we called Tripod. Like the ole' hound it seems my one legged piano was abused by it's last owner and abandoned. I've always had a soft spot for critters and beat up instruments and as in both these cases they were deemed"beyond repair." Tripod could still play however when the ole' piano played it was in danger of falling on one of us. So I took a thick oak mop handle and made a prosthetic limb from it and just like a peg leg pirate it stood.Also missing was one of the black keys. For this repair I took a small section of a tomato stake, sanded, tapered and glued it in place. It was a black scarred upright type piano with a beat up appearance too funky for a place in the house.In the garage was to be it's home and it was there I taught myself to play.And not unlike me the instrument was out of tune but out of tune it seems in all the right places.I mean it's like it had been used in The Music School of Hard Knocks and having the same quality of sound that a barrel house boogie woogie pie-anno could produce.Not only that but this ole' keyboard had a southern drawl,a tone most visceral and with plenty of black key bent note southern twang to boot. Coming from within those 88 keys were the sounds ,colors ,pictures and even smells reminiscent of my barefoot youth in sunny Florida.I heard my heal steps on my grandaddy's wood plank river dock and the hollow metal tones of an aluminum boat rubbing against the pilings. With my left hand playing a walking bass line I could hear the deep voices of railroad men from my mother's side of the family. I recall the bass bellows of alligators and bullfrogs. I heard the faint refrains of old hymns coming through the walls of a one room church. Tickling the ivories on the high end keys came the yesteryear chimes of my southern belle aunts as their laughter rose in unison in the kitchen over the warm smells of frying fish, hush puppies and pound cake. Yes all of these memories and much more came pouring out of that ol' one leg piano that nobody wanted.