"Close my market interest account at First National and transfer the entire balance to my new bank in Anchorage." "That's the number I just gave you." "No, no." "Not that one." "That's the fidelity account." "Leave that alone." "It's the other number, ok?" "Hold on." "Hello?" " Mike Monroe?" " Yeah." "That's me." "Hi." "I'm Ed, from Ruth-Anne's store." "Right." "I'm on the phone right now." "Could you just come inside?" " Sure." " No." "There's somebody here." "Ed, there's some surgical scrubs just inside the door on the right." "One size fits all." "Try not to touch anything." "Ok." "NORTHERN EXPOSURE 4x05 "BLOWING BUBBLES" Subtitles subXpacio" "Ruth-Anne, are you here?" "Ruth-Anne?" "Over here." " Where do you want the chain saws?" " In the back by the potting soil." "You need some help?" "Thank you dear." "It's that little trophy, by the welding torch." "This little guy?" ""World's greatest Mom. "" "Is that the tackiest thing you've ever seen?" "Matthew sent it to me last mother's day." "Matthew?" "He's the truck driver poet?" "No, that's Rudy." "Matthew is the investment banker." "The one from Atlanta." " He's coming to visit." " What's the occasion?" "I don't really know." "I've racked my brain and there's no birthday I can think of, no anniversary." " Maybe he just wants to see you." " Matthew?" "Anyway, you'll meet him, Maggie." "It's unavoidable." "And when you do, try to be tolerant." "Tolerant?" "Matthew isn't like you or me." "He has no interest in music, books, gardening, or dogs." "As a boy, his mind was only on money or things." "You know how kids collect stamps?" "Matthew sold his collection in the 5th grade for 2000 dollars." "So you see, we have absolutely nothing in common." "Never really have and never will." "Well, better go put this out somewhere." "So I'll bring the truck around back?" "How about a mask?" "Do you have a cold, lingering virus of any kind?" " No." " I wouldn't worry about it." "Now if I could just find my wallet." "Here it is." "Wouldn't you know it, the one thing I couldn't find." " Hi Ed." " Hi." " Take what you need." " Ok." "No, no." "You keep the change." " Thanks Mr. Monroe." " Sure." " Please call me Mike." " Mike." " You work for Ruth-Anne?" " Yeah." "She says you're allergic." "She's right." " I have an aunt who's allergic too." " Really?" "Well, she doesn't live in a bubble." "She just can't eat oranges." " I'm very allergic." " Wow." "You built this all yourself?" "No." "It's a prefab, had it brought in by helicopter." "This reminds me of "Close encounters"." "The special edition episode, where you can go inside the spaceship." "Excuse me." " You wearing antiperspirant?" " Yeah." "Is that bad?" "No." "I just have a problem with aluminum chlorohydrate." " Better." " Sorry." "No, it's not your fault Can I get you something to drink?" "Some distilled water or some Chinese red plumb juice?" "No." "I better get back to Ruth-Anne's store now." "Sure." "What would you like me to do with this?" " You can keep 'em if you want." " Really?" "Sure." "I got to recycle them anyway." "Thanks." " I'll see you later." " See you." "Alright." "Thanks again." " Matthew!" " Hi Mom." "You scared the daylights out of me." "You're early." "Well, I got in the groove I pushed straight through from Whitehorse." "You look great, terrific." " So this is the famous cash cow?" " Yeah." "This is it." "Perfect." "I love it." " You do?" " Simple, direct." "It's you." "You haven't exactly said what you're doing here." "Some big deal brewing?" "Since when does a person need an excuse to visit his mother?" "You don't take vacations." "You told me your only regret was Wall Street closes for Christmas." "People change." "My raping and pillaging days are over." "You're leaving mergers and acquisitions?" "The truth is" " I got fired." " Fired?" "All of M and A. It was a sacrificial offering to the SEC." " You're in trouble with the Feds?" " No." "I kept my nose clean." "It was really the arbitrage guys." "I came here to get away from that, to breathe the air, and spend some down home time with my mom." "More files." " Whose files Marilyn?" " The bubble man." " Hi Maggie." " Hi." "This is heavy." "Where do you want it?" " What is it?" " Foster Medical supply." " Careful with that." " I am." "Where do you want it?" " Let me have it." "I got it." " What's going on?" " What is it?" " Glass IV drip, gammaglobuline." " Who for?" " For the bubble man." "The what?" " Where you've been O'Connell?" " Fairbanks, for 3 days." "Thanks for noticing." "What is "the bubble man"?" "He's not a "what"." "He's a "who"." "Mike Monroe, ex-lawyer from St. Paul." "Currently living in a geodesic dome off Highway 3." " Really?" " Don't go out there." " Why not?" " He's in quarantine." "Self imposed." "He's allergic." " To what?" " The 20th century." "He has MCS, Multiple Chemical Syndrome." "People can't work because they claim the environment screwed them up." "People like Monroe contend the environment has altered their immune system to the point where a whiff of toxic substances can send them into anaphylactic shock." " Huh what?" " Sounds reasonable." "Reasonable?" "Everything about this "disease" is completely undocumented." "Take this bubble man." "It's a complete fairy tale." "He's made the rounds:" "Michael Reese, Mount Sinai, the Mayo Clinic." "Nobody has been able to isolate anything more than hay fever." "That doesn't mean what he thinks he has does not exist." " Why do I bother?" " It never ceases to amaze me that a person can be so consistently narrow minded and predictable in their own immutable, unchangeable world view." "What's the bubble man doing here?" "He's tried Phoenix, Minneapolis, Portland." "All too malignant." "He's moved 9 times in 3 years to get out of that bubble." "And after months of study, he's decided Cicely, Alaska is the least polluted spot in the United States that can boast a board certified physician." " You." " Me." "But you don't think there's anything wrong with him." "That doesn't make him any different than half the patients I treat." "He's a nice guy." "He's just very seriously nuts." "Marilyn?" "Here it is." "I hope you're hungry." "We could have eaten out, Mom." "Not your first night." "I wanted to make you something special." "What?" "Pork chops was Rudy's favorite." "No biggie." "You were meat loaf?" "With bacon and ketchup on top." "This is very good." "You haven't said how long you intend to stay." "A couple days, a week?" "You know, getting fired, turning 40 makes you take stock, reassess." "All the way here I kept thinking about it." "Somewhere around Manitoba I made up my mind." " About what?" " I'm not going back to Atlanta." " I'm staying here with you." " Here?" "In Cicely?" "With me?" "No more running after dollar signs." "It's time to start chasing those rainbows." " Matthew, what..." " No, I know." "You didn't think I had it in me." "You thought all I cared about was high yield securities." "Well, things change, Mom." "People change." "Looking at the K-Bear 3 day forecast." "The US weather service is calling for showers in the next 48 hours." "But I don't think so." "So we'll spike that one." "Why don't you wash the car, take that camping trip?" "You got the K-Bear guarantee." "Coming up this half hour," ""Dialectical materialism:" "a dream defunct. "" "I got a note from Cicely's latest resident, Mike Monroe." "Seems Mike lost his bed linens in a recent move." "Anyone out there with some 100% cotton bed sheets, they can part with drop by the bubble, ok?" "Wash them first in a hot water with baking soda, no soap please." "I think we can all get behind that." "Turn to the K-Bear advertiser." "We got an almost new BMW for sale." "3.25i, low mileage." "Belongs to Matthew Miller, son of Ruth-Anne." "He says he's looking to make a lifestyle change." "The car's priced to go and he'll carry the paperwork." "Cool." " Stevens." " Yeah boss?" " What you know about the bubble man?" " What do you mean?" "It's this thing he has, this MC whatever." " Multiple Chemical Sensitivity." " What do you know about that?" "Is that common or one in a million, like being albino?" "Good question Maurice." "Opinions vary however." "I think this guy's the tip of the proverbial iceberg." "Considering the thrashing we've been giving the planet, the daily degradation on Gaia since the Industrial Revolution, it's surprising we're not all walking time bombs, immunologically speaking." "Some of us are gonna go off sooner than others, you know?" "But right now, at this moment you think there is a significant number of people with this malady?" "The wagons are circled, the siege has begun." "If this guy can get healthy here in Cicely, presumably all his fellow sufferers can get healthy too." "Presumably." " Mike Monroe?" " Yeah." "And you are...?" "Maggie O'Connell." "I brought your mail and some supplies." "Where's Ed?" "I came straight from the airport." "I'm a pilot." "Well I can't come outside." " So do you mind coming in?" " Fine." "The doors open to the airlock." "Let yourself in." "Yeah?" "You wearing any make up?" " Eye liner." " Perfume, shampoo, conditioner?" "Baby shampoo." " Any synthetic clothing?" " This shell has some nylon in it." "If you could hang it on the hook..." " Ok." " Thanks." " I'll take that." " Thanks." "Homey." " Are you serious?" " Yeah." " Would you like a tour?" " Is that ok?" " I just detoxed." " Detoxed?" "Everything should be alright for a few minutes." "Come on in." "This is the dining room, reading room, living room." "The everything but bedroom, bath and kitchen." "Back here, this is the kitchen." "Composter here, trash compactor." "Solar powered water purifier." " How interesting." " Everything's customized." "That's one of the drawbacks of dome living." "They don't make a lot of things for rooms with round walls." "True." "Behind you is the herb garden:" "basil, oregano, what have you." "Over here, the low impact toilet and shower." "Upstairs is the bedroom." " No television?" " Killed me to give it up." "I was hooked on CNN." "But there's just too much plastic in a television." "The out gassing gave me tremendous headaches." "Out gassing is fumes given off by synthetic products." "The electromagnetic field didn't do too much for me either." "My blood pressure would fluctuate all over the place." "I'm sorry." "Would you like to sit down?" "Sure." "Thanks." "Pretty nice place." "Thanks." "It's really beautiful up here and clean." "I plan on going outside as soon as I build up my antioxidants." "And the fallout from Mt." "Pinatubo blows over." "Mt." "Pinatubo?" "In the Philippines?" "Three days ago." "Cinder, hot ashes, toxic gases." "You can feel that all the way up here?" "Depending on prevailing winds, humidity, other barometric factors." " Interesting." " You can't be too careful." "A few months ago they did underground nuclear testing in China." "Put me in bed for a week." "I thank you for the lovely tour, but I think I should be going." "You don't believe me." "No, no." "I think it's fascinating." "Mt." "Pinatubo, nuclear testing in China, hey..." " Your perfume." " My perfume?" "I'm not wearing any perfume." "Oriental blend, tangerines, castorium..." "I showered before I came here." " Maybe a little myrrh." " Twice." "Opium." "You're wearing Opium." "I got it, didn't I?" "Yeah." "Bye." " Did you know Michael Milkin?" " Nope." " How about Ivan Boesky?" " No." "I had lunch with Marty Siegel once." " Say." "Did he go to jail?" " He was sentenced to 2 months." "Did the enoki mushrooms come in yet?" " Yes ma'am." " Thank you." "Unbelievable." "This is how you do your books?" " For 35 years." " Mom..." "You're throwing money out the window." "I could set up with a computer program, a real no brainer." "It'll track inventory, flag payable..." "I'm doing it, aren't I?" "I'm supposed to be getting away from all that bottom line crap and the first thing I try to do is overhaul your store." "You've devoted your entire life to maximizing return on investment." "You can't be expected to break old habits overnight." "You're right." "One step at a time." "Is there any simple, back to basics type crafts industry in town?" "Something I could get in on the ground floor?" "You mean like basket weaving, or potter, that kind of thing?" "No." " A tackle shop!" " What?" " Remember those flies I used to make?" " You hate fishing." "Fishing I could take or leave, Tying flies I enjoyed." "You and dad and Rudy would go down to the river." "I'd stay in that station wagon tying up what was working." "Dad said I made the best Royal Coachman he'd ever seen." "And my rates were competitive too." "I'd need a space around 400 square feet." "What about the vacant store?" "That'd work." "Matthew, you just got here." "Point taken." "Slow down, smell the coffee..." "Why don't you go jog or something?" "Fleischman, you got a minute?" "Depends." "Are you sick?" "No." "I just had a few questions about Mike." " Mike?" " Yeah." "Mike Monroe, the bubble man." "On a first name basis are we?" " Well I went out there and..." " You went out there?" "It's annoying when you repeat everything I say." "You went out there by chance or design?" " I had a delivery." " Give it to Ed." "He's cleared." "Since when do you care?" "You don't even think he's sick." "Despite whatever personal reservations I have," "I'm obligated to provide Mike with the best possible treatment." "Which means keeping away walking contaminates like you." " Thank you very much." " You're welcome." " He seems so lonely." " I'm sure he's used to it." "How could you get used to it?" "He can never have company." "Not company company for more than a few minutes." "If they follow all the rules:" "no synthetic clothing, no cosmetics, a few zillion other things..." " But he can't..." " What?" "You know." "What?" "He can't..." "You know." "Touch people." "Touch people?" " Like have a massage or anything." " A massage." " Yeah, well..." " A massage." "Forget it." "Are we talking Shiatsu, Swedish or deep muscle kind of thing?" "I don't know why I bother!" "I'm not talking about hot waxing the elephant man here." "Drop dead Fleischman!" "So this CEO invites us into the deal." "He invites us to raid his company." "Says he's doing it for the shareholders." "So we float the paper." "Slam dunk, the company's sold, the slash and burn guys move in and you know what happens next?" "The CEO's back in my office crying like a baby." "Where's his jet, the Matisse, the suite at the Pierre?" "Flash forward a year, 10,000 people get canned." "The company's on life support and this guys checking into Betty Ford." "Maurice Minnifield." "Hey!" "The astronaut!" "My mom's told me a lot about you." " Fine woman, your mother." " Thank you." " Shelly, you want to take a hike?" " Ok." "I'm putting together a venture that might interest you." "Thanks but I'm out of the investment game." "Don't even want to look at it purely for your own amusement?" "No." "I'm out." "Cold turkey." "No deals period." "Well say no more." "I understand completely." "Just thinking a couple of blue chippers like you and I might enjoy getting together for a few laughs." "Very few people around here speak the language." "I get that impression." "What size start-up were you thinking about?" "Not much." "Say 20 million to capitalize." "Small potatoes." "What field?" "No." "I don't want to put temptation in your path." "One prospectus is not gonna get me to jump on a plane to Atlanta." "What do you know about environmental medicine?" "Genotech, bioengineering, that sort of thing?" " I'm talking specialized healthcare." " Risky." "The lower 48 is going to hell in a hand basket." "People won't be able to drink the water without turning into mutants." "Where do you think they'll turn?" "Alaska." "I've got 40,000 acres pinned down." "Spaceship Cicely." "A planned community with environmentally benign luxury condominiums." "Picture this: people come in like sick caterpillars." "After a week or two, they emerge from their cocoons as beautiful butterflies able to work, play, enjoy life." "All at 30 years fixed with say 9%." " General offering?" " What do you think?" "Let's crunch the numbers, see where they take us." "I've got the raw data right here." "Here, let me give you some more." "We've also got eggplant, zucchini..." "What did you think of the carrots?" "Good." "A little..." " Bland." " Well..." "I know." "If they weren't orange," " you wouldn't have a clue." " That's true." "Some day I'll have Carboni's thick crust pizza again." "And garlic bread, and a frosty pitcher of beer, tacos, and super burritos, and guacamole, and sour cream, and melted jack." "What's the point?" "I try not to think about it." " What?" " Nothing." "Come on." "Please tell me." "I don't know." "It's just that..." "You seem so nice, so normal." "You've been talking to Dr. Fleischman." " Well..." " He thinks I'm crazy." "He does?" "Well, he does." " Did he tell you that he does?" " I know the look." "It took me a year to convince myself it wasn't all in my head." "So how did this happen?" "Were you always this way?" "No." "I swam the butterfly in college, ran the 400." " I was healthy as a horse." " So?" "The trigger mechanism hasn't been identified yet." "The best they've come up with is simply an overload of toxins, like overfilling a bucket." "You get hyper sensitized and things go tilt." " But why you?" " I don't know." "Nobody knows." "I used to work in a glass and steel office building in Minneapolis." "Windows everywhere but none that work." "The firm redecorated." "Soon after I started getting headaches, migraines." "The doctor said it had to do with fumes." "Paint, carpeting, whatever." "I took a week off, but things just kept getting worse." "Eventually I developed every allergic reaction known to man." "I couldn't handle a deposition, without breaking out in hives." "Going to the supermarket was a nightmare." "If it wasn't pesticides on produce it was fumes from cellophane." " Wow." " Yeah." "The firm made me see a psychiatrist." "Eventually he confirmed his own suspicions." "So finally, I found a clinical ecologist." "He was able to make a diagnosis that made sense to me." " But there isn't any cure?" " Sure." "Shut down all heavy industry and start over." "I'm not holding my breath." "Matthew?" "Just a second, Ma." "Let me throw a shirt on." "Come in." " I brought you some lunch." " Thanks." " You haven't left this room all day." " Well, you know..." "I never saw anybody throw themselves into something like this." "How many flies have you tied?" "Well, I'm concentrating on quality right now." "I must admit when you first mentioned opening a tackle shop" "I thought you'd lost your mind." "What's that?" " My fax." " Fax?" " I'll get it." " You eat." "Minnifield Holdings International?" "That's right, initial offerings gonna go fast." "I'm giving you first look." "Don't think about too long." "You bet." "Ruth-Anne, what can I do for you?" "Did you ask Matthew to help you with this?" "He doesn't waste time, does he?" "He was supposed to be tying flies." "This is superlative work." "What did you say?" "He wants to get out of investment banking." " He mentioned something about that." " You got him involved anyway?" "I didn't exactly twist his arm." "You'd offer a drink to a reformed alcoholic too?" "I may have put some ideas in his head, but he ran with them like a pro." "He's trying to change." " Why?" " Why?" "Yeah." "He's a crackerjack moneyman." "Didn't you ever want to change your life?" " No." " Well he does and he needs time and encouragement." " Encouragement to do what?" " Open a tackle shop." "That's about the stupidest thing I've ever heard." "Do you really think we need another tackle shop here?" "I wouldn't say there's a dying need, but..." " Then why you want him to open one?" " I don't want him to." "He wants to open one." "I'm just trying to encourage him." "I must be missing something here." "I've never told either of my boys what to do." "And I'm not going to start now." "You just said you were encouraging him." "That's different." "You see it's..." "Well it's just..." "Stay out of it." "Let's see what we got here." "Your magnesium level is elevated, I'm gonna cut it back." "Lower levels seem to trigger nausea with me, Joel." "That's not medically warranted." "A clinician at Mayo said it has to do with the combustion process during digestion." "I read the file Mike." "It was an assistant clinician who said it was a possibility, a remote possibility." " Can we be frank, Joel?" " Absolutely." " You don't think I have a problem." " That's not true." " I think you have a problem." " But it's in my head?" "Basically." "I think that your symptoms are psychogenic, yes." "So at least you concede I have symptoms?" "I would put your condition under the same heading as hysterical pregnancy or hysterical blindness, except you have hysterical allergies." "And while I sympathize with the fact you genuinely suffer," "I think the solution is psychological, not metabolic." "A perfectly rational response." "Why do I feel like I was just insulted?" "Not at all." "I consider myself a deeply rational person." " You do?" " Yes, I do." "How do you account for the lack of corroborating evidence?" "Historically, science only looks for what society is willing to accept." "For the AMA, to admit my condition would be to publicly admit this planet is becoming dangerously toxic for all living things." "When people are ready to face that, I've no doubt science will find a medically supportable cause for my symptoms." "And in the meantime?" "I think of myself as a canary in a coal mine." "I'm an early warning." "A foot soldier on the front line." "Hey O'Connell." "That guy is unbelievable." " Who?" " Mike." "I just spent an hour with him." "He's brilliant." "It's like playing chess with Spassky." " He's always 3 moves ahead." " So now you're convinced?" "If I had the slightest doubt, it's gone." "I told you he wasn't a lunatic." "No, he's crazy." "He is." "Completely bonkers." "But what sublime madness..." "The man has recycled every idea of western philosophy, not to mention history, science, religion." "You got to look at the intellectual construct here, the wheels within the wheels." "All fantasy of course, but the erudition." "The raw brain power." "He'd have done extraordinary things if he wouldn't have wigged out." "What do you want anyways?" "When you're in a better mood." "I'm in a great mood." "What have you got?" "No, Fleischman!" "That's mine!" " It's mine." " "Immunology Monthly. "" "I didn't know you were a subscriber." "I found it through CompuServe." "I was flipping through the listings and I found this article on provocation neutralization." "I thought you might be interested." "You could at least look at it!" " I'm aware of the concept." " And?" "Besides the fact that as a trained physician," "I have a hard time injecting anyone with possible carcinogens, such treatment is extremely contraindicated in this case." "Mike's blood chemistry is abnormal enough as is." "What?" " What?" " I should have seen it coming." " What?" " The crush, the infatuation." "Oh, please." "You spent hours on obscure medical journals out of curiosity?" "What I do for a friend is my business." ""Friend"?" "What happened to "stranger", "acquaintance"?" "I happen to find Mike's predicament interesting." "Give me a break, O'Connell." "The bubble man is right out of Emily Bronte." "Handsome, flawed and inaccessible." "Perfect for you." "Why don't you stick to blood chemistry?" "That's something you know about, presumably." "Proust spent the last 15 years of his life in a corked lined bedroom on Haussmann Boulevard in Paris." "A lot of people at the time thought Marcel was off his nut." "While there may be no accounting for a bedridden Frenchman, consider that this celebrated artist was a known asthmatic who demonstrated extreme sensitivity to even the slightest change in environmental conditions." "Could it be Mike and Marcel are hyper allergic cousins?" "Food to boil on." " Have you got everything?" " Yeah, I think so." " Do you want me to carry that?" " No." " Can you close the door behind you?" " Yeah." "Sure." "Here we go." "How are we doing?" "Ok." "We're doing ok." " Wait." " What?" "My nitrogen count is a bit higher than I expected." " You want to go back inside?" " No, I'm fine." "Ok." " Nice day." " It's gorgeous." " Why don't you tell me about you?" " About me?" "Yeah." "You've been asking all the questions." " Now it's my turn." " Ok." " What do you want to know?" " What brought you to Alaska?" "A student I was going with:" "Dave." "He was a writer and climber." " He died." " I'm sorry." "How'd you end up in Cicely?" "Another boyfriend:" "Bruce." "He ate bad potato salad." "He died too." "Yeah." "Look!" "An eagle." " Would you look at that?" " Ain't it something!" " Mike?" " Excuse me." " Mike." " I think we'd better go back in." " Ok." " Yeah." " What is it?" " Just a little reaction." "I feel a little constriction around my pharynx." " Do you want me to call Fleischman?" " No." "It's nothing." "I'll be fine." "The major market index up 1.15 and the New York deposit down 1.35." "S and P 400 mid-cap down 0.25 for the value line..." "Look at him." "Like a deer caught in headlights." "He does seem to like that station." "He always had tremendous powers of concentration." "I remember him just sitting at the bedroom window watching rain drops streaking down the pane." " He can do that?" " For hours." "Maybe you ought to talk to him, Ruth-Anne." "The customers want ESPN?" "It's not that, it's that tackle shop." "It won't fly." "Why not?" "People only hang out in fishing shops to talk fishing." "Matthew doesn't talk fishing." "I don't think he's been fishing." "Gold off1.30 dollars, Silver is off1.07 cents." "Platinum down 3 dollars." "Thirteen inside." " So?" " So?" " You saw Mike?" " Yes." " And?" " He's fine." "Fine?" "He's throat was a little raw." "His eyes were bloodshot." " I gave him some Seldane." " He was really sick 2 hours ago." " Right." " He wasn't faking it." "Whatever you say." "Fleischman, he's not crazy." "He's calm." "He's rational." " What better clue do you want?" " What are you talking about?" "If you were stuck in a bubble, if your life were destroyed by paint fumes, if you could no longer squeeze a cantaloupe or make whoopee for fear of a allergic reaction, would you be calm or rational?" "I wouldn't." "I'd be mad." "I'd be really mad." "That's a good test of sanity." "How Fleischman would react." "Fleischman gets hurt, Fleischman gets angry." "Fleischman is frustrated, Fleischman gets angry." "Fleischman is wrong, Fleischman gets angry." "He's in a bubble because he wants to be in a bubble." "I don't why." "You don't know why." "It'd take years of Freudian analysis to know why." "But he has retreated from the world." "He's hiding from you, from me, from himself." "That's it." " You're wrong." " Look." "I'll bet if he could walk down main street right now, he'd refuse." "He plots." "He's terrified of reality." " You are so wrong." " Leave him alone, O'Connell." "Find yourself another victim." "Buy a harlequin romance, watch a soap opera." "You're not gonna help him." " Matthew, it's 3 in the morning." " Hi Mom." "I have the Reuters screen." "Tokyo exchange." "Tokyo?" "On my phone line?" "I kept the company calling card." "I heard the Dow was down." "I wanted to see how it was affecting T-bills." "Sure enough it's up a blip." "A 32nd of a point." "You'd have to put on a hedge to log in the gain..." "You have to go back to Atlanta." "No, Mom." "I'll try harder." "Look." "Gone." "Throw the damn thing away." "You're simply not cut out for life up here." "You're not a child of nature." " Mom..." " Hear me out." "I always wanted you to be more like your brother." " Outdoorsy, a dreamer." " Like you." "I'm not like that at all." "I'm a doer like you." "But I always wanted you to do what I wanted you to do, instead of what you wanted to do." "I'll not have you turning yourself into me on my account." "Admittedly to me investment banking is as exciting as watching paint dry." "But if that's what you want, then I want it for you too." "This isn't you talking Mom." "It may have taken me 40 years to realize it but you're more me than I'd have liked you to be." " Forget the tackle shop?" " Definitely." "You won't be disappointed?" "You're a good man, Matthew." "I mean that." "So lock in those T-bills." " Mike..." " Hold on a minute." "Just a second." " Yeah." " What?" "I got it." " What went wrong yesterday." " Yeah?" "It'll be a few days before I get the confirmation, but look." "The wind was coming out of the northwest at 8 knots, right?" " Right." " Right." "And there's an alfalfa field here, about 3 miles away." "That's Hobart Ramsey's field." "It was dusted with pesticides two days ago." "Ed told me." "And we were here." "So wind came right through this break here and pow!" " You seemed pleased." " I am." "Not only does this confirm I'm not a paranoid delusional but it also proves yesterday's trouble was not caused by general environmental conditions." "So it wasn't the air." "Not at all." " So you can take a walk." " Sure." " How about now?" " Now?" "Yeah." "We could do that but I was thinking maybe a couple of days." "Maybe Tuesday." " Tuesday?" " These things have to be planned." "There's pressure charts and weather readings." "It's just a little walk." "We can always come right back." "I don't know." "On the other hand, no sense taking any unnecessary risks." "I think that's probably the best course." "Ok." "So I'll see that prospectus next week?" "I talked to Steve Nesbitt, my demographics guy at Wilshire." "He said he'd have the projections when I get home." "Outstanding." "If you don't leave, you won't make Sleetmute by nightfall." " Have a safe journey." " I'll be in touch." "Well..." " Call me." " I will, Mom." "I'll call you from Sleetmute." "Matthew!" "I'm sorry." "I know." "I love you." "I know, Mom." "I love you too." "Bye Matthew!" "Matthew Miller, Ruth-Anne's son." "He's just visiting." "How you doing?" "Great." "I feel very strapped in, very secure." "You don't think this is too scary for children?" " No." " Hi Maggie." "Hi Shelly." "This Mike Monroe." " Nice to meet you." " I like the look." " Thank you." " See you." " Bye." " Bye." "Maurice!" "Maurice, this is Mike Monroe." "Mike, Maurice Minnifield." "The bubble man." "How's the weather in there?" "Fine." "Thank you for letting me use your suit." "No problem." "How's it fit?" "It's a little short in the arms, but other than that fine." "Be careful with it." "It's a genuine piece of American folklore." " Mike Monroe." " Hello, how are you?" "Just like "The Andromeda strain", right Dr. Fleischman?" "What?" "Maurice letting Mike wear his space suit." "Of course Maurice can't fit into it." "Too many burgers." " This was Maurice's idea?" " No, Maggie's." " O'Connell's?" " Look, there's Fleischman." " Hi Fleischman!" " Hello Joel!" "I just landed on Earth." "Are you friendly?" "Want to go to the Brick?" "I'll buy you a drink." " Sure." " Ok." " Hi guys." "This is Mike." " How are you?" "I don't think they're used to seeing anybody in something like this." "Oh, look!" "Ripped by subXpacio and TusSeries"