Dying Young

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# Let's get the rhythm of the hand,

ding, dong.

# Let's get the rhythm of the high jump.

We got the rhythm of the high jump.

# Let's get the rhythm of the high jump.

# We got the rhythm of the high jump.

# Ding, dong, one, two, three, four, five, six.

High jump, high jump, high diddly-dong.

- Hilary!

- What?!

Keys.

You couldn't handle it,

you couldn't handle it.

- These are a collector's item.

- I'm holding for ten minutes already.

And look at that. There's only 39 left.

Oh, I love that hat.

And Roger Callahan, and Misty Ryan,

and the Kinsella boy.

And his sister - what's her name?

- Rosemary.

- Rosemary. Exactly.

Out of that whole gang,

you were the smartest.

- You had the best...

... the best report cards.

And now she's a realtor.

She has a Cadillac with a sign on it.

Could you at least put out

this cigarette while you eat?

Hello? Oh, look at that. There's only 15 left.

Well, how about the business course, then?

You could go back. You could.

Then call Danny. Tell him...

- A guy cheats on you once...

- Don't.

...and you walk out on him

like he shot somebody.

Go back to him, yell at him, holler at him, but

make something happen for once in your life.

At least he supported you.

You missed it, Mom.

- 16 Nob Hill?

- Right up those stairs, miss.

Thanks.

- Straight back and to the right.

- Thank you.

- Hi. What's happening?

- Take a seat. Fill this out, please.

Hi.

Does anybody have a pen?

Thank you for coming.

We'll be in touch with the agency.

Ms... O'Neil.

Hi.

I know you're nervous. Yes.

- Please have a seat.

- Everything's in place, so relax.

Yes, bags are packed. Plane is waiting.

Hotel is waiting. All of Japan is waiting.

She's not on the agency list, David.

Yes. Yes.

Uh-huh.

- You're not on the agency list.

- Oh, no. I'm answering the ad.

The very moment, Marvin,

the second. Yes, I promise.

Right. Listen, Marvin, I have to... I have to go.

Take a pill, Marvin, please.

I'll see you in Japan.

Excuse me.

- Ah, yes. Miss...?

- O'Neil.

I'm afraid, Miss O'Neil, my son ran this ad.

And, uh... long story short,

I need a nurse for my son.

- Are you a nurse?

- Well, no, but I thought that it said...

I'm sorry.

Thank you for coming.

No, thank you for having me.

- Give her a cab fare, David.

- I don't want cab fare.

- Give her cab fare.

- I don't want your goddamn cab fare.

Give her cab fare

and hire the last nurse we saw.

Miss! Miss, please. Come back.

Miss, the farther we go down,

the farther we must go back up.

I'm not going back up.

Understand, this is my duty. If I'm required

to chase you back to, God forbid, Oakland,

I will.

Oh, what a marvellous day. Yes, all right.

And I quote:

"There has been a terrible mistake. "

Would you please come back to the house

for an informal interview downstairs?

- Downstairs?

- Yes. Please.

Go ahead. It's all right.

Yes, please come in.

I'm Victor Geddes.

- Trapped.

- Hey, what's going on here?

No, no. I'm sorry.

Uh... joke. Uh... an icebreaker.

Oh. Well... I can see why the job's still open.

- Ms O'Neil?

- Hilary, yeah.

Hilary.

Good.

This is going very well.

- How old are you?

- 23.

I'm 28. You are not a nurse?

- No, I am not a nurse.

- But you were a candy striper?

Well, yeah, in school, but... I dropped out.

Well, I was in Future Nurses of America.

I was the vice president.

- Alert the media.

- No, that's...

- What did you do?

- I went to the hospital after school.

- Mercy?

- Uh, Our Lady.

- Oakland?

- It's where I'm from.

- I interrupted.

- All right, I dropped out.

- You worked there?

- Right, well, the sisters...

You didn't go to Catholic school?

Well, the sisters at the hospital

talked to the sisters at the school.

And if we did something like, uh...

wear a skirt too short, or commit some

mortal sin, such as French kissing,

then we got the really

terrific duties at the hospital.

- Bedpans?

- Bedpans.

Changing sheets.

Cleaning all kinds of things.

But sometimes they let us

change the babies and...

and then point them out to their parents

through the glass. Hold them up.

That's about it.

I have leukaemia.

I've had it for ten years.

I'm 28. Uh... I said that.

So, since high school.

Uh, not the whole time. I've had remissions.

I've led a pretty normal life.

Been to Europe.

I finished college.

Ran the dash - the 100.

You're not the first woman in my house.

I, uh... Do you know anything

about chemotherapy?

Well, I know it's a treatment for...

They give me a course of it

every time I fail their blood test.

It, uh...

It's pretty...

Well, I need help during it.

Want the job?

You make it sound so attractive.

- Your father said...

- Forget my father.

- Well, he said you needed a nurse.

- Forget what he said.

- Well, if he's the one hiring...

- He's not hiring.

He is flying to Japan

in a luxurious airplane. I am hiring.

Uh...

If you choose to take this job,

you will be working for me, not for my father.

So why would you pick me?

Oh...

I got it.

I had the shortest skirt, huh?

Actually, no.

There was one with a shorter skirt.

But he was never a candy striper.

Anyway, um... it's room and board,

and $400 a week.

- Cash?

- Cash.

Follow me.

This is your room.

If you take the job.

- He's got a cold or what? How sick?

- Cancer.

- Sh*t, Hills. Maybe I don't wanna hear this.

- OK, how's Jim?

- Jim's a prick.

- How's his prick, then?

Mike, give us two beers.

- OK, so what's he look like?

- Upper classy. Nob Hill.

- Mm. College snot.

- Kinda get the feeling that he was, though.

- He was what, Hills?

- Cute.

- Well, go ahead, girl. You gonna take it?

- I don't know. The place isn't bad.

Fancy antiques. I have my own bathroom.

- How much a week?

- 400 big ones.

F*** me! Not you.

Grab it. Your mom would go crazy. You could

buy the Cadillac she's always talkin' about.

You could buy the outfit of the week... What?

Just be cool, girl. Don't worry about it.

Hey, baby, you need a walk home?

- Ah, welcome.

- Thanks.

Let me. That'll be all. Thank you, Malachi.

Sir.

That'll be all, Malachi.

Wait.

You coming in this room

is not part of the deal.

I never thought it was.

Pardon me.

Ah, yes.

- How you doin'?

- How are you?

Uh, this is Moamar.

Moamar Gadaffi. He drives me

every Monday morning to the, uh, chemo.

- Hilary O'Connell.

- My honour.

- O'Neil.

- O'Neil.

I'm sorry.

Peter Schmidt, 1886.

Barth & Kenitzer, 1892.

Both of them stood up to the earthquake.

The incomparable Hiss & Weeks, 1910.

Oh, Ronald McDonald, 1986.

You know, the chemicals they inject me with,

actually they're poison.

Poison?

Hiss & Weeks again, 1911.

Yes, the idea is to kill the cancer and not me.

- So, anyway, there might be some reaction.

- What kind of...?

Oh, sweating.

Shaking and vomiting.

Sometimes it makes me scream.

Ah, Mercy Hospital.

- Miss O'Neil? You want me to stay?

- I don't know. No.

The doctor will call tomorrow.

OK, OK.

No, no, no.

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