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This young couple sat on a concrete bench in the park near Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.  It was a warm, sunny day in April.  Other people sun bathed, jogged or walked in the park.  The young man and woman on the bench were undergraduates at CMU.  Their backpacks sat on the ground at their feet.  He was an engineering major while she was a theatre major.  Both would graduate soon.  He had a job offer in Pittsburgh while she had accepted the lead in a play in New York City.  It was a plumb role.

He said, “If the play goes on the road there’s no telling when I’ll see you again.”

“I know.”

“Norine, we had plans.”

“I have to do this.  Jeff, you know I have to do this.”  She looked away and wiped at her eyes.

A flock of pigeons circled overhead.  He watched the pigeons until they flew out of sight.

She said, “I have a class.”  She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.  She picked up her backpack and put a shoulder through a strap.  She started walking out of the park.

He looked down at his backpack on the ground.  “Well,”he said, “maybe the show’ll flop.”  He took a deep breath and then said, “No, I really don’t want that.”