"10-86, possible 4- 17." "Baker, Henry." "3000 block ofBagley, 4- 17, 10-30." "Get back!" "I'II shoot her!" "Oh, my God!" "3-L-90." "I repeat:" "3-L-90, request you notify hostage negotiation team." "Have them respond to my location." "See anything?" "Get those cars out of here!" "Suspect is a male Caucasian, approximateIy" "I'm a reporter." "How long have you been here?" "Domestic or drugs?" "Is that his girlfriend?" "Get out of here." "Who is it?" "talk to me." "Get him out of here." "Go on!" "I got my passes." "Shit." "I have every right to be here." "Where'd he go?" "Suspect has withdrawn into the interior of the room." "We no Ionger have visual contact." "That was my car." "HoIy" "Having a little car trouble?" "That's a keen observation." "I can help you." "It's the Jag." "You want me to drive home in your car?" "I want you to take my car." "I've had a Iot of luck lately." "I don't need it." "You're giving me a new Jaguar and you don't want anything?" "I can prove it." "Give me your card." "I'II be in touch." "What, you want me to kill your wife or something?" "No." "Tempting, but, no." "call it generosity between two strangers." "Generosity?" "It's a Jaguar." "You expect me to drive home in a new Jaguar?" "That's right." "You're a freak!" "You are a freak." "You want me to get in this car?" "No way!" "It'II probably blow up." "That's real funny, bits and pieces of me raining down in the street!" "You think I'm going near that thing, you're nuts!" "Besides, I got a car." "Sort of." "What?" "You like it?" "cool blade, huh?" "You want to see it?" "IKeep it in your pants." "Fag." "He's gonna kill you." "I've got pepper spray." "apparently, none of you have ever seen a new teacher before." "I'm Mr. Simonet." "welcome to the seventh grade." "middle school, that hellish, shaky bridge you all must cross before you become members of that undyingIy enviable high school elite." "You may think you can't cross this bridge fast enough." "You'd rather close your eyes and not think about it until it's all over." "well, I'm here to tell you that is not an option in this class." "Lateness." "Tardiness." "To be late for your first class on your first day of school." "What does that indicate?" "I'm having a bad hair day?" "Perhaps what it indicates is a lack of respect." "You see, I'm going to be here every day for you." "And so I expect you to be here for me." "On time, no excuses." "Put that down." "Wait." "Now this class is social studies." "That is you and the world." "Yes." "There is a world out there and even if you don't want to meet it it's still going to hit you right in the face." "believe me." "Best start thinking about the world now and what it means to you." "What does the world mean to you?" "Come on!" "A little class participation." "Is it just this class you want to get out of?" "Your house, your street?" "Any further any of you want to go than that?" "Yes?" "The mail." "That's only two miles away from me." "Let me ask you another question." "How often do you think about things that happen outside of this town?" "Do you watch the news?" "Yes?" "No?" "AII right, so we're not global thinkers yet, but why aren't we?" "Because we're 1 1 ." "Good point." "What's your name?" "Trevor." "Maybe Trevor's right." "Why should we think about the world?" "After all, what does the world expect of us?" "Expect?" "Of you." "What does the world expect of you?" "Nothing." "Nothing." "My God, boys and girls, he's right." "Nothing." "Here you are." "You can't drive." "You can't vote." "You can't go to the bathroom without a pass." "You're stuck right here in the seventh grade." "But not forever because one day you'II be free." "But what if on that day you're free you haven't prepared, you're not ready and yet you look around you and you don't like what the world is." "What if the world is just a big disappointment?" "We're screwed." "unless...." "unless you take the things that you don't like about this world and you flip them upside down right on their ass." "Don't tell your parents I used that word." "And you can start that today." "This is your assignment." "Extra credit." "It goes on all year long." "Wait a minute." "What's wrong with this?" "What's the matter?" "Yes?" "It's, Iike, so...." "There must be a word to finish that sentence." "Someone help her." "Weird." "Weird." "Crazy." "Hard." "Bummer." "Bummer." "Hard." "How about possible?" "It's possible." "The realm of possibility exists where?" "In each of you." "Here." "So you can do it." "You can surprise us." "It's up to you." "Or you can just sit back and let it atrophy." "Atrophy." "If there is a word you hear that you don't understand, there's a dictionary." "Look it up." "And there are these dictionaries which you will carry at all times because in this class, we're going to Iearn to love words and their meanings." "Any questions?" "Yeah." "So, you'II like, fIunk us if we don't change the world?" "No, I wouldn't do that." "But you might just squeak by with a "C"." "What'd you ever do to change the world?" "well, Trevor, I get a good night's sleep." "I eat a hearty breakfast." "I show up on time and then I pass the buck to you." "Now, I want you all to write your names in these books and" "What's your name?" "molly, all right." "I want molly to look up the word atrophy and tell the class what it means." "No, we're not in milwaukee." "Straight to hell." "Straight to hell." "Four tequiIas." "Who's having the fourth one?" "You are." "Not for me, thank you." "We bought it for you." "Thank you so much." "No thanks." "Why not?" "I promised my kid." "I know, it's horrible." "You guys have fun." "Wait, wait, wait." "Here." "Thank you." "What are you doing, Junior?" "What are your doing, Jun?" "What are you doing?" "You got her now." "You got her now." "You got him now." "You got him now." "What time do you get off?" "If only I weren't married." "He's married!" "I'm single!" "I'm single!" "hello?" "Hey." "How'd it go?" "Are you there?" "Yeah." "How'd it go?" "What?" "How'd it go?" "How was your first day?" "Okay." "Trev, you got to speak up." "I can't hear you." "Sorry I wasn't home." "I had a chance to pick up another shift." "You mad at me?" "Trev, what are you doing?" "Nothing." "You find the spaghetti?" "I'm eating it." "Good." "Come on, tell me what happened." "I got to go." "Spoon?" "Spoon." "Mom?" "Mom!" "My friend's coming in to take a shower, okay?" "Okay." "That's not really breakfast." "You don't eat breakfast." "well, Iet's have some." "I'II make some eggs." "I'II have some too." "You sure you won't throw up?" "What's that mean?" "What do you think?" "tell me what it means." "You're sneaking it." "I'm not sneaking anything." "Okay." "Wait, I'm sorry." "You're right." "I want to talk." "You want to lie to me." "I don't want to lie, I want to talk." "Do what you want." "I want us to get along." "I'm sorry." "I can't find the toilet paper." "Who are you?" "It's Jerry." "Get out!" "Get out of my house!" "Thanks a Iot." "Get out!" "Do you need money for the bus?" "No, I got it." "You said he could take a shower." "I never said that!" "You did." "I said to let a strange man into my bathroom?" "He's my friend." "You can't have a friend like that." "It's for my assignment." "What assignment?" "You won't get it." "Mr. Simonet will get it." "Who's Mr. Simonet?" "Hey, I'm taIking" "He's my teacher." "Mr. Simonet?" "Yes, I'm Eugene Simonet." "hello." "hello." "What is this assignment?" "Excuse me?" "What did you say for my son to let a homeless man in my house?" "I have two problems." "One, I've no idea what you're talking about and two, I don't know who you are." "ArIene McIKinney." "My boy is in your social studies class?" "Trevor?" "Trevor." "Yes, he's very attentive." "He's very exigent, which I Iike." "Exigent." "challenging, testing." "I know what it means." "Why did my kid bring a bum home?" "I have no idea." "bullshit!" "I don't know how he interpreted the assignment." "How do you think he interpreted it?" "I don't know." "If you want to know, why don't you talk to your son?" "I talk to him." "really?" "Then why did you come down here to ask me what the assignment is?" "It's not a state secret." "Yeah?" "And?" "It's an assignment I give out at the beginning of every year to inspire." "I don't expect them to change the world." "You don't expect them to change" "Excuse me." "It's to get them to think, not walk on water." "An assignment they can't do?" "What kind of teacher are you?" "I didn't say that." "They make attempts." "Now and then they clean up graffiti" "This is my kid." "You don't know him." "tell him he can do something, he'II believe you." "And when he can't, it'II wipe him out." "They ought to fire your ass out of here right now." "They probably won't do that because I filled a very excellent quota." "I'm just this side of parking in the blue zone." "You think you can do whatever you want because your face is messed up?" "Why don't you put down in writing your little and loud complaints and I'II make sure they get put in the suggestion box." "Jesus." "You are really something." "Thanks." "I appreciate the euphemism." "I've always wanted to be something." "Can I help you with something, miss?" "No." "Mr. Thorsen." "hold up, man!" "I've been waiting all day for you." "Why won't you return my calls?" "We're not friends." "I got the pink slip for the car." "Quite a stocking stuffer." "You can't accept it?" "No, that would make me a moron." "I just want to know about these instructions." "Do what they say." "Pay it forward." "Why?" "Because you've accepted the car." "You're obligated." "What if I don't feel obligated?" "What if I take my new car, get some hookers and drive to Mexico?" "I'II never know." "What is this?" "Come on, for real." "An attack of total altruism from a litigator." "I've got a meeting." "I've got a story." "Okay?" "A partner at Channing and Moss is giving away cars?" "tell me a reason or I'II make one up." "Mine will be more interesting." "You've gone dotty, you're wearing crystals, keeping too many cats at home?" "Look." "Listen, please!" "My ex-wife has everything." "Okay?" "plus, she's in a lesbian relationship just to piss me off." "help me out, please." "My daughter has asthma." "One night it was very bad, the worst I'd ever seen it." "It was the middle of the night, emergency room." "We were waiting forever." "Couldn't get anyone to pay attention." "Her inhaler doesn't seem to be working." "Mr. Parker, what happened?" "My sister, she stabbed me." "We were here first." "Stab wounds first." "She can't breathe." "She's scared." "I will let you know." "Somebody has to see her." "It's never been this bad." "Do something." "would you just sit down?" "I'm sorry." "We've been here 4 hours." "You need to get a doctor." "No." "Wait." "That's bullshit." "help her right now." "Excuse me?" "Why you giving me shit?" "Ain't you got some oxygen?" "Let me get the supervisor." "You don't need a supervisor." "You the supervisor today." "You are the supervisor today." "You feel me on that?" "Take your ass down the hall, put the girl on the tray and supervise her and get her some goddamn air." "I got your back, sis." "Bitch, you're still here." "Shit!" "Let go of my arm, man." "This ain't fair, man!" "Come on!" "Come on, man." "Damn!" "I thanked him and there were specifiic orifiices in which I was told to shove my thanks." "He told me, "Just pay it forward."" "Three big favors for three other people." "That's it." "So it's like a pass-it-on thing, then." "You and this lowlife are in this chain of do-gooders a kind of Mother Teresa conga line?" "That's a little New-Agey for you." "Sort of Tibetan?" "Are you in a cult?" "Mention my name, you'II be selling your kidneys to pay for your lawsuit." "cult." "The guy!" "What was the guy's name?" "Sorry, I'm late for my mass wedding." "I know somebody's in here." "I know you're there." "Come out or I will find you and shoot you." "please don't shoot." "please." "You stay right there." "If I see you move one" "please don't pick it up!" "please don't!" "I'm not moving." "please." "What are you doing to my truck?" "Let me show you." "I'm just...." "I'm just going to open the door, okay?" "See?" "Might be easier for you to sell now." "Now that it works." "I didn't ask for your help." "You been living in my garage?" "Not after tonight." "Can I come around and...." "I got a handyman job at the royal motel." "They're giving me a room." "You stay right there!" "please, I don't like guns." "What is going on with you and my son?" "He wanted to help somebody." "Wanted to get somebody back on their feet, so he gave me a little money." "He gave you money?" "Yes, ma'am." "That's his savings." "well, it's clothes and shoes and I got the job off it." "You think you can keep it?" "Looks to me like you've got yourself a little problem." "I can lick it." "How's that supposed to happen all of a sudden?" "You ever been on the street?" "My mom took us pretty close." "well, you can't know, not until you're looking at a dumpster." "But when you climb in the first time, and pull the newspapers over you that's when you know you've messed your life up." "Somebody comes along like your son and gives me a leg up I'II take it." "Even from a kid, I'II take it." "I can't mess up again or I'II be dead." "I appreciate that you're trying to pay back Trevor" "I'm not allowed to pay back Trevor." "Then what is it you're doing?" "I'm paying it forward." "I know you want me to go." "I'II go." "What's paying it forward?" "That's me." "And that's three people." "And I'm going to help them, but it has to be something really big something they can't do by themselves." "So I do it for them then they do it for three other people." "That's nine." "And I do three more...." "That's 27, so" "I'm not really good at math but it gets big really fast." "You know?" "AII right, all right, all right." "A little articulation, please." "Yes?" "I think it's a good idea." "Shawn?" "It's stupid." "Adam?" "It's the honor system." "people blow off the honor system." "So what?" "Just because you do." "Trevor, the class thinks that you've come up with an overly utopian idea." "Look that word up in a minute." "Like a perfect world?" "So?" "So what put this idea in your head?" "Because...." "Everything sucks." "He talked to you about this?" "We've had our discussions." "But you don't have to worry because I'II tell him we can't talk no more." "No, don't do that." "would you Iike a cup of coffee?" "Yes, ma'am." "Okay." "I called the president to talk aboutpollution." "But my mom said now they'II put us on some list so she hung up." "For this assignment, I put up recycling fIiers at two supermarkets." "I'm going to put up a website in Chinese." "It'II tell all the kids in China to jump up and down at the same time." "The goal being to knock the Earth off its axis." "Yeah." "Thank you." "Sit down." "well, your ideas are as surprising as they are variegated." "Add that to your list of words to look up." "But I want to focus for a moment on one project we heard today." "I've been teaching for many years and it's the first new idea that also requires an extreme act of faith in the goodness of people." "Trevor has made an attempt to interact with the world and that was the assignment." "And if I were an effusive person given to easy praise I would call that admirable." "The words from today:" "utopian, enigma, quantum." "Add variegated." "I want you to go home" "Hey, Mr. Simonet." "hello." "Were you just being nice?" "About what?" "About my idea." "Do you think it's good or were you just being teachery?" "Teachery?" "BuIIshitting." "Do I strike you as someone falsely nice?" "No." "You're not even really all that nice." "well, it was a sIip-up and it will not happen again." "What?" "What happened to your face?" "Did you draw the short straw today, Trevor?" "It's not a very pertinent subject to social studies, is it?" "Go and tell them that's what I said." "tell who?" "I'II see you tomorrow." "You know where Jerry is?" "Over there in 1 5." "It's more product." "Who is it?" "It's Trevor." "I'm looking for Jerry." "Jerry's not here." "When will he be back?" "He's not coming back." "Now get out of here." "Jerry?" "Get out of here!" "please come out, Jerry." "I remember in 1 976 there were those programs in the school system..." "...and now, all that's gone." "I gotta go." "You ran out of class this morning." "I wanted to talk to you." "hello." "hello." "Come in." "Trevor's not feeling good." "I'm sorry." "What's the matter?" "Just a tummy ache." "Do you want to come in?" "Sure." "Thank you." "Sit down." "Thank you." "It's a very beautiful home." "Thank you." "Have you lived in Vegas your whole life?" "Yeah." "I told him if you wanted to talk to me I would come to the school." "Mrs. McIKinney, I didn't ask to see you." "well, Trevor said you did." "Yeah and he gave me a note from you which you didn't write." "He gave you a note from me?" "Oh, God, that's horrible." "He's been so" "No, I didn't mean you." "No explanation required." "Don't elaborate." "It's not personal." "I'm used to this." "would you stop?" "Can we just rewind here a little bit?" "I obviously didn't realize how much Trevor likes you." "That's nothing that we can't discuss on parent-teacher night." "Then why did you come?" "Why didn't you just tell me to come to the school?" "Because you came to the school to talk to me about your son and I behaved like a" "An asshole?" "Sorry." "Is that too traiIer-trash a word?" "How's "rat bastard" sit with you?" "It's pretty good." ""Dickhead"?" "Oh, I Iike that." "Look, I'm" "I made all this food." "It's just sitting here." "I really don't know who else to talk to about him." "This is good." "Thanks." "I don't understand." "This is summer school?" "Why do you think Trevor stopped talking to you?" "I don't know." "He seems mad." "Seventh grade is difficult, but he seems happy at school." "Maybe I'm wrong." "Maybe it's fine." "How much do you see him?" "As much as I can." "How much is that?" "I'm not doing a bunch of skanky guys instead of spending time with my son." "I got two jobs." "Right." "I meant that." "CouIdn't have just been a question." "Mrs. McIKinney, do you think there might be something outside of school that might be bothering him?" "I don't know." "I'm going to have to consult my spirit guides here." "You tell me Trevor's withholding from you but won't tell me anything specific, and you want me to divine why." "Divine why?" "You always talk like that?" "Yes." "You go to some big fancy school?" "Yes." "Think you could stop rubbing my nose in it?" "Is there a father?" "He doesn't live here anymore." "I don't know where he is." "I know what that's like." "ArIene, I've called you five times." "Bonnie." "No, listen." "You don't call your sponsor once in a while, you don't have a sponsor." "This is Eugene Simonet." "You're not supposed to date for a year." "It isn't a date." "No, I'm Trevor's teacher." "We're having a conference." "We're done." "Were done." "How could you do that to me?" "Write a letter to him, sign my name?" "Why'd you have to mess everything up?" "I didn't mess this up." "What were you doing?" "Standing at the door listening?" "What happened to your stomachache?" "Why?" "You always lie." "This wasn't my fault." "This was embarrassing." "I did something good and you don't know it." "Honey, listen." "You can't just put two people together and make them like each other." "You only like people you can get drunk with." "You're waiting for him to come back." "No, I'm not." "Yes, you are!" "No, I'm not!" "Your father's not getting his foot" "That's what you always say." "I mean it now." "You always mean it." "What do you want me to say?" "I say it, I mean it." "When he's around you don't care what happens to me." "You don't even know I'm in the house." "That's not true." "It's true." "I Iove you." "I Iove you." "I'm doing the best I can." "Don't love me." "I hate the way you look." "Trevor, you need to stop." "I hate that you're my mother." "Trev, I'm going to come in, okay?" "You said that an hour ago." "Do you understand my kid is missing?" "If I had a car I'd be out looking for him!" "What time do you think he took off?" "I don't know." "I'm sorry to do this to you." "Bonnie wasn't home." "The cops wouldn't come." "And my friends are all drunks." "It's okay." "And so am I." "I'm a drunk too." "I believe some people refer to that as "in recovery."" "Where are you going?" "Got enough?" "Need a ticket somewhere?" "Come on, I'II get you a ticket." "Come with me." "I'II get you a ticket." "I'II get you a ticket, you son of a bitch!" "Honey, are you okay?" "For the rest of my Iife, I can never be as sorry as I am for what I did to you." "I didn't drink." "I wanted to, but I didn't." "You got no reason to trust me and I know you don't want to hear any more promises so I'm just gonna tell you the truth." "I have a problem." "I have a really bad problem." "I've got to stop." "And if you can be with me on this if you can think it's possible that I can do it then I think maybe I can." "If you just try a little bit and heIp" "You're still here?" "I hope it's okay." "He's asleep." "Good, okay." "How did you know where he was?" "well, kids, they either hitchhike or they take a bus." "Listen" "You're welcome." "No, you don't have to." "I understand" "Wait." "Goddamn, I want to thank you." "Thank you." "You're welcome." "Wasn't quite worth it, was it?" "No." "I was wondering, do you want to come back here sometime?" "Have dinner with me?" "I'm not entirely sure that would be appropriate." "Okay." "I understand." "Good night." "Good night." "Why'd you do that man the favor, Sidney?" "No, it's like three favors, player." "You got to do three." "I'II do the other two here for my folks." "A Iot of brothers need favors in here." "But who told you to do it?" "It's like this idea I got." "You gonna put this on TV?" "How did you come up with an idea like that?" "Man, it's like...." "It's like the world is a shithole." "Excuse my French and shit." "And it's like I just thought, Iike, boom!" "Like the whole shit could be, Iike, better." "It didn't start with anyone else?" "No, nigger." "That shit came from here." "The shit came from my head." "I can't lie." "I been through some heavy-ass shit." "But not no more, because it changed me." "And I'm changing this place, man." "I mean, people are listening to me." "people are staying clean." "I mean, it's like some cosmic AristotIe shit." "You feel me?" "Yeah." "Yeah, no doubt." "I feel you." "No doubt, dog, no doubt." "The thing is, Sidney somebody else is saying that pay it forward was their idea." "Who?" "I think you know who." "That bitch?" "She a Iying-ass bitch." "She's a lying bitch." "She's got your head." "She makes a pretty good case, though, Sid." "That old crusty bag lady?" "This is all from me." "AII from my heart, dog." "Sidney, it doesn't matter if you got it from the lady or not." "You're the one paying it forward." "In prison, no less." "The parole board will eat that up." "Oh, the parole board." "The parole board." "Oh, snap, yo." "You good, man." "It's like a carrot for the mouse and shit." "No doubt." "It's too bad my parole don't come up for another year, B." "What if I can make it so your parole comes up next month?" "hello." "Oh, hello." "Did you know I worked here?" "No, I didn't." "really." "Just dropped in for a little game of craps?" "No, I Iike that coffee shop." "They have good food." "Yeah, they got good pancakes." "Yeah." "fluffy." "Want me to bring you back something?" "Oh, no, thanks." "I get off in an hour." "really?" "Yeah, really." "well, if you were going to eat anyway then...." "If you wanted, maybe...." "If you were hungry, we could...." "We could, if you were, if you want to eat something sometime." "Give me a seven iron, please." "Yes, sir." "May I help you?" "I am not stalking the governor, Jordy." "Shit." "chandler." "You scared me." "You look like crap." "What are you doing here?" "I want to talk to him, Jordan." "Your questions piss him off." "Is that why I got the bounce?" "He won't talk to you." "tell him I'm a candygram." "Stop it." "I've been sitting on a story for 2 years about a party he had." "The cIean-up crew found syringes, size 1 2 high heels, animal droppings." "That can't be right, can it?" "You really had this, you'd have used it." "bullshit." "His friends in high places had me kill it but since I got fired, I'm not feeling that loyal." "What do you want?" "Four million dollars." "I'm kidding, man." "relax." "A phone call." "I just need a phone call." "I need a massage for a friend's parole date." "That's it." "They kept me 40 minutes over." "Did you call him?" "I couldn't remember the name of the restaurant." "I remember the hoteI" "If you're late he thinks it means you don't respect him." "What?" "If you're late, he'II think it means you don't respect him." "Wear this." "I want to wear the green dress." "You look like a vampire in that." "I got to take a shower." "What?" "I smell horrible." "No, you don't!" "You smell good." "You smell like roses or something." "Let me just wash under my arms." "Are you sure?" "Yeah, I'm sure." "Don't interrupt him in the middle of a sentence." "Am I supposed to raise my hand?" "Get me my shoes." "Those sandals." "No, these." "I'm not wearing those." "They're too sexy." "You're late." "You owe him." "I owe him?" "Who are you?" "Go." "No stupid jokes!" "He's not that kind of person." "Thank you very much." "Where's the phone?" "I got to call for a cab." "If I take a bus, I'II be another hour late." "Stop yapping." "I've got to call for a cab." "Oh, my God!" "Oh, my God." "You're just about...." "You're the greatest son in the world!" "Okay, you have to go." "Here, here." "Go, go." "Lock both doors!" "I will." "I Iove you!" "Love you too, Mom." "I respect you!" "They kept me late at work and then I got on the bus to go home and change, which was stupid." "I'm sorry, but I was all the way" "You're right on time." "I'm sorry." "I was living in Vegas." "One night I was walking down the street." "Minding my own." "Wasn't doing nothing to nobody." "I wasjust on my way to church." "Out of nowhere these five BIoods just peeled out of a truck." "And one of them, man, was real black." "Man, I start swinging one by one like, "Nigger, take that!"" "Like Ali on them bitches." "I was like...." ""What's up, nigger, what's up?"" "All fiive of them got up and started chasing me, man." ""We going to kill you, Crip. "" "I was like, "You can't catch me, Blood. "" "Then, man, all ofa sudden, out ofnowhere that's when I ran into this old lady." "That's who you want to know about." "Shit!" "Hey, you in trouble?" "What?" "Get in." "Get in?" "Come on, get in." "Shit!" "What are we doing?" "Whatever we want." "Damn!" "You think I'm going for your dried-up crusty ass?" "Whatever." "Shoot." "I smell better than you do." "Yeah, all right." "AII right, so what?" "What you want?" "Don't matter because you ain't going to do it." "You damn right about that." "Shit." "Hey, not in my car." "Shit, not in my car." "Oh, my bad." "My bad." "This is your pad?" "You don't want me to jack up your pretty curtains." "Son of a bitch." "I paid it forward for a hophead son of a bitch." "You paid it what?" "I didn't hear that." "I ain't going to tell you because your ass ain't good enough to touch it." "Oh, my ass ain't good enough, huh?" "Now you gonna tell me." "You gonna tell me." "An old bat living in her car in Las Vegas tells you about pay it forward?" "She ain't want to, but I wouldn't stop until she let it out." "What I really want to know is why?" "Why did you pay it forward?" "Because don't nobody tell me what I can and can't touch." "You're not supposed to date for a year." "They're not dates." "Seven dinners." "What are they?" "It's a couple of adults sitting down." "Does he pay?" "He pays for everything." "Did anybody ask you?" "He doesn't know many people." "He likes her." "So?" "He fixed your TV remote." "That's an engagement ring." "And he doesn't drink." "Don't you got to pee?" "Look." "I need a smoke." "Yeah." "Over there." "So has he kissed you?" "No, no, no, no." "Does he want to?" "Sometimes I think he does." "He can't really want to or he would've." "Do you want him to?" "I don't know." "It's just taking forever." "You ever gotten to know somebody before you went to bed with him?" "Is that bad?" "It's pathetic." "well, good night." "Do you want to come in?" "And stay?" "Come in." "Trevor's inside the house." "well, he sleeps like the dead." "I don't want to make it any harder for you." "You're supposed to wait a year." "Isn't that what Bonnie said?" "Okay." "I can't." "I'm sorry." "No." "I don't mean I can't." "It's just...." "What?" "This is complicated." "I get it." "It's okay to say you don't like me that way." "Is that what you think it is?" "It's okay." "How could you ever think that?" "What?" "What is it?" "And you're doing this because?" "I need more links." "You're spending $300 to find an old lady so you can sell a story for $300." "It's a news magazine feature." "It's not something you wipe your ass with." "You have a lovely way of expressing yourself." "Do me a favor." "Don't change the locks on me, okay?" "Chris?" "What are you hoping this'II be?" "You know, something that clears a check." "Are you sure that's all?" "I drank the Iast of the coffee." "please put it on the list." "Bye." "Who's there?" "Do you look down on me?" "What?" "Do you look down on me?" "No." "I don't talk like you." "I haven't read the stuff you read." "That's not pertinent, and you know it." "Don't talk to me like that!" "I'm sorry, but that's the way I talk." "Words are all I have." "Why?" "Why, because you think you look like shit?" "I don't care about your burns, if that's what they are." "Is that what they are?" "Yes." "Okay, well, whatever happened to you, you look good to me." "well, you look good to me too." "Okay, so?" "So I've never been here before." "Okay, so you're scared." "I'm scared too." "Listen, bad things have happened to me, okay?" "I can't take my shirt off with a guy without five beers but I want that with you." "More than I'm scared, I want that." "You don't see me." "My life...." "My life is familiar." "My life is...." "It's manageable." "It's manageable." "Every day." "I have a thing I do every day." "It's all I've ever known." "And it's a routine and as long as I have that as long as I have that, I'm okay." "If I don't have it, I'm lost." "So is that all you want?" "Your goddamn manageable day?" "It's what I have." "It isn't." "Is it what you want?" "Yes!" "I don't believe you." "Okay." "That's the best I got." "It's not about you." "Yes, it is!" "Something's been offered to you here and you don't want it." "Maybe you're scared to get rejected." "I can't reject you." "You're too quick for me." "You didn't call me a fag, did you?" "Look what I found." "Give me that!" "That's my asthma spray!" "Shut up!" "Stop it!" "Stay still!" "Stop!" "help me!" "hold still!" "Stop!" "Hey, McIKinney." "Come here." "Let's hang out." "help me, please." "Screw it." "Come on." "Let me go!" "Let me go!" "You cut my class." "It's been four days." "What's been four days?" "Why haven't you called my mother?" "It's been four days." "I don't know." "Neither does she." "Hey, what's the matter?" "Pay it forward didn't work." "I couldn't even do it." "I was gonna help Adam." "help Adam do what?" "Not get beat up." "But I crapped out and I let him." "I let him get beat." "No. you didn't." "You didn't let him get beat." "It happened." "Sometimes there's nothing we can do." "It's not fair." "I know" "No." "You don't know." "You should call my mother." "You could do something if you wanted." "Why are you chicken?" "I'm not chicken." "Something's gonna happen, then it'II be too late." "What's gonna happen?" "What do you mean?" "He'II come back." "Who will come back?" "Hey, who will come--?" "Your dad." "Your dad will come back?" "And what will happen when he comes back, Trevor?" "will he hurt you?" "will he hurt her?" "Not if someone's there instead of him." "Trevor, it's..." "Is the world just shit?" "No, it isn't." "You did good work." "Look at me." "I'm proud of you, Trevor." "I'm proud of you." "And anyway, for what it's worth I'm grading you on the effort, not the result." "I don't care about the grade." "I just wanted to see if the world would really change." "Come in." "Trevor!" "It worked!" "Oh, God." "Does he always get up early?" "What?" "He just saw me." "It's okay." "I'm his teacher." "Now you have to pay it forward too." "Eugene!" "You should still call me Mr. Simonet." "You had a sleepover." "Go back to bed." "Why?" "It's too early and I got to get to school." "No, it's a Sunday." "It's a Sunday?" "It's a Sunday?" "Stay." "Mom will make breakfast." "I have a schedule that you don't know about every Sunday." "will you take care of him?" "I'II call you later." "Don't be a stranger!" "You like him?" "Lady, come on." "Go away." "I'm not going to hurt you, lady." "Here, take it." "It's a nice thought but it's not what I want." "What are you doing?" "I'm not going to hurt you!" "Oh, my God." "Listen to me." "Nothing's this important." "Come down here." "What are you doing?" "What do you care anyway?" "Because I owe somebody a favor." "Not me." "Why not you?" "You know, a minute ago all I couId think about was getting my next fix." "And then I saw you and I changed my thinking." "Oh, please." "Go away." "Trust me." "I'm not worth it." "Why is that?" "For God's sake." "Come on, tell me." "Why are you not worth it?" "Trust me." "You wouldn't understand." "Are you kidding me?" "You think I Iive at the Ritz?" "Have a cup of coffee with me." "What?" "Do me a favor." "Save my Iife." "Get him, get him!" "Off the ropes!" "He missed him!" "He's dead!" "Come on, bleed, dude." "Give him a DDT." "What?" "It's gonna be a DDT." "Drop him on his ass!" "I'm worried about you." "That's the DDT." "Hear me?" "He's dead!" "He's paralyzed, get out of the ring." "You can't get out of the ring." "He can." "He has to get a chair." "A chair?" "slow motion." "Trevor, when did you become so violent?" "Take me to a match." "You get splattered in the front row." "I don't want to be splattered." "It'II be your birthday present to me." "You know what you're getting?" "A new encyclopedia." "Leather bound." "Thucydides History of the peloponnesian War." "No, I'm getting you 51 crackling volumes." "There'II be pop quizzes every day on the development of cotton farms." "Hi, ArIene." "You can't stay here, Ricky." "I know." "Look, I know what we had was a nightmare, ArIene." "But I did it." "You did what?" "I knew I couldn't come back unless I was sober." "It's the truth." "Five months, two weeks and four days are the truth." "Where you been?" "What does it matter?" "I knew I had to change." "Are you sober?" "Yeah, I got sober staying right here." "well, you're stronger than me." "Can you just stop for a minute?" "please?" "Can we just sit down and talk?" "God." "I'm sorry." "What are you doing here?" "I want you to understand." "No explanation required." "please don't talk to me like that." "We had 13 years in, Eugene." "He's sober now." "We've never been sober together." "I wish you luck." "I feel like I've got to give him a chance." "A chance?" "A chance for what?" "To change." "To try to make up for lost time." "To take Trevor to bail games?" "Do "daddy" things with him?" "Yeah, he promised to try." "What should I do?" "Be smart." "He's his father." "He impregnated you, ArIene." "In what other way has he been a father?" "unless knocking somebody around is a new family value." "What do you mean?" "He never touched Trevor." "Oh, that's right, only you." "He only took it out on you." "That's so much better." "What did Trevor tell you?" "Enough." "Secrets like that shouldn't be kept." "What good does it do Trevor?" "Ricky never meant to hit me." "We were drunk!" "Christ!" "What is it with women like you?" "Is that something you tell yourself?" ""It's okay he beat me."" ""Trevor's okay."" "Trevor locked himself in a bathroom and he can't breathe and he's praying that it will stop!" "Trevor never went through that!" "You know what Trevor went through?" "How do you know?" "How do you know the next time after you, he doesn't come for Trevor?" "I know what I'm talking about, ArIene." "My father got on his knees and begged my mother and my mother, she always took him back." "I never understood it." "She'd cover the bruises and the cuts and she'd take him back because he begged and he cried." "Ask me what happened after he came back." "You wanted to know what happened to me!" "Now ask me!" "I don't like this." ""Did he hurt you?" Ask!" "Did he hurt you?" "Not for long." "By 13 I was gone." "I ran away." "But I missed her, so I had to go back and see her." "So one night I did." "Ask what happened. "What happened that night you came back, Eugene?"" "What happened?" "He was there, drunk as usual." "only this time, I wasn't the same." "I was 1 6 years old and I was no Ionger afraid of him." "And when I Iooked him in the eye and told him if he ever touched her again, I would kill him, he knew." "He knew that he would never exist for me again." "And I'm standing in front of the house." "I'm screaming for her to come out." "I'm telling her she doesn't have to take it anymore." "She doesn't." "She can come with me now." "I don't see it coming." "He hits my head with a two-by-four and I'm bleeding from my ear." "He's dragging me behind the house into the garage." "Then he's gone." "A minute, five minutes, I don't know." "Then he's back and wetting me down." "And I don't understand." "I don't understand why water should smell so bad." "I don't understand." "And then I see it." "I see this this gas can." "This red gas can from his truck." "And he looks at me one last time and he lights a match." "And the Iast thing I remember and I'II never forget it were his eyes." "His eyes, because they were filled with this immense satisfaction." "I'm so sorry." "Don't tell me how sorry you are for me!" "tell me how you'II stop it happening to Trevor." "Ricky would never do that." "Oh, Jesus, ArIene." "He doesn't have to." "AII he has to do is not love him." "What's going on?" "What's going on?" "I'II tell you what's going on." "What are you doing?" "What's it look like?" "You can't do this." "What are you putting in my room?" "We had an agreement." "My son won't talk to me." "He won't look at me!" "You turn him against me?" "I told you I wasn't gonna make him talk to you." "You could get a job." "What am I supposed to use for a car?" "Take the bus." "That'II be the day." "You can't stay in this room." "This is our room." "This is our house, our bed." "You've been drinking." "IKiss me." "Stop it!" "Stop it!" "I want you out of this house." "What's your problem?" "I want you out." "Turn that down!" "I'II come and pound your ass!" "Don't talk to him like that!" "Don't tell me how to talk!" "Don't tell me how to talk to anybody." "I've had enough." "Are you getting mad?" "What are you gonna do about it?" "I liked you better when you had a few drinks in you." "You want me out of the house, I'm out!" "Sorry." "I think I made a mistake." "Everybody makes mistakes." "AII right, bring them up." "Thank you." "carefully." "Thank you." "careful." "Did you get rid of your hiccups?" "told you holding your breath would work." "Thank you." "careful." "Thank you." "Very nice." "Give me that one." "Thank you." "Thank you, thank you, thank you." "Trevor, what is it?" "Are you still gonna pay it forward?" "You could say you don't have to because it didn't work out." "But I thought you still might." "Trevor, I would Iike more than anything to do that for you." "When I find something worthy" "I know somebody who needs something." "You have to let me find this" "You know who it is." "Look you don't understand everything." "AII right?" "So you do not know what you're asking." "Give her another chance." "I will pay it forward." "I promise you that." "But I cannot do that." "But that's why this is the one." "Because it's supposed to be something hard." "If you help my mom, even if you're still mad, in a way nobody couId" "Did she ask you to talk to me?" "No, she thinks you won't forgive her." "But I still think you could." "If you wanted to do something huge for someone for my project." "For me." "She made her choice." "She said she made a mistake." "well, that's the beauty of hindsight." "You don't care." "Yes, I do." "I will always care about you, always." "Yeah." "You're my teacher." "They pay you to." "You got it?" "Yeah." "I ain't saying a thing till I get one more." "You know, I thought you might feel that way." "No, no." "Later." "I got my places." "places where nobody cares where you park overnight." "Places where I live." "Anybody who knows me knows where to fiind me." "Hi, Mom." "What are you doing here?" "I wanted to see you." "After three years, why now?" "I can't watch you do this." "I drive by your house." "I know." "He's big." "Yeah." "What are you doing here?" "Are you gonna try to put me somewhere?" "No." "Then what do you want?" "I want to try to do something." "AII the things when I was a kid." "The booze and the men." "What happened to me when you weren't looking." "I know we're all weak." "No, not you." "No, I've been weak." "Here's the thing." "I forgive you." "I don't like your hair." "I know." "I'm not putting it back." "So I'd Iike to see you sometimes." "Is that okay?" "Yes." "You can't live with me." "Who would want to?" "Can I see him?" "Not drunk." "You've got to be sober if just for two hours." "Yeah, I can do that." "Okay." "Then I'II come and find you." "Okay?" "Yeah." "Okay." "Why'd you do this, ArIey?" "She told me why." "She told me I had to do something big for three other people." "Happy birthday dear Trevor" "Happy birthday to you" "And many more" "What'd you wish for?" "He can't tell you or it won't come true." "Can I have some napkins?" "Here you go." "I'II get it." "Mom?" "I'm Chris chandler." "I'm a reporter." "could I have a moment of your time?" "Why?" "I don't have anything to say about anything." "please." "I've already spoken to your mother, which naturally led me to you." "My mother?" "She told me about pay it forward." "How you helped her." "I'm doing a story." "You can't." "That's private." "It upset my son." "It was a social studies thing and it didn't work." "social studies?" "Leave it alone." "He just wants to get on with seventh grade." "It's his birthday and it's a bad time." "I'm sorry" "No, I'm sorry." "I've been tracking this story from Los angeles." "Pay it Forward, the movement, reached L.A." "Come on." "The movement?" "Yeah." "Your son had something to do with this?" "I really appreciate this, Mrs. McIKinney." "It's up to him." "Ready, sIugger?" "I guess." "Here you go." "Up here, please." "Just like you're getting a haircut." "You been interviewed before?" "No." "This is for you." "Hi." "How are you?" "What's your name?" "Chris chandler." "Nice to meet you." "Less painful than the dentist." "Just be yourself, okay?" "Ready to go?" "I guess." "Come on, you got to have some gusto here." "AII right, Iet's go." "AII right, great." "Just be yourself." "relax." "It's gonna be a Iot of fun." "Okay, we're on?" "Hi, I'm Chris chandler and I'm joined today by an unusual seventh grader Trevor McIKinney." "Trevor, you must be pretty proud of yourself." "No." "So you're not proud at all?" "I don't know." "I guess." "Come on, you start a movement like Pay it Forward." "You're not proud?" "I guess." "I mean, I got an "A" in social studies." "But that was just for the effort." "Stuff I did, it didn't work out." "You're here." "Yeah, but" "I don't know." "I tried real hard but nothing really happened." "My mom's stuff worked." "She talked to my grandma." "IKind of made up with her." "It was really hard for her." "It was great for me, because my grandma came to my birthday party." "And I had really missed her." "And that's why Pay it Forward went to all those places because of my mom." "Because she was so brave." "My stuff, I don't know." "I think some people are too scared or something to think things can be different." "The world's not exactly shit." "I guess it's hard for some people who are used to things the way they are even if they're bad to change." "And they kind of give up." "When they do, everybody" "They kind of lose." "Hi, ArIene." "I don't want to be one of those people he's talking about." "And I've become one." "I don't want to spend another second of wasted air." "please don't let me stay trapped in here forever." "I won't." "I don't want to spend another second without you." "See you around." "AII right, see you later, guys." "Let me go!" "Stop it!" "Who'd you tell?" "Who'd you tell, tattIetaIe?" "I didn't tell anybody." "I didn't say anything." "help!" "Stop it!" "Trevor!" "Come here." "Let me go!" "Cut it out!" "No!" "Get out of my face!" "Punch him!" "Come on!" "No!" "Leave him alone!" "Someone get an ambulance!" "I guess it's hard for some people who are used to things the way they are." "...even if they're bad to change." "I guess they kind ofgive up and when they do everybody kind ofloses." "These moments make you sorry to report anything." "This remarkable young man died at 7:35 this evening." "There are now confiirmed incidents of Pay it Forward in L.A., San Francisco." "In Phoenix, we're checking if the 16 foster children who received computers is connected to this movement." "It's hard." "You can'tplan it." "You have to watch people more." "Sort ofkeep an eye on them to protect them because they can't always see what they need." "It's like your big chance to flix something that's not like your bike." "You can flix a person." "Is that what you want for your birthday, everybody to pay it forward?" "I can't ask for that." "Sure you can." "Why not?" "Wouldn't work." "Why?" "I already blew out my candles."