"Well, everything looks good." "I just wish you were a little younger though." "So do I, doc." "But will it affect things?" "I just don't want you to get your hopes up." "Whoa, whoa, whoa, it's much too late for that." "Because what we have here is a major occurrence." "Now hold on." "Me, sight." "Oh, for" "For the first time." "Me?" "Seeing." "Calm down, will you, Frank?" "Okay, doc." "What are the odds?" "Well, that's hard to say." "It's a combined process of a laser procedure on the optic nerve plus a retinal implant." "Both procedures are new." "I don't know what I'm asking about odds for anyway." "I've been blind all my life." "I've got nothing to lose." "Let's go for it." "The angle of sight has diminished considerably." "I noticed." "It's progressing a lot faster than I anticipated." "Look, I did some reading up on retinitis." " Scott, please." " No, wait." "It said, with absolute rest, atropine, avoidance of light" "Scott, what you have is retinitis pigmentosa." "An entirely different form of retinitis." "I don't care what you call it, just tell me how you're gonna cure it." "I can't." "It's degenerative, there's no cure at the present time." "You're full of crap, you know that?" "I mean, what the hell am I paying you for, if you can't help me out?" "I'm sorry but we can't bury our heads in the sand." "You are going blind." "I think you should start planning for the future." "What future?" "I tell you, this whole thing doesn't make any sense." "Are you sure we're not on an assignment?" "Mark, I told you, no." "All right, then tell me this, why would Caz write to me?" "He's your friend." "What did he say?" "Nothing." "Just that he needed some help." "I haven't heard from Caz Lawton in I don't know how long." "Yeah, I do know how long." "I haven't heard from him since he quit the force." " Mark." " You know, he quit before me, just walked in one day, handed in his papers, said he wanted to do something different." " Yeah, Mark" " But why now?" "Why all of a sudden--?" "Mark, this turn." "Right here, the turn." "Oh, yeah, right, okay." "I'm not gonna like this." " How come?" " Summer camp." " Well, so?" " Kids." "Rich kids." "I can't believe Caz Lawton would have anything to do with a camp for spoiled rich kids." " Excuse me." " Yes, sir?" "Where would we find Caz Lawton?" "Just follow this road down to the beach." "He's at the climbing area." " Thank you." " You bet." "Climbing area?" "Let's go see what rich kids climb." "Okay, that's not too tight, is it?" "It's all right?" "This snap is a very important snap, we don't want any of these loose ends." "Are you ready to go up, Leda?" "Harry, Leda's ready to go up." "I want you to take her up to west face." " Hey, Caz." " Mark!" "You made it." "Boy, am I glad to see you." " Look out!" " Watch out." "Hey, that wasn't too bright." "Watch where you're going." "I certainly wish I could." " Wait a minute, you're" " I know." "Please don't tell me I'm blind." "You rappelled down that cliff and you can't see?" "The only way I'd rappel down a sheer face like that." "Wouldn't take a chance if I was sighted." "It's much too scary." "Am I done for the day, Caz?" "Yes, you are, Frank." "Brian, give Frank a hand with his gear." "All right, now what's going on here?" "What do you mean?" "Didn't I explain in the letter?" "This is a camp for the junior blind." "The guy who almost landed on your head started it, and I run it." "You didn't say anything, except it was very important." "Well, it is important." "My cook quit." " Your cook quit." " Yeah." "Your cook quit." "Mark, it's hard to explain, but when Willy" "Willy is the name of my cook." "When he up and quit me, there was no one in the world I could think of to replace him but you." "Why me?" "I'm not a cook." "I know it doesn't make any sense but that's what happened, Mark." "I was like I was getting a message." ""Get ahold of Mark Gordon."" "Strange, isn't it?" "Oh, yes." " Very strange." " Yeah." "Very strange." "Caz, I offer you my heartfelt apology for scaring you." "Funny man, Frank." "Shake hands with an old buddy of mine, Mark Gordon." " Hi, how are you?" " This is Frank Riley." " Mark's gonna be our new cook." " Wait, I haven't said I'll do it" "What is your name again?" "Jonathan Smith." "How you doing?" "Now, wait a minute." "I remember you." "You're what they call the" "I know, I know, the blind jock." "Right, you did all that stuff in college." "You wrestled, shot put, discus." "Youthful enthusiasm." "All gone now." "You're still skiing and running some marathons, aren't you?" "And don't play golf with him." "He walks off with your wallet." "You're taking up mountain climbing now?" "Well, that's just until I have my tryout with the Cincinnati Reds." " Oh, good joke." " No, no." "No joke." "I am just about to get my sight in the very near future." "I figure Pete Rose can always use a hard-throwing right-hander." "All right, until Pete calls you, how about giving me a hand back here?" "Look, I got it started, it's up to you now, Caz." "Anyway, you've got a lot of counsellors and I'm not much of a teacher." "It's a very special case." "They're all special cases, Caz." "He's sighted now but I don't know for how long." "No, I'm sorry, it's not a good idea." "Brian, get me out of here, would you?" "I'll show you where we're bunking." "Now, wait a minute, Caz." "I told you, we're not staying." "Hey, you mind if I have a crack at that special case of yours?" "I've done some work with people with disabilities." " Sounds good to me." " Jonathan" "As long as Mark's gonna be your cook, I might as well pitch in." "Jonathan." "Scott." "Scott, come on, I know you're in there." "I've been calling for the last two hours." "Didn't all that ringing bother you?" "Are you gonna let me in or we gonna have this argument in the hallway?" "Going away?" "Camp." " The one Dr. Lovell recommended?" " Yeah." " But I thought you said" " I changed my mind." "Good." "I'm glad." "I think." "What's that supposed to mean?" "Are you really going there to learn or are you just running away?" "I'm not running away." "Yes, you are." "Ever since this thing has gotten worse, you've been cutting yourself off." "You quit your job." "Yeah, well, I've had a lot on my mind lately." "I know." "Why won't you let me share some of it?" "I'm going blind!" "Just how do you wanna share that?" "What are you gonna do, trade me one of your eyes so we can both go blind only in one eye?" "If I could, I would." "Scotty, whether or not you have your sight is not what's important to me." "That's because it's not happening to you." "Look, I gotta finish packing." "Goodbye, Bets." "Scott, I want you to know that I think it's a very wise thing you're doing." "Yeah, I know." "My daughter's blind." "RP, like you." "I only wish I'd had the sense to do the same thing you're doing while she still had her sight." "Huh, Scott?" "All right, I'm gonna turn you over to Jonathan." "He'll show you around, okay?" "If there's any questions, that's what we're here for, to help." " See you later, Jonathan." " You bet." "Follow me." "Hey, watch your step on this bridge, it takes a little getting used to." "Most of the activities around here are voluntary." "Caz figures if you pick out what you wanna work on, you'll do better at it." "They've got stables down over there on your left." "I don't ride and I don't like horses." "We got a ball game starting over in the park pretty soon." "No, thanks." "Well, how about the swimming pool?" "Not much into water anymore." "Well, let me put it another way:" "What is it you'd like to see?" "Next week." "Next year." "I'd like to see the rest of my life." "Have you ever been blind?" "No." "Right, so how are you gonna teach me how to be?" "Hey, I'll see you at the ball field." "Yeah, hold on." " See you over at the ball field." " Okay." "Bye." "Those are either the best behaved kids in the entire world or the hungriest." "I mean, not one complaint." "Mark, has it ever occurred to you that maybe, maybe the food was good." "No, it hasn't." "I'm a lousy cook and I know it." "Well, let me tell you something, lousy or not, we have an old tradition here at the camp that the cook always umpires the bowling-pin basketball game on Tuesday, and today isTuesday." " You just made that up." " I swear I didn't." "Come on, I don't know anything about bowling-pin basketball." "I'll tell you what, I'll explain the rules to you as we walk." " It's very simple, very simple." " Jonathan." "Hey, don't worry about it." "I'll be along to help." " Hey, Jonathan?" " Yeah?" "Mind if I tag along?" " Hey, I'd like the company." " All right." "Did I hear you correctly?" "You're gonna get your sight?" " Did you ever." " Right." "That's gotta be a great feeling." "Jonathan, it's all I can think about." "I know I shouldn't get my hopes up, but, you know, it's every blind person's dream." "All the things I've done, the things they said a blind person shouldn't or couldn't do," "I did because I was trying to show the world that," "I don't know, it didn't matter." "But down deep, I always knew it did." "I can't blame you for that." "You know, I'll tell you something else," "I always thought of myself as kind of a fraud." "You?" "You gotta be kidding." "No, seriously." "I can even give you an example." "The slopes are filled with people who ski, and a lot of them have handicaps of one kind or another." "But because I'm blind, it's a big deal." "Same with my running or my golf." "You know, it's kind of a scam." "Well, this camp you started is no scam." "Oh, no, no, no, but it's no big deal either." "I mean, a lot of people start camps, but because I'm blind, that's a big deal." "I gotta tell you, I think you're selling yourself a little short." "Hey, I've done all right for a blind guy, but so what?" "So you think you're gonna feel a little bit differently when you're sighted?" "I don't know." "But I'll find out if I can cut it in the sighted world without allowances being made." "That means a lot to you, doesn't it?" "Jonathan, when I was a little boy," "I used to hear the other kids playing baseball in the park next door." "They were having so much fun, but all I had was a stick and a rock." "Throw up the rock and hit it with the stick." "Why didn't you use a ball?" "It's easy to tell you've never been blind." "If I hit a ball, I'd have to spend a lot of time going to get it." "Lose a rock, no big deal." "That's pretty smart." "You know, people think I'm crazy when I tell them that I am going to try out for the Cincinnati Reds, but I know I can pitch." "I can hit the strike zone blind." "Imagine how good I'm gonna be if I could see." "And the arm, it's as good as new, it's got a lot of mileage left on it." "That's what sight is gonna give me:" "Baseball." "And I'll see a rainbow and a sunset." "And flowers." "I'm gonna find out if they're as lovely as they smell." "Come on." "Yes." "Give me the ball." "Give me the ball." "Oh, here we go." "All right, here we go." "All right." "That's one." "One, one, one." "Here we go." "That's it." "That's it." "Come on, here we go." "All right, that's it, yes." "Up you go." "Come on." "Let's go." "Keep it moving." "Go, go, go." "Here you go." "All right, we got it down." "We got it down." " You're not playing?" " No." "Oh, that's it." "What about helping umpire first base?" "No way." "Well, you should have asked me, Jonathan, then when somebody in the stands yells:" ""The umpire's blind," they'll be right." " That's very cute, Frank." " Yeah." " I'll see you later." " Okay." "All right, play ball." "Hi, I'm Frank Riley." "Scott Lee." "Oh, yeah, you're the guy." "The guy who what?" "The guy who's going blind." "Yeah, that's right." "Why do you think I'm here?" "That's what I was wondering." "I mean, why'd you come here anyway if you're not gonna participate?" "You wouldn't understand." "Okay." "All right, little hustle out there, let's play ball, play ball." "Well, kiddo, here's where I gotta leave you." "Why?" "Why?" "Because I gotta go to work, that's why." " I'll come with you." " No, that's not a good idea." "How come?" "For one thing, you're a camper." "You're supposed to camp." "Besides, a kitchen's a very dangerous place, there's hot stuff all over the place." " I won't get in the way." " No, no, no." " Excuse me, Miss" " Jennifer." "Could you escort Jerry to where he's to be?" "Sure, I'll take care of him." "Come on, Jerry." "See you later." "So, what did you think of Scott?" "You sat me down there on purpose, didn't you?" "I didn't think you'd notice." "I told you, don't try to pull a fast one on a blind guy." "I just can't seem to get through to him." "Jonathan, what do you know about RP?" "Just what I've read." "The field of vision gradually narrows, tunnel vision, and then one day there's nothing left." "It's one of the cruellest kinds of disease because you literally watch yourself go blind." "It can make a fella pretty bitter." " How about giving me a hand with him?" " No, no, not me." "I'm the wrong person." "You're uncomfortable working with blind people, aren't you?" "I am now." "Why?" "How can I tell him to accept his blindness when I'm just about to get my sight back?" "How can I do that and not think of myself as the worst kind of hypocrite?" "I don't know." "Maybe you ought to find out." "Oh, not bad, not bad, mind if I try a couple?" "Be my guest." "Can I have the ball?" "You can bounce it to me." "The ball." "Thank you." "Now if you would, stand under the basket." " Okay." " Okay." "And if you can just count for me." " Count?" " Like in school." "One, two, three, four." "Hey, that's pretty good." "It's just a trick." "Yeah, how's your rebounding?" "Oh, terrible." "Listen, they tell me you're a beach person." "You a lifeguard?" "Surfer." "That's gotta be one of the best ways to go." "Not one of the best." "The best." "What's it like?" "You can't describe it." "Try me, please." "Well, you spend a lot of time waiting." "But then you see the one you want." "See it building, know it's good." "You get a good push off, you go sliding down the face, picking up speed." "Sometimes if the pipes form just right, you can duck inside and then the water closes off all the sound." "It's just you and the wave." "And you look up..." "I don't do that anymore." "It sounds absolutely great." "I wish I could learn." "Yeah, well, it's a little tough if you can't see." "I don't think it's so easy if you can." "Listen," "I've" "I've got an idea." "I like to go jogging in the mornings." "You know, on the beach." "And I always feel bad when I have to ask a counsellor to come with me." "Why don't you come along tomorrow?" "I don't know." "I" "You'd be doing me a favour." "Yeah, well..." "All right, try this." "How about if you and I play an old-fashioned game of horse?" "I win, you come jogging." " You're on." " The ball, please, sir." "Thank you." "You still under the basket?" "I am now." "Magic Johnson." "That's H." "Hey, listen, close your eyes for a second." "What for?" "Oh, I just wanna find out if you're as sharp a beach person as you say you are." "Forget it." "I don't wanna play blind man's bluff." "Hey, can we cool it here a second?" "It's getting to my calves." "I agree with you, this walking on the sand is tough." "Yeah." "Look, Scott, all I was trying to do was show you that as awful as blindness is, it really isn't the end of the world." "Maybe not for you." "I don't think for you either." "Look, for an old guy, give it a try, huh?" "Okay, let's just get it over with, all right?" "All right, let's start with" "Tell me about what you can hear." "Ocean there." "Road there." "I hear cars." "We done?" "Oh, come on, Scott." "What else?" "Birds." "Where?" "Everywhere." "No." "No, wait." "Back there" "No, they're moving over" "They're moving." "What kind?" "Gulls." "And?" "What do you mean, "and"?" "I don't know." "I never paid much attention before." "That is right." "I can hear pipers and terns and even some sparrows." "Wait." "I hear a plane." "What kind?" " Very funny." " Just checking." "All right, now, the good stuff, tell me about the waves." "What do you wanna know?" "What kind?" "Are you kidding me?" "I mean, I spent all those hours out there for nothing?" "Even dozen." "A dozen?" "I can only count 11." "That's not bad for a non-surfer." "Where is the wind coming from?" "Over there." "How do you know?" "I feel it on my face." "Very nice." "What do you smell?" "Salt water." "Sand." " Hamburgers." " Yeah, that's Charlie's." "It's about a quarter-mile down the beach." "It's a bastion of culinary delights." "Let's get jogging." "You got any cash?" "I knew there was a catch to this." "Let's jog, you're buying." "Here we go." "All right, come on." "Something wrong?" "Well, you gonna tell me what it is, or do I have to guess?" "Scared." "Now, look," "I'm gonna be right there with you." "I wouldn't let you fall." "I'm not scared of falling." "Well, then what are you afraid of?" "The horse." "Well, that's because he's a stranger, see?" "Come on, I'll introduce you." "All right, now, this is old Dutchy." "Funny name." "Well, not for old Dutch." "Hey, Dutch, this is my friend Jerry." "Here, give me your hand." "Feel that?" "That's his neck." "Now, right here, right there, that's his mane, feel it?" "Right there, that's his ear, he kind of likes to be scratched right around there." "Don't be afraid, he's just saying thank you." "All right, you ready to ride him?" "No." "Come on, now, you think the old bear is gonna let you get hurt?" " Okay." " Attaboy." "Up you go." "All right, hold right on that, right on to there." "You okay?" "Okay." "As long as I'm with you." "All right, pal, let's go." "Don't look down." "You trying to be funny, Caz?" "I was talking to Scott." "Move a little to your right so he can climb up." "That's pretty tough." "You think this is tough, wait till we get to the next part." "You guys take a breath." "I'm gonna go up to the next stop." "Nice place to watch the sunset." "I'll bet." "I like this." "Climbing?" "Yeah, but that's not what this camp's all about." "I heard that you've been messing up with the basic classes." "You know, like Braille and learning to use a cane." "I'll get to them." "Climbing, running along the surf down there, that builds a lot of confidence." "You gotta get down to the practical stuff:" "Learning how to pour milk without making a mess, learning how to use a cane to go to work." "I said, I'll get to it." "The time, my friend, is right now, before you lose your sight." "All right, just don't make it any harder than it is already." "I'm not trying to make it any harder." "I just want you to be ready to go on with your life." "You married?" "Me?" "No, much too young." " You don't look too young." " Thanks a lot." "You married?" " No." " You thinking about it?" "Not anymore." "Because of the blindness?" "I'd say that was a pretty good reason." "I think it's a very stupid one." "All right, break's over." "Let's move it." "Hey, Jonathan, you seen Frank around?" "No, he went into town with Mark." "When will he be back, you know?" "I'm not sure, it all depends how long he's with the doctor." "Doctor?" "What's going on?" "You know, the one who's operating on his eyes." "He never told me." "Yeah, I thought you knew, there's a good chance Frank will get his sight back." "I'm sorry to be so long, Frank, but these final test results took a while." "Oh, that's okay, doc." "So, what's the good word?" "The word's not so good." "We knew going in, it was a long shot, but as we said, we thought it was worth the chance." "You" "You won't do the operation?" "It would be an exercise in futility." "I guess I" "I guess I figured that." "I'm not going to put you through the pain and the expense of something that I know has a hundred percent chance of failure." "Frank, I'm really sorry it didn't work out." "So am I, doc." "So am I." "But, you know, like they say, them's the breaks." "Frank." "Frank?" "Yes?" "We're back." "Oh, thanks for the ride." "Frank, remember what you said on the way to the doctor?" "If this thing doesn't work out, it's not the end of the world." "No, but it is the end of a dream." "Maybe they're the same thing." " Jonathan?" " Yeah, what's up, Caz?" "I can't find Scott." "Didn't he come to dinner?" "No, but the way I cooked, I don't blame him." "Well, he knows the rules about staying out after dark." "I'm worried about him." "Well, come on, we'll help you look for him." "Who is it?" "It's Jonathan." "I'm looking for Scott." "He's not here." "Have you seen him since you got back?" "No." "Mark told me about what happened." "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry too." "Scott heard about the operation." "It seemed to upset him." "He doesn't know it's off?" "No." "But he's been missing since then." "If you happen to think of where he might be, you let me know, okay?" "Oh, Scott, you dummy." "Okay, here we go, here we go, people, here's some more flashlights." "Jack and Arnie, I want you guys to check the beach." "The rest of us will sweep the whole camp." "If you see him, holler real loud, okay?" "Let's go." "Let's hit it." "Be sure you check that beach area real good, he might be down there." "Jerry, what are you doing out here?" "Waiting for you." " What for?" " Go look for Scott." "I thought you might need company since it's getting on toward nighttime and I'm not afraid of the dark." "So I can be a big help." "I just like being with you." "You know what?" "I like being with you too." "Get away." "Who's that?" "Scott?" "You heard me." "Get away." "You scared me to death." "I thought I was the only one up here." "What are you doing here anyway?" "Watching the sunset." "I heard you'll be doing it soon." "Oh, you heard that, did you?" "Yeah." "All that time, you were telling me how it's gonna be okay going blind, you were just waiting to see." "And you think that's bad?" "Well, you're coming out of a dark room," "I'm going in." "Kind of makes you a hypocrite, doesn't it?" "Would it help you if you found out" "I was gonna stay blind?" "Would that make you feel better?" "Yeah, it would." "It would." "Well, you got your wish because they can't do the operation." "I'm sorry." "I didn't really mean..." "All my life" "All my life," "I wanted to see colour, you know?" "I've smelled flowers," "I've tasted grass, blades of grass, but I always wondered what green was." "But all I'll ever see is black." "Maybe that's a blessing." "You don't know what you've missed." "Oh, I think I do." "Today, when I drove into town, I thought that for the first time," "I'd find out what the sunset was really, really like." "It was a good one." "One of the kind that has everything." "The whole horizon was really red." "Like a fire engine." "And then it dropped off to orange, and yellow." "And there was a band up there that was absolutely white." "And then the palest blue-green." "And there was a bunch of low-lying clouds that had that bright red on the bottom" "and the bluest black on top." "It was the prettiest sunset I've ever" "I'll ever see again." "The tunnel vision's almost closed down now." "I kept running into things all day." "I guess that's one of the reasons" "I climbed up here." "To see my last sunset." "I think" "I think you came up here to jump, Scott." "What makes you think that?" "Oh, I don't know," "I guess because we're supposed to hear everything." "I told you that blind people, we hear everything." "Anyway, you're sort of a classic." "The trouble with you, Scott, is that you think that you're the only one in the world that hurts." "But everybody at this camp is in pain." "They hate the darkness." "But they either let that hatred turn them into lumps or they fight back." "Yeah, well, that's easy for you to say." "You've always had it all together." "You're a fighter." "Well, hooray!" "But I'm not, okay?" "So just leave me alone." "I can't do that." "Yeah, well, you don't have any choice." "Scotty, you've gotta understand, if you jump, if you jump, that's the end of everything." "And blindness isn't?" "No." "No, it's not." "Yeah." "Yeah, you say that." "You say that because you've never known anything but darkness." "You don't know anything else." "But I do." "I mean, for the rest of my life," "I'm gonna have to remember" " what I've lost." " Yeah." "I'll know what I've lost." "I know." "I know." "I can't handle that." "But you will remember, you will remember." "You see, you've got memories to hold onto." "I don't wanna hold on to them!" "Why can't you see that?" "It hurts." "And I can't take the pain anymore." " No." " Let me go!" "No!" " Why?" " My God." "Why won't you let me do it?" "Because I can't." "I can't." "I can't." "You think I always had it all together, you think." "That's what you think." "I came up here today just like you, to jump, just like you." "And I can't." "All those so-called accomplishments, all those things," "I was apologising for being blind!" "I was apologising for being blind and that's stupid." "That's stupid because I'm damn good." "We are gonna make it." "I am not," "I am not gonna let you turn into a lump." "Mark, you know, you don't have to leave." "We can always use another cook around here." "Forget it, Caz." "You don't know how lucky you are that Willy decided to come back." "Yeah, how about that?" "Willy shows up, begs for his job back..." "Weird, isn't it?" "Yeah, weird." "Jerry wanted to say goodbye to you." " I'll be right back." " Okay." "Well, kiddo," "I gotta be going." "You take care of Uncle Dutchy?" "Yeah." "Brush him?" "Yes." "Feed him." " Will you ride him?" " Of course." "Okay, now, you take care of yourself, you hear me?" "Okay, bear." "I love you." "I love you too, kiddo." "I love you too."