Orderly and Vanessa in “Unfinished Business”

Miss Ives, if you don't start showing signs of improvement, he'll turn to surgery.

Vanessa

Let him.

You don't know what you're saying.

Vanessa

I'll sing as he cuts me open.

Listen to me! They'll start by cutting your hair off and shaving your head. Then they'll sedate you. Then they'll strap you to a table. Then he'll use a drill to open up your skull. It's not a medical thing - it's a drill for woodworking. Then he'll put a clamp on your skull and crack it open. Then he'll start cutting things out. I see the results. That's where my job starts again. You'll have lost the ability to control your body. You'll shit and piss yourself, and I'll clean it up. If you're lucky, that part will come back to you, but not much else, if I'm honest. Sometimes, they can't open their eyes or hear. It varies. Do you know what they are, all of them? A broken thing. Not a tiger, not a flower, not a clump of earth, not even a blade of grass. Miss Ives, you have to get better! [she shakes her head] Then pretend! Be like everyone else. Do what he wants you to do!

Vanessa

I've tried.

Is it that important to be different? To have such specialness inside you?

Vanessa

Would you want your son to be anything but what he is?

I want him to be happy.

Vanessa

What if he's not? Would you want him to pretend?

[pause] No.

Vanessa

Then don't ask it of me.