City of Red | Part 1

Chapter 7 | The Dark Place

Alfonso opened his eyes for the first time since the fight. He moved his arms and realized they were cuffed to the bed and soon clarity returned to his mind and he remembered where he was, and why.

He looked around and saw the saline bag hanging from the pole and the drip line feeding fluids into his arm. The vital signs monitor was sitting to his left, beeping steadily, then Cristina entered the room with a smile.

"It's great to see awake. My name is Cristina, your nurse, Nurse Riley."

It had been inappropriate to share her first name with the patient. What was she thinking? She didn't know, really, except for how handsome he was, even in the state he found himself.

She stood beside the bed, her hands clasped at her hips. "Do you know where you are?"

"Prison." Alfonso replied while staring off into space. Cristina looked in the direction he was but nothing was there except the corner of the room. His attention was suddenly pulled back to the nurse by his side, and the sweet aroma cotton candy, or bubble gum, perhaps.

As Cristina leaned over him, adjusting the line feeding into his arm, strands of her long, brown hair brushed across his face.

"You got a kind way about you." Alfonso said.

She smiled. "I'll be back in a sec."

Tommy Scaramucci sat down next to Alfonso and said, "glad you're awake, Al. Now I got someone to talk to. I mean I could talk to Pauly, Corrin, their boy Pauly Junior, just to name a few...but they're all in bad moods on account of you getting them killed."

Cristina returned with a new bag of saline and attached it to the pole, then reconnected the line and adjusted the drip.

Tommy said, "I bet if you play your cards right, she might give you some."

"Did you hear me?" Cristina said. "Is the music okay?"

"Yeah. I, uh, I like it. I don't know what it is, but I like it."

"It's Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5."

"That's gibberish to a guy like me."

"Because you got no fucking culture." Tommy replied.

"Have you never heard of Ludwig van Beethoven?" She said.

"Nah, not really." Alfonso smirked.

"Well, this concerto is Beethoven's very last complete piano concerto. It was written in the early 1800s. He actually dedicated it to one of his pupils, Archduke Rudolf of Austria."

"What were they, fags?"

"Hey, that's a good question!" Tommy said.

"Of course not!" Cristina laughed. "They were just close friends. It was just a very different time and place."

"Something funny was going on between them." Alfonso glared into her eyes. "What else can you tell me about this guy?"

"Okay, um, he was deaf when he created Symphony Number Nine."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. Beethoven became suicidal when he learned of his hearing loss, but even though he lost the will to live, he made his music, not wanting to leave this world before he had left it with his work."

"What got you into this kind of music? You don't like Sinatra or rock n roll or anything?"

"I do. I just like the way Beethoven's music makes me feel. It helps me clear my mind, calm me down. Makes me feel good, you know? That's why I have it playing for you."