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Cover illustration for The Descending Figure, C1 Spanish story

The Descending Figure

La figura descendente

Every night in a bombed-out Vienna café, a zither player performs the black market's price list in code: a fourth for penicillin, a sixth for cigarettes. Then his handler slips him seven notes that aren't a price — and asks him to play them beautifully.

Part 1 of 2 in The Price of Every Note

La cuarta justa flotó sobre el humo del café como si no significara nada. Penicilina. Emil Brandstätter dejó vibrar la nota en las cuerdas de la cítara, contó dos compases y añadió una sexta mayor: cigarrillos americanos.

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