hey. hi. your lights. any chance you could.  turn them off --
no --
thank you. thank you so very much.
-- saturn's 15 degrees to the right of red antares and much brighter.
this is a very simple device made from a coat hanger, plastic wrap and typewriter correction fluid. does anyone know what it is?
this is a star frame.
a star frame will help you locate stars and planets with your naked eye --
yes, god created the universe and all its physical laws. even einstein said it's a miracle that our world is comprehensible --
you going to visit harold?
they let him out of the hospital yesterday. he's in a rest home on oak street.
he goes to my father's church. he could've died --
i don't make small talk --
i just wanted to tell you not to give up. sometimes you've got to back into the teaching from somewhere else.
what makes you volunteer? want to know why i tutor reading?
because, growing up, books were my world.
you don't know me.
-- i wear the sweater because i'm cold. i read because no one talks to me. my hair is my hair. what is it exactly that's bothering you?
you mean care what you say? i'm worrying about other things.
can't you have a normal conversation?
good, cuz talking to you is like trying to explain red to a blind person.
'they won't.'
'is it really me?'
-- this play means a lot to me.
-- i know you don't suck at acting.
but you have to make it a big joke because only dorks and dweebies like doing theater --
i can judge too.
you don't care about classes or graduating. but you like school because you're popular and you know you'll never be on top again.
-- your act only works with an audience.
i know you don't want help.
we're following fire trucks?
why?
like me.
so you agree you need help?
really?
28 and 42.
28 is do something illegal. 42 is befriend an enemy.
kinda. yeah.
the reason i got the part.  i'm a little like lizzie. except i don't worry about some man rescuing me.
are you asking to mock me or do you really want to know?
i'll take a chance.
it's like a to-do list, but for my life.
if you can't imagine the future, you won't have one.
it's private.
spend a year in the peace corps. make a medical discovery --
being negative's a lot more work than being positive.
i do know. be two places at once.  learn to hit a baseball or turn a cartwheel.  eat breakfast with chopsticks.
if you want help with your lines, i have two conditions. you have to promise not to fall in love with me.
and you have to meet my father.
i'll get something for us to drink --
i miss anything?
he wants help with his lines --
by accident --
i'm supposed to always be alone?
fine. but i need to start deciding how to spend my time and my life.
dad, i've become a woman without her. just not a pretty one.
i know. don't say anything.
you think so.
this way.
people think i'm strange, don't they?
because i try to be nice to people?
do you think i'm strange?
cuz it's dark and quiet and you can see into another world.
could be.
my mother's buried near here.
that is my telescope.
before voyager we expected maybe a dozen rings --
maybe debris from a moon that broke apart.
sometimes i come here and just scan the heavens.
looking for something -- someone.
i hope so. i think maybe she sees me now.
i'm building a larger one to see the nucleus of haley's comet --
yeah. i'm probably not going to be around next time it comes.
in ten words or less?
my relationship with god is my own.
don't you?
when you do, how do you?
do you ever wonder why things happen the way they do?
i know there's a plan for everyone, but sometimes i don't understand what the message is -- or what the point is.
maybe we're not supposed to understand, but we're supposed to have faith that someone else sees the big picture.
you don't believe in anything?
interpreted by another guy like my father.
he doesn't trust you.
i'm not afraid of you.
hi.
the play's going to be really good.
i guess you don't want to practice lines tonight.
what is your problem?
you don't miss a thing.
yes. and?
oh. just not at school.
or anywhere where people might see us.
that would be the reason.
so it's like you want to be secret friends.
then maybe you can read mine.
i thought i saw something in you, something good. but i was wrong.
'morning, pop. boys. i dreamed we had a rain, rain coming down in sheets! lightning flashed, thunder rolled up and down the canyon like a kid with a big drum!'
'i know why you sent me to sweetriver. six boys in that family. the first three days, i stayed in my room.'
'i knew what i was there for and they knew it, too!'
'is it really me?'
i went to the doctor with my father.
healthy as can be.
thank you. so were you.
you're hardly nice to anyone.
i wish i could believe you.
people can see.
i'm reading all the novels on mr. rothberg's best american authors list.
a hundred. then there's his classics list. and his european list.
that sounds like horseshit.
all of it.
prove it.
you lack honor. you lack compassion. you lack honesty. you lack humanity.
you don't know the first thing about being someone's friend --
you don't know what you want --
and why would that scare me?
thank you for buying tickets. we've raised two hundred and eighty-five dollars.
it's a start.
when i have something to say.
getting out won't be your problem. it'll be figuring out what you want when you get somewhere.
it means you can do anything.
up to?
dad, why don't you get to the point where you get to the point.
no.
it was a play.
i have expectations, too.
i haven't asked you to.
i heard what you did. thank you.
why are you doing all this? to impress me?
like fire.
you.
yes. but not as a date date.
i'm not allowed to date.
i can't believe you asked my father's permission.
is there a rush?
it's only 7:30.
excuse you.
no.
we're doing something -- ?
what are you talking about?
excuse me?
that what's happening to you, only faster?
where -- what -- are we -- ?
where?
you're acting like a crazy person.
i can't.
it's places like this that make me certain there's a god.
i'm sure. pretty sure.
it's like the wind. i can't see it but i feel it.
uncertainty makes you uncomfortable.
wonder. beauty. joy. love.
my mother told me god is love, so when you're feeling love, you're feeling god. i think talking about these things -- threatens their very beauty and mystery.
i don't understand.
i might do it wrong.
i can't. i can't -- explain.
you make me feel.
that. and less strange.
be very quiet.
twice a year.
the challenger exploded. principal kelly's about to make an announcement.
where?
how do you know this place?
what would you do up here?
the truth. i just left you out of it.
i was twelve.
it's not that complicated.
it's an alt-azimuth design with one parabolic mirror and one secondary flat one.
in my back yard. i lied before. it's hardly started. but when it's done, it will have twice the power of this one --
kinda. yeah.
so what do you want to see?
mars doesn't rise until 2:30
you planned this --
are you trying to seduce me?
no.
ergo?
i'm always home by midnight and he's always asleep.
in virgo, but it's about 1000 times too faint to see.
me.
the second best thing is jupiter.
sure.
here. why am i looking at this star?
it's wonderful. i love you.
in april when the dogwoods and wisteria are blooming.  get married.
you're asking if we're involved?
dad --
maybe. but that's not the real reason. you think if i tell, he'll disappear and that's what you want! me all to yourself!
this -- him -- landon -- is what's best for me!
from citizen high to citizen low.
care, but just don't let it get to you. it gives them power.
yes. i try to keep my power.
yes, one of many.
i'm not applying to college.
no, you assumed.
no.
pull over.
pull over. now. please.
i'm sick.
landon. i'm sick -- with leukemia.
i found out last winter. i'm not responding to treatment anymore.
the doctors said to do everything the same as long as possible. i didn't want anyone being -- weird around me.
especially you. god gives me an illness, then you. a cruel joke.
he'll call.
no you didn't. but he did change. just not enough.
i am mad at you! and at landon! and the universe! and god! i don't even know where to put all my anger.
by making me ill, he is punishing me! i just don't know what for.
she stands, holding her books, watching him, unsure.
turns away, still angry and disappointed.
i should have told you sooner --
no. the drugs just stopped working. if anything, doing things i love kept me healthy longer.
all the time. i feel like i have no one.
help me live until i die?
nope.
nothing.
i used to like yogurt.
i didn't even think about it.
that i want you to take me home.
i don't want to come here anymore.
yeah. i've just never needed it. will you talk to my father?
that's what i mean.
i'm not going back to school.
you can tell anyone you want. i don't care.
yesterday i felt sick, horrible. today i feel like riding my bike. or dancing.
you know how to waltz??
i always fake it.
tired.
dad.
so serious.
when mom died you told me god wanted her more, loved her more --
hi.
i have something for you.
don't worry. it's not a bible.
my mother made it for me before i was born. it's got quotes from famous people. her favorite lines from books. her thoughts.
lower. same page.
that was read at my parents' wedding.
better. i was really angry.
it's gone now.
no. maybe i believe god has a bigger dream for me than i had for myself. maybe i believe the journey, the big adventure, never ends.
maybe i believe god sent you to me because i am ill. to help me through.
i want to go home.
it's not that simple. it costs money to do this at home.
isabel?
who's been working with you?
don't wake landon.
do i look scary?
things could be better.
i don't know what to say either.
what is it?
can i -- go out?
it's beautiful.  thank you.
i don't know what we'll be able to see.  help me stand.
the comet of the century.
landon. i can't even do for myself.
yes.
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