But there was a part missing from the movie.
Actually, if you watch the movie, one could argue that there was a lot missing from the movie, like a time line, or the concept of time at all, or an ending but whatever. What hipster trippy movie has an actual ending.
What bothered me was that there was this one interaction at the very beginning of the movie and it felt really significant in the moment and then it was never discussed again and that is the bit that is missing because there was more to that storyline, the writers just forgot.
I figured I'd help them out a little because they're probably too busy at writing their next trippy hipster movie, so I just wrote the bit myself.
Yeah.
So when you watch it, just come back to this post like a day or so after you watch it, when your mind has had time to calm down from exploding, and you can read the bit they left out.
Have fun.
“Del.”
He
recognized the voice right away, but couldn’t figure out why he recognized the
voice. He mentally went through all the people he knew in his head, which took
about three seconds considering he really only knew Kimberly.
He
wanted to figure it out before he turned around and saw who the voice belonged
to.
“Doctor
Del.”
He
gave in and turned around at that. He couldn’t remember anyone, anyone, ever
calling him doctor before.
Del
blinked a few times, trying to place her face, but failing.
“Speak
again.”
“Pardon?”
“Yes,
like that, speak again. Speak more. I know your voice, but your face is weird.
Not like weird, but I don’t recognize it. The voice I know.”
She
laughed and it hit him. “Comet girl.”
“I
guess I never told you my name did I.”
“I
think I would call you Comet girl even if you did though.”
“Yeah,
you’re probably right.” She laughed again, and he felt like he needed to breath
it in. He was so used to Kimberly’s laugh, which was either flirtatious because
she wanted him or cruel because she was making fun of him. Sometimes both.
“What
are you doing here?”
“I
live here now.”
“What,
here in New York?”
“I
work at the hospital a few blocks away,” she said, pointing.
“The
hospital?”
She
smiled up at him and he felt like he needed to breathe that in too. “I’m a
doctor. Of medicine. Practicing for three years now.”
“Practicing.
Three years. My god, okay.”
“Surprised?”
“You’re
just.” Del wondered if he should fight the urge to say the first thing that
came into his brain at her question for about two seconds, then opened his
mouth. “I didn’t think you’d actually make it. Plus you’re gorgeous now, cause
let’s face it, you were a fat kid that one time with the comet in the
graveyard, and now you’re really gorgeous and it must take a lot of effort to
transition like that, so you wouldn’t do that for nothing, so it’s hard to
believe you transitioned for medicine.”
“I
didn’t, I transitioned for me.”
Del
smiled, and breathed it in again.
“I
transitioned for me, but I have you to thank for becoming a doctor.”
“Me?”
Del turned his head sideways in confusion.
“Yeah,”
she said, her voice getting softer and gentler through her smile. “You gave me
your card that day, remember? Told me to give it to someone and anyone for a
recommendation. I took that to mean you had faith in me. I still have the card
actually.”
She
reached into her purse and pulled out the card, wrinkled and torn and so faded
you could barely see the writing anymore.
“I
really doubted myself a lot at school. Not like other people doubted me, I mean
I doubted myself. All the time. I had a bad habit of telling myself I was too
dumb, too immature, too whatever. Or I’d miss like two questions on a test
instead of getting perfect and feel like dropping out. And then I’d take out this
card and remember that one time, you told a fat kid to become a doctor, and I’d
stop crying and go for a run and tell myself I was smart. And that got me
through medical school, and interviews, and patients, and life, kind of.”
Del
stood completely still, not even wanting to breathe, trying to wrap his head
around what was happening and what her words were and concentrate on the now
and not the five minutes from now.
“I
picked up the phone so many times to call you and talk to you and tell you
stuff, but I always held back. I knew there could only be one time.”
“One
time what?”
“One
time to tell you thank you like this. One time to tell you that I’ve thought
about that two minute encounter in the graveyard waiting to see a comet show
nearly every day because of how much it meant to me that a brilliant doctor who
has literally invented a cure for cancer took notice of a fat kid who knew some
random medical term. One time to tell you that I owe all of the motivation for
my hard work to you.”
She
paused and looked at him straight and tilted her head just slightly, like she
saw something that she wasn’t expecting, and he desperately wanted to ask her
what it was, but was too afraid of the answer.
“You
know,” she finally began again. “I’ve thought about this so much, about how
this conversation or encounter would go down, and I always thought about it
being about me. I always thought it was me getting stronger by saying thank you
or me getting it off my chest finally or me me me. I never thought about it being
about you. But I think now, I think looking at you, it needs to be about you.
Could I be right?”
Del
wanted to answer, but felt like he would choke if he tried.
“I
am,” she continued, smiling just a little, in the corner of her mouth. “You
know, sometimes I get these feelings. I don’t really know what to call them. My
fiancé calls it tripping beautifully, but that’s just because I weird him out
in a good way and he loves me. But I have one now, one that says you’ve never
been told how important you are before.”
Del
wanted to look away, look at the ground or the tree across the street or the
coffee shop down the road, but he willed himself to keep looking at her, to be
in this moment because it could just be one of the Big Ones.
“Sure,
you’ve saved hundred, thousands probably, of people’s lives with your work. But
you don’t know their names. They’re faceless to you. I have a name and you can
look at my face when I tell you that you matter because you mattered to me. You
mattered, you mattered, you mattered, you mattered. And I’m so grateful that
you mattered to me.”
“I
don’t know your name,” Del confessed.
She
continued to look at him, then slowly broke out in laughter, first a gentle
laughter, then getting more robust, then laughing so hard she was doubled over.
Del couldn’t help but join in it was so contagious.
“Welp,
that just kind of ruined my whole greeting card speech, didn’t it,” she said
after calming down, wiping the tears of laughter out of her eyes.
“No,
no no no no no no,” Del said, getting more emphatic with each no. “Nothing
could ruin or negate that beautiful speech.”
“Amy,”
she said, sticking out her hand.
“Amy,”
Del repeated, taking her hand sincerely in his. “Amy, it’s so wonderful to meet
you again. Listen, you wanna get a coffee or something? I would love to hear
about your life.”
Amy’s
happiness seemed like it all overflowed in her smile. “I would love to tell you
about it, Doctor Del.”
