Brother's Loyalty

Melody of Doubt, Melody of Hope

There is was again—the sound of a piano. Luigi paused and pressed his ear against the door. Whoever was playing that piano was very good at it, a professional, even. The man in green had taken some piano lessons when he was young, and while he'd taken to the lessons like a fish to water, he had no desire to go pro. He was a bit rusty, anyhow.

A sigh slid from Luigi's lips, the piano music relaxing him. But he couldn't relax for long. Looking down at the key in his hand, he was pleasantly surprised to see that it corresponded to this very door. So, he unlocked it and stepped inside.

The room was a conservatory, and there were so many instruments lined up against the walls. It reminded Luigi of his schools' music rooms, especially the one in his high school. There was a harp, a saxophone, drums, a xylophone, a bass fiddle and an acoustic guitar. Far off to the side sat the grand piano, which had suddenly stopped playing when Luigi arrived. But there was nobody seated at the bench. Either the piano was playing itself, or...

Luigi strolled over to the xylophone. More often than not, his music teacher would assign him that instrument, and in his spare time, he'd taught himself to play a few songs. As he picked up the xylophone batons, one particular song came to his mind.

Positioning the batons over the xylophone bars, Luigi began to hammer out the opening riff to Toto's "Africa". How could he not forget that song? It came out during one of the most important years of his adult life.

His first job was as a mechanic, and it was enjoyable but exhausting. One evening in 1983, he'd just settled down in front of his TV, relaxing after a long day, when he saw the news bulletin. There was a mysterious clog in the city's sewage system, the municipal officials throwing the demand for plumbers wide open. Something had clicked inside of Luigi's head upon viewing that report, and as soon as they cut to a commercial break, he gave his brother a call.

"Did you see it?" he asked. "Did you see the news story?"

"Yeah."

"Mario—how would you like us to go into business together and take on that nasty clog?"

"Well—there's no risk of falling to my death," Mario had said after mulling it over. "I didn't really see myself becoming a plumber, but—plans change."

"You're right about that," said Luigi.

The next morning, they filled out the applications to join the plumbing crew of a man named Sal, and they were approved four days later.

Down they'd ventured into the bowels of their city, stunned at the party of creepy-crawlies they'd come upon. They named the turtles Shellcreepers, the flies Fighterflies and the crabs Sidesteppers. Working as a team, they sent the creepy-crawlies packing by punching the platforms they were standing on, knocking the pests onto their backs, and then kicking them away. When they were finished, all Sal could do was just gawk.

"Who are you guys?" he asked.

"We're the Mario Bros!" the two of them replied.

"Well, Mario Bros—you're hired!" grinned Sal.

Thus started one adventure which led to another two years later...

Luigi was jolted out of his flashback when he noticed the xylophone still playing "Africa"—and he wasn't even striking it with the batons! What was up with that? Were these instruments magical? Or was an unseen ghost pulling the strings?