A boy, a locked trumpet case and a kind locksmith

In a touching story involving a trumpet, locked in a case many years ago, a young boy has made a connection to his late father.

Dax Kung, son of the late Doug Kung, decided to take up music for his school band at Dougherty Elementary and his instrument of choice was a trumpet.

His Mom, Cher, was pleased about his decision and recalled that Doug had played the trumpet and the instrument was still somewhere in the house. The trumpet case however was locked and they had no key. She had made enquiries about the case being opened but the cost quoted was rather expensive.

Nevertheless since Dax now wanted to make use of it she decided to have the case opened. This led them to the company AAA Locksmith in Dublin which proved to be fortuitous.

Doug had sadly passed away after a battle with cancer. He was a devoted father and engineer and had been on the Mensa list and also had a love of music at school. Mensa's requirement for membership is a score at or above the 98th percentile on certain standardised IQ or other approved intelligence tests. (source: Mensa International)

Doug's friend Brian Matthews said "I remember that case. We played trumpet together in middle school jazz band. He was a much better player than I was (then added with a smile) —when we weren’t goofing off. I’m so glad he kept it and that it will be used."

The locksmith opened the case and upon hearing the backstory of the instrument decided in a moment of compassion to not charge them for it.

Cher said "Doug kept it in great shape. His old music books are still in it as well. I thought it was crazy that out of all the instruments Dax wanted to try trumpet. He is going to love hearing from Brian how well his Dad played and about his shenanigans."

Brian recalls the time he played in the band with Doug and said "He was really quite good. And I was quite mediocre. But Doug didn’t care. We had a lot of fun. I’m glad Dax is playing it. But I wish Cher luck as Dax learns that horn!"

Dax was delighted to have the case opened and was touched by the kindness shown, he thinks AAA Locksmith is awesome and should be recognized for opening it for free.