that's one fine frame. a fine frame it is.
how much does a fine frame like that cost, you think?
anna, i'm serious. serious i am, anna.
three? we should hock it. buy a c.d. rack for the bedroom.
do i really sound like dr. seuss?
we can keep it in the bathroom.
it's not real, anna. some secretary wrote that up. don't tell me you thought it was real?
what?
don't do the quiet thing. you know i hate it.
thank you.
what are we hugging about again?
i would like some red wine in a glass.
i would not like it in a mug. i would not like it in a jug.
bulb's out.
anna, don't move. don't say a word.
this is forty-seven locust street. you have broken a window and entered a private residence. do you understand what i'm saying?
there are no needles or prescription drugs of any kind in this house.
what do you want? i don't understand what you want.
--do i know you?
please give me a second to think.
bed freidken?
ronald.  ronald sumner?
--vincent?
vincent gray?
i do remember you, vincent. you were a good kid. very smart.  quiet.  compassionate.  unusually compassionate.
vincent.  i'm sorry i didn't help you.  i can try to help you now.
it's okay, cole. don't be frightened.
my name is dr. malcolm crowe. i was supposed to meet you today. sorry i missed our appointment.
do you mind if i sit down? i have this injury from a couple of years ago and it flares up every once in a while just so i won't forget it.
your eye frames. they don't seem to have any lenses in them.
i knew there was a sound explanation.
what was that you were saying before with your soldiers? day pro fun.
all your soldiers speak latin?
i like churches, too. in olden times, in europe, people used to hide in churches. claim sanctuary.
oh, lots of things, i suppose. bad people for one. people who wanted to imprison them. hurt them.
right.
dr. crowe.
i work with young people who might be sad or upset or just want to talk. i try to help them figure things out.
i got an award once. from the mayor.
thank you. it was a long time ago. i've kind of been retired for a while. you're my very first client back.
no.
no.
if it's okay with you?
and cole, next time i won't be late for you.
it's me.
the mass for the dead.
you want to sit?
don't feel like talking right now?
how about we play a game first?
it's a mind-reading game.  did i mention i could read minds?
here's the game. i'll read your mind. if what i say is right, you take a step forwards the chair. if i'm wrong, you take a step backwards the doorway. if you reach the chair, you sit. if you reach the door, you can go. deal?
just after your mom and dad were divorced, your mom went to a doctor like me and it didn't help her. and so you think i'm not going to help you.
you're worried because she said she told him things. things she couldn't tell anybody else. secrets.
you have a secret. but you don't want to tell me.
you don't have to tell me your secret if you don't want to.
your father gave you that watch as a present before he left.
you don't like to say much at school. you're an excellent student however. you've never been in any kind of serious trouble.
you saw that on t.v., cole?
how do you draw now?
i guess they don't.
you're thinking.  i don't know what you're thinking, cole.
i thought you meant the other italian restaurant i asked you to marry me in.
i'm so sorry. i can't seem to keep track of time.
it didn't go well today. spent some time after trying to get my head together.
they're so similar, anna. they have the same mannerisms. the same expressions. the same thing hanging over them. it might be some kind of abuse.
there are cuts on cole's arms. fingernail marks, i think. looks like defensive cuts.
possibly a teacher, neighbor. i don't think it's the mother. just a gut thing. the way she deals with him. it doesn't fit. hard to say this early. could just be a child climbing a lot of trees.
i know i've been kind of out of it for a long while and you resent it. you do. i know you're mad. i know it's put some distance between us.
but i'm getting a second chance here. i can't let it slip away.
happy anniversary.
see, this is why i lose at poker. yes, i do have a question.
what happened to those two? being under tissue paper can't be a good thing.
you mean aneurysm.
where should i look then, cole?
it's very unusual for someone your age to understand the kind of problems that private jenkins and private kinney have or even to be thinking about them at all.
it is okay if i look back now?
tap the foot once for "no" and twice for "yes."
you wouldn't want to take a walk, would you?
he your best buddy?
you hate him?
your mom set that up?
you ever tell her about how it is with tommy?
why?
know what?
listen to me. you are not a freak. don't you believe anybody that tells you that. it's bullshit and you don't have to grow up believing that.
yeah. sorry.
what about mrs. marschal?
cole--
april or march of eighty-seven. two weeks into sessions with vincent gray. i was treating a couple, donald and robin wagner, who had lost their child to leukemia. they were waiting with vincent in the reception room of the downtown clinic. they were alone together maybe fifteen minutes. when i entered the room, all three were crying. the wagner's progress from that afternoon was dramatic and sudden .  as if some door had been opened for them. i'm not at all clear what happened in those fifteen minutes. but i now believe vincent tried to tell me something, show me something and i didn't listen. cole sear allowed me to witness something today. this time i'm going to listen.
so your dad lives in pittsburgh with a lady who works in a toll booth.
i don't know. i was just thinking the same thing.
sometimes, we don't even know it, but we do things to draw attention. do things so we can express how we feel about issues.  divorce or whatever.
one night, as an example.  leave something on a desk for someone to find.
cole, have you ever heard of something called free-writing? or free-association writing?
it's when you put a pencil in your hand and put the pencil to a paper and you just start writing.  you don't think about what you're writing.  you don't read over what you're writing.  you just keep your hand moving.
after awhile if you keep your hand moving long enough, words and thoughts start coming out you didn't even know you had in you.  sometimes they're things you heard from somewhere.  sometimes they're feelings deep inside.  have you ever done any free- association writing, cole?
what'd you write?
what kind of words?
did you ever write any upset words before your father left?
can you do something for me?
think about what you want from our time together. what our goal should be?
if we could change something in your life, anything at all, what would you like that to be?
you don't have to answer now.
are you calling me?
give it up, kid.
hey, big guy.
do you like magic?
watch the penny closely.
i do the magic shake.
and suddenly the penny has magically traveled to my left hand.
but that's not the end of the trick. with another magic shake, the penny travels into my shirt pocket.
but that's still not the end!.  i do a final magic shake.  and suddenly.  the penny returns to the hand where it started from.
what?
who me?
i forgot myself.
cole.
one day.  you're going to sound just like them.
promise.
there's something else going on, lynn.
oh, man.
how do you expect her to react?
i've decided we shouldn't schedule sessions anymore. i'll just follow you around.
your father ever tell you bedtime stories?
once upon a time there was a prince, who was being driven around.  he drove around for a long, long time.  driving and driving.  it was a long trip.  he fell asleep.  when he woke up, they were still driving.  the long drive went on--
yes.
no.
no gas.  hey, that's good.
do you think i'm sad?
what makes you think that?
i'm not supposed to talk about stuff like that.
once upon a time there was this person named malcolm. he worked with children. loved it more than anything. then one night, he finds out he made a mistake with one of them. didn't help that one at all. he thinks about that one a lot. can't forget. ever since then, things have been different. he's become messed up. confused. angry. not the same person he used to be. his wife doesn't like the person he's become. they don't speak anymore. they're like strangers.
and then one day this person malcolm meets a wonderful boy who reminds him of that one. reminds him a lot of that one. malcolm decides to try to help this new boy. he thinks maybe if he can help this boy, it would be like helping that one too.
i don't know how the story ends. i hope it's a happy ending.
okay.
in your dreams?
when you're awake?
dead people, like in graves and coffins?
they don't know they're dead?
how often do you see them?
no.
cole.  his pathology is more severe than initially assessed. he's suffering from visual hallucinations, paranoia -- symptoms of some kind of school age schizophrenia. medication and hospitalization may be required.
i'm not helping him.
what?
i know every child is special in their own way, but tommy sounds like a punk. i thought the play was excellent. better than cats.
never mind.
cole, i was really interested in what you told me in the hospital, i'd like to hear more about it.
what's wrong?
is something in there?
what is it?
i don't see.
yes?
-- yes.
them?
i don't see anything. are you sure they're there? cole?
i'm working on it.
is anyone there?
yes.
i don't know.
i don't know, cole.
i know what i want. my goal is to speak to my wife. the way she and i used to speak. like there was no one in the world but us.
i can't be your doctor anymore. i haven't given my family enough attention. bad things happen when you do that. do you understand?
i have to.
soon. one week.
i'm going to transfer you. i know two psychologists that are exceptional--
--what?
you want to know a secret?.  i was a paper champion. do you know what that means?
i means i wasn't what everyone thought i was.  i was a fake.
someone else can help you. someone else can make you happy.
yes.
i don't know how to answer that.
sorry about that. hope i didn't leave you alone too long.  wow, it's cold in here.
vincent.  why are you crying? vincent?
what happened? did something upset you?
i won't believe what?
okay, vincent, you can go home.
--about that. hope i didn't leave you too long.  wow, it's cold in here--
--like needles either. when i was a kid, i had this blood test down -- threw up chill cheese fries all over this male nurse.
vincent, i have to take this. give me a minute.
jesus christ.
hello again.
maybe later.
yes, it did.
yes, i am.
no, we're not.
these people.  people that died and are still hanging around. maybe they weren't ready to go.
maybe they wake up that morning thinking they have a thousand things to do and a thousand days left to do them in.  and then all of a sudden, it's all taken away. no one asked them. it's just gone.
do you know what 'yo no quiero morir' is?
it's spanish. it means.  'i don't want to die.' not all the ghosts are scary, are they? like mrs. marschal?
what do those ghosts want when they talk to you? think real careful now, cole.
yes! i think that's right!.  i think they all want that. even the scary ones.
i believe both of you now. and i think i might know how to make them go away.
i think they know you're one of those guys rare people can see them. you need to help them. each one of them. everyone wants to be heard. everyone.
i don't think that's the way it works, cole.
i don't.
i guess she did.
her little sister?
where will you go, where no one has died?
i definitely won't.
has the play started yet?
is that a yes?
i think we said everything we needed to say. maybe it's time to say things to someone else? someone close to you?
you were great in the play, cole.
and you know what else?
tommy tammisimo sucked big time.
okay, cole, i'm going to go now.  i'll see you tomorrow.
anna, i've been so lost. i need my best friend.
i miss you.
what, anna? what did i do? what's made you so sad?
i didn't leave you.
no.
anna!
don't cry.
i think i have to go.
i just needed to do a couple of things. and i needed to tell you something.
you were never second.  ever.
you sleep now, anna. everything will be different in the morning.
goodnight, sweetheart.
i think i've had too much to drink.
i just have to say, this day today has been one very special day.  i wish we all could stay and play.
what?
anna, i never thought i'd feel the things i'm feeling. i never thought i'd be able to stand up in front of my friends and family and tell them what's inside me.  today i can.
anna crowe.  i am in love. in love i am.