Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

The guys settled themselves down in front of the blazing fake fireplace as eagerly as always. Brian encircled the kid with his arm and waited. There was just one thing different on this particular evening. Justin had the music system playing some classical music. Justin had an agenda. Brian knew Justin had an agenda but he didn't know what it was. Brian was prepared to enjoy the evening. So he waited - but not for long.

"That's Mozart on the stereo, Bri," Justin opened the conversation. "His last symphony, number 41."

"Yeah," Brian came back, "The Jupiter, in C Major, I think. KV 551, as I recall."

"OK, Kinney," Justin wanted to know, "What's going on here? You like classical music and all but you don't know all that much crap about it."

"I do when somebody leaves the record sleeve on top of the system and puts on music like he doesn't usually do," Brian smiled at him. "The alert Kinney mind leaps to conclusions and sucks in any available information that he may need later. So, as you very aptly put it 'What's going on here?' You are trying to get me in the mood for what?"

"I was just trying to prepare a suitable atmosphere to tell you something," Justin groused. "You always act like I'm trying to set you up or something."

"Yeah, I guess I do," Brian admitted. "Sorry about that. Now are you ready to tell me what you're trying to set me up for?"

"It would serve you right if I wouldn't even tell you," Justin complained.

"But it wouldn't serve your purpose not to tell me," Brian laughed, "So you will be telling me, and my guess is that it will be pretty soon."

"You are a tough guy, Bri," Justin had to laugh back, "But I kind of like that. I always like a challenge."

"Me too," Brian allowed, "So what is it that I have to do that you think I won't want to do but I probably won't mind doing at all because I'm not as tough as you think I am."

"This is really important, Bri," Justin told him. "This year is Mozart's 250th birthday, and the Institute is celebrating it."

"Geez," Brian reacted. "You'd think he'd be dead by now. He's even older than me."

"Cut it out, Brian," Justin smiled. "There are a lot of people older than you who are still alive. Anyhow, Mozart died a long time ago, at just about the age you are now actually, but his music is still real popular. You know that."

"So this mysterious thing has something to do with Mozart, I guess," Brian concluded. "Do you want to go into detail yet or will we do some more beating around the bush?"

"Malcolm is getting his biggest break yet, Bri," Justin began. "The Institute is going to stage Amadeus and they asked Malcolm to direct it. That's some old play about Mozart. We watched the movie version at school. You ought to see it. It's going to be a big production. The drama critic from the Post-Gazette is interested too and we might get a review. That would be neat."

"Now you are scaring me," Brian broke in. "This was fun before but now I'm getting scared. What do you want me to do in all this?"

"Not much, Honey. Calm down," Justin laughed. "You might want to give us some publicity tips. And of course, I hope you'll want to go to see it. They don't want you to be in it or anything."

"They don't love me anymore?" Brian sounded relieved.

"It's not that at all, Sweetheart," Justin cajoled. "They love you as much as ever. They are going to pick the whole cast from Institute students though, except for Hunter and a couple of his school friends who are doing some walk-on parts."

"Well, I'm relieved to be passed over," Brian responded, "But I bet it would have been fun to see Mikey as Salieri. Mikey would have been a great Salieri. That's a tough role though. I'm surprised you're not importing some hot-shot from New York to do that role."

"We don't want any high-falutin' New York types in our show, Bri," Justin informed him. "Those guys always overact. They are all so full of themselves. We'll do just fine right here."

"I wonder why Malcolm doesn't want you to play Mozart though," Brian got back into the spirit of the evening. "After all, you are a precocious artistic genius with a somewhat grating personality. Sounds like a perfect fit. Malcolm may be missing a good bet."

"Thanks for the kind compliment, Brian," Justin replied with a faint smile. "Actually we talked about it. We thought about me as Mozart and we thought about Malcolm as Mozart and we decided against it. Either of us would have been great in the part but some kid named Joe is going to do it. Malcolm will be too busy directing, and the rehearsals would take me away from you for too long, and I'm sure you wouldn't want that."

"Well if you really want to do the role," Brian conjectured. "Maybe you could send Joe over here to take your place here by the fireplace."

"OK, Kinney," the kid told him. "You are beginning to try my patience. First you insinuate that I might have a grating personality and then you suggest that somebody else could take my place with you in front of the fireplace. And how come you know so much about Amadeus anyhow? Are you that old that you might have actually seen it?"

"Yeah," Brian responded. "Actually I have seen it. The play is a little different from the movie though but I guess you know that. But I'll be glad to go to see it with you at the Institute. Did you think I wouldn't want to go? And why all this hoopla about telling me?"

"I don't know, Bri," Justin confessed. "I guess I just thought the atmosphere would be nice. You know, maybe you wouldn't have agreed to go with me to Amadeus if I didn't have that music on. You know me. I like to work things out pretty well. And you do like the music, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do," Brian had to admit. "The Jupiter is a favorite of mine. But, you know, Baby, I don't need anything else when I have you. You are all I really need."

Justin cuddled up to the big guy. "And you know I love you too," he told Brian, which brought the discussion to a temporary halt for one of their happy silent periods.

After a while though, Justin returned to the discussion. "I bet Joe couldn't ever substitute for me at all," Justin said. "Like you were saying before."

"No I guess he couldn't," Brian quickly admitted. "You're one in a million, Baby. Joe couldn't ever substitute for you."

"I'm glad you didn't hesitate on that, Bri," Justin cooed. "You didn't even need any time to think about it, did you?"

"No, I guess I didn't," Brian told him squeezing the kid closer, and initiating another quiet period.

It was Justin again who resumed the discussion a little while later. "And you don't really think I have a grating personality either, do you, Brian?" he asked.

"Can I have some time to think about that?" Brian smiled at him.

Return to Fireside Chats