Some time after One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest …
A man plays the banjo from the street. It is nighttime. He faces a house. There are no lights coming from inside. He looks as though he’s been sleeping outside for days with the same clothes. He’s middle aged, or he may be ageless. He plays for a while, perhaps longer. A light is lit, and a bedroom window opens. A woman, a little younger, not much, pokes her head out, with laughter reserved for daytime.
“Did you see the moon tonight?” he sings playing the banjo.
“I was drinking from the stream,” she sings back.
“Did you see the stars tonight?”
“I was closing my eyes to imagine love in the world.”
“Did you see the present I left at your door steps?”
“I come in and out through my bedroom window.”
“I want to share my world with you.”
“Sure, if you will enter my world too.”
She comes out in her nightgown. He puts his instrument down. They hook their right pinkies together and cross over with their left hand to hook their left pinkies. They recite together:
“Nurse Ratched, pills and order,
The world isn’t round, try no further,
Notice how night turns brighter,
So the grass you step on is greener.
My name is Candy, my name is Randle,
We pledge together to be the spindle,
To ignite, rouse and kindle,
Passion and magic, all with a candle.”
Still holding firmly to each other’s pinkies, they bring their faces close to one another and give each other a kiss on the right cheek followed by the left, and, they rub noses, moving their heads left and right 4 times. Then, they look into each other’s eyes without blinking, inches away and they recite:
“Amidst thunder and poison
All evil, all prison,
To clear all oppression,
We hereby marry Frolic and Zen.”
Eyes still locked into each other’s, they unhook their pinkies and Randle reaches into his jacket pocket to get a candle and matches. Eyes still locked into each other’s, Candy receives them and lights the candle. She pours some wax on the sidewalk and holds the candle up into it until the wax is solid.
“Dogmatism,” Candy starts, when the candle holds on its own.
“Despotism,” Randle continues.
“We hereby melt frozen patterns,” they summon, and continue, together.
“Unmerge the word Rivals,”
“To form Rivers of Angels.”
They smile. They disconnect their gaze. He grabs his banjo and they leave behind the glowing candle as they walk away, holding hands, Randle in his everyday clothes and Candy in her nightgown.
Nurse Ratched appears before them. She looks radiant. An old skin embroidered with the word wretched has fallen off of her and is absorbed by the ground at her feet. “You are Rhapsody,” Candy says, “… and you are Sacred,” says Randle. “You are Nurse Harmony.” They say in unison.
“The world is unfrozen!” Candy says.
“The world is free!” Randle says.
Randle starts playing the banjo as they walk into the night. “Did you see the moon tonight?”
Harmony: “She was drinking from the stream.”
Candy: “The moon was bathing in the stream.”
Randle: “Did you see the stars tonight?”
Harmony: “She was closing her eyes imagining love in the world.”
Candy: “The stars watched over my vision.”
Randle: “Did you see the present I left at your door steps?”
Harmony: “She comes in and out through her bedroom window.”
Candy: “She took my present to my bed.”
Randle: “I want to share my world with you.”
Harmony: “Sure, if you will enter her world too.”
Candy: “I see your world in mine and mine in yours.”
They fade in the night playing music and singing, welcoming anyone one who will join them.