"Now, you understand, children... they react to what goes on around them." "This is not like Gabriel." "I don't mean to pry, but I have to ask." "Are there problems at home?" "No." "He's not acting out or anything like that." "Not with him." "With the family." "Stan and I..." "we're getting a divorce." "I see." "Gabriel shouldn't be punished for what's happening at home." "He's not." "He's being punished for fighting." "Can't you make an exception?" "I wish I could." "School policy." "You should see this suspension as an opportunity." "Talk to him." "Try to make him understand." "Divorces are never easy, but they don't have to be final." "You want to tell me what happened?" "I don't want to talk about it." "Gabriel..." "fighting?" "Why?" "Things are difficult enough around here without getting a call from your principal." "You broke Dougie's nose." "It'll be a miracle if we don't get sued." "Are you listening to me?" "I don't want to talk about it!" "I don't know what I'm going to do with you." "What do you mean, suspended?" "I left three messages at your office." "Well, I was working." "Yeah?" "I work, too." "Thank you, Susan." "I know you work." "You can't do me the courtesy of waiting until our divorce is finalized before you run around with that woman." "I was working!" "Do what you want!" "Keep it down, okay?" "Gabriel can hear." "There you go again, trying to avoid the issue." "God, you are driving me crazy." "You ruined my life!" "Oh, yeah?" "Well, that's a two-way street, sweetheart!" "You okay?" "Sure." "Heard you had a scrap yesterday." "You want to tell me about it?" "Your mother tells me you pushed that boy down and broke his nose." "Hey." "Look at me." "Fights happen." "It's what you do after that matters." "What you learn from the situation." "Okay?" "You know, fights don't always have to be with other people." "Sometimes they're just problems that you're dealing with, you know?" "Do you know what I'm saying?" "Okay." "Well, I gotta go." "You... stay out of trouble." "Okay." "I gotta go to work." "I made you lunch, it's in the fridge." "And you have mine and your dad's numbers in case of an emergency." "You gonna be okay by yourself?" "Why aren't you shooting hoops?" "Hey, Tully." "Don't feel like it." "I hear you." "It a holiday or something?" "What?" "It's a school day." "I'm suspended." "Ah." "I know about that, too." "What are you escaping from?" "You wouldn't understand." "Try me." "I've developed a list myself." "Responsibility, problems, parents." "Yeah?" "Always on my case about every little thing." ""My house, my rules."" "My old man always said that." "So what did you do?" "What'd I do?" "I left." "Hey, Tully!" "Ah, gotta bolt." "Thanks for looking after him while Stan and I work." "I'm close by." "Gabriel doesn't fight." "He does now." "Recess." "How is he?" "Him?" "He's fine." "Few scrapes." "Nothing bad." "And the other kid?" "A broken nose." "Black eye." "I'm worried." "I'll talk to him." "He doesn't respond to lectures." "Gabriel doesn't respond to much of anything lately." "How are you doing?" "I'm managing." "Is that enough?" "What?" "The kid..." "He sees things, I'm sure." "Hears things." "What's he supposed to think?" "Our marriage is over." "Of course we fight." "What couple doesn't when it's all ending?" "Sometimes we're loud." "Sometimes we're really loud." "Don't get started." "This is hard enough." "I can't fight a two-front war." "Neither can a ten-year old." "There's more." "What?" "You're not gonna send him to boarding school." "He has to choose." "What?" "Who he wants to live with." "It's only fair." "And I remember when math was my only problem." "Talk to him." "I'm glad you're here." "Hey, I'm hiding from the widow down the block." "How many apple cakes can I eat?" "Dad..." "You're my daughter." "It's just us now." "No smoking." "You're not my mother." "Dad..." "I told you, I quit." "Quit buying, maybe." "So how do you like the Dodgers this year?" "Ups and downs, right?" "Did you know the Dodgers originally played in New York?" "I remember seeing them when I lived in Brooklyn as a kid... before they moved, before I moved." "Moving someplace new is always a jolting experience." "I mean, the hot dogs don't even taste the same." "Grandpa." "I'm sorry." "My point is, they picked it back up again." "Ups and downs, right?" "That's what life's all about." "Come here." "Am I in trouble?" "When I was your age, my grandfather... your, what, great- great-grandfather... taught me how to spit watermelon seeds." "Anybody ever teach you that?" "No." "Okay." "First, you take a bite like this." "You work it in your mouth." "Try to get all the seeds between your teeth and your cheek." "And when all the fruit is gone, and the seeds are all you got left... you let her rip." "Now you try." "Not bad." "You know... with all the seedless watermelons they have now, this is a dying art." "I got into a fight the other day." "So I heard." "You aren't mad?" "I didn't have to duck any punches." "But now that you bring it up, can I ask why?" "I don't want to talk about it." "Fair enough." "Mom and Dad say I have to choose." "Choose?" "Who I want to live with." "Oh." "Yeah." "You know they both love you very much." "Lots of boys don't have that luxury." "I want my parents to live together." "I think you'll find that what we want and what we get are rarely the same thing." "Reminds me of a story that my grandfather, your..." "Great-great?" "Good." "Grandfather, told me." "It was about..." "Nah, skip it." "What?" "Well, it's just a stupid story." "Something you'd hear before you went to bed." "You wouldn't be interested." "Is it any good?" "Well, I don't know." "I liked it." "But I like adventure stories." "Heroes battling bad guys, people dying, worlds being saved." "But that's just me." "Tell it." "You sure?" "Yeah." "Tell it." "All right." "Is your mother watching us?" "No." "It's a habit." "Drink chocolate milk." "I'm lactose-intolerant." "But you eat ice cream." "You want to hear the story or not?" "Okay." "Once upon a time..." "Ah, jeez." "What's the matter now?" "It's a fairy tale." "You're gonna tell me a fairytale." "No, it is not a fairy tale." "Well, not exactly." "Whatever." "Listen up." "You might learn something." "Okay." "Now, like all stories, this begins in a place and time not like our own." "There was a small village on a distant planet where simple folks worked the land." "There was a boy about the same age as you." "And he lived there with his mother and father." "And the boy's name was Nethiah." "But life, no matter what galaxy you're in, is made up of differences." "And while these people lived in peace, there are always those who thrive on war." "The Strifers were savage." "What they saw, they took." "And those that resisted were killed or enslaved." "And as they moved across the land, they conquered all those who stood in their way, regardless if they pledged allegiance or rebellion." "What does that mean?" "Whether they gave in or fought back." "Oh." "Thoran was the Strifer King." "He was ruthless, with a hunger for everything he set his eyes on." "And when his eyes fell on the village, the fate of Nethiah and his family was sealed." "War is never a good thing." "But when you're fighting for your family, your community, it takes on a special meaning because you're protecting what's most precious to you." "Now, that day, the villagers fought valiantly, but they lost." "Many died, including Nethiah's father." "Some were enslaved." "The lucky ones escaped." "Nethiah watched as the Strifers destroyed all that he had come to know." "And the horrors that he saw were too much for words." "Nethiah managed to escape, and he found his mother chained to a wall." "The Strifers had captured her." "And they were slowly feeding her a serum that was poisoning her." "He wanted to help his mother, but there was nothing he could do." "He was too small, too weak to separate her from those machines." "No." "Come here, come closer..." "She told him to leave." "She loved him so much and she knew that if he was captured, he would be forced to work in the mines, or worse." "There's nothing for you here now." "Do you understand?" "I want you to listen to me very, very carefully." "I want you to close your eyes." "Shut them very tightly." "And do not open them till I tell you." "Now, stand up." "Stand up!" "Do not open your eyes." "Leave me now!" "You must go!" "You must go or you will die here." "Do you understand?" "Now, go!" "And do not look back, no matter what you hear!" "Don't worry for me, my son." "I will always watch over you." "So what did he do?" "He took a secret tunnel and found the pipeline that would lead outside his village." "And when he climbed up out of that pipe, he was free." "So he made it?" "Unfortunately, no." "He didn't." "Something stopped him." "He just couldn't do it." "He couldn't leave those who meant the most to him." "So he went back." "And the Strifers captured him." "Oh, he fought like a wildcat." "He made the Strifers earn it." "But in the end, he was still a boy, and these were the strongest creatures in the galaxy." "They beat him mercilessly, until he finally passed out." "What?" "Why did you stop?" "I got places to go, people to see." "But I'll look in on you while your parents are out." "But what about the story?" "Hey, slow down, kiddo." "It's just a fairy tale, remember?" "It's way better." "Really?" "Well, then maybe I'll come back tomorrow." "That sound good?" "Yeah." "Grandpa?" "Yeah?" "I hit that boy the other day." "I hit him first." "I heard." "You did?" "Kids fight." "He made of fun of me." "Oh." "Well, then he deserved it." "He said I was gonna be one of those divorce kids." "He's right." "I know." "Thing is, he's my best friend." "Was." "Well, I'll tell you something." "Kids make fun of things that they're afraid of, what they don't understand." "Adults do, too." "I guess." "Come on, let's take this inside." "I haven't eaten this much watermelon since my prostate was your age." "Your what?" "Never mind." "My father's going to watch Gabriel while we're at work." "Your father?" "Yes, my father." "Someone's got to get through to him." "I talked to Gabriel." "Yeah, I know how you talk to him." "Oh, stop." "Susan, I talk to the kid, okay?" "My father has a way." "He's a good man." "He's a hard-ass." "Excuse me?" "You know what I'm talking about!" "Whenever he speaks his mind, he has no internal censor!" "Since when did telling the truth become such a bad thing?" "I'm going to my room." "Yeah, walk out, like you always do!" "Can I come in?" "Yeah." "Hey, kiddo." "We haven't really talked very much about what your dad and I are asking of you." "I know it must seem like we dropped a ton of bricks on you, but it's really important that you know why." "Whatever problems your dad and I are having are between us." "They have nothing to do with you." "We both had an equal part in bringing you into this world, and we both love you very much." "Does that make sense?" "I guess." "Take your time with the decision." "You know, when two people get married, divorce is the furthest thing from their minds." "You have children, you raise a family, make a better lot in life." "But along the way, life tends to throw in a curveball or two." "You and mom don't love each other anymore." "No." "No, we don't." "Well, not the way we used to." "Then in what way?" "Well... look, I'm gonna tell you this because..." "I think you're old enough to understand it." "When I first met your mom, it was like nothing else I had ever felt before." "It was like... you know how when you're running real fast and you gotta stop because you gotta catch your breath?" "It was like that." "Only that's how I felt every time we were together." "And when we got married, there wasn't a day when the sun didn't rise and set with her." "But sometime in the last year," "I stopped loving your mother the way I used to when we got married." "And I can't explain why..." "I wish I could... but one morning I just felt it." "And, here's the thing about falling in love that no one ever tells you, but I'm telling you now... you can always fall out of it." "I don't understand." "Well, you will, buddy, when you get a little bit older." "Trust me." "Now, as far as who you're gonna live with, that decision is completely up to you." "And your mom and I aren't gonna try to sway you in any way." "We both love you very much." "How will I know if you're gonna fall out of it?" "You little grubber-ish..." "yah!" "That kind of love... no parent ever falls out of." "All right." "Now, you give that a whirl." "Come on." "Looks like you could use a cold soda." "Hey, Tully." "You got the weight of the world on your shoulders." "I can tell." "You got that look." "What look?" "It's the way you carry yourself." "That hunched-over, "I can't put anything else on my shoulder" look." "It's that obvious?" "Know what helps with that?" "Give me the ball." "Follow me." "Come over." "For whatever reason, shooting free throws always helped me to get my mind straight." "You play a lot." "In school." "Starting point guard for a team that went to State." "We lost but, we had a fun ride." "Now I only mess around when the mood hits me." "Here, why don't you give it a go?" "Uh, I don't play." "It's not playing, it's shooting." "Cheapest therapy I know." "Here, take it." "Hold the ball like this." "Bring it over your head like so." "Keep your eye on the back of the rim." "That's what you're aiming for." "You aim for the front, you'll brick the shot for sure." "Now, when shooting... your left hand guides the ball, while your right hand propels the shot." "Always, always, always follow through with your shooting hand." "Why?" "Hell if I know, kid." "It's what the coaches always said." "Go ahead, give it a try." "Sweet!" "You want to talk about it?" "My parents are splitting up." "The "D" word." "I should have known." "So which one are you gonna live with?" "That's the thing." "They want me to decide." "Ah, hell." "Excuse my French." "That's a hard place to be in." "I'll tell you this." "You're not the first kid whose parents got the big "D"." "Great." "I feel so much better now." "I'm serious." "It stinks, but it happens." "It'll be hard, but it's livable." "What makes you so sure?" "Why do you think I left home?" "Just because they can't live with each other doesn't mean they can live without you." "How am I gonna make a decision without hurting one of them?" "You can't." "Someone's going to get hurt." "I'll tell you something else." "They're scared." "Scared of what?" "You're the glue now, kid." "You can keep them as close or as far apart as you want." "You understand?" "So this is where you've been hiding out." "Who's this?" "Grandpa, this is Tully." "Tully, my grandpa." "Nice to meet you, Grandpa." "Nice to meet you." "I gotta go pick up some trash." "I'll catch you later." "You know him?" "He's a friend of mine." "I don't like him." "You don't know him." "Didn't know bin Laden, either." "You want an ice cream cone?" "Yeah." "Let's go." "Grab your stuff." "You better hurry up or I'm gonna eat yours, too." "So are you gonna continue the story?" "Sure." "Just let me sit down first." "Come on!" "Okay." "Where were we?" "When Nethiah got captured by the Strifer King." "That's right, he got captured." "But they didn't enslave him." "No." "They did something much worse." "They made him into a pit fighter." "The young boy grew into a strong man." "And they taught him how to fight, kind of like the gladiators of ancient Rome." "And did he learn." "He was the best." "400 times they lowered him into the pit, and 400 times he raised his arm in victory." "The only time he was allowed to leave his cell was to train or fight." "And for the longest time, that's all he knew." "He became like an animal, like a savage, as savage as the Strifers who had locked him up." "And one day, suddenly, something changed." "What?" "He had enough." "He reached his limit." "He just couldn't do it anymore." "The fighting, the death." "He was a man at the end of his rope." "There comes a time in everyone's life when a decision has to be made, and Nethiah made it..." "no more fighting." "When they came for him, he refused to leave his cell." "He didn't care what the consequences were." "He was finished." "Nethiah was given a choice." "Fight, or be taken to the Strifer King, a fate that no one had ever returned from alive." "That was when he met Sir Hanif." "He was a freedom fighter who had been silenced by the Strifers in a terrible way." "How?" "They wired his mouth shut." "Come here." "You speak with your mind." "How?" "A lost art known to a few." "Sir Hanif seemed to want to help Nethiah, but suddenly, he stabbed him." "How come?" "Why didn't he help him?" "Well, in a way, he did help him." "He awakened Nethiah's anger, and when Nethiah was angry, he was strong." "Hanif!" "Why?" "why did you do this?" "To set you free." "I don't understand." "You said..." "You said you were going to help me." "Soon, you will feel the strength flowing in you." "In a way, Sir Hanif was... his savior." "He showed Nethiah what a person can do if he believes in himself, if he sees the truth in things." "You see, Sir Hanif used to be a great warrior, too, and friend to the Strifer King." "But when he finally saw the evil that lurked in the king's heart, he made a decision." "He refused to serve the king anymore." "So he was imprisoned and forced to fight in the pits." "Just like Nethiah." "That's right." "Nethiah made his own decision." "It was better to die fighting for his freedom than to live as a slave." "And Sir Hanif came to that same conclusion." "In one final charge, he attacked the Strifer guards outside the prison cell." "Now, Sir Hanif succeeded in defeating the guards, but time had slowed his fighting ability." "It was a victory that cost him dearly." "Hanif!" "Go... before the rest of the Strifers get here." "No, we'll go together!" "No, Nethiah." "This is a journey for you, and you alone." "We can make it, both of us!" "But I am already free." "I..." "I don't understand." "I'm soon to be outside these prison walls in both mind and body." "But your path is far more dangerous." "My path?" "To the Strifer King." "Remember, I awakened your soul." "Use it against him, for both of our sakes." "Hanif, I don't know how to..." "You do, Nethiah." "Use my blade, and take this." "Sir Hanif gave Nethiah an amulet... a good-luck charm... saying only that it would protect him." "But..." "But how will it protect me?" "Have faith, Nethiah." "Have faith." "I..." "I will try." "My strength is leaving me." "Now go." "Go and find yourself and your purpose." "Let the blade and the amulet guide you." "Defeat the Strifer King...  and free... our...  people." "Sir Hanif made the ultimate sacrifice." "So Nethiah... he fought his way through guard after guard." "But he was bleeding from the cut in his side." "And when he thought he could go no further, he finally found what he was looking for... a way out." "Did he?" "Did he what?" "Grandpa!" "Did he make it?" "Oh, well, yeah." "Sort of." "Sort of?" "He was the on the verge of passing out from loss of blood when..." "When?" "A stranger found him." "A mysterious woman saw his weakened condition and helped him up." "She was unlike anyone he had ever seen before... beautiful, with eyes the color of the setting sun." "When Nethiah woke up, he had no idea how long he had been sleeping." "And the woman hovered over him." "And he was scared at first." "She was not an ordinary woman, she was someone..." "something... magical." "Where am I?" "You do not know?" "Keep your distance." "Why?" "Do you intend to harm me?" "What are you?" "I am a Sorqan!" "What is a Sorqan?" "I am made up of many organisms... but I take the form of only one." "I am known as Naran Anie." "Why am I here?" "I do not know." "I must go." "No!" "Wouldn't you rather stay here with me instead?" "I am in need of company." "And being the last of her kind, alone all the time," "Stay with me..." "drove her mad." "...forever." "She begged Nethiah to stay with her, but he was determined to leave." "And that was when the amulet saved him." "Aaaaah!" "Do you know what an amulet is?" "A good-luck charm?" "Good boy." "It was a charm passed down from ancient times." "It represented hope, courage, the power to start things anew... just as Sir Hanif had started anew when he turned against the Strifer King... that if this woman survived the Strifer attack, maybe there were other survivors from his own village" "hiding somewhere." "So he walked and searched for many days, to the point of exhaustion." "And when he thought he could walk no more, he saw something very strange... a hole in the ground." "But it was no ordinary hole." "It was black as night." "And, when Nethiah reached his hand in to see what he could find..." "Oh." "Grandpa!" "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." "I'll get you another one." "But something grabbed him, and it was very scary." "Nethiah wrenched his hand free from the terrible grip just as these terrifying creatures emerged." "Who were they?" "Survivors." "He found them?" "Not only that." "He found his family." "Well, I think that's about it for today." "Grandpa!" "Nap time!" "I don't take naps." "Who's talking about you, kiddo?" "Wait till you get to be my age." "Naps are the best friend you have." "Come on, let's get you inside." "Hi, Mom." "Oh, you made a mess!" "I'll take care of it." "Can I ask you something?" "What's wrong Dad?" "Have you heard of a guy named Tully?" "Where is my phone?" "Honey, have you seen my cell phone?" "Oh, here." "Heh." "Remember what I said, Gabriel." "Yes, Mom." "No strangers." "Okay, I won't talk to strangers." "So you're home." "Your father worries too much." "I checked around." "That Tully kid is harmless." "He's a bad influence." "Huh." "No worse than our arguing." "You're preparing the papers?" "Well?" "Well what?" "It's confusing." "I told you." "You need to hire a lawyer." "At those rates?" "I'll just invest the time." "I need closure, Stan." "I need to know why." "Our problems started long before she came into the picture." "She was an effect, she wasn't the cause." "Who is it, Stan?" "Don't you think you owe me that, at least?" "What difference does it make?" "You don't know her." "We met." "It happened." "End of story." "That's life, isn't it?" "What, does that have some kind of hidden meaning, Susan?" "It means just as I said." "But you're free to think whatever you want." "That, right there... that's what I'm talking about Susan!" "What?" "What are we talking about, Stan?" "You get to this point and you just cut out, like I'm supposed to know what's going on inside your head!" "Isn't that what marriage is supposed to be about?" "Huh?" "Knowing what each other's thinking?" "Finishing each other's sentences, and so on and so forth?" "Don't mock me." "Don't you mock me!" "You were with another woman, and I..." "Only after." "Only after it was over between us!" "You stepped away from this marriage long before I ever stepped out on you, and now this ten-year mistake is finally over." "Our son is not a mistake!" "Oh, stop it!" "I love my son!" "I love Gabriel." "And I know you love him." "He's the best thing that ever happened to us." "This has nothing to do with him and everything to do with us." "He belongs with me." "Maybe." "But we decided to let him make up his own mind." "And no matter whom he chooses, we're gonna respect his decision." "We're gonna respect it and honor it, for his sake." "I know." "And about us... don't go looking for answers to questions that, in the end, aren't going to satisfy you." "You're a bastard." "I know." "You're going to be one of those divorce kids!" "No, I'm not!" "Yes, you are!" "Take that back!" "Ow!" "Ow!" "Ow!" "Uhh!" "Come here." "Uhh!" "Mom!" "One second, Gabriel." "What is it, honey?" "Have to go." "Where you gotta go?" "I'll take you after breakfast." "No, I have to go." "Dad's using my bathroom." "Sure." "Hey." "We're in this together." "We gotta take care of each other, okay?" "Okay." "Hey." "Hey." "How's school?" "My mom said I shouldn't talk to you." "I figured." "Come on, Doug." "I gotta go." "I saw Doug today." "Refresh my memory." "Who's Doug?" "My friend." "The kid I punched in his eye." "Oh." "I wanted to say something, but I couldn't." "Well, it'll come when you're ready." "I don't know." "Forgiveness is a difficult thing." "But I think you'll find most people are willing to do it, if you give them the chance." "Take Nethiah." "When he finally found his mom and dad again..." "Wait, I thought they got killed." "Well, yes and no." "You see, it wasn't really them, just fakes that the Strifers created to trick Nethiah." "You watched us die and did nothing?" "!" "No." "I..." "I was young." "But even though they weren't real," "Nethiah couldn't control his feelings when he saw them." "You deserve to die for betraying us!" "When they started attacking him, he could have fought back, but he didn't." "He took their blows over and over again." "And when he could take no more... he did the only thing that he could do." "What?" "He took out his amulet." "There was nothing I could do." "Liar!" "That will not help you now!" "It didn't seem to help." "Nethiah could fight no longer, and he surrendered to a dark sleep." "Wait, that's it?" "That's the end?" "No, not quite." "Suddenly, there was a bright light all around Nethiah." "Didn't you hear me calling?" "We're in the middle of a story." "It's good, Mom." "Well, put it on hold." "Dinner's on the table." "But..." "Gabriel." "Okay." "To be continued." "Come on, Grandpa." "Can you give me a hint?" "What's gonna happen?" "Is Nethiah gonna fight the Strifer King?" "Good things come to those who wait." "Um, excuse me." "Wash up." "And wash their hands." "How's, uh..." "how's it going?" "It's going." "Has Gabriel said anything to you about um, you know." "Has he given you any hints?" "He hasn't, and I haven't been asking." "What do you mean, he hasn't said anything?" "Susan, you're my daughter and I love you." "But if this was some idea of yours for me to spend time with Gabriel so I could spy on him, you're going to be disappointed." "Is that so bad?" "Am I absolutely horrible for wanting to know what my son is thinking?" "No, you're not horrible." "But you gave him the lousy task of choosing between parents." "At least give the kid some space to figure things out." "So what have you two been talking about all this time?" "You know, things." "Things?" "What kind of things?" "You wouldn't be interested." "Try me." "Hey, Gabriel, does your mom know what a Strifer is?" "Are you kidding me?" "See?" "This is strictly on a need-to-know basis, and you don't need to know." "Gabriel, your grandfather has lost his mind." "Who's saying Grace..." "you or the crazy man?" "All right." "Lord, please... give us a more understanding daughter." "I mean mother." "When is the last time you spent any time with your son?" "I saw him today." "Last week, we did the..." "the bike thing." "We're going to the park tomorrow." "Last week." "You want him to live with you so bad, you spend no time with him." "Look, stop." "Stop." "Okay?" "I came to get my sweatshirt." "I'm going out for a drive." "You got to hawk all over the balcony..." "Go for your drive." "You just stay off my back!" "Come on, give me more!" "Yes!" "Let's sit down." "I think you got Larry Bird coming to your house, giving you lessons." "Who?" "You're kidding, right?" "Larry Bird?" "The Bird Man?" "Only about the greatest basketball player ever." "I thought Michael Jordan was." "Well, yeah, but before Michael, there was Larry Bird." "One of the 50 greatest players of all time." "Come on, you gotta know who I'm talking about." "I told you I didn't know a lot about basketball." "You want to hear a story?" "I met him." "Really?" "An All-Star game." "Three-point contest." "He was behind, and as time ticked down, he started raining them in." "On his last shot, after he released the ball, he turned his back to the net and walked off the court, with his index finger pointing in the air." "Gabriel, he didn't even see the shot go in, but he knew." "Wow." "I stayed around after, when he was signing autographs." "He signed my ball." "My most prized possession." "No matter how broke I get, that piece never sells." "Some things are worth more than money." "You got that?" "Yeah." "How's your friend doing?" "Doug?" "Okay, I guess." "It's tough when friends fight." "You think it'll never happen, but it does." "I didn't want to hit him." "It just sort of happened." "He was saying things, and I got mad." "I don't remember even throwing the punch." "He's my best friend." "Thing is, best friends are best friends for a reason." "A good friendship can survive anything." "So what do I do now?" "What do you want to do?" "Tell him I'm sorry." "Sounds like a plan to me." "Hey." "Hey." "Whatcha doin'?" "Nothing." "Yeah, me, too." "How's the eye?" "It can be like this for another week or so." "Does it still hurt?" "Not anymore." "It looks worse than it is." "What?" "I don't know." "It makes you look tough." "Yeah?" "Yeah." "Like a boxer or something." "Guess what?" "What?" "Mary Peterson asked me about it yesterday." "Mary Peterson?" "What'd you say?" "Said it was nothing." "She thought I was being mysterious." "She left a note in my locker." "No way!" "Way." "Dude, she's, like, a year older than us." "I know!" "Glad I could help." "Need to be a friggin' NASA scientist for these games." "Something's wrong with this game." "I can't get it working." "You have to hit the color buttons when it goes to a circle and strum at the same time." "Isn't it easier to just play the guitar?" "Didn't they have video games when you were a kid?" "Yeah." "They were called "sports. "" "And where were you?" "Taking a shower." "Before that." "Playing ball with Tully." "Ah." "I see." "Then I made up with Doug." "Well, I'm glad to hear that." "Look, uh, this guy..." "Tully is his name?" "I don't think that's the kind of person you want to be spending time with." "Why not?" "Well... there are three kinds of people, Gabriel... the good, the bad, and the ones that were good but went bad along the way." "I think this Tully might be the third type." "You don't even know him." "That's true." "It's just a feeling I get." "I'd hate to see you getting, you know, influenced." "If, I'm wrong, I'm wrong." "I just want you to be okay." "You ever heard of Larry Bird?" "Who hasn't?" "I'm surprised you have." "Why do you ask?" "No reason." "Are we okay?" "Yeah." "Old age, kid." "Makes you want to make sure that all those you love are taken care of." "Wait'll you get to be 40 years older." "But that's, like, a million years away." "Yeah." "Are you gonna finish the story?" "I was thinking about getting some coffee." "I'd rather hear the story." "Oh, you would, would you?" "You can't smoke inside." "Okay." "So where were we?" "When Nethiah found his parents and it got ugly." "Oh, yeah." "Yeah." "Well, as it turned out, his amulet did save him." "As he lay beaten, he entered a dreamlike state, and his mother came to him, his real mother." "I'm not here to harm you." "My son." "You must listen to me very carefully." "You are the last hope of our kind." "These creatures manipulated your mind." "They are committed to destroy us." "This place... is not of your own memory." "It's something they have created." "You must rely on faith." "This represents something forgotten." "I told you once to close your eyes." "I ask you now to open them." "Fight the overlord." "Break free from the confines they have created in your mind." "Open your eyes, my son." "Be nameless no more." "For you are..." "Nethiah." "It was then he knew that to put things right, he had to drive the Strifers out of the land, to avenge his parents and to set his people free." "I have not... forgotten." "Now, he would have to fight their evil king, which meant he would probably be killed." "Striving for a goal, a really difficult one, takes more courage and inner strength than anyone suspects." "In these moments, your character is formed." "Whether you achieve it or not, success is measured by how hard you try." "And Nethiah tried hard." "He sought out the Strifer King." "Everywhere he went, there were signs of his presence, but no king." "He was starting to wonder if Thoran was just a story made up to keep people in line." "So Nethiah freed settlements from Strifer imprisonment to send a message that he was looking for Thoran." "The Strifers went to their king and told him how they were losing the control that they had ruthlessly enforced for 20 years." "The king was impassive." "He paced as he listened to their stories of Nethiah... that he was fierce, unstoppable." "And the more his legend grew, the more his people stood up against the Strifers." "He inspired them, strengthened them." "The king said nothing." "But he didn't harm his followers for failing as they feared he might." "How come?" "How come what?" "How come he didn't punish them?" "Ah, good question." "There comes a moment when the inevitable is gonna happen." "And the king knew that." "You can't enslave a people forever." "At some point, they're going to rise up." "And that moment was now." "The big battle was about to begin." "It was a fight that they both wanted... and got." "Now, to give you some perspective... throughout history, there are only a few battles that compare to what Nethiah was about to go through." "The Battle of Thermopylae, where 300 Spartans fought against millions of their enemy;" "the gladiator uprising against the Romans;" "and Horatius Cocles' lone stand on the bridge, protecting Rome against the invading Etruscans." "And there was the battle between Nethiah and the Strifer King." "First, he had to get through the king's best warriors." "And they came at him with everything they had." "Strifers are vicious fighters, relentless, with one purpose in mind... to vanquish their foes or die trying." "Throughout history, none had been able to stand up to them, until now." "Nethiah had honed his fighting skills as a pit fighter against the fiercest in the galaxy." "400 times he had been lowered into that pit, and 400 times he had come out alive." "And back then, he was only fighting for survival." "Now he was fighting for his people." "One by one, he killed the Strifer warriors until only he and the king remained." "The challenge was issued." "Everything was riding on this fight." "If Nethiah died, the Strifers remained in power." "If the Strifer King perished, then Nethiah's people would go free." "When the king asked by what right did he make this challenge," "Nethiah smiled and showed him his..." "Amulet!" "Right." "The amulet was more than just a symbol." "It had survived wars, famine, disease." "Simply put, it was hope." "Hope that wrongs could be righted." "And that was something that the Strifer King never wanted to see." "Now, Thoran looked up at the stars, searching for an omen of the battle to come." "Some people believe that fate is written in the stars, and that by studying their positions, we can see what's to come." "Now, maybe Thoran didn't know how to read the signs, or maybe he just was trying to change what they meant." "Either way, their battle came down to a duel of wills between two great warriors, each determined to prove their resolve and fighting skills." "Thoran's moves were effortless." "He fought with a grace that belied his size and his age." "Now, Nethiah, on the other hand, fought like an animal who tore at the bars of his cage to get free, fighting with strength and single-minded conviction." "Every time he was beaten down," "Nethiah found his feet again." "When you're fighting for the fates of many, it can either weigh you down or raise you up." "On and on the fight went, punching and blocking and thrusting and kicking, kicking, kicking!" "I mean, for a while, it seemed that they were too evenly matched." "But then Nethiah started to tire, and he realized he was going to have to change his game plan if he was going to beat the Strifer King." "So you know what?" "He decided to climb up the rock face, thinking that Thoran wouldn't bother to pursue him." "But he did!" "He did." "And, as Nethiah climbed higher and higher, he was getting more and more tired." "And he turned back, and Thoran was getting closer and closer." "On and on the battle went, until it just seemed pointless!" "Grandpa!" "It's nothing, kiddo." "I just got a little winded for a second." "You mind if we finish this later?" "Yeah." "Come on, let's get you a glass of water." "Hey." "You Gabriel?" "Yeah?" "This is from Tully." "Where is he?" "I don't know." "Quit." "Fired." "Who knows?" "He said to give you this." "What is it?" "I just deliver." "I don't read the mail." "This is killing me, Stan." "Look, it is what it is." "Let's just move forward, okay?" "Let's do our best to keep this thing going in a salvageable direction." "Salvageable?" "You think this is salvageable?" "Yes, for Gabriel." "Don't you dare." "Don't you dare offer up our son as justification." "Don't you see what you've done to me?" "I have no pride." "Do you know what it's like to walk into a grocery store and see the women shopping and not know if they're judging me or not, not know if they've heard the rumors, thinking the whole time that one of them might be her?" "Susan..." "Susan, nothing." "Hey, kiddo." "What are you doing out here?" "Oh." "Whatcha got there?" "A basketball." "Yeah, well, thanks for confirming that my eyesight is still in check." "Take a look." "Oh, is that real?" "Yep." "Where did you get this?" "It's a good-bye gift from a friend." "Really?" "Yeah." "Must have been a good friend." "He is." "I guess I was wrong." "You okay?" "Yeah." "Because if you remember, when we last saw Nethiah, he was not in very good shape." "Go on." "As they locked in their death match," "Nethiah remembered the amulet." "He struggled to reach it, as if just by touching it, it might give him the strength that he needed." "The king had other plans." "He struck Nethiah with a mighty blow, sending him to the ground." "Well, Nethiah was stunned, disoriented." "Before he could collect himself, the Strifer King was upon him." "In the king's grasp, Nethiah felt the years of Strifer oppression." "No matter what he did, he couldn't break the hold." "His very breath was being choked out of him." "And then something happened." "As he struggled for life," "Nethiah saw the amulet on the ground." "And suddenly, everything that it represented manifested in his being." "Slowly, he grasped Thoran's arms and, in an agony of determination, he pried loose from the death hold." "Thoran was stunned." "No one had ever escaped, not like that, not with so much conviction." "Well, the battle had turned." "Nethiah was unleashed." "He attacked with unrelenting fury... kicks, punches, throwing everything at the Strifer King with such blinding speed that he could do nothing but retreat, until Nethiah had Thoran on his knees." "The boy who had been forced to work in the pits to survive now had the cause of his enslavement on the ground before him." "The king looked up at Nethiah." "He didn't beg for his life, as some say he did." "He didn't bargain with Nethiah or make promises in exchange for mercy." "He simply bowed his head in a gesture of respect." "He submitted to Nethiah's raised fist one final time before Nethiah erased the past 20 years in one crushing blow!" "The battle was over." "Yes!" "The Strifers had lost." "In that moment, Nethiah was changed, reborn." "He emerged from the darkness in a burst of glory." "He could do so now." "He had earned the right to step into the sun." "Wow." "The end." "That was a really good story, Grandpa." "You think so?" "Not just a goofy fairy tale?" "No." "I think it has something for everyone if you know where to look." "So you're suspension is almost over." "You ready to get back to school?" "Yeah." "Good." "But, I still have a big decision to make." "You'll make the right one." "Choices are important." "You make a choice, and it says something about who you are." "Nethiah made a choice, right?" "And right now, I choose to get you inside before your parents get worried." "I used to be happy, Stan." "I used to be happy and content." "Now I am broken up inside, and the pieces don't make sense." "And I'm not the only one in this marriage, you know." "It takes the two of us, not just me, not just you." "And you used to know that when we were younger, but you are wrapped up in your work." "Maybe I should wait." "You could." "You could wait till tonight or tomorrow, but maybe those won't be good times, either." "Keep waiting, and in the meantime, your parents are going at it all the time." "It's never going to be a good time." "Or you can man up and... and get it over with." "It's your choice." "Have you made a decision?" "Yeah." "Then, go tell 'em." "I'll be right here." "Do you- do you remember when we were in school?" "We had dated two years." "Graduation was coming up." "The night before finals were over, do you remember what you said to me?" "No." "You said I had the softest eyes in the world." "You said that you knew you fell in love with me the moment you saw my eyes," "that I was the woman for you, that we were meant for something special." "Tell me, how do they look now?" "They look sad." "Hey, buddy." "We were just talking." "Everything's fine, honey." "Everything's not fine." "Everything hasn't been fine in a long time." "What?" "You don't think I've noticed it?" "Buddy, come here." "Let me just..." "Let me finish!" "When you guys told me you were getting a divorce," "I felt like I was gonna throw up." "And then you both came to me and told me to choose." "I'm ten." "What am I supposed to think?" "Oh, honey..." "I'm not done!" "Well, I made my choice." "But I'm not gonna tell you." "That's all I have to say." "So how'd it go?" "Okay." "Okay is good enough." "So what do you want now?" "An ice cream sundae with lots of whipped cream." "Doable." "So what happened to Nethiah after he killed the Strifer King?" "Oh, that's another story." "Have you seen the size of a double fudge sundae?" "Well, then we'll have lots of time, won't we?" "Come on!" "I'm coming." "Too bad I'm lactose-intolerant, though." "But you eat ice cream." "Oh, that's right, I do." "Well, that's good." "Get off the street!" "Sorry." "So can I live with you?" "Sure." "Just for a while?" "As long as you need." "Great." "I'm not cleaning up after you." "I'm neat." "I mean, no spitting watermelon seeds at my house." "Hey, you're the one who taught me." "So what are you having again?" "Double fudge?" "Double fudge sundae." "I thought you liked butterscotch." "No." "When you were younger, you liked butterscotch." "No, that was when I was younger." "That's what I just said." "Didn't I?" "♪ I'm just like a windshield wiper ♪" "♪ Gonna wipe away the pain" "♪ I'm just like a windshield wiper ♪" "♪ I'm not dealing with the rain ♪" "♪ I'm just like a windshield wiper ♪" "♪ Gonna wipe away the pain" "♪ I'm just like a windshield wiper ♪" "♪ I'm not dealing with the rain ♪" "♪ If we can go back in time" "♪ I can show you how to do it right ♪" "♪ Do you remember?" "♪ Do you remember?" "♪ I'm just like a windshield wiper ♪" "♪ Gonna wipe away the pain" "♪ I'm just like a windshield wiper ♪" "♪ I'm not dealing with the rain ♪" "♪ I'm just like a windshield wiper ♪" "♪ Gonna wipe away the pain" "♪ I'm just like a windshield wiper ♪" "♪ I'm not dealing with the rain ♪" "♪ If we can go back in time" "♪ I can show you how to do it right ♪" "♪ Do you remember?" "♪ Do you remember?" "♪ If we can go back in time" "♪ I can show you how to do it right ♪" "♪ If we can go back in time" "♪ I can show you how to do it right ♪" "♪ Do you remember?" "♪ Do you remember?" "♪ I'm just like a windshield wiper ♪" "♪ Gonna wipe away the pain" "♪ I'm just like a windshield wiper ♪" "♪ I'm not dealing with the rain ♪" "♪ I'm just like a windshield wiper ♪" "♪ Gonna wipe away the pain" "♪ I'm just like a windshield wiper ♪" "♪ I'm not dealing with the rain ♪" "♪ I'm just like a windshield wiper ♪" "♪ Gonna wipe away the pain" "♪ I'm just like a windshield wiper ♪" "♪ I'm not dealing with the rain ♪" "♪ I'm just like a windshield wiper ♪" "♪ Gonna wipe away the pain" "♪ I'm just like a windshield wiper ♪" "♪ I'm not dealing with the rain ♪"