Saturday,
January 10, 2004
Listen
(MUSIC)
GK: This was the year that my daughter saw her first Nutcracker. A big event in a little girl's life. The lights went down in the theater and she sat on the edge of her seat and she stayed there for the whole show. The mice, the reindeer, the little girls dancing onstage, the Christmas tree getting bigger---- pure magic.
(MUSIC)
GK: And afterward we went to a café for lunch and she sat on my lap and I ordered coffee and ----- the waiter brought it.
(CLINK OF TABLEWARE)
GK: And I heard a young woman say----
SS: Thank you. And a menu, please?
TK: Right away, ma'am. (FOOTSTEPS AWAY)
GK: And it was my daughter's voice but suddenly she was 20 and she wore her hair long and tied back in a bun and she wore leg warmers and a black turtleneck sweater and she was smoking. And she had a friend.
TR: (FRENCH)
GK: He sat in a chair opposite her and held her hand in his and looked into her eyes. And she was sitting on my lap. And then I realized---- (STING) I had been turned into a chair. (CREAK) I had become into a piece of furniture.
(FOOTSTEPS)
SS: So what did you think of the ballet? Did you like it?
TR: I did. You were magnificent.
SS: Do you really mean it?
TR: You were---- (FRENCH SUPERLATIVE).
SS: I'm so glad you came. It means a lot. I'll never forget the first ballet I ever saw. I was six. My grandfather took me.
GK: Your father----
SS: He was so sweet. Grandpa. He was in his seventies then---
GK: Sixty one.
SS: And not in the best of health. He was very sweet. But rather confused most of the time.
GK: I tried to kick her but my legs were oak and they wouldn't move.
TR (FRENCH): And now you are the Sugar Plum Fairy yourself, mon amour.
GK: Mon amour? What was this about?
SS: I thought of you when I danced the Waltz.
TR: (SOFT IMPASSIONED FRENCH)
GK: Oh boy.
SS: Let's go home. I'm not hungry. I want to be with you.
TR: (WORLDLY FRENCH CHUCKLES)
GK: I tried to move my arms so I could hold onto her but they were made of oak, they wouldn't move. And the two of them got up and they danced around and around the room.
(DANCE)
GK: And they danced out the door and suddenly I came to life again and my daughter was six again and sitting on my lap there in a café in Wisconsin and a man was playing the Nutcracker on the accordion.
(MUSIC OUT)
