Decoding Annie Parker Page #2

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that I've created

in this restaurant?

- Excuse me. Look at this.

- No.

It's not a real dinosaur.

It's a triceratops

made of fruit and vegetables.

Don't be afraid.

It's gentle.

- See?

- We call him Larry.

You smell like fruit, Larry.

- You smell like cantaloupe.

- I'm sorry you're a prude.

Let's conclude.

We have a proposition,

a thesis of sorts,

that certain breast cancers

are inherited.

No one else believes this.

We do.

To prove it, we have to do

four things. Sarah?

First? Find a group of women

who have breast cancer,

and from within that group,

women who have relatives

who have breast cancer.

Second?

We then need to find a way

to track the inheritance

of our breast cancer gene

from generation to generation.

Third?

Even if we manage

to map the gene

to a specific chromosome,

we then need to isolate

and sequence it

to find the mutation,

which will take years.

And then, uh...

then we find out if

it repeats in the relatives.

And if it does,

then that is our link.

Fourth?

Fourth and, realistically,

maybe the most difficult.

We then need to figure out

why a mutation in a single gene

could lead to breast cancer

in so many women.

Wonderful.

See you first thing.

- Hey.

- Why are you playing in the van?

The acoustics in here

are incredible.

- Slow day, then?

- Strange as it may seem,

no one wants their pool service

this time of year.

And look at me.

I'm a Canadian pool man.

I'm like one of those

oxy... oxy...

- Morons.

- Morons.

Yes.

I'm gonna go inside.

Oh.

Okay. Well...

I was kind of thinking

maybe you should

hang out here for a bit.

Sha-la-la-la-la

Live for today

Sha-la-la-la-la

Live for today...

Yeah, yeah. I know.

But we were young,

and we had lots of time

on our hands.

Thumpity thumpity thump.

Gee.

Paul?

Paul?

What are you doing?

Nothing. Just,

you know, practicing.

- You okay?

- Yeah.

Paul!

- Paul!

- What?

- Joanie!

- Oh!

- Joanie!

- What's going on?

- She's pregnant.

- Paul.

- No, I mean, you know...

- Oh, my God! Honey!

- Okay.

- Sh*t!

He's... He's good-looking.

For a baby, you know.

In an ugly kind of way.

He's got bass player hands.

I mean, I'm not saying that,

you know, babies are ugly.

They just got that kind of

ugly baby thing going.

You need to borrow

Like the platforms

For no one can fill

All of those needs

That you won't let show

- You just call on me, sister

- Hey.

- When you need a hand

- Joanie. Hey.

After you had your baby,

did you, like,

do it less?

Honey, have you and Paul been...

It's really bad.

We're down to, like...

four times a week now.

Are you serious?

- That's actually quite a lot, Annie.

- It is?

Yeah.

Sorry.

Don't you dare!

No. No.

- Joanie, what's wrong?

- Are you okay?

- You all right?

- I'm sorry. It's just I...

Excuse me.

Joan?

I'm sorry.

Did I hurt you?

Oh, come on, Annie.

I make you cry, remember?

What is it?

Um...

Well, it might not be

as bad as it sounds.

Joan?

I found a lump

in my breast.

But you're gonna

be all right. Okay? Yeah?

You're gonna be just fine.

- Snap.

- Snap.

- I'm gonna be fine.

- Yeah. Yeah.

I love you.

I love you, honey.

- My big sister.

- That's right.

Four times a week.

Really?

Do you remember the man

in the room upstairs?

It wasn't a man, it was death.

Shh!

What, you think

if we don't say it,

it'll go away?

Okay, I'll whisper.

Did you ever go in there?

Just once.

Right before...

No. I never did.

Joanie! It's not funny.

It's so not funny.

- I can't stop thinking about it.

- Death?

Shh!

Yeah.

And...

Cancer?

Yeah.

It's stalking us.

Oh, you mean like that guy

you met at the Leafs game

who kept calling you and

sending you chocolate hearts,

and then he parked

outside our house,

and Dad caught him

jerking off into Hockey News?

Yeah.

Like him.

Because I'm scared.

I'm really, really scared

that it's inside of us,

it's in our family.

Sweetie...

that's not true.

I'm sorry.

Don't be.

I like it when you're worried.

I like it when you have

lots of problems.

It's gonna be really hard

without Joanie.

I know.

- I know.

- Come here.

Come here. Come here.

Well, at least she went quick.

Not like my wife.

Boy, she took her time,

didn't she?

I mean, it was

endless suffering.

Endless.

My God.

First your mother,

then your father.

Now... poor Joan.

You again? Cool.

You know, a lot of women

can't be hot

and in mourning

at the same time,

but you... you pull it off.

I don't mean any disrespect,

but when you think about it,

isn't sex our way of saying

"f*** you" to death?

How are you still working here?

The thing was,

I started thinking about it all the time...

my family and death.

Watching me, waiting,

hiding in a closet

or parked outside the house,

the Hockey News.

Oh, you might feel

some discomfort.

Beautiful day today.

Though I'm stuck in here,

it looked lovely

through the window.

And I spoke to your husband.

He explained

you were very worried.

He said I was

feeling myself up, right?

Checking, yes.

Perfectly understandable

once in a while.

He said once in a while?

Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Keep talking.

Oh, keep talking.

You know, there is a simple check

you can do for testicular cancer.

I heard about this.

Baby, do you want me

to check you now

while I'm down there?

- Come on.

- Annie. Annie.

What? Oh, what?

He mentioned that perhaps

you were overly concerned.

I know your family history.

It's very sad.

But that doesn't mean

that you're going to get cancer.

Look, Anne.

White coat, stethoscope.

You can trust me.

No more worrying, okay?

- Okay.

- Good.

That's my girl.

I don't know about genetics.

I know about computers.

You see, I make these cards,

and then I load them

into the front of the computer,

along with everyone else's,

and then,

usually the next day sometime,

depending on how many other

people are using the computer,

maybe a few days later,

I get this printout.

And there you go.

And for the amount of data

we're going to have, how fast?

The university's mainframe computer

weighs two and a half tons.

It's capable of storing

700 kilobytes of data.

I'm sorry. How long?

Once we get the data,

make a program

and then load it...

Ten years?

Will?

- Yeah?

- Honey.

Come on. Get up.

I'm up.

No, no, no.

If you're not out of bed,

you're not up.

Hey.

- You're not gonna have breakfast?

- Uh, I can't.

Work. Got a new client.

They called this morning.

- Kiss?

- I'm already late, Annie.

What?

Hey, I'm a musician, okay?

It's a look.

Okay.

When I grow up, I'm gonna be

a pool man, like Dad.

Do you, sweetie?

Oh, that's so nice.

Well, maybe when

you're a little older,

we'll talk about it, okay?

Mommy's gonna go take a shower.

Mommy loves you, okay?

Have a great day.

All right.

Anne...

your biopsy shows

that you have carcinoma

of the left breast.

Phew.

And I thought it was

gonna be really bad news.

Well, it's quite advanced,

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