Actor listened for a moment and started, "Chopin's Polonaise…"
"… 53. Yeah, I know," the group's safe cracker finished. "They call it the 'Heroic'". Casino gave a snort of laughter and shook his head. "Fits.'
Since his last injury Casino had been spending a little more time in the library. 'Hitting the books', he called it and blamed Actor for giving him the idea. In the beginning of their association that would have caused Actor to move off and find another place but recently he found that he rather enjoyed the company…as long as it was spent in, more or less, companionable silence.
They listened together for a moment before the con man ventured his opinion. "He seems to be improving."
Casino cocked his head and a silent furrow creased his brow as he listened a bit longer, "Yeah. But he's not playin' all the notes."
"Surely you will not begrudge him the time it takes to learn a piece?"
"Isn't that… He's leavin' stuff out on the left…" The safe cracker shrugged and went back to his book. "Probably still havin' a little trouble with that hand."
Actor laid his book and pipe aside and concentrated on the dark-haired man sitting across the room. "You amaze me." The other man bristled and looked up but Actor continued before he could start his argument. "If you wish I could introduce you to some people in New York. I believe with a bit of training you would make a fine music critic."
Casino's jaw dropped and he went wide-eyed for a moment before he let out a belly laugh. "Me!? Are you nuts?"
"No." Actor leaned forward in his chair. "I am quite serious. You obviously enjoy the music and you are very knowledgeable with…'
"Only with the piano stuff." Casino interrupted, not quite honestly. There was all sorts of stuff at the recitals they took the girls too. But that was solo stuff,…until they got older when maybe a few of them would form a little group. The radio or the record player was always on at his parents house but they just listened they didn't pick it apart. And the times he could sneak in a concert hall… Well he hadn't had as much a that as he'd have liked.
Actor waved him off, "You would learn about the other forms. You have a very fine ear..."
Casino tapped the one he had sitting on the side of his head. "Have to in my line a work."
The con man sat back, a little annoyed. "Do not be flippant…. I am serious."
Casino studied his Italian teammate for several seconds. "Yeah, I know ya are." Then he really thought about it. Hearin' all that music, for pay. Goin' to recitals and parties, and all those high society dames in their fancy clothes. He laughed again and shook his head. "Couldn't do it."
"Why not?"
He sent a genuine smile across the room, "Couldn't stand bein' strung up in a monkey suit all the time for one. Besides…." And his voice faded away because he still wasn't always sure about confiding in the confidence man.
"What?" Actor prompted, curious.
"Well…. I heard all that stuff bein' played by kids, mostly. Even the adults were just startin' out. And as the girls and the other students got better and started playin' harder pieces, well, they were still learnin', still just gettin' it all figured out. Ya know?"
Actor smiled and nodded. They'd worked together long enough, now, that he felt he knew where this was leading.
"Well…I don't know. I just don't think I could criticize somebody like that. That's all."
The older man laughed in earnest at the comment. "That does not seem to be a problem for you here!"
'Jeeze! That's different!" After a moment he laughed along with his teammate. "Nah! I couldn't do it. As long as they were doin' their best…," he shook his head. "I just couldn't do it." And to cover his embarrassment he buried his nose in his book again.
Actor studied the top of the other man's head for several moments before he retrieved his pipe and re-lit it. He shook is head. "You amaze me," he said quietly, and took up his own book again and settled back into his chair.