Ted's trip to Toronto in 1993
Ted goes to Toronto and meets Robin Sparkles…little does he know that he was meeting his future best friend and eventual wife.
Mosby bedroom. October, 2032.
ROBIN: I know it's hard for you to get rid of Tracy's possessions, but this is an important part of letting go.
TED: Yeah, I just don't want to forget her altogether. The ukulele and the yellow umbrella are thing I keep to remember her. In fact that ukulele is what she used to remember Max.
ROBIN: I'm not saying you have to get rid of everything. Just the stuff that does not really have sentimental value. Penny has already sorted out the clothes she wants to keep for herself so we have no issues in getting rid of the clothes.
TED: Maybe you could wear them. Hahaha.
ROBIN: We didn't have the same build, silly! [pauses] But seriously, Tracy wanted to end poverty. By donating these clothes and some of her valuables, you could be carrying out her legacy.
TED: She continues to do that from the grave. All the posthumous profits from her books, after taxes and financial support to the kids, go to charity and educational services, kind of like Paul Newman with his salad dressing.
ROBIN: I am not doing this to be mean, my love. It doesn't mean I miss her any less. But now that I live here, we need to make room for my possessions. I already had to get rid of a lot of my unnecessary items back at my apartment prior to moving here. We will keep all the photos of her. And we will keep the more significant stuff of sentimental value here.
9 hours later.
Several boxes fill the Mosby living room.
TED: Looks like we're all set.
LUKE: It's a big and difficult step, but Mom would have wanted it that way.
PENNY: It's amazing how much stuff Mom accumulated over the years. But it was time to get rid of them. Mom would have wanted them to go to the less fortunate.
ROBIN: But we still have the yellow umbrella, the ukulele, and her toy bus. We also have copies of all her published books. I have a box of other possession of sentimental value that serve as possible heirlooms. I'm going to take this box to the attic.
Attic. Robin places a box marked "Tracy's Valuables" in the attic. She sees a box marked "Ted's childhood memorabilia". Her journalistic curiosity makes her open that box. She sorts thru the items in the box, and chuckles. As she sorts thru the box, suddenly, her eyes bulge and her jaw drops.
5 minutes later. Mosby Living Room. Ted and the kids are still there. Robin enters with a CD in her left hand.
ROBIN: TED! Where did you get this? [Puts CD in Ted's hand]
TED: Oh my God! I forgot all about this! [The CD cover case shows a picture of Robin as Robin Sparkles. It reads "Robin Sparkles: Make it Sparkle".]
LUKE: Dad, I did not know did you bought a copy of Robin's album.
PENNY: Did you get so addicted to her song that you bought this compact disc from that website you talk so much about?
TED: I can't lie to you kids…yes I did!
ROBIN: Ted, the box had only 1990s memorabilia. You must have bought it in the 1990s while in Canada. Because I know that mall song did not make the US charts. Also, by 2006, my album went out of print, thank God!
TED: You caught me. I got this from a trip I made to Toronto in 1993. Actually I did not buy it…it was a gift to me from a close friend, a very close friend.
PENNY: Dad what are you talking about?
TED: Kids, Sparkly, have a seat on the couch.
LUKE: Oh God, not again!
ROBIN: I hate nicknames!
[the kids sit on the couch, bored as hell. Robin sits left of Luke with flared nostril ridges and wide, unblinking eyes]
TED: Kids, honey, let me tell you the story about how I met Robin Sparkles…
End of Act 1