How to Stop Time

Hendrich places Tom in London as a hotel pianist. Life is good for Tom. He drinks cocktails, flirts with women, and parties with playboys and flappers. The Roaring Twenties is an age of noise. Music is now important. Tom enjoys his new role as Daniel Honeywell. After a while Tom becomes melancholic again. He wants to do something for humanity. Agnes refers to it as “time guilt.” She visits Tom in London and cautions against reading Freud, who believes truth is found in the unconscious parts of the psyche, like dreams. They travel together to Yorkshire on a mission for Hendrich. They arrive at a mental asylum to rescue a woman locked up for sharing the truth of her condition. Flora Brown thought she was crazy, but the society saves her. She resettles in Australia before moving to America. Hendrich is right: “There was a meaning and purpose to all this” (203).

Instead of returning to London, Tom arranges to work for his employers’ sister restaurant in Paris. He lives in Montmartre with Agnes before taking over her apartment when she leaves. She tells him that as they get older, they develop a deep insight (203). Tom yearns for such clarity. He grounds himself in music, and he drinks, falling into decadence. After leaving Paris, Tom gives up the piano, thinking he will never play it again.

Tom sits at a table with his fellow teachers at the Coach and Horses discussing music. Martin is going on about Hendrix, Dylan, the Doors, and the Rolling Stones. Camille chimes in, naming her favorites as Beyonce, Leonard Cohen, Johnny Cash, David Bowie, and Michael Jackson, specifically “Billie Jean.” Tom agrees that “Billie Jean” is the best. They ask him if he likes music or plays anything. He confesses to playing the piano. The sports teacher, Sarah, draws his attention to the piano in the corner and encourages him to play. Martin pushes him, too. Camille comes to his defense, telling the group he doesn’t have to play. However, Tom gives in and walks toward the piano. He takes a seat, closes his eyes, and starts to play. First, he plays “Greensleeves,” which morphs into “Under the Greenwood Tree,” followed by Liszt’s Liebestraum and Gershwin’s “The Man I Love.” Martin laughs but grows silent as Tom’s playing progresses. He is in Paris once more playing at Ciro’s. His headache returns. When he finishes playing and opens his eyes, everyone is gaping. He sits back down at the table next to Camille. She tells him that again he seems so familiar. He longs to be with her—to be happy with another human being again: “This is what playing the piano does. This is the danger of it. It makes you human” (209). He refuses another drink and the subject changes to Isham’s expected baby. He shows everyone the 3D sonogram. For a brief second, Tom notices Camille staring at the scar on his arm, but he returns his attention to the ultrasound image. He remembers when Rose first told him she was pregnant. He imagines he is in the Boar’s Head instead of the Coach and Horses.