"Born is a baby, gentle as may be" "Son of the eternal, Father supernal" "Past three o'clock and a cold, frosty morning" "Past three o'clock, good morrow, masters, all" "Past three o'clock" "Past three o'clock, good morrow, masters, all" "Seraph quire singeth, angel bell ringeth..." " Is she here yet?" " Not yet." "Calm down, Dad." " What do you want, boy or girl?" " I don't want to know, I'm old fashioned." " So why's she coming?" " I don't wanna know, but I'm dying to know." " Elaine is here, Michael." " At the office?" "I might have news for you tomorrow, kids." "Look, here, this is for the kid." " What is it?" " An ounce of solid gold." "He's not born and you want him in banking!" "By the time he's 21, he can buy a car with it, or pay for a college education." "It's sweet, Tommy, thanks." "It's always there for you when you need it." "Well, what's it gonna be?" "A little Matthew?" "I gotta admit that's my choice." "Matt, cowardly and nervous, just like his dad!" "Wait, what if it's a girl?" "Mathilda!" "Your choice." "I could get used to it." "Sweet Mathilda of the Lowlands!" "I know it's your mother's name, but have you considered..." " Are you all right?" "Is the baby?" " Mmm." "What is this?" "It's a test I had done." " A genetic test." " Why would you have that done?" "I had a reason." "Tommy?" "It's not yours, Michael." "She's not yours." "Well... this'll be nice in the memory box, won't it?" "The bogey man!" "Come on!" "That is nice work." "Put it just there." "Feel the top." "Nice." "Well, there he goes again." "Every week, like clockwork." "It's not our business." "Where?" "Must be pay day." "Met this school teacher guy who knew him about five years ago." "Said he had a personality." "Must've hocked it at Miss Simon's store." "Ain't got one now." "Nice coin, huh?" "I wasn't kidding about the grade." "You should get it." "What do you think of this?" "Won't be here long once the weather balloon people get to hear about it!" "Guess they're like the moose head collectors." "Huh?" "Never mind, I don't understand half of what you say anyway." " Hey, Mom." " There you are." "Will you watch the store?" "Hey, c'mere." "There's a guy on line with some Milwaukee Liberties." "He's in California, so no sales tax." "I'm not interested in silver." "Sorry, just getting some quotes." " You can do all that from there?" " I could flush the Vatican toilet." "Silver's good, why just gold?" "It's always there for you when you need it." "I'll take the coin." "Thank you, Mrs Simon." "You could call me April after five years!" "Joe, where's my lucky scratchcard?" "When I hit this thing, there will be some changes made around here!" " Yeah, you're gonna do that!" " Why not?" "Gimme $20." "I wanna continue my lucky streak." "How long has that been going on, Tanny?" "Since birth, boys... since birth." "This McCann guy, he pays y'all rent, don't he?" "So I guess you know what goes on up there, right?" "Jodie down at the bank, she says McCann ain't got no bank account, never even cashes a cheque." " I think he keeps it at home." " Good for him." "Mine's at Morgan Stanley." "I dole it out to my big brother when I see fit." "Daddy's plan, not mine." "I'd give it all to him right now." "Hey now, there we go!" "Gimme five bucks, my man!" "...from the outside." "Oh, a tremendous hit down the field." "That ball went 100 yards, probably!" "Down towards the goal." "0-0 in the first chukka." "Newland scores!" "Goal for John Newland." "Soon to be our representative in Washington, if his money means anything at all." "Tell them that if they vote for me, not only do I promise world peace, but I'll fix all the pot holes in Stuart Street!" "Your brother is so great." " You looked good out there." " Campaigning or polo playing?" "If we're going to put party money behind you, we want to know that you are clean." "What about... your brother?" "He was a bit embarrassing after your state campaign." "We all know that brothers don't lose elections, don't we?" " Can you control him?" " Always." "Do me a favour, don't tell any jokes." "They don't mix with politics." "I will be decidedly... unfunny." "Still need me, don't ya?" "I'll be going out afterwards, so can I please use your car?" "No." "Predictable answer." "I said no." "Take the Plymouth." ""Say, girls, wanna ride in my '66 Plymouth?" I don't think so." "You'll be too high to notice the car, and so will the trash you're with!" "You get sober and now you think you're Jesus, is that it?" "Daddy's boy!" "You wouldn't be so wonderful if everybody knew what I knew, would you?" "Listen to me!" "If I lose, you lose!" "Go get drunk, get stoned, get laid, just do it in a Plymouth!" "Do you hear me?" "Pennies from heaven." "Pennies is right." "Tell him we need more." "Tell him his little girl needs more." "I do tell him, but it doesn't help." " Don't!" "That's all I've got!" " I'll bring it back." "I promise." "The two of you deserve a lot more than all this." "All he wants is to keep you high so you'll be quiet." "Invest it wisely." "That ought to warm your heart, Daddy." "Just save your dying soul" "Baby, please give me one more chance" "I'll do anything for you" "Baby, please give me one more chance" "I'll do anything for you" "You are old enough to know..." "Slow down!" "Shit!" " Dammit!" " Shut up!" "Shut up!" "No!" "Jeez, what a night!" "Oh, my God!" "Shit!" "Well, well, Mr McCann..." "No!" "Nothing." "There was a stranger in town last week hanging round the bar." "We'll check him out, but I think it's someone who knew the area, the way they vanished." "Have you... er... have you got insurance?" "Mr Newland, what about your brother's disappearance?" "Why, Nancy Lambert, so... how did y'all vote?" "Well, I just couldn't make up my mind." " Is your brother in South America?" " Any information on Tanny?" "The police say that Tanny left her for dead." "I've left that out of the story for now." "He robbed McCann and left town, probably uninjured because of the driver's air bag, and there was no blood around McCann's house, plus he made a quick getaway." "Tanny wouldn't hurt himself, as you know, Cal." "He just likes to hurt others." "When I take my sugar to tea" "I'm a rowdy-dowdy, that's me..." " Hello, Judge Marcus." "I'm Nancy Lambert." " You know my name?" "I studied Jones vs Dobson in college." "You made our town." " Thank you." " Hello, Dr Roberts." " How are you?" " Fine, thank you." "Hello." "Rubbing elbows at the Ritz with those millionaires..." "Where is the money man?" "That's your father." "Do you wanna see your father?" "Baby." "He'd like that, wouldn't he?" "What's he doing tonight, honey?" "What's your daddy doing tonight?" "He's forgot about you." "He shouldn't have forgot about his little girl." "You wanna see your father?" " Enjoying the party?" " Yes." "Mommy." "Come on, baby." "C'mere, sweetie." "Jesus!" "Mommy!" ""Mommy"?" "Boy, are you off." "Mommy!" "Stay!" "Stay... sit!" "Sit." " Does anyone know this child?" " What is it, McCann?" " I want the doctor." " OK." "Let me take it upstairs." "There's a woman lying in the snow outside my house." "She's dead, I think." "Somebody get the doctor." "Mrs Simon, would you take care of the child?" "I'll get the truck." "Take us to the spot." " Sure." " It's all right." "It's all right." "Heroin user." "That kid is probably damaged goods." "Do you know who she is?" "I've never seen her before." "Anyone want a mint?" "You're not damaged goods, are you, kid?" "She likes you the most." "I think we should get her to Elderfield welfare department." " Where would she end up?" " No way of knowing." " Far away most likely." " She's alone and I'm alone." "What do you mean?" "She came to replace my money, you know." " What if I kept her?" " You mean, kept her here in town?" "Just be yourself." "I don't have a self." " You live alone?" " I am divorced." "Do you think you'd make a good father?" "Yes, I do." " Do you own any property?" " No." "I did." "I had it stolen." "I mean, it was stolen from me." ""I had it stolen" sounds like I asked someone to steal it." "I didn't." "I had it taken... you know." " Are you a homosexual?" " Not that I know of." "I mean, I'm not." "I just don't have any interest in that... area." "He is." "How could you, a single man, take care of this child?" "Well..." "I would wake up... and then I would... take care of the child and then I would go to bed." "What about when you go to work?" "I wouldn't go to work." "I work at home." "I make furniture." "In fact, I could offer you both a nice armoire." "Forgive me." "It's not that easy to raise a child." "Nothing is easy." "Look, I'm not good at interviews, so you have to overlook everything you see right now, much as when you get served jell-o, it might not look appetising quivering in a bowl, but it actually tastes quite good." "If you gave me this child, I'm sure that if you came back in a year, you would be very impressed." "I believe this child belongs with me." "She walked into my house." "Mr Newland, I think we can discuss the McCann adoption." "If we can't fix that, we can't fix anything." "Shall we go upstairs?" "Hello, Momma!" "I said to Dr Roberts, "How did this happen?" He said, "Don't ask." So I didn't." "I think it was favour outside the system!" "Finally, corruption for the good guy." "I've got tons of Lawrence's baby stuff." "Hey, test that on your wrist." "Why?" "Jesus!" "That's why." "What about a name for her?" "I want to call her Mathilda." "I will give you the deed to my house not to call her Mathilda." "She'll have to spell it all the time, people will call her Tilly." "No, no." "It's what I've decided." "If anyone calls her Tilly, you'll have to kill them." "Hey..." "Mathilda." "Hi." "April..." "This is the first time I've seen you buying something for someone else." "This is for me." " Why?" " I was kidding." "Another first, if you don't mind me saying so." "Two cents." "Daddy." "Hello, Michael." "Now, let's see." "If I were your age, what would I like to eat?" "What about... baby food?" "That sounds delicious!" "And I have some." "What better time of life than your age to enjoy baby food?" "Somehow, as one gets older, one loses one's taste for unsalted carrots, although I've heard that Paris restaurants are now serving it." "So, just give me a little taste, just a little taste." "Doesn't that look good?" "Open up just a little bit." "Hey, look at me." "I'm eating it." "I'll make you some oatmeal." "Mathilda..." "Mathilda" "Mathilda, you take-a my money and run Venezuela" "Once again now!" "Mathilda..." "Baby, baby, baby!" "Mathilda" "You take-a my money and run Venezuela!" "Hey, there." "Mathilda?" "Mathilda?" "You think that's hilarious?" "You think that's hilarious?" "!" "You're naughty, naughty, naughty!" "Nice, nice, nice!" "He'll be back, baby." "I need something to amuse a three-year-old." " My pay cheque." " Very funny." "You've had this weather balloon a long time." "How much is it?" "100 bucks?" " Would you take five?" " Sold!" "Where can I get gas?" "Diner across the street?" "Here we go!" "Up, up and away!" "Hello, Mathilda!" "Hey, Lawrence, come here!" "C'mere!" "Wave goodbye, just in case." "Nice day for a swim!" "Here I come, here I come!" "My turn now!" "You had your turn!" "Hey, Mathilda!" "Whoa!" "We're coming in for a perfect four-pointer!" "That one hurt!" "Go, Tilly!" "Nancy?" "What?" "What?" "Esther, I don't think we have enough salmon." "Why don't we send for some more?" "I think there's enough, Mrs Newland." "You've got six guests and two large salmon." "You'll have leftovers for a week!" "Call the doctor!" "Somebody call the doctor!" "We can try again." "Hmm?" "Think of the fun we'll have." "I'm sorry." "I don't want you ever to say that to me again, you hear me?" "You will have a child." "We will." "Mathilda?" "Mathilda!" "Mathilda, honey?" "Mathilda!" "Mathilda!" "You're killing me!" "You're killing me!" "They gotta get a fence around this place, or someone's gonna fall in!" "We're coming down!" "Oh!" "There you go!" "Don't do that to Daddy any more." "Don't do it to Daddy." "You have to punish her or she'll never learn." " I can't do that." " Do it again!" " I can't spank her." " Nobody says to spank her." " What do I do?" "Behead her teddy?" " I'd have to report you for that." "With Lawrence, I used to put him in the corner for an hour." "Don't do it." "Look what it's done to me." "I did it!" "OK, you are free." "All right, what do you want to do today?" "This is school!" "You'll finally meet someone younger than me!" " Are you her father?" " She adopted me, yeah." "Can I talk to you?" "It is used for many things." "You use it to write on and draw on." "What is it?" "You getting your degree yet, Mr McCann?" "Don't twist the puppy's head." "Mathilda?" " What's going on?" " Mouse burial." "We found a dead mouse." "Do you like... do you like horses?" "How did your mouse die?" "It was run over by a car." "That's why we're burying it in a pizza box." "I see." "I'm kidding." "Oh, I see." "Cat got it." "Nobody's fault really, just one of those things." "Well... have a nice burial." "We're trying, but it's hard." " Bye." " Bye." "What's wrong?" "What's the matter?" "I can write really small." "What do you mean?" " What is it?" " It's the 23rd Psalm." "Holy smokes!" "I guess "Why?" would be inappropriate." "Cool, huh?" " Are you suffering from ennui?" " Huh?" "Come on." "On the banks of the river" "Stood Running Bear, young Indian brave" "On the other side of the river" "Stood his lovely Indian maid" "Sweet Little White Dove was her name" "Such a lovely sight to see" "But their tribes fought with each other" "So their love could never be" "Running Bear dove in the water" "Little White Dove did the same" "And they swam out to each other" "Through the swirling stream they came" "As their hands touched and their lips met" "The raging river pulled them down" "Now they'll always be together" "In that Happy Hunting Ground" "Running Bear loved Little White Dove" "With a love that couldn't die!" "Dad, we gotta get out more." "Come on, hit the ball." "That's a baseball bat, not a rolling pin." "Go do cookery!" "Come on, sissy, you can't play baseball!" "Don't waste our time." "Pitch." "She can't hit, she's a girl!" "OK, strike one!" " Boy, are we losing!" " Shut up, Janet!" "Go get in a cooking class!" "She's a sissy!" "Hurry up and get it over with." " Strike two!" " Come on, Mathilda!" "Lawrence is crazy about her, but she won't give him the time of day." "She's not thinking of that stuff yet." "Here we go, girl!" "Go back!" "You're going the wrong way!" "Dang!" "The other way, not that way!" "Yes, Mathilda!" "We lost, we lost!" " Good game, kid." " Good spectatoring, Pops." "I'm taking this to the Newlands tomorrow." "Can I go?" "I'm dying to see inside." "They have gold salt shakers!" "Just 'cause ours are linoleum, don't put them down." " And they have a butler!" " And he's English." "Mr Newland rings a bell and the butler goes," ""Tea, suh?" "Tea?"" " OK, you can go." " Thanks, Pop!" "We'll let them manipulate Fred, swap his vote later down the line on the tax credit." " We want a yes vote from you, right?" " All right." "You'll get a call from that son of a bitch Ballards on your vote on the farm thing." "Play along, say anything." "You'll flip-flop at the last minute." "He won't have enough votes if you wait." "John, we're having difficulty getting permission to divert water from the quarry." " No, you're not." " Yes, we are." "You don't understand." "We are not." "Not if you want the yes vote." "We're going to divert the water from the quarry here." "It'll go down through the valley to form a lake." "We'll sell the property for development." "But there's a beautiful spot here that I thought would be a real nice place for you and me... to build a little house." "So we can go live next to a bunch of ducks?" "John?" "You gotta snap out of this." "You're sleepwalking." " Mr McCann is here with the delivery." " Thank you, Esther." "Hello, Michael." "Hi, Mathilda." " Hello, Mrs Newland." " I hope you don't mind me bringing her." "No problem." "Mathilda, would you like to come in?" "Thank you, Mrs Newland." " Are you thirsty?" " No, Ma'am." "OK." " That's by Andrew Wyatt!" " Yes, it is." "Have you seen this picture?" "That's how the house used to look in the old days." "That man there - that's my grandfather." "And that little boy beside him - that's my father." "Dad, books on horses!" " Would you like to see the real horses?" " Yes, sir!" " If it's not too much trouble." " No, of course it's not." "Tea, suh?" "Dad, look!" " Sit straight." "Hold the reins." " OK." "Here she comes!" "Annie Oakley!" " I'll get the camera." " Fastest gal this town's ever seen!" "Michael... she is having such a great time out there." "She has a real passion for horses." "I was thinking of inviting her up here for some lessons, if that's OK with you?" " She'd love that." " Can I tell her?" "Be my guest, and... thank you." "Dad, it's time!" "OK, take off." "Remind me to cut that hole bigger." "You... are... done." "Let's see." "Yes!" "That looks good!" "Food coming out of your mouth, that looks good!" "Look at me, Mr Newland!" "I'm sorry." " Sorry for what?" " Sorry I couldn't give you what you want." "When you look at her, I know how you feel." "I'm sorry I couldn't give you this." "Look, Nancy, it's all done." "No, it's not." "We can have a family." "Why don't you think about adopting?" "This isn't something I want to discuss now." "Don't turn away." "Excuse us, please!" "Adopted children, they... they become your own children." "Look at the Greens." " Look at Michael McCann." " He has her because of me." "I know!" "You helped him." "Why you won't help yourself, I'll never know!" "That's not what I mean, Nancy." "Michael McCann has her because of me." "What are you saying?" "Are you saying Mathilda is your daughter?" "!" "I thought I could be strong." "Just having her in the house, I..." "Nancy, the woman who died in the snow was her mother..." "I thought it was strange how you seemed so close to Mathilda." "Now I understand!" " Nancy!" " Don't." "Don't!" "Mathilda..." "Hi." "Did you have fun?" "I did." " Do you like it here?" " I love it." "Good." " Well... bye." " Bye." "There have been times when I have wanted to leave." "After we lost the second child, I thought I was bringing you too much pain." "But then I thought that someone else might bring you children, but pain in some other way." "If I had told anybody back then, I would have been ruined politically." "And if I had told you..." "I know that you would not have stayed with me." "If you had taken her, she would have known me as her mother!" "And you... you would have been happier with me!" "Our lives would have been more like we thought they would be!" "I see it all now ten years too late." "What?" "I chose the wrong door." "You are her natural father." "You are her father!" "What you are doing is very good." "Ask her over as much as possible." "Let her get used to first-class." "Have you given it any thought?" "This is how we get everyone behind us." "They all want to win the lottery and this kid can." "If she goes from beggar to princess, we'll even have McCann believing it." "So all our money may finally have some use." " Hey, how're you doing?" " Hi." " Are you... are you ready to ride?" " Oh, yeah." "Now, which of these guys do you like the best?" " The grey one." " Well, you can have him." " Huh?" " He's yours." "Holy smokes!" "You can come up here and ride him any time you want, and you can call him whatever you want." "Do you have a name in mind?" "I'll have to do some research, but Sparkle immediately comes to mind." "Whatever you want, he's yours." "Oh, by the way, I think maybe we should keep this to ourselves." " How come?" " Just as our secret." " Why?" " Tell your dad if you want, but parents can be kinda funny about things like this." "Really?" " Hey, just in time for nachos." " I'm full." "I think we should talk." "Already I don't like it." "I think maybe you shouldn't go to the Newlands so much." " Why?" " Well... you live here." "And, you can overstay your welcome." " But they invite me." " I know, but it is possible to abuse a situation without realising it." " I wanna go." "It's not hurting anyone." " Not so much or so often!" "I'm going!" " Look, just don't be greedy!" " Look who's talking!" "What do you mean?" "Judy's dad said that you were a miser." "That you loved money so much you kept it in your own house so you could look at it!" "It was stolen because you wouldn't put it in the bank!" " You're not going up there again!" " Yes, I am!" "Couldn't have written it better yourself." "I did write it myself." " She's definitely good." " She's fine." " She's good." " Real good." "She hates me right now, but she'll get over it." "Sure, five, six years, therapy, Prozac shaped like Flintstones." "She doesn't mean it." "I think she's being scouted." "See this guy?" "He's been around." "I think he's a sports scout." "He is coming this way." " That your daughter?" " Quite a talent, eh?" " You're Michael McCann?" " And I represent her." "You are served." "Problem." "I thought I was the victim of my own greed and ambition." "You are not getting her!" "I'd have thought you'd want what was best for her!" "You are not getting her!" "She is my child." "That is profoundly unchangeable." "If you love her so much, why did you turn your back on her ten years ago?" "!" "It's inevitable!" "You can fight this or you can accept it, but given time, she'll prefer her real father and this family!" "It's me she's been calling Daddy ever since she could speak!" "Oh, God!" "Hello, Mathilda." "Mr Newland is my real father?" "Yes, he is." "Would you like to come and live here with us, Mathilda?" "I don't know what I'm supposed to say!" "When you turn a gift away from your door, it... it goes to the one that takes it in." "Dad?" "Where was my mother buried?" "I don't know." "We never knew where she was taken." "Why not?" "!" "I was afraid." "I was afraid that they might find a relative or your father, someone who might take you away from me." " One day I'd like to know where she is." " We could do that." "Mrs Simon can find anything on her computer." "Just a minute." "This... was your mother's and you should have it." "I mean, it's you and her, isn't it?" "You're my parents, you and Mom, not the Newlands!" "I'll fix you a drink..." "I'll make you some juice." "Do you know what it means that he's your real father?" "Do you... you know, understand how babies are made?" "This fairy tale story of the little match girl who discovered she's a princess." "Let's get some opinions." "How can he take care of her like them?" "She'll see him, but she'll live in a better house." "Kinda like me and my ex-husband." "So that's six for and four against." "Cast your vote on 9-10-REALDAD." "This is WAPB." "We bring you Other People's Business." "Mrs Latham, you're principal at Gardner's School," " where Mathilda Newland attends?" " Yes." " Mathilda Newland?" " He's trying to get your goat." "As a teacher, has this child the potential to attend a college like Harvard or Yale?" "Mathilda has unlimited potential." "Do you know what it costs to attend them?" "Lots, I suppose." "Wait till he gets me up there." "Thinks he's getting little Aunt Mildred." "He's getting Aunt Attila the Hun!" "The court calls Mrs April Simon." "Please raise your right hand." "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?" "You bet your boots." "He's a great father." "He's caring." "He thinks of nothing but that child." "And he's no ordinary father." "He's original, he's creative." " He's very unconventional." " Unconventional?" "How?" " What?" " How is he unconventional?" "Well, when Mathilda was a toddler, to keep an eye on her, he'd tie her up with a red ribbon." " That was hilarious." " What?" "Tie her up?" "Not tie her up." "Just tie her to a table leg so he could watch her." "To a table leg." "Could the ribbon have become entangled round her neck?" "No, it was tied round here." " Not exactly the latest in parenting?" " No, but that's my point..." "Perhaps you could tell us other things Mr McCann does that are different?" "When she was learning to read, he told her not to read the school books, but to read adult books." " He wouldn't let her read school books?" " Because she didn't want to." "So, he let her read adult books?" "Yes, right." "No, not adult books!" "May I be excused, please?" "Thank you, Mrs Simon." "That's all." " I'm sorry!" " It's OK." " Mrs Simon, you're not done yet." " Oh, shit!" "Excuse me." " No questions." " I don't blame you." "Stone Lake!" "Stone Lake!" "That'll sure quench your thirst!" " Can I talk to you?" " I'd like nothing more." "Who are you?" "!" "That's the best question anybody has thought to ask me since this thing started." "I'm your real father." "Not the best father, I know that." "Not as good a father as Michael has been to you up till now, but I know I can be." "See, I made a mistake a long time ago, which I will regret for the rest of my life." "That's why I'm fighting for you." "I know you think I'm hateful, but I have to take that chance." "What was my mother like?" "Your mother loved you, Mathilda." "And I love you, too." " How did you treat my mother?" " As best I could." "I never hurt her." "I respected her." "We just weren't meant for each other." "But she took drugs." "You've heard how bad that can be." "Mmm." "Do you think that you could ever live here?" "Sometimes." "Mr Newland, will you read the signature at the bottom of this hospital admittance form for a Marsha Swanson?" "Marsha Swanson." " Mr Henry Swanson." " Who is Henry Swanson?" "I am." "I mean, I signed this paper using a different name." " It's your writing?" " Yes." "I came to an arrangement with the mother to pay her a monthly sum of money and it would be our secret." "Why did she agree?" " Because she was a drug addict." " And you?" "What were you?" "I was young, foolish and..." "I was afraid." "Looking back, you see how foolish you were?" "I do." "No further questions." "Your witness." "The night the child walked into Mr McCann's house, you were there?" " Yes, I was." " Yet you said nothing?" " I felt the child needed..." " Answer the question." "You said nothing?" "Yes." "By failing to claim your daughter then," " you did not fulfil your rights." " Objection." " Assumes facts not of evidence." " Sustained." "Mr Newland, you did not act as a father?" "You did not comfort her or hold her?" " Things a father might do." " No." "So, your feelings for your future wife and career mattered more than your child?" "Yes, but since that time I have made sure she was safe in this community where I could make sure she was taken care of." "Oh, you're breaking our hearts!" " Why did you see the mother secretly?" " I think it's obvious." "Obvious to you, maybe, but why don't you tell us." "At the time, she was not someone I was proud to be seen with." " Because you were in politics?" " Yes." " Better to lie to the public?" " That's not it." "I made a mistake, I admit that!" "You have to admit it to look like a man with remorse." "So, you paid her off to get this embarrassment out of your life?" "She was out of control!" "Addicts only care about themselves!" "Thank you, Mr Newland." "The witness may step down." "Call Michael McCann to the stand." "I've had enough of these stories!" "My only hope is that the two dads murder each other." "May I ask what you earn a year?" "Around $15,000." "How did you plan to send her to school?" "There are scholarships." "I can borrow." "I've always been there for her in the past and I believe I will be then." "I have a belief, too." "I believe that if she were the responsibility of Mr Newland, she would without a doubt attend the best schools, without a doubt be able to travel, be given the opportunities she deserves!" " Objection!" "Where's the question?" " Sustained." "Get to the verb." " You feel John Newland abandoned her?" " Yes." "It sounds terrible when you leave out the details, the circumstances." "I admit it sounds bad when you leave out the details." "You were married once, weren't you?" "Yes." "And you left that marriage while your wife was pregnant." "She..." "Please answer the question only." " There were special circumstances..." " Yes or no?" "Objection!" "Yes." "In fairness, Mr McCann, there were circumstances that made you guiltless when you abandoned that child." "Just as, in Mr Newland's case, any reasonable person would understand why he did what he did." "That is why we have to understand what kind of a man John Newland was then." "And it makes me wonder what kind of a man you were then." "Mr McCann, I'm going to say some words." "If you feel these words inaccurately describe you at times in your life, please stop me." "Poor reclusive unfriendly miserly angry lonely..." "Lonely." "Were you lonely enough to seize a child to ease your selfish pain?" "Lonely enough to bend the law, to collaborate in stopping the process of finding a suitable home for this child?" " I wonder how much you were in on this!" " Objection!" "I've finished, Your Honour!" "And so is he." "Stand down." " Hi, Mathilda." " Hi." " How are you?" " Not so good." "How is your horse?" "How's Sparkle?" "I don't know." "Tell us how you got Sparkle." "Mr Newland gave him to me." "And you accepted it?" "Yes." " Did you tell your dad?" " No." "So you had a secret gift from your real father and you didn't tell Mr McCann?" "Yes." "So, you might say you had a special relationship with your real father you were afraid to tell Mr McCann about?" "I wasn't afraid." "But you didn't tell him about your real dad's gift?" "No." "Thank you, Mathilda." "I have no further questions, Your Honour." " Do you like being called Mathilda Newland?" " It's not me." " How would you like to be known?" " Mathilda McCann!" "Point to the man you think of as your father." "And what is Mr Newland to you?" "I used to think of him as a nice man." "How do you see him now?" "As someone trying to take me away from my father." "How would you feel, Mathilda, if you were separated from your father?" "I..." "I..." "I could never be separated from him!" "He's the one who has taken care of me!" "He's the one who has inspired me!" "Now I'm entering my years of womanhood, I'll need his guidance even more!" "I could never be anything without my loving Daddy!" "I wanna be an actress!" "Ssh!" "You'd better go to school." "Too good, Pops, you and me!" "You and me." "I didn't tell you about the horse." "I should have, but I wanted it." "I know you did." " There's a problem, though." " What's that?" "I still want it." "I've got a headache!" "So you should!" "I can't believe I have to give it to that son of a bitch!" "Baloney!" "You'd sell your mother for cat food." " Do something right for once." " I can't go against Newland." "There's too much, father to father and now son to son." "How can I ask her to live in squalor?" "I can't give her to McCann without a powerful reason." "A powerful reason." "Court will come to order." "I have come to a decision." "But first, I'll explain my thinking and you'll see what a difficult decision it was." "We have a man who has raised a child as if she were his own." "Generously and lovingly." "The child has been well brought up, not something easy to do in today's world." "I would like to explain what it was that tipped the balance." "That something was not concerning her happiness." "That's impossible to quantify." "I'm very clearly directed to look at the welfare of the child, which can be very coldly calculated in terms of money." "She will need money for her education and protection." "It would be irresponsible of me to deny this child her natural claim to the wealth which is offered to her." "If it were... otherwise so, believe me, not only would I be inclined to go the other way, but my heart would want it that way." "What is going on out there?" "!" "Come here, boy!" "Come here!" "Let's go and see." "Court is recessed for one hour." " All rise." " To hell with that." "Go." "Apparently, we were waiting for a verdict, when a young boy..." "Here he is!" "Young man..." " What's going on?" " What's happening?" "Bingo!" "As a judge, I'm always interested in the exact moment when someone's argument falls apart." "Sorry about what happened to your brother, Mr Newland." "Thank you." "Mathilda?" "I'll see you around." "We get a few folks like you each year, looking for someone." "Everybody's looking for someone." "And this is the last place they look." "That's for sure." "The last place they look." "Right over there, folks."