MusicWith Non-Combustible Instrments (Short Story) {Part II}

                                                                                                            Word Count: 596

     As he turned and walked down the hall with that characteristic goose-step gait of his, Edgar thought about the aftermath of their conversation. To say Helmut Falconburg is eccentric is sort of like coming to the conclusion that gambling addicts enjoy the sound of loose slots.

     He does speak with that characteristic thick Bavarian-German accent of his.  And that

stare? If a guy could figure out a way to bottle that Falconburg Rasputin-like gaze, they probably wouldn’t have any pick-up problems with the chicks while cruising the boulevard on a Friday night. At least from a hypnotist’s perspective.

     Is that buzz cut hairdo of his really as razor sharp as it looks?  No, there isn’t a barber alive that’s skilled enough with the scissors. Must be precisely measured with some sort of laser level.

     And how about his analysis of the music they play.  “The sound is on a more visceral level because we don’t use strings or certain combustible instruments in its production.” Ok, that sort of makes sense, coming from its extraterrestrial source anyway.

     Best of all, you’ve sort of talked him into helping you out, and that was basically your only real goal in the first place, right? So the guy happens to be a little bit strange.  As long as you can take advantage of his expertise with the speaker set-up, that’s all that really counts, right?

     So a quick perusal of this whole brass band music seems in order, and what better place to do it than on the Internet. At least when you discover that there really isn’t much to read about, you can then move on to more important matters, like this real music festival.  

     I guess you’d have to say shockedis putting it mildly.  Who would’ve thought that this whole brass band music thing could be traced as far back as the eleventh century, and that it gained popularity during the industrial revolution as a way to entertain the worker bees? Brass bands can be currently found throughout many parts of Europe and the U.S.? Brass band competitions are also widespread with promotions and transfers between bands. With more performance opportunities presently existing than ministers have collection plates too. All this information off the Internet?

     “Actually Helmut, I haven’t done anything. I wanted to take advantage of your expertise.”

     “So this means we’ve got to work realfast on the set-up today if it’s going to be ready?”

     “Probably. Hey, thanks for agreeing to help out by the way.”

     “Edgar, now that we’ve gotten the system assembled, I want to play a cassette of my brass band music over the speakers so I can fine tune the sound quality.”

     Upon hearing this, Edgar Riviera did something he never thought possible a week earlier.  Actually getting excited about the prospect of listening to some brass band music. Not too excited though, that would be construed as an oil company CEO deciding that this global warming theory might be true.  

    “Hey Helmut, sounds pretty good.  I’m imagining we should probably turn up the bass a bit?”

     “You think?  That’ll bring out the sound of the euphoniums, tubas as well.”

     As Helmut began to crank up the bass and the booming sound of the drums began to resonate through the festival grounds, Edgar liked it. This brass band music isn’t so bad after all?

     “Quite a resonance, don’t you agree Edgar?”

     “Oh definitely Helmut.”