St. Elsewhere (1982) s01e08 Episode Script

1
- Previously on St. elsewhere.
- It is legionnaires' disease.
- What would that mean?
- The hospital would be closed.
I'm really not in the market for
a car, Mark. Not a car, a classic.
Some guy named barnum wants to buy it.
No, he doesn't. You see, I'm barnum.
And now she's three months' pregnant.
She's only been out of here for two months.
They're building a nest.
I can see that. And she's gonna have a baby in there.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night ♪
Tonight on St. elsewhere. But a "coming out"
party because she's having a hysterectomy?
That's just Leslie's way of dealing with things.
Or do you wait till he's in love
with you or you're in love with him?
Then spring it on him, "I've had this hysterectomy."
Well, I refuse to raise our child in an open-top nest.
Do you think Ralph is able to function in the world?
- Yes, I do.
- Barnum?
I, uh, made him up.
Hey, how do you know so much
about birds, Ralph? I am a bird.
Anything else? The angina pectoris in 438.
Mm-hmm. He's talking gibberish.
It's Portuguese. He's from Angola. Oh.
I just thought he was nuts. Get some sleep.
Another message from barnum.
Dr. Pat barnum?
Says if he doesn't hear from me soon, he'll
assume I sold the car to somebody else.
Hmm.
Ever hear of a barnum? Sorry?
Why do I talk to this guy?
I don't get it. I've been sending bogus messages
From barnum to Craig all week long,
but I didn't send any message this morning.
[Chuckling] What
You? I don't believe it.
What are you doing, huh? Surprise.
It's a little twisted if you ask me. Nobody asked you.
Well, I've never been accused of being too conservative,
but a "coming out" party because
she's having a hysterectomy?
That's just Leslie's way of dealing with things.
It's still twisted. Besides, I wasn't invited.
Luther, don't push yourself too hard.
We only have 40 extra patients, you know.
I didn't get to sleep till 5:00 A.M.
5:00? It's the nightlife that's gonna kill you.
What's in that box? Oh, uh, wine.
What are those holes? You letting it breathe?
Oh, Luther, come on. Go get some rest.
[Cooing]
Uh, I gotta see somebody.
Well, we need another orderly à la carte.
I'll call the maître d'.
Good morning. What are you doing
lying in bed on such a beautiful day?
You should be out walking. You finished? Yeah.
I'm being consumed by my own appetite.
All I do is eat, and when I'm
not eating I think about food.
How much have you gained? Four pounds.
Oh, that's nothing. You know
what I gained when I was pregnant?
Forty-five. You gained 45 pounds?
Yep. Hold this.
Yeah, that was my first
marriage. I was Mrs. Eisenberg then.
You know, I'd never even seen potato latkes before.
They were wonderful. Cheese blintzes, lots of sour cream.
I got so fat I couldn't get my wedding ring off.
And my feet swelled up two sizes.
But the worst thing about getting so fat is stretch marks.
What can you do? Well, eat sensibly.
In your case, probably eat enough.
And exercise. Every day?
Mm-hmm, morning and night.
Okay. And enjoy being pregnant.
I envy you. Sure doesn't sound like it.
I do.
Right after you left for cabo San Lucas,
another patient came down with similar symptoms,
so I didn't wait to hear from
Atlanta, I closed down the ward.
Cummings is quite upset.
He's a good man, you know. I know. Just doing his job.
It's a very difficult and in some ways unrewarding job.
I wasn't being facetious.
Have we found the source of contamination? No, not yet.
We checked the air-conditioning
and heating units. They're all clear.
Ventilation? Nothing.
Hmm. No stone unturned. Let's hope not.
Okay. Off to the wards?
Fighting the good fight. Dr. Chandler?
You're a doctor, right? Right.
Okay. Let me ask you a question. You know how sometimes
Something can go wrong with you in your body,
but it's not really comin' from your body,
but coming from your mind? Psychosomatic.
Right. Psychosomatic. Mm-hmm.
If a person can have this problem, can, like,
other things have psychosomatic
problems? Things? What other things?
Well, like, plants and animals and other things like that.
You mean, would plants and
animals have psychological problems?
Yeah. You mean like do dogs get depressed?
Yeah. That's very interesting, Luther.
Yeah? Oh, yeah, there's been a lot of discussion about it.
You see, it seems logical that
where there's brain activity
You would suffer from some sort of psychological problems.
Doc, plants don't have brains.
That's right. But dogs do.
And horses do and cows do.
And pigeons.
Look, Luther, are you going to stand here
and ask me about every animal in the zoo?
I got a lot of patients to see. I understand, doc.
Just carry on. Thanks a lot. I appreciate it.
And I know patients are more
important than pigeons. Thank you, doc.
Patrick and I went sailing up the
coast to bar harbor last weekend.
Hey. How'd you manage that?
I got Carol to cover for me. I don't believe this.
Annie cavanero actually chooses personal
pleasure over professional responsibility?
This mcfarland guy must be something else.
You know what he did? What?
There's a nine-year-old girl,
Tammy plummer, up in traction,
heartbroken because she can't
play on the school soccer team.
I told Patrick about her the other night.
The next day he shows up in her room, spends
two hours telling her about lobster fishing.
Now she's got a crush on him.
Sounds like she's not the only one.
I envy you, cavanero. You?
The man with a girl in every on-call room?
I haven't felt like that since I was married.
What a year that was: Graduated
from dartmouth, accepted at ucla,
in love with the most beautiful woman in the world.
And chateaugay won the Kentucky derby, paid off 10-to-1.
That's what I like about you, Ben. Deep
down you're just a sentimental guy.
Hi, Leslie. What do you think?
Very festive. Good.
How you feeling?
I'm ready for the hysterectomy if that's what you mean.
Everything set? First thing in the morning.
You promise I'm only gonna be in here a week?
Maybe less. Thanks for the
tickets to last night's performance.
How was it? Oh, wonderful.
But your friend Victoria can't dance like you.
Says who? Me.
You never saw me dance. That's all right. I can tell.
I have a very artistic eye, in case you haven't noticed.
Not to mention the fact that I was a semifinalist
In the larchmont junior high twist contest in 1964.
Coming to my party?
Can I bring my chubby checker records?
[Both chuckling] See ya.
Okay.
Thief! Now cut it out, Ralph!
Conspirateur! Voleur! Quit it, Ralph. Ralph, quit it!
Conspirateur! I'm gonna get you for this, Ralph!
Nuts to you, bill! Nuts to you!
Hey, hey, hey, what's going on here?
[Cawing]
He won't come down, Dr. Beale. I tried going
up, but he keeps throwing things at me.
Tweezers, thermometers. He
hit me in the head with a bedpan.
Those things hurt. Ralph, what
in the hell are you doing up there?
Building a nest, beale. What does it look like I'm doing?
Look at the junk he's got up there.
That's a very impressive nest, Ralph.
Look at that, bill. That is one impressive habitat.
You building that nest for you and Jane? [Caws]
He's building a nest for his sweetie.
Ralph and Jane, they're gonna have chicks.
Look, I don't care. I got orders to get rid of that thing.
What if I can convince him to relocate it?
Okay.
Ralph, would you consider relocating the nest?
Would you ask shah jahan to move the Taj Mahal?
He won't move it, bill. Well, he's got to.
- Move it or lose it, Ralph.
- [Caws]
Don't give me that! Pompidou, j'accuse!
Cuban speculators are buying up
all the "e" tickets at disneyworld!
Calm down, Ralph. Provocateur! Defoliator!
Free Rachel Carson! Ralph! Ralph!
Bill. Huh?
Exactly why do we have to move the nest?
All I know is what my supervisor told me.
Why couldn't we take a little
ecological license and leave it.
I can't do that, Dr. Beale. Just
until things are straightened out.
I'll take full responsibility.
[Cawing]
Nicolette says to me, "I ain't gonna use no I.U.D."
"My sister used an I.U.D., and she got pregnant anyway.
"And when the baby was born,
he had the I.U.D. In his hand."
Now how you gonna argue with something like that, huh?
Is there any way for Leslie to avoid the hysterectomy?
No. She's got stage two cervical carcinoma.
Who's the attending? Allinson.
The master of the soft touch.
He adopts the authoritative, fatherly tone. Drives me nuts.
He's always so quick to take everything out.
"Why does she need a uterus? She's got enough kids."
"No more periods. She'll thank me."
My mother had her ovaries removed.
The doctor told her to, so she
did it without asking any questions.
She got old real quickly after that.
The lack of estrogen caused her to go into early menopause.
Male 9.Y.N.'S don't always emphasize
the difference in a pap smear
Between inflammatory reaction and neoplasia.
And they can't understand why a
woman won't come to them electively
When they knows how rough he's
going to treat her during the examination.
You know, I really like Leslie.
She's I don't know. I just feel
like we have this real rapport.
I can see us being good friends. I just
hate to see her go through all this.
I'll tell you something, Annie.
You know, if things were reversed,
and it was men facing castration,
we'd see a hell of a lot fewer operations.
Victor, how are you? Why the books? Craig's lecture.
It's on pediatric cardiac surgery, and I
know he's going to try to put me on the spot.
Three textbooks worth of this stuff, okay?
He's gonna try to nail me, I know it.
Well, do what I used to do in college.
You see, you take the offensive. Find some
hidden intelligent question in there to ask him.
Dr. Craig answers it, thinking you must know everything,
if you've got brains enough to
have asked something so obscure.
You think so? Trust me.
But if I were you, I'd ask Dr. Barnum. Barnum?
He's the only one who can understand
the complexities of a case like this.
Dr. Craig. How are you, uh, today?
Sorry, Dr. Craig. Excuse me.
Studying.
[Groans]
So a bird's nest of course they vary with the species
I'm talking about your round
or open-top nest, like a Robin's,
not your closed structured one like a marsh wren's.
Anyway, I'm convinced that every open-top nest
Is built according to the same algebraic formula
Than an engineer uses to calculate stress.
You worked out the formula?
Right. Exactly. That's what I'm saying.
And you know why there's been so much
speculation and argument back and forth?
I mean, this has been a hot issue for 25 years.
Why? Because nobody has actually
bothered to build a nest before.
They took them apart, and they
built structures like nests before.
But I built one.
It uses materials readily available from the environment,
and it was constructed by one
individual within a time frame
To allow for the incubation of eggs.
Well, I refuse to raise our child in an open-top nest.
Not even for science? Not even.
How about a two-story, wood-framed house in essex
With a bird feeder on the back porch?
You got a deal.
Screech owl got a snake! [Whooping]
Henry's got an owl fixation.
Hey, Ralph. Luther.
You know my mate, Jane. Oh, sure. How could I forget?
Hey, remember what we were talking about?
Can you give me a hint? Julius.
I think it's a psychological problem.
Ah, yes, Julius, the paragon of pigeons.
What's up? Can you follow me for a second?
À bientôt, my little chickadee.
Shh, shh. Okay. Okay.
Close it easy.
Help me move some of this stuff. Okay.
Everything will be all right.
Oh, look at him, Ralph.
Look at the poor guy.
I know who did this too pico Martinez.
He'd been sneakin' into my Coop, sabotaging my pigeons.
He's been prancin' up and down the block,
braggin' about my pigeons doing the fastest practice time.
And he said my days are numbered.
There ain't a bird in the state that can take on Julius.
These guys, they have no feel for the
sport, no tradition. You know what I mean?
Guys like that are just in it
for the money, pure and simple.
I mean pico, if a bird starts slowin'
down, he throws him right into the street.
I mean, the bird could have
flown its heart out for the man.
His feathers are all dried out.
When did he last preen?
Three, four days. He hasn't done anything.
I've been force-feeding him
sugar water for the last two days.
Do you got any mercurochrome and mineral oil?
Also some cotton swabs. Cotton swabs.
Speak to Ralph.
It'll be okay.
You see, this guy pico, he knows this guy Hernandez.
He lives about four buildings down.
He climbs over the fire escape, over
the roof, and he looks into my Coop.
He's been spying on my birds,
trying to steal my training program.
See, I got this secret vitamin formula.
I willed it to my cousin leroi. And when
I die, he gets it, and not a day before.
Unless I get outta the sport altogether,
and I might do that if Julius doesn't make it.
Goin' down with the champ, so to speak. Mm-hmm.
Ah.
A Thorn. Yeah.
It got embedded between the scapula
and the humerus. He couldn't get to it.
Hmm, poor guy. Dyin' of pain.
He stopped eating so he'd die faster.
They like to get it over with.
They'll fly into a wall if they could find a wall.
[Cooing] Listen to that.
Hey, how you know so much about birds, Ralph?
I am a bird. [Laughs] A bird.
Yeah, I bet you've been missing
that updraft down by the harbor.
A sharp left and you're home free.
The tetralogy of fallot was one
of the most frequent and serious
Congenital cardiac malformations
commonly accompanied by cyanosis.
It was one of the first congenital heart lesions
To yield a highly successful palliative operation.
Uh, yes. Don't infants with tetralogy of fallot
Usually manifest distress shortly after birth
And succumb unless an operation is performed?
That's right, ehrlich.
And I'm sure you're aware that
cyanosis isn't normally present at birth.
Yes, sir.
And why is that? Why? Yes, um
Ehrlich? Yes, um
Can you tell me why cyanosis
isn't normally present at birth?
Yes. Uh, yes.
And no. Uh
The answer to that question, Dr. Ehrlich,
stems from a landmark operation
Performed in 1944 by blalock and taussig.
The first successful systemic pulmonary artery anastomosis.
You moron. Did you think I wouldn't know a loaded question?
Residents have been trying to
get away with that kind of crap
Ever since semmelweis first washed his hands.
I'm disappointed.
I thought you were better than that.
Anyone else wanna pick up the
ball Dr. Ehrlich just fumbled?
How about you, Chandler?
Um, in most children,
cyanosis isn't present at birth
because of persistent ductus arteriosus.
As the child gets older, dyspnea
on exertion usually follows.
Very good.
Now a characteristic position, such as squatting,
is then assumed to relieve fatigue.
Now this position has great diagnostic significance
And is highly characteristic of tetralogy of fallot.
[Woman on P.A.] Dr. Barnum to I.C.U.
Dr. Pat barnum to I.C.U.
It usually produces an increase
In the systemic arterial oxygen saturation.
Cyanosis of the lips and nail beds is apparent and
Uh
And, uh, the patient might appear to be smaller
Than you would assume from his or her age.
Uh, excuse me. Uh, doctor? Are you hey, are you barnum?
Hey, Dr. Barnum! Wait a minute!
Jane. Hi.
You look pretty as a picture.
How are you feeling? Wonderful.
Good. I wish I could say it was something I did.
I think you're ready to check out of the hospital.
You do? Dr. Morrison says
There's no medical reason that you can't be released.
Besides we have a closed ward, and there
are some sick people who need the beds.
I'd like to stay a while longer.
I just don't I don't feel ready.
Does this have anything to do with Ralph?
I don't want to leave him. I see.
Dr. Beale,
when I first checked in here, I couldn't talk to people.
I couldn't even look into a person's eyes. I was scared.
I felt like a shell with nothing inside.
Ralph helped me.
He made me feel full, and I don't just mean the baby.
I can't leave him here.
Do you think Ralph is able to function in the world?
Yes, I do.
You know, I could swear that I
heard a Scarlet tanager's mating call
Coming from room 609 this morning.
He just does that for a joke. He doesn't mean any harm.
You and I know that. But what if Ralph is on a crowded bus,
rush hour, and suddenly he gets the
urge to be a short-billed dowitcher?
He wouldn't do it. Not then.
Or he sees a construction worker up on a girder.
I don't think the guy would
appreciate being pelted by a bald eagle.
He wouldn't do that, Dr. Beale.
It's rough out there, Jane. You know that.
Ralph's an extraordinary person. He has a remarkable mind.
He's brilliant, no denying that. Maybe even a genius.
He graduated summa cum laude from m.I.T.
Facts like that can be misleading.
When he was 19, he designed an entire computer
system for kirkwood-Moore corporation.
Jane, I'm not arguing with you.
I'm simply trying to tell you that even a genius
Sometimes cannot handle the day-to-day problems.
He couldn't before. But now he's got me.
And he'll have the baby. And that
makes all the difference in the world.
Can you take care of yourself, the baby and Ralph?
We deserve a chance.
Everybody deserves a chance.
How about if I take you and Ralph to dinner?
Have you ever eaten fresh green linguine?
You mean for a test?
The last time Ralph had a day pass,
he didn't come back for a week.
When he did, he was unconscious.
He slit his wrists.
I don't think Ralph is ready to take on the world.
But, as you say, everyone deserves a chance.
So, how about it?
Dinner?
Thank you.
The sun kept getting hotter, beat down on me,
till my face started to feel like an old leather pouch.
But I still held on to that pole.
My knuckles kept getting whiter as I held tight.
A couple of times I thought he'd
pull me into the water after him.
But then, whoosh, he flew out
of that sea foam like a rocket
And bam, landed right in the boat.
For a long time after that, we we lay there,
the sailfish and I, panting.
I spent the rest of my stay at cabo
San Lucas flat on my back in a beach chair.
But I got him. I got him. When
are we gonna see him mounted?
I'm afraid I'm getting softhearted.
I threw him back. I had no choice.
He had the look of a grandfather.
[Intercom buzzes]
Yes, alisa.
Disease control in Atlanta.
Greg. Well
Oh, you did. That's wonderful.
That's terrific news. Thank you, sir. All of you.
We owe you one. You bet. Good-bye. Thanks.
They found the source of the legionnaires'. Where was it?
One of the heads in the auxiliary shower just off ward 5.
It's only used for patient overflow. Got it.
Let's reopen the ward. You bet.
Oh, boy, what a monkey off the back, huh? Phew!
How'd you get Ralph to move this?
I promised him he could have it in his room.
Well, let's see. He stole 2,100 tongue depressors,
5,400 cotton balls, seven dozen gauze bandages.
How long did it take him to build this thing?
Fifty-three hours. It was an experiment.
It was a felony. He finally figured out how birds do it.
Apparently. Make nests, I mean.
So two psychiatric patients got together to lay eggs.
Not exactly the way mother planned.
No. But I don't know. I've seen a lot of kids
With everything in the world going for them,
and some of them are pretty screwed up.
You really can't tell who's going to be
the best parent or the best kid, can you?
No. Seems to me Jane's own instincts are gonna save her.
[Woman on P.A.] Dr. Morrison to I.C.U.
Hello, Mrs. Craig. I think Dr. Craig's in surgery.
Yes, yes, I know. Uh, excuse me. Sure.
[Chattering]
I'll pick you up at 7:30, okay? Ben?
Ellen, hi. How are you? I need to talk to you.
Sure. Is there someplace private?
Um, the lounge okay?
Sure. Good.
So, uh, what's up?
Mark still giving you grief about learning Russian?
I wanna talk to you about barnum. Who?
Dr. Pat barnum.
Oh, yeah, right. He's a good man, I'm told.
You're barnum. And don't try to deny it.
There's a sucker born every
minute, but I'm not one of them.
Mark wouldn't be one either if he had any kind of memory.
Like the time you had the
nurses set up an abdominal tray
Instead of a cardiac tray for a triple bypass.
Okay, let me tell you what's been going on
Since Dr. Barnum entered our lives.
Mark spent all day Saturday and Sunday
Washing, polishing, vacuuming that car,
just in hopes that Dr. Barnum would materialize.
Last night he spent three hours trying
to get the ping out of the cylinders.
I'm sorry. Yesterday he cut his hand.
You know how that can scare a surgeon?
He's obsessed, Ben,
and I'm here to tell you it's gone far enough.
[Sighs] I'm sorry.
I'll, uh I'll tell him.
Thank you.
My stomach's been in knots. I
was afraid I'd have to be the one.
Probably because you smoke too much. You want some coffee?
Must be intermission. They're getting her ready.
It won't take long. Would you like
me to get you a chair, Mrs. Stevenson?
Oh, no, thank you. I'm fine.
She's my only daughter.
She's always been so full of life.
I remember when she first learned to talk,
she'd go around the house saying everything
she was doing out loud, you know.
Like, "now Leslie's going up the stairs,
and this is the first stair."
"Now Leslie's taking her bath in the big bathtub."
[Chuckles] She shared everything.
One time she said She was only two
She said, "I'm happy in the big world."
[Chuckles] It was good for me, you know.
Because I've never had such a positive outlook myself.
She can always adopt, Mrs. Stevenson.
She won't though. I know the way she is.
This will settle it for her.
You younger women, you want your careers.
Maybe you think children are a burden.
It's not that I-I want grandchildren,
it's just that nothing can
bring so much joy into your life.
Nothing.
Now she'll never know that.
That's why she can act like this.
She just doesn't know.
It's nothing serious it's just the flu.
Or as we refer to it affectionately,
a minor upper respiratory infection.
I'll give him some antibiotics and he should
be running around like a banshee by morning.
It shouldn't be long. Why don't you have a seat? Thanks.
[Woman on P.A.] Mr. Carmichael,
X-ray. Mr. Carmichael, X-ray.
Have you figured out what's wrong with me yet? Yep.
You got pac-man fever. [Object clatters on floor]
I'm gonna give you some medicine
that'll keep speedy off your tail.
Doctor, could I speak to you for a moment, privately?
Of course, nurse. Meet me in
the on-call room in 15 minutes.
Now.
What is that?
Come, come, even at Tucson nursing college,
I'm sure they taught you the
rudimentary facts of the male anatomy.
In case you don't know, doctor, it being your first year,
guns aren't allowed in the hospital.
Well, tell that to patients. I
had a "gomer" in here yesterday
With a sawed-off shotgun. This isn't funny, fiscus.
I know. I'm wearing it for
protection, yours as well as mine.
Don't you see enough bullet holes in this place as it is?
Look, I'm not gonna use it
unless it's absolutely necessary.
Here, hold it.
Not bad, huh?
What do you think?
Here.
You better get rid of it.
Just think. Is there anything
you don't like about restaurants?
Hey, let's go check out the nest. What do you say?
No. This is ridiculous.
I'm not Eliza Doolittle, and we're
not going to the Hungarian ball.
We're having dinner with a psychiatrist
who doesn't know cannelloni from camembert.
And he wants to test me!
If you think about it before it happens, it won't be scary.
I'm a scientist, not a birdbrain.
Believe me, I won't cut my artichoke with a knife and fork.
And I'm not scared.
I am.
Come on, Ralph. Please.
Pretend I'm the waiter. Why?
So I won't be scared.
Do you want me to be scared?
All I ever wanted is for you to be strong and happy.
Okay. But let me be the waiter.
[Clears throat]
[Clears throat] [Clears throat]
Our specials tonight are scungilli marinara,
oysters in garlic butter
And scampi il trovatore.
Spaghetti.
Spaghetti? Mm-hmm.
Madam, if you want spaghetti,
you can go to the supermarket.
We serve pasta. Oh.
May I suggest our house specialty, octopus verdi.
Octopus?
'Cause I only have arms for you ♪
[Cackling]
Prego. Pronto. Presto. Molto dolore, a more mio.
If you don't want to do it, we don't have to.
I was only having some fun.
Is there something wrong with having
fun now, or is that against the law too?
Along with laughing and talking too
loud, unless you're at a baseball game.
What's my next test, huh?
Do you want me to walk across
the b.U. Bridge without jumping off?
Hey, I'm sorry.
You should be.
Don't worry. I won't screw up.
Promise me. I promise.
Spare me the explanations.
You get him to stop smoking and to start exercising,
or else the next time we meet will be at his wake.
Now good day.
Uh, Mark, you got a minute? What?
I'd like I'd like to talk to you.
Make it snappy, Ben. I'm busy.
It's about barnum.
Barnum?
The reason why you've been having trouble reaching him
Is that, uh, he doesn't exist. Who doesn't exist?
Barnum. What do you mean?
I, uh, made him up.
Made him up?
Yep. Why would you do a thing like that?
Well, it was a Sort of a joke.
I'm sorry. I guess I should apologize. No, no, don't.
I mean, I know I made you feel stupid.
Oh, boy, you really got me this time, Samuels.
Yeah.
I really went for it, didn't I?
Um, hook, line and sinker.
Well, it's funny, right? [Laughs]
Well, I'm glad you see the humor in the situation.
The humor? Are you kidding? It's hysterical.
I mean, when I think of the pages on the intercom,
and the phone messages.
And the ping in the cylinders.
And the name barnum. I mean, really, the name.
P.t. Barnum. You get it?
I got it.
You're demented.
You okay?
He hit me.
Yeah. Come on.
[Woman on P.A.] Security, E.R. security, E.R.
Bar still open? Have a seat.
I'll buy you a drink. Thank you.
Wards 4 and 5 appear to be operating smoothly again.
Yeah. We still have those seven
patients from 2 east to relocate.
That's not too bad, is it? No, no.
How come you didn't tell me
about losing that federal Grant?
It didn't seem to be right at the time.
They were hitting you from all sides. Thank you.
So, that means we wait for that
new e.M.I. Scanner for another year.
We'll find the money someplace else.
Have to work harder, that's all.
Money, money, money.
Money shouldn't have anything to do with medicine.
But we spend a disproportionate
amount of our time trying to get it.
So, public relations become
more important than patient care.
Not more important, maybe as important.
Sometimes I'd like to stand in that hallway and holler,
"we're not gods. We're not magicians.
Give up your grand illusions about doctors."
But I suppose as long as people
wanna remain blissfully ignorant,
health care's gonna suffer, so who wins?
[Knocking] Yes.
- Hi.
- Elizabeth.
What a pleasant surprise. What brings you down here?
Oh, I came to pick up my dad.
Alisa told me you were down here.
Shopping, remember? Yes, I remember. All right, all right.
She has a memory like an elephant, this one.
You look great, Dr. Auschlander. How you feeling?
Better and better. Just got back from cabo San Lucas.
- Oh, really?
- It's in Mexico.
I know that. And even if I didn't, dad
I know. You'd say you did. Well, red onion market awaits.
Here we go. See you later, Daniel. Bye.
Right. Good night. Your brother home?
Yeah.
[Ralph] I spent an entire night in the cemetery once.
Didn't sleep a wink. [Jane] Ralph, why?
Ken bonafong dared me.
There was no way I was gonna let
that enfant terrible make fun of me.
[Chuckles] We were 11 years old.
Scusi.
Can we have three glasses of water with our meal?
We had this house in gulfport
that we all thought was haunted.
The Butler place. Had a black housemaid named floradell.
We were too scared to even go up there.
Floradell kept house for
Mr. Butler, I'd say about 35 years.
After he died, she stayed on in the house for a while.
Everybody said old floradell could talk to the dead.
I bet there was a lot of gossip
about what Mr. Butler and floradell
Did in that house for 35 years.
Yeah, but nobody got too worked
up about it though. Why's that?
Well, Mr. Butler was president of the bank.
Nobody much cared what he did as
long as he'd lend them some money.
Anyway, he finally died.
The house stayed empty for about five years.
He had some third cousins over in Jackson
That were trying to figure out who got what.
Floradell stayed for a while, but
then she just up and disappeared.
[Jane] Was she ever seen again?
Well, somebody said they saw her
down in New Orleans, selling flowers,
but most people think that
the devil came and got her. [Mews]
They sold the house to a hellfire and
brimstone preacher, Joe Willy Babcock.
Now Joe Willy had two huge flatbed trucks.
- [Mews]
- He put the house on the truck.
[Screaming]
Ralph! Ralph!
Mr. Demaio in 218's got a sign taped up next to his bed:
"I will give a blood sample one
time a day, and one time only."
Leukemia?
Says he's starting to feel like a pincushion.
His veins are all down. It's really pretty depressing.
I'll talk to him tomorrow. Not tonight, tomorrow.
They pushed Leslie Stevenson back
an hour tomorrow morning to 7:00.
Do you want me to still hold on her
medication or should I give it to her now?
Let's give it to her now. She needs the sleep.
I'll do it.
Who's doing the operation? Dr. Samuels.
Sleep time. Oh, thank god.
This is probably the lousiest
ceiling I've ever had to look up at.
These will knock you out pretty well.
They've moved the operation up to 7:00.
Sooner the better. Here's to damaged goods.
Don't think of yourself that way.
I won't if they won't. Men, I mean.
But they will. The right one won't.
There's some terrific guys out there.
[Sighs]
You know I was just lying here,
thinking about when it is exactly that you
Tell this kind of story to someone.
I mean, what, on your first date over dinner?
"Look, Charlie, if you're looking for the breeding type,
you're wasting your money."
Do you wait until he's in love
with you, or you're in love with him,
and then spring it on him?
"Gee, see, I've had this hysterectomy."
[Sniffles] I'm all right.
Really.
Have you ever been pregnant, Annie?
No, but I've been thinking about it a lot lately.
I have. It was about five years ago.
Just been in Boston about six months.
Had my first real job as a dancer.
A guy, his name was curt,
wanted to marry me, but I said no.
Not because I didn't love him.
Well, I didn't want to be a mother then.
I wanted to be a dancer.
So I had an abortion.
And people kept saying, "oh, it must have been hard."
But it wasn't.
It wasn't anything.
I've barely thought about it since.
[Sniffles] I'm tired. I think I'll sleep now.
Have a good sleep.
Well, if it isn't the young Dr. Cavanero.
I thought you would have gone out with the tide.
That's nasty looking. What happened to you?
Nothing. Craig can't take a joke,
and, uh, I can't take a punch.
Listen, that hysterectomy
tomorrow morning Leslie Stevenson.
Yeah? She's a friend.
What, a college buddy?
No, just a friend.
She could use a little bedside manner tomorrow. Okay?
Absolutely.
How is it with you? Fine.
Yeah?
You said this morning that you envied me
My relationship with Patrick.
Well, it isn't gonna work out.
He's such a nice guy, but already I can see the signs.
Why is it that it doesn't work out? Why is that?
[Sighs] I don't know.
Maybe because you don't want it to.
At least not right now.
I see Leslie lying in that room,
and I feel like I'm looking into an open grave.
Annie.
You're a young woman. You
got a lot of time to have a family.
I'm not a cold person.
But sometimes it can get so hard around here.
So hard that I feel myself closing off desires,
wants, dreams.
When is it that what you have
isn't worth what you're missing?
Leslie Stevenson wanted a career,
so she put everything else on hold until it was too late.
She didn't plan for it to be that way. It just happened.
She didn't plan for the passage of time. It just passed.
I don't want that to happen to me.
I don't want to wake up at 40 alone,
without love, without children.
I don't want that to happen to me. Then don't you let it.
You okay?
I'm gonna take good care of your friend tomorrow.
Get some sleep.
That's the last time I go out
with a public utilities employee.
Why, what happened? Nothing.
We can't win. The n.L.R.B. Says we
can't unionize because we're students,
then the I.R.S. says we have to
pay taxes because we're doctors.
So I'm borrowing money at the rate of 21%.
Hello, Ralph.
Sweetheart, I'm not angry.
Please don't be angry at yourself.
I know you tried.
I talked to my father today.
First time in a long time.
He says he wants to help.
I believe him.
He sounded different.
Or maybe it was me.
Ralph, do you hear me?
I remember when we first met.
I was in my room, crying so hard
that they had to put me in restraints.
You came in and started talking to me about flying.
About the swallows in Mexico
And how you migrated 1,500 miles with them
To the steeple in San Juan capistrano.
How you soared the blue Ridge mountains
In an Indian summer sun,
and landed finally on the highest
branch of a thousand-year-old pine tree,
and looked down on a field of absolute stillness.
Are you there now, Ralph?
Is the wind filling your ears?
The thing I'm trying to tell you is that
The greatest day of my life was the day I met you.
And no matter what anybody says about either of us,
our child will know that in his heart.
Good-bye, my high-flying bird.
My eagle.
[Mews]