Hello, Maurice.
Where the hell have you been?
You were supposed to be back last night.
Well, the film festival didn't end till last night.
No surprises, though.
Quentin Tarantino took first place.
I brought you back a t-shirt. Extra large, right?
Save the souvenirs and slide show, Ed.
We've got bigger fish to fry.
It seems our esteemed physician has disappeared.
Joel's gone A-W-O-L.
Dr. Fleischman?
He paddled up the Chenega here to deliver a baby two weeks ago
and I haven't heard from him since.
And he refuses to answer radio transmissions.
I hope he's not dead.
He's gonna wish he was if I get my hands on him.
There's confirmed word
that a physician matching Fleischman's description
has moved in with
a settlement of natives right in here.
I hope you've still got your kit packed,
because you're gonna go drag him back.
Where exactly is that I'm going, Maurice?
That's a good question. It's not on any map.
The natives call it Manonash.
Manonash.
Yeah, it's up this tributary. Rough country, Ed.
You're gonna need a guide, and take a gun.
Hi.
I'm sorry, I don't understand.
Hello, Ed.
Dr. Fleischman?
Maurice sent me to bring you back.
He's pretty mad, Dr. Fleischman.
He says you've breached your contract.
He's talking about lawyers, lawsuits, damages.
You have to come with me, Dr. Fleischman.
Let me show you my place, Ed.
You live here, Dr. Fleischman?
That's right, Ed. Yeah.
Wow.
Oh, I brought you a souvenir from the film festival.
Key chain.
That's nice of you, thanks.
I don't really carry many keys these days. Thank you.
Why don't you grab yourself a seat there.
Well, I really think we ought to get headed downriver
before nightfall, Dr. Fleischman.
Please, Ed.
You are coming back with me, aren't you, Dr. Fleischman?
Ed, I'd like to tell you how I got here, okay?
I'd like to tell you about a week that changed my life.
Please.
Now,
most of what I'm going to tell you, I experienced directly.
Some of it was related to me.
That's wild spinach tea, is it sweet enough for you?
Oh, fine.
Now, it all began with Maggie and me.
And as you may already know, we decided to live together, yes?
Uh-huh.
Well, after that first morning,
we moved my stuff in and we began to settle into our new life together.
We were pretty happy, even with that first awkward stage of adjustment.
O'Connell?
Never mind.
I'm cleaning out a drawer for you.
Look at you.
Making drawer space for me.
We're living together.
Hmm.
Is that what you came out here to tell me?
No.
It's not a big deal, really.
No, I want to hear it, what?
Well, you know, I happen to be a bath person
and you're a shower person.
And if I take a bath after you shower,
I mean, it's trivial, I really didn't need to bring it up.
I should have rinsed out the tub.
It's only if you shave your legs,
and you know, the little hairs float on the soap film.
Forget it.
I promise it will never happen again, I will rinse out the tub.
Thanks, O'Connell.
Hey, wait a minute. Listen to us.
Fleischman, O'Connell, O'Connell, Fleischman.
We're living together and we're still calling each other by our last names.
Yeah, you're right.
It's kind of ridiculous, don't you think?
It is. It's like we're in high school or something.
So, what do you say? Joel?
Maggie.
Joel.
Maggie.
It was fall.
And as always, people were counting the weeks untiI winter.
Walt Kupfer was off to secure his trap lines before the first snow hit.
And of course he'd be traveling
as far as the Kaiyuh Gorge and didn't know when he'd be back.
Ranger stopped by the other day, Walt.
He said Mount Katmai is looking active.
You're going to have to detour around the lake.
Walk another 400 miles?
I'll take my chances.
Here's your two French dips, Walt.
You'll be scarfing on freeze-dried soon enough.
Thank you, Shelly.
Have a good time, Walt. Skin one for me, will you?
Will do.
Well, Ruth-Anne, I'm on my way.
Oh? Well, goodbye, Walt.
Goodbye, Ruth-Anne.
Around this time, Chris made good
on a $30 poker debt he owed me.
And he decided to use some more of his inheritance to remodeI his trailer.
I've been thinking about this enclosed patio for a long time, Willie.
I'm not a kid anymore, you know?
I can't keep this old crash pad mentality.
I'm going to claim me a little structured square footage, huh?
Organize mi vida loca.
Got the sleep space right here.
Party space right here.
Check it out, it's the middle of July,
I'm kicking back right here, in the easy boy,
listening to the skeeters slam into the screen, I'm thinking,
"I could use a cold one right about now,
"but I don't feel like hiking all the way back inside. "
Mini fridge, right here.
Oh, I was just going to wire for the overheads,
so I would have to bring out another line from the box.
How much?
Ballpark, $175.
Do it.
You know, I'm thinking, you're going to have a fridge out here,
you're going to be eating out here,
gonna have food out here,
you're probably gonna want to have...
A sink. Definitely way ahead of you, Willie.
Something to fill the ice trays with,
rinse off the dishes. How much?
Well, I have to run a new drain line to the septic tank.
I don't see how I could do it for less than $400.
Four hundred dollars?
A couple of months from now,
I'm out here kicking back at the castle,
I ain't gonna be thinking about the bread. You do it.
All right.
Hello, Ruth-Anne.
Did my Bag Balm come in?
Ruth-Anne?
Oh, Maurice, good afternoon, how are you?
Fine, thank you.
My Bag Balm, you know, the ointment for my heifer, did that come in?
Oh, yes.
What did I do with that?
It nearly scared me half to death, you know,
when I saw those sores on Molly's leg.
I thought it must be hoof-and-mouth disease for sure.
I thought I'd have to destroy the whole herd,
but then it turned out it was only stomatitis.
Well, here it is. What's it doing down here on the diapers?
Isn't it lovely what they're doing with tissue boxes these days?
I beg your pardon?
The floral patterns, the pastel colors.
They so brighten a room.
Ruth-Anne, are you all right?
What was that?
Just put it on my bill.
Evening came, and Maggie and I shared our first dinner
as a couple living together.
We were eagerly anticipating our first night in the same bed.
Well, that's it.
Let me just finish this last pan.
Oh, let it soak.
Well, it's cast iron, it'll rust.
Who cares?
That's true.
Yes.
Bedtime?
Bedtime.
I'll race ya.
Was that my gun?
Yeah, that was your gun, what do you think? What, it just goes off?
That's so weird.
Well, don't touch it!
No, Joel.
I was sure I had the safety on, I did.
That gun is loaded, and you tell me you keep a loaded gun in the bedroom?
This is Alaska, Fleischman.
Man!
Joel, now look, let's just not start, okay?
I just don't know how this happened.
Come on, O'Connell, Maggie.
Don't you realize we could have been killed?
Well, we weren't.
Right.
And by the next night we'd actually forgotten about
the events of the night before, believe it or not,
and we had ourselves a real nice dinner.
The thing is...
Dr. Fleischman? What are you doing?
I'm softening the hide, Ed, so I can use it.
Isn't that what you do?
Oh, I don't know, I never softened any hides.
What do you say, Teresa?
Hi, Joel, can you take a look?
Yeah, sure. Let's see.
Oh, yeah, that's coming along fine.
Just make sure you finish the amoxicillin.
Okay, thank you.
See you later, Jimmy. Bye.
So, as I was saying,
we had this dinner and we settled in on the couch, right?
My parents gave me this for my birthday last year.
I think they got it duty-free in Saint Thomas,
but still, I think it cost at least $200.
Hmm.
I just haven't had the right occasion to open it until now.
Oh, yeah.
That's wonderful.
Go ahead.
Yeah?
Oh, wow.
Oh, you know what? I meant to ask you, the dead bolt,
I checked it, it doesn't work?
It never has.
Really?
Mmm-mmm.
Well, don't you think we should get it fixed?
Sure.
Oh, that feels nice, too.
Oh, God, what's that?
Sit down, sit down. It's a drive-by.
Is everybody okay in there? Hello?
What?
It sounds like Hayden. You're kidding.
What the hell are you doing?
You could have killed one of us!
Sorry, Dr. Fleischman.
You're sorry? He's sorry.
I don't know what happened. I was just walking by.
I didn't even touch the trigger.
That's a rifle in your hands, man! A rifle!
For God's sakes, be careful!
I will, Dr. Fleischman.
Yeah!
That is the saddest commentary on society,
that a man like Hayden Keyes just walks around with a firearm.
Look at this, five more feet and one of us could have been shot.
We could have had a spinal cord lesion or quadriplegia,
we'd be walking around peeing in a bag our whole lives
if it didn't kill us.
What's so funny?
Think about it, Fleischman, two nights in a row. Bang!
Good, I'm glad you have a sense of humor about this.
Well, what are the odds, one in a million?
Come on, where were we, come on.
Are you telling me that this does not bother you?
What exactly?
Well, let's start with the hole in the window
and the glass all over the floor.
The bedroom's clean.
Come on, Fleischman, hmm?
Look, I'm sorry, I can't... I can't do this.
I mean, there's a hole right there from a bullet, okay?
There's glass all over the floor. Look at this.
Anything can get in here tonight,
any kind of insect or rodent.
You're telling me this doesn't make you feel at all vulnerable?
All right, fine, you go to bed and I will clean this up
and I will try to find something to cover this hole.
There's a bullet hole. There's a bullet hole in the window.
Stevens, your phone's on the fritz, do you know that?
Yes, I know that. Some wires got cut.
Yeah, well, you've got a radio show to do.
Why aren't you at the station?
Why? Look around, Maurice.
My contractor's not here.
So what?
Look at my place.
The guy's compressor is right here in my trailer,
the power's off.
Where is he?
Well, he's a contractor.
Contractor, that's what they do, that's their m. o.
What do you mean?
They hold you hostage.
They tear out your wall, and then they go find another job.
You didn't stipulate a deadline
or penalties in your contract?
Well, it's morning, a. m.,
people expect a DJ at drive time.
You're no Howard Stern, but at least you're a mouth.
Now get your butt down to the station.
See, we all think of Chris as this easy-going laid-back guy.
But, I think that the stress of living in chaos
just started to get to him, you know.
Well, that's coming along real nicely.
You're getting really good at that, Dr. Fleischman.
Yeah, well, I enjoy it.
So, meanwhile, Ruth-Anne comes to see me
and she had become aware that she wasn't being her usual self.
I keep forgetting things. My mind wanders.
Sometimes I find myself standing in a room
and I have no idea how I got there.
Well, your BP's good. 144 over 86.
And the mood swings.
One minute I'm on top of the world
and the next minute I'm sunk in despair.
So oppressive, I can hardly breathe.
Follow my finger, okay? Just with your eyes.
You know, Joel,
I am 77.
Now, I can't expect to be as sharp as I was when I was 65.
Maybe I'm just losing my marbles.
Oh, Ruth-Anne, you're not senile.
Plus, you have very good conjugate eye movement.
Look, I gave you a complete work-up less than six months ago.
Everything was fine. Liver functions, TSH, everything.
Oh, who am I kidding? I'm not sick.
I know what's wrong with me.
And I never should have come here in the first place,
I'm sorry I bothered you.
Oh, Ruth-Anne.
It is not a medical problem. And it's not your concern.
What difference does it make if you know?
I'm in love, Joel.
I'm desperately in love with Walter Kupfer.
You're in love?
It's been building for some time.
But it didn't really hit until Walt left to tend his trap lines.
And all of a sudden there was a huge hole in my life.
Oh, boy.
I don't need this, I don't want it.
The heart palpitations, the mindless daydreams,
horrible stirring in the pit of my stomach.
Can't you think of it as something positive?
Positive? Look at me.
I'm a grown woman,
and I've been reduced to a needy, vulnerable schoolgirl.
Well, I'm going to fight it.
I'm not going to let it get the better of me.
I'll be just fine. I'll be just fine without him.
Are you finished here, Chris?
Mmm-hmm.
You know, Chris, you've been sitting at this table for the last three hours.
Well, I just don't feel like going home.
You know, my trailer used to be like a refuge,
a sanctuary for me, Holling, and now...
The truth is, there's a party of four that could really use this table.
What do you say we move you over to the bar?
Whatever.
Hey, Shelly, I need a cold one.
On its way, Willie.
Hey, Willie, where you been, man?
Oh, hey, Chris.
I waited for you, half a day, you never showed.
Right. My truck, the tranny, it went.
Grievous, man. Three hundred bucks, new torque converter.
Well, you know, I'm sorry to hear that.
Look, let me ask you a question,
are we okay? I mean, you and me, our working relationship.
You know, I never hassled you about the bid.
I got a whole cooler full of sodas out there,
you're not going to book on me or anything, right?
Uh-huh.
Because you've got to finish the job, Willie.
I mean, I can't live like this, you hear what I'm saying?
Yeah, yeah.
No, really, man. You've got to come back out there tomorrow.
For sure.
All right. I knew you were a stand-up guy.
Tomorrow, first thing, right?
Yeah, yeah.
Very cool. You let me take care of that.
All right. See you in the morning.
Are you okay in there?
Yeah, just a sec.
Got a piece of dental floss stuck in my tooth. It's so frustrating.
Come on.
It's late, huh?
I'm not sleepy.
You smell good.
Thanks for rinsing out the tub.
Hmm?
That's considerate of you, rinsing out the tub. Thanks.
You're welcome.
Did you just hear something?
No.
In the distance, maybe it was
a car backfiring or something.
I didn't hear anything.
Hmm?
I didn't hear anything.
Maybe it was just thunder.
Hmm.
Well, we did manage to consummate the act.
However, I have to admit, it was not my finest hour.
Focusing on love making is not too easy
when you're waiting for small arms fire, if you know what I mean.
Look, you're gonna have to forgive me
'cause I promised these guys I'd go fishing with them, all right?
But I do want to finish this,
so why don't you just hang out, all right?
And can you just hand me that spear, please?
Spear?
Did you ever spear fish, Ed?
Actually, Dr. Fleischman, I use a rod and reel.
Oh, boy, you're missing something, man.
All right, well, make yourself at home.
There's plenty of moose jerky, there's tea.
I won't be more than a day or two.
Dr. Fleischman, you're back.
Hello, Ed. Want to give me a hand here?
Sure.
Have a seat.
Hey, quite a haul, too.
Yeah, it's not bad.
Better get it on a stick, though.
I don't have nearly enough to feed a team all winter.
Team?
For my sled.
I still got to find a couple of line-savvy wheel dogs, though.
Not an easy feat up here.
Hey, what are you doing? Don't cut off the tail.
Don't you see I'm hanging them on the rack?
Sorry, Dr. Fleischman.
Haven't you done this before?
It's not a big deal, I'll take care of it,
but I assumed you knew this stuff.
I feel terrible.
Oh, come on, Ed. It's just one fish.
No, not about that.
I mean, here you are,
a guy from New York City.
You're tanning hides, you're out spearing fish, drying salmon.
And me, the guy who was born here,
well, what do I know?
All I know is who took top honors at the Banff Film Festival.
I think you're being a little hard on yourself, you know.
I mean, we all have our own path.
Why don't I finish my story?
Maybe that will illustrate what I'm talking about.
Where was I though?
Ah, you and Maggie were in bed together.
That's right.
So, the next morning, I go into the office as usual, right?
At first glance, nothing seems out of the ordinary.
Hey. Morning.
Eugene's here.
Oh, yeah? What, is he sick?
No. He's in your office.
My office?
Hey, Eugene.
Oh, hi, Dr. Fleischman.
I'm sorry about your window. I'll have it fixed for you in a jiffy.
Yeah, well, what happened?
Musket ball.
Musket ball?
My dad collects 18th century firearms.
I'm sorry, you lost me here.
He has a 1760 Brown Bess display mounted on the living room wall.
Second floor window.
Yeah?
The rifle discharged last night.
Ball went clear through the lathe, plaster, hit your window.
Gun fell off the wall, stock broke.
Dad didn't even know the darn thing was loaded.
When you say discharged, what exactly do you mean, discharged?
Just went off. Boom. Really weird.
You're telling me the gun went off for no reason
without anybody touching it?
Uh-huh.
Do you have any idea what time it was?
35.
Are you absolutely positive?
Letterman was introducing Paul Shaffer.
Oh, God. Oh, God.
Hey, Dr. Fleischman, here it is.
Wow.
.69 caliber.
Good thing you weren't sitting here last night.
Oh, God.
And this last item on the Trap Line News,
this one goes out to Butch out in Teardrop Canyon.
It says, "Doc, fly. "
Says, "The biopsy report's back.
"Congrats, no need to resect any further. "
All right, Butch. That's it for the hinterlands today.
Hasta manana, people.
Can you send this out on tomorrow's Trap Line News? It's for Walt.
It's nothing personal, I just want to tell him that his boots came in.
Oh, no sweat, Ruth-Anne.
Now, this isn't special treatment. I'd do it for any customer.
Let me get back on the horn, I'll do it right now.
Well, that isn't necessary.
This just in, late breaking news from the front.
From Ruth-Anne Miller all the way out to Walt Kupfer.
It reads, "Dear, Walt... "
No, wait...
Not "dear," I didn't mean to write that.
Just make it "Walt. "
And it's not really from me, it's from the store.
I got you.
Walt, the proprietor of our local...
No, no, he knows me, and that sounds so cold, the way you put it.
Say this, say, "Walt, your friend, Ruth-Anne,
"wants you to know that your new boots came in. "
Walt, your friend...
Hey, wait, wait. Wants you to know...
That sounds like I'm involved.
Like, like I cared one way or another.
Well, I don't want to tell him that...
I'm just passing on information, Chris.
Oh, never mind.
Hey.
Hey, Joel.
We've got to talk. Last night, when...
Listen, Fleischman, don't worry about it.
You were tired, you felt pressure to perform.
Wait.
It was good for me, really.
No, no, look, that's not what I'm talking about, okay?
Another gun went off.
What?
That's right.
At the same time that you and I were in flagrante delicto.
Get out.
No, really. The musket ball shattered my office window,
it's embedded in the desk.
Musket ball?
That's not the point.
Look, it happened again.
Do you realize that every single time that you and I are physically intimate,
a gun goes off?
Oh, Joel.
Okay, let me get this straight.
You think that our having sex is causing guns to go off.
I know, there was a time that I would never entertain a notion like this,
but I don't know what to say.
Here we are, this is not a coincidence.
Twice is a coincidence, three times is, well, you know,
three times is as far as I'm concerned, by design.
And even if it happened 2 times out of 100,
I think this is completely unacceptable. It's bizarre.
Okay, Joel, relax.
I think you're getting a little obsessive here.
All right, we just moved in together.
We just need time to get used to each other, that's all.
What?
You don't have to make excuses with me,
I'm not expecting the Kama Sutra.
This is not about my sexual prowess.
Okay, all right. Well, listen, let's talk about this tonight. Okay?
I have to go do a charter. We'll talk about this tonight. Bye.
Hey, Chris.
Got the new plumbing in.
Just gonna turn your water on now.
Excellente.
What is this?
Huh?
This big hole.
Oh, well, I had to tie into the existing lines there.
Oh, Willie, come on, man.
What, you couldn't come up through the floor?
You've got to go through the side of my trailer?
Hey, Chris, I think you're gonna need
a bigger electrical box.
In fact, I know you're gonna need a bigger one
'cause the old one's fried.
What?
I only had the saws all running.
Then I turned on the radio, zap.
You were only pulling 30 amps.
I guess I forgot to cap that line.
This is my house.
Get out of here.
What?
Go! Now! Get off my land, Willie.
Okay, all right.
Look what you did to my house, man.
Take it easy. You're fired.
All right. You're eighty-sixed, man.
Okay, okay.
You're worthless. I've got to be out of my mind.
What are you doing?
Nothing.
What's under the couch? Nothing.
Come on, I saw you looking under there.
Come on, let's go to bed.
Get out of here. What are you up to?
Joel...
What?
I don't believe this.
After what I told you, you bring that back in the house?
Now, Joel, look, we're in the bedroom with the door closed.
Even if the gun were to go off, we wouldn't get hit.
It's a gun! It's a deadly weapon.
I can't imagine why you would do such a thing.
Why would you do something like that?
Well...
Well? What?
Well, if there is a connection between you and me and cordite,
I think that's kind of fun.
Fun?
Yeah.
That's a turn-on for you?
Well...
Oh, great. Oh, boy, that's great.
Putting our lives at danger is an aphrodisiac for you.
Fleischman.
I'm living with a risk junkie.
I wouldn't paint it so negatively, you know. I just like surprises.
Well, sorry, I don't, you know.
Having my car start in the morning,
or finding a good movie to watch on cable
is about as much as a surprise as I like.
God, this is so like you.
You know, everything has to be so controlled,
and so safe. What is the point in living life like that?
The point? Well, how about getting to your 85th birthday
with all your limbs intact and without a metal plate in your head?
How's that?
Okay, fine.
Fine, you won't have to worry about gunshots
or explosions, or detonations or combustions,
because we are not going to have anything
that even remotely resembles sex tonight.
Good morning, Ruth-Anne.
Holling.
You all right, Ruth-Anne?
I'm fine.
Good.
I was a little concerned.
The store's not open, it's after 11:00.
Holling? What?
What rhymes with curtain?
Pardon?
"The morning sun slips through my curtain.
"I sit and watch with eyes uncertain. " No, no, no.
Ruth-Anne, you're writing verse?
There's got to be another word.
Hurtin', flirtin'.
Oh, what's that man done to me?
I'm sitting here like a nitwit writing poetry.
So you planning on going into the store anytime soon?
I woke up at 3:00 a. m. with, "The heart's too narrow for the little gray sparrow"
racing in my head.
The thing is, that we're out of cornmeal
and I've got 15 pounds of pike I've got to bread.
I tried. Lord knows, I tried.
But there's no escaping it. I'm just no good without him.
I give up. I surrender.
Ruth-Anne? Let fate do what it will.
Ruth-Anne?
Ruth-Anne, are you going to the store?
Hey.
You know if Chris is here, by any chance?
Yep. Yeah. Hey.
Hey.
Here's your Xanax. It should help you sleep.
I don't need them anymore. Come on in.
I thought you fired him.
No, well, you know, I had a change of heart.
Sorry, there's nowhere to sit down here,
everything's out there drying off. You want an orangeade?
No, thanks.
So I gather you're over your anxiety about the remodel, huh?
Well, yeah, that remo shock is a distant nightmare.
Great lesson. Real watershed, though, you know?
No, what do you mean?
Well, a guy like me tries to get his space together,
put a three-piece suit on it
and the universe, with it's big ursine paw,
just slaps it down like a house of cards, you know,
ruins everything.
The next thing you know, I'm homeless, cast out
like some sap kneeling in the mud.
I finished the steps.
Okay. Thanks, Willie.
Well, the thing is, Joel, what's a house?
It's a metaphor, right? For the mind.
Isn't that what it's all about?
You got to tear down the old before you can build the new.
You know, you gotta lose your mind before you can find it.
Universe whacked my house, it was really whacking my mind,
you see.
Let go. Give up, man.
Throw out all those old plans and stick your face in the here and now.
Whether this works out, or it doesn't, I'm a free man.
You want to?
Yeah, all right.
I'm with you.
Hello, Ruth-Anne.
When Chris comes in, this is for the Trap Line News.
"Dear Walt, there's no dignity in love. Come home. "
See, it struck me,
there's something for me to learn from Chris and Ruth-Anne, right?
Because these people stopped struggling.
I mean, they had given up the reins
and basically opened themselves
to whatever life handed them, right?
Boy, that smells really good, Dr. Fleischman.
Yeah, those are high bush cranberries.
I plan to put up a few dozen jars for winter.
Oh, yeah? All right.
You know, maybe I should stay up here, Dr. Fleischman,
and learn some of these things.
Maybe.
I want you to hear the rest of the story, though,
before you make that decision.
So, you know how Maggie said I'm a controlling person, right?
Well, man, was she ever right.
Because suddenly, I saw the light,
and I intended to march right up to her and tell her
that I was going to open myself up to all the possibilities
of our relationship, right?
Hey. Hey.
Oh, look, you're still upset.
Look, I've got to talk to you.
First, first, I have this for you. It's for you.
For me?
Yeah.
Open it.
Wow.
You didn't have to do this.
Couples fight.
It's so clear to me, that's all,
that's just, that's just what we have to understand.
That fighting is part of the process.
I mean it's healthy, even.
Oh, wow, cashmere.
Try it on.
That it's... How couples get to know each other
is through conflict, right?
There'd be no growth in relationships
if people were only nice to each other.
Oh, this is great, I love this.
I know, really, I know I've got to relax
and I've got to be just more open to what comes down the pike.
You have to move out.
What?
Living with you is something that I really wanted.
But it's just not working.
Wait, wait, if it's the gun thing,
let me tell you, I'm absolutely fine with it.
No, Joel.
I'm serious, put it under the couch, put it under the bed.
Look, all right, we'll forget the gun control thing, all right?
There's larger issues.
Bottom line is, I've got to be a more accepting
and less controlling person, I know, I know.
Joel, what I'm trying to say is,
you exhaust me.
I exhaust you?
There's just too much of you, you know.
And it's always working so hard.
Okay, all right, you're right, you're absolutely right.
And I promise you I'm going to work hard at not working hard.
I know, that didn't come out right.
Look, you hold on to everything so tightly
that your knuckles are white.
And I need somebody who can let go a little.
Maybe some distance and some time.
This is not the way I wanted it to be.
Maybe we can try this again.
This looks good on you.
Oh, I was devastated.
I mean, I'd never experienced such a sense of loss.
You know, working so many years for something.
Actually, kicking me out was probably the most loving thing
she could have done for me.
Although I didn't realize that until I came up here on a house call.
We don't have to worry about that rash?
No, it's just a little baby acne.
It'll go away in a couple of weeks.
You ever going to put electricity in here?
No, huh?
How about running water?
No.
Oh.
Telephones? No.
At that moment, the experiences of the last week coalesced.
To find myself, I had to throw off the externaI trappings of my life.
Is it okay if I live here?
I guess.
She gave me more than just a sweater vest that night.
She gave me all this.
Nothing. She gave me nothing.
That's what I need.
No phone book, no Game Boy.
No pasta maker, TV Guide.
Nowhere to go, nothing to do.
Is that what you need?
No Super 8, no cassette player, no Banff Film Festival.
Just the time to be.
Why don't you take some preserves with you.
Thank you, Dr. Fleischman.
Well, I don't know that Maurice is going to understand any of this.
Yeah, probably not.
Would you take a message for me?
Oh, sure.
Tell Maggie that there's not a day that goes by
that I don't think about her.
I enjoyed this visit, Ed. It was nice.
I wonder if you'll ever come back, Dr. Fleischman.
Well,
if that's the way, that's the way I'll go.
Don't worry, I'll be in touch.
I'll see you, Dr. Fleischman.
Ruth-Anne?
Walt.
I made some ice tea.
Sounds good.
Well, come on, then.