It had been a few days after the puppies opened their eyes. They all loved to explore and see everything. They loved the outdoors. The grass, the bushes, the flowers, the bright sunshine. However, Hector, the blind runt puppy, was living indoors still. He never yet touched the outside world. Inside the house, Hector did find a way to get around despite being blind. He always used his nose. It didn't take long for Hector to memorize most of the basic house smells. The kitchen always smelled like food. The living room, particularly the furniture, always had fresh human scent. The barn was not only by scent. The barn did smell strongly of fresh dog and straw and hay certainly, but the dogs are always heard in there. Hector knew which nest was his certainly, and even where the windows let in the sunlight.
Hector was trotting through the house, sniffing everything. He walked into the living room, digging his small nose into the soft white carpet. Walking along a cream-colored wall, painted with beagles, he ran into a curtain and twitched. The curtain was decorated with pawprint patterns. Hector went around the curtains, using his tail to tell him when he was past them. Then he stopped when he felt the black cords connected to the television interrupting the carpet. He walked slowly, feeling the cord with a paw as he followed up it, then reached out with his other paw to feel the TV stand so that he does not bump his nose against it. He felt the TV stand, then walked alongside it until he reached the end, then continued past the television. He knew the coffee table was within a few feet from the TV, but he also knew that he can walk underneath it. He walked to the side a few inches to not bump into a leg, and walked underneath the table. Within 2 feet from the coffee table, the sofa was there, and Hector felt with a paw where the sofa was. When he felt it, he took his paw off it, and knew to take several paces to the side to reach the end of the couch. He was thinking which way to go, the left or right direction. He sniffed the air around him, and recognized the faint human fingerprint scent of the piano on the right side. Hector loves the music and sounds. The piano was something he was interested in learning all about. He walked to the right, and felt when the edge of the couch was reached. He remembered to take 50 small steps diagonally to the right to reach the piano bench. He took his 50 small steps, then reached out with his paw to feel one of the bench's front legs. He walked a few more steps towards the middle of the bench, and took 4 steps back. He then positioned his hind legs, and took a swift leap up onto the bench, then took another leap to get on top of the keyboards, and when he landed, he heard the music form from the fall. He sniffed the keyboard, and began to walk across the keyboard to listen to the music. He was so small and lightweight, that he had to put a little muscle into his steps to hear the sounds.
He heard the sound of puppies trotting at the other side of the living room, catching their scent. Chloe, one of Hector's sisters, turned to see him on the piano, and padded up to join him. As she was leaping onto the piano, she made a louder sound landing on the keyboard, since she was obviously bigger and heavier than Hector. She walked over to Hector, and nuzzled him, Hector returning the affection. Hector took in her sweet scent. Chloe's a lemon beagle, splashes of light chestnut on her white coat. She had ribbon-like ears like him. Hector signaled for Chloe to jump up on top of the lid. Chloe and Hector had a special liking to each other, while Hector's other brothers and sisters did not like him much. Hector wanted to show her a trick to playing the piano. Hector knew how many keys there were by their different sounds. He walked towards the middle of the piano, and began to play a few notes. He did it repeatedly to show that he memorized that tune. Chloe yapped excitedly in response. Hector then walked to the lower notes, and played another memorized tune. Chloe felt proud of her brother.
Mr. Anderson, Randy, and a woman worker named Mandy, heard someone playing the piano, and walked into the living room to see who it was.
Mr. Anderson looked at the blind runt playing the piano. He chuckled. "Oh, it's Hector, again," he said with amusement. The people slowly walked over to the piano.
As Hector was still playing, he paused, detecting the presence of the three people. He could recognize Mr. Anderson by his scent and voice well, as Mr. Anderson was "The Master" of the farm. He turned around, and looked into their direction with an adorable inquisitive face, even though he could not see them.
Randy chuckled. "Looks like he is putting on a little show to impress Chloe."
"After plenty of practice with that piano," agreed Mandy.
"Certainly not the first time he played that thing," stated Mr. Anderson.
"Yeah, he has been playing with the keyboard for a few days," agreed Randy.
"Well, just because he is blind, that does not mean that he cannot have his own hobby," stated Mandy.
Hector turned around and went back to playing. He walked back over to the middle, and played the tune again, as if to show the humans that he has been learning.
The three people watched with fascination. Mr. Anderson looked impressed. "Do you think he is playing the piano as a hobby because it doesn't have to require his sight?", asked Mr. Anderson.
"That's a thought, yeah," agreed Mandy.
"But, it just isn't dog-like. This is incredible. People have to train an adult dog hard for them to play a tune like that," stated Randy, as the three were listening to that tune. The tune was 20 seconds long, and when he was done playing that one, he went and continued with the lower notes after that one, playing that next tune. This was shocking all three of them. Chloe was yapping excitedly, as if she was interested as well.
"What else have you seen him doing?", asked Mr. Anderson.
"You haven't noticed?", Randy asked. "Hector has been playing with that drum set in the basement. He has been doing tunes with that as well."
"Oh, really?", Mr. Anderson asked with fascination. "I usually don't go down there, so, I had no idea. Heard somebody playing down there, but didn't think it was that puppy. Thought it was someone messing around downstairs during work hours."
"Who did you think it was?", Randy asked, amused.
"Why didn't you go down there to see who it was and tell him or her to get back to work?", Mandy added, also amused.
"I don't know. I didn't think too much of it, considering I heard it being played at night as well. Figured somebody was on break," Mr. Anderson replied.
"No one has been talking about playing the old drum set, so," Randy added. "I wasn't sure what to think of it, either."
Mr. Anderson nodded in response.
Hector was pacing across the keyboard, playing notes while they were talking. Chloe hopped off, and headed towards the kitchen. Now, Hector was sniffing in the middle of the keyboard, and gently jumped down onto the bench, and then the floor, and took off towards the kitchen as well. The people observed Hector as he sniffed the carpet for what they thought was her fresh scent. They looked at each other questionably, in curious thoughts.
Mr. Anderson finally spoke. "If these type of activities are what Hector calls fun now, I wonder what he'll do if his surgery goes successfully, and gets his sight at last."
"Just the yard itself would probably entertain him for a while," wondered Randy. "But something tells me he is still going to do a lot more than just dig holes and go to the bathroom."
After he said that, all three laughed. Already acting so different from the other dogs while he's blind, what would Hector do with sight?
