"I wasn´t there the day Colin Hart´s life changed forever but you could feel the earth shake a little from quite a ways off." "It was a summer day..." "Go on." "...bright and perfect glowing with the thrill of youth and a night lit with fireworks, then cut with a deafening whir of sirens." "Bright!" "At the end of it, the young boy and all who loved him would never be the same." "In an opposite corner of the world another man´s tragedy kept time with Colin Hart´s." "Andy Brown did what any man would do who felt he had lost everything..." "Look at this." "...he disappeared." "What is this place?" "This offensive monstrosity?" "He fell apart." "We just tolerated you." "That´s good." "What else you got?" "l wish you died instead of her!" "I wish I did too, you little bastard!" "Lost his center, lost his way." "To a brave girl, this broken man looked like a life raft and his son, a gentle current pulling him close." "The girl took her chance when she saw it." "She begged the doctor´s son to help her in her cause." "Look, I know we haven´t talked about this since that trip to Denver...." "And he did, because he loved her and could refuse her nothing." "And so it came to pass that one man´s tragedy and one boy´s loss met like two rivers joining." "And the boy was saved." "And the man was saved at least for a time." "But the boy was not as he was before." "Are you sure he can hear me?" "Why is he staring at me like that?" "Although Colin had cheated death, a little death had crept inside." "He was not whole." "He was not himself." "His own changed face frightened him." "He pushed those he cared for far away." "is that what you think?" "!" "That I´m sick?" "!" "is that what you think?" "!" "I´m starting to!" "The good doctor believed that this boy could still be saved." "And that he was the one who could save him." "These next two weeks are critical." "I think you should talk to him, talk to your wife and let me know what you decide." "But the boy hadn´t decided if life was worth dying for." "The choice was all his own." "If I do nothing, I could just stroke out at any day?" "is that right?" "Just gone?" "I wouldn´t have phrased it that way, but it is possible." "Or I could have my life back?" "I hope so." "There are an infinite number of outcomes, Colin." "The recovery?" "lt would be difficult." "But if we succeed it would only be motor skills that are impaired." "Which way do you think it´ll go?" "I don´t know." "Can you promise me that I won´t be a vegetable?" "No." "Can you promise me that I won´t lose my mind or my memory?" "No." "What can you promise me?" "Nothing." "Okay." "I´m in." "This is the story of Colin Hart and Andy Brown." "It´s the story of a town that lost its center and strove to regain it." "This is the story of Everwood." "Where are my children?" "Coming!" "I don´t hear feet moving!" "Hey, it´s a long drive." "We said we´d be in the car by 6." "No, you said we´d be in the car by 6." "I said no such thing." "We´re visiting the university, not enrolling." "Last time I went on a road trip with you, I ended up here." "Can´t be too careful." "Hey, did you go to the bathroom yet?" "Yes." "Do you need to go again?" "No." "If I remember correctly, you have a bladder the size of a proton." "I get the feeling I´m gonna have to pull over before we even hit the highway." "How was the last day of school?" "Did I miss anything?" "Just yearbook stuff." "But they announced where the seniors are having grad night." "It´s gonna be so awesome." "They rented a baseball stadium because Chris Busick´s grandfather´s a jillionaire." "Said he´d pay for the whole thing." "No kidding?" "That´s insane." "We´re so screwed next year." "We don´t have any jillionaires in our class." "Because there´s no such thing." "What are your plans for tomorrow, Colin?" "Anything special?" "You know, actu" "What´s wrong with that?" "Actually, I haven´t really thought of it." "I guess I should, though, huh?" "You might consider resting a bit before the surgery." "Gather your strength." "That´s probably a good idea." "Why?" "You´ll have time to rest when you get back." "Dude, go do something fun mud-wrestle an alligator." "That´s so dumb." "Why don´t we just do something normal, like go see a movie?" "Oh, movie." "That´s special." "That´s enough." "I´m sure Colin can decide for himself how he wants to spend his" "Tomorrow." "Would anyone like more dessert?" "Oh, no, thank you." "No." "I need to see Dr. Douglas." "Remember him?" "He was your teacher." "Students dreaded getting stuck with him." "But whatever kind of doctor anybody ever thought I could become Donald Douglas pushed me to be 1 0 times that." "I learned more working with him than I´ve learned before or since." "Back in New York, whenever I took on a case that other surgeons deemed impossible, I´d go visit Douglas." "And I wouldn´t do it until we hammered out every avenue for success if there was one." "If there wasn´t, I wouldn´t perform the procedure." "So that´s why we´re going?" "You want his approval to work on Colin?" "I want his help." "You didn´t ask for his help last time." "No, there was no question last time." "We had nothing to lose." "Dad." "l know, honey." "Dad?" "Colin." "What are you doing up?" "Everything all right?" "Yeah, I´m fine. I just wanted to get some water." "What are you doing?" "Oh, I...." "l just couldn´t sleep." "I found this old video on the coffee table." "Your mom must have been watching it." "lsn´t this the trip to Beaver Creek last year?" "Yeah." "You remember?" "Yeah." "Some of it." "Not much." "Dad." "What?" "Are you scared?" "Yeah." "You?" "Yeah, but not so much of the surgery." "I´ve just got this feeling." "You know when you leave in the morning and after about 1 0 minutes in the car you feel like you´ve left something on, like the television or the bathroom light?" "And that feeling just nags you all day long." "It´s just that feeling of forgetting or of leaving something behind." "It´s kind of like that." "Like I´m on my way to the hospital and I´ve left a light on somewhere." "Does that make any sense?" "None of this makes any sense to me, Colin." "I wish it did." "You want to tell me what you´re scared of?" "No." "No." "No." "Learning and memory." "It´s a poorly understood business." "It´s embarrassing." "We have figured out that interpretation of speech takes place in Wernicke´s area." "A certain taste becomes acquired at the base of the postcentral gyrus." "But your predecessors quit with the "where" of the brain." "The "how" of the brain we´ve left up to you people." "Sorry about that." "What we do know...." "What we do know is that maintaining what you´ve learned is a process of keeping the neuronal pathways in constant use." "If a patient or even a doctor ceases the practice of any skill, innate, acquired, it doesn´t matter the essential pathways degenerate." "The cells that formed them just die." "Your mother was right." "Practice your violin." "He sure looked happy to see you." "Donald." "Donald, would you please stop for a second?" "I just want to talk to you." "It´s been a very long drive." "What did I say?" "The day you walked out on your gift would be the last day we talked." "I left no room for interpretation." "We´ve been through too much for this to be it." "The same could be said for the doctors and patients you left in New York." "What I left behind was mine to leave." "What about my time?" "What about all the years I spent training you, investing in you?" "To hell with you." "You´ve wasted my time, doctor." "Donald" "These are old conversations." "I´m not gonna have them again." "I have a patient, a case I´ve been working on a teenage boy who suffered a four-month coma." "Until I removed two bone fragments from the brainstem." "lmpossible, but it worked." "He woke up." "So why are you here?" "There have been complications." "Symptoms from what we now know is a thrombus in the basilar artery." "Result from the last procedure." "He´s getting worse, Donald." "You want to go back in?" "You tell me." "His vascular anatomy is too torturous for a catheter approach." "l have to go in transpetrosal." "Because the suboccipital...?" "Wouldn´t give me enough exposure to the basilar artery." "And then?" "And then dissection to remove the semi-circular canal..." "...drilling the mastoid" "Avoiding any damage to the facial nerve." "Which is why I dissect around the nerve and transpose it." "What if there´s bleeding?" "I control it with irrigation Malis, go through the arachnoid cyst retract the cerebellum and get control of the vessel." "All right." "Good." "So now you´re in." "Now I´m in." "At which point I make my incision and suction out the clot." "What if the vessel is stenotic?" "In that case, I use a stent." "It hasn´t been done in the basilar artery, but it´s worked in the vertebral." "What if the suction causes damage to the intima and you cause a dissection?" "I won´t hit the wall." "But if you do?" "l won´t." "You´ll have about six hours to restore blood supply before you lose him." "I´d give heparin to reopen it." "There´s a history of trauma in that area." "Heparin could cause severe re-bleeding." "Then what?" "I don´t know." "Come on." "Don´t pout." "If it was easy, people wouldn´t say, "lt´s not brain surgery."" "We´ll sleep on it." "We´ll talk tomorrow, okay?" "Hey, come to my house for tea." "I have a couple of star students." "They´d enjoy meeting you." "l can´t. I´ve got the kids." "All right." "Bring them along." "Hurry up before Dad hears you and calls the cops!" "lf l were going any faster, I´d be falling." "Come on." "Amy!" "I´ll be right there." "Dad?" "What´s going on?" "How did you hear us?" "You´re as stealthy as a gaggle of gorillas." "is this Colin´s idea of preoperative preparation?" "Co-opting other youths into committing vandalism?" "I don´t know what you just said, but we´re not going to graffiti anything." "Do you realize what time it is?" "It´s tomorrow." "Colin´s surgery-- l know when his surgery is, Dad." "I just...." "He just wanted a day." "Just a day for us." "Okay?" "Where is he taking you?" "All right, here." "Take this and call every four hours." "Get him back here in time for a decent night´s sleep." "Thanks, Dad." "Just one more thing I want to show you guys. lt´s really the best thing, I promise." "Where´s Delia?" "She died at the last place." "Dad!" "We´ve been walking for hours." "I know." "We really need to skip whatever statue the students rub for luck or paint over every spring or whatever." "No, we don´t." "We´re looking for a parking lot." "Oh, well, in that case.... lt used to be right around here." "I think." "How can that be west?" "West is always left." "We´re already late for Dr. Douglas." "Let´s find the parking lot later, like when we´re at the hotel, ordering room service." "Okay, I got it." "We´re going to the swimming hole." "Wrong again." "But thanks for playing." "We passed it half an hour ago and the water is two degrees right now." "And besides that...." "All right, give me another-- -l know!" "Give it to me." "Disneyland?" "It´s gotta be." "Disneyland?" "He said we´d be back before dinner." "He didn´t say dinner tonight." "We´re not going to Disneyland." "l love this song!" "Turn it up." "Okay." "Turn it down." "Way down." "So do you people give up?" "Not a chance." "We haven´t even started." "That´s what I like to hear." "Strip club?" "No." "Shut up." "Oh, no." "You didn´t." "The evidence suggests otherwise." "Delia, Ephram, you remember Dr. Douglas." "Hi, Delia." "Hi, Ephram." "Come on in, Andy." "Everybody´s waiting for you." "Are they all here for Dad?" "Everybody, can I have your attention, please?" "Now, I know that you didn´t come here for my cheese board so let me introduce him finally." "The prodigal, in both senses, Dr. Andrew Brown." "And, before you ask him for a recommendation make sure he´s gotten a drink first." "So this is your big surprise, mile-high pancakes." "I´m a little disappointed." "Chill out, man." "This is just the halfway point." "What are you gonna get, Grov?" "Chocolate-chip pancakes, a large orange juice and a side of bacon." "Can you order for me?" "Yeah, okay." "What is the difference between "two eggs, any style, with bacon"  and "two scrambled eggs with bacon or sausage"?" "I mean, there´s gotta be a trick to this." "I think you asked me the same question the last time we were here and the difference was a hash brown and 27 cents." "You remember that, huh?" "Yeah, you know, more and more." "Little bits of things." "It´s kind of like one of those pictures that´s made up of the dots." "The only thing I can´t remember is the night of the accident." "Nothing." "Blank, man." "Look, I know you think it´s your fault." "That´s, like, because it is." "Listen, you know...." "The thing is...." "You know, I remember the inflatable swimming pool that you had on your front lawn and the frog we got from the pet store that we killed because we thought he´d like the washer." ""Sparky."" "And the first time that I slept over at your house." "Oh, God...." "You´re it, man." "You´re my best friend." "Whatever it was that happened that night it´s all good between us." "So which one costs the extra 27 cents?" "Oh, the one that´s 27 cents more." "If it makes you feel better, I haven´t read all of those." "Yeah, but how many of them did you write?" "I usually like to hide out during parties too." "Your father, he always liked them." "Yeah." "I guess." "Never really seen him like this." "ln his element?" "l usually catch him at his least useful." "That´s too bad." "So he was pretty amazing, huh?" "You have no idea." "Was he always such a rock star?" "How´d you know?" "You get to tell with doctors." "Maybe it´s all these years of book-collecting." "You start to develop an eye." "The big joke is, you can tell a book by its cover." "David Copperfield, huh?" "The old ones, anyway." "See, it´s the stitching. lt sort of tells you what level you´re getting." "And it´s the same with surgeons too." "Years ago, I was working rounds I saw a nurse changing a dressing on a patient who had just come out of surgery." "I looked at the stitches, the same knot everyone else ties but these were just perfect." "So I looked at the chart to see who the surgeon was." "It was a doctor that I knew." "He´s good, but nothing special." "But I couldn´t get it out of my head all night." "Those stitches were too good for that doctor." "So I called him at 2 in the morning to inquire about it." ""Was there anything unusual about the operation?"" ""No," he said, "it was standard."" "Except, on a lark, he let one of the students close." "I ask him, "Who?"" "And that´s how I met your father." "He was that good?" "Good?" "Oh, no." "No." "He was remarkable." "You and your sister should be proud." "I´m sorry, I gotta go back in there." "Feel free to nose around." "Well, this is it." "This is the best part?" "Party school, huh?" "Believe it or not, this is a special place." "I got a driving lesson here once." "It´s all coming clear now." "Do you remember the girl I was trying to sweet-talk into getting me out of Douglas´ rotation?" "Well, on our first date, she gets in my car and makes a face like she just sat on a cat." "Then she drags me here, puts me in her Volvo, points to the stick shift and says, "No self-respecting surgeon should be allowed to drive an automatic."" "It was around then I decided I wanted a second date." "Didn´t Mom drive a Volvo?" "That was Mom?" "So you want to learn?" "Oh, dude, it´s grad night!" "Ding, ding, ding!" "Correct-a-mundo!" "I guess this is what a jillion dollars gets you these days." "Not bad." "But why?" "Seniors will be here in two hours." "Faculty´s probably on the way." "We´d better enjoy it while we got it, man." "It´s our own private grad night for about half an hour." "Bottom of the ninth, score´s tied, bases loaded. lt´s all Jeter." "There´s the wind-up and the pitch...." "Oh, good heavens!" "It´s a home run!" "Deep into the cheap seats!" "It´s gone!" "I know what you´re doing." "Yeah, it´s pretty cool, huh?" "No, it´s not cool at all, and I´m not gonna let you do it." "What are you getting so mad about?" "Grad night?" "This isn´t your graduation, Colin." "Your graduation is next year." "Do you understand?" "Next year." "So I just wanted to have one day, you know?" "Just in case." "In case nothing." "I know why you wanted to have this." "You could tie up loose ends, get it all said and done with." "Well, screw that, Colin." "I won´t let you." "You can´t finish anything with me today because we´re not done." "You are not done." "God, this is morbid." "You want morbid?" "Last night, I wrote out my will." "Don´t you want to know what you get?" "Please, I don´t want to do this." "Listen." "I know that you´re prepared for the surgery." "I just don´t know if you´re really prepared for what comes afterwards." "In case you don´t remember, I´ve already done that part." "You know I just wanted you to have something that was perfect in a movie kind of way." "Something you could hold on to." "l want to hold on to you." "That´s all I want, so if you think you can graduate with me tonight if you think you can tie our relationship up in a neat little bow, you can´t." "I´m sorry, but you can´t." "You have to come back, Colin." "Okay, I will." "Just come back." "I will." "You don´t have to press down so hard." "You´re using too much gas." "I´m not pressing down hard at all." "You aren´t?" "Then why are we going 80 miles an hour?" "!" "Brake it!" "Brake!" "Sad, isn´t it?" "Okay." "There are a lot of things you do well, Ephram." "Driving may not be one of them." "Well, we can stop now." "Quit while I´m behind." "No, no. lt´s okay." "I´m just taking a breather here." "I think my patience level has increased since we´ve moved to Everwood." "You mean you actually have patience now?" "Yeah, so maybe we´re done there." "Maybe you´ve learned what you need to and we should go back." "Why, you miss New York that much?" "l´m not talking about going back for me." "I mean for you." "I think I´m missing something here." "It´d be okay with me if you wanted to go back to doing surgery all the time." "I mean, I know we´d never see you, but...." "l get it now." "I wouldn´t be angry with you." "You´d be helping people." "Doing what you´re supposed to do." "Who says I´m supposed to be doing that?" "lf you gave it all up for us, then-- l know what you´re saying and it really means a lot to me but you´re not the only reason I gave up being a surgeon." "Don´t take that on." "Then I don´t get it." "When we first moved here, I thought you were crazy." "Now I know better, but.... lt makes me wonder all over again." "Why do it?" "Why give up the job you were obviously meant to do move us to a town where we have no friends, we have no family?" "I made a promise to your mother." "Years ago, we were talking once about what I would do if anything ever happened to her." "I didn´t want to hear about it, but she wouldn´t let up." "She started telling me about some town she got stuck in on a train trip with her parents when she was a girl." "A town called Everwood." "She said it was the most beautiful place that she had ever seen and that if anything ever happened to her, I should go there." "I don´t know if she really meant it." "I don´t even know if I remember the conversation very well." "But if she did mean it, even a little I had to do it." "I broke enough promises to her while she was still alive." "It was the only promise left I could still keep." "Does anybody else know about this?" "Nope." "Do you realize how much easier this last year would have been if you´d told me that?" "Probably." "So why didn´t you?" "I don´t know." "It wasn´t supposed to be easy." "You can take this road the whole way." "Yeah, I know, but" "Turn left, it goes straight to Everwood." "But that´s gonna take three more hours." "The highway´s a lot quicker." "I know it is." "Good idea." "We´ll take the long way." "Amy." "I love you." "You´re such a jerk." "I can´t guarantee that I won´t damage the intima." "If enough blood accumulates, it will be as bad as the initial clot." "Well, if that happens, I´ll open him up." "And?" "I can take the saphenous vein and graft it." "I did it once in Washington." "But in the middle cerebral artery, not here." "l never had to." "Right." "Then you´ll have to go on cardiac bypass, slow blood flow to the brain." "Right." "Right." "And then?" "And then...." "That´s it." "Yes." "That is it." "We figured it out." "Thank you, Donald." "Gosh, that was fun." "You know, Andy, just because it´s possible doesn´t mean that you should do it." "This can work." "Come on." "You know the game." "You don´t go against these kinds of odds unless you can advance the science." "The last time you went in on the kid, yes, fine, absolutely." "It had never been done before." "There was no risk to the patient beyond extended catatonia." "But what you want to do now, it´s not medically remarkable. lt´s just hard." "Well, I´m not doing it for science." "I´m doing it for Colin and his family and this town." "It´s very different than New York." "Everything is connected." "And he is at the center." "You shouldn´t know that much about your patient´s life if you want to risk it properly." "And if you do fail, which, I´m sorry to say, is likely have you thought about the ramifications?" "You won´t be the town´s savior." "You´ll be a child´s executioner." "This kid is worth the risk." "I´m telling you, Andy, do not perform this surgery." "Your soul cannot bear another loss especially one at your own hands." "Well that´s pretty much why I have to do it." "Thank you, Donald." "I appreciate this more than you know." "And so does Colin." "I´ll talk to you soon." "Goodbye, doctor." "Hey." "Hey." "is your dad home?" "Yeah." "Dad!" "He´s just putting Delia to bed." "He´ll be down in a second." "Come on in." "Do you want me to wait with you, or...?" "Yeah, sure." "Okay." "You don´t have to wait if you don´t want to." "I just" " You know, I feel like...." "l know how you feel." "Believe me." "I think I´ll just wait by myself." "Okay." "See you." "Hey, Colin." "Hey, Dr. Brown." "Can I talk to you for a minute?" "It won´t take long." "Sure, sure." "How are you?" "l´m good." "You know, I had this insane day today." "It was kind of amazing, actually." "I mean, it felt long, but it went by so fast." "I know the feeling." "Yeah." "Yeah, it´s a good feeling." "I don´t think you should feel this good every day but I think each day should have its own chance, you know?" "To make things I don´t know, better?" "Right?" "You know what I mean." "When they put me out tomorrow if I don´t wake up the way I´m supposed to if I´m not me again I don´t want to be." "Don´t bring me back." "Listen, Colin" "Please." "Just promise me that you won´t keep trying." "I promise." "I wrote it down, in case." "I understand." "But everything is going to be fine." "This will never get opened." "Okay?" "Okay." "I knew I smelled coffee." "You´re out of cream cheese." "I was just gonna go grab some." "lt´s okay. I like it dry." "No, you don´t." "I know." "By the time you come back, I´ll have to leave for the hospital." "You didn´t have to do all this, Nina." "Well, I like doing it." "Well, thank you. I appreciate it." "I gotta tell you, Carl is one heck of a lucky guy." "Hey, are you okay?" "Yeah. I´m fine." "Just tired." "Are we ready?" "Just about." "I´m gonna make sure Sam didn´t wake up." "Good luck, Andy." "Can I drive us to the hospital?" "Not if we want to get there alive." "I told them if I have to wear a muumuu in public, I get to shave my own head." "Be careful." "Didn´t you give me every single haircut I ever had until high school?" "Then one day you came home, announced you needed a cooler barber, and fired me." "Sorry." "Any chance you´ll take the job back?" "Sit." "I want you to count backwards from 1 0, Colin." "Ten nine eight seven...." "You want to share a Twix?" "Good memory." "Yeah." "We´re all sitting in there if you want to join us." "Yeah, I know. I saw you guys. I just...." "l wanted to call you, I didn´t think you´d want to come." "I came for my dad." "I mean, I figured I should be there for him." "Things have definitely changed around here, huh?" "Well, a year´s a long time." "Change is bound to happen." "Whether we like it or not." "Yeah." "I told everyone I´d get them drinks, so I should probably do that." "Do you need some change?" "No. I think I´m good." "Thank you." "Are you sure?" "I´ve got a whole bunch." "What?" "lt´s just you." "You´re still taking care of me." "I thought you´d be in New York already." "I think I´m gonna skip New York this year." "I mean, it´s the worst time to go anyway." "Really?" "I didn´t know that." "Yeah. lt´s super-humid." "Maybe for Christmas or something." "Yeah, it would probably be nice to go home for the holidays." "Yeah." "Maybe." "But...." "But what?" "I am home." "You guys are doing great." "Just stay with me here." "All right, I´m removing the clips." "There´s no leak. lt´s holding." "Where´s the dural graft?" "lt´s here." "May I have it, please?" "What is that?" "The blood flow´s dropping in the vessel." "It burst." "Damn!" "Recrip proximally." "Let´s go." "Come on, let´s go." "Okay, I want as many Gelfoams as quickly as possible, okay?" "As fast as you can bring them, keep them coming." "I am gonna stuff this sucker." "That´s good." "That´s good." "Here we go." "Slow it down." "Again." "Good job." "Good job." "Here we go." "Come on, baby." "Come on, baby." "Hang in there, Colin." "Come on, buddy." "Slow it up." "Good job." "Here we go." "Okay, let´s take those Gelfoams out, get some new ones."