A Mirror of Before and After

Frank, a twenty-six-year-old man with cerebral palsy, sits in his wheelchair in a head shop in Washington, D.C. trying to communicate with people by pointing out words printed on a board, using a pointer strapped to his head. This true story explores his relationships with Suzy, Carol and Moe. Suzy, who has escaped from a mental hospital, shares with Frank the secrets and voices that guide her mystical and isolated reality. Carol brings Frank out for rides and movies and into his first physical closeness, but later she withdraws into the Jesus Freak movement and tries to heal him instead of love him. Moe, a bushy haired giant, runs the “Before and After” headshop, and has been Frank’s friend for many years. Frank tries to draw Moe out of his secret loneliness, coaxing him, questioning him, pulling him from the glittering trap the “Before and After” has become. Frank acts as a mirror for the reader, revealing these three friends clearly. The document was discovered in a big old trunk full of Frank Moore’s early writings. The document is incomplete, but the included film treatment completes the story for the reader.