III Two weeks later Well, Ella and Tony got married, do not leave St. Paul, and Earnest, is still part of the team. They have just gotten back from their honeymoon, they went to Chicago, about four-hundred miles from where they live; they took a train, and enjoyed the city sites, the museum, and Navy Pier. Mr. Nelson has provided a bigger apartment above the bar for them, at the same price as Tony was paying for the sleeping room. (He likes Tony, and I think this puts a thorn into the side of Cory, and Mr. Nelson likes that.) He even got a toilet in his room, not like his previous sleeping room, a public one were the other two apartments had to share. Cory is mad, he had expected Tony and Ella at least to face him, and had been so mad he went and found that old man's daughter Lilly Olson, who was pretty, not as pretty as Ella, but pretty, and married her on a whim. Now both Ella and Lilly are pregnant, and Earnest Colman, has found himself a girl named Anna, whom he will marry. Tony has changed his name to Douglas, his other name was too hard for everyone to pronounce, so he told his wife, and is much happier with that. And so it is for his wife, Ella Douglas, and now their new child, which is a boy, Frank Douglas. Cory's wife has a baby girl and they named her, Rita Gunderson. It is l918, and Tony has been drafted to in the US Army (WWI is going on), and leaves for Europe, his wife Ella is with her second child. He is in a noncombatant area, a cook; Cory also goes into the Army, he is a First Lieutenant, and Tony a Private. Cory finds himself in the trenches in France, Tony is still in England, and General Pershing have been talking to the Germans about an armistice. Thus, they will have only served perhaps 18-months each in the Service, by the time they are released. They both arrive home in 1919, and are discharged from the army; Tony has found out he has a daughter by the name of Betty; and Cory has another daughter as well, named after his wife Lilly (the mother being, Lilly Olson Gunderson). There remains a feud between these two people, it is played out silently, but is there nonetheless. IV Time: 1923 Ella dies, double pneumonia, her tombstone in Oakland Cemetery reads: 'Ella Colman Douglas Born 1889-1923 Wife of Tony S. Douglas "She was the Best Part of my life" It is 1924. It is Saturday morning. Tony has done well for himself, he lives on Arch Street, in his own home with his two children. He continues to work as a painter, and has a restaurant, Ella's brother Earnest takes care of it when he is working his other job. The restaurant is on Wabasha Street, near Mr. Nelson's bar, matter-of-fact he helped Tony negotiate the deal to buy the place. He is thirty-years old now (he was born in 1893; his deceased wife was older than he). V Time: 1945 Frank, has went into the Army, WWII, it was in 1942 he went in, and in 1945, he was killed in Italy. Tony has just received a Purple Heat by the Government for his son's bravery and valor in the line of duty. He is fifty-two years old now, past middle age, and is about the same age as Cory. Lilly is also about their age. Tony's only daughter, Betty, has taken a liking for Cory's son, Robert Gunderson (I know I have not told you up until now, Cory had a son, but he does); Betty is older than Robert by several years. But they've been seeing each other at the restaurant when Tony was gone. Earnest has not said a word to anyone about it. And now Betty has confronted her father, and he is most alarmed. And Robert has confronted his father, and is likewise, is somewhat historical over the matter. Cory Gunderson says no to the marriage, and so does Tony, until Earnest comes out and says: "I think you've forgot how you met Ella, you two eloped, and now you are blocking two people who love each other. What would Ella say?" Tony thinks about what Earnest says (and of course he could say something more heartbreaking, should you want it to be). And Tony says, "OK, I'll give my blessing." But Cory doesn't, and will not. And Lilly will not marry unless her father agrees to this. Out of spike he remains firm. In the mean time, Lilly marries a Jewish boy, Peter Coddon, but her husband cannot have children, and of course this is not know at the time, until it is brought out by the Veteran's doctor (after several years of trying), who has a theory it is not her but him, an old would from WWII; a piece of metal had punctured his groin area, when he was humping ammunition from one trench to the other, and was blown several feet in the air, and became a medical causality, where he was then back to the United States. He had thought all was well of course, unless he lied. And now Cory is an old man of perhaps 65-years old, is steaming after finding out the news. He has no grandchildren, nor will have. VI Time: 1959 Tony is now 67-years old, as is Cory, neither have grandchildren, and Tony has now fired Earnest, after learning he was taking home to his wife and three kids, many products and pounds of meat (weekly), god knows how long he had been doing this. But it doesn't seem to faze him, he is fine either way. He has three children as I've mentioned, and they gave him three grandchildren each, and one of his grandchildren is seventeen, and pregnant, so he will be a great-grandfather soon. Cory and Tony have remained enemy's for most part, since they had met some 50-years ago. Betty, now aging, cleans the house for Tony, and does a lot of the chores. She has been dating a man down the block, but never marries him: he is married to a woman in another city who will not give him a divorce because of a shared grocery store they both owned together, and this now is her sole income. Cory's son, Robert, takes care of his business which Cory inherited from his father. Note: written in the form of a short version [skeleton] for the screen 3/4/2006; more dialogue can be put in of course. |
