Two stories about love, and what people mean when they use the word love. Or, looked at differently, two modern-day reinterpretations of the Frog Prince story. One concerns a pretty man falling in love with an unlikely woman. Another story involves an unlikely woman falling in love with a pretty bird.
Prologue.Host Ira Glass explains how you can get away with anything if you claim you did it for love. (3 minutes)
Act One. Polly Wants More Than a Cracker.
Veronica Chater explains the conflict in her house between her love for her pet macaw — a kind of parrot — and her love for her husband and three kids. The macaw wreaks a sort of low-level chaos in the house, because it wants Veronica all to itself. (10 minutes)
Song: "You Are So Beautiful," Joe Cocker, Tanya Tucker, Kenny Rankin and Babyface
Act Two. On the Border Between Good and Bad.
Another story of someone using the word love as they try to make sense of things. Russell Banks reads an edited version of his short story "Sarah Cole: A Type of Love Story," which appears in its full version in his collection The Angel on the Roof. (42 minutes)
Song: "Asleep and Dreaming," The Magnetic Fields
Act Two. On the Border Between Good and Bad.
Another story of someone using the word love as they try to make sense of things. Russell Banks reads an edited version of his short story "Sarah Cole: A Type of Love Story," which appears in its full version in his collection The Angel on the Roof. (42 minutes)
Song: " Asleep and Dreaming," The Magnetic Fields