The Boy Who Heard Music - Chapter 6 - Thumbnail

"Ikapikapoo"

At age 13 Gabriel finally asks his Aunt Trilby to teach him to play the piano he's been banging on since age five. He quickly learns to play well and joins with his friend Josh to write songs. Playing one of them on a ukulele out in the street, Gabriel attracts the attention of Leila and her friend Dottie.

The second part of the chapter concerns Gabriel's love of the river Thames and how he occasionally witnesses sexual predators prowling its banks. He talks his father, against his father's initial concerns, into letting him go on the river with a group of adult Sea Scouts. The hum of the boat's motor induces an angelic vision with a sexual edge in Gabriel's mind. He begins to pass out as the reader is given the impression that the Scouts may take sexual advantage of him.