Throughout The Women by Kristin Hannah, Frankie ended her letters with “Send …” She asked for “hand lotion and crème rinse and perfume. And a new St. Christopher medal … hand lotion, tampons shampoo, crème rinse, and See’s (candy). And I’m almost out of perfume. PS. Send hand lotion, perfume, crème rinse, Polaroid film, and candles. The damn electricity is constantly going out … I really needed more film. And who knew you’d miss Twinkies and Pop-Tarts in a war?”
My husband, Richard Morris, ended letters the same way, but his requests were different: “Send Kool-aid — the water and milk are terrible; stationery, Kool-aid, and pens; 3 jockey briefs (after an unfortunate 5-mile hike up a big mountain not wearing underwear); Gillette cartridges for my razor; a 5th Cav history book (after the 5th Cavalry Colonel requested a song similar to Garry Owen belonging to the 7th Cavalry); graph paper; for August birthday, a pocket-sized camera, sturdy wallet, tapes, and film; and in 1968, civilian clothes for R&R” – request promptly deferred to my mother since I had never before purchased men’s clothing. Of course, when one could get to An Khe, the PX at Camp Radcliff was amazing. Richard purchased for us stainless steel flatware in a mid-century modern design that we enjoyed over the years, despite later losses to the sandbox.
Fictitious Frankie repeatedly referenced Jean Naté perfume. If Richard had been referring to men’s cologne, his choice would have been English Leather, while he was the one who always gifted me with Charlie but apparently post-Vietnam since it didn’t come out until 1973. But when Richard wrote his Vietnam war satire many years later, he created the name Cologne No. 10 for Men to symbolize covering up the stink of war with its illusions and delusions. You may remember Chanel No. 5 — “Every woman alive loves Chanel No. 5.” And, of course, “numbah 10” had great significance in communications between soldiers and the Vietnamese.
Kristin Hannah’s attention to detail allowed her to pick up on the importance of scents during that time and able to write that Frankie’s Jean Naté made the soldiers feel that they were back home. Even now, if I were to catch a whiff of one of those scents, I would be immediately back in the day. Today we are much more aware of the sensitivity to scents that many people have and refrain from perfumes for their benefit. In order to empathize with them, all I have to do is remember that I almost got sick in a movie theater sitting near a man who had “overdosed” his Jade East. The Women is replete with details which, for those of us who lived it, take us right back. Younger readers likely are oblivious to the detail in this novel, such as “Love means never having to say you’re sorry” (although John Lennon disagreed). Henry “was at the stove, wearing his favorite apron, which read LOVE MEANS ALWAYS HAVING TO SAY YOU’RE SORRY …”
My favorite song Richard wrote was I Needed a Girl like Barbara because it was a description of our relationship that lasted through the years.
16. I Needed A Girl Like Barb’ra
© Richard A. Morris 1968
She liked my world and liked my dreams and
I liked hers and so it seemed that
Somewhere she decided to love me, and
Happily I took my cue.
I made up my mind to love her too.
I needed a girl like Barb’ra to
walk with hand in hand, to
help me on the perilous journey
to our promised land, to
help me laugh at the failures, and
learn and try again, to
never let my heart get old and
tired before the end.
I needed a girl like Barb’ra to
know me as I am, to
be a mirror to my soul and
see through any sham, to
help me know my weakness, and
bring out what is strong, to
light a candle in my darkness
when the night is long.
With faith in dreams that seem absurd she’ll
keep my hope alive.
The power of a loving word will
keep me going, reaching, growing,
loving.
I needed a girl like Barb’ra to
find eternal life in
what we give our children and in
what we give mankind. To
help make our gift to the future be
good and true and right. For
all these things I needed Barb’ra
for my only wife.
There are many types of romance and there are many types of love. Ours was a “heart follows head” love which many people have experienced over the centuries even in arranged marriages. Others do; but I don’t fault men in this novel who fell in love with Frankie while possibly trapped in a relationship resulting from an impulsive “head follows heart” situation. They came to love Frankie from working with her and learning who she was, growing in relationship — in a similar “heart follows head” manner. Richard’s song speaks of “deciding to love” rather than “falling in love.”
Part 7: Cerebrate — “The Women by Kristin Hannah – Not a review, simply an inspiration” – is my upcoming post.
Any posts appearing on this website after author and singer-songwriter Richard Morris’s death in November of 2017 were written and posted by his wife, Barbara Morris.
Richard Morris, Author 