Ralph: Boy, I’m telling you I could sing...

Ralph: Boy, I’m telling you I could sing! Jake, she’s like stars. She’s so beautiful you look at her and cry! She’s like French words! We went to the park the other night. Heard the last band concert.

[Jacob: Music. . . .]

Ralph: (stuffing shirt in trousers) It got cold and I gave her my coat to wear. We just walked along like that, see, without a word, see. I never was so happy in my life. It got late . . . we just sat there. She looked at me—you know what I mean, how a girl looks at you—right in the eyes? “I love you,” she says, “Ralph.” I took her home. . . . I wanted to cry. That’s how I felt!

Odets, Clifford, “Awake and Sing!,” Waiting for Lefty and Other Plays, Grove Press, p. 47.