What I Saw in Homer and Langley

While reading the book, one specific scene I was able to see was when Homer met the beautiful young girl named Mary Elizabeth Riordan. She was a piano student and world-traveling aid worker. While reading the book, Homer eventually finds a job as a pianist for movies.  His job was to be able to play a different song for different scenes in the movie. For example if one part was about Love then the tempo should have been nice and sweet. Then if a different scene was of anger the tempo should have been faster and more intense. Where Mary Elizabeth comes in is since Homer was obviously blind, he could not read the screen that said whether the scene was about Love, anger, etc. She would sit next to Homer and explain to him what each scene said. Instead of paying Mary Elizabeth in exchange for helping him, Homer gave her piano lessons. Mary Elizabeth lived with her Grandmother, an immigrated family with very little money so the “free” piano lessons meant very much to Mary Elizabeth. Homer actually ended up growing a connection with the young lady but he knew that he was much too old for this precious 16 year old girl.