A Love Story: Act One

There are love stories and there are love stories. Most people think to be true love it has to come about as a result of some long suffering illness or life-altering obstacle that makes you reevaluate who you are or what you think. But for most people love stories start like weeks start, on a Monday.

When Dung and Kathy met it was a Monday in December. EDO, Equity Day Off. She had just moved to Baltimore from Georgia to work as a stage manager intern at Center Stage Theatre. Dung was the assistant audio engineer. They might have barely even crossed paths, except that Dung was Kathy's best friend's supervisor. Kenny and Kathy had gone to college together. Dung came to Kenny's apartment the Monday after Kathy arrived in Baltimore. They were co-designing sound for a show and Dung needed Kenny's cues. Simple enough he thought. But waiting on the couch, feet slung over the side was Kathy. There were introductions, brief. And then he probably will always remember her for what happened next. "I saw the show last night. There were a lot of problems. The trap did not work and instead of waiting until intermission they were in plain view working on it. And the sound... is it supposed to sound so scratchy?", she asked. Dung was quiet, a loner and now really uncomfortable. Basically he took the tapes from Kenny and left. Mumbling something like nice to meet you.

Yet at home he saw her face and unfortunately heard her words. He wrote in his journal, "Met Kenny's friend Kathy tonight, she is cute, but bossy." Not a very auspicious beginning to a love story. Well it is still the way it happened. Love sometimes is not played out to a romantic soundtrack. People are who they are. He was shy, she was admittedly loud and bossy. But something drew them together. Maybe the curiosity of someone so different from themselves or more likely what neither of them knew at the time but the similarities just below the surface.

It was months before they would have that first date. Kenny insisting Dung was interested; Kathy convinced Kenny had finally lost his mind. Still there was the way he always showed up wherever she would be, even if all he said was Hi and took off. There was the phone call after she had subbed at a rehearsal he was working. But he still did not ask her out. He told her how nice it was to see her, he talked about the show, but not one word about "them". Then it was Valentine's Day. Part of a grueling 5 show weekend, romance about the furthest thing from Kathy's mind.

She set up for the run of the show. Readying the trap where the actress (Cheri Jones, sweet woman, now playing the president on TV's 24) would enter in Act 2 she noticed nothing out of the ordinary. Then after intermission, into the trap she and the actress went, on the table a little bouquet of carnations, and a giant Hershey kiss. Skeptically she looked for the name on the card-certainly for someone else. But there on the white envelope, Kathy. She opened the card "I would swim a smile for you. D.N."
This must have been his big move?  Well it worked!
That night from Kenny's apartment she called Dung to thank him. He asked her to go see a French film playing at the Charles theatre. Finally more than 3 months after their first meeting they would have their first official date.

(To be continued)