Concerto For Spies by D. J. Rout

[Lester Curtis]

Nice . . . this one is a tip of the hat to anyone who has watched a musical performance and thought, "No human being can play that well . . . "

I've felt that way myself more than a few times . . . got the tinnitus to prove it.




(Note to the web-maven: the links in the bio aren't working.)

I enjoyed this story. I believe there was a formatting issue toward the middle of the story where a bunch of dialogue was scrunched into a single paragraph.

I recommend reading up on Glenn Miller before reading this story. I was unfamiliar with the historical figure.

One thing that confused me was this comment:

"If this war goes on against the Germans, sooner or later one side or the other will use atomic power and sooner or later somebody is going to put atomic power in rockets. Sooner or later you're going to help them do it.”

"And that can't be tolerated,” said Glenn, waving at Max for another round. Max came over and without asking, put a brandy in front of Miller and a tall glass of black liquid in front of Artie. Artie sipped it and smiled – rum and Coca-Cola®.

"No, it can't. In such a situation, the Earth would have to be eliminated and you know such power exists.”

Why would a trombonist be involved with nuclear weapons? I assume that Glenn was a spy for the Germans?

[Lester Curtis]

This showed up today on Refdesk.com:

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Glenn+Miller

In the subhead "Disappearance," it does mention that he spoke German, and,

His plane (a single-engined UC-64 Norseman, USAAF serial 44-70285) departed from RAF Twinwood Farm in Clapham, Bedfordshire and disappeared while flying over the English Channel.[72] No trace of the aircrew, passengers or plane has ever been found. Miller's status is missing in action.

Nice detail work and research for the story.