Courtship

The Christian Science Monitor once ran a story of a springtime in New York, when the fancy of a certain young woman had lightly turned to thoughts of love. She had been seeing a good deal of a handsome young man whose career was fast rising. “One perfect day,” the story goes…

He called to say he had something special on his mind. He would pick her up in his car, a memorable jalopy, and they would motor to the country for a picnic. Their course took them to Long Island. The young man seemed preoccupied. Long silences — heavy with import — fell between the two. Then they headed back to New York. Back in the city, the young man broke the silence. He spoke solemnly of a great and significant event that was about to occur. Central Park, he said, would be the appropriate place for it to happen. As they drove through the park on that beautiful spring day, the young woman’s…