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E.R.
"New Adventures"
Act Two
Scene opens at Doug's apartment...night time...the room is dark except for the light from the TV
screen. We can hear a basketball game in progress on the TV. Cut to show Chris, lying on top of
his covers on the sofa bed. He is wearing a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, barefoot, with an ice
pack still on his knee, and drinking a bottle of beer. Off screen we hear the door open and close.
Cut to show Doug enter the room and lean down onto the back of the sofa behind Chris.
Doug:
Hey, Bro!
Chris (doesn't look around, but lifts his beer bottle in greeting):
Yo.
Doug:
Who are the Bulls playing tonight?
Chris:
Lakers. Bulls are winning. Don't ask me by how much 'cuz I'm not sure I've
been watching the whole thing.
Doug (walks across the room and takes a bottle of beer from the refrigerator
himself):
Did you eat?
Chris (calls into the kitchen to him):
Yeah, and I saved some for you. It's in the microwave. All you have to do is
heat it.
Doug (returns to the room, stops beside Chris' bed):
Where'd you order it from?
Chris (looks up at Doug and laughs):
I didn't order it! I cooked it!
Doug (flops into a chair nearby):
You cook?
Chris (shrugs):
A few things. I don't starve, anyway.
Doug:
Carter take care of your knee?
Chris (looks back over his shoulder at Doug):
Yeah! He took a needle about this long...
(makes a LONG measurement with both his hands)
And shoved it into my knee...
Doug (laughs)
I think it was more about this long...
(shortens the distance between Chris' hands with his own hands)
With a curve on the end of it.
Chris (shrugs):
Wasn't your knee!
Doug (begins to sift threw old mail on the table in front of him):
So, what's he say?
Chris (waves his hand, trying to remember everything):
He says I have a torn medieval something or other...
Doug (smiles):
Torn medial collateral ligament?
Chris (nods):
Yeah, that's it. I also have something called a crushed interior something...
Doug (laughs lightly):
You mean a damaged anterior cruciate ligament?
Chris (laughs a little):
Yeah! That's it! What does all that mean?
Doug (slaps Chris on the thigh with a couple of the bills in his hand):
Means you tore up your knee, Bud!
Chris (quietly):
I guess I didn't need him to tell me that, did I?
Doug (flips the mail back on the table, takes a drink of beer):
He say anything about surgery?
Chris (nods):
Yeah, he wants to do it later this week. He wants the swelling to go down some
and then he'll schedule it. He called it 'band aid' surgery.
Doug (nods):
Yeah, they do it on football players all the time! You'll be back on the track
before you know it!
(Chris looks quietly at his beer bottle and doesn't say anything. Doug picks up
the 'quiet' cue and zeros in on it)
You will be able to race again. Surely you know that.
Chris (shrugs):
I guess.
Doug:
Sounds like maybe you're not too sure?
Chris:
Well, Gene put another driver in the car before I ever left Florida.
Doug (shrugs):
Well, isn't that how it works with racing? The car has to have a driver? So, they
put one in the car? And as soon as you're ready to go back, you get the car
back?
Chris (nods):
Yeah, that's how it works. I'm sure if I want the car back, I could have it. That's
not the problem.
Doug:
Then, what is the problem?
Chris (cuts the sound on the TV but leaves the light from the picture glowing):
I'm not sure I want it back.
Doug:
You don't want to race anymore?
Chris (shrugs):
I haven't really wanted to for a long time. I keep thinking that there has to be
more to life than racing around a track at 190 miles an hour. I've thought about
doing other things before, but, not like this.
Doug:
Well, you'll have some time to think it over. I'll help you anyway I can, you
know that.
Chris (looks at him quizzingly):
When did you know you wanted to be a doctor?
Doug (laughs):
When I was in Boy Scouts, I guess. I splinted a bird wing. I figured if I could
do that for a bird, maybe I could do it for people. Just something born in me, I
guess.
Chris (scoffs):
Well, at least you had a calling. I've never even had that. I really admire your
profession. Very noble, to say the least.
Doug (shrugs):
It's a rough life. Some days I come home telling myself I don't have the courage
to face another day. But, then, the next day, I do something that makes life
better for somebody for a while and it's all worth it. I guess it balances out. You
thinking of being a doctor?
Chris (laughs lightly):
Not a chance. I don't have the brains to be a doctor. I barely made it out of high
school!
Doug (shakes his head):
Has nothing to do with intelligence. Not really. You probably barely made it out
of high school because you didn't apply yourself. That's all. the biggest hang up
with being a doctor is that it takes a lot of schooling to get there.
Chris:
Yeah, well, my grades would never get me into college to study medicine. I can
tell you that much.
Doug:
Well, if you're seriously looking at the medical profession, there are lots of other
areas besides being a doctor. Doctors need all kinds of help in fields you could
probably do very well at.
Chris (sits up...takes interest now):
Really? Like what?
Doug:
Well, like Technicians, for starters. X-Ray technician...Lab technician....not to
mention Medical Assistants and EMTs....
Chris (confused look):
What do all those kind of people do?
Doug:
They all play important roles in the medical profession. Take, like an EMT? A
good EMT can be the difference between life and death by taking care of a
patient before they get them to a doctor. I've seen it a thousand times in ER....
Chris (scoffs):
Yeah, but, you have to go to school for all those things don't you? We're back
to college again...
Doug:
Well, yeah, it's college, but, it's technical college. It's different. The courses are
all more general to the study. And shorter. Most of those degrees are two year
courses.
Chris (grins slightly):
Would I be silly if I looked into some of them?
Doug:
Not at all! Tell you what! You get on your feet a little better and come to the
hospital with me. I'll let you observe some of these things and see what you
think. I'll even see if I can arrange for you to get a ride along with the EMT team
so you can check it out as well.
Chris (brightens):
Yeah? You can do that?
Doug (nods):
Sure! Meantime, I'll pick up some brochures and you can look them over.
Chris (nods happily):
Thanks, Doug! I really appreciate that!
Doug:
You know, though, that even if you decide to give up racing, you would need to
drive in one more race anyway?
Chris (scoffs):
Now you sound like Gene. He said the same thing before I left.
Doug:
Well, if you don't, then, you'll wonder for the rest of your life if you quit
because you were afraid. So, you'd need to race one last time to be sure you
really wanted to quit. (laughs)
It's kind of like kissing an old flame good-bye, you know? You gotta kiss her
one last time to be sure it's really over!
Chris (shakes his head):
I wouldn't know about that! (laughs) Never had one long enough to tell them
good-bye! What about you? The voice of experience talking to me there?
Doug (stands up...stretches...and leans down to pat Chris on the shoulder):
Ah, I don't know! (laughs) Maybe! We'll talk about it some more tomorrow,
OK, Kid? Right now, I gotta get some sleep.
Chris (nods and stretches as well):
Yeah, me too! Been a long day. I didn't know how tired I was until I sat down
here!
Doug (starts out of the room):
I'll see you in the morning, Bro!
Cut to show Doug going into this own bedroom and closing the door. Cut back to Chris. He shuts
the TV off and lays down on his bed to sleep. Cut to show time lapse and distort the scene to show
dream sequence. Show Chris' race car on a race track. Show car rounding a curve in the track and
start to swerve. Show car slam hard into concrete wall of the track. Sirens wail in the background.
Show Chris fighting to get out of the car but is pinned inside. Show fire begin to spread from back
end of the car. Muffled shouting can be heard as well as the crackling of the spreading fire.
Cut quickly out of the dream and into present. Show Chris sitting bolt upright in bed with labored
breathing. He is shirtless now and sweating profusely on his face and chest. He places his hand to
his chest and recovers his breathing to normal, looking carefully and cautiously around him to be
sure of where he is. Slowly, he lays back down on his bed. Focus on his eyes wide open, starting
at the ceiling and fade Act Two to Black