Violet and Kevin have picked up breakfast, and the two of them are lying on the front of his convertible, backs against the windshield, with one of NYC’s picturesque bridges in the background and the cityscape behind it.
Vi: (in a somewhat mocking tone) You think this is romantic?
Kev: Well, you may not be feeling it now, but…I think one day you’ll be onstage and singing about this very night.
Vi: Hmmm… ‘when we were downwind from a trash barge…’
Kev: Yeah, catchy title…hum a feel bars…
Vi: Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m a songwriter, not a singer—when I get on stage I freeze…
Kev: What if the fate of the free world rested on your voice?
Vi: Okay, if the fate of the free world depended on me singing, maybe—all I’ve ever really wanted was to stand in the dark and hear someone great singing my songs…I wanna be the one who writes the music-- (pause) I remember the first time my mother played me ‘Bridge Over Troubled Waters’ by Simon and Garfunkel…I remember exactly what she was wearing, I remember exactly how her hair smelled, I remember exactly how I felt…and every time I hear that song I remember exactly what she was wearing, I remember exactly how her hair smelled and exactly how I felt. The great songs last forever…
Kev: So what’s the problem?
Vi: Well, now they’re telling me the only way to get my songs heard is to go out there and sing them myself.
Kev: So we’re gonna have to try and fix this little problem straightaway—
Vi: And how do you propose we do that?
Kev: Well, is there anyplace you feel comfortable singing?
Vi: The shower…
Kev: We’ll start there…I mean, I don’t care how long it takes, how many hours we have to spend in that shower to fix it…
Vi: (Smiling) Okay, before we hit the showers, maybe you could tell me a little bit about yourself—
Kev: Uh, really—what do you want to know?
Vi: What part of Australia are you from?
Kev: I’m from all over…my family moved around a lot.
Vi: So the rest of your family doesn’t live in New York?
Kev: Do you always ask this many questions?
Vi: Do you always dodge this many questions? You can at least tell me where you got all those moves you pulled on the bar tonight—(I wanted to scream, ‘As Tony Manero at the Palladium in the West End!)
Kev: Oh, if I told you, I… I’d have to kill you…
Vi: (chuckling) Oh that’s original!
Kev: (changing the subject) Oh, look, the sun’s coming up…we’re gonna be late!
(They leave to go to one of Kevin’s many odd-jobs—to unload fish at the fishmarket!)
