Charlie and the Girl on the Beach

I was at my friend Beth's funeral

Well, the reception
Or whatever you call it

At her beach house

It was quite a party
And I'll get to that in a second

I went for a walk down the beach
To sort of get away from the festivities and whatnot
When I saw Charlie
Sitting in the sand
Just sort of looking at the waves
Like in those old commercials
For easy listening albums

I don't know why
But I could tell even from his back
That he was sort of
Not in a great place, you know?

I went through a period of time
Where I worked with energies
People's energies

That's how I met Beth
I was her energy consultant
When she got sick

I don't do that kind of work anymore
Now I'm an interior decorator

Believe it or not
Energy doesn't pay

Sounds like a message
You find in a fortune cookie, right?

So, there I am on the beach
And I'm wearing exactly what you would expect
A woman on a beach to be wearing

A white dress, bare feet
Hair down
Looking quite lovely
And no, I don't feel bad saying that
This was more than a few years ago, mind you

I sit down next to Charlie
And I introduce myself
And he does the same
And we start talking
And I tell him about Beth
And her funeral

I tell him how she wasn't like other people
That she didn't want some funeral with everybody in black
Crying and somber and runny mascara

Beth wanted a party at the beach
With guacamole and onion dip
And Lionel Ritchie
Lots of Lionel Ritchie

Charlie thought that was pretty funny
And that was when he told me about his Mom

I guess things were pretty complicated between the two of them
For a lot of reasons
And he hadn't talked to her much
The last year or so
That she'd been sick

Turns out she and Beth had the same thing
Isn't that funny?

Well, not funny, but...

Charlie walked me back to the beach house
Where Beth spent her last few weeks
After she decided that she wasn't have any more treatment
Or tests, or bad hospital food

Once me and a few of her friends
Got her into her bed
With a window
Looking right out onto the ocean
I swear she looked like she was going to live forever

Now the house was filled with food
And music
And drunk people
Trying to remember bad jokes

And I think that's how Beth would have wanted it
She loved a good bad joke

I couldn't tell if Charlie thought the whole thing
Was in bad taste or not

So I asked him what he'd want
For his funeral

And he said--

'Something like this.  With people.  Lots of people.  'Cept I don't know if that many people would show up.'

And I said--

'Charlie, when Beth died she said she had no family, a couple of friends, and a beach house.  Today at the church, it was standing room only.  It's funny--how invisible we think we are.'

Then 'All Night Long' came on, which is my favorite Lionel Ritchie song--and yes, I do have a favorite.

Charlie and I danced on the sand
And it felt like--

Well, it felt like I'd known him forever

When the dance was done
I went back to the party
And he went walking down the beach

I never saw him again

But I'm glad to hear that so many people
Had stories about to share
At his funeral

Makes me feel like sayin--

'I told you so, Charlie.'

I told you so