Overcome and in tears I ran up on stage and put my arms around Robby in joy. “I’ve never heard you play like that Robby！ How’d you do it？” Through the microphone Robby explained： “Well Miss Hondorf...remember I told you my mom was sick？ Well actually she had cancer and passed away this morning. And well....she was born deaf so tonight was the first time she ever heard me play. I wanted to make it special.”
There wasn’t a dry eye in the house that evening. As the people from Social Services led Robby from the stage to be placed into foster care， I noticed that even their eyes were red and puffy and I thought to myself how much richer my life had been for taking Robby as my pupil.
No， I’ve never had a protégé but that night I became a protégé...of Robby’s. He was the teacher and I was the pupil for it is he that taught me the meaning of perseverance and love and believing in yourself and maybe even taking a chance in someone and you don’t know why.
This is especially meaningful to me since after serving in Desert Storm Robby was killed in the senseless bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in April of 1995， where he was reportedly...playing the piano.
在朋友的鼓动下，我写了这个故事。我叫米德里·杭多芙，曾是爱荷华州德默尼镇的一名小学音乐教师，一直通过教钢琴课来增加一点额外收入，我这样生活已经30多年了。
这些年来，我发现孩子们的音乐水平和能力各不相同，我从没因监护某个孩子而感到快乐。尽管也有过一些优秀的学生，不过，我也遇到过一些被我称做“挑战音乐”的学生。
罗比就是其中之一。
罗比11岁时，他妈妈（单亲妈妈）送他来上第一堂课，我看好孩子（尤其是男孩）在年龄较小时开始学琴，我向罗比说了这种情况。但他说，妈妈一直有个梦想，就是听他弹钢琴。于是，罗比就成了我的学生。