PIANO 4

                      PIANO 4 ( Part 4 of a 10 part Valentine series.)

"Is somebody injured?" Rip asked. The man replied, "Yes, but I  don't think it's anything serious." Turner arrived on the scene just then, greeted Rip and Honey, and took them along as he entered the building. "This is getting hard on my nerves," he told them as the receptionist-clerk met them in the hallway. "Where's the  problem?" Turner asked. "It's in the piano room," she answered.

"Of course, it must be in the piano room," Turner concluded sarcastically. "I'm beginning to think the room is jinxed."

As they entered the room, they saw paramedics working over a man seated on a chair, and Luigi sitting in another chair, bent over with his head in his hands. "Are you hurt bad, Andy?" Turner asked the man being treated. "No, sir," Andy answered. "I was lucky the stuff almost missed me entirely." Turner turned to Luigi, and asked if he was alright. "Yes, Glenn," the obviously distraught man said, "But, I'm pretty shaky." Turner turned to the paramedics and asked, "What's the story with Andy?"

One of the paramedics answered, "He'll be fine. Some debris hit him, and it was hot and sticky. He's got light burns on his shoulder and upper arm, but nothing serious. We'll have him checked out at the hospital to be sure." Turner turned back to Luigi. "What the heck happened?" Luigi was still shaky, but had recovered enough to assess the situation. "Well, Glenn, Andy was helping me move one of the pianos. You know we park them directly under the light to get maximum vision as we work. We started to move the piano, and heard a loud pop, like a gunshot. We both ducked, and that saved Andy from being hurt pretty bad. He moved just enough that the hot glass and melting plastic only grazed him."

"So...what glass and plastic?" asked Turner. "From the light up there," Luigi said, pointing to the ceiling. There was a dark charred opening where a light had been. "The bulb somehow overheated, and actually blew up," Luigi explained. The hot glass landed on the plastic cover, melting it a little and sending it down. If it had struck either of us directly, we would have been hurt pretty bad, and if it had hit the piano, it would really have messed it up." Turner looked at Rip and Honey, and asked doubtfully, "Did we have a bad event, or did we have a fortunate event? I'm getting a little nervous over pianos."

Paul, the employee who oversaw the physical operations of the building, joined the group. "Mr. Turner, I just called the lighting fixture company. They said this was very unusual, but it did happen occasionally with high density lighting. A bulb just sometimes blows up. Usually there are no after effects and the light covers are not destroyed as they were here." Turner shook his head, and asked, "Paul, don't we check these lights and covers regularly?" Paul was quick to answer, "Yes, sir. In fact, we usually replace the bulbs before their expected life runs out. They tend to lose some brightness as they age, and that's when we replace them." Turner turned to Rip and Honey. "What do you make of it?"

Rip replied, "It would seem to be just an unusual happening, according to the explanation. If anyone wanted to set up an accident, it would require almost impossible chance to do much harm. They would have to have placed an older bulb in the fixture and hoped the cover would come down and create a problem. Then, the people or piano would have to be under the fixture when the bulb blew up. If we rely on science, this appears to be a rare happening." Turner agreed, but Luigi didn't appear to have the same confidence in Rip's summary of the event.

Honey enthusiastically suggested Luigi join she and Rip with coffee or tea and some history of his fabulous career of tours and cultural experiences. Turner was quick to second the idea, and Luigi for the first time perked up. Luigi admitted he could use some time to get calmed down. "There's a little cafe just down the street," he said, "And we won't even have to take our cars." Turner bid them adieu, and said he'd look around the building.

The trio got settled in the cafe and couldn't have asked for a better place to talk. It wasn't busy, it was quiet, and they could have a private discussion. Honey was leading the way for him, and that gave Rip the opportunity to consider points as they went along. He could pick up hints on how to go about the interview. Honey asked Luigi if he only played classical music. Luigi surprisingly said, "No. As a matter of fact, I played blues, jazz and doobie do when I entered college. But then I got interested in history and culture, and " I became a student of serious music. God blessed me and my work." Honey said, with some excitement, "Will you play something for me?" Luigi now had brightened up, and said "I'd love to! I don't get to play for an appreciative audience much anymore!"

Honey continued with questions about his tours. "I understand you visited several countries. That must have been exciting!" she said, hoping for some descriptions. "It was wonderful," he said. I had concerts in London, Paris, Berlin, Rome and Budapest. I enjoyed all except Budapest." Honey asked, "What turned you off about that city?" Luigi frowned as he answered, obviously recalling something very distasteful. "It was a bad time to be in Hungary," he said. The people were politically stirred up, the Russians were causing trouble, and there was a lot of unrest." Honey asked, "Did the conditions cause your tour trouble?" Luigi responded so fast, he was answering her question the instant it left her mouth. "I came to know fear there!" he exclaimed with great emphasis.

"Wow!" honey exclaimed. Now Rip had the opening he had been waiting for. This could be the beginning of a trail leading to the state of mind Luigi was experiencing. "What happened?" Rip interjected. Luigi began his answer, and you could see he was experiencing a bad experience all over again. "I was very uneasy when I arrived in Hungary," Luigi said. "I knew about the turmoil and felt it wasn't that safe. But, it was in my contract, and I was being paid to provide the musical contribution to culture. I was well received, and the government appeared to have the situation in control. There was an overflow crowd, because classical music is BIG in Budapest. There were police and checkpoints. Looking back, I see it was the calm before the storm."

Rip urged Luigi to continue, "This is a spellbinding story, Luigi. If you play the piano as well as you tell a story, I can't wait to hear you!" Luigi now appeared to actually need to continue his story. "I was given a nice introduction, and the evening's program was explained. Credits for composition and such were revealed. Then, I played my first number. It went well, and the crowd gave me a very enthusiastic reception. I got up and took a bow. While I took the bow, I heard the audience gasp. When I straightened up, I was facing two men on stage, and one had a gun barrel in my face!"

(To be continued)

Rev. Walbear