NARRATOR: I wasn't there the day Dr. Andrew Brown's life changed forever. But like most folks in Everwood, I've heard the story enough times to be able to tell it. It begins where many stories begin. In the city of New York, where Dr. Brown lived comfortably with his wife and two children.
[We change scenes to an building and then to the kitchen in the Brown home where Julia Brown is drinking some coffee and making the kids' lunches. We pull back and see Dr. Andrew Brown sitting, reading The New York Times. We also see Delia Brown who is wearing a baseball cap and eating her breakfast.]
JULIA: Ephram! You're gonna be late again.
EPHRAM: [off screen] I know, I know.
JULIA: [to Delia] Finish your breakfast, sweetie.
[Ephram Brown can be seen entering the kitchen.]
DR. BROWN: [to Ephram] Good morning.
[Ephram ignores his father.]
EPHRAM: This mine? [referring to a lunch]
JULIA: It is.
DR. BROWN: Someone is unusually quiet this morning.
EPHRAM: Someone is unusually interested.
JULIA: Don't be nervous about tonight. Your dad and I will be there to cheer you on.
EPHRAM: [sarcastically] Yeah, I'm sure. See ya.
[Ephram exits.]
DR. BROWN: His recital is tonight?
JULIA: I only told you ten times.
DR. BROWN: What time?
JULIA: Eight but he's leaving early to go with a friend. You and I are leaving at 7 to make it to Jersey on time.
DR. BROWN: Will someone tell me why, with all the piano teachers in Manhattan, my son has to study in New Jersey?
JULIA: Because the best one is in Jersey.
[Dr. Brown takes a sip from his coffee mug.]
DR. BROWN: I didn't know Jersey had the best of anything.
DELIA: The Giants play in Jersey and they're the best.
DR. BROWN: They're not technically from New Jersey.
DELIA: They should be.
DR. BROWN: What you do know? You're eight.
[Dr. Brown gets up and playfully pinches Delia's cheek. He then walks over to his wife and kisses her goodbye.]
DR. BROWN: Bye.
[Dr. Brown begins to exit.]
JULIA: Be home on time.
DR. BROWN: I will.
[Julia looks back.]
[Cut to where Dr. Brown works. He's diagnosing a patient named Mr. Saddlebrook. Mr. Saddlebrook's wife is there also.]
DR. BROWN: Glioma multiforma. I like to call it the great white of brain tumors. It's highly malignant and grows quickly. Typically occurring in the frontal or temporal lobe of the cerebral hemisphere. In your case, Mr. Saddlebrook, it occurs in both hemispheres and has even begun to metabolize into the spinal fluid.
MRS. SADDLEBROOK: We know all this already. The other doctors diagnosed him weeks ago.
MR. SADDLEBROOK: They say it's insufferable. We came to you because you're supposed to be the best.
DR. BROWN: I'm willing to go for this cancer with everything I've got, starting with a combination of radiation therapies followed by an immediate and massive surgical resection.
MR. SADDLEBROOK: Thank you.
DR. BROWN: Don't thank me now. You can thank me when I save your life.
[Dr. Brown exits.]
MRS. SADDLEBROOK: I hope he is good as he is brief.
[Cut to outside. It's nasty out there. It's pouring cats and dogs.]
[Cut to Dr. Brown's office. He's on the phone.]
NARRATOR: Night fell and a nasty storm rolled in.
DR. BROWN: They don't know the first thing about this kind of medicine in Boston.
NURSE: Doctor, you asked me remind you when it was seven o'clock.
[Dr. Brown puts his hand over the phone.]
DR. BROWN: It's seven, already?
NURSE: No, it was seven a half hour ago, when I reminded you the first time.
DR. BROWN: Tell Julia to go to the recital without me. I'll meet her there.
