A Little Night Music

“A Little Light Music?”

“No, the musical is called A Little Night Music. It’s one of Sondheim’s best.”

“Who’s that?”

“Stephen Sondheim is… I don’t know how to describe him. He’s written some wonderful musicals. Sunday in the Park with George, Company, Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd.”

“Nuh uh. Johnny Depp did that. I saw it.”

“I can’t help rolling my eyes at that. Johnny Depp played the character, yes, but Sondheim created him.”

“He’s Johnny Depp’s dad?”

“No, no. Sondheim created the character Sweeney Todd.”

“Oh. And you’re gonna make me listen to A Little Might Music?”

“A Little Night Music, yeah, unless you don’t want to.”

“Is it sappy?”

“It’s kind of ridiculous. And sad. It’s the kind of musical that makes you think about choices you’ve made in your life. And how you might want to rectify them.”

“Rectify?”

“Change, or fix.”

“Sounds like a bummer. What about… the Into Woods one?”

“Into the Woods? That one’s pretty great, and I think you’d like it. It takes some old-time characters like Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack from the beanstalk story, and pits them against a powerful witch.”

“Wow. And that’s a musical?”

“Yup. The main point of it is to teach adults how to be better role models, basically. We’re all wretched and starved for riches, and that just causes problems.”

“Uh, is that what Souderham—”

“Sondheim.”

“Yeah, him. Do all his musicals teach lessons or something? I mean, now that I think about it, Sweeney Todd was pretty much anti-revenge and stuff.”

“I think he just wants adults to remember that, even though we’re grown up, we’re not actually fully grown. We’re not done learning how to behave, how to be responsible.”

“Sounds pretty… responsible… of him.”

“Kinda, yeah.”

“Is there anything you regret?”

“What?”

“You said that musical… Um, A Night of Music? You said it’s about regret and wishing you could rectify something in your past.”

“Uh huh, yeah.”

“So, there is?”

“What? No.”

“But you said ‘yeah’.”

“I was saying ‘Yeah, you got the gist’.”

“Oh.”

“I mean, well… we all have something we regret doing, or not doing.”

“Oh, I knew it. Here it comes…”

“No, no, nothing like that. Wipe that wicked grin from your face.”

“Hey, I’ve heard of Wicked!”

“Good for you. Who hasn’t?”

“Now you wipe you’re wicked grin off!”

“Okay, but, yeah, I’m glad you’ve heard of a musical. But, yeah, there’s something I do regret not doing.”

“What?”

“Telling my best friend I loved him.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. It was after I came out to all my friends, told ‘em all I was gayer than a fruit basket—”

“You don’t act gay at all.”

“Yeah, I know. And it’s not like I had a mentor or anything to talk about this stuff with—”

“Like I do with you!”

“Yeah, like that. Well, I didn’t have that. And my best friend… I told everyone I was gay and… and he asked me to tell everyone I was joking.”

“What? And you loved this guy?”

“Yeah. I still kinda do. I think about him a lot. Haven’t seen him in years. But, back then, I knew that he was really worried about what everyone would think and say and stuff. Of course, I didn’t tell any of my friends that I was joking or anything, but I did tell his parents.”

“His parents? You told them you were joking about being gay?”

“Well, it was easy because one of my classmates, her name was Tanya. She was, like, obsessed with me. It was easy to convince his parents that I just said that to keep her off my back. And I didn’t want them worrying about him spending time with me, or making him stay away from me if they knew, or anything like that. I didn’t want to risk it, so I lied to them. For him.”

“Oh. That’s actually a little sweet.”

“Yeah, and we spent so much time together and did so many things. I talked with him about his girl troubles—”

“Did he talk to you about boy troubles?”

“I didn’t have boy troubles. I didn’t even start dating until I was almost out of college. But I did tell him when I thought other guys were cute. He’d act like it was all silly and stuff and joke with me.”

“Aww, how sweet!”

“Yeah, I guess. I… I don’t know. Somewhere along the way, I fell in love. I was always there for him, for anything he needed.”

“What happened?”

“We drifted. I graduated, went to college. We tried staying in contact and seeing each other when we could, but it was never the same. Now it’s been… about five years since I’ve seen him. If it wasn’t for Facebook, I wouldn’t even know how he’s been doing.”

“Oh. And you miss him?”

“Like crazy, sometimes. But then I remember he’s straight and he wouldn’t have reciprocated my love.”

“Reciprocated?”

“Returned. I knew he just didn’t feel the same way. So I never bothered telling him.”

“You should tell him, Patrick. Now! Text him, or call him, and say what you’ve always felt.”

“Don’t be silly, Cole. He’s got a whole different life now.”

“But you love him.”

“Yeah. I think I always will.”

“And is this regret something you want your whole adult life? Even though Standhymn—”

“Sondheim.”

“Yeah, him. You said he sings about taking care of regrets now. And that we never finish growing up. You’re going to always be feeling like this.”

“I guess that’s kinda true.”

“So tell him! And maybe, after all this time, he will have been in love with you too! He was just too scared for some reason!”

“That’s a little much to hope for, Cole.”

“But it’s not impossible. So… here’s your phone. I’m going to put on A Little Light Music—”

“Night.”

“Yeah, that. And you… dial.”

“… … Okay. Here goes… nothing.”

“Goodluck!”

“Hi, Nick…”



Word Count: 1,000