Previous Next

part four: The Music of Hearts, 10♥, J♥, Q♥, K♥ 

Summary: 10♥ audrey, part one: three nights to wait

Ed watches Audrey’s house for three nights. Each night, Simon and Audrey eat, drink, and have sex all night long. He considers Audrey’s avoidance of commitment and decides that for just one moment in time, she needs to own her love for him, Ed. 

Summary: J♥ marv’s afterthought

Marv comes by Ed’s house and asks if he still needs the money Ed had asked him for, or indeed if he ever really needed it. Ed confesses it was a ruse to help him understand Marv. Ed explains about the aces as he did with Ritchie. Marv wishes him luck with Audrey. 

Summary: Q♥ audrey, part two: three minutes to take

Ed spends a fourth night across the street from Audrey’s. When Simon leaves at dawn, Ed knocks on her door. She sleepily answers in her nightgown and he leads her across the street to the park. There, he pushes play on the radio and they dance to a tough-and-tender love song. Ed expresses all his love and desire for Audrey in his partnering in the three minutes that they dance, and he feels her return that love. 

Summary: K♥ the end

Audrey doesn’t invite Ed into her home and he walks home alone, telling her he’ll see her at the next card game. Ed feels relieved he is done with twelve messages and four aces. He becomes terrified when he receives one last card. The address on the card is his own. 

Analysis of 10♥, J♥, Q♥, K♥ 

Audrey’s lifestyle has evolved to keep total control over her emotions by never getting too close to anyone. Ed has loved her for years, waiting, watching, and forgiving. He believes she loves him too but can’t let herself face it. For once, Ed wants Audrey to experience the knowledge that she loves Ed too. 

Audrey’s namesake on the ace of hearts is Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday, in which she plays a princess who goes incognito to spend a day as a commoner. Ed’s intervention is to turn the story on its head. Audrey was abused as a child by those who were supposed to take care of her. Ed treats Audrey like a princess for three minutes as they slow dance in the park. Ed asks nothing from her but the dance in which they unite as one. Afterward, they go their separate ways, after re-establishing the status quo between them. 

Marv and Ed’s friendship has new dimensions of transparency. Marv also has a new impulse in life: generosity. He wants to help Ed financially if he needs it. They discuss the aces’ call to Ed and how he has responded. Ed is confident he has only one last message to deliver. There are only four suits in a card deck, after all. When he completes his intervention with Audrey, he experiences the exhilaration of freedom and contentment. Then he hears someone putting something in his mailbox and experiences doubt and fear all over again. When he sees that the card is the joker and he himself is his next mission, he fears that everything he has accomplished has been nothing but an illusion.

Previous section part four: The Music of Hearts, 6♥, 7♥, 8♥, 9♥ Next section part five: The Joker

Take a Study Break