Tuesday, May 17
Story idea
[ LONDON, England (AP) -- Hospital authorities caring for a patient who refuses to talk but willingly plays the piano for hours said Tuesday they are investigating a number of new leads on his identity. The tall, blond-haired man, who is in his 20s or early 30s, has not said a word since he was found, distressed and dressed in a dripping wet suit, on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent county, southeast England, on April 7.
When staff at the Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham gave him writing materials, he drew detailed pictures of a grand piano and, when shown the piano in the hospital chapel, sat down and played for two hours, causing staff to nickname him "Piano Man." Baffled staff said their problems have been compounded by the fact that all the labels have been cut off the man's clothes. "That is a real twist -- and it's enough of a mystery without that," said Adrian Lowther, spokesman for the West Kent National Health Service Trust, which is caring for the man at a psychiatric unit in Dartford in north Kent. ]
I love this story, and stories like it (the film a Man Facing Southeast; the George Plimpton prank/novel The Curious Case of Sidd Finch, that Kevin Spacey film of a few years back which film name I cannot recall) and when I read it today noted it would be a great starting point, a great idea, for a solid piece of fiction. The outsider, lost or perhaps totally in control.
When staff at the Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham gave him writing materials, he drew detailed pictures of a grand piano and, when shown the piano in the hospital chapel, sat down and played for two hours, causing staff to nickname him "Piano Man." Baffled staff said their problems have been compounded by the fact that all the labels have been cut off the man's clothes. "That is a real twist -- and it's enough of a mystery without that," said Adrian Lowther, spokesman for the West Kent National Health Service Trust, which is caring for the man at a psychiatric unit in Dartford in north Kent. ]
I love this story, and stories like it (the film a Man Facing Southeast; the George Plimpton prank/novel The Curious Case of Sidd Finch, that Kevin Spacey film of a few years back which film name I cannot recall) and when I read it today noted it would be a great starting point, a great idea, for a solid piece of fiction. The outsider, lost or perhaps totally in control.
