Dennis worked diligently in writing the letter of apology. Dennis worked on it for a week before presenting the first draft to Father Regan. In fact, the first letter was so good that Father Regan did not feel any further writing was necessary. Dennis read the letter at the awards dinner. When Dennis concluded the reading he announced that all of his prizes would be donated to Catholic Charities to disburse as they see fit. The audience really wasn’t paying much attention to Dennis as he was reading . They were too busy enjoying the dinner that was catered by Bill Levine’s kosher delicatessen. Dennis announced that his friend, Marlon Levine, would like to say a few words. Marlon apologized for his part in the championship match. He stated he would never want to do anything to embarrass his friends at Holy Cross because they were like family to him. He stated he loved the church almost as much as he loved Temple Beth Shulamith. He announced he would also be donating his prizes to Catholic Charities. Marlon’s little speech got a tremendous round of applause. The entire audience rose up as one as someone in the back of the room shouted, “three cheers for Dennis and Marlon”. No one noticed that the shouter was Davey, Dennis’ brother. When the awards dinner was over everyone agreed that this was the best awards dinner yet. Dennis and Marlon received many accolades for their generosity. Only Brian Smith, Dennis’ father, felt that, once again, Dennis had gotten away with something.
Even Brian Smith, who knew his son, Dennis, so well, did not notice, that the first letter in each sentence of the last 2 paragraphs in Dennis letter of contrition spelled out,
M O N A H A S A G R E A T A S S.
