1
City of Angels
MaggieExcuse me, are you a visitor?
SethYes.
MaggieWell, visiting hours have been over since 8.
SethWhy do they have that?
MaggieWhat?
SethHours. Does it help the patient to be visited?
MaggieWell who are you visiting?
SethRight now?
MaggieYeah.
SethYou.
MaggieI don’t need a visitor
SethYou’re not ill?
MaggieNo. I’m one of the doctors here.
SethAre you in despair?
MaggieI lost a patient.
SethYou did everything you could?
MaggieI was holding his heart in my hand when he died.
SethHe wasn’t alone.
MaggieYes he was.
SethPeople die.
MaggieNot on my table
SethPeople die when their bodies give out.
MaggieMy job is to keep their bodies from giving out, or what am I doing here?
SethIt wasn’t your fault, Maggie.
MaggieI wanted him to live.
SethHe is living, just not the way you think.
MaggieI don’t believe that.
SethSome things are true whether you believe in them or not.
MaggieHow did you know my name?
Seth (points to badge)
MaggieAnd what is your name?
SethSeth
MaggieSeth.
SethYou’re an excellent doctor.
MaggieHow do you know?
SethI have this feeling.
MaggieThat’s pretty flimsy evidence.
SethClose your eyes, just for a moment. (holds her hand and caresses her palm)
What am I doing?
MaggieYou’re touching me.
SethTouch. How do you know?
MaggieBecause I feel it.
SethYou should trust that. You don’t trust it enough.
MaggieWhat do you do?
SethRead.
MaggieNo, I mean your work.
SethOh, I’m a messenger.
MaggieOh, well, what kind of messenger? Like a bike messenger?
SethNo, I’m a messenger of God.
MaggieGot a message for me?
SethI already gave it to you.
MaggieWell, did you use my pager? Cause I usually don’t get me messages unless you beep me.
SethYou’ve definitely been beeped.
SethYou like Hemingway?
MaggieYeah. Yeah, I’m starting to.
SethMay I?
MaggieYeah.
Seth“As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea, and their faint metallic taste, as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy.” He never forgets how to describe how things taste. I like that.
And these are the books you read when you’re not reading Hemingway?
MaggieYou know, when I read my first science book, that’s when I knew I
wanted to become a doctor. Here, look at this. That’s us. All those cells.
SethThat’s all you are?
MaggieThat and all the space between.
SethIf this is all you are, these cells, then when they die, that’s the end?
MaggieI don’t know. I think so.
SethSo you don’t really know?
MaggieWell, I used to think I had it figured out.
SethBut you didn’t?
MaggieNo. No, because something happened. Something happened in my O.R. and I got this jolt, this feeling, that there’s something bigger than me out there. There is something bigger than me, and bigger than you, and it Does this sound crazy?
SethNo.
MaggieI couldn’t fix him. I did everything right and I couldn’t fix him. That’s not
supposed to happen. And I
SethYou cried.
MaggieYeah.
SethWhy do people cry?
MaggieWhat do you mean?
SethI mean, what happens physically?
MaggieWell, tear ducts operate on a normal basis to lubricate and protect the eye, and
when there’s a strong emotion, they overreact and create tears.
SethWhy? Why do they overreact?
MaggieI don’t know.
SethMaybe emotion becomes so intense, your body can’t contain it. Your mind and
feelings become too powerful. Your body weeps.
Maggie(is paged) I have to go. I’ve gotta go. Stay right here. Don’t go anywhere. Stay
right here.