New York City

December 1995

With a quick flick of the wrist, Joshua Lyman, Esq. tossed his subway token. And, with the impatience of a highly-strung racehorse, he waited to hear the click that always followed the sound of his token clattering against a metal surface, the click that told him that he could push the turnstile and dash full speed toward the subway train.

The young woman with the monotonous job of collecting the tokens didn't pay him any mind. He was just another New York lawyer rushing from place to place. This average looking man with wild brown hair and ill-fitting suits wasn't the lawyer that filled her mind from morning til night. The man of her dreams had perfect dark hair, impossibly blue eyes, and crisp monogrammed shirts to go with his bespoke suits. She had been daydreaming about her lawyer and future husband, "SNS", as she collected Josh's token. That was what she knew him as, SNS; those were the initials she managed to spot one day when he pushed past her turnstile.

The young woman, Donnatella Moss, known to all as Donna, liked to guess what those three letters stood for. Donna could never decide what the first and final letters stood for but it hadn't taken long for her to decide that the N had to stand for Norman. In Donna's mind the oldfashioned name suited him, distinguished but also a little silly; Donna often pictured herself teasing him lovingly over the name.

Donna tried to hide the smile she felt coming as she imagined the playful banter she was certain they'd have, she'd start with that silly name of his and who knew where they would end up. She failed miserably at controlling her facial muscles and spent the remainder of her shift smiling brightly at everyone that tossed a subway token her way.