Maternal Obsession

Okay, sweetie, go hide!

One, two, three,

four, five...

Mommy, come find me!

Where are you, Lily?

Lily...

There you are!

Got you!

- I love you, Mommy! - I love you too, angel.

You are my favourite person in the whole world.

And you're my favourite mommy.

How can you do this to me?

He took you.

He took my baby.

Only one thing left to do.

- My friends think you don't want to hang out with us.

- That's not true! I would love to hang out with you guys.

It's just, you know, if I'm home late then my mom stresses out

and her blood pressure goes up,

blah, blah, blah. It's this whole big thing.

- You said yourself a lot of it's in her head, right? She's a hypochondriac.

- Yeah, but most of it's real. If it's not her fibromyalgia,

then it's her thyroid or her asthma.

- Don't forget her panic attacks. - How could I?

I'm just not sure if everything is as bad as she says it is.

- I don't know how you deal with it.

- That's why I try to minimize the stress.

Makes living with her a whole lot easier. - You know what?

You're a nicer daughter than I am. Sometimes when my parents call, I don't pick up the phone.

Well, you're bad.

- Why would God invent caller ID if he didn't want us to use it?

- Yeah, no, I don't mind staying late to help you get it done. -

- It's no problem, I stay late all the time. -

OK, all right. Bye.

Lily?

Can I see you for a minute, please?

Of course.

Come on in.

So, as you know, I'm not one to beat around the bush.

I'm just gonna come right out and say it.

- Okay... - You're one of the best analysts I've got.

You're smart, you're great with the policyholders,

accurate, and you're always willing to go the extra mile.

Thank you, Mr. Jorris.

I... I try.

I almost hate to lose you.

- Uh, excuse me? - Why don't you sit down.

I had dinner last night with one of the managers

from the Chicago branch-- Oliver Hoffacker.

He's head of Property and Casualty.

Anyway, he told me that they're looking

for a major claims specialist and I mentioned your name.

You did?

- Yeah. Look, I don't even know if you're interested,

but you'd be perfect for it. And it is a promotion--

the job pays almost $15,000 more than you're making now.

And it's in Chicago?

- Mm-hmm, right by Millennium Park, just a few blocks

from Lake Michigan. It's a beautiful area, actually.

Anyway, look. Ollie's gonna be in town for a week and he said he'd like to meet with you

before he flies back. Is that something you'd like me to set up for you?

Uh...

Yeah, can I think about it?

- Yeah, sure. But he's only gonna be in town

till next Wednesday, so the sooner, the better.

- Oh, okay. Well, thank you, Mr. Jorris.

Thank you for thinking of me.

Sure.

Hi, Mom. What's up?

- Well, I'm just wondering what time you're coming home. -

[another 20, 30 minutes or so. It's only gonna take longer if you keep calling me.]

- [Well, I need to know what time to start dinner.]

- Yeah, don't make me anything. I'm eating as we speak.

All right.

Don't forget to pick up my prescription.

- No, I told you, I'll pick it up. Arlivox, 88 micrograms.

- And don't let them overcharge you. I've already paid for my deductible.

- Yeah, I know, Mom. I'll see you soon.

- All right. Don't forget, sweetie.

- I won't. - - Bye.

I don't know how I could forget it, you've only mentioned it 50 times.

You've gotta be kidding me.

Hi, Mom. - Thank goodness!

I was worried when you didn't answer your cell.

- I was a block away. - What took so long?

- There was a line at the pharmacy. Hi, Binky.

Hi, Binky boy.

That's a good boy.

Mom, why is my credit card bill open?

- I thought it was mine. I opened it by mistake.

- I thought I asked you to be more careful.

- Made your favourite cookies. Since you missed out on the pork chops.

- Mom, why did you do that? I told you I'm on a diet.

- Oh, come on, sweetie. One cookie won't hurt you.

Besides, you are thin enough as it is.

Come on, just one? Hmm?

- No, Mom, I don't want a cookie.

- All right. I was just trying to do something nice,

but I see that that was insensitive of me.

I'll just throw them out so that you won't be tempted.

No, Mom, don't throw them out.

I know you're just trying to be nice.

What do you think, Binky?

You ever consider living in Chicago?

- I know you said you didn't want any tea, but just in case.

Oh, thanks.

Just put it over there.

- So, are you, um... surfing the Web?

- I'm just doing some stuff for work.

It makes me nervous.

Lydia has a case at work where a woman is suing a man who's harassing her.

Guess where he found her?

One of those talk rooms. - Chat rooms.

- I hope you don't spend time in any of those rooms.

I think I'll be okay, Mom.

- You always say that, Lily, but you are just the type of girl who would get duped

into believing one of those stalkers.

Remember what happened with Michael? One day he says he loves you--

- Mom, could you please stop bringing up Michael?

That was over 3 years ago.

- I just don't want to see you get hurt again, baby.

I know.

- Well, my back's giving me a bit of trouble,

so I'm gonna hit the sack.

Sweet dreams. - Good night.

Uh, I'll just be

a few more minutes. - No rush.

Excuse me. Do you work in this department?

I don't think we've met before.

- No, I work up in Claims. Our copier's down.

Ah, Claims.

We make the money, you spend it.

Larry Nowack. Transferred here a month ago from San Diego.

- Hi. Lily Stanler. Welcome to the Philadelphia branch.

Thank you, Lily.

- So, are you in sales? - No.

Oh, I see how my comment about making money would've been misleading.

No, I'm an actuary.

Oh, so all of the reports

that we do upstairs eventually... - Wind up on my desk, yeah.

Interesting.

I, um... I've always wondered what it would be like to work in risk management.

Find it sort of fascinating.

- Lot of statistics, lot of math...

Sometimes I even get to use a calculator.

So, um... I should...

It was nice to meet you, Larry.

You too, Lily.

Oh, Lily! - Yeah?

You forgot this.

Oh, and this. - Oh.

See you around. - Yeah.

- You know, for $15,000 I'd move to Chicago in a heartbeat.

Just pack up your mom and move her too.

Or hey, better yet, you take some of the extra money

and you hire someone to look after her here.

Like a nursing student or something.

- I can't. I mean, she really needs me.

And the truth is, she was really there for me

when I needed her, too.

Every break-up, every problem--

she's always been there for me.

You know I didn't have a dad, so...

- But everybody's parents do that. They're there to help in a crisis.

- I'm not saying she doesn't get on my nerves. - Seriously, what happens

if you meet a really great guy and you wanna do something we call dating?

Dating? What's that?

See?

- You know, um, speaking of guys,

I kind of found somebody

that I'm sort of interested in.

Really? Who?

Someone online? - No, somebody in the company.

His name is Larry

and he's the new actuary down on the 5th floor.

- I don't think I've seen him yet.

- We spoke for a moment by the copy machine

and...

I don't know, it's just... there might have been a connection.

- A connection! - I don't know, maybe.

A little one.

Yeah, well, I'm sure with my luck nothing much will happen.

- Don't be so pessimistic. I'm sure this Larry guy likes you too.

- Yeah, they all say they like me and then they just disappear.

- Come on, aren't you exaggerating a little bit?

- Well, look at it this way: Johnny was my first boyfriend,

and then after a month he just drifted away.

Then there was Michael...

- That's the guy you met a couple years out of college, right?

You never told me what really happened with him. - Ugh!

We were so in love. Head over heels.

- Let me guess. He cheated. - No, no!

I saw him almost every single day for 6 months,

and then all of a sudden I get a phone call from him where he says it's over.

Never wants to see me again. I was crushed. - Creep.

- Yeah, so I called him up because I wanted to find out what happened,

and he says that he's seeing somebody else. Just like that.

- You know, there's a special place in hell for men like that. - Yeah.

After 6 months of seeing him, that's all I get.

- You poor thing. - Well, thank God for my mom.