01x03 - The Busy Flea

[bunniefuu]

(children laughing)

(footsteps)

(door opens)

(door closes)

I'm looking for Dr. John Thackery.

I believe he's a surgeon here.

Dr. Thackery's office is on the second floor on the west side of the... building.

I'll have someone from surgical services take you to him.

Thank you.

Dr. Thackery, there is a Mrs. Alford here to see you.

I'm not expecting anyone.

I think she might be a patient.

Then tell her to make an appointment with Gallinger and if it merits my attention, I'm sure he'll let me know.

She says she's a friend.

I assure you that my social circle is sufficiently small that I would know anyone foolish enough to call themselves any such thing.

Should I send her away?

Abby?

Hello, John.

Alford, I...

I didn't recognize the name.

Your husband's?

Wherever he may be.

It's good to see you.

No one handles the unexpected like John Thackery.

It's where I live.

Thank you, Nurse Elkins.

Please, take a seat.

I didn't know how else to go about this.

I thought of writing a letter first.

No, no, no, it's fine.

You're here now.

In all my splendor.

I suppose you can surmise why I've come to you.

Of course.

Please don't be uncomfortable.

This is something I'm very used to.

In all the time we were together, I could never get used to what you called normal.

I suppose it's only fair as you could never get used to what everyone else called normal.

Well, Mrs. Alford... let me take a look at you and see what remedies I can offer.

Wait.

The light.

Of course.

Thank you.

My eyes can't bear it.

No, no. It's a common symptom.

Is the light still too much?

No. No.

I wouldn't blame you for wondering.

I'm not. Hold still.

I've only been with two men in my life... you and my husband.

It was my husband.

What's past is past.

I'd really prefer not to get into it.

He didn't have it when I first met him.

It happened later.

With a girl in his office.

You've got good capillaries on the bridge and healthy skin on the edges.

Apparently she had it.

You know, Abby, you owe me no explanations.

Everyone out there can stare and think what they want, but I need you to understand.

Please, John.

Very well.

Hold still.

So... it was a girl in his office?

She knew she had it.

She was too embarrassed to say anything.

She wasn't too embarrassed to have sex with my husband, but telling him that she was a syphilitic whore, well, that was more than she could bear.

You know, from what I recall, you chose him because you wanted more calm than I could give you.

It wasn't that simple.

Nothing with you ever was.

You were exciting and brilliant.

I couldn't have loved you more.

I was so proud to be on your arm.

Most times when we were together, I felt like I was taking the best bite of the plum.

It was the rest of it.

I just didn't need the chaos as much as you.

The rides in Coney Island are great fun once in a while, but not every day.

Those rides were tame compared to you.

I had to choose between two men who loved me.

A situation I most certainly will never find myself in again.

We can put your apparatus back on.

You're a good candidate for restoration but it won't be an easy go.

Very little has been.

How does it work?

Well... the surgeon selects a piece of skin from your arm here.

He then makes a flap which stays partially fixed to your arm to keep the skin alive and provide blood flow from that end.

He then attaches the other end of the flap to the bridge of your nose, attempting as best he can to connect a good blood supply.

A harness is then put in place for several weeks to ensure that the arm doesn't come away from the face and put stress on the connection.

When the skin is fully grafted and has its own flow of blood from your face, the piece is cut away from your arm and then the healthy skin is used to shape you something where your nose would have been.

So it's awful.

With no bone or cartilage to support the skin, it won't be more than a covering for that hole.

But it will partially restore you.

Not to what you were, I'm afraid.

I haven't been that for quite a while.

I'll give you the name of an excellent surgeon.

Won't you do it?

I'm not really able to right now.

Is it a matter of your schedule? I can wait.

No, no, no. It's just...

Dr. Gibbons at Bellevue has performed this many times.

I'd really feel more comfortable if it was you.

I know it's a lot to ask, but try to remember me before.

Oh, I remember you perfectly.

Then please, John.

You look like trouble's been visiting you there, Herm.

A sudden tooth extraction.

You'll never catch me going to no dentist.

Keep sticking to your g*ns there, Dietz.

Barbarians, every one of them.

This one certainly was.

Go on, get yourself an edge. It'll take the sting.

I'll take a Phenacetin and rub some rum and cocaine on it.

It should be fine. I'm just here for my body.

That's gonna be a bit of a problem.

I took a better offer.

You promised me a dead man.

Some fellas from Cornell came by and gave me 75 bucks for the stiff.

You've never given me more than 20.

(sighs) For f*ck's sake, Dietz.

I needed that corpse.

Effie, dear.

I'll... I'll be with you in just a moment.

I'm actually in a bit of a hurry.

I'll only be a minute.

So will I.

Of course.

We'll reconvene later.

She's wearing more than a year of my wages on her back.

There was a day you would have apologized for not introducing me.

Because I know you have no interest in meeting any of them.

Of course not, but now they know that.

My father always ran his haberdashery with unfailing politeness.

Everyone of my class did.

You could certainly take a lesson from us.

And how polite was he when his creditors shut his doors?

Even then he was as courteous as a king.

Certainly kinder to me than you are being right now.

I'm sorry.

I'm in a bit of pain here.

My mouth feels like an att*ck from the hounds of hell.

You didn't even tell me you were going to a dentist.

I should know these things.

It was last minute.

I wasn't expecting he'd pull the tooth.

It was foolish of you to let him.

Expect you're here for some money.

(laughs) You left the apartment so quickly this morning, I didn't even have a chance to ask.

Well, here you are asking now.

It's not much.

I wanted to take a few friends to lunch and the children need new suits for Sunday school.

And while I was out, I thought maybe I'd have a little look for myself at Bonwit Teller.

Of course.

You haven't by chance seen those pearl earrings that you bought me, have you?

No.

Not at all.

Are they missing?

They're no longer in my jewelry case.

I couldn't have misplaced them.

Perhaps the maid.

I was thinking that myself.

You need to fire her.

First thing when she arrives for work tomorrow morning.

How busy is it down here after, say, 11:00 P.M.?

It's just me and Woodson keeping the boilers going.

No one else shows.

And after dark, if you ain't got business down here, you ain't coming down here.

And no one but us got business down here.

What if I had some business down here?

I ain't losing my job for nobody.

You won't.

You and Hiram will simply be adding a few responsibilities and earning a little extra on the side for your troubles.

Think about it. Excuse me for a moment.

Time's up.

May I see?

Okay, but I've never sewn chicken skin before.

I asked for 100 stitches.

I did that. And then since I still had time, I did 100 more.

The first bunch I did like you told me.

The second bunch I did like we do on the pillows so the seam don't show.

Is that okay, sir?

Congratulations, Miss Odom.

You've just been promoted from laundress to surgical nurse.

Good night, Miss Cummins.

Good night, sir.

Doctors, good evening to you.

Evening.

Evening.

See you bright and early, Nurse Baker.

Man: Nurse.

Nurse!

(groaning)

You're not a nurse.

No, but I'm a doctor.

Where does it hurt? Your lower left side?

This should help with the pain.

And you'll be able to sleep.

Evening.

Back door to the kitchen?

Right there.

Thank you.

(knocks on door)

Woman: I'm here about the washing job.

It's all there.

And just in the nick for the man from the Knick.

Now how hard was that, Herm?

Like raising the dead.

Aren't you forgetting something?

That is not my tooth.

Get the f*ck out!

(sawing)

Barrow: It's not as simple as running any other sort of business.

Meetings and budget-making, that's true, but there are decisions that I make every single day that could change the whole place.

Hospital's no game.

It's not like the law or making an advert.

You save people's lives.

It's brave.

I don't think I could be around all that.

A beautiful girl like you should not have to be.

I'll see to that.

I got you a little something.

Hermie...

(chuckles)

No.

What is it?

Be patient, little girl.

Come on, let me see.

Close your eyes.

Now open them.

Hermie!

(chuckles)

It's too much.

No.

There is no such thing where you're concerned.

They're wonderful.

Put them on.

Let me see.

Oh, yes. (chuckles)

You're the most wonderful man in the world.

Now do you want your special gift?

Yes.

Will you show me the "Busy Flea"?

(gasping)

Oh, dear. Is that a flea on me?

(squeals)

It just went under my dress.

Where is it?

Where is it?

It's on your tit.

(shrieking)

(knocks)

Hiram:Who is it?

I'm...

I'm here about the washing job.

Anyone see you?

I don't think so.

All right.

You're gonna go right through this door here.

He should be right there.

Thank you.

Mm-hmm.

What's your name?

Larkin.

Trouble?

I...

I've been passing blood. I don't know why.

The doc's working on a patient, so it's gonna be a while.

We got "The Evening World" and tonight's "Tribune."

Have a seat.

I've taken an anterior approach to the groin, dividing the posterior wall of the inguinal canal.

I-N-G-U-I-N-A-L.

Ligating the peritoneal sac.

P-E-R-I-T-O-N-E-A-L.

I will now carry out a three-layer hernia repair of my own design.

Miss Odom.

I'd like you to begin ligating from that point right there.

You want me to begin what?

Sewing.

Use the stitch I taught you on the bottom layer.

I will start the next layer from this side and we'll do the third layer the same.

Blood's gonna get all over the thread.

That is to be expected. Just sew.

Make sure it holds fast to guard against any re-herniation.

Are you sure it's okay for me to be doing this?

There's no one here to stop you.

How's it progressing, love?

It isn't.

What's the issue?

The issue is that Miss Brownlee's Finishing School never taught me the French words for coagulate or duodenum or infarction.

It's all very technical.

I was taught to serve tea cakes.

If you needed assistance deciphering a restaurant menu, then I'd be your girl.

Everett, I tried.

No, no, no, yeah, you did.

Don't worry yourself, pet.

Why are you so against asking Edwards?

The promotion is already his.

He can't take it from you twice.

He's already taken enough without any merit to justify it.

No, he's not worthy of the job. He never has been.

Everett, I'm so sorry.

You ask so little of me, and when you do need me, I fail you.

You could never fail me.

No, it was unfair of me to ask this of you at such a late hour.

(baby crying)

Lillian needs a feeding.

As soon as I'm finished, I can try again.

No, no, this is good. Thank you, Eleanor.

(crying)

It's a girl. Six months at most.

Should I get a doctor so she can be examined?

Only if you want it done poorly.

But please run a small bath for her.

Thank you, Theresa.

(crying)

Cleary: She's a lucky wee babe.

To have made it this far, I mean.

Excuse me.

Excuse me. Good morning.

Good morning.

Is that beef suet in rice gruel?

Yes.

May I have a bowl, please?

How are you feeling this morning?

Stiff.

Probably the mattress. You hungry?

Not really.

You should probably eat something.

This will nourish you and go easy on your stomach.

That looks pretty good.

Wish I could keep you here longer, but I can't risk the people upstairs finding out.

I'll arrange a ride home for you before the morning staff arrives.

One of the coal men will carry you out to the coach.

So I can go back to work, then?

No. No, not for several weeks.

Strict bed rest.

I'm guessing that work is what gave you the hernia in the first place.

I'll write out instructions on how to change your dressings.

Can you read?

My wife does. Better than me.

Well... make sure you eat.

Rockefeller just pledged $100,000 to Wellesley College.

"Students indulged in cheers for the college and Mr. Rockefeller before recitation."

Seems there's no love letter to John D. too sweet that the "Times" won't print one weekly.

They delight in reminding us just how easily he can give his fortune away, even though he is a bit of a prick.

August.

I'm sure you and Jesse are pleased to have our boy back in New York.

Oh, we are. Can't thank you enough for that.

He's a smart boy, but I'm sure you already know that.

Nobody gets tired of hearing good things about their children, Captain, sir.

I have always known a quality investment.

And he has proven himself to be worth every penny.

Well, I hope our Algernon'll continue to prove you right.

Some more creamed potatoes?

You know I can't resist.

(chuckles)

Here we are.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

How are Thackery and Algernon getting on?

Nothing's changed.

Do I need to step in?

I can certainly give Thack's leash a tug.

Algernon says he wants to take care of the matter himself.

Well, you let me know.

We have a bit of history, the good doctor and I.

Darling, any word from Phillip?

Yes, he sent a cable. He's in Chicago now.

His train arrives here on the 12th.

I do hope he'll be pleased with the arrangements we've already made for your wedding.

Now, there is a young man no one will dare underestimate.

He and Henry have done a fine job securing my new freight lines to the Orient.

It is a shame that Henry couldn't be here for last night's opening at the Met.

He does love it so.

The Abbotts weren't in attendance last night either.

They've never missed an opening.

August: Didn't you hear?

Leonard and Franklin were struck down with the typhoid.

They're at the Manhattan Hospital.

When?

Day before last. Dreadfully sick.

And didn't you tell me Daniel Hemming and his daughter were admitted to the Knick with the same?

Yes.

Do you know if they've been spending any time with immigrants?

They carry it, you know.

Oh, for God's sake, Mother.

August: Let's just hope this isn't the beginning of an epidemic.

Hmm.

John D.

Ma'am.

Mulkeen: Start with the junction boxes.

Thread it back to the fixtures.

All right.

(sawing)

Obviously the duty nurse wasn't lying when she said you'd been working all night.

It's a slaughterhouse in here.

John: Now you see why we have no Jewish doctors.

But it seems they've all d*ed in vain.

I'm no further ahead than when I arrived.

Perhaps Dr. Edwards could help.

What is it with your allegiance to him?

His family has worked for us since before he was born.

My father is very loyal to his employees.

In the house, maybe.

I'm sure his men down at the shipyards would tell a different story.

Dr. Edwards is no pet.

He's been a person of substance for as long as I've known him.

Did you want something?

A few days ago, two patients were admitted with typhoid fever and just this morning I've heard of another case breaking in a separate household.

That's 50 fewer than are likely to be admitted to hospitals on any given day in this city.

Not quite. One was at the Abbott house on 58th and 5th and another at the Hemmings'.

What, the banking family?

And coal and some cattle in the West.

Bully for them.

If it were down on Mulberry or Delancey Street, I'd understand.

Despite what you might believe, sickness isn't a result of poor character.

Germs don't examine your bank book.

Try not to let your prejudice against anyone else's success but your own cloud your judgment.

Germs may be indifferent to wealth, but typhoid ones do enjoy poor sanitation, cramped quarters, and a lack of proper sewage.

I grant you that.

So, I ask you again, with none of these negative elements being present, are the cases of the Abbotts and the Hemmings peculiar?

Well, at the very least surprising.

Perhaps we should summon Inspector Speight and have a word.

What happened to that other fellow?

The one who's sick like me.

Mr. Olynyk?

He didn't survive.

But despite you both having similar diagnoses, we are working on a very different procedure to try out on you.

Not to worry.

Are you cold?

Yeah.

Should we go in?

Yeah.

Yes. Come on, my love.

Okay. Come on, everybody.

Let's get inside for lunch.

If they only knew.

Knew what?

What you really are.

Cornelia: Her father d*ed last night.

She's still suffering and it's anyone's guess if she'll survive.

Both have typhoid fever.

Another family from uptown, the Abbotts, have two members admitted to the German hospital with the same.

And there are rumors that Elihu Brown had two of his live-in servants fall ill in January, but he kept it quiet for obvious reasons.

What reasons?

He didn't wish to stop an outbreak?

I think you can understand a man in his position not wanting to stir up a fuss.

To be frank with you, Miss Robertson, in my work, upsetting the apple cart is the bulk of my job.

Nobody likes to see me coming.

Do you think there's any relation between the cases?

(exhales) It's fishy.

Your type don't see much of this sort of thing.

In the tenements, six cases would have blown up to 60 in a couple weeks and we'd know what we have.

But uptown, it's sneaky.

It don't spread.

It hops, picking places to land.

Then you'll investigate?

Something giving rich folks a poor folks' disease?

It needs a look.

I'll call on the family and make my inquiries.

I'll come with you.

I've been above 14th Street before, miss.

I don't need a guide. (laughs)

But you'll need an ambassador to get in the door.

Miss Robertson, I have the full power of the health department and the city of New York.

I have the authority to get into any door I want.

Perhaps so, but if you want anyone to talk to you inside those doors, you'll never speak like that to their faces.

Hey, Doc. How long has she got?

Not very.

Temperature is higher. Diarrhea is worse.

I'm worried her bowels may have perforated.

I'll have Dr. Thackery take a look.

Rhus tox?

Three times a day.

Stools?

My first concern was when the fat globules showed up and then the blood.

You think it's just the treatment?

No, her weak pulse and everything you're telling me suggests otherwise.

It's most likely her intestines are already perforated.

Would you give her one teaspoon of turpentine every three hours to help with the perforation?

See if that relieves some of her agony.

So you won't operate?

The risk would be too great.

But there is a procedure?

There would be no point.

The point would be to save a young girl who has her entire life ahead of her.

She's too far gone.

She would almost certainly die under the Kn*fe.

And if she did miraculously survive, her life would be grossly compromised forever.

Perforation means the loops of her intestines are sticking together.

I would have to resect large areas, which would inevitably lead to more perforations, more surgeries, more complications.

But a chance she could live is better than doing nothing.

If little Cora knew the details, even in her delirious state, I am certain that she would elect to have her own will determine if she can b*at this illness rather than die at my hands in an operating room.

(electricity humming)

Thus far we have fried the heart, crisped the aorta, and left behind a terrible puncture wound.

Yes, but it does smell pleasantly like breakfast.

So, the wire corrodes inside the artery every time.

Perhaps it's too much current.

Right, or maybe the wrong sort of wire.

Maybe copper is wrong and tin is right.

But how do we know?

Here.

It says here to"couper en dessous du ventricule."

We know that ventricule is ventricle and couper means to cut.

Right but it also means "to nick, to slice, to disconnect, or to break."

So we don't know whether we're supposed to make a small nick or cut the whole thing off.

Even the simplest words mean five things in French.

They are the worst.

(sighs)

I think we should just...

No, we don't need him.

He likely isn't as familiar with the procedure as he claims.

We're far better off without him.

Everett, he did co-author the paper.

Those people are known to exaggerate their accomplishments, Bertie.

(sighs)

(knock on door)

One second.

Yes?

Do you have a moment, Doctor?

Ah, Bertie the Brave and the good Knight Gallinger.

All I want to hear is that it works and you got it solved.

No, we're hopelessly lost.

But we did find something.

It's not good.

But it might be.

It concerns Edwards and the procedure he described.

We can learn it with Edwards' help, but it just might be what we had hoped.

Bertie's more of a dreamer than is good for him.

Edwards is a fraud.

Well, then, he's a fraud who's been listed as a co-author of a published paper alongside Dr. Thibaux.

Dr. Algernon C. Edwards.

Seems like we're gonna need this man after all.

No, we don't.

Calm yourself, Everett. You'll do the procedure.

All we'll have him do is talk you through it.

He'll never lay a hand on your patient.

Very well.

Schedule says you're doing a skin graft on a syphilitic this afternoon.

Yes.

You need assistance?

No. I'll be fine.

In fact, you interrupted my preparations.

Of course.

Open or closed?

Closed.

Hello.

Welcome back.

(inhales sharply)

Dr. Edwards, you're needed downstairs.

I'm in the middle of a procedure.

I ain't asking.

I told you to stay home.

I can't lose my job.

sh*t, he ain't the only one. I told you this was a bad idea.

Just help me get him to the operating table.

And then fetch Miss Odom and Mrs. Gamble from the laundry.

Right, 'cause they ain't gonna be wondering why the coal man is running around upstairs.

Just go!

Thackery: Yeager's needle and silk.

Nurse Baker?

Steady at 82.

She's got beautiful hair.

That color, what I wouldn't give.

I want to get underneath to add some sutures to strengthen the graft.

Could you slightly lift the flap to allow me access below?

Gently. Gently.

Lucy says you knew her, Dr. Thackery.

She must have been lovely.

Please refer to her as Nurse Elkins.

Baker: My apologies, Nurse Elkins.

Okay, now the top. Smaller gauge needle, please.

Baker: Usually it's the streetwalkers, but she's no prost*tute.

Not with those nails. This is a lady.

This is a patient, nothing more.

Baker: I just meant that your heart breaks for a good woman who's in a bad way.

Must be awful to wear the shame on your face for people to see.

Nurse Baker, another word from you about anything other than the job at hand, and I will sew your mouth and nostrils shut and happily watch you asphyxiate.

(crank rattling)

He tore it all open and then some.

Blood is coming from everywhere.

We've got to stop it now.

I'm gonna clamp as much as I can and then you follow behind me and sew everything you see that's got blood coming out of it.

His pulse, Mrs. Gamble.

He's still got one.

Close enough.

That's good, Miss Odom. You're doing just fine.

I'm gonna run out of thread.

Where do you keep it?

Right back there.

There ain't none.

Why didn't you tell me we were running low?

I just did.

God damn it.

I do laundry.

You want a nurse, you go hire one.

Okay, okay. Just keep suturing with what you have left and I... I'll be right back.

Excuse me. A slight emergency in the outdoor clinic.

I just need some silk.

Thackery: Edwards, we're operating on Mr. Gatchell in the morning.

We're gonna need you in the operating theater.

We're doing your galvanic procedure.

Ah, will you be assisting me?

No, I'll be assisting Gallinger.

It's his patient.

What will I be doing?

Just talking him through the procedure.

That's all.

His pulse, Mrs. Gamble?

It don't feel like it did before.

It's different.

How different?

Not so strong. Kind of back and forth.

I get it, then I don't.

Keep sewing. There's one there, one there, and I'll take that one there.

Gamble: Now it's gone again.

Come on, Mr. Cockrell.

Is it back yet?

No.

And he ain't breathing no more either.

Anything?

No.

I think he dead.

sh*t!

What should we do with him?

Drop him in the bushes on Murray Hill.

Someone will find him.

That really was like trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

What was the point?

She'll look better.

She'll always be alone.

Ruined and diseased.

What kind of a future does she have?

Maybe more than she did.

"No medicine in the world can do thee good."

In the blackest darkness, even a dim light is better than no light at all.

Who said that?

I just did.

Mrs. Hemming: But I thought you said operating was too risky.

Well, sometimes all the options aren't immediately apparent.

I'd like to try stitching together two pieces of Cora's gut to a fold in her peritoneum.

It might give her a chance.

Do I have your permission?

Of course.

I'll have the nurses begin preparing her.

(knocks)

Where is Cora Hemming? Why didn't anyone fetch me?

Baker: Dr. Thackery took her to surgery about an hour ago.

You'll be very happy to know, Miss Robertson... we got lucky.

(sawing)

(fire roaring)

(people chatting)

(woman laughs)

(woman laughs)

Far away. (laughs)

Man: Yeah, I've been lots of places.

Around the world and back again.

(laughs)

Like where?

Delaware.

Yeah, plenty good folk down there.

I got kin in Tennessee.

I've been there a bunch, too.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Got a real sojourner over here.

You know what it's like in Memphis?

No.

Hot.

A regular Rudyard Kipling.

You have something to say to me?

No.

I just didn't realize that around the world and back again meant anywhere you could get to in a few days on a horse.

Shut your mouth.

Or I'll shut it for you.

I'd like to see that.

(distorted music playing)