Touched by an Angel

Tess, if you could go back and do any day over again,

what day would you choose?

Oh, I don't know. I've had some doozies.

But it would be a happy one,

and definitely sometime

after the discovery of chocolate.

Do you ever notice something about humans?

If you ask them if they could go back

and live any day over again, what do they do?

They always want to go back and fix something,

as if they knew the precise moment

when something went wrong.

But sometimes you do, baby.

Sometimes there's a day that you know,

as sure as the sun, changed your life.

And then life gets to be more precious,

because suddenly you know you're not gonna live forever.

Now that's Jennifer.

She acts just like she's gonna live forever.

Well, nobody lives forever.

People like to think

that bad things only happen to faceless strangers

in the newspaper.

I wonder what day Jennifer would go back and change?

Oh, that day hasn't come for her yet,

but it's coming.

Tess?

Hey.

Oh, Tess.

They didn't know what they were doin', baby.

They just didn't know what they were doing.

We were just sitting there on the chair,

talking about something and...

they decided to have some brandy and smoke a cigar.

And you had a cigarette.

I'm trying to quit.

Well, whose idea was it... the brandy?

I don't know.

It just seemed like a nice way to end the night.

He said that his dad always did that after a good meal.

Something about it being the only thing

that his dad ever did

that he wanted to grow up and do, too.

So it was his idea to start drinking?

Uh, no, I-I don't mean that.

How's that hand?

What?

Can we get the spelling?

Is that Jennifer with two Ns or one?

Two.

And what's Curb?

It's a magazine where I work.

You a reporter there?

I'm an assistant.

Sometimes they let me write.

How'd you get here tonight?

My friend took me 'cause my car's in the s-shop.

So what were you doin' at the party?

I met him yesterday.

Which one?

Clay.

All right, I'll give him the message as soon as I can.

Well? So? Sir, it has been an hour already.

Curb.

Curb.

Curb magazine.

Why am I explaining this to you?

You called us.

What?

Uh, no, she's not.

She's in the elevator.

Oh, is this the copy machine people?

Yes, it is. Yes, again.

And I've got some serious magazine stuff happening here.

I mean, where is the repairman?

Repair person.

Oh, never mind. She's here.

This is good.

This is very good. Hi.

Hi, I'm Cookie. Nice to meet you.

I don't know. It's still jamming when I collate,

and it collates when I reduce, so... Uh-huh.

Do you know anything about elevators?

Yes, I know you need one that works.

Well, Jenny's the one

who called about the copy machine,

but, uh, she's... Stuck.

Yeah, she's been in there forever.

She probably likes it, though.

She's like a hermit.

She's probably recording things in her journal

about the whole ordeal. Uh-huh.

You know, her impression of it...

The, uh, the isolation, the, uh...

the experience. ( Bell dings )

Okay, so you promise?

It's no big deal.

Nobody ever knows anybody at these things anyway.

I'm sorry I was late.

Oh, no problem. Our copier fixer lady is here.

So you want to use the phone or...?

No, but I think I'm gonna take the stairs the rest of the way.

So tomorrow?

Tomorrow? That's great.

There's a tomorrow?

You might want to park your car close by.

It's sort of a funky area.

Her car's in the shop. I'll drive.

Uh, okay. The more the merrier.

It was nice being stuck with you.

You, too.

You got a date

in an elevator?

I got an interview.

Oh, Saturday night, you're looking for an interview.

Have I taught you nothing?

That's the real estate guy who developed Electric Alley.

The one from the warehouse district? The antique guy?

Yeah. Oh, my gosh, string him along till I get a couch.

There's nothing to string along.

Hmm. I don't believe it.

Oh. I don't believe it.

Why did I let you go to that post office?

That could have been me in that elevator.

Do you realize that?

That could have been me.

They always think that, don't they?

"If only." "Why didn't I?" "What if?"

There's one moment when you know,

as sure as the sun,

that that moment changed your life.

I wonder if Jennifer will ever remember

what she said in the elevator?

I wonder if she'll ever forget.

We got here after the party had already started,

about 9:00.

And I didn't know anybody here, so I felt sort of, um...

funny.

I am so amazed by all of this.

This... this, like, dim lighting.

I got a zit, and it won't show.

This stuff is so wonderful.

Look at this.

Ow.

Put it down.

Oh, that's it. That's it. This is it.

It's a little deco, a little Jetsons.

It's me.

Yeah, this is perfect.

I know I'll never want to sleep on this.

Get up off this couch.

I wonder how we get upstairs?

Oh, try the elevator.

Oh, I'm very happy here. Lead on.

Hmm. Wow.

I love the sunflowers.

This is unbelievable. This is where we go up.

How do you go up?

Uh, you-you pull the gate down from the inside.

Goin' up?

I'll show ya.

Thanks.

Are you a friend of Clay's?

Uh, I hope so.

Here we are.

( Mellow rock music playing in background )

Have a good time.

Thanks.

Alex.

Unbelievable. Where have you been, man?

How you doin'? I've been around. Cool.

How are ya? I'm doin' great.

I don't know. What are we doing here?

Well, you're goin' to an interview,

and I'm gonna sit down with one of these guys

and discuss the names of our children.

So if we separate,

I'll meet you at the car on Sunday. Bye.

So you're a reporter?

No. I'm just an assistant.

But they said if I wrote something good,

that they'd print it.

Clay's story seemed like a good idea.

When did you finally hook up with him?

Cookie wandered off, and I went to look for him.

He wasn't upstairs, so I took the elevator back down.

And there's that courtyard in the back.

That's where I met Monica.

Hello.

Hi.

Sarsaparilla?

Don't you hate parties when you don't know anybody?

I don't know anybody here either.

I'm Monica.

I'm Jennifer.

Thanks.