I'm in a house which is unfamiliar, but is apparently where I live, talking to my mom about the song "Take This Hammer". I sing it for her, in the style of the Brothers Four: "Take this hammer, carry it to the captain..."

I explain how I was drawn to this song when I read it in the old songbook that she gave me, how it stood out from the others, even though it was totally different from the version I know. It seem like in the book it was even in a different time signature, in 3/4 time. I reach for the book to show her, but I can't find it. I remember, I loaned it to my dad, so we have to ask him where it went.

We are in a rather pedestrian urban neighborhood, and we walk across the street, and then down a couple houses, to a normal white house. Dad is there, painting a wall.

"Can I take your place for a minute, hun," Mom asks, "so you can go find the songbook for Fritz?"

Dad says sure, gets down from the ladder, and accompanies me back to my house, where he points out the songbook in a stack of books on my piano bench, partly underneath the keyboard of a short spinet piano.