King Leo:
You arrive early. My daughter and I welcome you. What news from Normandy?
Jamal:
What news? Well a couple of drive-bys, other than that, same ole same ole.
King Leo:
When will the Duke arrive to take my daughter's hand?
Jamal:
This is a hell of a setup you've got here. I mean, I'm not lyin'. I mean. Wooh! You got to have major coins behind this. Who's backin you, Puffy?
King Leo:
Silence, Moor! Tell me when will the Duke arrive.
Jamal:
Oh, I, I get it. You wanna see if I can improv. Ok, well let's see. Uh. The Duke will arriveth in all his royal pomposity and splendor on Tuesday.
King Leo:
Tuesday! Ha! That is excellent news! Phillip, have the servants supply this messenger with much food and drink. And let him lay with any damsel that he desires, except my daugher, of course. [everyone laughs]
Captain Miller:
Private, I'm afraid I have some bad news for ya. Well, there isn't any real easy way to say this, so, uh, so I'll just say it. Your brothers are dead. We have, uh, orders to come get you, 'cause you're going home.
Pvt. James Frederick, Ryan:
[starts sobbing] Oh, my God, my brothers are dead. I was gonna take 'em fishing when we got home. How - How did they die?
Captain Miller:
They were killed in action.
Pvt. James Frederick, Ryan:
No, that can't be. They're both - That... That can't be. My brothers are still in grammar school.
Captain Miller:
You're James Ryan?
Pvt. James Frederick, Ryan:
Yeah.
Captain Miller:
James Francis Ryan from Iowa?
Pvt. James Frederick, Ryan:
James Frederick Ryan, Minnesota. [the whole crew looks embarrassed]
Pvt. James Frederick, Ryan:
Well, does that - does that mean my brothers are OK?
Captain Miller:
Yeah, I'm sure they're fine.
Attempts to locate oneself within history are as natural, and as absurd, as attempts to locate oneself within astronomy. On the day that I was born, 13 April 1949, nineteen senior Nazi officials were convicted at Nuremberg, including Hitler's former envoy to the Vatican, Baron Ernst von Weizsacker, who was found guilty of planning aggression against Czechoslovakia and committing atrocities against the Jewish people. On the same day, the State of Israel celebrated its first Passover seder and the United Nations, still meeting in those days at Flushing Meadow in Queens, voted to consider the Jewish state's application for membership. In Damascus, eleven newspapers were closed by the regime of General Hosni Zayim. In America, the National Committee on Alcoholism announced an upcoming 'A-Day' under the non-uplifting slogan: 'You can drink
