CARL CHANCE CHRISTINA DAN DI DR_SIMMS JACLYN LAWYER LUCY MAN MAN_1 MAN_2 MARIELLA MJ NICOLE NURSE RAYMONDI SINGER WOMAN MARIELLA Oh, my God! CHANCE At the time of my evaluation, Mariella Franko was 19 months post a multiple-vehicle road accident in which her 68-year-old father was killed. Decapitated. MARIELLA Help me! CHANCE See attached photographs. MARIELLA Help me! CHANCE I found Miss Franko to be suffering from chronic post-traumatic stress disorder and major depression and recommended a course of psychotherapy and antidepressant medication. LAWYER ...required another independent medical examination and that she refused? CHANCE Yes, I am aware of that. However... Unfortunately, she went on to receive neither... LAWYER Conditions of the plan clearly state... CHANCE ...due to the fact that despite a lengthy appeals process, her disability benefits were terminated. Patient is a 53-year-old right-handed male. Status now four years post an embolic stroke, after which he fell and struck his head on a bathroom counter. Those close to him say he's changed beyond recognition. The patient has repeatedly stated that he will someday play a major role in a battle between Satan, Yahweh, and Jesus. Recently, believing it would cleanse his body for the coming conflict, he ingested a mixture of household cleaners, including bleach, ammonia, and drain cleaner. D.K. CHANCE As his wife no longer has the resources to care for him at home, the only alternative would seem to be long-term residential care. MJis a 42-year-old right-handed female with several years of college education. She has only partial recollections of the assault. MAN What are you doing? MJ What? Aah! CHANCE She spent the last year watching television or staying drunk. CHANCE A group-home placement was found for M.J., and a course of medication was recommended. She did not follow up with either, and she is presently living on the street. CHANCE God damn it. CHANCE Jaclyn Blackstone is a 39-year-old ambidextrous woman living in Berkeley. She's referred by the Stanford Neurology Clinic with complaints of intermittent memory loss, poor concentration, loss of time. CHANCE Mrs. Blackstone. I'm Eldon Chance. JACLYN Thank you. CHANCE You were saying? JACLYN Oh, U.C. San Diego, applied mathematics. CHANCE Parents living? JACLYN No. CHANCE I'm sorry. And you are married. JACLYN Yes. Raymond. Three years. But we're separated right now. I'm sorry. I don't mean to be rude. I went over all this at Stanford already. Why did they send me here? CHANCE The doctors at Stanford were unable to locate an organic basis for your symptoms, so they asked me to review their findings and if I agree, which I do, by the way. JACLYN So they think I'm crazy, then. CHANCE No. No, this is not saying your symptoms aren't real, but you're here so that you and I can decide how best to move forward. JACLYN With you? CHANCE No, I'm not a treating therapist. I'm a consulting neuropsychiatrist. Patients come to me, and I assess them, then I refer them forward to the appropriate next step -- treatment plans, specialists. Does that clear things up a little? JACLYN Yes. CHANCE Okay, well, there are a couple of things I'd like to know more about. It says here that you separated from your husband after he struck you in the face with a jack handle. In the wake of which, you were unconscious for a period of at least 30 minutes, then shortly thereafter, you became aware of a second personality -- Jackie Black. Is it possible that this character was there before, when you were younger? JACLYN No. No, she wasn't. She does things that I don't want to do. CHANCE Such as? JACLYN My husband, Raymond, is a homicide detective. Oakland Police Department. And he's very... He's not... I had to get away. CHANCE Okay. JACLYN And ever since, there's these -- these periods where I can't remember. And after... Raymond's always there. And... And I know that I've been with him. Even though I don't want to be. CHANCE Been with him sexually, you mean. JACLYN Yes. And I never know when it's going to happen. And I don't know how to make it stop. CHANCE And you think that's when Jackie takes over? JACLYN I hate the name Jackie. I hate the name Jackie. The only person who calls me that is him. CHANCE Okay. Now, I noticed in one of your records that you had been working with a psychotherapist. JACLYN Myra. Dr. Cohen. CHANCE Do you mind me asking why you stopped? JACLYN She died. CHANCE Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. This is Suzanne Simms at Berkeley. I happen to think she's particularly good and a good fit for you. I recommend that she begin psychotherapy. I also recommend that she work with a female therapist. JACLYN Thank you. CHANCE Hey. NICOLE Mom told me about school. CHANCE I'm sorry, Nick. I know how much you like Havenwood. If there was any other option -- NICOLE How about you just stay with her? CHANCE Well, things are complicated. But there's other good schools. NICOLE Marina South blows. CHANCE It does. It does indeed blow. But there's good schools across the bay in Berkeley. NICOLE We don't live in Berkeley. CHANCE We don't live in Berkeley now, but I've been looking into it, and if I got an apartment there -- NICOLE We just got one here. CHANCE Listen... This is really difficult for all of us. But what I want you to know is that I'm doing everything I can for you, and I always will. I love you very much. NICOLE I know. CHANCE This will work out, all of this. You'll see. NICOLE Life sucks. CHRISTINA He keeps talking about how the consignment shop pays less for a bigger space, so he's at least gonna raise the rent on me. CHANCE Yeah, well, we needed to talk about that, so... CHRISTINA You are so sympathetic. Thanks. CHANCE It's not as if you have to give up photography just 'cause you don't have the studio. CHRISTINA But if I was better at it, then I'd sell more work and be able to afford the rent all by myself, right? CHANCE I would still be paying for both our lawyers. We still got to sell this house with a double mortgage on it, and Nicole would still have to change schools, which I guess you told her. CHRISTINA Yeah, I'm sorry. If she's not gonna go to Marina South -- CHANCE She's not. CHRISTINA So, then we needed to figure something out. And, you know, I didn't want to have to be the one to tell her. But if I waited for you to decide to tell her, I'd be waiting forever. You know, I don't -- I don't have to wait for you to make up your mind -- about that or about anything else, for that matter, anymore. Thank God. CHANCE I guess I'd better get going. CHRISTINA Thank you for bringing her home. Look after yourself, Eldon. CHANCE Right. But It's not just the lighting. It's also the paint. CHANCE That is -- That is just not financially feasible. We can't get anything new right now. Well, I'm sorry, but this can't be the first time you had clients who had to sell as is. Okay, well, if the photos need to be redone, you need to talk to Christina because she took them. Life does suck, sweetheart. CARL No, no, no, no, no! Look at me! Are you gonna be his bitch now? Is that the way it's supposed to be? Hm? Young man... What news of the Delange collection? Bookshelf, desk, two chairs. But there's something missing. CHANCE Wow. That's some memory. Yes, and bits of the metalwork. CARL Ah. You're a doctor, as I recall. CHANCE Psychiatrist. Eldon Chance. CARL Dr. Chance, how does one forget a name like that. Carl Allen. CHANCE How do you do? CARL I've recently acquired a cabinet. Might go well with that set of yours. CHANCE I wish. Thinking of selling what I have. Divorce. House is up for sale. CARL Say no more. I'm so sorry. CHANCE I have pictures. CARL Without the metalwork, $50,000, $60,000 -- maybe. CHANCE What about with the metalwork? Just to make me feel bad. CARL Twice that. CHANCE Jesus! Really? Just for a piece of brass? CARL Mm. This brass work's not exactly like yours, but it's not so dissimilar. It's the same time period and just as delicate. CHANCE Wow. Well, given what you just told me, this is way out of my price range. Even if I was buying -- CARL That's not original brass work. CHANCE Really? CARL It didn't have any brass when I found it. I just saw that there were possibilities. D, come out here a minute. This is D. D, meet Dr. Chance. CHANCE Hey. CARL Take a look at this. What do you think? DI Sure. CARL A man of few words. CHANCE He did this? CARL Yours, too. If that's what you want. CHANCE You would put it up for sale with the new brass... There wouldn't be ways of checking? CARL Your furniture is signed, as I recall. That's usually enough. Did you buy it from a dealer, or was it a private party? CHANCE Estate sale. CARL Private parties are good. CHANCE Perhaps I'd better sleep on it. CARL As many nights as you like. CHANCE Mrs. Blackstone? Eldon Chance. We met a couple of months ago. JACLYN Oh. Don't you just love this place? CHANCE I do, yeah, yeah. What did you find? JACLYN Oh, I'm just hunting ideas. I like to redo old pieces, give them another life. You? Ah. Yours is fancier than mine. But then, you are the doctor. CHANCE Well, yeah. No, I just have some furniture like this that I'm thinking of selling. JACLYN Hard to decide? CHANCE You have no idea. JACLYN Well, don't think too long. CHANCE Now, why would you say that? JACLYN I don't know. It just seemed like good all-purpose advice. You could say it about so many things. I-I wanted to let you know. I've been seeing that therapist, the one that you recommended -- Suzanne. This may be stupid after only six weeks, but it's really changed everything. CHANCE Great. So, you're feeling better? JACLYN Better than I have in a long time. I've been working again. CHANCE What kind of work is it you're doing? JACLYN Uh, tutoring, mainly. CHANCE Oh, that's right -- math. JACLYN Yeah. Since the separation. Well, I'm glad I bumped into you just now. CHANCE So am I. I wish you all the best. JACLYN Uh, enjoy your book about your furniture. And good luck, whatever you decide. CHANCE And when did they even do this audit, Dan? And what does it have to do with me? DAN On your end, it's unsubstantiated expenses. On hers, it's unreported income. CHANCE I don't have anything to do with Christina's business or how she accounts for anything -- or doesn't. DAN Okay, but you file jointly, Eldon. And now with back taxes for the unreported years, plus penalties... CHANCE A quarter of a million dollars? Fuck, Dan! I mean, fuck! DI Doc Chance. CHANCE Hey, D. Sorry to interrupt. Is Carl around? DI At home. A little under the weather. CHANCE Okay, well...I guess maybe you're the guy I need to talk to anyway, to begin. Uh, do you remember that furniture we looked at about a month or so ago, that French Art Deco stuff? DI I do. You decide you want to make it right? CHANCE I guess that's one way of putting it. I-I feel like I'd need to know what it would cost, you know, if I had to pay for the work up front or if there'd be some way of settling it once the stuff is sold. DI Payment, you'd have to talk to Carl. CHANCE Yeah. Of course. But let's say I'm ready. I get the stuff down here, I talk payment when Carl is back. You know, I-I'd need help. DI Right now work? CHANCE Now? Uh, yeah, sure. Uh, I need a truck. DI Penske's three blocks down, one over. Market and 4th. CHANCE Okay. Well, uh, you're on. Mind me -- Mind me asking what that is? DI You can ask. CHANCE Is it -- Is that a hatchet? DI Tomahawk. CHANCE What's the difference? DI Hatchet's a tool. Tomahawk's a weapon. CHANCE Is it for you? DI Buddy of mine keeps going back to Afghanistan. This is what he likes. CHANCE Is that where you were? DI Use the forge to temper the blade. You want it thin enough to cut -- hard, but not brittle. My buddy reports back. We discuss ways of making it more effective. The man does like his scalps. CHANCE Okay. Well, I'll go see about that truck. CHANCE You want a glass of water? DI You take this. Let's go. You wrap it and strap. I'll get the rest. Man Come on! Move it already! CHANCE Okay, sorry. Just -- MAN Come on, let's go! CHANCE One minute. Sorry, sorry. Just... MAN Get around him! Let's go! Come on, move it! Hurry up! CHANCE Sorry. Just -- MAN God! MAN Get the fuck out of the way! MAN What the fuck's wrong with you? Fuck this. Back up! Shit. CHANCE That was pretty good back there. DI Shit like that makes my day. LUCY Friend of yours is in there. CHANCE In here? LUCY Yeah. CHANCE Suzanne. How nice. DR SIMMS Won't be in a minute. Do you remember that last patient you sent me -- Jaclyn Blackstone? CHANCE Uh, losing time, memory problems, claims to have a second personality. DR SIMMS She's been beaten up. She's at Seton Medical. CHANCE The ex? DR SIMMS I can't believe it isn't. Would you go look in on her? CHANCE She's not my patient. DR SIMMS No, but you saw her as one. You know the staff there. They'll talk to you. Just -- Just go check on her. Please, El. CHANCE What's Jaclyn saying happened? DR SIMMS Well, she's saying she surprised an intruder on the patio of her condo. CHANCE I suppose that's possible. DR SIMMS Oh, yeah, absolutely. And let's not rule out alien abduction. I mean, she was doing so well, and that bastard kept coming. And she was saying no. And after, what, seven sessions? It had to be him. RAYMONDI You got to let me take care of you. NURSE Orbital blowout fracture on the right side. No structural damage or bleeding in the brain. But there is an entrapped muscle, so they're going to have to go in and relieve the pressure. CHANCE When do they plan to operate? NURSE This afternoon with Jellicoe. Oh, she's lucky. He's good. Excuse me. CHANCE Thank you. RAYMONDI You one of her doctors? CHANCE Miss Blackstone? I'm a neuropsychiatrist. I was asked to look in on her by her therapist, Suzanne Simms. RAYMONDI You were in her room just now. Why didn't you look in on her? CHANCE I saw that she had a visitor. There's no rush. RAYMONDI Really? Not like any of the doctors I know. Yeah. Oh, no, you look too good to be in a hospital. You need to go home. Okay? CHANCE Jaclyn, I'm so sorry. You'll feel better after the surgery. After they've freed up that muscle, you'll stop seeing two of everything. JACLYN You should go. CHANCE I'm told the surgeon's good. I'll see him on my way out. JACLYN Please. RAYMONDI DI What's up, big dog? You got more furniture to move? CHANCE Not yet. How's the brass coming? DI Still waiting on what I need. Be a couple of weeks once I start. CARL Is there a healer amongst us? Ah. I thought I heard your voice. CHANCE Jesus. What happened to you? CARL Ah, minor mishap. I'm happy you brought your pieces in. I already have some people who may be interested. CHANCE Buyers? CARL Beautiful buyers. Find me when you boys are done, hm? We'll have to document the furniture and get your signature on some papers. CHANCE Uh, yeah, sure. Okay. CARL Toodle-oo. CHANCE What happened to him? CARL Kid took him off a few weeks ago. Hey, hey. That's setting. CHANCE What -- What kid? DI Flavor-of- the-fucking-month kid. CHANCE Rubber shirt, pointed boots? DI He wanted money. Carl said no. Came back with two of his pals. They beat Carl up and stole some shit. A couple antique chairs, some money that was in the highboy by the register. What pisses me off, I wasn't here when they came around. But I guess that's how they planned it. You got to watch it with that shit. CHANCE What do you mean? What -- What shit? DI Having a routine, same place, same time every day. Like walking around with a fucking target on your back. But I got it all back, so... CHANCE The stuff that was stolen? DI That and then some. CHANCE What, and they -- they just gave it to you? They didn't want to fight you for it? DI One of the kid's pals did try his luck with a baseball bat. CHANCE Not a good idea, is what you're saying. DI Should have stuck to baseballs. CHANCE Then what? DI Then he went away. CHANCE Yeah, well... Well, I could think of a few more assholes you could give that treatment to. DI Yeah? Like who? CHANCE Just -- Just half the city. CHANCE L.s. is a 46-year-old male raised by an abusive mother. He states that as a child he seemed to learn everything backward. He read not only individual words backward, but entire pages. When he was forced to read a book from the beginning, he has little sense of the story until he is able to read it again from the end. His great passions are reading about mental illness and learning disabilities and caring for his 73 exotic birds. L.s. Hey. Hey. CHANCE At the time of my evaluation, Miss Franko was 19 months post a head-on motor vehicle accident in which her 68-year-old father was decapitated. MAN "Dear Eldon, it is with great sadness that I write to you today. Last week, Mariella Franko lost her battle with depression and took her own life. It seemed to Mariella that she died with her father that night on the road. LUCY I told Mrs. Blackstone she will have to make an appointment -- CHANCE It's okay, Lucy. LUCY The Jenkinses have been waiting. CHANCE Just one second. JACLYN I should go. CHANCE No, it's okay. It's just I don't have a lot of time right now is all. But if you'd like to wait, um... Or there's a café on the corner. You know, I could join you in about an hour and we'd have some time to talk. JACLYN Thank you. I don't know... CHANCE Half a block -- Columbus. JACLYN I'm sorry, really. CHANCE It's okay. JACLYN Thank you. CHANCE You don't know what she's been through. LUCY No, but she strikes me as someone who knows how to get her way. You should have seen her little-girl-lost routine earlier. I mean, she's been here before. CHANCE And sustained a pretty good concussion since. You got so tough all of a sudden. WOMAN What can I get for you? CHANCE Uh, I'll take a black coffee. Hey. I didn't know if you'd still be here. JACLYN How is your patient? CHANCE Well... JACLYN I...i shouldn't ask that. CHANCE No, no, no, no, it's okay. It's okay. I, uh... The guy is 39 years old. He's married. He's got one kid. He's about two years post a second craniotomy for a malignant brain tumor. He's got about six months. His wife was with him today. JACLYN My God. What do you say to them? CHANCE The truth. We talk about... counseling, support groups. I can't help them anymore, but I can walk with them. I hold their hands. Thank you. JACLYN You're a good doctor. CHANCE People want miracles. Maybe the only miracle is I can take your hand. That's the miracle -- the striking through, the freeing of the caged heart. 'Cause without it... life is just half lived. JACLYN He'll kill me. He said he would, and I believe him. CHANCE This is your husband. It's not some intruder. This is your husband who beat you. JACLYN He could make Jaclyn disappear. CHANCE Wait a second, you... you just referred to yourself in the third person. Is this Jackie I'm talking to? JACLYN No. I don't know. I don't care about Jackie. CHANCE Can you continue with Suzanne? JACLYN He won't let me. This was big, even coming here. This is dangerous for me. It could be for you, too. I could be putting us both in danger. CHANCE Yeah, well, there's -- there's a difference between what people threaten and what they'll actually do. JACLYN You don't know Raymond. CHANCE Okay, I-I know this is difficult. But if you met someone who knows the law, who's versed in the law. It's part of my job to testify in court. JACLYN It's okay. CHANCE I know people. I've met people. JACLYN There's nothing you can do. CHANCE I can make inquiries. JACLYN There's nothing anyone can do. Maybe it's like you said. Maybe there's just this. Maybe this is why I came. LUCY Hello? CHANCE Hey, Lucy. Something I want you to do for me. Myra Cohen -- C-O-H-E-N. Psychotherapist in the Bay Area, now deceased. See what you can find on her. LUCY Okay, like what kind of thing? CHANCE Anything you can. Like where were her offices, was she a partner, can we get access to her records? LUCY Myra Cohen. Who was she? CHANCE Jaclyn Blackstone's therapist. I want to know what she knew. DR SIMMS I don't have too much time, but you sounded so mysterious on the phone. CHANCE She's not gonna make it, Suzanne. Not with that guy in her life. DR SIMMS Yet here she stays, in this city. CHANCE She says that if she left, he'd find her. You already know what he's capable of. And by the way, why should she have to run? She's made her life here. We are on the same side, right? DR SIMMS Do I think Jaclyn's hooked up with a monster? Yes. Do I think she deserves a chance to work through her shit? Absolutely. But you're making me think there's more to it. Let me rephrase that. You're making me afraid there's something more to it. So assuage my fears, why don't you. CHANCE There isn't more to it. DR SIMMS Oh, so... I shouldn't be concerned by the degree to which you're involving yourself in her affairs. CHANCE Yeah, "involving" is such a dirty word, implying, as it does, the getting off of one's ass. DR SIMMS Oh, no, I didn't mean that -- CHANCE We do something or we don't, Suzanne. It's that simple. We act or we give in to despair. DR SIMMS Walk me to my train. Come on. Did Jaclyn ever tell you how she met him? She was being stalked by some guy she went out with. She called the police. Guess who showed up. CHANCE Well, she wouldn't be the first to trade one abusive man for another. I met the husband. DR SIMMS What was that like? CHANCE Creepy is what it was like. It would be hard leaving her to him. DR SIMMS I can imagine. I can also imagine that's what she's counting on. MAN 1 Give it back! MAN 2 Shut up! MAN 1 Take everything! Take everything! Here! Everything's gone! Everything's gone! DR SIMMS My God, sometimes I wonder how rational discourse is even possible. MAN 1 And now you took this shit from me! Give it back! DR SIMMS Eldon? You know I'm on Jaclyn's side. You know that. I-I thought we were making progress. And I think that she is a-a bright, likable woman who may someday be whole or not. The bottom line is I never should have asked you to look in on her. I never should have asked you to get involved. Especially not you. CHANCE It was once -- a long time ago. DR SIMMS I know. I know it was. DR SIMMS Once is a mistake. Twice is a decision. CHANCE Yeah. LUCY All right, the therapist you asked me about, Myra Cohen. You ready? CHANCE Sounds dramatic, but yes. LUCY She had a practice with two other doctors in North Berkeley until she was murdered by some intruder they never found. The offices were burned to the ground, and any records she had were lost in the fire. Does the plot thicken? DI What's up, buddy? CHANCE I was in the neighborhood. The French have a phrase... Mutiles de guerre. Do you know it? "I was mutilated by war." I spend my days in the company of those mutilated by life... most of them beyond repair. But I have always held to the belief that there are times... Not times -- moments -- when the right... word or emotion... a single touch, might heal. And I have held this though it know that the workings of the world will not permit these -- these words or emotions. There will be no grand gestures or interventions. They are all... images seen through a glass darkly... in the midst of my own decline. Did I mention that I have been drinking? DI You should take a load off, Doc. CHANCE Mm. I was trying to help someone. And it seems that the last person who tried to help them was killed, was murdered in a hideous fashion. Now, does that make the helping an even worse idea or a moral imperative? DI Murdered by who? Do we know? CHANCE In all likelihood, the husband -- an Oakland homicide detective. Or at least, he's behind it. He never gets his hands dirty, she says. He gets it done. DI He's smart, then. A guy like that could be a problem. CHANCE A homicidal homicide detective. Yeah, I would say. He knows how to game the system. DI He is the system. CHANCE And, yet... I will not accept that this problem cannot be solved. I will not. DI Let's walk. CHANCE You know, I...I don't really know this part of town. DI No shit. Chance What -- Are you okay? D? D, what's -- what's -- what's going on with the... SINGER ? Tell me, how you feeling? ? DI Got a cash card? Got a cash card? CHANCE Yeah, yeah. If you want to buy something, I've got cash. DI Use the machine, brother. CHANCE D, listen... DI Use the machine. SINGER ? Beggars, man, I get that dough ? All I see is Charlie Sheen ? So I'm on my Emilio Estevez ? Esteban, they don't be what I be on ? Every track I poop up on ? I turn it into Grey Poupon ? SINGER ? Turn this to a panty raid ? Tough act to follow like... ? CHANCE Particular amount? DI Go big or go home. SINGER ? Jesse James, all the same ? But I gotta watch my back ? When you make it to the top ? They look like Casey Affleck ? Oh, you want a beef with me ? But really, I don't know you ? Tell these Doug Funnies that... ? CHANCE There's a guy back there. Seriously. There's a... CHANCE Hey, D. That guy's back, and he's got a friend. DI Two friends. CHANCE Jesus. Jesus Christ, D. This is -- This is not good. I don't like this. Are you fucking kidding?! DI You can stay here, but I wouldn't recommend it. CHANCE What -- DI If anyone starts shooting, duck. Otherwise, don't fuckin' move. MAN We need to borrow some money. CHANCE Jesus! CHANCE Eldon Chance is a 55-year-old right-handed neuropsychiatrist. Of late, he is increasingly aware of a mental state he finds to be dark and unstable. He fears he has been drawn to the precipice of some new and terrible reality that now, having stumbled, he will be unable to keep from falling.