ANNOUNCER: Billie the Blue Bear!
SCRAP (Voice-over): Billie was a former prostitute out of East Berlin.
Had a reputation for being the dirtiest fighter in the ranks.
(Crowd cheering)
Didn't matter to her, something like that could kill a person.
(Cheering)
And the crowds loved her.
He turned it down without even telling her.
The next was to fight the British champ, a Jamaican girl Billie just beat.
Hello?
Not interested.
(Voice-over): He turned that down too.
That's a lot of money, boss.
Yeah. You're making money. What're you still working here for?
It's a title match, right?
Are you British? It's a title you can't take away.
She's got nothing to lose, you got nothing to win.
Might still be a good fight.
Yeah. I ju... I just brought you up to welterweight.
Too good to fight these contenders, you'd rather fight some bullshit champ?
Didn't notice I was fighting any contenders.
Well, you can get yourself another manager any time you want.
In fact, if you'd learnt to protect your face a little better,
I wouldn't have to turn down this money.
My face out there so much, it's a miracle I ain't been knocked out yet, boss.
(Slow, lyrical melody playing)
Now you can't work here anymore tonight.
I made us a reservation.
You um...
You might want to shower.
(Panting)
(Sighs)
Here you go.
What's this?
Well, ain't no big secret what you're wishing for.
Go on and blow.
Thank you.
33 ain't so old.
I was still fighting at 39.
Fought for 23 years.
How's it going, Scrap?
Ah, doin' good, Mickey.
Doin' good.
What are you having?
Coffee.
You two not speaking?
Don't hardly know him.
I met Frankie right after my 37th birthday.
He was picking up cut work.
He used to patch me up when I thought it was impossible.
Good man to have in your corner.
Yes, he is.
He stayed with me through my last fight in San Berdoo.
My manager was off getting drunk somewhere and...
it was just Frankie and me.
I was taking a hellacious beating.
(Chuckles)
Everybody's got a particular number of fights in 'em.
Nobody tells you what that number is.
Mine was 109.
I just didn't want to admit it.
Fourth round, this...
this cut opens up.
Blood starts pouring into my eye.
They should've stopped the fight,
but, hell, I was a black man in San Berdoo -
blood was what I was there for.
Round after round, I kept getting Frankie to patch me up.
He's talking about throwing in the towel,
but he ain't my manager, he can't throw in nothing.
Round after round, he's arguing with me.
And I'm almost laughing,
cos, hell, it's getting more to him than to me.
I go 15 rounds, lose by decision.
Next morning, I lose the eye.
In 23 years, he's never said a thing about it.
Doesn't have to. I can see it in his face every time he looks at me.
Somehow...
Frankie thinks he should've stopped that fight.
Should've saved my eye.
Spends his life wishing he could take back that 109th fight.
See, I wanted to go to 110. (Chuckles)
Thing is...
...if you want to get to the title...
...maybe he's not the one to take you there.
You tell Mr. Mack we'd be here tonight?
(Money rustling)
Go on and eat your cupcake.
No. I got it.
(Voice-over): It's the rule - always protect yourself.
People never take their own advice.
If she was going to leave Frankie
better she did it to him then.
Mr. Mickey Mack?
I'm Maggie Fitzgerald.
I hear you're a... a real good manager.
Doing, uh, good things for Big Willie.
But I thought you should know I ain't never leaving Mr. Dunn,
so you don't need to make any more excuses to bump into me.
Sorry for interrupting your dinner.
(Voice-over): Maggie always did like taking 'em out in the first round.
(Slow, lyrical melody plays)
SCRAP (Voice-over): The letters always came back marked the same way "Return to Sender".
I will uh... make you some coffee.
What are you doing with your money?
Saving it.
Good girl.
You know, you save enough of it, you ought to get yourself a little house.
Cash, no mortgage.
It'll be a while 'fore I can do that.
Yeah, well, it might be a stretch,
but, uh, you gotta get yourself a place of your own.
Go around wasting it on things that don't matter, what do you got?
You understand?
Pretty soon, you wait long enough, you got nothing.
OK soon as I get the money.
Well, I made a lot of mistakes in my life. I'm just trying to keep you from doing the same.
I know, boss.
I'm not gonna live forever.
What is it?
It's a tape on that girl in England you're gonna fight.
If you're gonna go for the title, we got moves to...
Hey, hey! Get the hell down. You know how old I am.
Oh, thank you, boss. Thank you so much.
You're welcome, darling.
Now, just, here let me put this in... in the machine.
What machine?
Don't have a TV, huh?
No.
(Grunting) Yeah!
(Grunting)
All right. OK.
Ten minutes, love.
Thank you.
Man says he loves me.
Well, he's probably not the first one to say that.
First since my daddy.
I win, you think he'll propose?
You win, I'll propose.
Look, I've got you a gift here.
I- I think they gave you somebody else's.
No, no. This is it.
What's it mean?
I don't know.
Something in Gaelic.
It's beautiful.
Yeah. I thought so.
Yeah.
Real silk thread.
(Applause)
ANNOUNCER: From the United States of America the challenger Maggie Fitzgerald!
Hey! Yeah, yeah, "Mo cuishle. "
"Mo cuishle"!
(Crowd cheering)
SCRAP (Voice-over): She wasn't the main attraction.
She was on the undercard of a middleweight title fight.
But ask someone who was there they couldn't tell you who else fought that night.
- (Bell dings) - Box!
(Crowd shouting, cheering)
(Cheering)
Come on, Mo cuishle!
Mo cuishle!
(Chanting) Mo cuishle! Mo cuishle!
Mo cuishle!
(Chanting continues)
(Bell dings)
(Chanting continues)
(Panting) She's tough.
I can't get inside. I can't get close enough to hit her.
- You know why that is? - Why?
She's a better fighter than you are, that's why.
She's younger, she's stronger, and she's more experienced.
Now, what are you going to do about it?
(Panting)
(Crowd whistles, cheers)
Get in there.
(Bell dings) - Box!
(Crowd exclaims)
(Crowd shouts)
Four, five,
six, seven,
eight, nine, ten!
(Crowd cheering wildly)
(Chanting) Mo cuishle! Mo cuishle!
(Shouting, whistling)
Mo cuishle! Mo cuishle!
(Whooping)
Mo cuishle! Mo cuishle!
Mo cuishle!
(Chanting) Mo cuishle! Mo cuishle!
I could ask someone, you know?
Good.
You find out, you let me know.
SCRAP (Voice-over): Whatever it meant the name stuck.
Maggie fought in Edinburgh and Paris Brussels and Amsterdam.
It was always "Mo cuishle".
Seems there are Irish people everywhere or people who want to be.
By the time they came back to the States.
(Bell rings, applause) - Maggie was in a whole new league.
(Whistling, applause)
(Crowd yells, shouts)
(Applause, crowd roars)
(Applause, excited chatter)
(Crowd chants)... Mo cuishle! Mo cuishle, Mo cuishle...
(Chanting continues)
(Applause, whistling)
(Chanting continues)
(Whistling)
Mo cuishle, Mo cuishle! Mo cuishle, Mo cuishle!
(Applause, cheering)
SCRAP (Voice-over): After that they got another offer to fight for the title.
(Crowd cheering in distance)
- What's the split? - 60-40.
Good.
We'll take 60, and you take 40, being as that Maggie's the draw.
Ugh! That little girl?
You think I'm wrong? Really?
You think people are saying that they want to see
some scabby Kraut beat up on little Miss What's-Her-Name?
You find someone who says that, and we'll take the 40.
Auf Wiedersehen.
(Laughing)
Well, they're at 60-40, but they'll come up to 50-50.
How's that girl doing?
Well, she's got a concussion and a broken eardrum.
She'll be all right?
And if she isn't?
Maybe I should send her something.
Well, you could send her your cheque, if you'd like. I'm sure she'd take it.
Boss?
That little house we talked about?
I bought it.
Well, smart girl.
For my mama.
It's only about a mile from where she lives now.
No mortgage, just like you said.
You're a good daughter.
She don't know about it yet.
I was hoping maybe we could stay an extra day, drive over there?
I know she wants to meet you.
Yeah. We could do that.
Oh, my God.
Mama, come on out here. Mary M's here.
This is the Johnson’s old house.
Not anymore.
It's all yours, Mama. For you and Mardell and the kids.
Mary M, you bought this for me?
Yeah, all yours, free and clear!
Darling.
There's no fridge. No stove, neither.
They'll be here before you move in.
EARLINE: How much money did this cost you?
You never mind that.
- Oh, you shouldn't have done this. - You need a decent place.
You shouldn't have done it! You should've asked me first!
Darling, government's gonna find out about this house, they'll stop my welfare.
- Mama, no, they ain't. - Yeah, they are. You're fine, you're working,
but I can't live without my welfare.
Mama, I-I send you money.
EARLINE: What about my medicine? Medicaid gonna cut me off.
How am I supposed to get my medicine?
I'll send you more money.
I hope you don't expect JD to move in here with us.
He's getting out, you know.
EARLINE: Why didn't you just give me the money?
(Laughs)
Why'd you have to buy me a house?
(Baby cries)
Didn't have to, Mama.
But it's yours.
You want the money, sell it.
(Sighs)
I don't...
I know you didn't mean nothing hurtful by this,
but sometimes you just don't think things through.
That's true, Mama.
I'll try and keep the house. I just worry about all those expenses.
I'll send you some more money.
(Chuckles)
(Baby crying)
That man hitting you?
- It's from the fight. - Oh.
I'm a fighter, Mama.
Find a man, Mary M.
Live proper.
People hear about what you're doing, and they laugh.
Hurts me to tell you, but they... they laugh at you.
(Laughing)
(Baby gurgles)
Hi.
(Engine starting)
You ever own a dog?
Nope.
Closest I ever came was a middleweight from Barstow.
(Laughs)
My daddy had a German shepherd, Axel.
Axel's hindquarters were so bad,
he had to drag himself room to room by his front legs.
Me... Me and Mardell'd bust up laughing,
watching him scoot across the kitchen floor.
Daddy, he was so sick by then, he couldn't hardly stand himself,
but one morning, he got up and carried Axel to his rig,
and the two of them went off into the woods, singing and howling.
But wasn't till he got home that night, alone,
that I saw the... the shovel in the back of the truck.
(Chuckles)
Sure miss watching the two of them together.
I got nobody but you, Frankie.
Well, you've got me.
At least, that is, until we find you a good manager.
(Laughs quietly)
Hey, can we stop just up here?
Yeah.
This place has the best lemon pie around.
None of that canned filling crap.
(Talking quietly)
Huh.
Wow.
Mmm.
Mm.
- Now I can die and go to heaven. - (Laughs quietly)
Mmm.
I used to come here with Daddy.
Wonder if a place like this is for sale.
I got a little bit of savings.
That's fine. Fine, thanks.
Hey, what the hell's Danger looking at?
Looks like another bottle of water.
Want to come to Vegas with us?
Watch you suffer over the nickel slots? Uh-uh.
My heart can't take that kind of pounding.
Well, she's got a title shot.
The Blue Bear.
Million dollars, split right down the centre.
Oh, that's good, Frankie. That's real good.
Well, I could use a good second. Can't find one. I thought I'd ask you.
Why the hell would I want to do that?
Well, cos you're a half-blind old fool who never got there himself.
I thought you might like to feel what it's like to be in the ring on a title match.
Excuse me for feeling sorry for you.
Nah, you... you pick up somebody there in Vegas.
Somebody with young hands.
Well, you're not gonna cry now, are you? I've already got one girl.
(Laughing)
I leave this place for one day,
got any idea what it would look like when I come back?
Kind of like it looks right now.
Oh, go to hell.
You tell Maggie don't come back here without a belt.
Will do.
Hey, Mr. Scrap.
Mm-hm?
I got a question, but I feel real stupid asking it.
No such thing as a stupid question there, Danger.
OK.
How'd you get all the ice in here through this little tiny hole?
I been thinking on it.
Can't figure it out.
Why don't I show you, Danger?
Oh, you could do that? You could show me?
I think so.
Also, Mr. Scrap, I was kind of thinking I might be ready for a fight.
Oh, you do, do you?
- Well, I got the tickets. You ready? - We're flying?
Would you rather drive?
You're asking me?
Would you rather fly, or would you rather drive?
So, I finally get to decide something?
That's what I'm saying.
Fine.
Fly there, drive back.
That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.
How the hell we gonna do that?
You said it was up to me.
Give 'em hell there, Danger.
Hey, Old School, the toilet's overflowing.
SHAWRELLE: Hey Flippy Come here for a minute.
Aw, Jesus.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
- (Door creaks) - Aw... (Angry shout)
(Water gushing)
Dumb-ass.
(Grunting)
Could be sitting up at The Mirage...
drinking mai-tais...
looking at naked women.
Come on. Put up your hands.
(Blows thudding, grunting)
OMAR: Time to get out of there.
Fight back. Come on!
- Back with the left, man. Come on. - Hey!
SHAWRELLE: Come on Flip. What you doing? Let him go.
All right, OK, I've gotcha now.
Come on, come on, come on.
(Danger groans)
- Don't need no corner training. - How'd I do, Mr. Scrap?
You did good, Danger. You did real good.
You my man. You a rock.
Oh, come on, Flip, man, you ain't done. You ain't even fight good yet.
(Laughs)
Anybody can lose one fight. Anybody can lose one, son.
You'll come back from this, be champion of the world.
(Laughs)
No, I won't, Mr. Scrap.
I should've knowed.
Come on Old School man. We don't need to be taught.
Oh, no, I can do her, just untie the Velcro for me.
- All right. (Danger wheezing)
Hey, come on, don't take the gloves off, man. You ain't even used them, Danger.
Mind if I... borrow this, Danger?
Oh man! I thought your name was Danger.
Come on now.
Oh, oh, I see. Now I get to fight a retard and a old man.
Call ESPN cos you can't write this shit.
(Laughing)
(Grunting)
Look out, Shawrelle.
Easy, Shawrelle.
(Panting)
One hundred and ten.
Get a job, punk.
(Groans)
Win this one, I'll tell you what it means.
I got you some pipers.
(Bagpipes playing)
(Crowd cheering)
(Chanting) Mo cuishle, mo cuishle,
mo cuishle, mo cuishle!
(Chanting continues)
(Crowd cheering)
(Chanting continues)
(Crowd booing)
I want you to jab her right in the tits until they turn blue and fall off.
(Crowd cheering)
RING ANNOUNCER (on TV): Ladies and gentlemen,
this is the feature presentation of the evening.
In this corner, the challenger, Maggie Fitzgerald,
in the red corner.
In the blue corner,
the WBA Welterweight Champion of the world, Billie "The Blue Bear. "
(Crowd booing)
Sweet Jesus.
(Bell rings)
CROWD: Mo cuishle! Mo cuishle!
Fitzgerald is pushing the Blue Bear round the ring She's coming out strong.
Challenger darts in, lands a combination to the head and the body.
Ooh and a right hook stuns the champ.
Break it up.
Break it!
You do that one more time, it'll cost you a point, do you hear me?
OK, go fight.
(Crowd booing)
Come on! What the fuck?
All right, that's it. I'm going to take away a point.
One point deduction off the blue corner.
Ref!
(Bell rings)
(Crowd booing)
Ladies and gentlemen the first round is in the books in this championship match.
(Panting)
OK.
- Open it. - Here you go.
You pull that crap one more time, you're disqualified.
(Whistling)
It's going to be all right.
Got no doubt, boss.
OK.
OK, you just watch yourself.
Stay away from this dame.
Come on.
(Bell rings)
Go to the neutral corner. Neutral corner.
Stay down, bitch.
Seven, eight, nine...
(Crowd shouting)
Break it! Break it up. Break it! Break it!
(Crowd booing)
Fitzgerald continues to pummel the Blue Bear, the East German champion.
(Crowd shouting)
(Bell rings)
(Grunts) I got it, I got it.
Eyes are blurring, boss.
- How many eyes you need to finish this fight? - One's enough.
Now, what do I do about the Bear?
All right, you know that step into the outside and hook into the liver?
- I been doing that. She's made of steel. - But I don't want you to go to the liver this time.
Hit her right up under her skinny ass.
Understand? Right in the sciatic nerve.
Just keep digging it in there, digging it in, and keep sticking her. You hear that?
What about the ref?
Keep yourself between the ref and the Bear, and everything'll just be fine.
This is yours. You keep it going. You keep it up.
OK.
(Bell rings)
(Crowd shouting)
CROWD: Mo cuishle! Mo cuishle!
(crowd quiets)
Get the doctor!
Come on. Breathe.
That's it. Breathe.
Good Just look at me. Concentrate on me.
Breathe.
Good.
That's it. That's it.
Breathe. Good.
(Monitor beeping)
(Murmurs)
(Monitor beeping)
FRANKIE: How you feeling darling?
(Weakly) Growing a beard, boss?
Yeah, I thought it might help me with the ladies.
Can't say it does.
(Monitor beeping)
Does it... Does it hurt much?
Don't hurt at all.
Well, that's good.
Where's Frankie?
Well, he's, uh...
He's out there talking to the doctors.
Probably telling them how to do their job.
They're telling him I'm a C1 and C2 complete.
Means that my spinal cord's so broke, they'll never be able to fix it.
Gonna be frozen like this the rest of my life.
I asked them to tell him. I don't know how he's going to take it.
Did you see the fight?
(Sighs) Course I did.
You had her cold, Maggie.
Well, I shouldn't have dropped my hands.
I shouldn't have turned.
Always protect myself.
How many times he tell me that?
Yeah, he... does like to repeat himself.
Will you tell him I'm real sorry?
No.
I won't do no such thing, Maggie.
(Swallows)
Damnedest thing.
So, what's the plan?
I know you got one, so you might as well tell me what it is.
It's your fault.
Yeah, it's your fault she's lying in there like that.
You kept after me until I trained her.
I knew I shouldn't have done it, her being a girl and all.
Everything kept telling me not to.
Everything but you.
I'm gonna get you out of here.
These doctors around here don't know squat.
Otherwise, why would they be living out here in the desert?
As soon as you're able to be moved,
we'll find someplace where they've actually studied medicine.
You just rest there, I'll...
I'm on it.
SCRAP (Voice-over): Frankie must've called every hospital in America,
looking for somebody who'd tell him they could fix her.
He came close twice, till they checked her over,
said there was nothing to be done.
Took two months till she was stable enough to move.
They got nurses for that you know.
Yeah, but they're amateurs.
SCRAP (Voice-over): She developed skin ulcers because she couldn't change positions.
(Labored breathing)
(Quietly) Thank you.
SCRAP (Voice-over): They made the six-hour trip by ambulance.
Fly there, drive back.
SCRAP (Voice-over): The rehab centre was a nice place.
They took good care of Maggie.
She wouldn't have complained if they hadn't
Took several hours every day to get her ready for the wheelchair.
NURSE: Two, three.
One, two, three.
Ow...
SCRAP (Voice-over): Since she couldn't breathe on her own,
her respirators were always on.
Oxygen was pumped into her 24 hours a day.
(Tube crackling)
Maggie's mama called to say they were all coming for a visit.
She waited by the window every day for the next two weeks.
You sure?
SCRAP (Voice-over): Frankie finally tracked them down,
learned they'd checked into their hotel six days earlier.
Kept leaving messages which were never returned.
You don't have to hang around all day.
Oh... I like it here.
I don't mind.
In fact, if you weren't here, I'd come here anyway, to read my books.
Mama'll be here soon, share some of the burden.
Well, it's no burden.
Here.
Read this.
"Ach gra fir oig...?"
(Inhaling deeply)
"E bhreoigh go... "
OK, OK, that's enough.
That's terrible.
Anyway, I'll tell you in English what you were saying.
It says, "I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
and a small cabin built there, of clay and wattles made.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings. "
Not bad, huh?
You gonna build a cabin, boss?
Me?
Yeah.
(Inhaling deeply)
You know, when you quit all this.
You mean boxing?
No. I'll never quit. I...
I like the stink too much, I guess.
You think? Cos I could see you there real easy, with your books and lemon pie.
How 'bout you? Would you like to go live in a cabin?
I could learn how to bake.
Eh, well, then, I'll...
maybe I'll start looking, then.
(Quiet, steady breathing)
Yeah.
Hi. I'm Frankie Dunn. I met you back out in Missouri.
Where's my little girl?
Don't you think you ought to go back to the hotel and change?
She doesn't know you've been here a week visiting Woody and Mickey.
We got business with my sister. Why don't you just tell us where she is?
You must be JD and you must be the business guy.
Look, there's some rides you missed.
You just go on back, I'll tell her you couldn't make it.
I drove all the way here to take care of my child,
and you're suggesting I'm not a good mother?
Mary M can't go nowhere.
If we could've taken her to Disneyland, we would've.
Margaret Fitzgerald?
Right down here. 301.
- Come on, Mama. - Let's go.
EARLINE: (Laughs) I saw myself breathing.
Like my body was going up and down.
I thought "Well why didn't somebody tell me?".
(Laughter)
Your hair needs washing, it's kind of greasy.
It's uh... just a...
Just some kind of legal thing.
MAGGIE: What is it?
FRANKIE: How we all doing here?
EARLINE: Sorry, darlin', but we ain't got a lot of time.
Mr. Johnson’s charging us a lot of money to be here to make sure this is done proper.
Why don't you just leave that? I'll read it to her later.
Hey, old man,
you part of our family?
Stay the hell out of this.
Read it to me, Mama.
Well, it's just something legal, to protect your money.
Mama, you don't have to worry.
The Boxing Commission's paying for all this. Everything.
But what if they don't, Mary M?
Mr. Johnson says they can take my house.
If you assign your assets to your mother, no one can touch them.
No doctors, no funeral expenses.
Nothing.
Look, why don't you just leave it, and then I'll just read it to her...
Mr. Dunn, with respect, this ain't your business.
All right. I'll be out in the hall.
You been a good daughter, Mary M.
You sign that paper, it'll... take care of your family, the...
the way your daddy would've wanted you to.
Uh...
How do you make your mark?
(Chuckles) Can you hold a pen?
She got to do it with her teeth, Mama.
- Huh? - You got to put it in her mouth.
Here you go, honey.
(Inhales slowly)
Did you see the fight, Mama?
Honey, you know how I feel about that.
I did pretty good.
You lost, Mary M.
Ain't your fault, the way I heard it, but you lost.
Don't want to lose the rest of what you got left.
(Whispers) There you go.
What happened to you?
Well, what's that supposed to mean?
(Chuckles)
Mama, you take Mardell and JD and get home.
'Fore I tell that lawyer there that you were so worried about your welfare,
you never signed those house papers like you were supposed to.
So anytime I feel like it, I can sell that house from under your fat, lazy, hillbilly asses.
(Maggie inhales slowly)
And if you ever come back, that's exactly what I'll do.
(Earline sobs)
(Sobbing)
(Earline gasps loudly)
Well, maybe... someone ought to count to ten.
Don't smell real pretty, does it, Doc?
We might have to lose it, Maggie.
They took my leg, boss.
(Quietly) Yeah.
It's gonna be all right, you hear?
I always hear your voice, boss.
(Maggie inhales slowly)
(Slow, steady breathing)
You need anything?
Need to know what "Mo cuishle" means.
Oh. Well, you didn't win.
I don't have to tell you.
You're the meanest man I ever met.
No wonder no-one loves you.
You remind me of my daddy.
Well, he must've been a...
very intelligent, handsome man.
You ain't gonna make me talk no more Yeats, are you?
No, I was...
...looking at this catalogue from City College.
I thought I'd get you a wheelchair, maybe the...
the kind that operates by blowing through a straw.
I thought maybe you'd like to go back to school.
I got a favor to ask you, boss.
Sure.
Anything you want.
Remember what my daddy did for Axel?
Don't even think about that.
I can't be like this, Frankie.
Not after what I done.
I seen the world.
People chanted my name.
Well...
...not my name, some damn name you gave me.
But they were chanting for me.
I was in magazines.
You think I ever dreamed that'd happen?
I was born two pounds, one-and-a-half ounces.
Daddy used to tell me I fought to get into this world...
...and I'd fight my way out.
That's all I want to do, Frankie.
I just don't wanna fight you to do it.
I got what I needed.
I got it all.
Don't let 'em keep taking it away from me.
Don't let me lie here till I can't hear those people chanting no more.
I can't.
Please.
Please don't ask me.
I'm askin'.
I can't.
(Phone ringing)
(Ringing continues)
Hello?
SCRAP (Voice-over): In the middle of the night Maggie'd found her own solution.
She'd bit her tongue.
Stop. Stop.
(Wheezing groan)
Look at me. Look at me.
(Wheezing)
SCRAP (Voice-over): Nearly bled to death before they stitched her up.
She came round and ripped 'em out before Frankie even got there.
They stitched her up again,
padded the tongue so she couldn't bite.
You can't do it. You know that.
I do, Father.
But you don't know how thick she is, how hard it was to train her.
Other fighters'd do exactly what you say to 'em and...
and she'd ask why this and why that and then do it her own way, anyway.
How she fought for the title, I...
It wasn't by anything...
Well, it wasn't by listening to me.
But that... (Sighs)
But now she wants to die,
and I just want to keep her with me.
(Sighs) Oh.
And I swear to God, Father, it's...
it's committing a sin by doing it.
By keeping her alive, I'm killing her.
Know what I mean?
How do I get around that?
You don't.
You step aside, Frankie.
You leave her with God.
She's not asking for God's help; she's asking for mine.
Frankie, I've seen you at Mass almost every day for 23 years.
The only person comes to church that much
is the kind who can't forgive himself for something.
Whatever sins you're carrying,
they're nothing compared to this.
Forget about God...
or Heaven and Hell.
If you do this thing, you'll be lost...
...somewhere so deep...
(Sighs)
...you'll never find yourself again.
(Sighs)
(Sniffs)
(Very quietly) I think I did it already.
We're keeping her sedated so she won't try that again.
(Steady breathing)
I went to see Maggie this morning.
You must've been somewhere else.
Yeah.
You got a fight I don't know about?
It wasn't your fault.
I was wrong to say that.
You're damn right.
I found you a fighter,
and you made her the best fighter she could be.
I killed her.
Don't say that.
Maggie walked through that door with nothing but guts.
No chance in the world of being what she needed to be.
A year and a half later, she's fighting for the championship of the world.
You did that.
People die every day Frankie,
mopping floors washing dishes.
And you know what their last thought is?
"I never got my shot. "
Because of you, Maggie got her shot.
If she dies today, you know what her last thought will be?
"I think I did all right. "
I know I could rest with that.
(Quietly) Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
NURSE: I'm gonna get a cup of coffee.
Yeah.
All right.
I'm gonna disconnect your air machine,
then you're gonna go to sleep.
Then I'll give you a shot, and you'll...
stay asleep.
"Mo cuishle"...
...means "my darling, my blood. "
(Opens bag)
(Weak, raspy breathing)
SCRAP (Voice-over): He gave her a single shot.
It was enough adrenaline to do the job a few times over.
He didn't want her going through this again.
(Machine flatlines)
(Kisses)
SCRAP (Voice-over): Then he walked out.
I don't think he had anything left.
SCRAP (Voice-over): I went back to the gym
and waited, figuring he'd turn up sooner or later.
(Door opens and closes)
SCRAP (Voice-over): And that's when a ghost came through the door.
I got to thinking what you said, Mr. Scrap.
What was that, Danger?
Anybody can lose one fight.
That's the truth.
Go on, put the gloves on.
You missed a lot of training.
Will do, Mr. Scrap. Sure thing.
(Grunts)
SCRAP (Voice-over): Frankie never came back at all.
SCRAP (Voice-over): Frankie didn't leave a note and nobody knew where he went.
I'd hoped he'd gone to find you
and ask you one more time to forgive him,
but maybe he didn't have anything left in his heart.
I just hope he found someplace where he could find a little peace.
A place set in the cedars and oak trees.
Somewhere between nowhere and goodbye.
But that's probably wishful thinking.
No matter where he is I thought you should know what kind of man your father really was.
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