Knots Landing (1979–1993): Season 2, Episode 13 - The Loudest Word - full transcript
Dr. Samuels, report to Emergency.
Dr. Samuels, report to Emergency.
Oh, Dr. Harper.
Code green. Code green, ICU.
- Hang on to this for me.
- Certainly.
- See, I'm gonna be her labor coach.
- Ha.
Yeah, I tell her what to do...
and help her relax and teach her
to breathe during childbirth.
Oh, that's great.
We're gonna observe a Lamaze class
tonight.
- Oh, really? Sid was my coach.
- Uh-huh.
Well, see, she feels a little funny
about using Kenny.
So, uh, I'm gonna be filling in.
- Oh, should I get that?
- No, it's okay. I got it.
- Hello?
- Hello, Val? This is Dr. Harper.
- How are you today?
- Well, fine, doctor. Just fine.
I've gotten back the results of your test.
- Really?
- Could you come to the office this morning?
Well, sure. Why? Is something wrong?
Maybe Gary would like to join us.
- Gary?
- It won't take long.
Well, yeah, but he's at work right now.
- I think he should be here.
- Okay.
- We'll be right over.
- Okay.
- Okay. Bye-bye.
- Bye.
Val?
Who was that?
Uh, Dr. Harper.
Gary Ewing, please.
Hi, Marsha, is Gary...?
Oh, well, when will he be back?
Good. Would you tell him that I will be by
in a half-hour to pick him up?
Yeah. Tell him that Dr. Harper
wants to see us both...
in his office this morning
and he said it won't take long.
Yeah. A half-hour.
Okay. Thanks a lot. Bye-bye.
Something wrong?
I don't know.
See, um...
I was seeing Dr. Bender.
You know, to try to find out
why I couldn't get pregnant.
And she found something...
Just a little growth
and she sent me to see Dr. Harper.
And he took it out. You know,
it was real simple, nothing to it.
And now, uh,
he wants to see me and Gary.
- Oh, Val...
- No, no, no.
It's probably something very routine.
It's probably nothing at all.
Uh, I'm gonna go on upstairs
and change and, uh, go get Gary.
So you just help yourself to more coffee.
Why didn't you tell me
there was a problem?
Because, darling, there wasn't one.
He just found something and he took it out
and that's all there was to it.
- Well, it's probably nothing.
- That's what I think.
Well, I don't mean nothing, I mean, uh...
it probably did have something to do
with why we couldn't conceive.
He might just wanna tell us
how to get back on the right track.
I once had a doctor tell me
he wanted to see me...
because he didn't like the looks
of a chest x-ray I had taken.
It turned out the technician
had his thumb on the negative.
- It'll be okay.
- I know it.
Yeah? Can I help you?
Um, hot dog and a root beer, please.
Damn.
Hey, man, I'm going as fast as I can.
- Hello, Val.
- Good morning, doctor.
- Gary, glad you could be here.
- Doctor.
- Please, sit down.
- Thank you.
When Val was in last time,
I removed a small growth from her colon.
I have the lab report in front of me.
Now, we've checked and re-checked.
It is malignant.
Malignant?
You're sure?
Pathology report confirms it.
I'm sorry, Val.
Hey, look at that. Look at that.
Oh, let me see it.
I have a... Look, hey, that's great.
Can I see you kids tomorrow?
Or I will see you tomorrow. Okay.
- Bye.
- Bye.
Boy, are you pushing.
Hey, wait a minute.
Hey, I've been waiting for you.
- I just came from the park.
- Playing on the swings?
- Great, Kenny.
- No, no. I saw a young couple like us.
And, well, she was pregnant.
And it was beautiful.
At one point, she took his hand,
she put it here where the baby was.
He felt it kick. If you could've seen
his face light up, it was beautiful.
You know what?
They were in it together.
I'm not sure we would be.
- Why not?
- Because I can't count on you.
- Oh, sure you can.
- Oh, Kenny, I wish I could.
I wish you could be in on all of this.
But I can't.
And I don't wanna fight about it.
I just have to do this my way.
I have to.
It's malignant.
- Oh, Val.
- He says he thinks he got it all.
Just to be on the safe side,
I'm going into the hospital tonight.
They're gonna remove a section
of tissue above and below...
where the growth was
to make sure it hasn't spread.
He says I got a couple things
in my favor.
I'm young, female and slender.
And he says that is important...
when it comes time to try to
reconnect the two parts of the intestine.
Oh, shoot. I left everything in the dryer.
Gary.
She left something out.
If the growth's too low in her colon,
they'll be forced to perform a colostomy.
Oh, my God.
She says she's gonna be all right.
She's sure of it.
Now, Gary, if Dr. Harper says
that this thing is gonna turn out okay...
then that's the way it's gonna be.
I wonder if she's really that optimistic,
or is she just being brave?
Whatever else she's being,
she's being very wise.
Why?
Suppose she anticipates the worst
and worst does happen...
she won't be any better off
for having anticipated it.
By being a bit more optimistic...
makes this waiting period
all the easier to take.
What is the worst?
If the cancer spread.
- But the doctor doesn't think it has.
- There's no indication of it. No.
- Then she should be okay.
- We sure hope so.
There's something else, isn't there?
I mean, between the best and the worst?
What is it?
It's called a colostomy.
I see.
Do you know what that is?
I think so.
Excuse me.
I work so hard at remembering
she's a young woman...
sometimes I forget
how much little girl is still left.
Now, I made you plenty of orange juice...
so you can have that
when you get home.
- Okay.
- Fine.
And I did your shirts for you and they're
on hangers upstairs, in your closet.
Now, that ought to be plenty
to last you enough till I...
- You know, till I get home.
- Okay.
Honey...
I wish that I'd been with you
every step of the way on this.
- It must've been hard.
- No, it wasn't at all, darling...
because I didn't know
that it was gonna be a problem.
- And anyway, you were busy.
- Yeah. Busy.
Now, stop it, Gary.
- I feel so helpless.
- Darling, you're not helpless.
You're helping me. You're with me.
I'm not afraid
and I don't want you to be.
Okay?
Val?
Gary, stop it.
It's okay. Now, now, now. Come on.
- Diana?
- Come in.
Hi.
Hi.
This is awful, Ma.
It doesn't have to be.
- Val is so young.
- Yeah.
And she's strong and brave.
Is that enough?
I mean, what's gonna happen to Gary?
Well, I hope Gary would be understanding
and loving...
and just as brave as Val.
- I don't know what I would do.
- You'd live through it.
And be glad to be alive.
You know,
when a man and woman love each other...
Don't, Ma, no heart-to-heart talks.
You don't have to protect me from this.
You really don't.
You know, I think these things
reproduce themselves.
Did you talk to Diana?
She talked to me.
There's no little girl left in her.
- Sid?
- Mm-hm?
If it happened to me...
a colostomy...
- how would you feel?
- I'd hate it.
Yeah, I know.
Diana knows that too.
A thing like that could really...
end...
a pretty strong love
between two people.
I said I'd hate it.
It wouldn't change my feelings about you.
How could you separate the two?
By separating the thing that's doing
the damage from who's being damaged.
I'd hate anything that hurt you.
Ha, ha, but it'd be foolish of me
to resent you for being hurt.
You become attracted to a girl
maybe because of her pretty eyes...
and a cute little nose...
a beautiful mouth...
but you fall in love with a person.
Oh, Sid.
I hope Gary feels that way.
There's nothing to do now
but get on with the surgery.
The sooner the better.
- Unless you want a second opinion.
- A second opinion?
- Why? Is there any question?
- Not in my mind.
But a second opinion might help
to make you feel more certain.
- No.
- Maybe we should, Val.
No.
I don't want anymore examinations
or talk about centimeters.
- He's right. Now, let's get on with it.
- Okay.
Just so you'll know, I wanna re-emphasize
that the odds are in your favor.
We're pretty sure we were able to remove
all the malignancy before it spread.
Mm-hm.
If, after we get in there, however, we
can't get low enough in the pelvic cavity...
to reconnect the large intestine...
we'll have to re-route it
through the wall of the abdomen.
A colostomy.
Now, there is every reason for optimism.
But you should be prepared
for what might lie ahead.
Well, how do I do that?
Well, there's some, uh...
Some material that you should look at.
- I'll go and get it.
- Okay.
Gary.
It's gonna be okay.
No. No, I didn't.
Oh, God.
Sure. Sure, of course. I'll go there. Fine.
No, I can get there. Okay.
Bye, Karen.
- Richard.
- Mm.
- Richard, Val's...
- Yeah, I know.
You do?
Well, when did you find out?
Uh, last night,
when I, uh, got home from work...
I bumped into Ginger. She told me.
- Why didn't you tell me?
- I didn't wanna upset you, I guess.
It may be nothing.
Nothing. Well, not according to Karen.
Oh, Karen. Karen's probably
already got her dead and buried.
Oh, Richard, that's a terrible
thing to say. Val's got cancer.
Look. She had a little growth.
It was malignant. She had it removed.
- That's not the same as having cancer.
- But...
Look, it's precautionary surgery.
Do you mind
if we talk about this after I eat?
Sure. Sure, honey.
- I'm sorry.
- No.
It's all right.
We won't dwell on it. It's okay.
No, it's not okay.
Boy,
it's something how your mind works.
You know, all day I deal with statistics.
That's what you do in investments, statistics,
probabilities, the law of averages.
When, uh, Ginger told me about Val
last night, you know what I thought?
I thought, "So Val's got cancer.
Thank God not Laura."
That's awful, isn't it?
Oh, sweetie.
Please come to Admitting.
Mrs. Baker, please come to Admitting.
- Hi, darling.
- Hi.
You know, ha, ha,
this is really something.
It says here
that I'm gonna be able to scuba-dive.
I never could before.
Gary.
Um, Dr. Harper says that I should talk
to this lady down the hall.
She's not a patient, she's a nurse, and
she had one six years ago and she's fine.
Dr. Rogers, 174, please. Dr. Rogers, 174.
What's this?
Oh, it's just some instructions
they put on a cassette.
Uh, why don't I go home
and get the tape recorder?
- I'm sure they got one here at the hospital.
- Well, maybe not.
Well, we'll just ask.
Uh, I've got to, uh, make some calls,
take a shower.
- I'll see you later. Okay?
- Sure. It's a good idea. Come here.
You hurry back.
Mrs. Barker, please come to Admitting.
Mrs. Barker, please come to Admitting.
Hike.
Hut.
Will you stay out of the driveway?
I can't even get into my own house.
Hey! Gary!
- You wanna call it quits, Dad?
- Yeah, sure.
- I can't. I can't. I can't.
- Gary.
I can't. I...
Open the door!
- I can't.
- Gary!
Open the door!
Gary!
Mama. Mama. Mama.
- Gary!
- Mama. It's me.
I can't do it. I can't.
It's Val. And she's so sick.
And I can't help her.
Gary!
Gary!
Gary?
It should've happened to me.
Me, not her.
Oh, my...
I heard that word, "malignant."
And it was the loudest word I ever heard.
It was about her
and it should've been about me.
She spent half her life
investing in a dream, me.
Her dream of me.
And I've, uh...
Well, let's see, I've, uh, run away...
abandoned her, been somewhere else
when she needed me.
- Oh, not anymore, Gary.
- No, no, no. Now I'm here.
Now I'm here. Um,
lying to her, cheating every chance I get.
All I can think about
is how much I love her.
- Then concentrate on that.
- Concentrate?
When I concentrate,
all I see is myself running from her...
like I've always ran from her.
Gary, listen to me.
What you have to do...
is take it one step at a time.
Just be by Val's side, let her know
that you love her no matter what happens.
Right now, you see,
there's no cancer, there's no colostomy.
That could come later, but it might not.
But what you gotta do
is the same thing you do at AA.
Just take it one step at a time.
I told Val I'd...
I'd be right back.
I've gotta clean up.
Okay, listen.
You can come to our house, okay?
Come to our house.
Come on.
Oh, Sid, I don't think
he's gonna get through this one.
- Val, what're you doing?
- Oh.
Well, darling,
I'm just doing my exercises.
See, after the operation,
I'm supposed to wiggle my feet...
to keep the circulation going, and,
um, you know, cough to clear my lungs.
And when I cough,
I'm supposed to clutch this pillow.
- Why?
- I don't know.
I guess it just absorbs some of the pain.
Come here.
- Can we come in?
- Oh, are you kidding? Come on in.
- How's the patient?
- Oh, I'm fine.
- I'm just fine.
- Oh, good.
Look at her
in a little blue nightgown.
Hi there.
- Hi, Laura.
- Gary, you look worse than she does.
- Why don't you get something to eat?
- We'll hold down the fort.
- Okay. Thanks.
- Okay.
- See you later, darling.
- Bye-bye.
Golly, it was really sweet of you all
to come.
We have a little sexy perfume here,
uh, guaranteed to work.
Oh, that's perfect.
Thank you, I'll try it out.
Listen, I know why you picked this place.
- You got some cute interns around here.
- Oh, really.
You are lucky because all I've seen
is nurses and more nurses...
and all they wanna do
is take my blood pressure.
Be sure to get it back.
Get it? When Diana was a little girl, um,
she was sick once...
and Sid said to her,
"Do you have a temperature?"
And she said, "No, Mommy took it."
- Isn't that cute?
- Mm-hm.
Oh, Val, the kids send their love.
Oh, I miss them.
You give them hugs for me, will you?
- I sure will.
- Val, you look great.
- Really? Well, I'm doing fine.
I really am. LAURA: Uh-huh.
- I'm a little bit nervous, maybe.
- Don't be.
- I know, it's just that...
- It's just what, honey?
Well, I don't know.
I just worry more about Gary.
I've tried so hard to help him and I...
I just didn't wanna really be adding
to his worries.
Oh, don't be silly.
You haven't done anything.
I don't think he thinks that either.
Yeah, I know. But we've, uh, kind of
had our ups and downs lately.
I think he wishes it were happening to him
so I wouldn't have to go through it.
Val, Gary's strong. He's gonna be okay
no matter what happens.
Yeah.
You're right. I know.
Thank you for coming.
The Lamaze prepared-childbirth class...
will begin in five minutes, in Room 203.
What are you doing here?
Oh, I thought I'd take Val's place,
just for tonight.
Val has nothing to do with this.
I'm only observing.
Well,
she was gonna come with you, though.
Kenny, Val is upstairs
about to undergo major surgery...
and you use it to try
and wheedle your way back into my life.
Dr. Hill, report to Radiology.
- Do you really think that?
- Yes, I do.
You know, Ginger,
if that's the way you think of me...
then maybe we shouldn't be married.
And maybe we shouldn't be together
or even friends.
- Evening, Mrs. Ewing.
- I don't think Gary would have...
Red to relax, and yellow to sleep.
Do I have to take them right now?
I don't feel like sleeping yet.
Why don't we take the red one now...
and take the yellow one
when your friends say good night...
which should be about now.
- But there's still some visiting hours left.
- But we have surgery in the morning.
I'll come back in a few minutes
with the yellow pill. Okay?
- Okay.
- Okay.
Dr. Bayer to Histology.
- Dr. Bayer to Histology.
- Well.
All right, now don't anybody
say anything corny...
because the last thing I wanna do
is cry for nothing.
- So, just... Go on.
- Can I, uh, say good night?
- Okay, but fast.
- Good night.
- Good night.
- Good night.
- Good night, sweetie.
- Good night.
- Good night.
- Good night, Abby.
- Everything's gonna be fine.
- Thank you.
- Well. Ha, ha.
- Come on, Karen.
I love you.
Oh.
Very good, Howard.
Labor coaches, check them gently.
We want them relaxed.
They can't be relaxed
unless you're very gentle.
Okay.
Thirty seconds.
David.
Be aware of her line of vision because
you're blocking her focal point, okay?
Fifteen seconds to go.
And contraction is over.
Take a cleansing breath.
Close your eyes.
And relax.
- Hi, Gary.
- Hi, Ginger.
How's Val?
Is she okay?
Yeah, she's in good spirits. Thank you.
Send her my love.
Kenny?
We need you.
Please.
Gary. Hang in there, all right?
Yeah. Nice seeing you.
Val?
- Bobby.
- Hi.
- Is Lucy with you?
- Uh, no.
Mama didn't think
you'd want her to know about it.
No, I don't.
- Bobby. Oh, God, it's good to see you.
- Okay, just lie back. Come on, just relax.
Oh, God.
- How did you even find out?
- Well, Gary called Mama.
Mama, she had something like this
a while back.
- It's different, but, uh...
- No, no, no. I know about it.
Oh, Bobby.
I'm so awfully scared.
Don't tell Gary, but I'm so...
I'm so terribly, terribly frightened.
Wait, wait, wait, honey.
Nobody's not gonna tell you
not to be scared about something like this.
Well, it's terrifying.
That's all there is to it.
Well, do you know about everything?
I mean, all the things that could happen?
I talked to your doctor.
I just know
that Gary won't love me if...
Valene...
if you're alive,
that's all that matters.
Now, you'll see that, soon.
- So will Gary.
- Will he?
Yes, he will.
I promise.
Bobby...
I don't wanna die.
Then don't.
Oh, I love you.
Bobby.
Did Mama...?
Why don't you just sit
and talk to your wife?
I'm at the hotel.
I'll see you in the morning.
- Hi.
- Hi.
I was gonna call you
to make sure you didn't oversleep.
I didn't even undersleep.
I've been here all night.
Good morning, Mrs. Ewing.
- How are you?
- Fine, thank you.
- I have a present for you.
- Yeah. I see that.
- I'm not gonna look.
- Okay.
Now, this will take effect
in a very short time...
and an orderly will be in
to take you down.
- Okay.
- Okay?
All right. Now, I want you to put this on.
- Now?
- Uh-huh.
And good luck.
Thank you.
That's the one.
- The one what?
- The nurse that had the colostomy.
- Oh, yeah?
- Mm-hm.
You like it?
Maybe I should ask for something in pink?
I'm glad you're here now.
I would've worried.
- Well, here we go.
- Yeah, here we go.
- Okay, would you grab the top?
- Over the sheet?
Uh-huh.
Okay. Scrunch over.
Ah.
- Gary?
- Yeah.
- You're gonna stay with me?
- Oh, yeah.
Dr. Compton, report to O.R. 2.
Dr. Compton, report to O.R. 2.
Give us a kiss.
I love you, Val.
Dr. Wagner, report to O.R. 4.
Dr. Wagner, report to O.R. 4.
- Gary?
- Yeah.
- I'm really not afraid.
- Me neither.
Thanks for coming.
That was some phone call you made
to Mama.
Yeah, I know. Sorry about that.
Are you better now?
Well, I'm not crazy,
if that's what you mean.
No, that's not what I mean.
I mean, are you better?
Have you pulled yourself together?
Do you know what you're up against?
- Are you ready for that?
- Don't preach at me.
- Well, are you better or aren't you?
- I don't know.
Well, you don't
have much time to find out.
If you're gonna sit here
and wait that out...
you'd better be able
to handle the outcome...
no matter what the outcome is.
I don't know.
How can I? Would you know?
You're damn right I would.
I'd grit my teeth, I'd clench my fists
and rail at the injustice.
But I'd be able to handle
whatever came through that door.
Because I couldn't stand
to live with myself...
if I broke down when the woman I love
needed me to stand up.
Fine. You tell me how not to break
and I won't break.
I'll tell you how not to break.
The same way I told Valene how not to die.
Don't. You just don't.
I can't handle the worst.
The worst is if she dies, Gary.
You understand that, don't you?
Dying is the worst thing
that can happen to Val.
Now, tell me that you know
that death is the worst possibility.
You'd rather that girl in there die
than survive with a colostomy.
You know, I can...
I can remember Daddy and Mama
sparring with words.
I was just a kid when you left, but I can
still remember them talking about you.
And Daddy would say
that you didn't have the Ewing guts.
And Mama would say,
"Well, thank goodness for that."
Because she thought
you had Southworth gallantry...
and that was a much better thing
to have.
Mama thought
guts were low-grade courage...
and gallantry was courage with grace.
But she sent me here...
because she couldn't stand to come
herself.
She probably heard it in your voice
on the phone.
You don't have any kind of courage
at all.
And she just couldn't bear to come here
and see that for herself.
- Excuse me. Is Gary Ewing up here?
- No, he's not. I'm his brother Bobby.
Oh, how are you? Nice to meet you.
Gary's spoken about you a lot.
- My name is Sid Fairgate.
- Nice to know you.
- Is Val out of surgery yet?
- No. Apparently it's gonna take some time.
- Where's Gary?
- I don't know.
He was, uh, a little
shaky about all this...
so I had the brilliant idea
that I could shock him back to his senses.
The old "slap the hysteric" trick.
But I don't think that really ever works.
I'd better go find him.
Look, if you find him,
you tell him I didn't mean it?
I really did, but tell him I didn't.
Okay.
Gary.
- Hi, Sid.
- What are you doing?
- What'll it be?
- Nothing.
Look, you got a great life
going for yourself.
You're doing good things
down at the shop.
You've got a beautiful woman
who's absolutely nuts about you...
and she's gonna be fine.
I don't care what happens to her.
She's gonna be fine.
You know why? Because she's got the guts
to face anything and so do you.
If you just reach down
deep enough inside for it.
- Another ginger ale, Mac?
- Uh, yeah. Thanks.
I had to get out of the hospital.
I couldn't breathe.
Ha, ha, I feel like such...
Oh, it's okay, Sid. I don't blame you
for thinking the worst of me.
- I've been thinking the worst of me.
- I know it's not easy.
No. Nothing worthwhile ever is.
I know it's, um, strange thinking of this
as worthwhile.
But it is, you know. Part of it, anyway.
If she lives, it's worthwhile.
That's all I care about right now.
Just that she lives.
Because I can't live without her.
- Learning that's worthwhile, isn't it?
- Yeah.
I'm not ready for her to die.
But, uh...
I'm ready for anything else.
Mr. Ewing?
The doctors are out of surgery now.
I was right, Gary.
I got it all in the office...
and Dr. Kagan was able to get down
low enough to reconnect the intestines.
She didn't have the colostomy.
- I'm not dreaming this, am I?
- No, Gary. She's fine.
Um...
When can I see her?
Well, they're bringing her out now.
She's gonna be in pain...
but she won't remember
until she wakes up tomorrow.
Does she know
she didn't have the colostomy?
I told her, but she'll have to be told
a few more times until it sinks in.
- Oh, thank you.
- Yeah, sure.
Piece of cake.
Dr. Samuels, report to Emergency.
Oh, Dr. Harper.
Code green. Code green, ICU.
- Hang on to this for me.
- Certainly.
- See, I'm gonna be her labor coach.
- Ha.
Yeah, I tell her what to do...
and help her relax and teach her
to breathe during childbirth.
Oh, that's great.
We're gonna observe a Lamaze class
tonight.
- Oh, really? Sid was my coach.
- Uh-huh.
Well, see, she feels a little funny
about using Kenny.
So, uh, I'm gonna be filling in.
- Oh, should I get that?
- No, it's okay. I got it.
- Hello?
- Hello, Val? This is Dr. Harper.
- How are you today?
- Well, fine, doctor. Just fine.
I've gotten back the results of your test.
- Really?
- Could you come to the office this morning?
Well, sure. Why? Is something wrong?
Maybe Gary would like to join us.
- Gary?
- It won't take long.
Well, yeah, but he's at work right now.
- I think he should be here.
- Okay.
- We'll be right over.
- Okay.
- Okay. Bye-bye.
- Bye.
Val?
Who was that?
Uh, Dr. Harper.
Gary Ewing, please.
Hi, Marsha, is Gary...?
Oh, well, when will he be back?
Good. Would you tell him that I will be by
in a half-hour to pick him up?
Yeah. Tell him that Dr. Harper
wants to see us both...
in his office this morning
and he said it won't take long.
Yeah. A half-hour.
Okay. Thanks a lot. Bye-bye.
Something wrong?
I don't know.
See, um...
I was seeing Dr. Bender.
You know, to try to find out
why I couldn't get pregnant.
And she found something...
Just a little growth
and she sent me to see Dr. Harper.
And he took it out. You know,
it was real simple, nothing to it.
And now, uh,
he wants to see me and Gary.
- Oh, Val...
- No, no, no.
It's probably something very routine.
It's probably nothing at all.
Uh, I'm gonna go on upstairs
and change and, uh, go get Gary.
So you just help yourself to more coffee.
Why didn't you tell me
there was a problem?
Because, darling, there wasn't one.
He just found something and he took it out
and that's all there was to it.
- Well, it's probably nothing.
- That's what I think.
Well, I don't mean nothing, I mean, uh...
it probably did have something to do
with why we couldn't conceive.
He might just wanna tell us
how to get back on the right track.
I once had a doctor tell me
he wanted to see me...
because he didn't like the looks
of a chest x-ray I had taken.
It turned out the technician
had his thumb on the negative.
- It'll be okay.
- I know it.
Yeah? Can I help you?
Um, hot dog and a root beer, please.
Damn.
Hey, man, I'm going as fast as I can.
- Hello, Val.
- Good morning, doctor.
- Gary, glad you could be here.
- Doctor.
- Please, sit down.
- Thank you.
When Val was in last time,
I removed a small growth from her colon.
I have the lab report in front of me.
Now, we've checked and re-checked.
It is malignant.
Malignant?
You're sure?
Pathology report confirms it.
I'm sorry, Val.
Hey, look at that. Look at that.
Oh, let me see it.
I have a... Look, hey, that's great.
Can I see you kids tomorrow?
Or I will see you tomorrow. Okay.
- Bye.
- Bye.
Boy, are you pushing.
Hey, wait a minute.
Hey, I've been waiting for you.
- I just came from the park.
- Playing on the swings?
- Great, Kenny.
- No, no. I saw a young couple like us.
And, well, she was pregnant.
And it was beautiful.
At one point, she took his hand,
she put it here where the baby was.
He felt it kick. If you could've seen
his face light up, it was beautiful.
You know what?
They were in it together.
I'm not sure we would be.
- Why not?
- Because I can't count on you.
- Oh, sure you can.
- Oh, Kenny, I wish I could.
I wish you could be in on all of this.
But I can't.
And I don't wanna fight about it.
I just have to do this my way.
I have to.
It's malignant.
- Oh, Val.
- He says he thinks he got it all.
Just to be on the safe side,
I'm going into the hospital tonight.
They're gonna remove a section
of tissue above and below...
where the growth was
to make sure it hasn't spread.
He says I got a couple things
in my favor.
I'm young, female and slender.
And he says that is important...
when it comes time to try to
reconnect the two parts of the intestine.
Oh, shoot. I left everything in the dryer.
Gary.
She left something out.
If the growth's too low in her colon,
they'll be forced to perform a colostomy.
Oh, my God.
She says she's gonna be all right.
She's sure of it.
Now, Gary, if Dr. Harper says
that this thing is gonna turn out okay...
then that's the way it's gonna be.
I wonder if she's really that optimistic,
or is she just being brave?
Whatever else she's being,
she's being very wise.
Why?
Suppose she anticipates the worst
and worst does happen...
she won't be any better off
for having anticipated it.
By being a bit more optimistic...
makes this waiting period
all the easier to take.
What is the worst?
If the cancer spread.
- But the doctor doesn't think it has.
- There's no indication of it. No.
- Then she should be okay.
- We sure hope so.
There's something else, isn't there?
I mean, between the best and the worst?
What is it?
It's called a colostomy.
I see.
Do you know what that is?
I think so.
Excuse me.
I work so hard at remembering
she's a young woman...
sometimes I forget
how much little girl is still left.
Now, I made you plenty of orange juice...
so you can have that
when you get home.
- Okay.
- Fine.
And I did your shirts for you and they're
on hangers upstairs, in your closet.
Now, that ought to be plenty
to last you enough till I...
- You know, till I get home.
- Okay.
Honey...
I wish that I'd been with you
every step of the way on this.
- It must've been hard.
- No, it wasn't at all, darling...
because I didn't know
that it was gonna be a problem.
- And anyway, you were busy.
- Yeah. Busy.
Now, stop it, Gary.
- I feel so helpless.
- Darling, you're not helpless.
You're helping me. You're with me.
I'm not afraid
and I don't want you to be.
Okay?
Val?
Gary, stop it.
It's okay. Now, now, now. Come on.
- Diana?
- Come in.
Hi.
Hi.
This is awful, Ma.
It doesn't have to be.
- Val is so young.
- Yeah.
And she's strong and brave.
Is that enough?
I mean, what's gonna happen to Gary?
Well, I hope Gary would be understanding
and loving...
and just as brave as Val.
- I don't know what I would do.
- You'd live through it.
And be glad to be alive.
You know,
when a man and woman love each other...
Don't, Ma, no heart-to-heart talks.
You don't have to protect me from this.
You really don't.
You know, I think these things
reproduce themselves.
Did you talk to Diana?
She talked to me.
There's no little girl left in her.
- Sid?
- Mm-hm?
If it happened to me...
a colostomy...
- how would you feel?
- I'd hate it.
Yeah, I know.
Diana knows that too.
A thing like that could really...
end...
a pretty strong love
between two people.
I said I'd hate it.
It wouldn't change my feelings about you.
How could you separate the two?
By separating the thing that's doing
the damage from who's being damaged.
I'd hate anything that hurt you.
Ha, ha, but it'd be foolish of me
to resent you for being hurt.
You become attracted to a girl
maybe because of her pretty eyes...
and a cute little nose...
a beautiful mouth...
but you fall in love with a person.
Oh, Sid.
I hope Gary feels that way.
There's nothing to do now
but get on with the surgery.
The sooner the better.
- Unless you want a second opinion.
- A second opinion?
- Why? Is there any question?
- Not in my mind.
But a second opinion might help
to make you feel more certain.
- No.
- Maybe we should, Val.
No.
I don't want anymore examinations
or talk about centimeters.
- He's right. Now, let's get on with it.
- Okay.
Just so you'll know, I wanna re-emphasize
that the odds are in your favor.
We're pretty sure we were able to remove
all the malignancy before it spread.
Mm-hm.
If, after we get in there, however, we
can't get low enough in the pelvic cavity...
to reconnect the large intestine...
we'll have to re-route it
through the wall of the abdomen.
A colostomy.
Now, there is every reason for optimism.
But you should be prepared
for what might lie ahead.
Well, how do I do that?
Well, there's some, uh...
Some material that you should look at.
- I'll go and get it.
- Okay.
Gary.
It's gonna be okay.
No. No, I didn't.
Oh, God.
Sure. Sure, of course. I'll go there. Fine.
No, I can get there. Okay.
Bye, Karen.
- Richard.
- Mm.
- Richard, Val's...
- Yeah, I know.
You do?
Well, when did you find out?
Uh, last night,
when I, uh, got home from work...
I bumped into Ginger. She told me.
- Why didn't you tell me?
- I didn't wanna upset you, I guess.
It may be nothing.
Nothing. Well, not according to Karen.
Oh, Karen. Karen's probably
already got her dead and buried.
Oh, Richard, that's a terrible
thing to say. Val's got cancer.
Look. She had a little growth.
It was malignant. She had it removed.
- That's not the same as having cancer.
- But...
Look, it's precautionary surgery.
Do you mind
if we talk about this after I eat?
Sure. Sure, honey.
- I'm sorry.
- No.
It's all right.
We won't dwell on it. It's okay.
No, it's not okay.
Boy,
it's something how your mind works.
You know, all day I deal with statistics.
That's what you do in investments, statistics,
probabilities, the law of averages.
When, uh, Ginger told me about Val
last night, you know what I thought?
I thought, "So Val's got cancer.
Thank God not Laura."
That's awful, isn't it?
Oh, sweetie.
Please come to Admitting.
Mrs. Baker, please come to Admitting.
- Hi, darling.
- Hi.
You know, ha, ha,
this is really something.
It says here
that I'm gonna be able to scuba-dive.
I never could before.
Gary.
Um, Dr. Harper says that I should talk
to this lady down the hall.
She's not a patient, she's a nurse, and
she had one six years ago and she's fine.
Dr. Rogers, 174, please. Dr. Rogers, 174.
What's this?
Oh, it's just some instructions
they put on a cassette.
Uh, why don't I go home
and get the tape recorder?
- I'm sure they got one here at the hospital.
- Well, maybe not.
Well, we'll just ask.
Uh, I've got to, uh, make some calls,
take a shower.
- I'll see you later. Okay?
- Sure. It's a good idea. Come here.
You hurry back.
Mrs. Barker, please come to Admitting.
Mrs. Barker, please come to Admitting.
Hike.
Hut.
Will you stay out of the driveway?
I can't even get into my own house.
Hey! Gary!
- You wanna call it quits, Dad?
- Yeah, sure.
- I can't. I can't. I can't.
- Gary.
I can't. I...
Open the door!
- I can't.
- Gary!
Open the door!
Gary!
Mama. Mama. Mama.
- Gary!
- Mama. It's me.
I can't do it. I can't.
It's Val. And she's so sick.
And I can't help her.
Gary!
Gary!
Gary?
It should've happened to me.
Me, not her.
Oh, my...
I heard that word, "malignant."
And it was the loudest word I ever heard.
It was about her
and it should've been about me.
She spent half her life
investing in a dream, me.
Her dream of me.
And I've, uh...
Well, let's see, I've, uh, run away...
abandoned her, been somewhere else
when she needed me.
- Oh, not anymore, Gary.
- No, no, no. Now I'm here.
Now I'm here. Um,
lying to her, cheating every chance I get.
All I can think about
is how much I love her.
- Then concentrate on that.
- Concentrate?
When I concentrate,
all I see is myself running from her...
like I've always ran from her.
Gary, listen to me.
What you have to do...
is take it one step at a time.
Just be by Val's side, let her know
that you love her no matter what happens.
Right now, you see,
there's no cancer, there's no colostomy.
That could come later, but it might not.
But what you gotta do
is the same thing you do at AA.
Just take it one step at a time.
I told Val I'd...
I'd be right back.
I've gotta clean up.
Okay, listen.
You can come to our house, okay?
Come to our house.
Come on.
Oh, Sid, I don't think
he's gonna get through this one.
- Val, what're you doing?
- Oh.
Well, darling,
I'm just doing my exercises.
See, after the operation,
I'm supposed to wiggle my feet...
to keep the circulation going, and,
um, you know, cough to clear my lungs.
And when I cough,
I'm supposed to clutch this pillow.
- Why?
- I don't know.
I guess it just absorbs some of the pain.
Come here.
- Can we come in?
- Oh, are you kidding? Come on in.
- How's the patient?
- Oh, I'm fine.
- I'm just fine.
- Oh, good.
Look at her
in a little blue nightgown.
Hi there.
- Hi, Laura.
- Gary, you look worse than she does.
- Why don't you get something to eat?
- We'll hold down the fort.
- Okay. Thanks.
- Okay.
- See you later, darling.
- Bye-bye.
Golly, it was really sweet of you all
to come.
We have a little sexy perfume here,
uh, guaranteed to work.
Oh, that's perfect.
Thank you, I'll try it out.
Listen, I know why you picked this place.
- You got some cute interns around here.
- Oh, really.
You are lucky because all I've seen
is nurses and more nurses...
and all they wanna do
is take my blood pressure.
Be sure to get it back.
Get it? When Diana was a little girl, um,
she was sick once...
and Sid said to her,
"Do you have a temperature?"
And she said, "No, Mommy took it."
- Isn't that cute?
- Mm-hm.
Oh, Val, the kids send their love.
Oh, I miss them.
You give them hugs for me, will you?
- I sure will.
- Val, you look great.
- Really? Well, I'm doing fine.
I really am. LAURA: Uh-huh.
- I'm a little bit nervous, maybe.
- Don't be.
- I know, it's just that...
- It's just what, honey?
Well, I don't know.
I just worry more about Gary.
I've tried so hard to help him and I...
I just didn't wanna really be adding
to his worries.
Oh, don't be silly.
You haven't done anything.
I don't think he thinks that either.
Yeah, I know. But we've, uh, kind of
had our ups and downs lately.
I think he wishes it were happening to him
so I wouldn't have to go through it.
Val, Gary's strong. He's gonna be okay
no matter what happens.
Yeah.
You're right. I know.
Thank you for coming.
The Lamaze prepared-childbirth class...
will begin in five minutes, in Room 203.
What are you doing here?
Oh, I thought I'd take Val's place,
just for tonight.
Val has nothing to do with this.
I'm only observing.
Well,
she was gonna come with you, though.
Kenny, Val is upstairs
about to undergo major surgery...
and you use it to try
and wheedle your way back into my life.
Dr. Hill, report to Radiology.
- Do you really think that?
- Yes, I do.
You know, Ginger,
if that's the way you think of me...
then maybe we shouldn't be married.
And maybe we shouldn't be together
or even friends.
- Evening, Mrs. Ewing.
- I don't think Gary would have...
Red to relax, and yellow to sleep.
Do I have to take them right now?
I don't feel like sleeping yet.
Why don't we take the red one now...
and take the yellow one
when your friends say good night...
which should be about now.
- But there's still some visiting hours left.
- But we have surgery in the morning.
I'll come back in a few minutes
with the yellow pill. Okay?
- Okay.
- Okay.
Dr. Bayer to Histology.
- Dr. Bayer to Histology.
- Well.
All right, now don't anybody
say anything corny...
because the last thing I wanna do
is cry for nothing.
- So, just... Go on.
- Can I, uh, say good night?
- Okay, but fast.
- Good night.
- Good night.
- Good night.
- Good night, sweetie.
- Good night.
- Good night.
- Good night, Abby.
- Everything's gonna be fine.
- Thank you.
- Well. Ha, ha.
- Come on, Karen.
I love you.
Oh.
Very good, Howard.
Labor coaches, check them gently.
We want them relaxed.
They can't be relaxed
unless you're very gentle.
Okay.
Thirty seconds.
David.
Be aware of her line of vision because
you're blocking her focal point, okay?
Fifteen seconds to go.
And contraction is over.
Take a cleansing breath.
Close your eyes.
And relax.
- Hi, Gary.
- Hi, Ginger.
How's Val?
Is she okay?
Yeah, she's in good spirits. Thank you.
Send her my love.
Kenny?
We need you.
Please.
Gary. Hang in there, all right?
Yeah. Nice seeing you.
Val?
- Bobby.
- Hi.
- Is Lucy with you?
- Uh, no.
Mama didn't think
you'd want her to know about it.
No, I don't.
- Bobby. Oh, God, it's good to see you.
- Okay, just lie back. Come on, just relax.
Oh, God.
- How did you even find out?
- Well, Gary called Mama.
Mama, she had something like this
a while back.
- It's different, but, uh...
- No, no, no. I know about it.
Oh, Bobby.
I'm so awfully scared.
Don't tell Gary, but I'm so...
I'm so terribly, terribly frightened.
Wait, wait, wait, honey.
Nobody's not gonna tell you
not to be scared about something like this.
Well, it's terrifying.
That's all there is to it.
Well, do you know about everything?
I mean, all the things that could happen?
I talked to your doctor.
I just know
that Gary won't love me if...
Valene...
if you're alive,
that's all that matters.
Now, you'll see that, soon.
- So will Gary.
- Will he?
Yes, he will.
I promise.
Bobby...
I don't wanna die.
Then don't.
Oh, I love you.
Bobby.
Did Mama...?
Why don't you just sit
and talk to your wife?
I'm at the hotel.
I'll see you in the morning.
- Hi.
- Hi.
I was gonna call you
to make sure you didn't oversleep.
I didn't even undersleep.
I've been here all night.
Good morning, Mrs. Ewing.
- How are you?
- Fine, thank you.
- I have a present for you.
- Yeah. I see that.
- I'm not gonna look.
- Okay.
Now, this will take effect
in a very short time...
and an orderly will be in
to take you down.
- Okay.
- Okay?
All right. Now, I want you to put this on.
- Now?
- Uh-huh.
And good luck.
Thank you.
That's the one.
- The one what?
- The nurse that had the colostomy.
- Oh, yeah?
- Mm-hm.
You like it?
Maybe I should ask for something in pink?
I'm glad you're here now.
I would've worried.
- Well, here we go.
- Yeah, here we go.
- Okay, would you grab the top?
- Over the sheet?
Uh-huh.
Okay. Scrunch over.
Ah.
- Gary?
- Yeah.
- You're gonna stay with me?
- Oh, yeah.
Dr. Compton, report to O.R. 2.
Dr. Compton, report to O.R. 2.
Give us a kiss.
I love you, Val.
Dr. Wagner, report to O.R. 4.
Dr. Wagner, report to O.R. 4.
- Gary?
- Yeah.
- I'm really not afraid.
- Me neither.
Thanks for coming.
That was some phone call you made
to Mama.
Yeah, I know. Sorry about that.
Are you better now?
Well, I'm not crazy,
if that's what you mean.
No, that's not what I mean.
I mean, are you better?
Have you pulled yourself together?
Do you know what you're up against?
- Are you ready for that?
- Don't preach at me.
- Well, are you better or aren't you?
- I don't know.
Well, you don't
have much time to find out.
If you're gonna sit here
and wait that out...
you'd better be able
to handle the outcome...
no matter what the outcome is.
I don't know.
How can I? Would you know?
You're damn right I would.
I'd grit my teeth, I'd clench my fists
and rail at the injustice.
But I'd be able to handle
whatever came through that door.
Because I couldn't stand
to live with myself...
if I broke down when the woman I love
needed me to stand up.
Fine. You tell me how not to break
and I won't break.
I'll tell you how not to break.
The same way I told Valene how not to die.
Don't. You just don't.
I can't handle the worst.
The worst is if she dies, Gary.
You understand that, don't you?
Dying is the worst thing
that can happen to Val.
Now, tell me that you know
that death is the worst possibility.
You'd rather that girl in there die
than survive with a colostomy.
You know, I can...
I can remember Daddy and Mama
sparring with words.
I was just a kid when you left, but I can
still remember them talking about you.
And Daddy would say
that you didn't have the Ewing guts.
And Mama would say,
"Well, thank goodness for that."
Because she thought
you had Southworth gallantry...
and that was a much better thing
to have.
Mama thought
guts were low-grade courage...
and gallantry was courage with grace.
But she sent me here...
because she couldn't stand to come
herself.
She probably heard it in your voice
on the phone.
You don't have any kind of courage
at all.
And she just couldn't bear to come here
and see that for herself.
- Excuse me. Is Gary Ewing up here?
- No, he's not. I'm his brother Bobby.
Oh, how are you? Nice to meet you.
Gary's spoken about you a lot.
- My name is Sid Fairgate.
- Nice to know you.
- Is Val out of surgery yet?
- No. Apparently it's gonna take some time.
- Where's Gary?
- I don't know.
He was, uh, a little
shaky about all this...
so I had the brilliant idea
that I could shock him back to his senses.
The old "slap the hysteric" trick.
But I don't think that really ever works.
I'd better go find him.
Look, if you find him,
you tell him I didn't mean it?
I really did, but tell him I didn't.
Okay.
Gary.
- Hi, Sid.
- What are you doing?
- What'll it be?
- Nothing.
Look, you got a great life
going for yourself.
You're doing good things
down at the shop.
You've got a beautiful woman
who's absolutely nuts about you...
and she's gonna be fine.
I don't care what happens to her.
She's gonna be fine.
You know why? Because she's got the guts
to face anything and so do you.
If you just reach down
deep enough inside for it.
- Another ginger ale, Mac?
- Uh, yeah. Thanks.
I had to get out of the hospital.
I couldn't breathe.
Ha, ha, I feel like such...
Oh, it's okay, Sid. I don't blame you
for thinking the worst of me.
- I've been thinking the worst of me.
- I know it's not easy.
No. Nothing worthwhile ever is.
I know it's, um, strange thinking of this
as worthwhile.
But it is, you know. Part of it, anyway.
If she lives, it's worthwhile.
That's all I care about right now.
Just that she lives.
Because I can't live without her.
- Learning that's worthwhile, isn't it?
- Yeah.
I'm not ready for her to die.
But, uh...
I'm ready for anything else.
Mr. Ewing?
The doctors are out of surgery now.
I was right, Gary.
I got it all in the office...
and Dr. Kagan was able to get down
low enough to reconnect the intestines.
She didn't have the colostomy.
- I'm not dreaming this, am I?
- No, Gary. She's fine.
Um...
When can I see her?
Well, they're bringing her out now.
She's gonna be in pain...
but she won't remember
until she wakes up tomorrow.
Does she know
she didn't have the colostomy?
I told her, but she'll have to be told
a few more times until it sinks in.
- Oh, thank you.
- Yeah, sure.
Piece of cake.