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We left our friends Phil and Frankie, in the company of Officer Carson and  Mary Elizabeth.  Phil has just realized that Mary Elizabeth is the sick little girl from next door, except she isn’t sick at all, and her mother has not been in a terrible accident.  We rejoin them with Phil feeling foolish, just as they are about to enter the home of Mary Elizabeth’s grandparents:

“Grandma, I brought Officer Carson and these other two nice gentlemen for some Christmas cookies, just like you asked me to.”

“Welcome gentlemen, and Merry Christmas.  Please come in.  Officer Carson, it’s so nice to see you again.  I hope everything is well with you.”

“Yes, Mrs. Springington, I’m fine.  Allow me to introduce my friends here, this is Paul Bunyan, and this is Curly.  Guys, this is Mrs. Springington.”

To which Phil and Frankie replied:

“Very nice to meet you, Mrs. Springington.”

“Nice to meet you, gentlemen.  Paul Bunyan and Curly, my what unusual names you have.  Are you by any chance familiar with the legend of Paul Bunyan, the lumberjack, and his blue ox Babe?”

Officer Carson interrupted here to say:

“Yes, Mrs. Springinton, of course they are familiar with that, but the fact is, we can’t stay long, I only, that is we only wanted to see that Mary Elizabeth made it home all right.”

“Made it home all right?  Why, whatever could you mean by that.  I could see all of you the whole time right out the kitchen window.”

“Well, anyway, I told Paul Bunyan and Curly here that I would help them go look for Moe and Larry.”

“Oh, I get it, you’re playing a game.  I have time for just one round.  Let’s see, I’ll pretend to be Ingrid Bergman, and you can help me go find Humphrey Bogart and Dooley Wilson, then, after we find them, we’ll all sit by the piano and one of us can play As Time Goes By.  I hope one of you gentlemen can play the piano, because I don’t know As Time Goes By.”

“Mrs. Sprinington, this is not a game, it’s like this, you see they, I mean we–.”

At which point Phil broke in saying:

“You see, Mrs. Springington, it’s very important that we get Officer Carson here down to the station to look for some friends of his, isn’t that right Officer Carson?”

“Yes-I mean no!  It’s very important that I get you down to the station to look for some friends of yours, Curly.  Or am I talking to Babe now?”

“Babe?  Where does Babe come into this?”

“Now, now, don’t get excited, Curly.”

“That’s right Officer Carson.  I mustn’t get excited.  None of us must get excited.  If you want to talk to Babe, you go right ahead.  Paul Bunyan is right here, so Babe must be nearby.  We can search for Babe when we go to look for Moe and Larry.”

“You gentlemen all seem a little confused.”

“No, Mrs. Springington, I’m not confused.  If I could only make you understand without, without…”

“We’re not confused either Mrs. Springington.  It’s Officer Carson here, I’m sure he’s been working very hard lately, and he probably just needs a rest, and we want to make sure, that is we–”

“Excuse me gentlemen, the telephone is ringing.   See if you can sort this out while I answer….Hello…?  Oh, hello  Mr. Gordon… Merry Christmas to you too…Officer Carson?  Yes, he’s here, just a moment…Officer Carson, Mr. Gordon is on the telephone, he wishes to speak to you.”

“Thanks Mrs. Springinton.  Now we’ll see who’s confused.  Hello, Carson here…”