Nova Cane
INT. DR. GREYS OFFICE - DAY
DR. THOMAS GREY sits at his desk. He is middle-aged. He takes his wedding ring off while he works. His hair is greying but thick for his age. He’s expecting a new patient today. In his line of work, he often sees many new patients. Though, due to the circumstances which often brings them, he doesn’t see them very long. He checks his watch and goes to the door to let in his new patient.
DR. GREY
Hello, you must be Nova. Please, come in.
NOVA enters. She sits down on the couch and places her coat on her lap, her purse beside her. She is in her mid-twenties, beautiful but not particularly striking. She carries a void in her eyes but a smile on her face. This void is even more expressed by the thick makeup around her eyes.
DR. GREY (CONT'D)
Would you like me to take your coat?
NOVA
No, thank you. I’m quite fine holding onto it.
Dr. Grey nods and smiles and sits in his chair.
DR. GREY
Hello, Nova. That’s a pretty name by the way.
(she nods)
My name is Doctor Thomas Grey, but I’m sure you already know that. First off, I’m going to ask you if you understand how this process works.
NOVA
I saw someone like you when I was younger. I was a much different person, then. Now, the reasons are much different.
DR. GREY
So then, that brings me to my next question. What exactly brings you here?
NOVA
I think you’ve got a fair idea. When the doctor handed me your card, it came from a large stack of them. Are they all yours or are you simply a member of some legion of super shrinks?
DR. GREY
I suppose my reputation preceeds me.
NOVA
Well, your card did.
DR. GREY
I suppose that does as well.
A moment of silenced passed.
NOVA
Aren’t you curious?
Dr. Grey smiles.
DR. GREY
Curious about what?
NOVA
What I’m dying of.
DR. GREY
Do you want to know what I’m curious about?
(she nods)
I am curious about your super shrink comment. Is that what you expect of me?
NOVA
For you to be a super shrink?
DR. GREY
Yes.
NOVA
Doc, in the first place, I was hesitant to even show up to this appointment. Opening up has never been my area of expertise. But it IS yours. So I figured, what the hell? Give it a shot. Secondly, I thought, who else do I have to talk to?
DR. GREY
No one? Not a family member or a friend?
(she shakes her head)
What about your parents? Siblings?
NOVA
I was an only child. My mother died when I was eleven. She was the only person who ever actually cared about me. My father...he could never come to grips with me.
DR. GREY
In what way?
NOVA
Pardon?
DR. GREY
In what way couldn’t your father come to grips with you?
NOVA
Sorry Doc, but I’m not going there yet. You’re going to have to work for that answer.
DR. GREY
A woman of mystery, I see. That’s quite an admirable quality. Especially in today’s age of self voyeurism. That’s fine, we’ll get to it. What would you like to talk about, then?
Nova reacha into her purse and removes cigarettes and places one in her mouth. Dr. Grey shoots her a queer stare.
NOVA
Oh, I’m sorry.
(laughing)
Is it okay if I smoke?
DR. GREY
Actually, I’d prefer it if you didn’t.
NOVA
Fine.
She places the cigarettes back in her purse. She pulls out gum instead and puts it in her mouth. She closes her eyes as if to savour the taste.
NOVA (CONT'D)
So this ailment, well, disease I have. It’s pancreatic cancer. I looked up the statistics on the internet and I did the math. I’ve got a one in ten chance of surviving this.
DR. GREY
When did you first discover you had this, pancreatic cancer?
NOVA
I went to the hospital a few weeks ago, told them I was coughing up blood. After a few appointments, tests and a biopsy, I got the results in last week and went to see the oncologist. He told me I was in advanced stages and I mean advanced stages. Current diagnoses is extremely bad. I’ve got seven tumours in my pancreas; 4 malignant, 3 benign.
DR. GREY
What else did they say?
NOVA
Mhmm?
DR. GREY
What else did they say? About your condition?
NOVA
That I’ll die before my 25th birthday. Which is just less than two months away.
(coughing)
Just my luck.
DR. GREY
Now, I’m not overly familiar with pancreatic cancer, but I do know it’s extremely painful. Are you feeling any pain right now?
Nova looks down at her feet as they shuffled. She then looks at him but doesn't speak.
DR. GREY (CONT'D)
What is it?
NOVA
Dammit. I didn’t want this to come up so fast.
(sighs)
Well, here we go. I haven’t told anyone this, ever, that didn’t already know it. I’m considered somewhat of a medical miracle.
DR. GREY
A medical miracle? In what sense?
NOVA
Get this, when I was born. I was completely paralyzed. My mom told me before she died, that they thought I was a stillborn. But I had a pulse and my lungs were working, but just barely. I was in an incubator for weeks she told me. I was undersized and malnourished but that was temporary. They couldn’t understand why I wasn’t moving.
DR. GREY
So how did they fix you?
Nova reaches into her purse, pulls out a cigarette and lights it.
DR. GREY (CONT'D)
I thought we already discussed the smoking rule.
NOVA
I’m showing you how they fixed me.
She extinguishes it on the underside of her arm. Her expression doesn't change. Dr. Grey winced and withdrew.
DR. GREY
Why would you do that?
NOVA
To show you.
DR. GREY
Show me what?
NOVA
That they didn’t fix me. I’m still paralyzed.
I've had this idea for sometime. I know somewhere there is a condition actually like this. Think a girl went on Oprah with it or something and I would love to know the name but I really don't. I just thought of the possibilities to write with someone who cannot feel, physically. How it would affect their lives, how they would have to work to do the littlest things like knowing when to use the washroom or understanding when to eat to avoid starving. The favourite part I wrote when I tried to novelize it, was how human memory is often linked to bodily harm or sensations. There is always a story to go with a scar. But what if someone couldn't feel the pain that made the scar, would they remember how they got it?
Also, the name. Considering my main character cannot feel anything, I thought calling her Nova Cane (after the drug dentists use to numb an area) would be clever. That will also be the title.