Original subtitles

You're awfully close to the shoulder here, Mr. Wayne.

It's a narrow road, Tess.

But you got gravel flying every which way.

Do you know what that does to a paint job?

Get over to the center.

Yes, ma 'am.

Oh!

Don't take this the wrong way, Tess, but... But you think I'm testy.

Well... Well, what?

I'm not testy. I wouldn't let you drive my car if I was testy, would I?

Maybe.

If you had something on your mind that produced a certain testiness,

you might not want the distraction of the demands of driving so that you could

ponder the thing that may or may not be making you testy.

What's the role?

I'm not testing.

I just don't know where we're going.

All I was told was to get in the car and take a nice ride through North

Carolina. Well, now, it's been a nice ride. I admit that and all.

But where are we going?

And when do we stop?

And what's the assignment? And besides, my car is getting dirty out here.

Maybe this would be a good time to stop.

Oh, Harry.

Hello. Welcome to Tulipville.

Tulipville? Yep.

Is there a problem? You see that yellow line down the middle of the road? You're

supposed to be just to the right of it. Not right over the top of it.

Driver's license and registration, please.

Well,

I don't exactly have those.

And how about you?

I don't know. You're stealing my Africa.

Your Honor,

this is not fair. Fair? You wouldn't know fair if it grabbed you by the

and kissed you in the mouth. What kind of a crackpot thing to say is that?

It's crack... Sit down, both of you.

When you walk down the road,

heavy burden, heavy load, I

will ride.

And I will walk with you.

I'll walk with you till the sun don't even shine.

Walk with you every time I tell you I'll walk

with you.

Believe me, I'll walk with you.

Now, Dr. Scribner, you are a medical doctor?

Yes.

A real doctor.

And Dr. Harrigan? A doctor of divinity, Your Honor.

Doctor, I only allow laughter at something I think is funny.

All right. Then you're going to think this is just hysterical.

This is a picture of the suspect standing next to my tree. I am not a

Doctor, please sit down, and if I need to see any photographs, I will let you

know.

Thank you.

So, uh, you two, you do this a lot, don't you?

Now, the first of these court appearances dates back to... 1961.

62. 61.

A long time.

And all these disputes are centered around a tree?

The tree is on my property. That's because you built the fence in the wrong

place. He's holding my tree hostage, which is, by the way, what he does to

congregation on Sundays.

In light of the fact that this disagreement has been going on for

years, I'm going to take under advisement the complexities of your case

the two of you, if you would, to please just step aside for just a few minutes.

Officer.

Well, what do we have here?

Officer Benjamin Hackett, Your Honor. Be careful, Your Honor. Don't be fooled by

his friendly country tone.

Please do not address the court unless instructed to do so.

It was actually the other lady doing the driving.

No license, no registration.

There are reasons for that, Your Honor.

If you know what I mean.

Which you do. And she's not going to do it again. Come on, baby, let's go.

Where are you going?

Away. Do you have a problem with that?

You're not finished here. I think we are. And I think you're in contempt.

At the $100 fine, $75 for the ticket.

But we don't have any money.

Pay the fine or do the time.

You wouldn't.

Too weak.

Community service.

You will help out Dr. Harrigan at the church, and you will help out Dr.

at the clinic.

What? What?

Maybe receiving a little community service will inspire the two of you to

community another service and settle your disputes out of court.

Well, well, things have changed in Tulipville.

Have you been here before?

Do you know them?

Hey, Irish girl, come on.

Go ahead. It's okay.

Now, let's see. What does that 12 -year -old boy like to eat?

Everything. Do you have cheese crunchies?

Oh, last time he was here, he ate six bags of cheese crutches.

You know what it's like?

Go visit your great -uncle Robert and stay up late, watch TV, and eat all the

stuff your folks won't let you eat. Your nephew sounds like an average American

boy. Oh, no, no.

No, there's nothing average about him. Of course not. Oh, no, no. He's bright,

he's inquisitive, and he's just the right age when we can...

Really do things together.

I want to teach them to play chess.

Take them fishing.

They grow up so fast.

Who knows?

A year from now, if they'll even be interested in spending any time with an

codger like me.

Well, children grow and change.

But love doesn't go away.

That's a charming thought, Tess. But I've lived too long.

If you know what I mean.

Yes, I have.

Look at that.

Every few years they go to Europe and drop the boy off with the old goat.

Oh, child abuse.

Hey, I'm Brian. Who are you? My name is Ted.

I'm working with your Uncle Robert.

Oh, doing what?

I'm still trying to figure that out myself, baby.

Come on. Let me take some of this stuff. Oh, thank you.

For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking and being

merry up until the day that Noah entered the ark.

And they knew nothing about what would happen to them until the flood came and

swept them away.

That's how it is when people have their heads in the sand.

Now, with Noah, people had their heads in the sand.

About their unrighteousness.

In Tulipville, if I may be so bold, I think we have our heads in the sand

about safety in our streets.

We need a stop sign at Butler Street.

The Lord said, let there be light. We don't need a light. We just need a stop

sign. Is he crazy?

Preparing the end of civilization to local traffic.

What's he going to give up about that stop sign?

Now let's have a moment of silence and then we'll give thanks.

Baby, have I got something to tell you. Did you see it?

Yes, I did. But what does it mean?

That little boy, Brian, he's not just here on vacation.

There's a reason he's here. And there's a reason I'm back in Tulipville after

all these years.

Yes, Tess, but you still haven't told me what you were doing here in the first

place. Come on. Come on. No fraternizing with the enemy. We've got work to do.

Whenever I see a room full of things like this, I always try to imagine the

story they tell of a life so far.

This is the story of your life, Lucy.

Mm -hmm.

Well, just try to imagine this story.

You work all your life to accumulate stuff that ends up in the garage waiting

for some convict from traffic court to come along and help you throw it all

Hi. Oh, hello.

I'm Monica.

Hi, Brian.

You got bigger.

But I should have recognized a harrigan by the way you wrecked my fence.

Are you visiting the pastor?

Yeah, just for a while.

Don't think you can be just coming through that fence any time you feel

How come you don't like Uncle Robert?

Well, you don't know him as well as I do.

I know him better. He's really nice.

It's because of him that I want to be a minister on Uncle Robert. Uncle Robert

teach me how.

Minister, huh?

Uh -huh.

That's a very fine profession, Brian.

It's not that.

Of course, it's not as much fun as being a doctor.

That's what I am. Oh, yeah?

Mm -hmm.

Why don't you come inside and help me look for something?

Sure. What? I've got a brain in a bottle.

A brain?

Being a doctor, I get to experiment with a lot of wonderful and very gross

things. But you wouldn't be interested in that.

Yeah, I would.

Good.

Let's see.

It's around here somewhere.

What's this?

Close that up.

Is that why you limp? Who says I limp?

Nobody said.

I could see it.

When I was young, I had polio.

Polio? What's that?

The disease.

It crippled a lot of kids. Killed some of them, too.

Never heard of it.

Well, that's because a doctor named Jonas Salk came along and found a cure

it. That way you became a doctor?

Maybe.

Look, you come back tomorrow and I'll tell you all about it. Okay.

And maybe we can dig up a specimen or two.

Cool. Bye, Monica. Bye.

That was good of you to use Brian as a way to build a bridge.

I'm not building anything of the sort. But if it's Robert Harrigan's dream to

have that kid follow in his footsteps, then it's my dream to make sure he

doesn't.

I really need you to tell me the story about Lucy and Robert.

Because he must have done something terrible to her for her to want to use

sweet little boy to hurt him like that. It's never that simple, Miss Wings. You

know that.

Monica, where are you?

You look like you're getting dehydrated.

What do you mean?

Thanks. Thirsty?

It's a medical term.

Okay, you better get back to work. I got to go back inside myself. I got parts

to organize.

You mean like body parts?

You can come and look if you want to, but you can't touch.

Cool. I'd stunt your growth.

Brian!

Brian?

He went over to Lucy.

Hey, you know you can use that computer for more stuff than just making bills,

right? Oh, yeah. There's all kinds of things you can use a computer for. I'm

sure your uncle probably uses one to write in terms of... Nah, he writes them

a yellow pad. He says computers go too fast for him.

Everything goes too fast for him.

There's lots of cool stuff on the Internet.

You can find out about almost anything.

See? Here's medical school.

Medical schools, huh?

What do you know about that?

Brian? How about a game of catch, huh?

Brian! Hey, Uncle Robert!

They're going to surgically reattach somebody's finger. Live on this website

found in Dr. Lucy's computer.

You want to come watch?

No, no, Brian. You go ahead.

So, that's it?

You're not going to even try to fight for that little boy?

I'm not much of a fighter, Tess.

That's why I became a minister.

And you made a big mistake, baby.

Because I'm quite sure God did not call you to the ministry so you'd have an

excuse to give up when things got a little tough.

He uses all kinds of people to do his work.

He makes the weak strong and the fearful bold.

So he would give you...

Whatever you needed.

If you wanted it.

But you don't want it.

And for a minister?

That's very, very sad.

I don't expect you to understand, Tess. You... You don't know her.

But you do know her, don't you, Tess?

Yes, baby.

This story started a long time ago.

Right there in that tree.

I win. I have to say it my way.

Apricot. Apricot. No, that's wrong.

They spent lots of time up in that tree over the years.

I thought they hated each other.

Passionate hate often begins with passionate love, baby.

She could live anywhere on earth. Where would it be?

Some place they don't grow to laughs where they grow roses instead

Like Paris there sounds good ooh la la

Listen I've been thinking a lot about a way to make sure

make sure that we can stay together

I can't afford a ring. Not yet.

But... Someday.

Will you marry me?

You know I will.

There's your dad.

Are you gonna tell him? Are you kidding?

He's gonna be as excited as I am.

You alright?

Yeah, I'm fine.

Lucy went looking for a woman to sew a wedding dress.

And guess who she found?

You.

Baby, that dress was a thing of beauty.

But Lucy never wore it.

You've got your whole life ahead of you. I'm not going to let you make a mistake

like this.

I'm not making a mistake.

She has polio.

What if you get it from her?

I'm willing to take that chance.

But I'm not. Look, she's a nice girl, but if you married her, you would ruin

your future and ruin your life, and I'm not going to let that happen.

That must have broken Lucy's heart.

Oh, it did.

But Lucy believed that their love was strong, and Robert was going to stand up

and fight for her.

Except he didn't.

You see, people were terribly afraid of polio.

They thought it was contagious.

So the next morning, Robert was gone.

Well, Robert's father didn't explain very much. He just said that Robert had

been sent up north to be with relatives.

And she didn't hear from him until years later when Robert's father died and he

moved back to Tulipville.

Did you get all of that, Brian?

Yes, ma 'am.

I thought you had a finger to reattach.

This isn't just about some little red sign stuck in the concrete out front

there. This is about our way of life.

Now, Ben Hackett will tell you that the traffic through this town has more than

tripled in the last two years. That means strangers are driving through.

Strangers that don't know that Lily's little boy Trevor likes to do wheelies

his Stingray bike through that intersection.

Strangers. They don't know that Mrs.

Garfield would like to take a little extra time crossing that street with her

groceries. Folks, we can't pretend that Tulipville is an island anymore.

Hogwash.

In all my years of practicing here, I have never, and I repeat, never... had a

single patient who suffered an injury at that intersection.

This is not a small town anymore.

Well, it sure ain't Paris.

I'm not going to sit around waiting for some developers to get rich at our

expense. Pretty soon a stop sign's not enough, and you've got to have a traffic

light, and that leads to a gas station.

And then before you know it, you're going to have a mini -mart open all

serving microwave hot dogs right on Main Street.

Then there'll be more people for you to cry about. Give the rest of us a break.

I hope they're open on Sunday, because anything would be better than listening

to your sermons. Good! Then I won't have to read any more of your stupid little

notes. You know what? What?

Somebody ought to put that stop sign right in front of your mouth.

I think you're both stupid.

What kind of a way to talk is that?

You used to be friends. You used to love each other.

You could figure this out if you really wanted to.

You could even be friends again.

But you're both too busy being stupid about stuff that happened a hundred

ago.

Now, where did he hear that?

You beat all, Lucy.

Call 911!

Don't touch him! Don't touch him!

I don't know, but the good news is he's not here.

Waiting is the hardest part.

Times like these, baby, a lot of hard part.

I feel

so

badly for that little boy.

Isn't this the part where you're supposed to say, it's not my fault?

Yeah.

He's going to be all right, isn't he?

Brian is going to live.

But his spinal cord is severed.

Is it complete? What's the level?

C4.

Oh, my God.

C4? What does that mean?

He's paralyzed from the neck down.

You need to get some sleep.

Sleep is the last thing I need.

What's the first?

How about a miracle for that little boy?

With someone else, you need to ask for that.

That's Harrigan's department, not mine.

Anyone can pray for a miracle, Lucy.

I could pray till the cows come home.

But that wouldn't make Brian walk again.

That's what they told you when you had polio, didn't they?

But you didn't listen then.

You know who you remind me of?

Pollyanna.

As I recall, they told Pollyanna she wouldn't walk again either.

There's always a light at the end of the tunnel that they it should have to look

for it

Would

you turn the lights off on your way out please

There's lots of cool stuff on the Internet.

You can find out about almost anything.

No,

I don't know where they are. They're on a cruise and the ship is moving.

Harrigan, hang up. We need to talk. Get her away from me.

No, I can't call back later. This is a medical emergency. I have to get through

now.

Yes, I'll hang on. You have to look at this. I don't have to do anything for

you.

Oh,

doctor. The Harrigan boy, Brian? Oh, tragic case.

Well, there is a new drug. It's in early phase two. I'm familiar with it. Well,

I think it's probably... I know what it is, Dr. Scribner. It's highly

experimental. It may be his only chance to walk again. Look, it's too early to

know how effective it is or what the side effects might be.

and its availability is extremely limited.

I'm not asking you to give it to every patient in the hospital. Just one little

boy. We're not an approved site. I'm sorry.

Well, I can make some phone calls.

I've been a doctor a long time, and I know people. I'm sorry, but I can't

support this.

Well, you could at least inform the family that it's an option.

It's not an option.

That drug must be administered within 72 hours. It's already been 24.

So that's 48 hours to locate the drug, receive special permission from the FDA.

Chip it here.

and to get a signed release to administer it. Not possible.

That's the trouble with you city doctors.

You don't have the guts to trust.

I've got the guts.

Robert, you either need some sleep or a cup of coffee.

And you're not going to get either one of them in here.

Robert, I need to talk to you. I don't want to talk to you.

Please, Robert, don't shut me out. Do you think I don't know what you've been

doing with that boy?

You were using him to hurt me again. Well, it worked.

You hurt me.

And you hurt that kid.

Will you listen to me? If there had been a stop sign at that intersection, this

wouldn't have happened. That boy is not going to walk again, and it's your

fault.

Now leave me and him alone.

My God.

He hates me so much, he's never going to agree to this.

What am I going to do now?

I know someone who will listen to you.

No one else will listen, Your Honor. So we need a court order to force

treatment.

It is critical that this drug be administered within 72 hours of the

It's already hour 70.

And that pig -headed preacher just won't listen to reason.

The drug arrives by plane in about 10 minutes.

Dr. Scribner, I understand.

How important this is. And for Brian's sake, I would like to... Well, just sign

this and we'll be on our way out. I would like to sign this.

But the law is very clear about legal guardianship. And until the parents

arrive, that belongs to Robert Harrigan.

Andrew, we need an answer on this right away.

I'm giving you an answer. The answer is no.

Petition denied.

What do you mean petition denied?

I mean petition denied.

Will you stop that and listen to me? We're about to run out of time.

Tess, it's not my mind that's made up and you know it.

God didn't give people free will so angels can come down in a crisis and

their choice away.

No.

He was very clear about that.

You can show them the way, but you can't drag them down the road.

This is a choice they have to make for themselves.

And Tess, if you were sitting here, you'd say the same thing.

You're right.

Your Honor.

The meds have arrived at the airport.

All this work.

What a waste.

What a terrible, unforgivable waste.

Even if I could convince the parents, by the time they got here, it'd be too

late.

So, that's it.

We tried, and it's over.

I don't believe that.

Monica, I've been a doctor for too many years not to know when... when to give

up.

Time's running out.

It's a risky treatment.

And that old fool won't listen to me anyway.

Now that I think of it, you're right, yes.

Don't you think so, Tess?

Absolutely.

Absolutely. I would just give up if I were you.

There's no need of fighting this thing to the bitter end.

You and Robert have been enemies for so long. Why give up a perfectly good feud

for a little boy who thinks the world of you?

And far be it for me to drag you down that road.

So I'll just be at the hospital expecting a miracle.

Well, I can say one thing for that, Judge.

At least he stuck me with you and not with her.

Tess can be very forceful, especially when she knows she's right.

And she is right, Lucy.

Miracles do happen.

People can change, bodies can heal, even at the last moment.

But you have to be in that moment if you want to be part of it.

All right.

Let's go pick up the medicine.

Give it one more try.

Have you ever considered preaching?

You're a heck of a lot better at it than Robert, I can tell you that.

He's with the nurse's station.

That's what the nurses down in the ER found in his pockets.

I keep thinking about all of the Sunday after church visits I've made to all the

hospitals in my life.

How many beds I've sat beside.

How many prayers I've prayed and how many have been answered.

They all got answers, Robert. You just didn't like some of them.

That's true. I didn't.

But I prayed anyway because of the looks of the people sitting in this chair.

Please, Reverend Harrigan, please.

Pray us a miracle.

Have you noticed in church how Lucy keeps leaving those little notes in the

offering?

Yes.

What do they say?

Variations on a theme, mostly.

They're simple things, like, uh, stop preaching, you hypocrite, and get a real

job.

Never could fool Lucy.

Is that why you hate her so much?

Or is that why you love her so much?

I don't hate anyone.

Let me ask you something.

I believe you love God.

And I believe that you were called to serve your congregation.

But I also believe that you're having trouble in the prayer department.

And I'm going to tell you what it is.

Do you remember that part in the Bible?

that says, ought against any?

If you were offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your

has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar.

First go and be reconciled to your friend, then come and offer your gift.

How can you stand at the altar every Sunday and preach?

Love and forgiveness when you've forgotten how to love and forgive

How do you know your Bible so well?

Because... What time is it?

8 .45.

Because I'm an angel and we're going to have to speed this up.

What?

Because I'm an angel. Now, you've just got to go along with me on this.

Now, stand up and pick up that little bag and come on and let's go. I will

and I think perhaps you'd better leave.

Father, I need a little help here.

Excuse us, please. Would you mind stepping out for a minute while we

sheets?

Come on, and don't forget the little bag.

Why do I feel like I'm about to lose my license?

You're not doing anything illegal, Lucy. Just bold.

Well, bold is feeling very scary right now.

What happens next? We storm the ICU?

All right, here we are. Let's start talking.

What's going on? It's 8 .48.

What in blazes is this obsession with time? And what is this woman doing here?

Robert, there is some hope for Brian. A chance, a possibility to minimize some

of the effects of the damage to his spinal cord. There's this new

drug that has worked in some cases like this.

But it has to be administered within 72 hours of... Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. I

will not risk this boy's life with some experiment because you want to assuage

your guilt. My guilt?

Yes. You pompous, deluded... Look, I want you to get out of this hospital

I have you thrown out. Listen to yourselves.

And look where you are.

Even in a place consecrated to peace, all you can do is attack and hurt each

other.

You fight over stop signs, you fight over trees, you fight over anything and

everything except what's really important.

When you were 16, Lucy, you hired a seamstress to sew your wedding gown. It

Tess, remember?

I thought you looked familiar to me. I thought you'd never noticed.

No, that's not possible.

That was 50 years ago, and you...

You haven't changed.

I am an angel sent by God.

And so is Monica.

Well, that's what you said, but I didn't... I mean... An

angel?

No.

Not for me. I don't deserve an angel.

I don't think I believe in angels.

It's hard to believe in anything when your heart has been so deeply damaged.

God understands that.

You mean God understands about what Lucy did to me?

You mean what Robert did to me? No.

God doesn't want to waste one more minute on this, not when a child is

Robert.

You loved this woman once.

Didn't you?

That was a long time ago.

Water under the bridge.

Lucy, how many nights have you cried yourself to sleep?

Robert, how many times have you spoken bitter words instead of kind ones?

You loved each other once.

You might have spent a lifetime together, living in joy, fulfilling your

But instead you built a fence.

And the first one to reach across that was a little boy.

He loved you both.

And it hurt him, just as it hurt God, to see the tragic waste

of two lives and two hearts that were made for each other.

It's a terrible thing to watch, you know.

And that's what drove Brian onto the street the other night.

God forgive me.

It's too late.

Isn't it?

No.

There's time for Brian.

And there's time for you.

But you have to have courage.

And you have to have forgiveness.

If you were offering your gift at the altar,

And there you remember that your friend has something against you.

Lucy?

Will you forgive me?

I was a fool.

I should have fought for you, or us.

But I was weak.

I couldn't fight my father and my own youth and polio all at the same time, so

let them send me away.

I don't blame you anymore for what you did after that. It hurt, but I... What I

did?

I did nothing but wait for you.

I waited for them time.

A letter, a postcard, anything to convince me that you didn't leave of

free will.

But nothing.

Nothing.

You just disappeared off the face of the earth. No.

I wrote you all the time.

You never answered my letters.

That's why I stayed away so long.

Your silence made it perfectly clear.

My silence?

Yours.

I never received a single letter, not one.

Well, that's impossible.

I must have sent a hundred of them.

No.

Well, how could you not get them? My own father was the mailman.

Your father was the mailman?

Oh, my God.

Of course.

Your father was the mailman.

All those years of fighting.

But not once did either one of us say the one word that really mattered.

Why?

Guess what time is it?

How long before we know if it worked?

Oh, it worked, baby, it worked just fine.

We just gotta wait a little while to find that out.

So Brian's gonna make a full recovery?

Full recovery?

That's doctor's talk.

This is gonna be a great big run -and -tell -your -neighbor -type miracle.

Come on, let's go.

Where are we going?

I gotta go find where I put that wedding dress.

So what do you think?

It was a beautiful wedding. I mean, the dress, the dress.

Yes, it was a very nice dress.

Isn't it amazing after all these years what a difference two little words can

make? I do.

No, I'm sorry.