Lorenzo's Oil Page #9

- What?

I wrote to Omouri.

I asked him to come and stay with us.

- Omouri?

- Yes.

Lorenzo is surrounded by women all day.

I don't want him to grow up hag-ridden.

But you cannot take a boy

out of his fishing village...

...and bring him here to nurse Lorenzo.

Not to nurse him, to be his friend.

To bring the Comoros into this room.

We cannot uproot this young man

from his family, his way of life.

- Where will he live?

- Here, in Lorenzo's room.

But... he has no English.

He's a Muslim. An African.

We cannot bring an African to this racist

country to be a second-class citizen.

- This is Washington, DC.

- He'll be part of this family.

I'll teach him English.

There's a lot we can do for him.

Oh, Michaela...

Here. Sit down, sit down.

Now, the last time

Omouri saw Lorenzo...

...he was climbing trees.

He was a wild and vibrant boy,

full of life.

In the letter that you wrote to Omouri...

...did you tell him what he will see

when he walks into this room?

I told him he'd see a young man who

was very ill and had need of a friend.

That is all?

How would you have me describe him?

As a biochemical conundrum?

Non vero.

You know he is not that for me.

Augusto, when you look at him,

what do you see?

Tell me the truth.

- How do I tell the man to give up?

- Say his health won't take it.

The hours he's working are daft.

Our expectations were unrealistic.

Look, Don's a man who's been working all

of his life in face creams and cosmetics.

With this oil, he's having the time

of his life. You tell him. I won't.

All right. For his own sake, I'll have to.

Then you can call Mrs Odone and

tell her that you've pulled the plug.

- I'd best leave him be.

- I think you're right.

Omouri!

Lorenzo... Omouri is here.

- Morning.

- Good morning, Mr Suddaby.

There's a bottle of pure erucic acid

triglyceride on my bench.

Will you see that it gets to young

Mr Odone as soon as possible, please?

I'm off home now. Bye-bye.

Goodbye, Mr Suddaby.

Well, we'd better get on with it.

Four parts our old friend, the oleic.

And...

...one part erucic.

And the journey begins,

and like all good journeys...

...with food.

Where's the wretched nurse?

I'm gonna take my baseline myself

if she doesn't get here soon.

A month is much too long.

If we check my blood every week...

...and I have a cardiogram, we should

know enough to start Lorenzo sooner.

Oh, at last!

Hi.

How's the mother tiger?

Augusto didn't tell you?

I'm here to be Lorenzo's rat.

That's a very kind offer,

but I can't let you.

I'm a carrier, just like you. My blood

levels are just as high as yours.

I've had my baseline taken...

and I'm starving.

Oh, I have been wanting

to meet Lorenzo's main man.

I am content

to greet Aunt Deirdre.

Well, it's good to meet you too.

Now, now, Michaela. I want no argument.

Michaela, you cannot test it.

- Lorenzo needs you fit and well.

- So you would put Deirdre at risk...

- ...without even discussing...

- Hey! I backpacked all through India.

I must have eaten

rapeseed oil up the wazoo.

- Ah, I've been fasting all day.

- All right, go ahead. Try it.

OK, here goes.

So... does it taste awful?

- No? Good.

- It's good.

Good. Eat, eat.

Your sister had no side effects?

None at all. If we can normalise the

levels of a carrier so quickly, who knows?

- We'll start Lorenzo immediately.

- Marvellous.

- We're all terribly grateful.

- No, no.

Not to mention Deedee, the family rat.

- What dosage will you give the lad?

- We don't have time to be conservative.

We've decided on eight grams.

I ride an old paint.

And lead on an old Dan.

I'm goin' to Montana.

To throw the Hoolihan.

- Hello.

- Mr Odone?

Odo-ne, yes.

Look, we have a problem

with this blood sample.

You have a problem?

What is the problem?

Could there have been

a mistake in the labelling?

No. No mistake. Why?

Well, we ran the assay twice and

the levels of C24 and C26 read normal.

They read normal?

Well, uh, I...

Do you have the sample in front of you?

Yes.

- What is the name on the sample?

- Lorenzo Michael Murphy Odone.

It's Odo-ne.

No, there's no mistake.

- But thank you very much.

- OK, bye.

Whoopie-ti-yi-yo.

Get along, little dogies...

- What's going on?

- His levels are normal.

- Play! Play!

- Oh, that's wonderful!

Now, drink it up, son.

Every last drop. Good.

Mom says this is

the only bottle in the world.

Now that we have destroyed

Lorenzo's blood fats...

...I'm sure that Mr Suddaby

will make us plenty more, huh?

Mom says this is bootleg.

I know this is only

a fraction of what it cost...

- No, no, no, Wendy.

- You gotta take it.

No, we work on the barter system.

Our oil, your produce, huh?

There aren't that many

potatoes in the world.

OK. Here you go.

So, when will you tell Nikolais?

Well, we told him and the other doctors

and we sent all the figures.

- What did they have to say?

- They deliberate. They want more study.

- Wendy, that's enough.

- So the other kids have to wait?

We know what to do

about that, don't we?

The doctors had a very hard time

swallowing the first oil.

They want to see how it goes

with Lorenzo on the second.

- But we don't have time, do we?

- No.

So we leave science

to its own concerns, huh?

- Merry Christmas.

- Goodbye, Jake.

What happened to the suction machine?

There's no need, Michaela.

Not for four hours.

I turned the machine off.

All last night he made

to swallow for himself.

Augusto! Augusto!

We hope to make

an announcement quite soon...

...about a new development

in our diet therapy.

It's expensive but,

with the help of the government...

...and of this wonderful foundation...

...we are going to start a trial

before the end of the year.

I can hear from that

that you wish us Godspeed.

Excuse me, Doctor!

Are you referring to the oil

the Odones have invented for Lorenzo?

- We'll take questions later.

- No, it's a good question.

I should have mentioned it perhaps but...

The Odones have been extremely active...

...and we are in their debt.

Thanks to them,

we are preparing a protocol...

...for review by

the human-studies committee.

If then we can persuade

the government to fund us...

...then we shall know if this oil is of

more than temporary therapeutic value.

But it works! Lorenzo's

blood levels are down to normal.

It's precisely for that reason

that we are conducting this trial.

You don't expect me

to endorse a therapy...

...just on the basis

of one hopeful observation?

There's two! My boy's been

takin' the oil for six months.

Yes, Ellard, and his blood levels

are down to normal. He's fine.

You are playing with people's hopes.

Where do these Odones get off, thinking

they know more than the doctors?

- Where did you get this oil?

- The Odones. They get it from England.

They don't have approval from the FDA.

It's bootleg. Give the doctors a chance...

Come on, Ellard!

It's a mixture of two cooking oils.

Two cooking oils? What's the dosage,

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