HMS Secret Service vs. a mechanical music device
I thought of everyone here while reading Ian Fleming's "Diamonds Are
Forever" last night. A wealthy Las Vegas crime boss had bought and
restored an entire ghost town for his amusement and vanity. A certain
Commander James Bond, sent to break up the crime syndicate, found
himself in an altercation in which he had to hurl an opponent into what
must have been a nicely restored player piano which was, in fact,
playing a roll at the time.
"There was a twanging crash as the flying figure hit the upright
pianola and then, with an explosion of metallic discords and
breaking wood, the dying instrument toppled over and, with McGonigle
spread-eagled across it, thundered to the floor."
If you have not read the real James Bond novels, do so. They resemble
the movies only in title and the writing is so good as to evoke something
like despair in aspiring writers like me.
Mark Kinsler
Lancaster, Ohio, USA
http://home.earthlink.net/~mkinsler1
(Perhaps the stack could be salvaged?...)
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