24The final notes of Chopin’s Sonata n. 4 marked the end of the entrance examination to the school that Sonny Marshall had opened years earlier at Hempstead, reserved for the less well-off boys but who were deserving of entry into the world of music.
Sonny himself assisted at their selection from October to December, the deadline for enrolment in the courses.
He decided that the last boy they had heard, given his abilities, would go straight into the second year; and when he told him that as they shook hands, he saw his eyes light up with happiness.
Once the student had left, he leaned against the back of the chair, tired. He had listened to twelve aspiring musicians, of whom only half had been admitted; not because he was strict about the selections, but for the fact that he recognized
