The Complete Short Stories

Alto accepted the rebuke silently; he reproved himself as much as Mangon did for selling out to Video City. In his four years there his output of original ultrasonic music consisted of little more than one nearly finished symphony aptly titled Opus Zero — shortly to receive its first performance, a few nocturnes and one quartet. Most of his energies went into programme music, prestige numbers for spectaculars and a mass of straight transcriptions of the classical repertoire. The last he particularly despised, fit work for Paul Merrill, but not for a responsible composer.

He added the sheet to the two in his left hand and asked: ‘Have you ever heard Madame Gioconda sing?’

Mangon’s answer came back scornfully: No! But you have. Please describe.

Alto laughed shortly, tore up his sheets and walked across to the window.

‘All right, Mangon, you’ve made your point. You’re carrying a torch for art, doing your duty to one of the few perfect things the world has ever produced. I hope you’re equal to the responsibility. La Gioconda might be quite a handful. Do you know that at one time the doors of Covent Garden, La Scala and the Met were closed to her? They said Callas had temperament, but she was a girl guide compared with Gioconda. Tell me, how is she? Eating enough?’

Mangon held up his coke bottle.

‘Snow? That’s tough. But how does she afford it?’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Dammit, I’ve got to leave. Clean this place out thoroughly, will you. It gives me a headache just listening to myself think.’

He started to pick up the dictaphone but Mangon was scribbling rapidly on his pad.

Give Madame Gioconda a job.

Alto read the note, then gave it back to Mangon, puzzled. ‘Where? In this apartment?’ Mangon shook his head. ‘Do you mean at V. C.? Singing?’

When Mangon began to nod vigorously he looked up at the ceiling with a despairing groan. ‘For heaven’s sake, Mangon, the last vocalist sang at Video City over ten years ago. No audience would stand for it. If I even suggested such an idea they’d tear my contract into a thousand pieces.’ He shuddered, only half-playfully. ‘I don’t know about you, Mangon, but I’ve got my ulcer to support.’

He made his way to the staircase, but Mangon intercepted him, pencil flashing across the wrist-pad.

Please. Madame Gioconda will start blackmail soon. She is desperate.

Must sing again. Could arrange make-believe programme in research studios. Closed circuit.

Alto folded the note carefully, left the dictaphone on the staircase and walked slowly back to the window.

‘This blackmail. Are you absolutely sure? Who, though, do you know?’ Mangon nodded, but looked away. ‘Okay, I won’t press you. LeGrande, probably, eh?’ Mangon turned round in surprise, then gave an elaborate parody of a shrug.

‘Hector LeGrande. Obvious guess. But there are no secrets there, it’s all on open file. I suppose she’s just threatening to make enough of an exhibition of herself to block his governorship.’ Alto pursed his lips. He loathed LeGrande, not merely for having bribed him into a way of life he could never renounce, but also because, once having exploited his weakness, LeGrande never hesitated to remind Alto of it, treating him and his music with contempt. If Madame Gioconda’s blackmail had the slightest hope of success he would have been only too happy, but he knew LeGrande would destroy her, probably take Mangon too.

Suddenly he felt a paradoxical sense of loyalty for Madame Gioconda. He looked at Mangon, waiting patiently, big spaniel eyes wide with hope.

‘The idea of a closed circuit programme is insane. Even if we went to all the trouble of staging it she wouldn’t be satisfied. She doesn’t want to sing, she wants to be a star. It’s the trappings of stardom she misses — the cheering galleries, the piles of bouquets, the green room parties. I could arrange a half-hour session on closed circuit with some trainee technicians — a few straight selections from Tosca and Butterfly, say, with even a sonic piano accompaniment, I’d be glad to play it myself — but I can’t provide the gossip columns and theatre reviews. What would happen when she found out?’

She wants to SING.

Alto reached out and patted Mangon on the shoulder. ‘Good for you. All right, then, I’ll think about it. God knows how we’d arrange it. We’d have to tell her that she’ll be making a surprise guest appearance on one of the big shows that’ll explain the absence of any programme announcement and we’ll be able to keep her in an isolated studio. Stress the importance of surprise, to prevent her from contacting the newspapers… Where are you going?’

Mangon reached the staircase, picked up the dictaphone and returned to Alto with it. He grinned happily, his jaw working wildly as he struggled to speak. Strangled sounds quavered in his throat.

Touched, Alto turned away from him and sat down. ‘Okay, Mangon,’ he snapped brusquely, ‘you can get on with your job. Remember, I haven’t promised anything.’ He flicked on the dictaphone, then began: ‘Memo 11: Ray…’

Three