Going Organ-ic

I really love playing music. I try to get my hands on every instrument that I can, and recently I have been searching craigslist furiously trying to find a piano or an organ. I don’t have much money at all, and usually organs and pianos are such a hassle to move that people give them away for free, just as long as you take it out of their house for them. Unfortunately for me, I don’t have the man power to claim any of the awesome free pianos people in Lewiston are trying to get rid of. Every couple of months an organ comes up, but I’m never fast enough and it is already taken by the time I contact the sellers.

Over thanksgiving break I visited some of my family in Richland Washington. A couple of my cousins work at a thrift shop for one of our family friends. While I was just sitting around playing video games my cousins had been at work unloading a truck with my uncle. My uncle came back and told me I needed to come to the thrift shop to help them figure out if any of this new stuff they got was worth anything. When I arrived, out in front of the store were speakers, P.A. systems, receivers, a record player, microphones, and an electric organ. I promptly inspected the equipment and told them that brand new, the equipment was probably about $5,000 all together. My uncle wanted to buy one of the amplifiers and some mics for his daughter, so I told the manager of the shop about how much those items would be worth now. Of course because this guy was a family friend my uncle got a great deal of just 30 bucks.

After their negotiations I asked about the organ outside. The man said he would sell it for 60. I was immediately bummed and said “Well, all I have on me is $40.” To my relief he agreed on the condition that I take the organ that day, which I had planned on doing anyway. We went to the register and I handed him my 2 twenties to which he responded “Uh, do you have the money for the tax?” I nodded and repeated my previous phrase “all I have on me is $40.” I asked my cousin who was sitting behind the counter if he could lend me the three bucks I needed, and the organ was mine.

I drove home the next day, organ in the bed of my truck. My best friend Lindsey came over to help me load the organ into the house. It was much heavier without the help of a 3^rd person. We placed it right inside of my front door and it sits there now. I still haven’t figured out how all the buttons work, but I’m beginning to get used to it now.