This is not a sad story.
Well, that's what you were thinking, isn't it?
You hear this music,
and you see me pedaling down some sun-dappled street,
and you think, "uh-oh."
Ow! Oh, my gosh, Maria.
It's a story about my family
and how much we all love each other.
Julie!
Julie's the oldest of the triplets,
and she never lets the other two forget it.
I can do this, honey.
Why don't you go...
That's Steph.
When she does talk to my parents,
she usually says the wrong thing.
And Michael, snark central.
When do we get a break?
Are you in the union?
He's joking, but he means it.
Then there's dad.
Dad doesn't say the wrong thing.
He just doesn't say anything.
This reminds me of our first date.
Not again.
I want to hear.
He invited me over to a house he was remodeling
to help peel wallpaper.
Uh-huh. Wow.
You're such a romantic, dad.
I am. On the second date, we pulled carpeting.
Mm-hmm.
She probably liked it.
Actually, I did, Steph. We had fun.
Am I right? Yeah.
Well, that's about all the fun I can handle.
Nice way to get out of working.
So is that when you fell in love with mom?
When did you fall in love with me?
Oh, I-I'll let you know.
Hey, you should have called.
"I know mom's unhappy you're not getting along
"even if she doesn't show it.
You should talk to her."
She thinks it's so easy.
I guess you could say
my role in the family is the glue.
I'm always trying to get everyone to stick together.
I'm not in the mood.
I have a headache.
Want me to fix it?
¶ You could breathe again
¶ you would...
Feel better?
Mm-hmm.
So what will you do when you're at college and I'm not there?
I'll come see you.
It's not that far.
It's just Boston.
Yeah, but what if you went to nyu and commuted?
Or if you had a dorm?
I could take the train on weekends,
and you could pick me up at grand central.
¶ ...house is falling
¶ your house is falling down
Even I couldn't fix everything.
One day at school,
my shoulder started hurting really bad.
That night, I woke up with the worst headache in my life.
Okay.
Here we go. Got her?
Dad.
It's okay, sweetie. I got you.
Yeah, we got him here now.
I want to go home. I know.
I wouldn't worry. If you're half the s.O.B. Your father is,
we'll have you out of here by breakfast.
I always treated you like a lady, didn't I?
Eddie and I did some business last year.
Oh, he did the business. I ate crow.
Sorry.
If I didn't have a taste for crow,
would I be running a place like this?
The triplets were leaving soon for college in Boston.
I was worried about being left alone,
but I was more worried about Michael.
What would he do without me?
¶ On the beach, under the pier
¶ where the cool kids are so near
¶ it's perfect for a ladybug's...
Where you going?
Pick up some smokes.
I want to go.
Mom won't let you.
¶ It's perfect for a ladybug
I can't believe she caved.
I told her my homework was done, which it is.
It's just different from how we grew up. That's all.
You think I'm spoiled?
Well, you are kind of queen of the universe, right?
Animal rights activists have...
¶ I'm gonna let you... No. Whoa, whoa, whoa.
You can listen to that corporate crap with Steph and Julie.
Get a cd.
All my friends listen to that crap, too.
When you go to Boston,
how am I gonna know what I should be listening to?
Heh. You never give up, do you?
Yeah, otherwise.
Good choice.
Okay.
Seriously, if you go away to colle...
It's not all my fault.
What?
That I'm supposedly spoiled.
Yeah. Heh. I guess mom just likes giving you
stuff she couldn't give us.
Before dad made all his money?
I don't mean money.
Like before they got married,
she was just way stressed trying to handle the three of us by herself.
I don't think she was ever really happy till you came along.
It's kind of crazy dad married someone with triplets.
Yeah. Well, he's kind of crazy.
We were very, very cute, though.
Can I have a drag?
Come on. I'm not a baby.
We'll have a smoke together in a few years.
But by then, I'll have quit.
I'm really worried.
I know. I know.
Now, the thing about encephalitis
is that it tends to resolve itself without any treatment,
so our job is basically seeing that you stay as comfortable
as possible in the meantime.
How's that sound?
Mom, are you there?
Sorry. We have a g.S.W. Coming in,
and all the cubicles are taken.
We're almost done. Okay.
Mom?
What's a g.S.W.?
I knew that the pediatrician
was wrong about the backpack,
because a pinched nerve does not produce neurological symptoms.
Is a g.S.W. A gunshot wound?
You're too smart for me.
Oh, my God. This place...
Excuse me!
Tell me about it,
but you're safe here.
You gotta stay with your family.
I'll get you some water and settle your nerves.
What do they think happened?
Well, she probably got it from the tick.
Keep you hydrated.
Nurse Carson,
you have a phone call, line one.
Nurse Carson, you have a phone call, line one.
All right, Julie, listen.
She's gonna be fine.
Should we take the train down tomorrow?
Julie, just... no. Stay...
stay put. Finish your week's classes.
Okay, mom. Just let me know.
Okay.
Are we ever gonna find this young lady a bed?
Sorry. As you've undoubtedly noticed,
we've got serious space issues here.
This is Mr. marchwinski.
He's our p.R. Guy.
That's why he's advertising our problems.
No wonder we're going broke.
I got to go.
Can I just get over there?
Eddie's... Eddie's amazing.
We may be a lowly county hospital,
but he gets us the best doctors in the world.
We heard. That's why we drove to Westchester
instead of our local hospital.
I'm glad you did. So, Maria,
is there anything I can do for you?
Paint the walls something
that doesn't make me hate my life.
Maria, this is a hospital.
No, she's right. I mean, what does
a place that looks like this communicate?
That's how my dad talks to people,
by building things.
Well, that must make for slow conversations.
How do you know if a boy likes you?
Judging from mom and dad, I wouldn't have a clue.
Yeah, they work together,
but what about the rest of the time?
Look, I want to float the walls of the storage space,
or it'll look like a fortress in here.
We're gonna move that load-bearing wall two feet the other way.
That's going to be repermitting there,
and that could hold us up for a few weeks.
Just do it, and I'll talk
to the building department later.
You're the boss.
What?
Nothing.
Nothing?
Put your helmet on, tough guy.
Listen, it's easier to ask for forgiveness...
than permission. Okay, dad.
Hey, did you go to school with a guy named kerrigan?
Kerrigan? Yeah.
I don't know. Maybe. Why?
His son's in my class.
Maybe you should invite the kerrigans for dinner.
Ah, maybe I should invite the other 800 guys
I went to school with, too.
Maybe you should.
Can we stop at Ben & Jerry's?
Who is this Ben and Jerry?
I don't know these boys.
Lame.
No, we gotta pick up your mom.
She's been doing interiors all day.
Work, work, work.
I don't think I'd want to work with my husband,
unless his job was making ice cream.
Then I guess I could handle it.
I don't think your dad likes me.
What are you talking about?
Like, he never talks to me.
Yeah, well, that's just how he is.
He doesn't really talk to anyone.
Your mom's easy to talk to.
Yeah, but she talks too much.
I want that rock.
No, I want that one.
Well, that's really fair, guys.
¶ You say that I'm messing with your head
¶ yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
avril's corporate crap.
No, she's not.
Oh, know what?
What?
Max kerrigan
was behind me on the bus,
and he kind of pulled my hair,
and he was like, "you have a lot of hair."
Well, you do. Yeah.
Then he was like, "you don't know where I live,
"'cause I get off the bus first,
"but I know where you live,
'cause our dads went to school together."
That's totally illogical.
Maybe he likes you.
¶ And now I figure what the hell?
Oh, my God. Really? ¶ all I want is to mess around
¶ and I don't really care about
¶ if you love me, if you hate me
¶ you can save me, baby, baby
¶ all my life I've been good, but now
¶ whoa, I'm thinking what the hell
¶ what the hell
¶ LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA
¶ whoa
I'm gonna fall.
I need to lie down.
You are. You're in bed.
What kind of house is this?
It's a hospital.
Oh, right.
It sucks here, but you'll get used to it.
I've been coming here since I was, like, three.
My arm just jumped.
That was a good one.
Go, go, go, go.
I got something!
Fight it! Fight it! Oh, my God.
Just reel, reel, reel, reel!
What do I do?
Give it some muscle.
Oh, my God. Here it comes. Oh, I can see it.
I can see it. It's huge.
What? It's huge.
I don't want to look. I'm reeling it in.
No slack. Here. Hey, here...
oh, yes, look at the size of it.
That is a record.
That is twice the size
of the garbage bag I caught last week.
It's not funny! You know what?
Should we bring it home for mom to clean,
and we'll eat it later?
You want to stuff it and mount it on your wall?
It's a beauty.
See? My dad's not all bad.
He's not even part bad, really.
The thing that changes your life forever can be big,
like falling in love.
Or small,
so small that it doesn't even leave a mark.
Dr. snow, please call...
You know, when they let her out in the morning,
she and I can take a cab.
You should go home and get some sleep.
What about you? You... you go.
No. I'm not the one that has a meeting with Turner at 9:30.
Yeah, yeah. Come here.
Hey, I really liked yesterday's entry.
You didn't!
If you ever...
Dad says it's easier
to ask for forgiveness than permission.
I guess that's why he does what he wants,
then asks questions later.
It's also why some people don't like him.
Mr. fareri proposes building
17 luxury residences
on the 140 acres of the former gimbel estate.
Time and again, he's maneuvered around zoning restrictions
and the will of this council,
contributing to the unchecked growth of our community.
We used to live like neighbors,
talk to one another.
Now we hide out behind the walls of luxury homes.
But who wants to talk to their neighbors, anyway?
Thank you.
Come on. You want to find...
I'm sorry. Can we, uh, have a moment here?
Sure. Uh, hey,
come on. Come on.
Come on.
Why do we have to go?
Hope you're feeling better, Austin.
Uh, we just wanted to ask if there's any chance
that either of you were aware of
that Maria might have been bitten by an animal
in the past few months? Scratched?
Other than the tick?
I mean, not that I'm aware of, but...
As you know, she's grown worse.
I think we actually have to consider another possibility here.
What?
That, uh, Maria may have contracted rabies.
They tell me that the odds of it being rabies are tiny,
like 160 million to one.
They're gonna run some tests, but odds are,
it's encephalitis, overwhelmingly.
What if it were rabies?
What will we do?
Noth... there's nothing.
Well, we've already gone ahead
and contacted the center for disease control
and the pasteur institute
looking for any insights
they can provide us with moving forward,
but main thing we want to do now,
we want to try and slow her system down
so that she has the energy to fight the virus,
which would also help with the encephalitis,
if that's what it turns out to be.
Do it. Whatever it takes, do it.
Excuse me. Yes?
Are you Mrs. fareri? Yeah.
I wonder if you had a moment for me.
I just had a couple of questions.
She does not have rabies,
and this is not a news story.
This is my daughter that we're speaking about.
I understand, but if there's a chance
there's rabies in the area, people should...
miss, miss, the emergency room is that way.
I'm not looking for the emergency room.
You will be in about two seconds.
You understand?
I don't know how they got your name.
We've tried to keep this quiet.
Well, this woman had no trouble finding me.
If I find out who leaked it...
clearly we need to run a tighter ship
around here in more ways than one.
Let... let me go see
if there's anything I can do for you guys.
Hyah.
Mom.
I'm here, Maria.
It's us.
You guys look awful.
Come here.
Why did she tell us not to come?
Why won't you at least try it?
Well, number one, it's too sparkly for me,
and, number two, that's not my color.
Don't you just die of boredom
putting on the same thing day after day,
month after month, year after year?
Nope.
Mom, you're missing a diamond.
I know. I know. I'm looking for it. Don't tell dad.
What, he hasn't noticed?
Heh. Your father?
Hey, will you leave your mom alone?
She takes long enough without
you distracting her. We gotta go.
I-I'm ready.
Shh. Don't tell.
Pinky swear.
Listen, you gotta get over this thing.
I, uh...
I got us tickets to see an otherwise concert.
And rob really wants to come with me, but I...
I'd be pretty pissed if I have to go with that clown.
I know you got a crush on him,
but I got that ticket for you, so...
You do what you gotta do, okay?
Hey, what's up?
Nothing much.
Oh, wow.
What?
Nothing.
I think your mom's been looking for that.
Boys are so immature.
Oliver called Amy a freakazoid today.
Real subtle, Oliver.
I mean...
It's so obvious he likes her.
Why doesn't he just tell her?
Wouldn't it be easier if people just said exactly what they were thinking?
But I guess then I'd have to do it, too.
Maybe it's not that easy.
You looking for something?
My long-lost innocence.
Ask your mother.
Maria?
Hi there. Did you finish your homework?
Yeah.
Why doesn't daddy talk more?
Did you just try to talk to him?
Yeah.
It's just... it's just who he is.
It doesn't mean that he's angry at you.
Duh. Why would you even say that?
Because when we were first married,
he wouldn't talk to me all that much,
and it kind of scared me.
Why?
I know...
Sometimes...
I'm...
I'm gonna tell daddy to talk to you more.
No. No, no, no, honey. No, don't.
Thank you anyway, but don't... don't mention it, okay?
Daddy has a lot on his mind.
Okay.
What's okay?
Nothing.
You're a good girl.
You're the best girl.
We got the diagnosis.
The DNA is consistent with a strain of rabies
found in silver-haired bats.
The bite itself would barely leave a mark.
It might well have occurred while she was sleeping,
which would explain why you wouldn't know.
But I don't understand, because you said
the chances were 160 million to one.
That statistic is accurate.
I'm sorry.
I'm so sorry.
So?
You see, once there's symptoms of rabies,
there's nothing more anyone can do.
Now, her eyes are no longer reacting to light.
We've given her two eegs,
which are the... the brainwaves test,
standard protocol before removing life support.
Removing life support?
Yeah.
Do you, um, have a room where I can go and cry?
We don't really have any private...
why don't I find you an office?
We should go see her.
I knew you were there.
I knew you were all there.
We're ready.
So who would like to be in the room?
Last summer, mom smelled smoke in the house.
Of course she blamed me.
She was giving me the third degree,
so finally told her that Maria had snuck one.
Maria must have killed you.
Yeah, she wanted to.
But I let her tweeze my eyebrows.
It was like her dream come true.
I'm not gonna go back to school.
I can't handle it.
I'm going to stay here for mom and dad.
I'm sorry. You can't be on the bed.
What?
It's against regulations.
What are you talking about?
No, no, I-it's fine. Stay put.
I'll take responsibility.
It's mommy, Maria.
I'm with you.
outside the home of John and Brenda fareri,
whose daughter Maria has died
after contracting rabies,
her death caused by a silver-haired bat.
She passed away after just 10 short days in the hospital.
Deaths from rabies are an extremely rare occurrence.
They'll lose interest eventually.
Bye. Bye.
You guys don't have to wait.
No, it's fine.
Let's just get this over with.
Okay.
Love you.
Come here.
Take care, okay?
Yeah.
See you soon.
Okay.
I'm going to get a job.
I'm gonna look tomorrow.
I didn't say anything, honey.
Can I have your attention, please.
All service to...
Hey.
Did you go to any classes today?
Just tell the bursar's office
to send us whatever it is
they're worried about, and I'll... I'll fix it.
Okay, I will.
Your sister got a job as a barista.
Cool.
And, um...
We ought to start thinking about Christmas.
Yeah.
Maybe we could just be together,
but...
Like maybe if we went somewhere that's not christmassy.
Merry Christmas.
Oh, you expect someone else to join?
No.
Happy Christmas.
I feel like there was more food here earlier.
We ate it.
No, but there was, like, plates and stuff.
There was more.
More... there was more here.
Yes, there was a piece of fish.
It's, like, all here.
Very rich. It's very rich.
I'm solid for as in science and math.
It's history that worries me,
so I'm gonna ask for some extra-credit work.
Maybe you should talk to your guidance counselor.
It's not that bad, like an a-,
but I know I can get it to an a.
That's what I mean, sweetie.
You know, you hear about kids
committing suicide in high school
because they get their first b.
Maybe it would be better to get it over with
and just get one now.
Oh, my God. You are so mental.
Come on, dad. Come on, dad.
Uh, sorry. I push where?
Where?
That one right on the top, right...
shit.
We need to decide on the paneling today.
Here's the breakdown if we go with the quarter oak.
And if we go with...
John.
"This may sound mean,
but I have to admit I hope Amy isn't as popular as..."
As she was in sixth grade.
It's kind of hard to have one of your best friends
incredibly popular with everyone.
Oh, we had to write our top wish
in English class today,
and even though I have a million wishes for me,
like being a star or a really famous scientist,
I wished for the health and well-being
of all the children in the world.
It's weird.
"It's like it just wrote itself."
Are you ready, John?
Tamar wants us to stop by the site
before we go to the office.
John.
John?
Why aren't you at work?
Dad got pulled in to some meetings, and...
Are you all right?
Yeah.
Are you sure? Can I do anything?
No. Thank you.
I don't... I don't think anyone can get this out.
It's gotten into the metal or something.
Okay.
Your dinner's on the stove if you're hungry.
Thanks.
¶ Trouble's waiting on the corner
¶ he's been telling you that I'll be there
¶ I'm losing
¶ I'm losing you now
Were you just going to run out of the house?
Were you gonna leave a note?
Yes. I did leave a note.
So I'm supposed to approve of you
going off to Seattle with some boy
that we haven't even met?
What is in Seattle? What's here?
I have a job at a coffee shop
where I'm a sitting duck for people
to continually come in and say,
"be strong for your parents."
Right, like I didn't lose anything.
I can't believe you're using Maria to rationalize this.
Don't you understand anything?
What is it that I don't understand?
Dad is this zombie,
and you go around cleaning,
pretending that everything's fine.
Maria was the only one who could get away
with talking about anything that mattered around here...
So I'm leaving.
Picking my top wish seemed hard at first.
I mean, I have a lot of 'em,
like I want to make a difference in the world.
I know. It sounds cheesy,
but I want to help people.
Dad builds these huge buildings,
and mom makes them look great,
and that makes people happy.
And someday I want to figure out
my own way to make people happy.
But that isn't the wish I picked to write about.
Even though I have a million wishes for me,
like being a star or a really famous scientist...
I wished for the health and well-being
of all the children in the world.
It's weird. It's like it just wrote itself.
Yeah.
Hey, Eddie.
John. You okay?
I'm gonna build you a hospital,
a children's hospital.
How much will that cost?
Nothing would make me happier, John,
but, uh, I'd better explain a couple things.
Okay.
Why don't we go inside out of the cold?
...Figure out what to do next.
encouraged by Friday's report.
Obviously it was better than the market expected.
Hello.
Hi. Uh, Brenda?
Yes.
Hi. Bruce komiski.
Uh-huh.
Yeah. John invited me to dinner.
Oh, uh...
Right. Right.
Uh, let me open the gate, okay?
Give me a second.
You've reached John fareri. Damn it.
Leave a message.
John, w-where are you,
and who is Bruce?
Have a seat.
Oh, thank you.
Would you like a glass of wine?
Red or white? Sure. Whatever's open.
Okay. All right. I'll just... I'll be back in one second.
All right.
Ah.
Here we are.
Thank you. Great.
Cheers. Cheers.
So John's probably just having one of those crazy days at work.
I'm sure he'll be right along any minute.
Great.
I'm sorry for your loss.
Thanks.
Unusually, uh, warm for this time of year?
You know how it is.
It could snow tomorrow or the next day or...
Right. Funny.
Heh.
That... this is good.
What is it?
Uh, I forget.
I'll go get the bottle.
You know, it's... it's not important.
No? Okay.
You know what?
I think it actually did snow last year
right around this time.
Huh.
The weather these days...
Oh.
John.
Bruce? What are you doing here?
Dinner.
Remember?
Yeah. Yeah.
Oh.
Yeah, sure.
Brenda and I, we got a chance
to get to know one another.
You two have already met, right?
No.
No? No, John.
So how was your first day on the job?
Well, I, uh, got to the medical center,
and I introduced myself to the head of planning,
and I... I told her that I was in charge
of the new hospital project,
and, um... and she said,
if there was such a thing, that would be her job.
Yeah, yeah. She thinks it is.
Yeah. So I then went to Eddie stolzenberg's office,
and, um... and he said, "yeah, yeah, no.
"You don't want to tell anybody, you know,
what you're doing or... or why you're here."
So, I mean, he is... he does have
the authority to... to build this?
Oh, yeah, he thinks he does, yeah.
I mean, you know, I, um...
I left my job, and I moved my stuff here.
If I don't really have a job...
no, you have a job.
I... I hired you.
Uh-huh.
I mean, usually, the board hires me.
I don't have a board.
Should I get a board?
Bruce, would you like some more wine?
Yes, please.
Well, he seems very nice.
Yeah.
But do you think you could try to remember to tell me
the next time you invite somebody over for dinner?
I mean, I'm... I'm glad you had someone over
and that we had dinner together.
Lydia.
John...
Sorry about your loss.
Well, thank you. Thank you.
Uh,
I was wondering if you've heard about
this project that I'm working on.
The hospital?
Yeah. Yeah.
Um, I was hoping
that I could have your support on it.
Honestly, I don't think I can be much help to you on that.
The folks I have influence with
are just too suspicious of you, John.
Sorry.
You gotta be kidding.
Really, it was awful.
Apparently, dad talked this guy into leaving a real job.
Is this some kind of cut-rate deck?
Oh, listen to her.
Whoa, don't bet outside your comfort zone.
I'll raise you. Okay.
This guy, by the end of the evening,
he had this look on his face,
you know, like the environmentalists get
when they realize that dad has done a number on them?
Sounds like the old dad.
Yeah.
Is he getting anywhere with this hospital?
Uh, whew.
I... you know, I don't really know.
He doesn't talk to me about it.
It's weird. He's normally such a chatterbox.
Well, it's good he has a project.
Yes, yes. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Fantasy of some hospital
so he can wipe out the memories
of what happened to Maria at the old one
and, uh, forget the family he has left.
Michael. Okay, Michael.
What? It's like none of us even exist.
Michael, everyone that loses someone goes through this.
We just have to stick together.
Whose bet is it?
Mine.
Steph.
You there?
Needless to say, we love the idea.
We're... we're 100% behind it.
It's a beautiful thing, what you're doing.
Especially with everything that you've been through.
Okay. What do you need me to do?
Well, the thing is...
I'm not a patient you're giving bad news to.
It's all right. You can just...
what?
All right. Well, how do I...
how do I put this? Um,
despite everybody loving kids
and how they're our... our future and everything,
uh, pediatrics is the bottom of the food chain,
neurosurgeons, the transplant guys
being the big guns around here
since they bring in the money.
Now, they are not happy with your idea,
because they're like, "well, we want a new toy.
"We want a gamma knife.
We don't want a children's hospital."
So they've gone to bitch to all of their friends at the county legislature,
who unfortunately are our bosses,
and they're not happy with your idea either,
because they don't want to take on
any big capital projects during an election cycle.
Their biggest donors, who don't want to lose any business,
they don't want you stealing any of their business...
...State board of health
which has to approve any construction of new hospitals.
They don't want you taking their business.
And a lot of these s. O.B.S...
construction on a new hospital.
Did I leave anything out?
Money.
Yeah, nobody's mentioned where would the money come from.
Okay. We finished?
That's not enough?
Bruce found a fund-raiser.
I'll speak to the state senator.
It's all good.
Courage, compassion, devotion, destiny.
What do you think?
It's wonderful, Michael.
It's so big.
That must have hurt quite a lot.
Lot less than laying around, trying to figure out
how long it would take to flunk out. Heh.
I'm gonna go for a walk.
I'm trying to take care of him.
I know. I know you are.
At least I've got my classes
to get my mind off things, but he's...
did you ever try to talk to dad about things?
Dad?
I just have to be strong for him until he comes out of it.
Yeah, but what if he doesn't?
He will.
I know he will.
It's just weird.
For the first time in my life,
I'm realizing he's not our father.
He is, Julie. He always has been.
I know.
I keep telling myself that,
but now it's like he could just disappear
and it'll be like it was before he came along,
like we were never a family.
Don't say that!
I've always been able to count on you.
I'm sorry.
I'm trying.
I'm really trying.
Well, I'm amazed that you have the strength to pursue this
after what you've been through,
losing your only child.
She's not my only child.
I'm sorry. I meant your only...
I'm just saying it's a beautiful thing,
what you're trying to do,
but it is a big lift.
It's not gonna be all Kumbaya.
I've been trying to tell him that.
John, you're a developer, right?
You see a piece of property, you go, "what's this cost?"
Then you pull a few strings.
You bend a few rules.
A year later, the job is done.
The government's not like that.
In politics, you have to hold a very high standard of low expectations.
Let's say the county's behind it,
but some jerks in the legislature,
they're opposed to it,
because they... they got some kind of pet project.
Yeah, or the legislature's in favor,
but the division of budget kills it.
I mean, I don't want to say anything, but...
Say it.
We both know
you made one or two enemies along the way.
Come on. It's not like I'm trying to build a strip club.
I know.
Like I said, it's a beautiful thing.
I'm just saying.
No family should have to endure what we did.
This is just a no-brainer.
You've got people around here taking their kids
to a hospital that's... it's a nightmare.
I mean, you gotta be able to raise money to fix that, right?
I wish I had better news to tell you,
but unfortunately the numbers just don't add up.
We've looked at it from several different angles.
And this is what it is.
So say you need 120 million to build this.
130 by the time you're done.
So to issue bonds for this,
you need donations of at least 25 million.
Right, yeah.
Unfortunately, our study shows
that you'd be lucky to raise 10.
10? This is the richest part of the country.
Trouble is you have no donor base.
This is a county facility.
People feel like they've done more than their share
by just paying their taxes.
What about, um, a corporate sponsor?
Maybe, if you let them put their name on it.
They might contribute something.
Exactly.
Maria's name is going on it.
What? Maria's name is going on it.
Right.
Well, I wish you luck.
Thank you for your time.
All right, um...
Maybe... maybe you should rethink this.
Rethink what?
Aren't you listening to anything anyone has to say?
What's the point?
They're just saying no.
Why do you think that is?
You want to quit?
Thanks for dinner. It was good.
John.
Yeah?
I want to be involved.
With the hospital.
I want to help.
You don't... you don't need me?
You want to do it all... all by yourself?
What are you talking about? I have Bruce.
Jesus.
She was my daughter, too!
You are not the only one who feels hurt!
You have three other children!
Do you even care what they're going through?
Say something.
I can't do this anymore.
I can't... I can't be strong for you anymore.
I can't do it.
Adults are so weird.
Mom told me it scares her when dad doesn't talk to her,
because when she was little, her mother would get mad
and wouldn't talk to her for weeks, literally.
But she doesn't want dad to know that,
because she thinks it would freak him out
or piss him off or something.
But maybe dad doesn't talk sometimes
because actions speak louder than words.
John?
Yeah, it's me.
Where have I been?
I don't know.
I don't know either.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, too.
How long have you been building hospitals?
Well, gee, it's been about 17 years now.
Yeah? More or less.
Ready?
Uh, I don't know.
I really don't know about this.
Want to cancel?
Maybe.
Yeah? Okay. No, no, no.
I don't know.
You know, I don't know either. No.
I mean, I've never done fund-raising in my life.
Oh, no? No.
No, but the consultant told me
that there's nothing more fun
than looking someone in the eye, asking for money
and watching them squirm.
That sounds like a nightmare.
Heh.
Right.
So can anyone tell me what this is?
Um, a basement room?
Anyone else?
Now, I... I gather that none of you
have had the occasion to be in a place like this,
and, hopefully, you won't,
because it's a low-security prison cell.
Now here, here is a place that we're all likely
to end up in at some point, a hospital room.
Now, what's amazing to me is how similar these two rooms are.
You take a person.
You take their clothes.
You assign them a number.
You put them in a room with a stranger.
You give them institutional food.
It's the most dehumanizing thing you can possibly do to a person,
and we do it at the worst moment of your life.
We do it when you're sick or you're dying.
Do you want to... do you want to just say a few...
now? Yeah.
Okay.
Um...
Everything that Bruce just said.
Uh, we want to build a place
where there's enough room for children to get well
and where parents aren't sleeping in chairs in the hallways.
Has cut its earnings,
recorded a fourth-quarter charge,
dismissed its auditors
and suffered an embarrassing 3%...
And here we are. Okay.
Well, your prison thing was great.
RARBG.COM Oh, thank you.
I was awful.
No, come on. You were great.
No. Yeah.
I didn't... I didn't know what to say.
I haven't... I haven't really talked to anyone since...
I'm sorry. Hmm.
John's idea of bringing me on board
was to dump me on you.
Oh, no.
I know babysitting a...
Grief-stricken basket case
doesn't exactly fit your job description.
Actually it does pretty much.
Oh.
You're sweet.
Good night.
You have not reached us,
so I'll call you back.
Hey, sweetie, I don't know if you have plans tonight,
but if you're free, dad and I are going over to meet some donors,
and it would be so great if you guys could come.
It's something we can all do together.
What do you think?
Oh, I'm sorry.
I've got a paper due Monday,
but if I get that under control,
we were gonna go see some friends tonight.
Well, we don't want to mess up your weekend.
It's just so nice to see you two.
Try to get Steph to come home,
but you know how she is.
Yeah.
Well, this is the design. Came in last week.
Dad's hired some really great architects
who've done a lot of hospitals.
Great. That's really great.
I mean, that's just a preliminary idea, right?
Yeah, it's fine.
Just wonder where you guys will be at
if you ever finish this memorial to Maria.
It's not a memorial.
Maria is dead, dad.
She's dead. Mike...
I... look, I don't need you
telling me what I can say.
I'm not telling you... you are.
Stop it!
Oh, and God forbid we upset mom, because she can't take it.
Hey, don't talk about your mother like that.
Oh, now you're the perfect husband?
Where have you been?
You don't know what goes on between us.
Right. You're right.
Don't worry about mom.
Don't worry about Steph,
wherever she is out there.
Just keep building your glass box.
That'll make everything all right.
Bye, sweetie.
Bye, honey.
Bye.
What?
Heh.
Steph call?
No,
and I'm really starting to freak out about that.
We've been calling her for days.
Sometimes we're able to leave messages.
Sometimes it just rings.
The last time you talked to her, she was where?
San Francisco.
And that was a friendly conversation?
Oh! Oh, thank God!
Is that her?
All right.
I'm so sorry. She just hates us.
She's just... she's always been very...
That's great. I mean, that she's okay.
I'm so sorry. All right, no worries.
My pleasure. Thank you.
Can... can we get you some coffee?
No. It's okay.
A sandwich?
No, really. I-I'm fine, thanks.
Maria, she really cared about people,
and she wanted to make a difference.
I know how that sounds. I don't want you
thinking we're these deluded parents.
I mean, she definitely had her faults, right?
Yeah, definitely.
And she was, you know... she could be
very determined when she wanted something.
I mean, she was her father's daughter, right?
Her Christmas wish list, I'm...
yeah.
Cute tank tops,
a red-hooded sweatshirt,
flannel p.J.S,
a purple l.L.Bean jacket,
an iPod, iTunes gift cards,
oh, and a puppy named Gus.
You can pick three, okay?
How? This is so depressing.
I mean, what about toys or games?
Well, honey, these are things that they need.
I know, mom, but how merry is a pair of gloves?
Can we please get them some fun stuff along with the gloves?
Well, you know, Christmas isn't about
how much money you can spend. There's a... a budget.
So...
What if I cut some things off my wish list?
Like, well, I don't absolutely need a iPod.
And if I cut that,
I guess I won't be needing iTunes gift cards, will I?
Well, maybe a couple.
I can always play them on lila's iPod. Yeah.
Eww, don't get all weird.
Oh, my gosh, you guys are so freaking embarrassing.
Ooh.
What can I tell you? She'd recently
discovered the power of the f-word.
It's really wonderful to hear you talk about her.
Yeah.
Did they... did they say a million?
They were talking about dollars, right?
Shh. Oh, my God.
All right.
Yes!
Shh. I'm sorry.
Shh, shh, shh, shh.
How's it going?
It's all right.
I found something.
Maria wanted me to use it
in the kitchen at the gimbel estate.
Yeah. That's what I thought.
"Rose carmethene."
That's so cool.
Mm, not for a kitchen.
That's too loud.
What's wrong with a loud kitchen?
Kitchens should be, you know...
Quiet?
Right.
Who says?
You did.
Beige isn't everything.
Bye-bye, rose carmethene.
Heh heh.
I just thought it was interesting.
John.
You okay?
Yeah. I just couldn't sleep.
Wow.
You know I can't draw.
I'm gonna... I'm gonna mess it up.
It's a mess already.
Have at it.
I didn't know you were big on puce.
This is not puce. This, is, um...
this is jazzberry jam, I'll have you know.
One of your favorites?
No, no. My favorite...
Is beaver.
John, this is a children's hospital.
Okay, give me my beaver back.
It's not a Valentine.
Come on. You said I couldn't mess it up.
It's a window.
But it's too expensive.
It would not come up to code.
Screw code.
Oh, oh. I spilled some wine on the hospital.
Oh, Jesus.
Crayons for everyone.
Right. Jazzberry jam.
What is with the rooster?
It's a Turkey!
It's not a rooster.
Yeah, no.
So you can't see what they're...
Looks like a ship.
Cover that yet? We'll just have to...
I've tried.
The muskwa river stretches out
over an impressive 112 Miles.
Eat, Mike.
You should eat.
Muskwa offers something for everyone,
such as salmon...
I'm fine, okay?
Okay.
Sturgeon and stripers...
And every style of fishing.
With blue skies, gorgeous green mountainsides
Sign here.
Thanks.
It's from mom and dad.
If it's another monet poster
to cheer us up,
I swear I'll have an aneurysm.
Mom's not coming this weekend.
She says she and dad are too busy
and we should go down for the long weekend.
Hmm. Guess she doesn't need us
to babysit her anymore.
That's good, right?
Yeah.
Whoa.
You should see this.
Heh. What happened?
Folie à deux.
What?
Basically, they've gone crazy.
So, should we?
What?
Go down for the long weekend?
God, can you handle this?
Can you?
And for a $100 contribution,
we teach people to make these.
And what is so lovely,
your father said to me,
"Mrs. winereib, we could use these dolls
to decorate the hospital."
He did?
It's great.
It's just we're used to dad
being kind of a control freak about design.
Oh, I see.
I hope you don't mind my asking,
but my club was wondering about Maria's favorite doll.
Um...
she hated dolls.
We've raised nearly 30 million.
And didn't they say we couldn't do 10?
Now if the miserable bastards
on the New York state hospital review panel say yes
and your pal Nick in the legislature lines up the votes,
we got a shot.
No, it's more than just a shot, though.
It's... I've built hospitals before,
but this is... I mean, we are gonna have...
if they let us do it, we're gonna have
arts-and-crafts rooms on every floor,
foldout beds in every room
so parents, they can sleep with their kids.
You know, and I got the mta to give us a locomotive
so the kids have a place to play.
And... but no. No, wait. It's...
it's not about a building.
This is about... this is about...
it's about... it's about a feeling.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's about building a feeling.
You know, Bruce used to be one hell of a businessman
before he met Brenda and John.
Mrs. fareri.
Amy?
Oh, look who's here, John.
Hi. How are you?
Yeah, I'm fine,
but I'm really stressed
about my final exams next week.
Of course. Oh, it's great to see you.
You, too.
Let me introduce you to some of our friends.
This is Bruce. Hi.
This is a good friend of Maria's.
Oh. Lydia.
John.
I'm glad you came.
I always support things
that are good for our community.
I just didn't expect it would come from your direction.
Oh. Ow.
Well, you know, my daughter would have felt the same way as you.
She was as tough on me as you are.
Wish I'd known her.
Yeah, but the two of you together,
no, that would have...
that would have finished me off.
Here we go.
This is good. Just right there.
If anyone finds a cellphone, it belongs to Mrs. Bennett.
You can just toss those.
But that's such a total waste.
Well, thank you for pointing that out, Steph.
I have a whole fridgeful that wasn't even put out.
Okay.
What?
Come here.
Honey.
Come on. Let's go.
Yeah?
I'm so sorry.
It didn't pass.
I know you did everything...
Jesus! What?
It was Eddie.
The deal fell apart in legislature.
Wait. I thought... I thought he had the votes.
Hey, where are you going?
What the hell, Nick? John.
No, I don't want excuses.
What kind of an idiot votes against this?
I want to talk to them. You don't need to do that.
Just tell me their names!
You don't need to do that. I want names!
John, listen to me. We didn't give up.
We pushed it through. It's done, okay?
I was just about to call you.
Sorry.
Congratulations.
You did it.
RARBG.COM I honestly didn't think you could,
but you did it.
No. Maria did it.
I just want to change before we go to the office.
Or we could take the day off,
go back to bed.
Sometimes it seems like all is lost,
and then along comes a sunny day.
Yeah, my name is on a building,
but I left something else behind that means even more to me,
a family that talks to each other,
that loves each other.
They may have lost their glue,
but they didn't come apart.
Told you it wasn't a sad story.
¶ Shadow boxers in the old arcade
¶ summer breezes blow right through them
¶ drop a coin in the slot
¶ it slides in
¶ anticipation
¶ eyes wide open
¶ ah ah
¶ on the beach under the pier
¶ where the cool kids are so near
¶ it's perfect for a ladybug's companion
¶ It's perfect for a ladybug
¶ it's perfect for a ladybug's companion
¶ It's perfect for a ladybug
¶ on the beach under the pier
¶ where the cool kids are so near
¶ it's perfect for a ladybug's companion
¶ It's perfect for a ladybug
¶ on the streets, we'll pedal far
¶ at the mercy of the cars
¶ it's perfect for a ladybug's companion
¶ It's perfect for a ladybug