Soul Music

did you?”
    Death shrugged.
    WHAT’S THAT YOU’VE GOT THERE?
    He took Buddy’s lifetimer from her and held it up.
    AH. INTERESTING.
    “Do you know what it means, granddad?”
    I’VE NOT COME ACROSS IT BEFORE, BUT I SUPPOSE IT’S POSSIBLE. IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES. IT MEANS…SOMEHOW…THAT HE HAS RHYTHM IN HIS SOUL… GRANDDAD?
    “Oh, no. That’s can’t be right. That’s just a figure of speech. And what’s wrong with granddad?”
    GRANDFATHER I CAN LIVE WITH. GRANDDAD? ONE STEP AWAY FROM GRAMPS, IN MY OPINION. ANYWAY, I THOUGHT YOU BELIEVED IN LOGIC. CALLING SOMETHING A FIGURE OF SPEECH DOESN’T MEAN IT’S NOT TRUE.
    Death waved the hourglass vaguely.
    FOR EXAMPLE, he said, MANY THINGS ARE BETTER THAN A POKE IN THE EYE WITH A BLUNT STICK. I’VE NEVER UNDERSTOOD THE PHRASE. SURELY A SHARP STICK WOULD BE EVEN WORSE—
    Death stopped.
    I’M DOING IT AGAIN! WHY SHOULD I CARE WHAT THE WRETCHED PHRASE MEANS? OR WHAT YOU CALL ME? UNIMPORTANT! GETTING ENTANGLED WITH HUMANS CLOUDS THE THINKING. TAKE IT FROM ME. DON’T GET INVOLVED.
    “But I am a human.”
    I DIDN’T SAY IT WAS GOING TO BE EASY, DID I? DON’T THINK ABOUT IT. DON’T FEEL .
    “You’re an expert, are you?” said Susan hotly.
    I MAY HAVE ALLOWED MYSELF SOME FLICKER OF EMOTION IN THE RECENT PAST, said Death, BUT I CAN GIVE IT UP ANY TIME I LIKE.
    He held up the hourglass again.
    IT’S AN INTERESTING FACT THAT MUSIC, BEING OF ITS NATURE IMMORTAL, CAN SOMETIMES PROLONG THE LIFE OF THOSE INTIMATELY ASSOCIATED WITH IT, he said. I’VE NOTICED THAT FAMOUS COMPOSERS IN PARTICULAR HANG ON FOR A LONG TIME. DEAF AS POSTS, MOST OF THEM, WHEN I COME CALLING. I EXPECT SOME GOD SOMEWHERE FINDS THAT VERY AMUSING. Death contrived to look disdainful. IT’S THEIR KIND OF JOKE. *
    He set the glass down and twanged it with a bony digit.
    It went whauuummmmeeee-chida-chida-chida .
    HE HAS NO LIFE. HE HAS MUSIC.
    “Music’s taken him over?”
    YOU COULD PUT IT LIKE THAT.
    “Making his life longer?”
    LIFE IS EXTENSIBLE. IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME AMONG HUMANS. NOT OFTEN. USUALLY TRAGICALLY, IN A THEATRICAL KIND OF WAY. BUT THIS ISN’T ANOTHER HUMAN. THIS IS MUSIC.
    “He played something, on some sort of stringed instrument like a guitar—”
    Death turned.
    INDEED? WELL, WELL, WELL…
    “Is that important?”
    IT IS…INTERESTING.”
    “Is it something I should know?”
    IT IS NOTHING IMPORTANT. A PIECE OF MYTHOLOGICAL DEBRIS. MATTERS WILL RESOLVE THEMSELVES; YOU MAY DEPEND UPON IT.
    “What do you mean, resolve themselves?”
    HE WILL PROBABLY BE DEAD IN A MATTER OF DAYS.
    Susan stared at the lifetimer.
    “But that’s dreadful!”
    ARE YOU ROMANTICALLY INVOLVED WITH THE YOUNG MAN?
    “What? No! I’ve only ever seen him once!”
    YOUR EYES DIDN’T MEET ACROSS A CROWDED ROOM OR ANYTHING OF THAT NATURE?
    “No! Of course not.”
    WHY SHOULD YOU CARE, THEN?
    “Because he matt—because he’s a human being, that’s why,” said Susan, surprised at herself. “I don’t see why people should be messed around like that,” she added lamely. “That’s all. Oh, I don’t know.”
    He leaned down again until his skull was on a level with her face.
    BUT MOST PEOPLE ARE RATHER STUPID AND WASTE THEIR LIVES. HAVE YOU NOT SEEN THAT? HAVE YOU NOT LOOKED DOWN FROM THE HORSE AT A CITY AND THOUGHT HOW MUCH IT RESEMBLED AN ANT HEAP, FULL OF BLIND CREATURES WHO THINK THEIR MUNDANE LITTLE WORLD IS REAL? YOU SEE THE LIGHTED WINDOWS AND WHAT YOU WANT TO THINK IS THAT THERE MUST BE MANY INTERESTING STORIES BEHIND THEM, BUT WHAT YOU KNOW IS THAT REALLY THERE ARE JUST DULL, DULL SOULS, MERE CONSUMERS OF FOOD, WHO THINK THEIR INSTINCTS ARE EMOTIONS AND THEIR TINY LIVES OF MORE ACCOUNT THAN A WHISPER OF WIND.
    The blue glow was bottomless. It seemed to be sucking her own thoughts out of her mind.
    “No,” whispered Susan. “No, I’ve never thought like that.”
    Death stood up abruptly and turned away. YOU MAY FIND THAT IT HELPS, he said.
    “But it’s all just chaos ,” said Susan. “There’s no sense to the way people die. There’s no justice!”
    HAH.
    “ You take a hand,” she persisted. “You just saved my father.”
    I WAS FOOLISH. TO CHANGE THE FATE OF ONE INDIVIDUAL IS TO CHANGE THE WORLD. I REMEMBER THAT. SO SHOULD YOU.
    Death still hadn’t turned to face her.
    “I don’t see why we shouldn’t change things if it makes the world better,” said Susan.
    HAH.
    “Are you too scared to change the world?”
    Death turned. The very sight of his