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SCENE ONE: ON THE ROAD |
| SOUND/BIZ: |
EARLY MORNING HIGHWAY TRAFFIC: TRUCKERS, TRUCKERS AND MORE TRUCKERS. CONTINUES UNDER: |
| SOUND/BIZ: |
INSIDE AGGIE'S CAR. MELANIE IS TURNING THE RADIO DIAL, SCANNING THE AIRWAVES, JUMPING FROM STATION TO STATION. |
| AGGIE: |
What exactly is it you're lookin' for? (BEAT) You won't find any Bible-thumpin' music on this radio. Roy, my mechanic, I had him fiddle with the wires so no God-fearin' music ever comes out. |
| SOUND/BIZ: |
MELANIE CONTINUES TO CHANNEL GRAZE AND FINDS A CHRISTIAN MUSIC STATION. WE JOIN A CHRISTIAN SONG IN MID-STREAM. |
| AGGIE: |
Remind me to have a word with Roy. |
| SOUND/BIZ: |
AGGIE AND MELANIE DRIVE IN SILENCE AS THE CHRISTIAN SONG WASHES OVER THEM. |
| MELANIE: |
Where're we going? |
| AGGIE: |
(PAUSE) Don't know yet. |
| MELANIE: |
Do Mom and Dad know about this...this... |
| AGGIE: |
Expedition. |
| MELANIE: |
Yeah. |
| AGGIE: |
They'll know soon enough. |
| MELANIE: |
You didn't tell them? |
| AGGIE: |
I left them a note. |
| MELANIE: |
Dad is not gonna like that. |
| AGGIE: |
I know what I'm doing. |
| MELANIE: |
You just don't know where we're going. |
| AGGIE: |
I know where we're not going. Mexico. I don't want you anywhere near Mexico. |
| | MELANIE DOESN'T RESPOND. THE CHRISTIAN MUSIC FILLS THE TENSION. |
| MELANIE: |
I'm hungry. |
| AGGIE: |
Apricots. |
| MELANIE: |
For breakfast? |
| AGGIE: |
They would've stuffed you with apricots, down there in Mexico. Apricots morning, noon and night. |
| MELANIE: |
Not apricots. |
| AGGIE: |
Apricots. |
| MELANIE: |
Laetrile is made from the extract of apricot pits. |
| AGGIE: |
It's apricots, any way you slice it. |
| MELANIE: |
Better apricots than amputation. |
SCENE TWO: FLASHBACK - DOCTOR'S OFFICE |
| DR. AMITAY: |
I'm afraid it's bad news. |
| AGGIE: |
Dammit! |
| DANA: |
Mother... |
| AGGIE: |
For Chrissake, Dana. If ever there's a time for cursing, surely to God it's now. |
| MELANIE: |
I'm sick. |
| DR. AMITAY: |
(BEAT) Yes. |
| DANA: |
How sick? |
| DR. AMITAY: |
It's called osteogenic sarcoma. |
| AGGIE: |
What the hell does that mean? |
| DR. AMITAY: |
It's what Terry Fox had. |
| MELANIE: |
(SOFTLY) I'm going to die. |
| DR. AMITAY: |
There is an excellent chance you will come through this, Melanie. Seventy percent of patients do. |
| DANA: |
Will she lose her leg? Like Terry Fox? |
| DR. AMITAY: |
She will lose her hair. That's one of the side effects of chemotherapy. What chemotherapy does is shrink the tumour and contain the cancer. Then it's a matter of removing the tumour. We'll have to wait and see about Melanie's leg. (PAUSE) It may have to be amputated. |
| MELANIE: |
My bike. How will I ride my bike? |
| DR. AMITAY: |
Artificial limbs can be remarkably life-like, Melanie. There's no reason why you'll have to stop riding your bike. |
| AGGIE: |
This chemo business. A friend of mine went through it. |
| DR. AMITAY: |
I won't mislead you. It can be nasty. There's the hair loss, of course, but that will grow back. There's always a risk of infection. Vomiting and nausea are par for the course. As is weight loss. But what you have to remember is that chemotherapy is very effective. |
| AGGIE: |
Short term pain, long term gain kinda thing. |
| DR. AMITAY: |
Precisely. |
| MELANIE: |
It didn't do Terry Fox much good. |
| DR. AMITAY: |
I'm afraid there are no guarantees. |
| DANA: |
The cancer can spread. Even after all this chemotherapy. Is that what you're saying? |
| DR. AMITAY: |
Yes. (BEAT) Perhaps you'd like some time alone. |
| DANA: |
Yes. Please. |
| SOUND/BIZ: |
DR. AMITAY LEAVES THE OFFICE AND CLOSES THE DOOR BEHIND HER. AGAIN, NO ONE SPEAKS FOR THE LONGEST TIME. |
| AGGIE: |
Melanie, sweetheart. Your mother needs a hug. (BEAT) So do you. |
SCENE THREE: FLASHBACK - MELANIE'S ROOM |
| MUSIC: |
CHRISTIAN MUSIC. CONTINUES UNDER: |
| SOUND/BIZ: |
A SOFT KNOCK AT MELANIE'S DOOR. IT GOES UNANSWERED. AGGIE KNOCKS AGAIN, THEN LETS HERSELF IN. |
| MELANIE: |
You're supposed to knock. |
| AGGIE: |
I did knock. You didn't hear me. (BEAT) Knock, knock. (BEAT) Knock, knock. "Who's there?" That's your line: "Who's there?" |
| MELANIE: |
Not now. |
| AGGIE: |
'Not now' who? |
| | AGGIE SEES MELANIE IS IN NO MOOD TO PLAY ALONG. |
| AGGIE: |
Never mind. I don't blame you. A bucket of bad news lands on your lap. The last thing you want is your grandmother and her knock-knock jokes. (BEAT) You want me to leave? |
| MELANIE: |
No. |
| AGGIE: |
Then I'll stay. I'll stay for as long as you'll have me. |
| MUSIC: |
THE CHRISTIAN MELODY FLOATS THROUGH THE AIR. |
| AGGIE: |
Is that what you want to be listening to right now? |
| MELANIE: |
I like it. |
| AGGIE: |
Your parents won't let you listen to anything else. |
| MELANIE: |
I don't want to listen to anything else. |
| AGGIE: |
The hell you don't. Don't tell me you see Satan crouching behind every song on the radio. |
| MELANIE: |
It's not that. |
| AGGIE: |
Then what is it then? What's the harm in sneaking upstairs to my room and listening to some rhythm and blues? |
| MELANIE: |
Not now. |
| AGGIE: |
How about a pagan fiddler? |
| MELANIE: |
No thanks. |
| AGGIE: |
I don't suppose you're in the mood for much. I don't blame you. Mind you, the right music can...can be healing. |
| MELANIE: |
I'll be healed. |
| AGGIE: |
Mel, this oste-genetic - |
| MELANIE: |
Osteogenic sarcoma. |
| AGGIE: |
This bone cancer, it's serious stuff. |
| MELANIE: |
God will take care of me. |
| AGGIE: |
You're sure of that, are you? |
| MELANIE: |
Yup. |
| AGGIE: |
I wish I had your confidence. |
| MELANIE: |
I'm not confident. It's just a...a knowing feeling. |
| AGGIE: |
You're not scared? |
| MELANIE: |
God is with me. |
| AGGIE: |
God doesn't have bone cancer. |
| MELANIE: |
I'm not alone. |
| AGGIE: |
I'm scared. How the hell can't you be scared? |
| MELANIE: |
There's different types of scared, right? If you're alone in your house and scared, that's not the same thing as being scared in your room when there's someone else in the house, vacuuming or something. |
| AGGIE: |
What're you saying? You can always hear God vacuuming? |
| MELANIE: |
He's always nearby. |
SCENE FOUR: ON THE ROAD |
| SOUND/BIZ: |
AGGIE BLASTS HER CAR HORN. CONTINUES UNDER: |
| AGGIE: |
(LOUDLY) Use your bloody turn signal! (BEAT) Where the hell do these people learn to drive? |
| SOUND/BIZ: |
HIGHWAY TRAFFIC. CONTINUES UNDER: |
| SOUND/BIZ: |
CHRISTIAN MUSIC ON THE RADIO. CONTINUES UNDER: |
| AGGIE: |
Mind if I smoke? |
| MELANIE: |
Yes. |
| AGGIE: |
I'm lettin' you have your gospel music. Give your rusty old grandmother a break and let her have a cigarette. |
| MELANIE: |
Only if you roll down the window. |
| AGGIE: |
Bless you, my child. |
| SOUND/BIZ: |
AGGIE ROLLS DOWN THE WINDOW A CRACK. |
| MELANIE: |
When're we going to stop for breakfast? |
| SOUND/BIZ: |
AGGIE DRAWS LEISURELY ON HER CIGARETTE. |
| AGGIE: |
Two cigarettes from now. |
| MELANIE: |
They'll kill you, you know. It says so right on the package. |
| AGGIE: |
You got more important things to worry about than your grandmother's lungs. |
| DANA: |
(REVERB) The tumour, you said it had shrunk. You said - |
| DR. AMITAY: |
(REVERB) It has. But that's not enough. Not always. If we remove Melanie's leg now, she has a 65 percent chance of surviving. |
| DANA: |
(REVERB) If we don't? |
| DR. AMITAY: |
(REVERB) The cancer will spread. Melanie won't survive. |
| MELANIE: |
Pancakes. |
| AGGIE: |
Pancakes? That's what's on your mind? Pancakes? |
| MELANIE: |
Pancakes and syrup. |
SCENE FIVE: FLASHBACK - STOEBERS' DINING ROOM |
| ALEX: |
They will not force Melanie to undergo treatment she doesn't want anything to do with. |
| PINNEY: |
They can. And they will. |
| DANA: |
It's not...It's not right. |
| PINNEY: |
It's the law, Mrs. Stoeber. The state has the right to intervene in cases where a child is deemed unfit to decide the course of medical treatment. |
| DANA: |
Melanie is perfectly fit to make up her own mind. |
| PINNEY: |
That is precisely what the courts want to determine. I will argue that Melanie should be declared a "mature minor" which would give her the right to refuse recognized treatment. The state will argue she has been unduly influenced by your deep Christian beliefs. |
| ALEX: |
Being a Christian is not a crime. |
| PINNEY: |
No one is accusing you of breaking the law, Mr. Stoeber. |
| ALEX: |
What's criminal is having this case heard by a judge who doesn't know the first thing about Scripture. |
| PINNEY: |
Judge Drainey hasn't decreed that Melanie abandon God. She hasn't ruled that her leg be amputated. She has ordered that Melanie undergo a mental health assessment to determine whether she is capable of making her own decisions. |
| ALEX: |
Who's going to do this assessing? Tell me that. |
| PINNEY: |
Court-appointed therapists. |
| ALEX: |
Court-appointed therapists who've never had a glimpse of God at work. |
| PINNEY: |
It is not God who's being assessed. |
| ALEX: |
That's my point. |
| DANA: |
You don't understand, Mr. Pinney. God's love is what gives Melanie her strength. |
| PINNEY: |
God's strength is not what's at stake. |
