Garrison Keillor: ...after a message from the Partnership of English Majors. (BIRDS)


Sue Scott: Oh, Brent. Thanks for bringing me to Ravinia. What a beautiful night. You and me on a blanket under the sky and the Chicago Symphony just about to do an evening of Mahler--


Tim Russell: Right. .


SS: Are you still doing that numbers crossword?


TR: It's not a "numbers crossword." It's a Japanese logic puzzle. Sudoku.


SS: You seem obsessed with it lately.


TR: Four, four, where's the four? Ok, the 1 could go here. But then there's the diagonal, and the-oh shoot. Two sixes.


GK: Hello, is my blanket encroaching on yours?


SS: Oh-- hello--


TR: ..and the four goes there, and then the five-there's that row finished-


GK: I don't want to invade your personal space.


SS: No, it's fine.


TR: But the two can't be there, so the 1 has to go-


SS: You brought strawberries, I see. And a book.


GK: I've been rereading Robert Graves.


TR: Ooo! There's a 9 there. Don't know how I missed that. Big time, big time. Now I need a seven.


SS: Robert Graves! Surely you jest!


GK: No.


SS: You're the only person I've ever met in my life who reads Robert Graves. I adore him.


GK: So do I.


SS: His poems come from such a private place.


GK: "By this exchange of eyes, this encirclement...


SS: "...you of me, I of you, together we baffle logic...


GK: "...no doubt, but never understanding..."


TR: Two, then a 4 moves over here, and then--


SS: Would you mind if I moved over to your blanket?


GK: Not at all. Who's he?


SS: Oh. Brent. Just a guy I know.


GK: Is that a ring on your finger?


SS: This? Oh! My gosh. Where did this come from? No wonder my hand felt odd. There. All gone now.


GK: I'm an English major. Just so you know.


SS: An English major! So am I!


GK: Really!


SS: I mean, what are the odds-two English majors out on the lawn at Ravinia, waiting to hear the Chicago Symphony Orchestra-


GK: I'm not sure, I'm not a numbers guy.


SS: It makes me ecstatic. My melancholy: gone. I feel I'm on the verge of doing something injudicious.


GK: What's he doing?


SS: Playing a game with numbers.


TR: Hey who's this guy? And why are you in his arms right now?


SS: It's fate. I'm a word person, Brent. I have a dictionary I need to share with someone. Words I need to speak to someone who listens. And now the words have become... flesh. (SHE SHIVERS)


GK: A message from the Partnership of English Majors.