nd harry is staring at her.)

sally: ok, so 15 percent of my share is $6.90... what? do i have something on my face?

harry: you are a very attractive person.

sally: (suspicious) thank you.

harry: amanda never said how attractive you were.

sally: well, maybe she doesn’t think i’m attractive.

harry: i don’t think it’s a matter of opinion. empirically, you are attractive.

sally: (astonished) amanda is my friend!

harry: so?

sally: so you are going with her!

harry: so?

sally: so you’re 5)coming on to me!

harry: no, i wasn’t! what? can’t a man say a woman is attractive without it being a come-on? all right, all right, let’s just say, just for the sake of argument that it was a come-on. what do you want me to do about it? i take it back. ok? i take it back!

sally: you can’t take it back!

harry: why not?

sally: because it’s already out there!

harry: oh, gees! what are we supposed to do --call the 6)cops? it’s already out there!

sally: just let it lie, ok?

harry: great! let it lie! that’s my policy. that’s what i always say. let it lie! want to spend a night in a motel? see what i did? i didn’t let it lie!

sally: harry?

harry: i said i would and then i didn’t.

sally: harry?

harry: i went the other way.

sally: harry?

harry: what?

sally: we are just going to be friends, ok?

harry: great! friends, the best thing!

scene 2

after parting in manhattan, it’s five years before they bump into each other again, this time in an airport. now, harry is engaged to get married and sally is in a serious relationship.

song: you say either and i say either, you say neither and i say neither. either, either, and neither, neither, let’s call the whole thing off. yes, you like potato and i like potato, you like tomato and i like tomato. potato, potato, tomato, tomato, let’s call the whole thing off.

harry: you were a good friend of...

sally: amanda’s. i can’t believe, you can’t remember her name.

harry: what do you mean? i can remember, amanda, right, amanda rice.

sally: reese.

harry: reese, right, that’s what i said. whatever happened to her?

sally: i have no idea.

harry: you have no idea? you were really good friends with her. we didn’t make it because you were such good friends!

sally: you went with her.

harry: and was it worth it? the 7)sacrifice for a friend that you don’t even keep in touch with.

sally: harry, you might not believe this, but i never considered not sleeping with you a sacrifice.

harry: fair enough, fair enough! you were going to be a 8)gymnast.

sally: a journalist!

harry: right, that’s what i said. and?

sally: i am a journalist, i work at the news.

harry: great, and you’re with joe. well, that’s great, great! you’re together what, three weeks?

sally: a month. how did you know that?

harry: you take someone to the airport: it’s clearly the beginning of a relationship. that’s why i have never taken anyone to the airport at the beginning of a relationship.

sally: why?

harry: because eventually things move on and you don’t take someone to the airport, and i never wanted anyone to say to me, “how come you never take me to the airport anymore?”

sally: it’s amazing! you look like a normal person, but actually you are the angel of death.

harry: are you going to marry him?

sally: we have only known each other for a month and besides, neither one of us is looking to get married right now.

harry: um... i’m getting married.

sally: you are??

harry: humm.

sally: you are?!

harry: yes.

sally: who is she?

harry: helen hillson, she’s a lawyer, 9)she’s keeping her name.

sally: you’re getting married?

harry: yea!

(sally laughs.)

harry: 10)staying over?

sally: yes.

harry: would you like to have dinner? just friends.

sally: i thought you didn’t believe men and women could be friends.

harry: when did i say that?

sally: on the ride to new york.

harry: no, no, no, i never said that! yes, that’s right. they can’t be friends, unless both of them are involved with other people, then they can. this is an 11)amendment to the earlier rule. the two people in relationships, the pressure of possible involvement is lifted. that doesn’t work either, because what happens then is the person you are involved with can’t understand why you need to be friends with the person you are just friends with. like it means something is missing from the relationship and why do they go outside to get it. then when you say ”no, no, no, no, it’s not true, nothing is missing from the relationship.” the person you’re involved with, then 12)accuses you of being secretly attracted to the person you are just friends with, which you probably are, i mean, come on, i mean who the hell are we kidding. i mean, let’s face it, which brings us back to the earlier rule before the amendment, which is men and women can’t be friends. so where does it leave us?

sally: harry?

har