i couldn’t answer him, and you know, he never asked me again, he didn’t. (BEAT) he pointed out to me, though, that my shirt had blood on it, a misting of blood, probably off the guy as i was getting the ring. my tux was covered, so, got ’a think quick, i asked tim to hit me in the face, give me a bloody nose so i could explain it to sue. (BEAT) only hurt for a second…
SUE
we all met in front of the hotel, and i saw john’s face. aaah! all cut up like it was…see, he’d fallen down, racing along the fountain out front, balancing on it, and slipped, scraped himself up and blood on everything. (BEAT) silly games…
JOHN
had a great meal…you know, you can’t get those german sausages for breakfast, the big fat ones, anywhere but manhattan, you can’t…
SUE
i was eating my french toast, just eating along and i notice this glint in my water glass, a spark of light. (BEAT)john’d slipped a ring in it! a beautiful gold thing…i loved him so much at that moment.
JOHN
“happy anniversary,” i said…
SUE
it was a little big, but fit pretty well. had this wonderful leaf pattern, all the way around…
JOHN
looked nice on her. i liked it…
SUE
i kissed him there, in front of everybody, and he blushed a bit. we all laughed, i can’t tell you what a wonderful weekend we had…
JOHN
we did end up taking the amtrak back up… just sue and myself, dave dropped us at grand central and, you know, lots of “thank you” and “see you monday!” (BEAT) tim even gave me a hug. first time he’s even done that…
SUE
it was my idea…the train.
JOHN
and we saw our parents, stopped in sunday and even made it to church…that was really nice.
SUE
i like sunday school at home so much better…
JOHN
had dinner with the folks, then the late train up to boston.
SUE
you know, on the way back—it’s funny, i shouldn’t even bring this up—a fight broke out. well, not really a fight but this argument between a man and his girlfriend, a lot of yelling, she stands up, and starts pulling on her coat and this guy, i mean, middle of a crowded compartment, just backhands her. he did…
JOHN
knocked her up against the window, really hard…
SUE