The Naked Piano Player from Vexvelt. By Moreno Franco

You Are Here...

Author's Note: I wrote this in about 1979 - 1980. For a girl I had never met - yet dreamed of often.
As an artist and writer I dream up many things.
YET! Thousands of my dreams and fantasies have died. Screaming, or still-born - on the table. So to speak.
That The Good Idea may flourish.

And then - one summer evening - the dream stepped out of the paper. Off the canvas.
Destiny.... Marched across the country golf club dance floor - and said:

"Aahh! You found me!" - as if I was supposed to be looking for her
The first astonished words out of my mouth were: "My God! IT'S YOU!"

It is much cause for merriment, for my wife... the Donna Darkwolf, for years to follow.
"The LOOK on your face?"

The SHOCK of RECOGNITION!

Are you ready, children? Then let Us BEGIN:

"Naked Piano Concerto - Carnival of the Animals -The Swan"

John Ferguson (piano) performs Symphony No.9 Molto Vivace.
(Beethoven, arr. Liszt)

"Just a Naked Girl Playing the Piano"

Written whilst listening to Ludwig van Beethoven “Molto Vivace” and remembering the first time I heard it played to me personally. . .

It is mid morning. We have stolen in to the Art and Music College.

It is Sunday.

I lie on the floor sketching her back.

But here in the sunlight.

As her hands step reassuringly across the keys, as they did across my spine, she is assured of her confidence as a musician, as much so as she was not, as a new lover…

Like a gazelle. Like a fawn in the summer. New to it still. Skittish.

The morning light drifts thru the tall windows making the mahogany floors glow with their own internal light. ta ta da da da ta ta ta

T ta ta ta taa ta da da ta ta

Ta taaa ta at tat a da

  T  t   t t t t   t t   t t t bboom boom ta tata atta atboom bobobom

The Steinwood responds to her touch with the same grace of those dark Arabian stallions you see on auction for 1.8 million sterling
Da da daaa da dat dat da da da dat!!

But her fingers and her mind race those stallions to the next note, knowing…
Da da daaa da dat dat da da da dat!!

Softly declining, fading…DA ADA ADA ADAAAAAAAAAAAA DA DA DA Da ad

Only to rise in loud acclaim to the next goat-footed grip on the rocky precipice of this high cliff.

So far above that place where those who think themselves to be like us, can never walk.

Walk?
  Walk?  Where we leap and jump?  Uncaring and even oblivious of our own fate?

Her fingers dance to the next movement.

I watch her naked back writhe on her spine. . .

Rapida. Rapida. Minueta. Minueta consolata. Consola avita! Ave!
Twirl.
Rise. Fall. Like empires on their own

  I see. . .

Heavy horses
run in the river,
A mounted cavalry charge
Full of force and moment.
Tall ships on the open sea heave to,
For a broad-side fire
(Giant proportion brings giant vengefulness)
And brace to the in-coming cannon
Gunships drift
Fast from the clouds,
Their symphonic beat
Über technology dragons pouring streaks of fire

Well met. . . Swords are drawn
Diana leaps shining, into the cool dark pool of night
And sets hearts loose with the promise of freedom.
Draws her swirl of stars about her. . .

Beckons her brother, Mars

To come and lay waste to any who may touch her. . .

“She is only a naked girl at a piano. . .
“Only a naked girl?
“So? She shouldn’t be naked?
“To play she must be naked?
“It is only a piano…
“Yes! But with her???
“Yes? but? And?
“ With her it is as a battle ship with a demented helmsman at the controls
“She rides, Nay… DRIVES it into battle. . .
“She’s ju-u-u-u-st a girl. . .
“A witch! Possessed!

“Okay. A witch… then
And so delightfully possessed
Leaping where others doubt and stumble.

Such peace
Such grace
Such sublime grace.
A dance in the wind as light as a spinning gossamer web
A voice to the heavens to. . .
Call Down Thunder!

“Call down Thunder…mi’lord?
“If the Heavens would but dare
“Against an advancing armada. . . ??
“Yes. No Doubt...
But against such calm beauty?
As it lilts and twirls amongst the leaves?
In summers golden light?

Lifts her skirt to the afternoon sun
Dancing so
Across the ponds and glittering light
So Light
So Light. . . light. . . so. . . light
She dreams. . .
She dreams of love. . .
Listen. . .
Her toes crack upon the floor
Her gasps rend the very ayr
Her sweat will drown you
Listen. . .

She breathes. . .

Breathes. . .

“Yes. . . My liege?
And? My liege? what of those heavy vessels dropping from our sky? My Liege?
Those machines harvest naught but vengeance and destruction
“The Empress’s Janissaries. . . No doubt they come to sue for peace
And with out a Consul. . . nor Tribunal. . . so they are mocking us, Vizier…

Failing which, they come to sue us to surrender.
Or seek outright conquest. Be you blind?

“My liege, there are nine “M” Class star-ships. Waiting
Parked in high orbit above us, now,
Their signal ever hungry for our response. . . ”

Just a girl playing the piano. . . she’s only a girl
“My liege, we detect them arming
They are cloaking for battle. They draw energy from the planet core to charge their weapons… at 70 million millimorts per second they suck us dry.

Do You Hear… My Liege? NINE ships of the Realm. . . they absolutely will not desist.
Surrender or Die – they believe…”

They are entering our atmosphere
They claim to have Orders, the Empress will not relent from her onslaught

I want to hear the rest of the song.

“And you want to hear the rest of this song?
Your Admiral of The Line demands to speak
With you.
The Sword of Damocles hangs over your brow, My Liege…

Tell my Admiral I’m busy!

“My liege, there are nine star-ships prowling
Our skies with high energy weapons
They are commenced aerial targeting
Of major metropolitan areas. . .

     Is it not sweet? Listen... Ooohh. . . Her fingers. . .
“My liege, the ships are dropped. . .
They enter commercial airspace
As I speak
Lucifer walks amongst us. . .
Fire is all about. . .

    And Passion is not?

   On the next bar, she will lift them out of the sky….
   The next note will be the

   Last note. !!
“My Liege, Nine Star Ships are MADE LAND FALL.
Scarlet battalions advance under their Flag
Their devils toys wreak devastation

    Oh Listen to her….
   She will lay them waste.
   As she rides, on her back of memory,
   She will shatter their hulls and silence their weapons
   With just one arpeggio!
   Just
   One. . .

   AaaaH. . .
   Here it comes. . .

   Can you hear that Whisper. . . amongst the notes. . . Vizier?

I hear no whisper, My Liege.
But, they lay siege to the City of Cimarron as I speak. Venefica is fallen. . . as is Iyckx
A beautiful city, Iyckx. . .

    Yes Vizier… no one EVER hears the Whisper of Death, until Death is passed.

   SO!
   NOW!
   Let us join. . . In battle. As we do in love.
   To the FUKKEN END. If you are Bold.
   And to the MISERABLE END. If you are Not.

       Tell my Admiral – I whispered,
   Vizier:
   “Prepare the MJOLNIR HAMMER!”
   With their ships on the ground, they are ‘Twixt Heaven and Hell…
   Bring maximum response.

Mjolnir? Genocide? M’Lord? You have overstepped the Rules of Engagement. . . and. . .

City Armaghard is fallen two 80 kiloton devices set for low aerial burst. . . she is razed to dust. . .

Genocide? Kill everything that is not of us?. . . Genocide?
This is not GENOCIDE!!. . . This is out and out slaughter. Murder. Kill themmm, I command it.
   Look in my FACE. . . Time. . . to whisper, Vizier. . . to whisper. Sper… per… er… rrr
   I want a pogrom. . . a. . . aaahhh. . . listen to her. . . I want a jolly old pogrom.
   Like the old days. Kill everybody, sew their fields with lime, poison their goddam wells, eat their cattle.
AND take their goods! AND their women! That’s the most important part. Erase all memory of them.
   Got? It? Now? Vizier?
   Tell my Admiral – I whisper’d…


My Liege?
TELL HIM!!! Raise our vessels… Crush AAALLL resistance. . .
   She was “just a naked girl” playing at the piano
   And we all came to watch and listen
   But NOW. Now she is the Storm God
   Wielder Of Thunder and Bringer of Lightning
   Dark and furious
   Tonight is Ragnarok. . . every where

The tempest of her hair will make their ships to flounder
   The arch of her back will break them upon the rocks
She throws her head back, they throw their sails
   Bent in submission, they ride before the crest
And as she lays upon the keys
   So they will lay foundered upon some barren shore
Broken. Spent.

Board Those Vessels, I COMMAND you now. . .
Set loose my Wolves
Mount their ships by what ever force
You wish that will
Commit their FUKKEN crews to the endless Night

    I want Ragnarok!!!!

No-w-w-w-w-w-w-!

End of IT…

I want BODY Count.
I want MEGA-death.
I want millions to fade from my memory. . .
I want it. . .
Tonight
You will bring the Mjolnir Hammer to bear upon their landed positions.
Fa’aan dap!

Fa’aan Dap? M’Lord?! You exceed your limits of battle protocol. . . !!!

Not my illustration. But I like it - And it fills the gap!

Fa’Aan Dap! Call Down Thunder!
   and there are NO prisoners, recall that we have no treaty… nor fealty to that which is deemed of the Okumene.
   Or the Empress whose reign we end
   You best remember, Grand Vizier. . .
   I WAS council to the Padishah Emperor once.
   I AM the Padishah, NOW. . .
   remember: those you forget to kill, go on to organise.

You can also tell my Admiral to immediately make ready our response. I want the entire Combined Fleet to put out to planets Nueva Atlantiche, Bizonton and Pylon, Abydos and Thebes.

And sack them. Reduce them

So, good Vizier. Pour me some wine. . . issue the orders.
I want to hear the end of this song
Quietly….

How’s that for “just a naked girl playing a piano?”

Nice wine, Vizier.

Good choice… Bloody fukken marvelous. Is she not?

(Cute derriere she has also. . .
   what IS her name?)
Besides we can’t have them running around the fukken empire, unsupervised…

If you know what I mean… oh… Everybody.

Everybody, what? M’Lord?

Oh! Kill everybody, Vizier. No prisoners. No survivors. We cannot afford to feed them, and mercy on TV looks like we are weak. Rather a murderous tyrant, than a negotiating politico, I always say. . .

Those you FORGET to kill, go on to ORGANIZE. . . and all that sort of crapola…

Yes, M’Lord

We cannot afford more trouble. See to it.

Veddy good, M’Lord

I need another drink. Let me know when it is “finis!”
Beautiful melody, Sweetness. Play on… my little Andorinha… play on.

You are a heroine this day…

Having vanquished the enemy, Donna arose from the piano saying:
NEXT >> "This is a Rational Fantasy"