Alleyway Songs

You know someone is desperate when they head to a music box maker for help.  “I have a problem.” A sentence as detailed as that would allow you to determine exactly how to resolve that dilemma.

I turn from my worktable, and I switch off the lamp illuminating it. I stroll out of my only entrance.  The wooden steps creak as I place my feet off the steps and into the ally to which they lead to. I notice a figure hunched in a ripped cloak parallel to me. I sit down cross-legged on the cement ground, smirking at the form in front of me.

“Would you like advice or a solution?” I will be just as vague.

“I heard you make small mechanical devices.” A young man’s face peeks from under the ragged hood that is shadowing his face. He is avoiding my question, and his eyes won’t look into mine.

“Well, I suppose that could be true. But what will you make of it?” I smooth down my grease-stained apron as I talk.

“Um…” I see him struggling whether to reveal the information he has concealed from me. “So the clockwork devices…I need one. For someone.”

“I see.” I raise an eyebrow. I wonder how long this will take. “You would like a music box for someone.”

“Yes.”

“Do you have a popular tune in mind?”

“Well, you see…” He shifts on the ground. “I would like a particular tune, I hope that it won’t be too much trouble?”

“It only will be if you can’t pay.” I study him. His face hints at something apprehensive. Why would he want a specific melody?

“Yes, I hope this will be enough.” He slips something out from under his coat. He holds it up into the dim sunrays that are almost lost in the dark alleyways. It glimmers on a golden chain. I take it in my cupped hands; it fills it up. A large emerald jewel. I grin. So this is a rich boy playing beggar.

“This will be quite sufficient. Sing me the melody.” He echoes a simple, but melancholy tune that reprises over and over in your head. Why? My curiosity is eating away at me. “Why do you want the music box so badly?” The boy smiles a faded laugh. He rests his hand over his heart, fingers splayed.

“Because then it will contain my soul.”