The PlayFinder™

THE STORY: It is early morning in a tiny park hidden somewhere in the labyrinth of downtown city streets. Sarah Nodelman, a plump Jewish woman, sits crocheting. She has been shopping and is enjoying a few moments respite before taking her bundles home. Into the park floats The Sax, a black saxophone player. Sarah immediately begins a conversation which becomes anathema to The Sax. She is square. She is conventional. She is everything he avoids in society. Sarah continues to talk. The Sax answers her by playing passages on his saxophone. Sarah tells him of her son, Herbie, who lives on Long Island in a nice home with a nice family, a son she hardly ever sees any more. The Sax is also alone. Sarah invites him to come home for dinner. The Sax takes this as a gesture of charity and furiously upbraids her with his saxophone, playing a theme of rebellion and anger. Sarah is shocked that her offer is so misconstrued. She feels something is wrong and the cause of it has been her lying. She confesses what she has been telling him about Herbie is not true, a lie to help her fight the terror of being alone. Herbie died in Korea in 1952. The Sax, shaken by her story, plays for her. This is the only way he can communicate. This is his token for Sarah’s lost son. Sarah knows what his playing means, knows what The Sax is trying to say. She thanks him.