Charly Page #6

Just this once.

Just stay still.

Mr. Roberts, your wife has cancer.

Mr. Roberts?

Go on, I'm listening.

The tumor started in the Pancreas.

That's probably why it went

undetected until now.

I'm afraid the cancer has spread.

So are we talking surgery, radiation?

I'm afraid surgery is out of the question.

We can try aggressive chemotherapy,

if you wish, but...

Let's do it. Let's get started.

I need to be perfectly

honest with you.

Chemotherapy is rarely effective

in a case like this.

Even if your wife responds

favorably to the treatment...

...the best we could hope for

is to shrink the tumor...

...slightly prolonging

what little time she has left.

Time she has left?

Mr. Roberts, your wife is dying.

I'm truly sorry.

It's out of our hands.

There's nothing we can do.

How are you?

I hope I look better than you do.

I hate to break this to you,

but I have severe halitosis...

...and a really nasty case of

terminal cancer.

There. I said it.

There are treatments.

- I've talked to the doctors.

- Doctors don't know everything.

People beat this thing all the time.

Hey.

I will give you a blessing and

God will do the rest. You'll see.

Charly...

...your Father in Heaven...

...is aware of your struggle.

He wants...

I want to bless you...

I bless you that...

...through your faith and obedience...

...and the faith and obedience

of your family...

...that you will live.

The treatments will work...

...and you won't die.

Heavenly Father loves you.

He loves me and Adam.

I love you.

I bless you, Charly,

I bless you to live.

What are you doing?

Thinking.

Have you noticed he has

a cowlick back here?

No matter what I do,

it always sticks straight up.

I wonder what it will look like

in a year when it grows out.

We'll just have to wait and see.

At one year, survival rates for

my type of cancer are zero, Sam.

Zero.

So we'll beat the odds.

Pretty stiff odds.

We have Heavenly Father on our side.

You heard the blessing.

And blessings come from God?

Yes.

Always?

What are you saying?

Sometimes when we want

something bad enough...

I did what I felt was right.

What do you want?

You want to give up,

is that what you're saying?

I don't want to give up. I don't want to

give up what time I have left.

I want to be here

with you and with Adam...

...not tethered to some I.V. pole,

dying in a hospital room.

I would never let that happen.

If what the doctors say is true...

It's not.

Everything inside me tells me it is.

The Lord will come through

for us, Charly.

We just have to have faith

and give Him a chance.

Barring some huge miracle...

Exactly.

You honestly believe

the treatments will work.

Yes.

All right.

He said they'd check my progress

after the first series of treatments.

If it's working, we'll continue.

If not...

They'll work.

I know it.

I hope so, too.

- So do you have any children?

- A little boy.

- How old is he?

- 10 months.

It's nice.

Almost done.

It's gonna be good.

I see your rice pudding and

raise you an orange jello delight.

Call.

Read 'em and eat.

You're cheating.

Prove it.

You keep losing like this, the doctors

will have to put you on a diet.

That boy loves you.

I know.

I can't reach him.

It's like I'm already dead.

No, that's what he's trying to prevent,

dear, in the only way he knows how.

Ignore it, and maybe it will go away.

That makes no sense.

It's always worked with your father.

It's not you. Not really.

He's frightened, and he's running.

Can you blame him?

If he stops, all this might catch up

with him, and then what?

Come on. Eat up.

I've got a lot riding on the main course.

What's all this?

It's your studio. I decided

you could use it more than I could.

What do you think? I think we could...

I never told you why I first

fell in love with you, did I?

You have a lifetime to show me.

No, I don't.

Knock it off.

Who's going to use this thing

once you finish it?

The paint's got a longer

guarantee than I do.

You don't know that.

We've lived good lives.

We've been faithful.

God will keep his promises.

God never promised us

he'd cure my cancer.

He promised us we could be

together forever...

...even after death.

Dying is still part of the deal.

Sam...

Sam...

I am going to die.

You don't know that.

I knew it the night of the blessing.

So did you.

Why are you giving up? Why?

You can't give up!

He says he's a God of miracles!

Why not now?

I've done my part!

All I want is one lousy little miracle!

Is it too much to ask?

It's not the end. Not really.

You taught me that.

Who needs more time?

We've got eternity.

What if I was wrong?

What if there's nothing more

after this and...

...and it's just a lie...

It doesn't feel like a lie.

Neither did tomorrow, until yesterday.

So ask.

"Hey God, You up there?"

Something like that.

That was it.

What?

In a world full of people

afraid to believe in anything...

...it was your wide-eyed, obstinate,

happily-ever-after faith...

...in life, in God...

...and in me.

It's gotten us this far, don't you

dare back out on me now.

I can't do this.

No, but we can.

With His help, we can.

I'd always taken solace in the idea

that God was in control...

...that he would make things right.

Mommy...

But now...

Mommy. Can you please say it.

Mommy, Adam, Mommy.

Can you say my name, baby?

Adam, I'm your mommy.

Please remember me.

But now... Now things were

so terribly wrong.

Did I know Him well enough to

trust Him now?

To trust Him with her?

You look like you could use a drink.

How's it going?

I've prayed, I've pleaded,

I've promised...

...but...

The treatments?

Christ heals the sick left and right...

...raises people from the dead

without breaking a sweat...

...but he runs up against

one tiny little tumor.

11 centimeters.

11 centimeters.

The distance between

life and death and...

...nothing.

How's Charly?

Charly? Charly's given up

just like the rest of you.

Sam.

I keep thinking maybe it's me.

Maybe if I exercised more faith, or...

...maybe it's a test.

Maybe if I had more time...

Maybe not.

No.

I know God can do this. I know it.

Sam, you've got to face the fact

that your faith may not fix this.

Then what's it good for? What?

Why have faith if it's only good

for bible stories and fairy tales...

...filling sacrament meeting talks.

- Then when it really counts...

- When it really counts...

...it won't abandon you.

The pain may block

everything else for awhile...

...but slowly, slowly the stab

will dull to an ache...

...and if you have faith

in all those answers...

...you've been carrying around

for a lifetime...

...well...

...then the pain won't

give way to emptiness.

And neither will you.

Neither will you.

Charly!

What is this?

Hi.

It's a party. Come on!

Who are all these people?

Just a few friends. Loosen up, Utah.

Charly used the term friend loosely to

describe everyone she'd ever met.

There was her doctor...

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