I'll Be Seeing You

Part 1 - Peggy

I’ll be seeing you,

In all the old familiar places,

That this heart of mine embraces,

All day through.

As Frank Sinatra’s swooning voice pours forth from a radio that sits on a side table near her bedside, Peggy Sullivan swings her fingers and toes as though she is conducting an imaginary orchestra. Sinatra’s verses spill out, flooding the room. Peggy floats adrift on a sonorous sea of melody; the Sultan of Swoon, a sultry siren. There is magic on the airwaves tonight.

Her head sways gently with the rhythm like a ship sailing soft waves into a familiar harbor. She smiles; she remembers this song.

Her Poppa had told her a secret that she was never ever supposed to tell anyone else. He had made her pinky promise. This was her Momma and Poppa’s special song—and it had become hers too.

Before Peggy was born, when Poppa had to go away on a big ship in the war, this was the song they had sung together. He had told Peggy that they would sing it every night while they were apart. Sometimes, she would still hear them singing it together late at night—they must have thought she was asleep.

Peggy thinks about how her Poppa could have been as famous as Frank. Listening to his voice was like watching the sun set on the bay; every time he sang for her, she would tell him so. He always answered that he had seen enough of the world when he had been away on that ship. Now, all he wants to do is to be with her Momma; and with her.

A framed photograph leans on the side table next to the radio with a picture of a tall, slim man whose smile stretches farther up one side than the other. On his shoulders rides a little girl clinging to two tufts of his hair; she has the same lopsided smile.

Peggy looks at the picture of her and her Poppa. The photograph doesn’t show it, but her mind fills in details like his firebrand hair and emerald eyes; just like hers.

She smiles broader and sings along.

In that small café

The park across the way

The children’s carousel

The chestnut trees

The wishing well

The siren spell is broken with the rat-ta-tat-tat of knuckles on the door. Peggy adjusts her hospital gown and turns the radio down—slightly.

“You can come in,” she says.

The doorknob turns.

Part 2 - Poppa

Peggy takes a quick breath of excitement as a tall, trim man with red hair and shocking green eyes walks through the door.

“Poppa,” she gasps, “it’s your song!”

She spins the volume on the radio back up.

It feels to her as if a whole lifetime has passed since she saw him last. Time moves funny when you’re stuck in a little hospital room.

“I’ve missed you,” she manages to say through both hands, as if she will somehow elude embarrassment if her face is hidden.

“Me too,” he replies, “How you feeling? Nurses treating you right?”

“Fine. I’m ready to come home, Poppa.”

“I know.”

“Oh! I made a picture for you!”

“Really?”

“It’s over here somewhere. Oh. It should be right here. It was you singing to Momma on that ship. I-I can’t find it. I didn’t mean to lose it.”

“It’s okay. You can draw me another one. Maybe draw it together?”

Peggy beams, “Perfect. I’ll get my colors.”

As she turns and digs through her side table, Sinatra’s last lines hammer home.

I’ll be seeing you

In every lovely summer’s day

In everything that’s light and gay

I’ll always think of you that way

I’ll find you in the morning sun

And when the night is new

I’ll be looking at the moon

But I’ll be seeing you

A man’s voice cut through at the end, “That was Frank Sinatra’s hit I’ll Be Seeing You that made it all the way to number four on the Billboard charts way back in the summer of 1944. Stay tuned for more swooners and crooners here on oldies 104.3 The Swing.”

Peggy turned back from her side table empty-handed.

“I-Oh. I can’t-I can’t remember what I was looking for,” Peggy sighs then gasps, “Oh, my glasses. It’s time to read the funnies.” She turns to reach into the drawer and notices a man sitting next to her bed, “I’m sorry, but, have we met before?”

The young red-haired man answers with a sad smile.

Part 3 - Frank

“I know now. You remind me of my Poppa,” Peggy says, “Oh. He had hair just that color. And that crooked smile!”

“I know,” the man says.

“Oh, so you knew my Poppa? He’s been gone a long time. I’ve got a picture of him right here,” she reaches for the photograph and stares at it awhile, stroking the frame.

“You look happy there.”

“Oh, I didn’t know how happy though. That’s when you know it’s real and goes to the bone—when you don’t know. This was the last picture of him. He got so sick. Then he was just…”

“I know. It’s okay.”

Peggy looks back at the man and looks confused. “I’m Peggy, it’s nice to meet you. What’s your name again?”

“Frank. Frank Sullivan.”

“That name. Have we met before?”

The man stays silent.

Peggy’s gaze wanders back to the photograph.

The man gets up and walks over to stand by the radio. He pulls something out of his pocket, like a miniature television, and starts to tap on it with his thumbs.

Peggy says, “I miss him.”

The man pauses.

“Cherish the time you have with people you love. Make good memories with them. You never know when you’ll never get to see them again,” she pauses.

“I know a song about that. It’s by Frank Sinatra.”

“Oh, I just love Sinatra.”

“I know,” he pauses, “You know, I’m actually named after him.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” the man says, looking down at the little screen again. He smiles, taps a few more times, and magic fills the room once again.

I’ll be seeing you

In all the old familiar places

That this heart of mine embraces

All day through

Peggy glows, “Oh. I haven’t heard this song in ages.”

“Really? This is my granny’s favorite.”

Peggy and Frank lose themselves to the music. And for a brief, precious moment in time, they are both transported to some hidden sea where they can be with a loved one they have lost.