Still Alice Page #4

JOHN:

I’ve heard good things about

Wellspring.

ANNA:

Good. It’s expensive, but we

obviously want it to work.

TOM:

I can’t believe you’re going to be

a Mom.

ANNA:

I know!!

They carry on chatting as Alice enters carrying a soup

tureen.

ALICE:

Here we are...

She places the tureen in the center of the table.

LYDIA:

What kind of soup is it?

ALICE:

It’s butternut squash.

LYDIA:

Nice!

Alice notices Jenny sitting next to Tom.

PINK PAGES 23

ALICE:

Hi, I’m Alice. I’m so happy you

could join us.

JENNY:

I’m - Jenny.

Jenny looks a little startled. Lydia glances over at her.

Alice takes a breath.

ALICE:

It’s really nice to meet you. Well

I think I deserve a glass of wine

after all that, don’t you?

LYDIA:

You want white?

ALICE:

Yes. Thank you. Does everyone

have a glass?

ANNA:

Yes, we do!

ALICE:

Let’s have a toast. To Christmas!!

ALL:

Merry Christmas.

They clink glasses.

INT. DR. BENJAMIN’S OFFICE - DAY

Alice is nervously listening as the doctor reviews her file.

DR. BENJAMIN (PRE-LAP)

No cerebral vascular disease, no

evidence of any stroke, no masses.

ALICE:

(under her breath)

Thank God.

DR. BENJAMIN

And your blood work came backcompletely clear. But what worries

me are the memory tests that I sentyou for. You have sporadic memoryimpairment totally out ofproportion to your age and there isevidence of decline in your levelof mental function.

(MORE)

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DR. BENJAMIN (cont'd)

I think we should do a PET scan.

It’s similar to an MRI but it can

pick up things at the molecularlevel...

ALICE:

(interrupting)

I know what a PET scan is but what

in particular are you looking for?

DR. BENJAMIN

I want to see if the results are

consistent with Alzheimer’s

disease. It would be rare for

someone as young as yourself. But

you do fit the criteria.

Alice nods, absorbing this.

DR. BENJAMIN

Now last time you came I asked you

to bring a close relative.

ALICE:

I really didn’t think that would be

necessary.

DR. BENJAMIN

Next time, for sure. Okay..?

INT. KITCHEN - NIGHT

John is at the counter top, reading e-mails on his computer.

At the sink, scrubbing a pot, Alice responds to him almost onautopilot.

JOHN:

“...enhancement of endogenouslevels of beta endorphin has not sofar been shown to reduce the

incidence of metastasis in the

distant cell sites.”

ALICE:

That’s not good.

JOHN:

Tell me about it. We’ve been

working on this for months! “The

beta-endorphin doesn’tsignificantly impact the microphageactivity”...

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ALICE:

How about the cytokines?

JOHN:

Elevated. Slightly. Oh god backto square one. Are we both here on

the seventeenth?

ALICE:

I don’t remember.

JOHN:

Phil and Diane were saying they

might come to town for the weekend.

No reply. John looks up at her. She is still determinedlyscrubbing.

JOHN:

How long are you going to keep atthat thing?

ALICE:

Until it’s clean...

INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT

John is sleeping soundly. Unable to sleep, Alice looks atthe clock. It’s 2.15.

INT. BATHROOM - LATER

She enters, switching on the too-bright light, then looks atherself in the mirror, face scrunched. Opening the bathroomcabinet, she takes out some sleeping pills.

INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT

It’s now 4:
35 a.m. Alice remains awake. Her eyes open, herthoughts racing. Deliberately, she turns on the bedside lampand touches John’s shoulder.

ALICE:

John...John, sweetheart. Wake up.

He groans, shifts around under the covers. He groggily openshis eyes.

JOHN:

Hmmm... What time is it?

ALICE:

I need to talk to you...I’ve...I’vegot something wrong with me.

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He gradually starts to wake up.

JOHN:

What are you talking about..?

ALICE:

I’ve been seeing a neurologist.

JOHN:

You’ve been seeing a neurologist?

Why?

ALICE:

They think it might be early onsetAlzheimer’s.

JOHN:

What? That, that makes absolutely

no sense.

ALICE:

I didn’t want to tell you becausethey don’t know anything for surebut I’ve been doing all these testsand I’m really scared.

John sits up in bed.

JOHN:

Ali, that is completely insane.

ALICE:

I got lost when I was running oncampus awhile ago. I can’t rememberappointments. Words...

JOHN:

Honey, we all have memory lapses.

That’s a sign of getting older.

The other day I forgot the word ‘

glucose.’

ALICE:

It’s not like that. It’s like

something just drops out under me.

JOHN:

But there’s no diagnosis yet?

ALICE:

No.

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JOHN:

Well I think that this is

ridiculous. It’s complete

bullshit, you don’t have

Alzheimer’s.

He reaches out again for her, but she pulls away. Her

emotion, stoked by a sleepless night and a failed Ambien,

turns to anger.

ALICE:

God dammit! Why won’t you take meseriously? I know what I’m feeling.

And it feels like my brain isfucking dying. And everything I’veworked for in my entire life isgoing. It’s all going...

JOHN:

Come here don’t cry.

In his eyes we see care and concern but also the first signsof reckoning.

INT. KITCHEN - MORNING

Alice sits at the counter in a baggy sweatshirt. John is

dutifully preparing some cereal. They both look exhausted.

JOHN:

What time is your tutorial?

ALICE:

Eleven.

JOHN:

Well, that gives you some time.

I’m going to be a little latebecause I have a departmentalmeeting. But when I get back maybewe can do dinner, have some Thaifood?

ALICE:

Yeah. Okay. I’m okay...last nightjust got the better of me, that’sall.

Their routine conversation seems almost stripped of meaning,

yet they do what people do - they carry on.

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JOHN:

Well two things; I think it’s waytoo early to jump to anyconclusions and whatever happens,

I’m here.

She looks at him, weighing him, wondering about the future.

INT. DOCTOR BENJAMIN’S OFFICE

A computer shows a brightly colored cross-section of a brain.

Alice’s brain.

DR. BENJAMIN

You can clearly see in here. The

red areas are high in beta amyloid.

The build up has probably been

ongoing for several years. I’m

sorry.

John sits beside Alice. He is not buying it.

JOHN:

There is evidence of high amyloid

in older people with normal

cognitive functioning, correct?

DR. BENJAMIN

Yes but not in someone as young as

Alice. At least, it would be

extremely rare.

JOHN:

I also read that high amyloid is

associated with conditions other

than Alzheimer’s.

DR. BENJAMIN

Unfortunately, in Alice’s case this

corroborates the clinical symptoms

she’s presenting.

JOHN:

Shouldn’t any diagnosis be

accompanied by a genetic test?

ALICE:

John, hold on a minute, please.

DR. BENJAMIN

Actually, I was going to suggest

that.

(MORE)

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DR. BENJAMIN (cont'd)

In a case like this - with the

onset being so early - we’d like to

check for presenilin mutations.

That would be an indicator of

Familial Alzheimer’s Disease which

is a rarer form. We can make an

appointment for you to see a

genetic counsellor.

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