"Jake, honey, it's time to get up." "Good morning." "Good morning, Bette." "It's a little chilly." "I'll put out a sweater." "Hmm-mmm." "Get dressed now." "I want to be there when they open." "Okay." "I already put sugar in." "One is enough." "Here's your napkin." "You want that buttered?" "There you go." "Good morning." "Watch your step." "The inspector's here." "Good morning, Mrs. Tremont." "Good morning, Mr. Korman." "Mr. Tremont." "Hello." "The Dodgers did okay last night." "Huh?" "Yes." "What can I do for you, Mrs. Tremont?" "It says pork chops on sale." "Yes, indeed." "Just follow me right over here." "All of these in this row right here, on sale as advertised." "What about these pork chops here?" "Those are not the ones on sale." "The ad just says pork chops, Mr. Korman." "It doesn't have their pictures or their ID numbers." "It just says pork chops." "What is it that you want, Mrs. Tremont?" "I want these pork chops at those prices." "You got it." "Jake." "HUH?" "Jake." "UH..." "Sorry to drop this on you, John, first thing, but I have one personnel problem you should know about." "This kid we want to hire can't decide between us and Goldman." "I know you hate this, but I think you have to step in and use your magic touch." "Oh, is he really that good?" "I can't stand this recruiting stuff." "All these kids out of business school think they're worth $100,000 after one week on the job." "I hate their attitudes." "You know, when I was that age," "I had to walk a mile in the snow for a stock tip." "This kid's special." "I think you'll find that out if you spend a little time with him." "All right, arrange it with Kathy for sometime later this week." "I'm booked for the next few days." "Well, the Vale prospectus is shaping up well but management is resisting our suggestions that we provide data to help investors understand why the company is so profitable." "They're afraid of giving too much information to their competitors." "I don't know why we're dealing with this Vale guy anyway." "He's a shady character." "I think we're risking the reputation of the firm." "If we turn him down, we'll never get his business again." "There's a huge fee involved and the banking division needs the business." "I'm worrying about my bonus this year." "Oh, mark that down." "I think that's the earliest worrying about a bonus ever recorded." "Yeah?" "It's your sister, Mr. Tremont." "She says it's important." "She's has to talk to you now." "Hi, Annie." "How are you?" "I'm in a meeting." "What's up?" "John, it's about Mom." "She's had a heart attack." "She's okay, but it's pretty serious." "Can you come out?" "Hey!" "How was your flight?" "All right." "The guy next to me wouldn't leave me alone." "Once they hear you're on Wall Street, forget it." ""What about this stock?" "What about that stock?" "What about bonds?"" "Yeah, I know." "Ever heard of a stock called Chrometex?" "Mario." "A guy in the math department told me about it." "They make those heat sensors for cryogenic capsules." "It's gonna be bigger than the telephone." "No, it's not." "It's not?" "No." "How's Annie?" "How's she holding up?" "Good." "She's at home with your father." "We can go there first or the hospital." "Whatever." "Let's go to the hospital." "That's what I figured." "How's Dad?" "To be honest, Johnny, he's a little shook up." "That's why Annie's there." "She didn't want to leave him alone." "So what's going on with Mom?" "How serious is this?" "Hard to tell with her." "You know your mother." "She won't admit she's actually had a heart attack." "She's lying there going into cardiac arrest, she's claiming it's indigestion." "She's blaming me." "What do you mean?" "She said it was the sausages I made for dinner." "She claims I was trying to kill her." "Are you?" "No jury would convict me, John." "Believe me." "I believe you." "I must really be sick if you're here." "See, Mom, that's why you're the best." "Not many people would have gone for guilt in your situation." "How you feeling?" "Are you in any pain?" "I'm staying alive by willpower." "She'll tell you." "I've the willpower of a woman half my age." "You underestimate yourself." "Did you see your father yet?" "No, I came straight from the airport." "When you see him, don't say anything to him about the heart attack." "Just tell him that something went wrong with my insides." "Okay?" "Mom." "Listen to me." "Just tell him it's something with my insides." "He'll understand that because I had the hysterectomy." "Okay." "There's food in the freezer." "It's all marked." "If you have to go out, go to McDonald's or Wendy's." "Someplace simple." "Mom, I don't think you should worry about Dad now." "I think you should be worrying about yourself." "You had a heart attack." "I'm not so sure I had a heart attack." "It felt more like gas pains to me." "Mom, for gas pains they give you Tums." "They don't hook you up to $20 million worth of machines." "Did you see the doctor who was taking care of me?" "Because I don't think he was a real doctor." "He was wearing tight pants with a big silver belt buckle." "He can't be more than 30 years old." "They'll let anyone through medical school these days." "John!" "God, it's good to see you." "You stopped and saw Mom first, huh?" "Yeah." "How did she look to you, John, really?" "Like Mom." "Like she was gonna walk out of there dragging IV bottles with her." "Well, it was only gas pains." "I'm sure she told you." "Yeah." "And the willpower?" "A woman half her age." "So you're up to date." "It was scary, John." "I mean it," "I thought we were gonna lose her." "Where would you like your bags, sir?" "Uh, just put them right there." "Thank you very much." "No luggage in the living room." "You know the rules." "I'll put them in your old bedroom." "The living room is still off limits?" "Look at this." "Nothing changes." "You're kidding." "This place is going directly as is to the Smithsonian." "Dad's out back, huh?" "Yeah, in the greenhouse." "How's he doing?" "Mario said he took it pretty hard." "He's scared, John." "He's really, really frightened." "I'm not sure he even understands what happened." "What do you mean?" "He's seen her, hasn't he?" "No." "He was too scared." "I didn't want to push it." "I told him that she wasn't allowed to have visitors, and he seemed okay with that." "Hello, Dad." "Hello, John." "Nice to see you." "You look good." "Good to see you, too." "I'm gonna be staying here a few days." "I know." "Annie told me." "You heard what happened to Mother?" "Yeah." "I was just at the hospital." "I saw her." "How is she?" "Good." "Good." "She said to say hello and tell you she was comin' home soon." "Something went wrong with her insides, huh?" "Yeah, Dad." "Something like that." "The heat in your old room doesn't work, you know." "You may need an extra blanket." "Okay." "The main thing for you while you're here will be to keep everything on an even keel." "Mom has a schedule and their life is essentially one long routine." "Dad gets coffee in the morning." "Decaf." "And a sweet roll." "They start the day by clipping coupons, making out a shopping list." "That's very important." "I have a list of pills for you here." "When did he get so bad?" "I saw him a year ago." "No, you didn't." "What're taking about?" "I was here for Christmas." "Annie, I think I ought to know." "All right, I saw him two years ago." "A lot happens in two years." "Why didn't you tell me?" "I told you." "You didn't hear me." "We tried moving him to our place but he wasn't comfortable." "It's an hour away, and we're both working during the day." "At least here he has his garden and his greenhouse." "He knows the environment." "I can only stay a few days." "What do we do after that?" "You can't stay longer?" "No." "I have a meeting in Toronto, Tuesday." "I may have to go to Boston." "It's just not possible." "We're just gonna have to bring someone in." "At least we have the time to find the right person." "Dad just got old, John." "Yeah." "Well, Dad, maybe we ought to hit the sack, huh?" "Johnny." "I can't find my pajamas." "I don't know where Mother keeps them." "Here you go." "Why don't you put them on, Dad?" "I'll do it." "You okay?" "I miss your mother." "Well, she's getting what she needs." "A good rest." "She'll be home soon." "Good night." "Good night." "Leave the hall light on." "I will." "Sleep well." "I don't usually eat that much in the morning, Johnny." "It was good, though." "Thank you, Dad." "You do much cooking at home, do you?" "Not too much." "Since Sara and I split up, mostly I eat out." "Yes, she was a nice girl." "Still is." "How's Billy?" "Billy's fine." "He's up in Santa Cruz." "Freshman in college." "He came to visit one time." "Well, then you've seen him more than I have." "Oh, look at this, Johnnie." "It's double coupon day at Ralph's." "Tuna at two cans for $1.38." "You can't beat that." "What do you pay for tuna in New York?" "Tuna?" "I don't know." "Not two for $1.38, I'll bet." "No, I don't think so." "No way, Jose." "Listen, Dad, I'd like to talk to you for a minute about Mom." "There's something you should really try to understand." "Mother is sick." "It's not cancer, is It?" "No, no, it's not cancer." "That cancer is a killer, you know." "Your Uncle Ben had five operations." "Didn't do one damn thing for him." "I tell you, if you have cancer, you might as well pack your bags." "Well, it isn't cancer." "It was a heart attack." "A serious one." "She'll be okay?" "Yeah, she's gonna be okay." "But she's never gonna be able to work as hard as she used to." "She has to learn to take it easy and you have to learn to help her." "I'm always telling her that she works too hard." "Johnny, she works too hard." "You're gonna have to learn to do a lot of things around the house by yourself." "You see, Mother's convinced herself nobody can take care of you except her." "We're gonna have to prove her wrong." "That's right, Johnny." "I'm going to learn how to do all those things." "You'll see." "We'll fool her." "Okay, Dad, the first thing we have to do here is, let's see," ""Separate the colored articles of clothing from the whites. "" "That's so the colors from the dark stuff don't get on the white stuff." "Oh, that's right." "I think that's the way Mother does it." "Oh, good." "Good." "Then we know we're on the right track here." "Al right, let's start off with the coloreds, shall we?" "Oh, that's colored." "Color." "White, colored, colored." "White." "Colored." "Colored." "What about this one?" "That one?" "That is white." "Okay, it's colored." "Dad, it's gotta be one of those." "Maybe we should call Mother." "I'm going to make an executive decision here." "I think It's colored." "Okay?" "All right." "Let's see here." "What do you think we have?" ""Uh, normal." "Delicate." "Permanent Press. "" "I'm going to go with "Normal. "" "What kind of water do we need?" ""Cold-cold, cold-hot, warm-warm, warm-hot. "" "What the hell, let's live dangerously." "Hot-hot." "All right." "What do you think?" "I think it's white." "It'll be ready Thursday." "All right." "How hard was that?" "Yeah." "What's the best way to get to the market from here, Dad?" "Oh, I don't know these streets very well now, John." "Mother drives us everywhere we go." "You don't drive at all anymore?" "Ever?" "No, I can't." "My license expired a couple of years ago." "You didn't get go another one?" "Well, they wanted me to take a driving test because of my age." "Oh, and you failed the test?" "I didn't take it." "I was afraid I couldn't pass it." "What are you talking about?" "You're a terrific driver." "You always were." "Johnny, a good driver knows when he's not a good driver anymore, that's all." "I couldn't remember what you liked, so I thought I'd put out an assortment." "Great." "Well..." "These are good." "I think I'd like to see Mother, Johnny." "I'm not sure that's a good idea just yet, Dad." "I mean, Mom's okay, but they really like to, uh, limit the number of visitors." "I'm her husband." "I should see her." "It's not right." "No, I'm not sure, Annie, but if he thinks he's ready," "I don't know if we should be standing in his way." "Pretty good." "He made me breakfast this morning." "No, I'm serious." "I don't know, a box of granola." "It was good." "Yeah." "That sounds right." "All right, bye-bye." "Okay, Dad." "Annie's gonna talk to the people at the hospital." "And she thinks we'll be able to visit mom in a day or two." "Oh, good." "Yeah." "You know, Johnny, I" " I think I could do these." "What?" "I think I could do the dishes." "I made these cards all color-coded." "There's a different set of cards for each chore." "For example, now, these pink ones are for dishwashing." "Go ahead, take a look and see what number one is." "Number one:" ""Fill sink with water. "" "Right." "Number two?" ""Put one squeeze of soap in water. "" "Right." ""Put dishes in soapy water. "" "I made these for you to study on your own." "This is great, Johnny." "There's no way I could make a mistake as long as I just follow these cards." "You know, you could market these." "I'm gonna have to show you how to work the stove here, Dad." "No, on second thought, the stove is out of bounds for now." "No stove." "And don't use the juicer either." "No juicing." "And stay away from that blender." "No blending." "I think I'll work better with this on." "Your mother doesn't like me to wear this." "Thinks I look too tough." "Like Johnny Cash." "You don't mind If I wear it, do you?" "No, Dad, I don't mind." "Don't take your guns to town, son" "Leave those guns at home" "Bang, bang." ""Fill the sink. "" "That is a professionally waxed floor, Dad." "You can see yourself in that floor." "No waxy yellow build-up." "You know what I think?" "I think we owe ourselves a reward." "What do you mean?" "We should go out and have a good time." "What do you say?" "Okay." "Okay." "What do you and Mom do around here for fun?" ""I" 20." ""I" two-zero." ""0" 75." "Seven-five." ""B" 11." ""B" one-one." "Right there on top, okay?" ""G" 58." ""G" five-eight." "Enjoying yourself, Johnny?" "Having a good time?" "You kidding me?" "I love this." "I do it all the time at home." "Do they have air conditioning in here, Dad?" "Or a fan or something?" ""I" 22..." "Choo-choo!" "I love when they do that." "They do that all the time?" ""B" 4." "And after!" "Boy, this really is too much fun for one evening." ""I" 19." "Bingo!" "Bingo!" "Jake Tremont, is that you?" "Hal McCarthy." "How are you?" "You remember Gloria?" "My son, John." "He's visiting from New York." "How do you do?" "Bette here?" "No, she's in the hospital." "No, it's okay." "She had a heart attack, but she's doing fine." "Coming back strong." "That's the part that's good to know." "Please give her our best." "We will." "Thank you." "You heard about Nick Price, right?" "He's dead." "Oh, yeah." "Nick, Robin, Dorothy, the twins." "That whole table." "Dead." "All of them." "All of them." "The whole table." "And Delores Patcher from the table next to them." "Gone." "Dead." "Well, good seeing you again." "It's been a while." "A long time." "Nice to meet you." "Boy, they're a breath of fresh air." "Don't mind them, John." "They're crepe-hangers." "Know their bingo, though." "You used to come here a lot, huh, Dad?" "Oh, at least once a week." "It was fun." "When was the last time you played?" "Must be three years." "You're kidding." "Why did you stop coming?" "I don't know." "Your mother and I used to enjoy having fun as much as anybody, but..." "We just stopped doing the things we liked." "I don't know why." "Well, you should remember the fun things you used to do and you should start doing them." "That's a good idea." "John, I'm going to write that down." "I'll make a list of fun things and I'll do them." "Yes, sir." "Bingo." "What?" "I think you got bingo." "Hey, I got bingo!" "Over here!" "I have bingo!" "We were awesome tonight, Dad." "We won the "X," the "L"" "and we were this close to getting the four corners." "That would have been the triple crown." "I'm worried about you, John." "I'm afraid you're getting addicted." "You know, there's a bingo game down in Palm Springs somebody told me about." "Run by the Indians." "Big stakes." "We ought to check that out." "We should be able to win, and win regularly at this game." "I got a computer guy in New York I'm gonna put onto this." "Fabulous with numbers." "He'll come up with a system for us." "You'll see." "We're gonna beat these guys, Dad." "Oh, look at that." "It's after 11:00." "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to keep you out so late." "It's okay." "It feels good." "It feels like New Year's Eve." "All that's missing is Guy Lombardo." "He's dead." "Surprised Hal McCarthy didn't bring that up." "Big day tomorrow." "Better get some sleep." "Good night, John." "Good night, Dad." ""B" 4." "And after." "There they are, Dad." "Hi, Dad." "Seen Mom?" "How's she doing?" "Yeah." "She looks good." "She's a little feisty." "My mom?" "You gotta be kidding me." "You ready to see her, Dad?" "Oh, wait a second, Dad." "Let me..." "I can't believe how good Dad looks." "You really think so?" "Absolutely." "You've been terrific for him, John." "He's been good for me, too." "It's been kind of fun." "I have a lead on somebody to take over at the house." "It should only be a day or two." "That's okay." "I didn't know what you were doing, so I changed my schedule." "I can stay until Mom gets home." "Really?" "Yeah, no big deal." "Hi, Bette." "Are you all right?" "Yeah." "You taking your blood-pressure pills?" "Are you eating?" "Yeah, I'm fine, Bette." "I make my own bed now." "And I do the dishes." "John is teaching me to cook." "He's like a regular wife." "Just keep him alive till I get home." "Thank you for your confidence." "Mom looks good, doesn't she?" "Yeah, wonderful." "I never go anywhere without my tubes." "I meant your color, Mom." "My color?" "What are you, a decorator?" "And don't call me Mom." "I don't call you Son, do I?" "Stop trying to be so nice to my mother, Mario." "You're gonna kill her." "Why are you cooking?" "There's food prepared in the freezer." "I told you." "It's just for a little variety, that's all." "Last night we had salmon." "The night before that we had coq au vin." "Your father doesn't like foreign food." "It's not foreign." "It's just chicken in red wine." "He's not allowed to have red wine." "Mom, it was this much." "I don't want him becoming an alcoholic while I'm in here." "Nobody ever became an alcoholic from coq au vin." "Take it easy, Bette." "Don't get all excited." "You just concentrate on getting better and don't worry about me." "You hear?" "You sure you wanna come up, Dad?" "It could be a long meeting." "No, I'll come up." "I'll be okay." "I could buy you a lunch here, you could catch a movie." "I'll sit, I'll read a magazine." "I'll be fine." "All right." "John Tremont to see Vic Walton, please." "He's expecting you." "Dad, you sure you're gonna be okay out here with all this construction?" "Sure, as long as no one throws a drop cloth over me." "John, good to see you." "Pardon our mess." "No problem." "Good to see you, too, Vic." "This is my father, Jake Tremont." "Dad, this is Vic Walton." "Nice to meet you, Mr. Tremont." "And you." "We're gonna be here about an hour?" "I'd say." "All right, well, make yourself comfortable here, Dad." "Wait a minute." "We don't have to leave your father out here." "Mr. Tremont, why don't you come in and sit with us?" "I don't think that" "Don't be silly." "Come on in." "Ralph, we've given you every benefit of the doubt and yet our projections still come up 20% less than yours." "How can you be so confident?" "You've-you've never run a business like this before." "And if you're wrong, we'll be the laughingstock of the industry and you'll be off on another deal." "Forget about running the cannery." "It loses money every day it's open but the property it's on is worth at least $50 million." "How can you be sure of the $50 million?" "We think it's a stretch to bring it to $40 million." "I'd like to see some supporting data." "If it's supporting data you need," "Brian will give you a package at the end of the meeting." "Now can I get back to my case?" "The real estate is $50 million and we should have no problem turning around their trucking operation." "They let the overhead get out of hand but we have a schedule that shows us cutting back 10% of the administrative staff in a few months." "Aren't you better off just selling it?" "And getting it off your books?" "There's no need to, if we can make it work." "I don't think they ever focused on it." "I think we can turn it." "The last piece is food wholesaling, which has been a good sector thus far." "Now our cash flow projections for the division may look aggressive but we're comfortable with them." "So, all in all, the banks shouldn't have any problem financing us." "Well, that was fun." "Johnny, what the hell was goin' on back there?" "Well, we were talking about buying a salmon cannery, Dad." "I didn't know you knew about stuff like that." "Actually, I don't." "The guy coming to us for money doesn't either." "We're just gonna buy the company and then close it down." "That's your job?" "You buy companies, then close them down?" "It's a little more complicated than that, Dad." "Take this cannery, for instance." "Turns out to be a lousy business." "It's third-generation management, and they've let it run down terribly." "But they have a small subsidiary that's a real gem." "The cannery itself is sitting on prime waterfront land." "So we buy the company, close it down, then we sell off the subsidiary business, then we sell the land." "You ever thought of maybe running these companies?" "There's no money in that, Dad." "The world has changed, Johnny." "You wouldn't believe how the world has changed." "When you were a boy, you used to go to work at Lockheed with me, you remember?" "I used to separate all the nuts and bolts." "32 cents a day and all the ham-and-cheese sandwiches I could eat." "You used to say when you grew up, you wanted to work there, like me." "Now I guess you'd just buy it and close it down." "You ever hear from any of those old Lockheed guys, Dad?" "Rick Malinson?" "Tommy Williams?" "By the time I retired," "I was the last of us still working there." "They all moved out." "To the Valley, Palm Springs..." "My last day," "I finished my work, cleaned out my locker and went home." "There was no one even there to say good-bye to." "Next morning, someone else doing my job like I'd never been there." "The world is divided into two groups:" "workers and bosses." "I'm a worker." "Always have been." "I don't know, Dad, I think" "It's okay, Johnny." "There's nothing wrong with it." "I'm a worker, that's all." "But you, you're different." "You like to be in control." "You like that responsibility." "You're a boss." "And Mom?" "What do you think?" "Okay, Dad." ""If you hit a parked vehicle and cannot find the owner" ""you must A:" "Leave a note on or in the car," "Wait for the owner to return or C:" "Leave a message at the nearest house?"" "Why are you doing this?" "I've already passed the written test." "I know, but you can't be too careful." "One of these very situations may appear during the driving portion of the test." "I want you to be ready." "If I hit a car in the driving test, it isn't gonna matter if I "A:" "Leave a note on or in the car or not. "" "Very good." "Thank you." "We've come this far." "I don't want to see anything go wrong now." "They want us to pull ahead here." "Go ahead." "Ease up, ease up, not too fast." "All right, stop." "There he is now." "Jake Tremont?" "Yes, sir." "Here." "Right here." "Actually, he's Jake Tremont." "I'm his son, John." "You probably don't need to know that, but now you do anyway." "You can't sit there during the test, sir." "Oh, I'm sorry." "Uh, you can't be in the car at all." "What are you talking about?" "This is my father." "It's against the law." "I won't say a word." "You won't even know I'm here." "I can't administer the test with you in the car." "Either you get out now, or your father gets a failing grade." "You going to be okay?" "I will be as soon as you go." "Before opening the door on the traffic side of your parked car" "John." "I'm going." "Look for bicycles and other vehicles." "Yes!" "When waiting to make a left turn, give the right of way to cars coming in the opposite direction." "Until all dangerously close cars have passed." "On a highway with fewer than four lanes in one direction a passenger vehicle towing a trailer..." "Must travel in the lane farthest to the right or a specially marked lane." "Yes!" "Well, look who's here." "Yo, Dad." "Yo, Billy." "Well..." "I was down at the American Express office in Tecoman and I got a letter from Aunt Annie." "Told me that Grandma was sick." "So I hustled back." "I figured you might need some help, Grandpa." "Never mind helping your Grandpa." "When was the last time you ate?" "Why are you Americans so obsessed with food?" "Excuse me, senor." "You're not..." "You know, when in Rome..." "What were you doing down in Mexico?" "Semester break." "A bunch of kids went down there." "You look good." "I think you've grown." "Dad, you say that every time you see me." "And I stopped growing two years ago." "How's your mother?" "She's fine." "In her third year of law, top of her class." "It's embarrassing when your mother has a higher grade point average than you do but we're working that out." "Send her my best." "How about you?" "You know?" "How's business?" "You know." "The same." "You win some, you lose some." "Knowing you, I'm sure you're winning more than you're losing." "When you finish with that, you can wash it down with a piece of cake." "He looks really good." "What's been going on?" "Well, we've been spending a lot of time together." "Quality time, huh?" "They say it's good for parents and kids." "Maybe you and I should spend some more time together." "Take it easy, Dad." "Let's not get carried away." "This place looks great, Grandpa." "You've added a lot." "You look good." "I'm gonna name this one after you, Bill." "Butter, anyone?" "You want some butter, honey?" "I would like to make a toast." "Uh-oh." "A lot's happened in the past two weeks." "We've overcome a lot of adversity, overcome a lot of pain." "Pulled together as a team." "And now we're taking time to say thanks." "That's beautiful, Mario." "It's my regular halftime speech." "Actually, I just wanted to say how happy I am to see the family together." "It's a thrill for me, too." "Are you finished?" "My chicken's getting cold." "I'm finished." "Very good." "I'd like to make a toast." "Hmm." "Well, hey, Dad." "To my lovely bride." "Your bride?" "Did you have a drink today, Jake?" "Before you came home, Mom, we had a couple of glasses of coq au vin." "To my lovely bride." "Bette, you're back in the bosom of your family, where you belong." "It's good to be home." "Hear, hear." "Well said, Dad." "It's good to have everybody here, too." "I can't remember the last time we had John and Billy together." "Billy looks good." "I like that earring." "Think I should get one of those?" "Yeah." "It's very nice." "I have a pin that goes with that if you want." "Oh, leave him alone, Mom." "He looks fabulous." "I bet the girls are falling all over themselves." "Don't worry about me." "This isn't at all embarrassing." "I hear the dorms are co-ed now." "Is that true?" "Yeah our dorm's co-ed." "Good thing they didn't have it when I was in school." "I never would've got any studying done." "Some student you were." "Mario was an excellent student, Mom." "He was a physical education major." "He didn't read books, he ran laps." "Yes, but good students like me read books and ran laps at the same time." "Now John was a good student." "Thank you, Mommy." "From kindergarten on, every Saturday we'd go to the library." "Get out four books." "You'd read them, we'd go back, get out another four books." "It worked, too." "I learned how to read." "You did more than that." "So how does it work?" "Are the girls on another floor?" "How do you find them?" "Somebody hose this man down." "What is it, Dad?" "What's the matter?" "I'm just happy." "Let's try to make it easy for Grandma and Grandpa while you're here." "Okay?" "Sure, you get so used to hearing it, you don't even realize it's on." "It was on, believe me." "My fillings are still rattling." "Sorry." "So when do you have to be back at school?" "I don't know." "I may not go back to school." "I'm thinking of going back down to Mexico to live for a while." "What's the big attraction with Mexico?" "All the people in Mexico are trying to come here." "Did you know that?" "A lot of kids from school are down there." "They've got a little community going." "It's, uh, it's fun." "Okay, it's fun, but believe it or not, you may want a job someday, Bill." "Lying on the beach in Mexico is not going to help prepare you for anything." "Unless you want to be a mariachi singer, in which case it's a work-study program." "I could say I went to college." "Nobody checks." "I'll say I have a B.A." "I'll say I have a PhD." "Might as well do it right." "Two PHDs." "One in chemistry, one in physics." "I have to go back to New York soon, and I'd like this settled." "What's your mother think?" "She said I should use my best judgment." "I'm not sure how I feel about this." "We should talk about this a little bit." "I" " I don't see why." "We haven't talked about it up until now, and I think I know what I want." "Johnny, something's wrong." "Would you come here and take a look?" "That'll be all for now, Mr. Tremont." "You can get dressed if you like." "Is he all right?" "Yes, he's fine." "It's a very painful procedure." "No getting around it." "Any idea what the problem might be?" "Could be any of a number of things." "I suspect small growths in his bladder." "The question is, are they malignant?" "Will the tests you've just done tell you that?" "Not completely." "The fact they're bleeding is not a good sign." "So this is serious?" "Yes." "I think we should schedule him for exploratory surgery." "If it were serious, Dad, they wouldn't have let you out of there." "They would've cut you right open and operated on the spot." "I wouldn't be surprised at all if it were just a cyst." "Just a cyst?" "Right." "I don't even think it's worth telling Mom about." "Why worry her for nothing?" "Whatever you say, Johnny." "You're the boss." "He told you, didn't he?" "Of course, he told me." "Well, then you know it's nothing serious." "If it wasn't serious, you'd have told me about it yourself." "Look, Mom, you're supposed to avoid any stress right now." "I was afraid you might get upset about nothing." "That's why I didn't tell you." "I'm sorry." "Maybe I was wrong, but that's what I was trying to do." "He says it's just a cyst." "That's right." "That's a fairly simple procedure." "Yes, it is." "Mother, I'd tell you if there was anything wrong." "I would." "Okay." "Do I walk around like this, John, with the back open and all the nurses here?" "Yeah." "It says right here on the admission slip," ""Dress is informal. "" "There you go." "You need to sign this, Dad." "What is it?" "It just says if anything happens to you," "I get your catcher's mitt." "I don't have a catcher's mitt." "Sorry." "Bad joke." "Dr. Santana ordered this medication." "It's just something to relax you." "If you have any left over, I'd like a little." "Guess you have to pay extra to get one with a personality." "What time is it?" "About noon." "Not much longer." "Nope." "Is this comfortable for you, Dad?" "Fine." "I'm gonna let you rest now." "That stuff's gonna really mellow you out." "Okay." "Don't forget, if you need anything, just ring the buzzer here." "I guess this is it, huh?" "You're gonna be okay." "You know, John, I see men now, they hug." "We've never hugged." "Wanna give it a try?" "I do." "I love you, Johnny." "I love you, too, Dad." "Well, Mr. Tremont, I'm afraid it's cancer." "Cancer." "Yes." "There were several malignant tumors." "I think I got 'em, but we have to do some chemotherapy." "We won't radiate." "Not with a man with your father's age." "Maybe this is a silly question, but are you absolutely sure?" "Yes." "A virulent form, too." "It's a good thing we went in and got it when we did." "Listen, Dr. Santana." "Whatever you do, don't mention cancer to my father." "He's terribly anxious and frightened about that word." "It's beyond anything rational." "Calm down, Mr. Tremont." "You'd be surprised what these older people can take." "Their children tend to underestimate them." "I don't underestimate him, Doctor." "I want to be the one to tell him, that's all." "It's cancer, isn't it?" "Mom, I told you." "It's a cyst and they took it out." "That's all." "I want to go see him." "Mom!" "Mom, you can't go see him right now." "Will you listen to me?" "You can't expose yourself to that kind of stress." "If he was all right, you'd let me see him." "Oh, come on, Mom." "John's only thinking about what's best for you." "You know that." "You got to listen to him, Mom." "Come on." "This is my husband and I'm gonna see him." "Now, either you're gonna drive me or I'm gonna walk, but I'm goin'." "Dad?" "What is it?" "What's out there?" "There's nothing, Dad." "You're in the hospital." "It's fine." "There's nothing the matter." "Billy, go get Dr. Santana right now." "Just do it!" "Get her out of here." "What's the matter with him?" "Jake, it's me!" "Why doesn't he know me?" "Jake!" "Mr. Tremont, I'm Dr. Santana." "Do you know who I am?" "I'm fine." "I'm just fine, thank you." "He's in shock." "Give him 25 mg Librium IM and check his vitals every two hours." "Yes, Doctor." "This is fairly standard with older people." "They often go into delayed shock even after minor surgery." "This is standard?" "Do you have any idea what happened in there?" "I'm sure it was a frightening experience for you, but what you got to understand is that what we're dealing with here actually is a form of senility." "He wasn't senile when he came in." "Why should he suddenly go into senility?" "Senility is a very strange thing." "It comes and goes." "You get a stress situation like this and it just crops up." "I'm sure, with proper rest and medication, the situation will correct itself." "What do we do in the meantime?" "Nothing." "What do you mean "nothing"?" "No tests, no consultations?" "We just wait?" "We wait for him to respond to the medication." "He'll be fine." "Don't worry." "Did you tell my father he has cancer?" "You have to understand, Mr. Tremont," "I have an ethical obligation to my patients." "He had a right to know." "I'm not quite sure what it is you want me to do, Mr. Tremont." "Dr. Ethridge," "I don't have a lot of confidence in Santana." "And you're the hospital administrator, and I just want you to know that this doesn't feel right." "Dr. Santana is a fine young surgeon." "It seems to me that he's been very thorough and professional in your father's case." "I told him not to say anything about cancer to my father because he's very frightened by that word." "He went ahead and told him anyway." "Well, it's always a difficult call for a doctor." "He has to balance the will of the family members with the patient's right to know." "I'm sure he had no choice." "He had a choice." "He could have listened to me." "I know my father." "And what's happening to him right now is a direct result of Dr. Santana's poor judgment." "Why did you strap his arms down?" "To keep him from hurting himself." "He's been flailing around pretty good with those hands." "Yeah, well, I'm his son and I say he doesn't need these things." "Give us a call when you're ready, and we'll put him back in bed." "I don't believe it." "Hey, dad, how you doin'?" "What is it?" "Does he always look like this?" "Look, hey, look, look, I've brought Annie." "And I got Billy here." "Huh?" "Hey, Dad." "How are you feelin', Dad?" "Can you hear me?" "Hey, Grandpa, it's me, Billy." "How you doin'?" "God, John, I can't stand to see him looking like this." "What is it, Dad?" "What's the matter?" "That would be absolutely adequate, I think." "I gave him a sedative." "That should calm him down." "How long had he been like that?" "The whole time we've been here." "At least half an hour." "Did he seem depressed?" "Jesus, Doctor." "It's a good thing you're not a detective." "Yeah, he seemed depressed." "What the hell do you think is going on here?" "I meant more than usual, Mr. Tremont." "He's been sliding every day since he's been in here." "And you know that." "Mr. Tremont" "You're not gonna tell me that this is normal behavior." "This particular manifestation of the depression is unusual, true, but the sedative will bring him around." "A sedative?" "The man is hallucinating." "He's crying nonstop." "He doesn't recognize anyone in his family, and you're giving him a sedative?" "And why didn't you give him some Sucrets, too?" "Maybe he has a sore throat you can fix!" "We've scheduled your father for release tomorrow." "You can pick him up anytime after 12:00." "What do you mean, "release"?" "Are you trying to tell me that my father has recovered?" "Well, no, of course not, but medically speaking there's nothing more we can do for him." "We cannot hold hospital beds for patients who cannot profit from medical care." "How would we know?" "He's never gotten any medical care!" "You have to understand, Mr. Tremont, while his condition is stable, basically he's custodial." "What exactly does that mean?" "I'll tell you what that means." "That means they don't give a shit if he lives or dies." "He's not custodial!" "God damn it!" "What kind of word is that to describe a person?" "I don't think" "Just calm down." "You want my father out of here?" "Well, let me tell you something." "I want him out of here more than you do." "You're not good enough to take care of him." "John, what are you doing?" "Mr. Tremont- Don't you touch him." "This is very unnecessary." "I said I'm taking him home." "Mr. Tremont, this is very unfortunate." "What do we do now?" "I don't know." "We may have no choice but to" "No, I don't want to do that." "I don't wanna put him in a nursing home." "I don't either, John, but we have to do something." "If you take Mom out to your place," "I'll take care of Dad at home." "Wait a second, John." "You can't handle him in this condition." "I think I can do it." "I can do better than the hospital did." "I can stay and help." "No." "Why not?" "I'll take care of him." "He's my father." "Well, he's my grandfather." "And I'm your father." "Great." "Now that we know who everyone is, can we talk about what's best for this man?" "I don't want you here right now, Billy." "You don't have to see this." "Dad, I am not a kid." "Look, I want you gone." "Go back to school, go back to Mexico." "You're in the way here." "Don't you understand?" "Yeah, I understand." "I want to talk to him." "It's not a good idea now, Mom, really." "Annie's right, Mom." "Come on, get in the hearse." "You'd like that, wouldn't you, Mario?" "I meant "get in the car," Mom." "It was a slip of the tongue." "Okay, Mom, okay." "Come on, come on." "He'll be all right." "He'll be all right." "John's gonna take care of him." "Here we go, Dad." "We got a score yet?" "Huh?" "This kid Gooden is fabulous, isn't he?" "He kind of reminds me of Bob Gibson." "You know, a real competitor." "What is that?" "Did you get that, Dad?" "All right." "Here we go." "A club soda." "Well, we've got to work on your technique here." "That's all right." "A little home-cooked meal, that's what you need." "Remember how you used to tell me that all the great chefs were men?" "Well, I think you're right." "Wait till you taste this." "Come on, Dad." "All right." "What's that?" "Too big, you say?" "Hmm, all right." "Here." "Try this." "Come on, Dad, take a bite." "Come on, there you go." "All right!" "We have a sale here." "Well." "Let's push our luck." "Here." "Wash it down with this, Dad." "Dad, don't bite the glassware." "House rules." "You just didn't like that place, did you?" "Neither did I." "Here you go." "One more bite." "There you go, Dad." "All right!" "We're going to be okay, huh." "Here you go, Pop." "That's better." "All right, Dad." "Hang on a second here and I'll have you all settled in." "Let me grab these and I'll be right back." "Why are we here, Ed?" "Why aren't we at the farm?" "What?" "You know they'll be mad at us if we stay, you know that." "Where's the owner of the house?" "This is your house, Dad." "What are you talking about?" "Mandy is out of the pasture again, Ed." "I'm worried about her." "Well, don't worry, Dad." "I'm-I'm sure she's okay." "You think so?" "I do." "Hand me that 18 wrench there, by the chicken wire." "That ought to hold it now." "Look." "A good night's sleep is what we need here, Dad." "Isn't that's what you always used to say when we had a problem?" ""Let's sleep on it. "" "Well, we got ourselves a problem here, Dad." "Let's sleep on it." "Dad?" "Dad?" "Dad?" "Dad, where are you?" "Dad?" "Dad?" "Dad?" "Dad?" "What the hell are you doing?" "Oh, Dad, here, let me help you." "All right, all right." "It's okay." "Come here, Pop, come here." "No." "Ouch!" "Ow!" "Dad, I'm gonna lift the bed." "Crawl out." "Come on, Dad, crawl out." "Dad, come on." "Okay, now." "I've got you." "Shh." "Come on." "Shh." "I got you, Dad." "It's all right." "It's okay." "Shh." "I got you, I got you." "I got you." "Mr. Tremont?" "I understand you put your father back in the hospital." "I'm very sorry." "Yeah." "I thought it might be difficult for you to care for him at home." "It's really not the place for him right now." "Well, he can't be at home and he can't be here, right?" "Maybe he can just hover overhead in a helicopter." "It's very hard, I realize for children to understand that their parents have gotten old." "To know what that really means." "I know what that means, to be old." "It means most people would rather you were dead." "Mr. Tremont, you have to understand that doctors are only human, too." "We can't solve every problem." "We can't save every patient." "We work in a system where old people tend to sometimes fall through the cracks." "What is it you want?" "Why are you here?" "There's another doctor here at the hospital." "I think he might be better than Dr. Santana." "What?" "I'll deny ever having said that." "He's a fine man." "I'd like to see if I can get him to take a look at your father." "Mr. Tremont?" "Mr. Tremont?" "How are you, Mr. Tremont?" "Let's get a few more studies." "Please order an EEG and let's look for any metabolic abnormalities." "Order calcium-magnesium and liver function tests." "I'm not sure exactly what caused it, but right now, I'm inclined to go along with the diagnosis of a seizure." "The question is, what caused it?" "And why is he still comatose?" "If you want to have another consultation on this, please do so." "No, that won't be necessary." "Well, having said that don't get the impression that we're going to sit by and do nothing." "We won't." "We've just done a series of tests and we'll do more." "It's just that right now, we're really shooting in the dark." "We really appreciate your honesty, Doctor." "It's strange." "You know, the LP we did showed up an elevated protein in the spinal fluid, but the CAT scan showed no evidence of a stroke or tumor." "Those tests should have been done a long time ago, shouldn't they?" "We'll keep him in ICU, that way he'll be monitored at all times." "And I'll check in and see him twice a day." "I'm going to move in here with him, then, if it's okay." "I'm afraid, that's entirely against hospital regulations." "Well, if it makes you feel more comfortable," "I think it's a good idea." "How long do you think you can keep this up?" "I don't know." "I'm just goin' one day at a time." "I sit." "I talk to him." "I talk to myself." "I talk to people passing by." "I have this idea if I'm sitting there and I'm talking, he won't die." "What are you going to do when he does?" "Annie, I don't" "You're the only one who hasn't accepted it, John." "Why can't you let him go?" "I can't explain it." "Maybe I want to be there to mark the end." "I don't know." "To prove he was here." "To prove I was his son." "What more could you possibly have done?" "Annie, that man got up every day of his life and went to a job he didn't like." "We didn't ask him to." "He just did it because he was the father and that was the deal he made." "He didn't ask himself if he was satisfied or happy." "He didn't even know he had the right." "Somehow part of that deal was that we'd care for him and watch over him when he got older." "I screwed that up." "John." "I got embarrassed by him, by the way Mom dominated him." "By the way he got old." "Embarrassed that I had a marriage that failed, a job that didn't make sense, a son I'd barely recognize if I passed him on the street." "Maybe this is more for me than for him," "but I'm gonna be there when he dies." "And I'm gonna kiss him, and I'm going to cover him," "and I'm gonna mark the moment." "I owe him that." "When did you get back in town?" "I never left." "I'm staying with some friends." "I didn't want to leave Grandpa." "You've been coming here every day?" "Whenever you leave, one of the nurses calls me." "I usually stay a half-an-hour or so." "I guess I dozed off." "Sorry." "Where am I, Johnny?" "You're in a hospital, Dad." "I think I could have guessed that one." "Why are you here?" "Was there an earthquake or a car crash or something?" "He speaks?" "Yes, he does." "It's something he learned as a child." "Go, uh, go page Dr. Chad right away." "Please, please." "Why was she looking at me funny?" "Uh, she's-she's part of the hospital, Dad." "She's, uh, a nurse." "She's, uh..." "As a matter of fact, these are all nurses." "This is Molly, this is J.J., uh, this is Annie." "This is my dad." "Well, Mr. Tremont." "What can we do to make you comfortable?" "Well, to start with, you could take out these pipes and wires." "Then maybe I could have something to eat." "I feel like you've been starving me here." "Okay, but we'll have to start you off very slowly." "Don't forget you really haven't eaten anything in quite a long time." "Maybe that was what was wrong with me." "Have you thought of that?" "All the tests are positive, the vital signs stable." "This is the profile of a healthy man." "What happened?" "What's goin' on?" "I've seen people recover from comas before." "Very often we never find out why." "I have some theories in this case." "Nothing that I'd want to see published." "Like what?" "It is entirely possible that he was so fearful of the cancer that his brain froze up, stopped producing a vital chemical or enzyme that he needed." "Somehow with that last variation of the IV mixture we got lucky and he replaced that enzyme." "I see." "You know, if we were back home, we'd say that it was not that at all." "But rather, it was your love and caring that called your father back from where he'd gone." "I think that I like that one better." "Me, too." "Here they are." "What's goin' on, Dad?" "What are you looking for?" "Your mother and I are starting a new life together, Johnny." "We need some new clothes." "Hey, nice day." "How you doing?" "I don't know, Dad." "What do you suppose Mom will say about all this?" "She'll probably laugh and call me crazy, but she'll laugh." "We haven't had enough laughter in our house for the past 10 years." "What do you think of that?" "Thank you." "Thank you, thank you." "Ladies, ladies, the show is about to begin." "No matter how stimulated you become during the performance, please remain in your seats at all times." "The house is proud to present the star of our show, the late sick man and almost corpus delicti, back from a successful tour of the Caribbean," "Gorgeous Jake." "Give him a big hand." "Come on, give him a big hand." "Here we go." "Also his faithful companion, Billy!" "Ladies and gentlemen, Billy!" "What is this?" "What's it for?" "This is my outfit for bicycling in Venice down on the beach." "And maybe roller skating." "And this?" "This is my baseball-watching outfit." "See?" "I think I'll wear it mostly only in the house." "Actually, I'm going to go see a few of the games, but not in my outfit." "That's good to hear, Jake." "Wait." "There's more." "Let me see that again." "Oh, I'll piss my pants!" "Tell them to stop." "I'm dying!" "I never heard of anybody dying from laughing, Bette." "But wouldn't that be nice?" "I tell you, Johnny, he's not the same." "Maybe his hormones got mixed up with someone else's." "You know what goes on in these hospitals." "Nobody would believe he's a 78-year-old man who almost died a few weeks ago." "You've got to talk with somebody, I'm serious." "Mom, he's just having fun." "Not bad." "I shot a 94." "It's a one-hole course, but still..." "It's a wonderful day." "How about I take us for a drive after breakfast?" "Ah, it's a good idea." "Maybe Mom will come along with us." "I'm not going to drive with him." "He drove too fast before." "I hate to think what he'd be like now." "Don't you worry your pretty little head, Bette." "With old Jake Tremont behind that wheel, you're as safe as if you were in your own bed." "And it's almost as much fun." "What on Earth are you looking for?" "Nothing." "I want to see if I can still do a pushup." "I'll call these "old man pushups. "" "What about it, Bette?" "You want to hit the beach?" "I'll go, but only in a taxicab." "I don't want to go in a cab." "We'd probably wind up in Santa Monica." "That town is an outside old people's home." "On every corner, a doctor's office or a bank." "I'd like to drive to Venice." "Maybe to the pier." "Get in a little fishin'." "Oh, I used to like fishin'." "Where's all my fishing gear?" "I think I put it away in the garage." "About 35 years ago." "I'll get it." "Well, whatever's going on with Dad," "I think it's pretty terrific." "Oh, come on." "It's going to be okay." "Johnny, I'm scared." "He's talking about people I don't even know, or people I'm sure are dead." "He says we live on a farm in Cape May, New Jersey and he wants us all to go back there because it's harvest time." "What?" "Dad." "She told you, huh." "Yeah." "What's goin' on?" "Take me for a ride." "John, I need to talk." "Johnny," "what chance is there that Mother and I have four kids and we live on a farm in Cape May, New Jersey?" "I don't think there's much chance, Dad." "No chance that I have a little fa-farm there?" "Right next to" "Bill Sullivan and Ira Taylor across from my brother Ed and Gene Michaels?" "I don't have four kids there?" "You and Annie and Hank and little Lizbeth?" "As far as I know, Dad, you've been living here in LA about 25 years." "Held a regular job at Lockheed till you retired." "Before that, we lived in Plainfield and you worked for Lockheed there." "I know you must be right." "I mean, how can you be in two places at once?" "I've got to tell you, my life there is as real to me as we are here," "just sitting and looking at the ocean." "Stop me if this gets too technical or too fantastic." "Your father is what Laing would call a successful schizophrenic." "Over the years, he hasn't been getting enough pleasure out of his daily life, so he's isolated his greatest joys into a dream." "He's created a personal experience more to his liking." "An alternate coping system." "How long has this been going on?" "Hard to say yet." "At least 20 years, maybe more." "Incredible." "You realize, it takes an extremely intelligent, strong-willed, and imaginative individual to do this successfully." "Where is my mother in all this?" "Is she just shut out?" "No, she's there." "She's younger." "You all are." "You're frozen in time." "She's very supportive, very sweet." "I take it that's not always the case here in this world?" "She has her moments." "The problem is your father's participation in this world is totally tied up with your mother's approval." "Since his recovery, he's been a happy person." "The walls dividing his two worlds have broken down." "And he's bringing into his everyday life the joy In living he's kept separate all these years." "If your mother doesn't go along with him here, he'll just fade away again." "Hello, all you beautiful people." "Oh, it's a wonderful day." "Let's go to the beach." "Maybe I can do some jogging on the bike path." "What will people think if they see you like this?" "Who cares?" "We got to get over the feeling that we're old fogies." "And also stop worrying at what people think." "You sure as hell don't see any of the young people asking us what to wear." "I'll go with you, Dad." "Good boy, good boy." "Don't worry about me." "I'll run over to Newark, pick up some things for the farm." "Hey, Ma, Ma, I told you what the doctor said." "It's very important that you support him right now." "Making that kind of remark won't help anything." "The man is living in another time zone." "I think it should be pointed out to him." "That's all." "I've explained, this is just a dream." "A very well-defined and lovely dream world." "Dad's learning how to separate the two right now." "He's trying." "I don't care what you say." "It's not normal." "Something has happened to him." "This man is not your father." "I think this is the real Jake Tremont." "He's just been hiding for 50 years." "Hello." "I'm Jake Tremont, this is Bette Tremont." "We're your neighbors across the street." "Of course." "Can I help you with something?" "No." "No, no, no, just wanted to introduce ourselves and say howdy." "Well." "This is Christopher." "What do you say there, young guy?" "Say hi to Mr. and Mrs. Tremont, Chris." "Hi." "Hi." "We're home all the time if you ever need anyone to baby-sit." "Oh, how nice." "Thank you." "No, no, no, that's a lying dog." "That one." "That's a good example of a lying dog." "That's-that's Speedy." "Yes." "Yeah, He's-he is fast." "Look at that." "Look at him race." "Let's..." "Maybe if we put" "Well, hi there." "We're Jake and Bette T remont from up the street." "Wanted to say hello." "Brought you a little cake." "Come on in." "Oh, thank you." "Go ahead, Bette." "Good morning, Mother." "Where's Dad?" "I don't know." "Probably out pole-vaulting." "Did you hear any strange noises last night?" "No." "Why, did you?" "I thought I heard something." "Must've been the wind." "Close the door" "They're comin' in the window" "So how's it going with Dad?" "The doctor thinks he's making a lot of progress." "He keeps coming into my bed at night." "He won't leave me alone." "Your father's always been a highly sexed man, but since he came back from New Jersey, it's insane." "When we first got married and I told my friend Fanny Hogan the things we were doing, she told me to leave him and notify the police." "I told the priest in confession, he said he'd pray for me." "Fat lot of good that did." "You know, when your father gets excited, police, priests, prayers, nothing is gonna stop him." "Oh, grow up." "I'm a little teapot Short and stout" "Here is my handle Here is my spout" "When I get all steamed up" "Hear me shout" ""Tip me over and pour me out!"" "Oh, bingo." "There." "You know, I just realized something." "We don't speak Japanese." "You just realized that." "We should have one night a week where we try to learn about a new country." "We should eat food only from that country and speak that country's language." "We should do that." "No, we shouldn't." ""Where is the train station?"" ""Where is the train station?"" "What are you doing?" "I'm trying to find the train station." "I think this is good." "This is working." "I'm beginning to feel very Japanese." "Oh, uh, yeah, Annie, give us some facts, please." "Costumes, right?" ""The Japanese costume for women" ""is hardly different from that of the men." ""In many districts, the peasant women wear trousers" ""and raincoats like their husbands." ""This, coupled with the absence of beard in the men," ""often makes it difficult for a newcomer to distinguish between the sexes. "" "I don't know about you guys, but I'm very nervous about a country where you can't distinguish between the sexes." "Mario." "I'm serious." "That happened to me in a bar once." "John, John, you tell us about, uh, agriculture." "All right." ""In this land of mountains, barely 12% of the entire surface can be cultivated. "" "Pass the rice, please." "Only if you ask in Japanese." ""Pass the rice, please. "" "You're welcome." "Come on, Mom." "Get in the spirit." "No." "No." "No." "Billy, you-you go ahead." "Traditional Japanese sports." "What do you have for us?" ""The sumo wrestler must reach the weight of 300 pounds" ""before he is allowed to don the traditional sumo diaper and compete. "" "That's a great idea." "Get them as fat as you can, then put a diaper on them." "John, you don't find those guys attractive?" "Mario, I'm starting to worry about you." "Honey, would you pass me the..." "W- w-wait a minute." "Pass, pass..." "What do you want?" "The rice?" "Here." "What about the fish?" "You want that, too?" "Here." "What about the soy sauce?" "And some tofu?" "No, I can't take this, Jake." "I don't want this." "I don't want to know Japanese." "And I don't want to know the neighbors' children." "Mom, would you just..." "Stop." "I've had it." "I've tried so hard to make it work, and you know that I have." "But since he came out of hospital, it's been like a loony bin around here." "Costumes and jogging and sex at all hours." "And a make-believe farm in New Jersey!" "I'm telling you this man should not be let loose in the street." "Dad is perfectly fine." "He's just trying to enjoy himself!" "I didn't live my life to end up like this!" "With a crazy person as a companion in my old age!" "You know better than that." "The doctor said Dad is not crazy!" "As a matter of fact, he's very impressed he didn't go insane just hanging around you for 30 years!" "Oh, don't." "Please don't." "Don't say those things to your mother." "Please." "We're family." "That's all that counts." "Let's love each other and forget." "And please don't fight." "That kills me when I hear you talking that way." "Why?" "Why are you doing this?" "You're just gonna shove him back down again." "That can't be what you want." "I want my husband back." "He wants his life back." "He's loved you for 50 years." "Can't you let him have what's left?" "I'm scared, Jake." "I don't know who you are anymore." "I don't recognize you." "I know." "You look at me or people look at me and they see this old man." "But inside, honest to God, Bette, I feel 19." "And act it, too, I guess." "This other life, Jake, it hurts." "Was it so terrible here with me?" "We just got off the track a little." "A lot." "You're asking me to turn my back on our whole life together?" "Oh, no." "I'm asking you to remember the life that we wanted to have." "God, Bette." "You took it all on by yourself, didn't you?" "And I let you." "You were so good." "I'm asking you to let go a little." "Open up." "Not just to me, but to the world." "We used to have such good times, remember?" "We used to dance together all slow." "You were such a wonderful dancer." "And I want to dance with you again before I die." "Don't talk about dying." "That's okay." "We're all going to die." "Dying is not a sin." "Not living is." "Good morning, Mother." "Good morning." "Nice outfit." "Your father likes it." "Mr. Tremont?" "I have some news." "It's not good." "What is it?" "Well, of course it's not the same in all cases, but it seems, uh..." "It's okay, good doctor, you can tell me the truth." "Cancer's back." "It's spread." "It's in the lymph system." "How long?" "It's difficult to say." "Different patients respond differently." "Dr. Chad?" "I don't know." "Hey, Dad, what are you doing up so late?" "Waiting for you." "Why?" "You realize your mother and I separated before you were old enough to stay out late?" "I think I feel deprived of my divine right as a father to worry." "Do you want me go out and come back in again?" "No, I want you to sit down and talk to me." "What would you like to talk about?" "I'm trying to think of something I can tell you." "Some fatherly advice you can take back with you." "Some insight." "I can't think of anything." "I think it's me." "I think it's..." "I think it's tough for guys my age to reach out." "You know, every time we see each other, it's always on the fly." "You're going or I'm coming, or we're at somebody's wedding." "We're always talking over suitcases and backpacks or holding little sandwiches in our hand." "I don't know a lot about you." "Well, um, let's see, I'm 5' 11"," "I like sports, I'm into bikes" "Don't do that." "Don't-don't make a joke." "You know, we always do that." "We come close to-to saying something real and then one of us makes a joke." "Talk to me." "Tell me about Mexico." "I like it there." "It's not like school." "There's no pressure." "Uh, the people are real and thoughtful." "Um, the days have kind of a nice rhythm to 'em." "You have a lot of friends there?" "Yeah, there's about five of us." "You know, we live as a group." "We take turns working'." "We share everything we make." "We share the cleaning, the housework." "It's a real family." "The other guys from your school, too?" "Well, two of the guys are girls." "The world has changed, Billy." "You can't believe the way the world has changed." "Why was making money always more important to you than me or Mom?" "Oh." "You said you wanted to talk." "All right." "Because, uh, that's what I thought a man was." "What I thought a father was." "Some guy who wore a suit and made a lot of money." "All right, that's too easy." "Because I liked the power of it." "I liked being the guy who got the job done, the guy who everybody comes to." "And something had to give and it was my family." "Well, I would never do that." "I would never run away from my family." "Leaving was the toughest thing I ever did." "It didn't seem like it." "Well, that's because we tried to make it look normal." "That's what all the books said to do." "The "normal" divorce." "But there was pain." "A lot." "There still is." "I've missed you, Billy." "And you may not need me or even want me around." "But I'd like to stay in your life." "I'm your father." "I guess there is some advice I'd like to give you." "To give to a guy who's about to take on the world." "What is it?" "Be forgiving." "Hi." "How's he doing?" "Okay." "He slept a little." "You've been here all afternoon?" "He does better when I'm here." "Come on, let's go down and get something to eat." "The doctor will be here soon." "I don't want to miss him." "Go ahead." "I'll come get you." "Come on." "Where's Mother?" "She went down with Billy to get something to eat." "Oh, good." "How you feelin'?" "Perfect." "Yeah, I can tell." "You know what I've been thinking about?" "What?" "1947 World Series." "What?" "Isn't that crazy?" "I know, I mean, at a time like this," "I should be having very deep thoughts." "I'm trying, but all that keeps going through my mind is old ball games and old TV themes." "Bonanza." "Oh, this is great, Dad." "What about the '47 World Series?" "How's that fit in?" "It produced one of the great moments in baseball history." "They were between the Yankee centerfielder Joe DiMaggio, the Prince of Players, the Star of Stars, and the Dodger left-fielder," "Al Gionfriddo, a second-stringer." "He only played that day because the regular left-fielder," "Carl Furillo, got hurt." "Do you know this story?" "Tell it to me." "Well, in the sixth game, bottom of the sixth inning, it was 8-5, Dodgers." "Two on, two out." "Up steps DiMaggio." "Hit a smash, deep left field, had home run written all over it." "Everyone in the stands knew it." "I knew it." "DiMaggio knew it." "It was perfect." "But here comes this little Gionfriddo guy." "He's racing after the ball." "And he doesn't realize it was hit by Joe DiMaggio." "At the last possible moment, he jumps." "Reaches over the rail, robs DiMaggio of a three-run homer." "Hmm." "It was an incredible catch." "It'll live forever." "But then comes the really amazing thing." "DiMaggio was just approaching second base when he sees Gionfriddo make this catch." "He got so upset, he kicked the dirt." "How do you like that?" "This man who never showed any emotion, he was human after all." "And it took Al Gionfriddo to bring it out." "You know what that means to me?" "What?" "In America, anything is possible if you show up for work." "Sometimes I wish I'd held you more when you were a kid." "I wish I kissed you more." "You did fine, Dad, just fine." "Do you know how much I love you?" "Yeah." "A lot has happened, Johnny." "Some good, some bad." "But when I look at you, I know," "I must have done something right." "Honey, I'm gonna put these in the car." "Okay." "Did you talk to Mom?" "Yeah." "Mom will stay here for now." "At least till the middle of next month." "And then we'll see." "All right." "I think she'll be okay." "How you holding up?" "I miss him." "Yeah, me too." "Go ahead, I'll catch up with you." "I need a minute." "Go ahead." "Um..." "Grandpa, we just wanted to take some time to say good-bye our way." "I" " I guess it's your way." "Um, and this seemed like the right place to do it." "Because there's so much of you in here." "So much that's alive and growing." "Which is still how I think of you." "It's going to be funny." "Yeah." "Grandpa, I love you and I miss you already." "Dad and I are here and we're together." "This is good." "This is a good idea." "I feel better." "Me, too."