Recording!
Don't look at me, this was your idea.
Today is January the seventh.
This is my first diary entry.
This is a video-book,
and everything I write down here...
I'm going to record on this video
so my memory will live forever.
What you do that for!!!
Go and fix it.
Me?! You go and fix it.
Actually, the idea
for the video book wasn't mine,
it was Mrs Willis...
though everything really began
a long time before that...
the afternoon I came home.
Five facts about me.
One, my name's Sam;
two, I'm twelve years old;
three, I collect stories
and fantastic facts;
four, I have leukemia.
And five: by the time you see this,
I'll probably be dead.
Sam
It's your new room.
So you don't have
to climb the stairs...
This diary is a collection
of stories, images,
questions and facts...
and it's also my story.
Good.
As for the way I look;
Mohave hair.
Last year it all fell out
because of the medicine I was taking,
but it's grown back.
It's brown...light brown.
I've got green eyes.
I've got tons of bruises.
It's not my fault,
it's what happens
when you get leukemia.
Oh!, I forgot.
I have a birth mark the shape
of a four-leaf clover on my knee,
but it doesn't grant any wishes.
What's the point of being ill
if I have to study?
It's our first day, Felix.
And it could be our last.
So?
Doesn't it say anything
to you at all?
The question has gnawed away
at humanity for centuries...
How no to dying.
Come on then, think of ways
to live forever.
Get turned into a vampire,
and that's you.
As long as you don't run
into Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Very good, Sam?
Get them to freeze you.
Then in hundreds of years time
a company will find a cure
for cancer and the secret
of eternal life,
and then they can defrost you.
What a load of rubbish.
The safest way is
to copy your brain onto a hard disk
and live eternally on a computer...
and hope you don't get a virus.
Over the centuries,
humans have discovered
that living forever isn't possible,
but there is something eternal
we can leave behind.
Works of art.
Mrs. Willis told us about
how works of art lodge themselves
into people's hearts.
She told us we should write
something about ourselves.
I know you both like to read,
she said to us.
We like reading because
there was no telly in the hospital.
My sister Ella is seven.
My Mum called me Sam 'cause
of Samson from the Bible,
and my Dad chose Ella
for my sister after an Aunt of his.
They didn't realise Sam n' Ella together
sounds just like...salmonella.
Is Sam still sick?
She asks too many questions.
Sam isn't going to the hospital anymore.
He's going to stay at home with us.
So, why isn't he going to school?
I don't have to go back
to the hospital or to school,
because I'm going to die.
Darling, don't say that.
Dying is the most waffle thing
in the world.
No one knows anything.
You ask them questions
and they cough and change the subject.
If I grow up, I'm going
to be a scientist.
I'm going to work out the answers
to all these questions no one answers.
Now I'm going to give
some information about my illness.
People say I've got leukemia,
but I like to say I have granular,
spheroidal globules.
Some guy called John Hughes
Bennett discovered leukemia.
In 1850, he looked at some kid's blood
through a microscope
and said it was full of colorless,
granular, spheroidal globules.
They were white blood cells,
but nobody knew that back then.
The reason it took so long
to diagnose children
was that they didn't used
to let kids into hospitals,
'cause they thought they carried
infections... very weird, isn't it?
It's working!
I did tell you it wasn't going to work.
Let's go get it.
Have you thought about what I said
about writing something
about yourselves?
I don't think me enjoying reading
has anything to do with
writing something about myself.
I think it has a lot,
much more than you think.
Books are just about kids
saving the world
or getting beaten up at school.
Who's going to be interested
in my story?
The tragic story of Sam Mac Queen.
A poor, frail, child
who struggles against
terrible suffering and has to
put up with hospitals with no television.
Bulldogging!
Goodbye friends, loved ones..
Don't forget to put my glasses
on me at my funeral.
There will be no dying in the sand.
Come on!
I'd be interested
in your story, Sam.
Anyway, what does
she know about hospitals.
Felix is right.
We're real experts
when it comes to hospitals.
In fact, we met in one.
Wow...that was close!
Why are you hiding?
I'm going to the shop.
Where youd get them from?
The machine in my uncle's pub...
but I've run out.
Smoking is bad for you,
it can kill you.
Sure.
If I manage to get past them,
I might be able to get somebody
to buy me a packet downstairs.
You know, tell them my last dying
wish on earth is for a cigarette.
That won't work.
You'd be better saying
you have a very rich,
dying uncle who will give a reward
to whoever buys him some smokes.
Sure.
Coming then?
Is his last wish.
My uncle is a very rich man,
and he'd be willing
to give you a tidy sum
of money if you help him.
No, it's not my sister.
It's the surgeon who's going
to operate on her.
His hands won't stop shaking
and a cigarette would do wonders
for his nerves.
I've got withdrawal symptoms.
In my state, it's very dangerous
to give up smoking.
Don't believe everything
they tell you, son.
I smoked like a chimney
and they said I was going to die,
I'm 95 years old,
and I stopped smoking
It's a school assignment.
I have to check how many people
in a cancer ward would accept a cigarette.
You could do a questionnaire.
A boy in the children's ward asked me
to get them for him.
If I don't, he's going
to beat us up.
Questions nobody answers number 1:
how do you know when you've died?
All the information you're about
to hear has been taken
Near-death experiences:
the case against,
by Felix Stranger.
The flaw in the theory is
that people don't actually die.
They're just people whose brains have
gone funny because of a shortage
of oxygen or cause they're
on some weird drugs.
If they're for real, why does it
only happen in America?
And how come only nice things happen?
It's just people wanting to be famous.
Near-death experiences:
the case in favour, by Sam McQueen.
In a near death experience,
the person actually dies.
And then comes back.
So it's obvious that everything
that happens is real.
They see real things.
For example, a woman was floating
on the ceiling and she heard
the doctors say stuff that later
she found out they'd actually said.
Good things don't always happen.
One guy felt elves poking him
with pitchforks... and Plato...
Hey! I haven't finished yet.
Near-death experiences.
Conclusions.
The best thing
about near-death experiences
is being able to go to heaven,
being famous...
and elves poking you with pitchforks.
My mum used to work in a charity.
She left her job when I got sick.
Now she takes Sundays off to go
and sing in the church choir.
I don't go because I hate people
pretending they're worried about me.
My sister Ella always goes
because she loves everybody
fussing over her.
Dad never goes.
He doesn't like talking
about my illness.
Dad is really clever,
but I could never ask him one
of my questions.
Whenever somebody brings up
the subject, Dad just coughs
or simply says We're not going
to talk about that.
We're home.
Look how quiet you two are.
What's that Sam?
Homework.
You've got lots of homework
all the sudden, haven't you?
He's been writing all morning.
If he's putting that much effort
into your homework, don't you think
it's time to go back to school?
That poor woman has been
coming here long enough.
I like Mrs. Willis.
I don't want to go back to school.
The kids all stare at me and ask
how sick I really am
and how come I get to go home
when I'm tired.
It's ridiculous.
Anyone can see
Sam is much better now.
It's silly to keep him cooped
up here with nothing to do.
I've got lots of things to do.
Dad, don't.
I'm fine here.
Daniel, don't start all that again.
Not in front of the kids.
Dad thinks I'm getting better
because they're not giving me
chemotherapy anymore.
Mum, what's the matter?
He thinks I could get cured
if I behaved like a normal kid.
Doctors can get things wrong.
Look at Sam. Just look at...
Sam!
Set down.
I hate nose bleed.
I hate them.
I hate everybody fussing.
Ella being a helpful Brownie,
passing tissues to Mum.
Mum telling me what to do like
I don't know already.
And Dad not moving,
just standing there looking at me
with that odd look on his face...
as if I was an alien...
Sam!
Sam!
Sam!
Annie Dracula!
You can leave it at Dracula.
Annie isn't really a vampire.
We call her that because
she deals in blood.
What have you been up to then?
What was I meant to say?
I've started writing a book
and record a video.
I launched a rocket.
Dad thinks I'm well again.
I kicked a football again.
Nothing.
That's it done.
For now, pirate, you've got
to take things easy.
This is a catheter.
They use it to take blood
from me and they inject
stuff in through it.
Right now they're giving me platelets.
It's a pain,
because it's always there
so I never forget I'm ill.
This is my IV stand.
Actually, I'm not tied to it,
it just looks like that.
The platelets are hooked up to it,
they come down this tube
to the catheter and they give them
to me when I've had a hemorrhage...
that's all you can say
about the subject really.
Things that I want to do before I die.
It's wonderful.
It's freezing.
Alright. So let's make a list of things
we'd like to do.
A list of wishes.
Then we'll put them in this bottle
and throw it into the sea.
So. I'll go first.
One, go to the Grand Canyon.
Two, clean out the attic.
Three learn how to make meringues,
and four, train the dog.
Train the dog?
What kind of a wish is that?
You don't know our dog.
Your turn, Felix.
Be rich and famous, nuke all doctors,
see Arabian in concert.
You've already seen Arabian in concert.
Your brother took you.
See Arabian in concert again.
Sam.
Be a famous scientist,
find things out and write about them.
Watch all the 18 rated horror films
I'm not allowed to watch.
Go up down escalators.
Ride in an airship.
Be a teenager and drink,
smoke and have girlfriends...
Ella...
See a ghost, go up in a spaceship
and see the stars, break a world record...
Are you going to do all these things?
I don't know, probably not.
We could have a shot at them,
couldn't we?
They're not things to do really.
They're more like...wishes,
not real things.
So? Mrs. Willis is going
to make meringues, isn't she?
Why can't we watch horror films?
My brother's got tons in his room.
We can only really do two things
from this list.
Watch horror films
and go up down escalators.
All the rest is impossible.
Nothing is impossible for Felix Stranger.
We could smash a world record.
You can't go about smashing
world records, just like that.
On the 23rd of July 1999,
Ashram Fur man climbed
the Eiffel Tower's 1665 steps
with a pogo stick
in fifty seven minutes
and fifty seconds.
I love world records,
and Ashram Fur man is the guy
who has broken most of them:
216, including the world record
for the person to break
most world records.
My father told of this guy
who ate two hundred worms
in thirty seconds!
Let's do that one!
That's not a Guinness world record.
Felix, that guy advocate hundred worms.
We'll do it.
First of all, we'll try Oneida see
what they taste like,
then two hundred
and one din thirty seconds.
The smallest nightclub in the world.
2.4 x 2.4 x 1.2 metres.
We can beat that.
Anybody can build a nightclub.
What do you need?
Music?
And flashing lights, and drinks...
We can get all that.
And it has to be opend to the public.
It will be.
Let's get this place rocking!
I'm not surprised
we don't have any customers.
Even if it wasn't
an officiald Guinness Record,
it was enough for me to score Oneida
my wishes off my list...
Questions nobody answers number 2:
why does God make children get ill?
I'm here now.
Because God doesn't exist.
That's not a reason.
Of course it is.
Maybe he doesn't exist.
Write it down.
OK. Number two.
Number two.
He does exist,
but he's secretly evil.
He likes torturing kids for fun.
Number three.
God is like a big doctor.
He makes people ill
so he can make them better people,
to make them less selfish.
Come on, Sam.
Today class is at Felix's house.
He doesn't care if you die,
because you just go to heaven
where he lives anyway.
That's a load of rubbish.
It's what my mum says.
How does cancer make you better?
Eh... I don't know,
you get all excited
about being able to ride your bike,
and your family is pleased.
If you're not ill,
you don't value stuff
like riding your bike.
That's the biggest load of crap
I ever heard!
God makes you get cancer to
teach you how great riding your bike is?
You can't put that down.
Well, it's there now.
Alright. Four, there's no reason.
Five, there is a reason,
but we're too stupid to understand it.
It's punishment for being bad.
It is not!
Why not?
That's what Buddhists say.
It's the karma for what you
did in your other lives.
We went through the whole class
without agreeing
about why kids have to die...
Felix repeated again and again
that we're already prefect,
too good for this earth,
that's why we have to go so soon.
When a Hindu dies, the family lights
a candle beside the corpse.
That's because Hindus believe
the soul is all confused
when it leaves the body,
and the candle gives it
somewhere to live.
Pygmies don't like death.
When somebody dies, they demolish
the dead person's house...
and they never talk about
the person ever again.
Jewish people never leave the body
on its own until it's been buried.
They do that to show their respect,
and to make sure nobody steals the body.
Afterward they rip their clothes
to show pain.
The Mexicans have a big fiesta.
It's called The Day of the Dead.
They go and visit the graves
of their family members,
they make them food and they set
a place at the table for them too.
Felix, I'm nipping down
to the supermarket.
Will you two be okay?
I won't be late.
Now's our chance.
For what?
My brother has gone back
to the oil rig.
He's going to be away
for a month.
Let's go.
You wanted horror movies.
It's meant to be the most
terrifying horror film of all.
Inspired by true events...
the exorcism of Emily Rose
has been considered too disturbing
for home viewing...
one of the most shocking
and gripping movies ever made.
Have you seen it?
What's so scary about it?
It's about a girl that gets possessed
and begins to get sick, and she throws up
and goes into spasms.
That sometimes happens to me,
there's nothing terrifying about it.
Look, you wanted horror films.
This is the one.
It was dead boring!
We kept expecting monsters
or demons to appear,
but they didn't... the bit
at the beginning was like John
Grisham movie,
except nothing happened...
then it got all confusing.
There was a priest and some people
that wanted him in jail... then..
The girl saw a ghost at
the end of the corridor...
the things in her room
started moving about
an evil spirit began to get closer
and closer and...
Hi guys.
What are you watching?
Felix what were you thinking,
it's a grown up film.
Felix's mum didn't let us
see the end.
At the end, she gets cured.
That's what she said.
Deep down, I was glad
she didn't let us see any more,
because there was something
in it that made me really scared.
What does inspired
by real events mean?
Does it mean it's a true story?
Gran, do you believe in demons?
Demons?
You mean, with horns
and three-pronged forks?
No, evil spirits possessing people.
No, that's just a load of rubbish.
But do you believe in ghosts?
Some more about my illness.
I've had leukemia three times.
They've given me chemotherapy twice.
Dad wanted me to get it again,
but Doctor Bill said no.
Leukemia always comes back.
They think they've cured it,
and then it comes back.
True fact: eighty five per cent
of people get cured for good.
That's eight and a half out
of every ten people.
That's most people...but with me,
it always comes back.
When a Doctor says...
Let's wait and see.
Or ...Fingers crossed.
Fingers crossed.
It means they aren't going to
give me any more chemotherapy.
My wish is to go up down-escalators.
Doing more school work then?
No actually
I'm writing a book.
A diary.
Some bits I'm recording on video.
A book...
I tried to write a book
when I was your age.
Really
It was called Captain Cassidy
and the Castle of Death.
What was it about?
I don't know,
I never got past the first chapter.
My book is about me.
About you?
About... being ill.
And all that...
Aha.
For your book.
Better than all those staples.
Thanks.
That's very... thank you.
It's not a tear-jerkier full
of poems and rainbows, is it?
No.
Good.
It's stupid.
You'd need a time machine.
Right, and who would waste
a time machine on being an adolescent?
It's stupid, but...
What's that? a map?
I make all your wishes come true.
Let's go.
Left or right?
Right.
It's closed.
I know it is.
My uncle runs it.
Ring the bell.
I think I felt something like
being a teenager for a minute.
I had difficulty breathing
and suddenly I really needed
to go for a pee.
What do you want?
That's friendly of you.
This is Sam, I brought him
to see the pub.
Can you let us in?
Is uncle Mick in?
He's upstairs and I'm not supposed
to take people round the bar.
Isn't she lovely?
Sam, this is my cousin Raleigh.
Raleigh, this is Sam,
my friend from the hospital.
What's wrong with you then?
I've got spheroidal globules.
Ignore him.
Are you going to let us in or what?
Alright, but if Dad catches us,
I'm blaming you.
How does it feel
being a teenager then?
Great.
Can you serve us something Raleigh?
Sam wants to know what it's like
to go out drinking.
We've got tons of things.
There are loads of bottles
Dad never uses.
Up there.
We've got Creme de men the...
that's mint...
Creme de cacao... coffee,
or chocolate... Cherry liqueur.
Cherry sounds good.
Last one pays.
One more?
That's two teenage things
you've done now.
Only one more to go.
No. No way.
Oh, come on, shut up. Hey,
Raleigh...
Yes, sir.
If I dared you to do something,
would you do it?
No.
Come on, don't act a kid.
Depends.
You've got to kiss Sam.
Give him a proper kiss on the mouth.
Felix! This has got nothing
to do with me, I swear.
It's all his doing.
Will you do it?
No! I mean, no!
Not with you watching!
You can dance if you like.
You can't look.
I'm not going to.
Let's see you move your body, mate!
Questions nobody answers number 3:
What would happen
if somebody wasn't really dead
and people thought they were?
Would they get buried alive?
In the nineteenth century,
people were really worried
about the idea of being buried alive.
To solve the problem,
Doctor Adolf Gunsmith designed a coffin
with a tube for air and food.
To test it out, he buried himself
for three days.
He lived off soups, sausages ,beer...
Hello!
How are you going to die?
You already know that.
I mean here, in your diary.
You can't end it just like that.
People will wonder what happened.
You'll have to get your mum
to sit beside you and interview you.
How are you feeling now, Sam?
I can see a light...
with tons of dodgy guys
with wings flying about...
Shut up.
You could write it in advance.
My death was very sad, everybody cried.
I gave a long speech about
how I was going to miss everything...
I'll let you come
and see how I die so you can
take notes and use it
for your own death.
But you've got to put my name
in acknowledgments.
In what?
The bit where you thank
all the people who've helped you...
I thank Felix Stranger
for letting me take notes
while he kicked the bucket.
You're mad.
Would you let somebody take notes
while you were dying?
I don't intend to let anybody else be there.
It will just be me on my own.
I know.
You can do a kind of questionnaire
for your parents to fill in.
Sam's death was:
A Peaceful, B Horrible,
C We don't know,
we'd were at the chip shop.
You're mad.
Maybe it's a bit macabre,
but it's still funny to think
of my mum and dad filling
in a questionnaire
like that at the kitchen table.
When you die, I'm going
to collect the royalties of your book
and go on a cruise of the Caribbean.
This is another true story.
At least that's what my grandmother says,
and she never lies... almost never.
The other day you asked me
if I believe in ghosts...
well one night I saw one.
It was the day your grandfather died.
I had spent all day with lots
of people in the house.
Not a minute on my own...
We'd been sleeping together
in that bed since I was sixteen.
And from that day onwards I'd have
to sleep there on my own.
I don't know if what happened
next was a dream or real.
I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to
sleep ever again,
and suddenly I felt your granddads
hand stroking my arm.
He told me that he was really sorry,
that he didn't want
to leave me, but that he had to go.
The last thing he said to me
was that I mustn't be sad,
because he was fine.
Did you see him again?
No, but you did.
Me?
When Ella was born you stayed
at home with me.
One night I heard you say
Who's the man with the beard?
I went running to your room.
And was there anybody there?
No.
But I could suddenly smell
your grandfather's pipe in the air.
I didn't say, but suddenly I realised
I remembered it all perfectly.
Would that count
as my wish to see a ghost?
No.
I'm the genie from the lamp
and I grant your wishes.
If you want to see a ghost,
you'll have to use this.
It's a Ouija board.
My mum doesn't like Ouija boards.
She says you shouldn't fool about
with stuff you don't understand.
Do you want to meet a ghost or not?
What are you two doing?
Eh... making a Wendy house.
No you're not.
We're doing scientific research.
Okay, we're calling up a ghost.
A great big one, dripping
with blood... want to see it?
Yerkes! ! ! I!
Welcome to the pit of oblivion.
How come we need to put our
fingers on the glass
if the spirit moves it?
We just do.
Otherwise it doesn't work.
At school they told me two women
fell asleep in a seance
and traveled in time,
back to the days of Marie Antoinette.
Sure. Ok, good.
Is anyone there?
You moved it
I did not.
What is your name?
M-A-R-I-A-N
Marian.
Marian what?
T-W-A-N-E- Marian Twanet?
Come off it, Felix.
That's not even how you spell it.
Maybe he doesn't know how
to pronounce it well.
Are you the queen of France?
How's it moving?
Is that you?
It's the power of the undead.
You can ask a question if you want.
No, I don't want to.
Alright then.
What's it like being undead?
B-O-R-I-N-G.
It said it's boring.
Felix!
It's not me!
Is Sam going to finish his book
some time soon?
How can Marie Antoinette know that?
She knows everything.
I want an airship.
I'd be able to fly.
And I wouldn't need a runway;
you could just tie it up to a tree.
I could go and see Africa or America.
I could tie it to the Statue
of Liberty or the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
And if somebody tried to stop you...
Hasta la vista, suckers!
I'd cast off and I'd carry on flying...
Nobody would be able to stop me.
Mum got angry with me today
because I didn't say anything
when my aunts were here visiting.
I got angry as well...
so I've invented this story.
Me and mum have had a fight.
I can hear mum crying.
It feels like nothing good
will ever happen again.
Then the doorbell goes.
It's Annie.
She's very excited.
A pharmaceutical company
has discovered a new drug
which has cured leukemia
in tons of lab mice.
They need a human
to test out the drug,
so I take the pills
and I'm cured completely.
Everybody is really happy.
I appear on the news
all over the world, I'm famous...
The Scientists make millions.
They give me some of the money
so I can go on a cruise
with Felix and my family.
No one ever dies of leukemia again...
not ever.
If only life were as easy for us
as it is for the stars.
When a star explodes it
creates light...
Today was one
of the best classes ever.
Felix would have loved
those iron fillings exploding...
but Felix didn't come to class today.
Sam...
What's happened to Felix?
Well, that's more or less
what I wanted to talk to you about.
What is it, Mum?
What's the matter?
Sam, Felix was taken into hospital
this morning.
Why?
An infection, Gillian said.
He'll be alright.
He'll be alright, you'll see.
Know anything else about Felix?
It's weird.
He's been in hospital for
three days and he hasn't called me.
Pirate, you know the rooms
don't have phones.
Mum, you should call Felix's mum.
Gillian already has enough
to worry about without us bothering her.
What about me?
I'm worried.
At least she's there.
Can't we go and see him?
No, he's very poorly, Sam.
Sam!
There's nothing you can do to help him.
It's not fair!
Sam!
Hello!... Hello!
Mickey!
It's me, Sam!
Mickey, I'm really sorry...
Ask him! Ask him!
Mum.
Sam has been really
worried about all of this
Yes.
He's still in hospital.
And?
And he's still very poorly.
Mickey says he'll tell his Mum we rang,
but he said there isn't
much point visiting him.
He's sleeping a lot.
He was fine on Saturday...
there was nothing wrong with him.
Questions nobody answers number four.
Does it hurt to die?
The dictionary doesn't answer
that question.
It only says that death is
the final cessation
of vital bodily functions;
the end of life.
But it doesn't clear up
what you feel when you die.
Hello?
Right.
Sam.
Gillian says if you want to...
she thinks you should go...
go to see him.
Is he awake?
No... eh, I don't know.
You don't have to go
if you don't want to.
I didn't want to go... oh yes I did.
No, oh no I didn't.
Mum, yes, I'll go.
It felt weird being
back on our ward again.
The nurse was new,
she didn't recognise me.
Suddenly all the good times
I'd had with Felix in
that ward came rushing back.
Like the time we emptied a bottle
of vampire blood on my bed
to try and get a student nurse
to bring us a bottle of Coke
from the vending machine...
we didn't half scare her,
but she never did bring us the coke.
You've come!
It's alright.
Let's go for a nice cup of tea.
It's alright.
There's a special room to flap in.
I know.
I'll leave you to it.
Waken up.
If you go who's going to grant me
the wishes I still haven't fulfilled.
I just sat there like that,
by his side.
I knew I should have gone
to find a nurse,
or Mickey, or somebody...
but I didn't.
I just sat there, in silence,
close to him,
until the others came back.
I didn't sleep much
the night Felix died.
I felt very, very tired,
but I didn't sleep.
I tried to breathe it all in
and store it away in some place
where I could retrieve it
from always.
I hate it! I hate it!
So do I.
Oh, love, so do I.
I don't know how long
we cried for,
but then I realised just
how much Mum wanted everything
to be OK and for me
to be well again...
but that wasn't something she could do.
Suddenly I saw what life would
be like when I was gone...
things would just carry
on as before.
I'm ready.
Do you feel alright, darling?
I'm fine.
I'm fine.
Did I hurt you?
Just leave me alone!
Maybe we should call Annie.
I want to see Felix!
Questions nobody
answer number five.
What does a dead person look like?
Or feel like?
I have to go up to the choir.
You two stay with Gran.
I didn't feel scared when I saw
Felix lying there dead.
It was him, but he was stiff
and sleeping.
And cleaner than he looked
in real life.
He was cold, but not like
when you stick your fingers
in the snow and its cold.
He was cold like the coldness
of statues, there was no warmth
in him at all.
I'd been hoping they'd made a mistake,
but they hadn't.
Felix was... empty.
Felix would have liked have something
like Arabian, not this rubbish.
I was waiting for something to happen
to Felix similar to what happened
to my Gran with Grandpa...
but what actually
happened was even better...
Not bad.
Felix Stranger had granted me
one last wish.
Questions nobody answer number six:
why do people have to die?
How are you?
He'!-
Your mum says you've been
a bit under the weather.
I'm fine.
Annie.
Mmm'?
When they bury people...,
do they ever make mistakes?
Like, bury people that are alive?
These things don't happen
any more Sam.
The brain can't survive without oxygen
after about fifteen minutes
I knew that really.
I just wanted to be sure.
What are you making another airship?
It just so happens,
by remarkable coincidence
that there's an article
in the newspaper about
an airship in the Lake District.
Do you want me to cut it
out for your book?
Good night.
I don't know
what happened that night.
I had strange dreams.
Suddenly my bones started aching.
Sam! Are you okay?
The really strange thing is that
it was Dad who was there.
Usually it was mum...
What's the matter?
Where does it hurt?
All over.
It's a box.
I know it's a box, damned it!
Dad, Dad!
Dad. There...
It's okay.
Don't worry Dad,
everything is just fine.
Look at us.
Which one is the father,
which is the son?
What was all that screaming about?
I was dreaming.
What about?
I don't know, I can't remember.
I was dreaming too.
What were you dreaming about?
About you...without you.
Dad, don't cry.
Dad?
I'm here.
Today I'm going
to talk about my Dad.
He's thirty nine years old.
He like spaghetti and baked beans.
He doesn't like anchovies.
But if I'm served them,
I'll eat them.
Carry on!
His favourite word is orgulous,
which means haughty and proud.
He isn't very haughty
or proud though.
He has a bald patch on his head
about the size of a fifty pence piece.
He says it's mine and Ella's fault.
So it is too.
His favourite joke is:
how did Sir find his steak.
The customer answers:
with a great deal of difficulty,
it was under my last potato.
I don't think it's that funny
If you tell it like that is not funny.
Questions nobody
answers number seven:
Where do you go after you die?
And you're saying the only
ones you haven't fulfilled are flying
in an airship and seeing the stars
from a space ship?
That means,
you've done all the others.
All of them,
But, I've still need to do the
one about being a scientist too...
This is a scientific study,
don't you think?
Dad, aren't you going
to be late for work?
I'm not going to work today.
I have the right to spend a day
at home with my son,
But if I take the pills
nnie brought, I'll fall asleep.
They make me really tired.
Don't you worry about that.
When you waken up,
I'll still be there,
and we can play at penalties.
I don't know much...
but as far as I know it's Coca cola?...
Hello!
Yes?
What?
Just a minute.
What's this about
an advert for Coca cola?
What did they say?
Nothing that made any sense.
They gave me an address
and told me they'd be waiting
for you there in an hour.
Come on, Sam, we'd better hurry up.
I don't want to go to
an advert for coca cola.
Oh yes you do...
Some things in life are perfect
from start to finish...
but you don't know
that until you've lived them.
An airship...
An airship just waiting
to take us for a spin.
Let's go!
Some things are perfect
from start to finish.
My list of the best things
in the world:
going up the down escalator.
The Warhammer games with Felix,
where nobody wins or loses.
Flying in an airship with Dad.
Making things explode with Mrs. Willis.
A kiss from Raleigh.
Sounds fantastic.
It was incredible.
The best thing I've ever done
That's great, Sam.
Tell me. How are you feeling?
I'm OK.
Sam has been really tired recently.
Sleeping a lot.
I didn't fall asleep on the airship.
His bone have been sore too.
The new medicine doesn't seem
to be doing much any more.
Should we talk to Bill,
try something else?
Annie, I want to hear it.
If the medicine isn't working,
there isn't a lot else
we can offer at this stage
But I thought that...
Bill said we'd have a year.
Up to a year... I'm sorry.
But... Are we supposed
to just stop, just like that?
No one's going to force either of you
to do anything you don't want to...
I want to stop.
I don't want to carry
on taking stupid stuff
that doesn't do anything.
My body went all tense expecting
Mum to go off on one,
but she didn't.
She just nodded.
How long do we have?
It could be anything up to two months...
or maybe only a couple of weeks...
it's hard to say.
Bloody hell, we were supposed
to get a year.
Don't cry, please.
I'll tell Him up there it's
just not good enough...
when I see Him.
Tell him we want our money back.
Two months, two weeks...!
I'd have liked Felix to be with me.
I tried to imagine
what he'd have to say about it all.
Two weeks!
Oh well, I thought it was less!
Make the most of it.
Do whatever you want.
Just think, they'll never say
no to you ever again.
There isn't anything else I want.
I thought you wanted to go up
in a spaceship and see the stars.
That's the wish you've
still not fulfilled.
That's not a real wish.
It's not one you really
have to do...
it's impossible.
Sure.
Wimp-
Come on. I dare you...
Questions nobody answers number eight:
Will the world still be here
when I'm gone?
Once I read a book about two people
who managed to live forever,
and they didn't like it very much.
They got old and lonely and sad.
If no one died, and people
kept being born,
the world would fill up
more and more,
until everyone would end up
standing on everybody else's heads.
I know all that.
But that doesn't explain
why children have to die.
My grandmother says that dying
is like when caterpillars
become butterflies.
It's parts of their life cycle.
It's scary for caterpillars
going into a cocoon,
but then they turn
into butterflies...
I suppose that means
we shouldn't be afraid of dying.
That night, mum and dad went
out for the first time in ages.
Dad said we could stay up
watching a movie.
I didn't feel like watching TV,
so I closed my eyes and tried
to imagine them dancing together.
Right. Well, we have a new student.
What are you doing, Ella?
Pictures for Sam's book.
Sam's book?
I don't want Ella's baby pictures
in my book,
but I didn't tell her.
Ready!
That was my last class...
and I spent it making birds.
I made a blackbird for Ella.
A sort of an owl for Dad...
and a sparrow for Mum.
I never did understand why everybody
wants to give you presents
when they find out you're dying.
Don't they realise you can't
take them with you when you go?
No. That contraption isn't
going out that door.
Oh, come on dad. Just for a bit.
No, Sam. You've got to look
after yourself as much as possible.
Dad!
You heard your dad.
That contraption isn't
going out that door...
but nobody said anything
about that door.
Sam!
Let's go.
Where to?
To a space ship I want to show you.
Did Felix tell you?
Sam Mac Queen.
Don't ask questions.
Let's go.
All of a sudden I didn't know
if I was dreaming or if was all real...
but just in case,
I didn't want to try and find out.
I want to see the stars
from a spaceship.
Have you done all those wishes
on your list then?
Well, there's one
I'd like to do again.
When I'm gone... will you think
of me now and again?
I'm going to do something much better.
I'm going to plant a tree from
heaven in the last place we kissed.
A tree from heaven?
The flowers which grow
in the cracks in the concrete.
A tree from heaven
in the church makes sense.
There's no concrete in the church.
Some things are perfect
from start to finish.
Sometimes, the world seems different.
I have to stop
and recognise my things -
my IV stand, my bed,
my train set.
Everything looks strange.
It's as if I was seeing things
from a television screen.
Annie is here.
I have another fact for your book;
people donate more blood
if they don't get paid than
if they do.
How do you explain that?
People sent me tons of cards,
but I wasn't interested in any of it.
I only wanted to watch
Mum and Dad and Ella,
and Annie too, to store them up
and keep them in my memory...
This time, when I fell asleep,
I had a dream.
I dreamt I was in Mum and Dad's bed.
I hadn't slept in their bed
for a long time.
They only let me sleep there
when I was really ill,
but I wasn't ill anymore.
He'!-
What am I doing here?
You have a temperature.
I love you.
I know you do.
Sam died on April 4th
at five o'clock in the morning,
more or less.
Sam death was A: Peaceful.
He was A: At home.
The people with him were A:
His whole family.
The weather was C:
In-between...
Sam died quietly in his sleep.
He was in no pain.
Things I want
to happen once I'm dead.
I want them
to play Arabian songs
at my funeral... none of
that classical music crap.
I want my funeral to be fun,
people shouldn't go dressed in black...
oh, and whoever wants to see
this video or read this book, can.
You can give all my things away.
I'm not going to be here,
so I won't be needing them.
I don't want anybody to be sad.
If you're sad when you think about me,
how are you going to remember me?
But you can't just forget
about me either, eh?
Somebody has to remember me
now and again.
THE END