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Reveries
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The midnight-8 am shift at Gold Mountain was always painfully dull, especially during the week. Lex might have some bursts of activity during the first couple hours when groups of drunks wanted to buy more tokens, but from about 2 to 8 there was usually nothing to do. He could only clean the counter so many times, so usually he just sat there with a book and a cup of coffee, trying not to nod off and fall off his chair. When Jinx came in at 8 to relieve him he practically sprinted for the door, looking forward to getting home and sleeping until two or three.
He headed down the hall towards the front doors as Becky came toward him. Her arms were loaded with papers, and she seemed completely flustered. “Why me?” she was muttering. “I don’t know anything about tax forms, dang it! Don’t we have accountants for this sort of thing? Oh! Lex!” She stopped, clutching the papers tightly and looking as though she was near tears. “Some guy from the GRS is here. I told him to wait in the lounge while I figured out where the heck we kept our tax paperwork. Can you do me a huge favor? Wait like ten minutes, then tell him to come up to the meeting room. I need an espresso shot or something, seriously.”
“Uh, sure,” Lex said. Whatever was going on seemed to be stressing her out; sleep could wait a few more minutes. As Becky hurried off to get some caffeine, Lex headed for the lounge. It wasn’t actually open this early in the morning, but as he hesitated outside the door, checking his watch, Lex was startled to hear a strain of piano music coming from the room. Who on earth could be in there playing it? The music was beautiful, too – he didn’t recognize the tune but it was strangely haunting. Becky had wanted a little time to herself anyway, so he just waited there, listening with his eyes closed, until the last notes trailed away into silence.
Lex jerked upright. He’d been somewhere perilously close to dozing on his feet while listening to the music. Shaking his head quickly to clear it a bit, he opened the door.
The GRS agent was standing next to the piano, holding a clipboard in one hand and a briefcase in the other. He was an exceedingly professional-looking man in his crisp dress shirt, slacks, and tie, but Lex thought he saw a bit of a blush on the man’s bespectacled face. He must have been the one playing the piano; there were no other options.
"Becky asked me to let you know that she’s waiting for you in the meeting room upstairs,” he said, amazed he’d even remembered his message. “Did you need me to show you the way?”
“No, I’m sure I’ll manage, thank you,” the GRS man said, giving a little nod of acknowledgement and sweeping out of the room. Left to himself, Lex crept over to the piano and took a little peek at the sheet music propped up on it.
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“He was pretty handsome really, but he didn’t exactly look like a classical pianist. He was really pretty good though. And the tune was… amazing. I wish I could remember the title. Tro… something. It had a lot of vowels and I was really tired when I looked at it.”
Lex was tired again, but for a very different reason. He stretched out languidly, enjoying the feel of thousand-thread-count sheets against his skin, and whistled the song as best as he could remember.
Edmund’s eyes widened a bit. “Traumerei? It’s a piece by Robert Schumann. Mr. Gambino’s late wife was quite fond of it.” Edmund slipped out of bed, and Lex rolled into the warm spot he’d left behind, watching him cross the room.
He opened a cabinet, selected a CD, and put it on the stereo. Lex nodded to himself as the strains of piano music drifted throughout the room. This was unmistakably the one. It was such an odd piece; it seemed infused with emotion, but not one he could give a name to. Edmund climbed back under the covers next to him, and Lex threw an arm across the other man’s chest. The music was like remembering something nostalgic, he decided. Something that had been wonderful, but was now gone forever. He slid his fingers idly across the scar on Edmund’s chest and mentally amended his thoughts. Maybe it wasn’t something in the past that was gone; maybe it was something in the present that was sure to end soon.
There was something nearly heartbreaking about it. But even so, Lex decided that he was quite fond of the piece, too.
Lazarus Larkin · Mon Jul 27, 2009 @ 06:29am · 0 Comments |
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