Million Dollar Baby Page #8

Frankie must have called

every hospital in America...

... looking for somebody

who'd tell him they could fix her.

He came close twice,

till they checked her over...

... said there was nothing to be done.

Took two months till she was

stable enough to move.

They got nurses for that, you know.

Yeah, but they're amateurs.

She developed skin ulcers

because she couldn't change positions.

Thank you.

They made the six-hour trip

by ambulance.

Fly there, drive back.

The rehab center Frankie found

was a nice place.

They took good care of Maggie.

She wouldn't have complained

if they hadn't.

Took several hours every day

to get her ready for the wheelchair.

One, two, three, up.

Since she couldn't breathe on her own...

... her respirators were always on.

Oxygen was pumped into her

24 hours a day.

Maggie's mama called to say

they were all coming for a visit.

She waited by the window

every day for the next two weeks.

Sure.

Frankie finally tracked them down.

Learned they'd checked into their hotel

six days earlier.

Kept leaving messages

which were never returned.

You don't have to hang around all day.

I like it here. I don't mind.

In fact, if you weren't here,

I'd come here anyway to read my books.

Mama will be here soon

to share some of the burden.

Well, it's no burden.

Here.

Read this.

Okay, okay, that's enough.

That's terrible.

Anyway, I'll tell you in English

what you were saying.

It says:

I will arise and go now

And go to Innisfree

And a small cabin build there

Of clay and wattles made

And I shall have some peace there

For peace comes dropping slow

Dropping from the veils of the morning

To where the cricket sings.

Not bad, huh?

You gonna build a cabin, boss?

- Me?

- Yeah.

You know, when you quit all this.

You mean boxing?

No, I'll never quit.

I like the stink too much, I guess.

You think?

Because I could see you there real easy...

...with your books and lemon pie.

How about you?

Would you like to go live in a cabin?

I could learn how to bake.

Well, then, I'II...

Maybe I'll start looking then.

Yeah.

- Go ahead.

- All right. Okay, sounds good.

Hi, I'm Frankie Dunn.

I met you back out in Missouri.

Where's my little girl?

Don't you think you ought to go back

to the hotel and change?

She doesn't know you've been here

a week visiting Woody and Mickey.

We got business with my sister.

Why don't you just tell us where she is.

Oh, you must be J.D.

And you must be the business guy?

There's some rides you missed.

Why don't you go back.

I'll tell her you couldn't make it.

I drove all the way here

to take care of my child.

And you're suggesting

I'm not a good mother?

Mary M. Can't go nowhere.

If we could've taken her to Disneyland,

we would've.

Margaret Fitzgerald?

Right down here, 301.

- Come on, Mama.

- Let's go.

And I saw myself breathing.

Like, my body was going up and down.

I thought,

"Why didn't somebody tell me?"

Your hair needs washing.

It's kind of greasy.

It's just a...

It's just some kind of legal thing.

What is it?

How we all doing here?

Sorry, darling,

but we ain't got a lot of time.

Mr. Johnson's charging us a lot of money

to be here to make sure this is done proper.

Why don't you just leave that.

I'll read it to her later.

Hey, old man...

...you part of our family?

Stay the hell out of this.

Read it to me, Mama.

Well, it's just something legal

to protect your money.

Mama, you don't have to worry.

The boxing commission's

paying for all this, everything.

But what if they don't, Mary M?

Mr. Johnson says

they can take my house.

If you assign your assets to your mother,

no one can touch them.

No doctors, no funeral expenses.

- Nothing.

- Yeah, look, why don't you just leave it.

- Then I'll just read it to her later on...

- With respect, this ain't your business.

All right. I'll be out in the hall.

You been a good daughter, Mary M.

You sign that paper...

...it'll take care of your family...

...the way your daddy

would've wanted you to.

How do you make your mark?

Can you hold a pen?

She gotta do it with her teeth, Mama.

You gotta put it in her mouth.

Here you go, honey.

Did you see the fight, Mama?

Honey, you know how I feel about that.

I did pretty good.

You lost, Mary M.

Ain't your fault, the way I heard it,

but you lost.

Don't wanna lose the rest

of what you got left.

There you go.

What happened to you?

Well, what's that supposed to mean?

Mama, you take Mardell and J.D.

And get home.

Before I tell that lawyer that you were

so worried about your welfare...

...you never signed those house papers

like you were supposed to.

So any time I feel like it,

I can sell that house...

...from under your fat, lazy,

hillbilly asses.

And if you ever come back,

that's exactly what I'll do.

Well, maybe someone ought

to count to 10.

Don't smell real pretty, does it, doc?

We might have to lose it, Maggie.

They took my leg, boss.

It's gonna be all right, you hear?

I always hear your voice, boss.

You need anything?

I need to know what "mo cuishle" means.

But you didn't win.

I don't have to tell you.

You're the meanest man I ever met.

No wonder no one loves you.

You remind me of my daddy.

Well, he must have been...

...a very intelligent, handsome man.

You ain't gonna make me talk

no more Yeats, are you?

No, I was...

...Iooking at this catalog

from City College.

I thought I'd get you a wheelchair...

...maybe the kind that operates

by blowing through a straw.

I thought maybe you'd like

to go back to school.

I got a favor to ask you, boss.

Sure.

Anything you want.

Remember what my daddy did for Axel?

Don't even think about that.

I can't be like this, Frankie.

Not after what I done.

I seen the world.

People chanted my name.

Well...

...not my name,

some damn name you gave me.

But they were chanting for me.

I was in magazines.

You think I ever dreamed that'd happen?

I was born at 2 pounds,

Daddy used to tell me

I fought to get into this world...

...and I'd fight my way out.

That's all I wanna do, Frankie.

I just don't wanna fight you to do it.

I got what I needed.

I got it all.

Don't let them keep

taking it away from me.

Don't let me lie here till I can't hear

those people chanting no more.

I can't.

Please.

Please, don't ask me.

I'm asking.

I can't.

Hello?

In the middle of the night...

... Maggie had found her own solution.

She had bit her tongue.

Stop. Stop.

Look at me. Look at me.

Nearly bled to death

before they stitched her up.

She came around and ripped them out

before Frankie even got there.

They stitched her up again...

... padded the tongue

so she couldn't bite.

You can't do it, you know that.

I do, Father.

But you don't know how thick she is...

...how hard it was to train her.

Other fighters would do

exactly what you'd say to them...

...and she'd ask, why this and why that,

and then do it her own way anyway.

How she fought for the title, I...

It wasn't by anything...

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