Act One, Scene One
A moderately upscale seafood restaurant amid high rise office towers in uptown Charlotte, North Carolina . The McCormick & Schmick’s that John chose is at the corner of Tryon and 4th Street. It’s on the ground floor of one of those glass and steel office buildings that were so popular in the boom. I like this restaurant, and thought it was a good choice for the evening. It’s not incredibly fancy, but it’s nice enough that we could have a pleasant, “sophisticated” evening. I didn’t want to meet him in a burger joint, and was glad when he suggested a place like this. I thought it showed we have similar tastes. I told the lady at the door that I was meeting someone at the bar, and she merely smiled and gestured over her shoulder. Looking past her, I saw John immediately. That is, I saw his hair. He certainly stood out, with what I was glad to see was a rather unruly shock of brown curly hair on his head. Du...