Louder Than Words Page #4

I mean, I have a lot of 'em,

like I want to make a

difference in the world.

I know. It sounds cheesy,

but I want to help people.

[ VACUUM WHIRRING ]

Dad builds these huge buildings,

and mom makes them look great,

and that makes people happy.

And someday I want to figure out

my own way to make people happy.

[ LAUGHS ]

But that isn't the wish I

picked to write about.

Even though I have a

million wishes for me,

like being a star or a really

famous scientist...

[ LAUGHS ]

I wished for the health

and well-being

of all the children

in the world.

It's weird. It's like it

just wrote itself.

[ VACUUM WHIRRING ]

[ WHIRRING STOPS ]

[ OVERLAPPING CHATTER ]

Yeah.

Hey, Eddie.

John. You okay?

I'm gonna build you a hospital,

a children's hospital.

How much will that cost?

Nothing would make me happier,

John,

but, uh, I'd better explain

a couple things.

Okay.

Why don't we go inside

out of the cold?

[ CRICKETS CHIRPING ]

[ RADIO ]...Figure out

what to do next.

[ BUZZER ]

...encouraged by

Friday's report.

Obviously it was better than

the market expected.

BRENDA:
Hello.

Hi. Uh, Brenda?

Yes.

Hi. Bruce komiski.

Uh-huh.

Yeah. John invited

me to dinner.

Oh, uh...

Right. Right.

Uh, let me open the gate, okay?

Give me a second.

You've reached John fareri.

Damn it.

Leave a message.

John, w-where are you,

and who is Bruce?

BRENDA:
Have a seat.

Oh, thank you.

Would you like a glass of wine?

Red or white? Sure.

Whatever's open.

Okay. All right. I'll just...

I'll be back in one second.

All right.

Ah.

Here we are.

Thank you. Great.

Cheers. Cheers.

So John's probably just having

one of those crazy days at work.

I'm sure he'll be right

along any minute.

Great.

I'm sorry for your loss.

Thanks.

Unusually, uh, warm for

this time of year?

You know how it is.

It could snow tomorrow or

the next day or...

Right. Funny.

Heh.

That... this is good.

What is it?

Uh, I forget.

I'll go get the bottle.

You know, it's... it's

not important.

No? Okay.

You know what?

I think it actually did

snow last year

right around this time.

Huh.

The weather these days...

Oh.

John.

[ BOTTLE CAP POPS ]

Bruce? What are you doing here?

Dinner.

Remember?

Yeah. Yeah.

Oh. [ CHUCKLES ]

Yeah, sure.

Brenda and I, we got a chance

to get to know one another.

You two have already met, right?

No.

No? No, John.

JOHN:
So how was your first

day on the job?

Well, I, uh, got to the

medical center,

and I introduced myself to

the head of planning,

and I... I told her that

I was in charge

of the new hospital project,

and, um... and she said,

if there was such a thing,

that would be her job.

Yeah, yeah. She thinks it is.

Yeah. So I then went to Eddie

stolzenberg's office,

and, um... and he said, "yeah,

yeah, no.

"You don't want to tell

anybody, you know,

what you're doing or... or

why you're here."

[ CHUCKLES ]

So, I mean, he is...

he does have

the authority

to... to build this?

Oh, yeah, he thinks he does,

yeah.

I mean, you know, I, um...

I left my job, and I

moved my stuff here.

If I don't really have a job...

no, you have a job.

I... I hired you.

Uh-huh.

I mean, usually, the

board hires me.

I don't have a board.

Should I get a board?

Bruce, would you like

some more wine?

Yes, please.

Well, he seems very nice.

Yeah.

But do you think you could try

to remember to tell me

the next time you invite

somebody over for dinner?

I mean, I'm... I'm glad you

had someone over

and that we had dinner together.

[ CRICKETS CHIRPING ]

[ BELL TOLLING ]

Lydia.

John...

Sorry about your loss.

Well, thank you. Thank you.

Uh,

I was wondering if

you've heard about

this project that

I'm working on.

The hospital?

Yeah. Yeah.

Um, I was hoping

that I could have your

support on it.

Honestly, I don't think I can

be much help to you on that.

The folks I have influence with

are just too suspicious of you,

John.

Sorry.

You gotta be kidding.

Really, it was awful.

Apparently, dad talked this guy

into leaving a real job.

Is this some kind of

cut-rate deck?

Oh, listen to her.

Whoa, don't bet outside

your comfort zone.

I'll raise you. Okay.

This guy, by the end

of the evening,

he had this look on his face,

you know, like the

environmentalists get

when they realize that dad has

done a number on them?

Sounds like the old dad.

Yeah.

Is he getting anywhere

with this hospital?

Uh, whew.

I... you know, I don't

really know.

He doesn't talk to me about it.

It's weird. He's normally

such a chatterbox.

Well, it's good he

has a project.

Yes, yes. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Fantasy of some hospital

so he can wipe out the memories

of what happened to Maria

at the old one

and, uh, forget the

family he has left.

Michael. Okay, Michael.

What? It's like none of

us even exist.

Michael, everyone that loses

someone goes through this.

We just have to stick together.

Whose bet is it?

Mine.

[ SIREN BLARING ]

Steph.

You there?

Needless to say, we

love the idea.

We're... we're 100% behind it.

It's a beautiful thing,

what you're doing.

Especially with everything that

you've been through.

Okay. What do you

need me to do?

Well, the thing is...

I'm not a patient you're

giving bad news to.

It's all right. You can just...

what?

All right. Well, how do I...

how do I put this? Um,

despite everybody loving kids

and how they're our... our

future and everything,

uh, pediatrics is the bottom

of the food chain,

neurosurgeons, the

transplant guys

being the big guns around here

since they bring in the money.

Now, they are not happy

with your idea,

because they're like, "well,

we want a new toy.

"We want a gamma knife.

We don't want a

children's hospital."

So they've gone to b*tch to all of their

friends at the county legislature,

who unfortunately

are our bosses,

and they're not happy with

your idea either,

because they don't

want to take on

any big capital projects during

an election cycle.

Their biggest donors, who don't

want to lose any business,

they don't want you stealing

any of their business...

[ OVERLAPPING ]...State

board of health

which has to approve any

construction of new hospitals.

They don't want you taking

their business.

And a lot of these s. O.B.S...

...construction on a

new hospital.

Did I leave anything out?

Money.

Yeah, nobody's mentioned where

would the money come from.

Okay. We finished?

That's not enough?

Bruce found a fund-raiser.

I'll speak to the state senator.

It's all good.

Courage, compassion, devotion,

destiny.

What do you think?

It's wonderful, Michael.

It's so big.

That must have hurt quite a lot.

Lot less than laying around,

trying to figure out

how long it would take to

flunk out. Heh.

I'm gonna go for a walk.

[ SIGHS ]

I'm trying to take care of him.

I know. I know you are.

At least I've got my classes

to get my mind off things,

but he's...

did you ever try to talk to

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