so on and on…couple hours pass, david’s girlfriend, “karen,” takes the lead at some point, walking us through the park…over by that one bridge, the big pond? by the delacorte, moon’s smiling down and all, romance hanging over a night like this out of some storybook, some tale by, maybe, scott fitzgerald or those guys…i really do love this girl. that’s the thing that’s screaming out in my head right then…
SUE
he was holding my hand so tight…
JOHN
there’s a swan or two out on the water, some geese, maybe. little breeze, october, but still warm, you know how that can be…perfect, a perfect night, and then, just off to our left, there’s this, like, patch of woods near the path. comes this rustling…
SUE
i thought it might be some teenagers or who knows what. we all started to walk a bit faster….
JOHN
i’m not scared but it’s night, city all around…what else can you do, girls with you? so we walk along. (BEAT) and two guys, middle-aged guys, l.l. bean shirts on and the whole thing…come out of the dark. smiling, and i don’t need a map to tell me what’s been going on…
pause
…i don’t.
SUE
it was just two men. walking along…no big deal.
JOHN
coming out of the weeds, they were, off in the park alone, and these smiles, i don’t know, i just don’t know what to think about it. i mean, we’re going to this party, all dressed up, what should we care, right? one dude looks like my father, a little, it’s dark but he had that look, right, that settled, satisfied sort of…anyway, off they head, arms linked together and nothing we say ever going to change what they are…
pause.
dance all night, sue as stunning as she’s ever looked and i’m telling you, i can’t get that picture, the image of it, out of my head. those smiles, i can’t do it… (BEAT) but the party is great, it really is…
SUE
i haven’t danced like that in a long time…
JOHN
it was, like, the beginning of a magical evening…everything was right, it was pristine, you know? soothing, and we just kept dancing, the two of us. danced for hours…round and round.
SUE
they’d done the whole place, the room, i mean, when we finally got inside…in blues, and golds, with these great moons, these golden crescents hanging above us…
JOHN
like smiles, like the moon smiling down…
SUE
i think we looked pretty nice together, looked like a couple, you know?
JOHN
it was fun, back like that, in the city…’s always fun. saw a lot of guys we know…
SUE