Sunday, March 22nd, 2020. 12:54 PM.
Chapter Three
Nancy and Frank Continue Their Park Bench Conversation
Frank: “Nancy, may I ask you a question?”
Nancy: “Sure.”
Frank: “What is your middle name, please?”
Nancy: “My middle name is Phoebe.”
Frank: “I like the sound of that name: Phoebe. I like the sound of Be at the end.”
Nancy: “Why, Frank?”
Frank: “Be is big with meaning, Nancy.”
Nancy: “How so, Frank?”
Frank: “Neil Diamond wrote a beautiful and deeply touching song called “Be.” And be rhymes with me and see. Those are important words to me. I’m always trying to see things with the eyes of my understanding. And be also rhymes with pea – and there is a pretty song about a sweet pea.”
TOMMY ROE-“SWEET PEA”(LYRICS)
Phoebe: “What things are you always trying to see with the eyes of your understanding, Frank?”
Frank: “The things of the heart, Phoebe.”
Phoebe: “What things of the heart, Frank?”
Frank: “Oh . . . just some things of my heart, Phoebe.”
Phoebe: “What things of your heart, Frank?”
Frank: “Crying things.”
Phoebe: “What crying things are in your heart, Frank?”
Frank: “Feelings, Phoebe.”
Phoebe: “What feelings, Frank?”
Frank: “Feelings of loneliness and pain and sorrow . . . and feelings of love that need someone to go to. . . because if love has no one to go to then it’s only a seed that isn’t even planted yet.”
FEELINGS ( Lyrics ) Morris Albert
Phoebe: “What pain, Frank?”
Frank: “Pain in the heart that I can’t even cry out.”
Phoebe: “Why can’t you cry it out, Frank?”
Frank: “It’s tied up with love; and love needs someone . . . needs another needs someone to flow to . . . like a river, the river love.”
The Rose – by Bette Midler + lyrics
Phoebe: “I have a question about “the river love,” Frank.”
Frank: “And what is your question about the river love, Phoebe?”
Phoebe: “In the song, The Rose, it is written: “Some say love it is a river, that drowns the tender reed.” Are you drowning in that river, Frank? Are you that tender reed?”
Frank: “Yes, Phoebe, I am.”
Phoebe: “And do you need someone to pull you out of that river – or, do you want someone to step into the river of love with you, Frank?”
Frank: “I believe in Love, Phoebe. I just need someone to be in this river of Love with me so I’m not standing in it all by myself. Even being in The River Love isn’t enough unless I’m in it with someone, someone to love.”
To Love Somebody Lyrics – Bee Gees
Have You Seen Her – The Chi Lites (lyrics)
Celine Dion – ALL BY MYSELF+LYRICS
Phoebe: “Are you just looking for a lover, Frank?”
Frank: “No, Phoebe. I’m looking for a wife. Lovers can go away too easily. I couldn’t trust a lover.”
Phoebe: “Well, we couldn’t be married for several years. They just don’t allow twelve-year-olds to get married.”
Frank: “That’s true.”
Phoebe: “Then what do you propose that we do, Frank?”
Frank: “I have a little confession to make, Phoebe.”
Phoebe: “What is it, Frank?”
Frank: “Well, since you told me your middle name, I’d like for you to know my middle name.”
Phoebe: “What is your middle name, Frank?”
Frank: “My middle name is Mark.”
Phoebe: “Would you like for me to call you Mark, rather than Frank?”
Mark: “I would love for you to call me Mark, Phoebe.”
Phoebe: “Why, Mark?”
Mark: “Well, Phoebe and Mark just seem more real to me than Nancy and Frank. I’d like for us to be more than only characters in a story, or people on paper, or images on a canvass.”
Phoebe: “What more would you like us to be, Mark?”
Mark: “I’d like for us to be like “The Real McCoys.”
Phoebe: “Is your last name McCoy, Mark?”
Mark: “No, it isn’t.”
Phoebe: “What is your last name, Mark?”
Mark: “My last name is Richer.”
Phoebe: “And do you want us to be Richer, Mark?”
Mark: “Yes, Phoebe, I’d like for us to be Richer.”
Phoebe: “Richer in what, Mark?”
Mark: “Richer(s) in Love, Phoebe.”
Phoebe: “Are you rich, Mark?”
Mark: “Well, to a degree, Phoebe. And I would be richer with you. And you would be Richer with me. And we’d be richer in love, together, I believe and hope. And, with you and your help, we could get through the loneliness and the pain and the sorrow – if you have those things in your heart, too.”
About the following song. I was reminded of it because of the word “rich” in the first line. And I like this song. It is beautiful and serious — even though it has the words clowns and the word farce in it. I’m not clowning, and this is not a farce.”
JUDY COLLINS – SEND IN THE CLOWNS
Mark: “Phoebe, about the words: “I believe in love.” Whenever I listen to the song, “Alfie,” it seems to me that the most heart-touching words in the whole song are these: “I believe in love . . .” [Phoebe]
Alfie – Burt Bacharach (With Lyrics)
Mark's Imaginings 