Date: Wed, 5 Jul 1995 06:24:35 -0700
Title: Musical evaporations

"What is that you're readin' there,
Dear, dear Lady Claire?" Oscar queried, and  played an E chord
on the piano.  Claire, seated at the bar,  could see Oscar's
reflection, as he sat at the piano, in the mirror-finish bartop made
of a secret metal alloy known  only to the boss.
"It's a note from Jake.  A poem he wrote."
"Ahhh yessss, a billey-dooze, (another E chord)
Something lovers frequently use," Oscar chimed with an E minor.
*bil.let-doux n, pl bil.lets-doux [F billet doux, lit., sweet letter]
   (1673): a love letter .

"Yeah, I guess its from what you might call a 'lover'.  Jake's told me
he is, to put it mildly, interested..."  Claire refolded the poem
carefully and tucked it away into her jacket pocket.  As she zipped
the pocket closed her fingers lightly brushed one of the medals
attached to the collar of her leather coat.
*pip n [origin unknown] (1604) 4: a diamond-shaped insignia of rank
worn by a second lieutenant, lieutenant, or captain in the British army .

"The wonder of love (C#) goes two ways,
As rain loves drought (F), night loves days."  Oscar then turned
away from his piano,  and walked to the bar, and sat next to Claire.
"Might I buy the lovely leatherclad lady a beer,
and maybe as we talk,  together we will shed a tear?"

"God, you're poetic today Oscar.  Are you feeling ok?  Are you
getting any sleep?  I've noticed that you've been playing nonstop
for the last three or four days, are you alright? At the risk of sounding
hortative, I urge you get a bit of sleep and let up on the late nights for a
couple days.  I'm really worried about you."
*hor.ta.tive adj [LL hortativus, fr. L hortatus, pp. of hortari to
urge--more at yearn] (1623): giving exhortation: advisory --
hor.ta.tive.ly adv .

"Alas, a lady who cares, my lovely queen!
I'm not sure I know what it might mean!"Oscar's fingers play, on the
mirror finished bar, what would have been
a C-sharp minor.  Claire was so caught up in Oscar's intensity that
she thought she heard the erie tones chiming from the bartop.
As Oscar lifted his fingers from the glistening surface, he watched
his fingerprints vanish as the condensation quickly  gassed off,
ending the short-lived abutment of metal, water and air.
*abut vb abut.ted ; abut.ting [ME abutten, partly fr. OF aboter to
  border on, fr. a- (fr. L ad-) + bout blow, end, fr. boter to strike;
  partly fr.  OF abuter to come to an end, fr. a- + but end, aim--more
  at butt, butt] vi (15c) 1: to touch along a border or with a projecting
part  2 a: to terminate at a point of contact
b: to lean for support ~ vt 1: to border on  2: to cause to abut.





----------------------------------************----------------------------
Dick Ellis, Librarian
San Diego Supercomputer Center
(619)534-5171 (voice)
(619)534-5117 (fax)
dellis@sdsc.edu

        "Go Moan for Mankind..."
            J. Kerouac