"What?"
"Oh, most anything I've heard once. And some things I kind of make up."
"Compose, you mean?"
"Yes."
"Play one of those."
So Wallie Ascher played one of those. Of course you know "Good Night—Pleasant Dreams." He hadn't named it then. It wasn't even published until almost two years later, but that was what he played for Sid Hahn. Since "After The Ball" no popular song has achieved the success of that one. No doubt it was cheap, and no doubt it was sentimental, but so, too, are "The Suwanee River" and "My Old Kentucky Home," and they'll be singing those when more classical songs have long been forgotten. As Wallie played it his dark, thin face seemed to gleam and glow in the lamplight.
When he had finished Sid Hahn was silent for a moment. Then, "What're you going to do with it?"
"With what?"
"With what you've got. You know."
Wallie knew that he did not mean the song he had just played. "I'm going to—I'm going to do a lot with it."