First Date
“And I love the National Gallery. I was there two — no, three months ago — and the guy I was with knows a curator, so we got a special tour of works that aren't on display. They were being restored. It was… phenomenal.”
Pause. Both men sip their Cabernet Franc.
“Oh, that is extraordinary. I love knowing people in the right places. When I went to the Inaugural Ball last year, it was all because of my work. I chatted up Barbara Boxer: loves the gays.”
“She's fabulous.”
A wry nod. Of course she is.
Silently over the bar, four Taiwanese play table tennis on television, the ball invisible from speed, swiftly hit, deftly returned.
“So tell me what you do again.”
“DARPA contracts processing. Hush-hush.” Wink. “Their budgets are…enormous.”
When the waiter brings the check, neither reaches for it.
Nicely done. The last line "hitting home" the idea of rivals. the table tennis back and forth - a great metaphor for the rivalry as well.
Beautifully concise and well established but subtle. I like "A wry nod. Of course she is." that enhances the tone. Nice!
Well done. Admirable restrained, expertly unsaid. Perfect end.
Put "Of course she is." in quotes.
Love it all – how you break in midstream and how the dialogue rips it all along. I can clearly see the exclamatory hand gestures. And the ping-pong metaphor to sum it all up – as a rivalry or a statement of mutual indifference? Very well done. Fave!
Great last line. Beautifully drawn snippet from The Human Comedy.
Biting humor, good details, I could see them clearly. Nice work!
*
Very good. Love the ending.
Great ending.