The Blue Guitar

"Come home with me. I don't live far from here."

When they arrived at her apartment building and Orrin saw the doorman, he could see it was a pretty fancy place. They took an elevator to the fourth floor and Orrin wondered how she could afford to live in such a place on a secretary's salary. When they entered, he could see it was a large carpeted apartment with a sliding glass door at one end and a balcony that overlooked the city. A long white couch with light green pillows filled one wall. Several large white chairs faced it. He glanced at the large glass dining room table with six high-backed chairs surrounding it. Everywhere he looked were smaller tables, lamps, paintings. He noticed the fireplace and high ceilings. Orrin felt out of place being in such a fancy apartment. When he put his guitar case down, Emily came over to him. "I bet you're wondering about my living in such a fancy apartment, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am. This is quite a place."

"My father is quite wealthy and I'm kind of a daddy's little girl, so this is a gift. He pays for the apartment and my job lets me pay for the utilities. I bought a lot of the furniture on my credit card, but some of it's from our summer home at the shore."

Orrin suddenly realized that he might be out of his league with a woman like Emily who was from a wealthy family. They would never accept a guitar-playing janitor.

Emily put her arms around him and they kissed again, before she said, "I think I'm falling in love with you."

"Well, I'm already in love with you. But you knew that, didn't you?"

"Not really, but when you played the music you wrote for me, I knew what you felt. Your music stole my heart. I know that sounds corny, and I feel like a silly schoolgirl, but you swept me off of my feet. That's why I came to the café tonight. I've never felt anything like this before. I can't explain it."

"But you have a boyfriend, don't you?"

"Yes, that might present a problem, but I have a feeling that Allen will soon be history. I don't know what will happen with you and me, but right now I know I want to make love with you."

She put her arms around him and embraced him. He felt her breasts crushed against his chest and he could smell her fragrant hair. They kissed—their tongues touching, dancing, swirling. She took his hand and led him into her bedroom. When they fell to the bed, she pulled him down on top of her and wrapped her legs tightly around his body. They kissed madly. His hardness bulged in his jeans and her locked ankles gripped his ass, pulling him harder against her jean-covered pussy. They were grinding and humping until she pushed him onto his back and straddled him.

He pushed her onto her back, knelt over her and started unbuttoning her jeans. He throbbed to be in her. She took over and unzipped her jeans. He stood up and rushed to take off his jeans while she squirmed out of hers. He took off his T-shirt while she removed her soaked, pink panties. She sat up and lifted her peasant blouse over her head and revealed her grapefruit-sized breasts covered by a pink bra. When she removed it, Orrin leaned forward and started kissing one soft breast, then licked her hardened nipple, while his hand rubbed her other breast. She arched her back and pressed her dripping pussy against his hardness.

"Oh please, I want you. I need you." Her urgent words inspired him to grab his hard cock and place the head at her dripping entrance. Slowly, he moved his cock up and down her wet pussy lips and loved the soft, succulent, petal-like sensation. He felt her hands gripping his ass before he entered her, inching his way deeper, filling her, the tightness squeezing his cock as the thrilling sensation of her warm wetness gripped his hardness. Her moaning was like music to his ears and urged him to thrust harder and deeper while she arched her back, her hands pulling him deeper, their bodies moving faster and faster, their hungry sounds growing louder and louder. He felt her her body tensing, trembling.

"Cum in me. I'm safe. Oh please, please, I want it all!"

Her words excited him and caused him to thrust faster and faster, harder and harder, filling her with each thrust. Just as she convulsed, her screaming, "Oh my God. Oh, yesss! Oh, Orrin!" brought him to the verge of erupting as her tightness gripped his swelling cock. His thrusting became wilder and suddenly, in an overwhelming orgasm, his hot gushes filled her, causing her to scream louder. Her screaming became sobbing as tears rolled down her cheeks. When he collapsed on her, he kept his cock in her soothing warmth. Her arms and legs wrapped around his body kept him deep inside her. As they lay there, panting and gasping, unable to move, Orrin could feel their hearts beating against each other and knew that the bond of love that had entered their lives was profound and a gift from the gods to be cherished.

In the afterglow, Emily lay with her head on Orrin's shoulders, her body half on his, her leg draped over his body. They didn't speak but wallowed in the warmth and peace of their embrace. At that moment Orrin knew that the difference in their lives didn't matter.

The next day was Saturday and they spent the day together. After talking over breakfast, they stood on the balcony and looked out at the city. They made love again, took a walk through the park and sat again on the bench by the pond where they had shared their first kiss. Later, back in her apartment, Orrin practiced while Emily read, lying on the couch across from him, but she seemed unable to stop looking over at him as he played his guitar, looking up at the ceiling and closing his eyes.

While he was playing, her cell phone rang and Orrin heard her say, "Oh, hello, Allen," and she went into the other room to talk. Orrin wondered what would happen, would she say they had to talk, would he become part of her history? He stopped playing, and suddenly felt painful pangs that he would lose her. He closed his eyes, feeling vulnerable, and wondered how someone like Emily could have a relationship with someone as poor as he was.

When she came back into the room, she came over to him. He looked up and tried to hide how frightened he was. She kissed his head, his cheek, his lips and told him she was going to meet Allen that night, that he had tickets for a concert at the Academy of Music. She told him that she really wanted to come to the café and hear him play again but couldn't get out of this date.

Orrin looked away and his fear of losing her rose in him like an approaching storm. He put down his guitar and walked to the big window overlooking the city. She came to him and put her arms around him, pressing her body against his back, then kissed the back of his neck and his shoulder. Orrin was confused and disturbed until Emily said, "I'm going to tell him tonight that I want to end the relationship."

Orrin turned to face her. Their eyes met and he knew she could see the tears in his eyes which were starting to overflow. She touched the tear on his cheek then kissed him. "I love you, Orrin. You have nothing to worry about. I don't know what will happen with us, but right now, I know I only want to be with you."

Orrin swallowed and savored the touch of her finger wiping the tear. He loved how she smiled and could not believe that this was happening to him. It was unbelievable that the woman he loved was saying what he wanted to hear. All he knew at that moment was he wanted to play music because what he felt was beyond words.

That night, just before closing, Emily came into the café and sat at the same table in the corner. Orrin didn't see her at first because he was playing with his eyes closed, but when he saw her smile at him, looking lovely in a low-cut black dress, a pearl necklace on her throat, her dangling earrings, her dark hair falling over her shoulders, his heart leaped and the music he played was light, happy, and sweet. Just by gazing at each other, he knew she had told Allen it was over, and that she could hear what he was feeling and expressing through the delicate sounds that came from his guitar. It was the music he felt when she'd told him she only wanted to be with him.

Months passed. Orrin had quit his job as a janitor and devoted his time to his music—practicing, composing, most of the time at Emily's apartment, but he still loved his small room on the third floor of Mrs. Rose's house. He didn't require much money and the tips he made at the café came to more than a hundred dollars for Friday and Saturday. The café started serving brunch on Sundays, and he started playing for a few hours during brunch, but then he decided he also wanted to be a street musician. He wanted to play his music at different places around the city. He didn't want to get an agent and play concerts in theaters or fancier clubs than Mama's Café, even though many people who listened to his music said he could make recordings and be famous if he wanted to.

He loved playing in the park during the day when there were a lot of people strolling. They would stop and listen and toss coins or dollar bills into his open guitar case. He loved when children stopped playing and came over to listen. He would open his eyes and look at them as they stared at his long fingernails plucking the strings, his other hand moving rapidly up and down the guitar, creating his unique mixture of classical and jazz.

People of all ages stopped to listen—old men, young men, girls with torn jeans, older women with wrinkled faces and rouged cheeks. Many people snapped their fingers, bopped their heads when he played more bluesy music, but there would be silence when he played Vivaldi, or his version of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, or music that Paganini wrote for the lute.

A newspaper story was written about him which brought even more people to the park to listen and he often made forty or fifty dollars playing for the crowds that gathered around his bench. He liked to think that this beautiful spot by the pond where he and Emily first kissed was his theater and he didn't want more.

Emily's parents were furious with her for breaking up with Allen because they knew he had a promising career as a lawyer and her father wanted them to get married and to groom Allen to become a partner in his firm, but they were even more upset when they met Orrin by accident after stopping by uninvited on a Saturday morning and saw his long hair, his worn jeans and found out he was a street musician, a guitar player, and to their eyes, a bum. They shouted at Emily, questioning her sanity and threatening to take away her apartment if she continued this ridiculous relationship.

Orrin didn't know what to say or do to comfort Emily when she had the huge blowup with her parents. He didn't want her to lose her apartment or to be so pressured by her parents, but she reassured Orrin that she didn't give a damn about the apartment, she wanted him in her life and nothing but her love for him mattered.

Orrin's music became even more beautiful, happier, and lighter, and listeners smiled when they listened, but sometimes when the thought of losing her came over him like a dark cloud, his music was filled with sadness, and he could see by the look on peoples' faces as he played that they were moved by the sad melancholy his music expressed. With Emily in his life, he had never been happier, or more creative, and their days together—taking walks, cooking, bike riding, making love—sometime with wild abandon and other times, slow, sweet and tender—was beyond anything he could have expected.

One day, after playing music in the park, he decided to surprise Emily and go to her office with flowers. He hadn't been there for at least six months because it reminded him of his days as a janitor, but on an impulse, he walked into her office and saw she wasn't at her desk. He saw Gloria crying.

"What's wrong? Where's Emily?"

"It's horrible," Gloria said, wiping tears from her eyes. "Emily's in the hospital. She was hit by a car when she was at lunch. The guy was drunk. She's in a coma at Jefferson Hospital. It's pretty serious."

Orrin was stunned. He dropped the flowers and dashed out of the office and ran the five blocks to Jefferson Hospital. He ran, carrying his guitar case, as quickly as he could. He found out what room she was in and felt panic as he waited for the elevator. When he got off at the eleventh floor and found her room, he saw her on the bed with tubes in her nose. Her eyes were closed and the nurse was taking her pulse. He ran to her bedside. Just then, the doctor came in and Orrin asked how she was, what was going on, would she live?

He was told it was very serious—her leg and her pelvis had severe fractures, plus she had a collapsed lung and serious head injuries. She would be in intensive care for quite a while.

"Will she live?" Orrin asked.

"I don't know," the doctor said. "It's very serious. She's in a deep coma. She won't even know you're here."

Orrin went to her bedside and leaned over to kiss her and felt her dry, cold lips. He held the hand that did not have a needle in its vein. He could tell she was hardly breathing and he just looked at her closed eyes, her pale face, her dark hair draped on the white pillow.

He couldn't take his eyes away from her. Seeing his beautiful Emily in a coma and hoping she wasn't fading, he didn't know what he would do if she died and was no longer in his life. He remembered Apollo telling him how he felt when his wife died, how he'd mourned and never stopped loving her. He remembered the story of Orpheus and how his pleading music inspired Persephone and Hades to release Eurydice from the underworld.

Orrin glanced down at his guitar case and suddenly wanted to play his music for her, hoping somehow she would hear his longing for her, his wanting her to be well. He took his guitar from his case and stood by her bed. He closed his eyes and started to play softly. His heart sent music to his fingers and, as he touched the strings, his music was like a prayer he hoped could bring Emily out of her coma and back to his life. Somehow he felt the coma was like Eurydice being in the underworld, and he was Orpheus playing to the gods to give him one more chance to have his love with him where she belonged.

He looked down at her closed eyes as he played. The music was gentle, delicate, each note filled with his pleading for her to hear and see him standing there. His fingers moved gently, then with more passion, more intensity, wanting to reach her, he closed his eyes as he played, and then opened them and saw her eyelashes flicker, a slight movement, and then she slowly opened her eyes and looked up at him. Their gazes met and lingered. He thought he saw a small smile on her lips and his playing grew louder. His fingers moved faster. He played chords he had never played before. His fingers struck the strings louder. Discordant chords rang out and expressed his rage at the drunk driver. His music filled the room and could be heard in the halls as he played fiercely.

He was terrified he would lose her and just before he started to play softly and tenderly, he struck two thunderous chords. At first, he didn't hear the shouting behind him, or feel his arms being grabbed by a nurse and two orderlies who shouted at him to stop playing. Orrin continued playing the discordant chords and looked at Emily's eyes fluttering open. He ignored the nurse shouting at him to stop playing, but the two orderlies grabbed him and roughly pulled him from the room and yelled, "This is a hospital. You can't make noise here."

Orrin struggled to break loose. "Leave me alone. My music is helping her." But it was too late. They pushed him against the wall across from her room and said he had to leave or they would call the police. One of the orderlies went into the room, grabbed his guitar case and gave it to him before shoving him down the hall. He still gripped his guitar.

Before he left, he looked back in the room and saw her eyes were closed. He wished he could play for her and knew his music could bring her back, but now he was being forced to leave. He felt helpless.

When he went back to see her the next day, she wasn't there. He was told that she had died. They were sorry, but there was nothing they could do. Orrin was devastated. He didn't know what to do. He walked around the city unable to believe that the love of his life was gone. He continued to play at Mama's Café, but his music was now so sad and mournful that people stopped listening. The owner, Julie, knew what had happened to Emily, but told Orrin he had to play lighter music or she could no longer have him play. He understood and knew he had to find a way to play music that touched people and made them feel better, not sad, not the music of loneliness and death. He knew Emily would not want him to be so sad.

While walking home from the cafe one night, he remembered the music his old teacher, Apollo had played for his wife, Elena, after she died, and how happy he looked as his fingers played so delicately. Apollo had said he believed she was listening and it made him play with all of his heart.

That memory of Apollo inspired Orrin to compose music that expressed his love for Emily. When he played and closed his eyes he could see her face and the lovely smile that came to her lips as she listened. The new music poured out of him more and more, and this was the music he played at Mama's Cafe and in the park.

One day he realized that something strange had begun happening. It started slowly, but every few weeks a man would tell him that he had brought his sweetheart to the cafe to hear Orrin's music and propose marriage. Orrin would smile up at the happy faces of the man and woman standing next to him. That happened several times and it always mystified and delighted him.

He also noticed as he played in the park that many couples started holding hands. Some told him they'd met while listening to his music. He looked forward to seeing an old couple who came to listen almost every afternoon. They brought folding chairs and eventually told him they had been married for fifty-two years. Orrin loved the way they held hands and closed their eyes when he played and he knew they were remembering their life together.

A month later, Julie told Orrin that a couple wanted to get married in the cafe and wanted him to play his music at their wedding. Other weddings took place at the cafe after that and Orrin was always asked to play. It thrilled Orrin to know that his music could reach into people's hearts and bring love to their lives.

Though he knew he would never forget Emily, as time passed, Orrin wondered if he would ever meet another woman who made him feel like Emily had. Then one night, a woman he had never seen before came in by herself and sat at the same table where Emily had always sat. She had darker hair but there was something in the way she listened and smiled that warmed his heart and reminded him of Emily. He found himself looking over at her and playing a new melody that was inspired by the way she smiled and listened.

Before she left that night, the woman came over to him and told him his music was not only beautiful, it was magical. She said she'd be back and smiled again. Orrin watched her leave, then glanced down at his blue guitar, certain his music was bringing a new love to his life.