Beethoven's Fur Elise is a connection of sounds and feelings, random runs, turns and climbs that work together at the right moments to create a piano masterpiece.

The song reminds me of a scene in the sixth floor bathroom of Saint Jude where three men meet for the first time. Lars is standing at the sink filling his cupped hands with water and splashing it on his face. He looks in the mirror and deep into bloodshot eyes staring back. Lars' wife is dying of Leukemia. She was diagnosed a few months after she gave birth to their first child, Elizabeth. The two were young when she got pregnant. She was a college freshman, out of high school a year early, working on a degree in English. He was trying to get into the fire academy, but had past problems with the law that made it difficult. He had robbed some houses for pot money a few years back. Of course her parents didn't like the idea of marriage and they hated him and his scrappy clothes. But the two were in love and he promised to make things work.

Lars was a sensible guy, considering his past with an abusive, alcoholic father and no mother he could remember. He realized once his wife became ill that he couldn't care for Elizabeth even though he loved her. Regrettably, he let his in-laws take custody. The moment his mother-in-law had Elizabeth in her arms she told Lars to get lost. The family was perfectly capable of caring for their dying daughter without his help. He showed up at the hospital anyway to rub his wife's feet and read her Jane Austin novels. His presence made for uncomfortable moments, cold shoulders, silent treatments and trips to the parking lot to exchange coarse words with his father-in-law, but he had nowhere else to go. His wife's health got steadily worse.

Right before he went to the bathroom he had one of those precious few moments alone with her before her parents came in. The room was quiet and dark. He held her hand, listened to her soft breathing and told her he loved her. As he left he kissed her on the forehead, he talked about the night they met at Shorty's and how letting things go to far was ironically the best thing that ever happened to him. She would probably go today.

Tyler walks into the bathroom and sees Lars in front of the mirror. Lars doesn't know it and Tyler likely can't remember, but Tyler was the guy Lars' wife turned down for a date the Friday night the two met. She and Tyler had the same advanced keyboards class. Tyler did a poor job of hitting on her and awkwardly asked her to dinner. She gave him her standard "my friend's in town" excuse and headed out to Shorty's. She would come home pregnant.

Tyler's only friend is dying; he'll probably die today. He's an old, brutal, stubborn cop who refused to retire until his doctor told him his recurring headaches were a brain tumor. The two met for the first time on an LA overpass at 2:00 in the afternoon. Tyler stopped his Honda Accord in the middle of the street, got out and climbed over the overpass railing. He was a failed pianist, unattractive to women, not intelligent, terrible at making friends and ready to die. Tyler was just about to jump when a squad car slammed into his Accord. The cop jumped out, saw Tyler ready to kill himself, grabbed him and handcuffed him to the overpass. Later the cop admitted he wasn't really in the mood to save a life since his own wasn't scheduled to last much longer. However, he had a headache and didn't want a suicide to keep him from lying down.

In reality the cop's answer wasn't the whole truth. He had spent a good portion of the past thirty years looking for a life to save. His search started when he was wounded as a soldier in Vietnam. A young marine was sitting next to him in the chopper landing in a firefight. The new soldier took a bullet in the head. His lifeless body fell forward. The cop reached for him, trying desperately to keep the body inside, but the weight was too much. The two fell from the helicopter only seconds before a rocket screamed out of the jungle and turned the chopper into a tremendous fireball. The ten-foot fall knocked the cop unconscious and while his body was trapped under the dead soldier in a rice field surrounded by piles of burning debris, he had a dream. In his dream, he was standing on a deck, overlooking some woods. The dead soldier stood next to him. He said, "I've got a son, do me a favor, save his life." After he got home from 'Nam the cop dedicated himself to this cause. He earnestly looked for the soldier's kid, but he could never find him. What he didn't know was the boy's mother began again to use her maiden name, Richards. The boy's name was Tyler Richards and he was good at the piano. Neither the cop, nor Tyler has made the connection.

The reason the cop stopped looking for the dead soldier's son relates directly to the third man in the bathroom. His name is Jerome Green, but he likes it when people call him Mr. Green. Mr. Green is sitting on the toilet with his pants pulled up. He has it in his mind what he wants to do, but he is building the courage to do it. When he does it, his whole life may change. A few years back Mr. Green had a son who was his pride and joy. The kid played basketball like a champ and, except for math, got all A's in school. A college scholarship was in the making. But Mr. Green's son liked to hang out with a friend who had a bad habit of stealing to buy pot. The money came from houses the two would rob. One night the cops were called a little too early and the kids had to scatter with their loot. Mr. Green's son hopped a fence to an open field and started running. The stubborn old cop came right after him. The boy's only find was a CD he had stashed in the waistband of his running pants. In his panic, he decided to ditch the CD, hoping the cop would stop chasing him. As he drew the case from his waistband, the plastic reflected in the cop's flashlight. At night the plastic shone like metal and the cop, by impulse, dropped him with two shots to the chest. Mr. Green's son never made it to the emergency room.

The shooting was justifiable, but even a cop in L.A. and a 'Nam Vet doesn't recover quickly from killing a teenage kid over a rap CD. The old cop decided that trying to do the right thing wasn't worth the effort. He wanted to save a kid's life and all he could do was take one. The world simply doesn't allow good things to work out.

Up until one week ago, Mr. Green hated the old cop and wanted to kill him, which is understandable. The cop showed up at Mr. Green's doorstep and told him of the brain tumor. Until that point he had never tried to apologize for killing Mr. Green's son. "Well at least now you'll burn in hell," was Mr. Greene's only response. Yet hating someone and wishing him dead never got Mr. Green his son back. After he slammed the door in the cop's face, Mr. Green realized his life was for the most part meaningless now that he had what he wanted. Maybe it was time to focus on something else; maybe there was a different way to live?

Lars stares at the mirror for a long time. He watches his bottom lip quiver. He's got a lot inside that needs to come out. It suddenly comes out in a gush. He punches the mirror full force with his fist, then again and again and again. The mirror breaks into jagged, triangular streaks. His reflection splits apart. He continues to punch and punch and punch. His hand is bleeding; the red prints of his knuckles smudge the mirror. He stops to wipe his eyes; his shaking fingers are shiny red. Large drops of blood stream down his forearm.

He sinks to the floor, trying to hold himself as he cries out to God for help. Maybe help is nearby.

He doesn't want to hurt anymore. None of them do.

Life knocks people around. Watch it from a distance and it looks like chaos. But every so often, maybe because God in heaven helps out with the game, it works itself out.