The Manhattan Project

Just a little bit...

Oh, yeah.

Wow.

You're late.

Someone hit a deer and left it bleeding out on the road.

I killed it. Put in my truck.

Is that really necessary?

What?

Smoking her glass every time you make a manhattan.

What do you mean?

Of course it is.

Spent most of the day over at Ruth Anne's.

She wants to renovate her kitchen,

do an open concept or whatever.

Yeah, I was probably the fifth guy there that day.

I don't know what I'm gonna do. I'm in so much debt,

I'm probably gonna be living with you and until I'm...

-Uh, forever. -That wouldn't be so bad.

You want a job?

This place can use an upgrade.

Maybe a, a new marble sink back-splash above the sink.

Uh, we can knock down that wall right there,

and make it a concept.

-An open concept. -Open concept.

Exactly.

Only problem with that is that you don't have any money either.

-So... -Well...

Oh.

-Christ. -You okay?

Where do you feel it?

It's, it's okay. It's passing. It's passing.

Just, go get me my pill, will you, Tom?

What happened?

Where does it hurt?

I don't know. Somewhere in my chest.

You have to go see a doctor, Dad. I've been telling you this for weeks.

Give me a break, will you, Tom?

I just took my medication too late.

No, don't, you don't have an episode like this

because you took your medication 20 minutes late.

You probably have a pulmonary dysmorphia,

or a starting.

An episode, he says.

Don't be so dramatic.

If, if something happens to me, I'll just drop dead

and I won't even know about it.

You know it's, it's better that way.

Yep.

Mm.

Dad!

Dad! Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!

Can you hear me?

Dad! Hey.

Dad! Hey!

Daddy.

Yes, Mr. Scopasaw.

I'm here. How can I help you?

-Jesus Christ. -You're weak.

What the hell happened? How did I get here?

You had a stroke, Dad.

Uh, you've been unconscious for ten hours.

The doctor said that you may have even died for a few minutes.

They're still running more tests though.

Died?

Yeah, um...

All I kept thinking was--

Tom, Come here.

Yeah.

Get me the fuck outta here, would you, Son?

Yeah.

Okay, Dad.

Hey.

I got you, relax.

I got it. I got it.

I was, uh, chopping firewood as I do it every morning.

Yeah. Well, I recommend that, uh,

Tom does all the heavy lifting from now on, eh, Bob?

Okay, fine, so I had a stroke.

Can't chop wood anymore.

Look. Thanks, Steve, for your time, I appreciate it.

-Say hello to Cheryl for me. -Uh, eh, eh, uh, Bob,

have a seat, there's...

...just one more thing I'd,

I'd like to discuss with you.

Um...

We ran some tests while you were out.

We ran some tests and, uh...

We, uh, we found,

uh, some things...

This is harder than I, uh, harder than I thought.

Well, uh, why don't I just come out and say it then?

Bob...

...you're in the advanced stages

of a... malignant path of physiology.

-Of what? -Cancer.

Exactly. Oh, hey, Tom, I almost forgot. You're, you're a doctor.

Cancer?

No, um, you know,

I'm not a doctor. I decided to drop out.

Okay. Th-- This doesn't make any sense.

Listen, I, I understand.

This is, this is very hard news to take,

ve-- very hard news indeed.

But, listen, there are, uh,

there are treatments for this sort of situation.

There's chemotherapy.

We can, uh, we can try radiation treatment.

No. That's not for metastasis.

That's for carcinoma in situ.

Ah, wow, Tom. Tom, you really know your stuff.

No, it's, uh, no, it's not for that.

But, uh, it has been recently...

Bob?

Uh... Bob, are, are, are you,

hey, are you listening?

-Uh, yeah. -I was, I was just telling Tom here that, uh,

when, should, should the time come,

we can, uh, set you up here

and provide you with, with maximum comfort.

How much time do I have?

Oh, there's, there's no telling, really.

Um, could be a month.

Could be a year, could be a week.

How much time...

...until I get symptoms.

Um...

...could be, uh, could be any day now.

Any day?

Oh.

Hey, hey.

I didn't see the porch light on, and I thought to myself,

"That porch light has been on every night for the last 15 years,

I'd better check on the old bastard.

Make sure he didn't fall down the steps

and break his neck."

Fucking cold out, isn't it?

Anyway.

I've got to tell you

about what's been happening with Flow.

See, I got these renters from the city

and doesn't Flow go and park her fucking car

on our side of the property line,

totally blocking in their car.

And then, and then, after that,

she goes over to them when I'm not home, and tells them

that they can rent her place next time,

instead of mine...

...that she can get them a better deal.

Can you imagine the fucking nerve, Bob?

Stealing our, you know, profits.

Anyway,

I says to Mary, I says,

"We should build a fence.

Between our two properties. This damn high."

Well, I, it sounds like you've got everything worked out here, Bill.

And now, if you don't mind, I've got a splitting headache,

-and I got-- -Oh, sure, Bob.

But, uh, there's just one more thing.

-Okay. -You think you could lend me the money for this fence?

I know, I know, it's a lot to ask

and, believe me, I would never ask if it wasn't serious.

But last week we had to get Mary out the fuckin' bed,

the poor woman weighs nearly four hundred pounds now for God's sake.

She can barely move.

It took six of us, just to lift her,

and tuck her onto the stretcher!

The bill for the friggin' ambulance wasn't covered

and cost us over a grand.

Okay, Bill. How much you need?

Oh, gee, God bless you, Bob.

Ahem, two thousand.

Yeah. No, wait.

Twenty five hundred should cover it.

-Twenty five hundred? -Yeah.

And then, of course, eventually we're gonna have to bring her back.

Damn it! That poor woman.

The love of my life, Bob.

Okay, Bill.

Okay.

-Here you go. -Oh, gee.

Thank you, Bob.

I'll pay you back, I swear.

Don't mention it. But, hey,

I want you to get Tom involved with this. Okay?

Pay him a little for his time, will you?

Oh, no problem, Bob.

-No problem. -Okay.

How is Mary, anyway?

Oh, she's fine, Bob, she's fine.

Turns out she had a fork stuck in her side.

Yeah.

Dad, you awake?

Dad?

Dad, hey, hey, hey. Let me do that. All right?

-You're not supposed to exert yourself. -I'm trying to get

this fucking snow blower out of the way.

Okay. All right.

Hey, there they are, my old loungers.

Oh, yeah.

Your mother and I used to sit in these chairs all summer long.