"(SIGHS)" "Bye, Mom." "I gotta go." "It's my morning to open the store." "Eric, I made you a nice breakfast." "Oh, you sure did." "Hi, Mom." "Morgan, I made you eggs and toast and orange juice." "(CAR HORN HONKING)" "There's Tina's mom." "She has candy." "Honey, did Eric leave?" "He forgot the key to the store." "Could ya just sit for five minutes?" "No, no, no." "He'll think the store's closed, take the day off." "Hey, Mom." "I know, I know." "You're in a rush, and you're late, and you gotta meet Topanga." "Well, let me just make things easier for you and open the door." "Hey, attaway to think ahead." "Brenda." "Hi, Cory." "My little tiger likes his gravy, doesn't he?" "Oh, Cory likes the way Brenda does it." "Ooh, she builds a nice potato mountain, and then she turns it into a horrible volcano of doom." "Oh, look at the lava running down the volcano." "Run, peas." "Hide behind the roll." "What, you don't see that?" "Brenda, do you have any more cherry pie?" "No, sweetie." "I'm sorry, we're all out." "Sorry." "Oops, forgot." "I accidentally hid a piece under the counter." "Looks about your size, too." "Aw, you never let me down, Brenda." "Cory, Cory, I got a major problem." "Oh, you never let me down, Shawn." "How long has it been since I've seen my mother?" "You mean since she took her little vacation?" "She ran away." "She ran away for a year, Cory." "Deal with it." "I have." "And you're doin' much better." "Thanks." "Now, how long has it been since I've seen my mother?" "I don't know." "How long do you think it's been?" "A minute." "I saw my mom, Cory." "She was right across the street at the Trailer View Motel." "She was looking through her window at our trailer." "Cory, my mom's back." "You're telling me for the last year" "I've traipsed across these United States searching for my long lost Virna and you find her right across the highway?" "It's her, Dad." "She's been watching us." "How long she been there?" "How's she look?" "When's she comin' home?" "I don't know." "I haven't gone over there yet." "Why not?" "I'm afraid I'm gonna chase her away again." "You didn't chase her away." "You're the only reason she stayed here as long as she did." "Thanks, Dad." "Why's she over there spying' on us?" "Hey, she's probably after my secret plans." "What secret plans?" "Nice try, Corky." "Guys, let's talk." "You been looking for this woman for a year, and now you've found her." "Now go get her before she leaves again." "No, no." "It's like some beautiful butterfly that sat down just for a moment on the branch next to you, and you know if you so much as breathe wrong, it'll fly away and you'll never see it again." "This is a real delicate situation." "What we need is someone who won't be thought of as a threat." "Hello." "Hello." "What?" "Come on in, Cory." "I've been expecting you." "Really?" "I saw you through the window crossing the turnpike." "Then you know how lucky I am to be alive." "It's nice to see you, Cory." "It's nice to see you, too." "Oh, you're growin' up real handsome." "Thanks." "Look, I'm just here to tell you on behalf of them, couple of chickens, that they miss you." "They miss you very much." "Yeah, well, I miss them, too." "Well, if they miss you, and you miss them, then why aren't you guys together?" "Well, I suppose I could just go over there, and we'd all have ourselves a big emotional reunion." "We'd hug and kiss and five minutes would go by, and then where would we be?" "Well, you'd be a family." "No, we'd just be together." "I left because we were three unhappy people livin' under the same tin roof." "Just bein' married doesn't make you a good husband and wife." "And just havin' a little boy doesn't make you a good father and mother." "Yeah." "I guess you have to wanna be." "I know I have no right to hope for anything because I left my family, but in that time, I learned that all I wanna be is a good wife and a good mother, but I need to know that Chet wants to be a good father, too." "Well, okay, then." "I'll..." "I'll just go back and tell them that." "It doesn't help comin' from you." "But from my family, I need to see it happen in its own time." "Well, how long are you gonna wait here?" "You're a good boy for bein' their little messenger, and if you wanna take back a message, go tell Shawn I love him, and you give him a big kiss right on the lips for me." "I'll definitely do some version of that." "(HORN HONKING)" "(TIRES SCREECHING)" "Eight lanes and not one stinkin' island." "I mean, you gotta be Moses to get across that highway." "Well, Moses, is she in, or is she out?" "Look, the only thing I can tell you guys is she's gonna be watchin' you from right where she is." "That's creepy." "And somewhat exciting." "So what do we do now, Dad?" "Guess we stand next to the window and try to look appealing." "Where's Brenda?" "She's never been sick a day in her life." "She's probably playing hooky." "Where would a lunchroom lady play hooky?" "(CLEARING THROAT) May I have your attention, please?" "Please?" "It is my sad duty to inform you that Brenda Hibbard, our lunchroom lady, has passed away." "Mr. Feeny, she was just here yesterday, doing the lava on my mashed potato volcano." "I'm sorry, Mr. Matthews." "Uh, may we..." "Can we have a moment of silence in her remembrance?" "(STUDENTS CHATTERING)" "Wait, wait, wait." "Mr. Feeny, aren't we going to do something here, like have an assembly or a ceremony?" "No." "No, Mr. Matthews." "There's nothing planned at the moment." "Shawn." "Dad?" "This looking appealing's startin' to hurt my face." "You heard what Cory said." "We just gotta wait." "Well, I don't wait well, Shawn." "In fact, nothing good comes to people who just sit and wait." "I say we go across and get her." "Now, you go around the back so she can't escape." "I'll steal her tires." "What are you doin'?" "Dad, you tried to get her once." "I mean, you chased her across the country for a year and that was no good for any of us." "What do you mean any of us?" "Look, it was bad enough losing Mom, but, you know, I figured at least during that time, you and I could've gotten to know each other." "Come on, Shawn." "We know each other fine." "Dad, if you knew me at all, you would've known not to leave me or at least maybe to take me with you." "Look, I made a decision that the best thing for you was to stay in school." "Besides, I called on the telephone every couple of weeks to check up on you, make sure you're all right." "Yeah." "Every 23 days like clockwork." "Hey, I was out-of-state." "Maybe Candice Bergen can make all them long distance phone calls, but I can't." "Postcard might've been nice." "Hey, am I here?" "Yeah." "Am I better than a postcard?" "Yeah." "Did your mother send you any postcards?" "No, no postcards." "She sent me letters, though." "Yeah?" "How many?" "One every day she's been gone." "(LAUGHING) Get out of here." "These say that she loves me, that she thinks about me every day, and how sorry she is about leaving, and she hopes one day I'll understand." "(KNOCKING AT DOOR)" "(CLEARING THROAT)" "Hello, Mr. Hunter and Mr. Hunter's son, Shawn, my schoolmate." "I come to you in hopes that you might watch my little brother, Herman." "I hope this will prove no inconvenience, as some would say I am unreliable when left on my own." "Nevertheless, I find I must venture across the Interstate to bring home a quart of milk for the tyke." "Frankie, this really isn't a good time." "I know." "It's rush hour on the Interstate, but I take my brotherly duties seriously." "If I do not outrun the trucks, here is my watch." "It is a little slow." "I hope I am not." "Godspeed." "(GRUNTS)" "Oh, look, Shawn, I'm sorry I didn't call you more or write you letters." "I lost my mom." "I don't think I deserve to lose my dad, too." "Shawn, I was tryin' to put the family back together again." "Mom was gone." "You and I could've been together." "We could've been a family, but you didn't want that." "Why didn't you want that, Dad?" "Bye, Mom." "No time to eat." "I got to go." "I gotta catch Dad for a ride to work." "Where's Eric?" "Morning." "(DOOR CLOSING)" "Morgan, would you like to have some breakfast?" "Sure, I'd love some." "(CAR HORN HONKS)" "I'm sorry, but Tina's mom gets really upset if I don't have breakfast with them." "(DOOR CLOSING)" "(SIGHING)" "Cory, aren't you gonna have somethin' to eat?" "Mom, Brenda, the lunchroom lady, died." "Food would hurt too much right now." "Oh, the lunchroom lady died?" "Oh, honey, I'm so sorry." "I know." "I mean, all those years of serving food to kids who never appreciated her, and then she dies." "Some life, huh?" "(DOOR CLOSING)" "(BOTH LAUGHING)" "CHET:" "Come on in, Cory." "SHAWN:" "Hey, Cor." "Hey, look, here's when me and your mother were teaching' you to ride a two-wheeler." "So our family wasn't messed up all the time, was it, Dad?" "No." "We had a Kodak moment or two. (CHUCKLES)" "It looks like you're riding indoors." "Oh, sure." "That's Toys "R" Us." "That's Shawn riding' down aisle five." "We couldn't actually afford to buy a bike." "Yeah." "Money was a little short that year." "Sorry about that, Son." "Hey, it doesn't matter to me." "Fun is fun." "You guys have been up all night looking at pictures?" "Yeah." "Yeah." "Boy, time really flies when you're..." "Well, when you stick around and hang out with your son." "(LAUGHING) Hey, look." "Here's you on a bear rug." "(BOTH LAUGHING)" "That's your butt." "Excuse me, Mr. Undertaker, sir." "It's my first time in a funeral home and I'm a little nervous." "Could you please tell me what it is I'm supposed to do?" "You're supposed to be in school, Mr. Matthews." "Mr. Feeny, you don't do that to a person." "Especially in a place like this." "Ah." "First time you've ever been in a place like this?" "Yeah." "You know, I didn't even know her." "I mean, all I know is that she served us food." "And there's gotta be more to a person's life than that." "Oh, Cory, don't lightly dismiss something that meant the world to this woman." "Serving us food?" "That's right." "And she loved you kids." "When anyone would ask her if she had children, she always said, "I have 900."" "(LAUGHS)" "I mean, she didn't have any kids of her own?" "Not everyone's that blessed." "But she did have a place where she was cared about, a place where she knew she belonged." "That blessing she recognized." "I, for one, will miss her." "Yeah, well, her 900 kids are gonna miss her, too." "Mr. Feeny." "Mr. Matthews?" "How do you make people feel that they're wanted and they should be together if they don't recognize it?" "Do you recognize it?" "Yeah, I do." "Well, then, tell them, Mr. Matthews." "That's what friends are for." "Thanks." "And be careful crossing that highway." "Well, if it isn't Cory, the little go-between boy." "And what message do you carry today?" "No message, Mrs. Hunter." "I'm here on my own." "Well, (CHUCKLES) you're awful dressed up." "Do you intend on asking me to a picture show?" "Actually I'm dressed up because I just came back from saying good-bye to someone I really cared about." "Oh." "I'm sorry." "Yeah." "But I guess I never really realized how much I cared about her until after she was gone." "Yeah." "Well, unfortunately, sometimes it takes leavin' to make you realize what you had." "Look, I know you left because you guys weren't a happy family, but you wouldn't have come back this far, to this place unless you felt like they were still your family waiting for you across the road." "(SIGHING)" "Cory," "I did the worst thing somebody can do." "I gave up and left." "Well, you know, they felt like they did the worst thing by driving you away." "Well, son, you've been back and forth between us." "What do you think?" "Well, I..." "I think... (SIGHS)" "Okay." "I think you can make a hole in somebody's mashed potatoes, okay?" "And you can make that gravy come down just like lava, and you can do it 3,000 times, and they'll never appreciate it, until the first day it's not there." "Hmm." "But you, Mrs. Hunter, you're so lucky because you get to come back and find out that they've learned to appreciate it now." "You think they do?" "You think they want me back?" "Well, I think you'll never find out until you cross that highway and knock on the door." "(SOBBING) You know, it's dangerous crossing that highway." "I know." "But, you know, maybe once you get there, you'll be happy, so you'll just wanna stay." "Hey, Cory." "Yes, Mrs. Hunter?" "Shawn's got a good friend." "Yeah, well, he's got a good mom, too." "Lucky guy." "(DOOR CLOSING)" "Are you sure?" "Well, how long ago?" "Okay." "Thanks." "Uh-oh." "What's the matter?" "(CLICKING TONGUE) Boy, I could never lie to you, so I'll just tell you the truth." "Your mama exploded." "What?" "She's gone, Shawn." "She checked out of the motel this afternoon." "Lord knows where she is by now." "Will you be chasing after her?" "Not this time." "(KNOCK AT DOOR)" "I am here with a heavy heart to reveal that somebody has something he would like to return to you." "All the valuable things we have in this trailer, and you steal our shampoo?" "What kind of little weird thief are you?" "I am sorry for my transgression and the betrayal of your trust." "With that said," "I return your "Gee, Your Hair Smells Terrific."" "(SNIFFING)" "You used some, didn't you?" "I am shamefaced." "Come, Herman." "We have other trailers to visit." "Yes, I'm afraid we do." "Shawn, it's gonna be okay, Son." "It is?" "Yeah, because you and me still got each other, and we got my secret plans." "Dad, don't start with the secret plans." "No, no, no." "All your life, I've been telling you that I had these secret plans that could make us rich." "Well, I think it's time I let you in on them." "So there really are secret plans?" "Uh-huh." "And here they are." "For the rest of my life," "I'm gonna be the best father you could have." "But I guess up till now, I've been keeping it a secret." "(PATTING ON BACK)" "Dad?" "Hmm?" "Your secret's out." "Can I come in?" "(CAR HORN HONKS)" "Hey, Dad, you mind closing up the store for me tonight?" "I got a date with sweet Cinda." "Why do you talk like that?" "Why can't you just say the young lady's name, Cindy?" "Because her name's Cinda." "(CLEARS THROAT)" "Mom, thanks for making me breakfast." "Mr. Matthews, normally, your little schemes alarm me, but I must say, with this one, you've outdone yourself." "Yeah." "I still think you take your mashed potatoes a little too seriously." "Nice work." "Well, the woman did have 900 children." "I just thought they should all get their chance to say good-bye."