"Do you know how many times we've done this field trip to the zoo?" "A thousand?" "Every other year since first grade-- five times." "Seems like a thousand." "I mean, I like it and all, but" "I get it; it's a zoo." "Animals live there." "They're probably as sick of us as we are of them." "And it's always the same thing:" "Wake up extra early, hurry to get on the bus, so the bus can get stuck in morning traffic." "What's all the rush?" "It's not like the animals are going anywhere." "Do you ever get the feeling that we're the ones in captivity, not the animals?" "I'm not sure what you mean, but I think I'm going to get clarification." "Everything in our lives is prepackaged, controlled, fenced off." "If we want to go somewhere, our parents-- our keepers-- have to drive us." "Everything has to have certain times and places." "School, the mall, our homes-- that's our zoo." "Our rooms are our cages." "It just fits too perfectly." "And so what is this bus?" "Mm, the meat wagon taking us to slaughter?" "I think you went a step too far with that metaphor." "I'll work on it." "We've got plenty of time." "(sighs)" "Stew." "Such a tiny little word." "Stew." "You can't get a tinier word than stew, and yet look at all that goes into it, you know?" "I mean, it's carrots, it's peas, it's potatoes, it's onions, it's meat, it's pork..." "Stew!" "What are we having for dinner tonight?" "I'm..." "I'm sorry, honey." "I guess I'm in a different zone." "Sunday's sermon." "Sometimes they just write themselves." "This one seems to want help." "Help." "Help." "Speaking of help, could you pick the dry cleaning up for me today?" "Well, can it wait till tomorrow?" "I'm just..." "I'm too busy to make stops." "Too busy to pick up some dry cleaning?" "It's on the way to the church." "I know, but I have to be there for a meeting with the painter for the vestibule that Chandler was supposed to handle." "And then I have a meeting with Mrs. Lemke about the food drive." "And then the usual-- hospital visit, house call, counseling sessions." "Let me put it this way-- job: such a small word." "Okay, don't worry about it." "Hey, could you just keep buckled up there, pal, until I get the car in park?" "Like now?" "Yeah." "Like now." "And, in the future, just keep the seat belt on, okay?" "If that's what you want." "That's what I want." "It's the law." "There are seat belt laws." "Okay, but we're here now." "I know." "See you later." "See you later." "Thanks for the ride." "You're welcome." "* 7th Heaven *" "* When I see their happy faces *" "* Smiling back at me * 7th Heaven *" "* I know there's no greater feeling *" "* Than the love of family" "* Where can you go" "* When the world don't treat you right?" "*" "* The answer is home" "* That's the one place that you'll find * * 7th Heaven *" "* Mmm, 7th Heaven *" "* 7th Heaven. *" "(barks)" "I'm sorry I'm late." "Don't worry about it." "I got all the way here, and then I saw that Jeffrey's lunch was in the back of the car, so I had to drive all the way back to the school." "But first, I had to get a pass from the office, and then I couldn't find his classroom and, so..." "Never mind." "I'm here." "When's the painter coming?" "He was here an hour ago." "Remember?" "You asked me to handle it." "Oh, yeah." "Uh, thanks." "No problem." "So what did you decide?" "We going to get more bids?" "I think we should just do it." "He comes highly recommended, and he said that, for the same bid, he'd also touch up the wainscoting and..." "Now he wants to do the wainscoting?" "Maybe you don't know what wainscoting is?" "It's just the..." "it's the paneling on the lower part of the wall." "And he says as long as he's..." "How do people do it?" "Parenting, getting their work done, and keeping up with their own lives?" "I mean, I know they do it, it's just..." "I don't think I'm cut out for it." "I think it's probably just a question of adjusting to a completely new situation." "It doesn't seem to bother Jeffrey any." "I mean, he's adjusting just fine; it's me." "It's just..." "It's too hard." "Hey, it is hard, but it'll work out." "Thanks." "But I don't think you're grasping what I'm trying to say here." "Well, you know, maybe not." "I only have seven children, and three of them are away, but a couple of others seem to be around, like, permanently, and I have a job, too, but I... maybe I'm not the right person to ask." "I..." "Maybe we could talk on the phone tonight." "But I want to see you tonight." "And I want to see you, too-- you know I do-- but I have to work." "You work practically every night." "It's my job." "I have to." "Besides, you play baseball every afternoon." "It's baseball;" "I can't take off baseball." "Well, I can't take off work." "But it's different." "You work for your father, who owns the maintenance company, so you could take off if you wanted to." "And lose my job like anyone else?" "Okay, then, like everyone else, why can't you phone in sick once in a while?" "Because I can't." "Don't you see?" "You're being punished because it's your father's company." "You mean you're being punished?" "Yeah." "I mean, no." "I just..." "Why does this have to be on me?" "Why can't you just call in sick and skip practice?" "You already know how to play baseball." "What do you have to practice?" "(laughing) Funny." "Pretty funny." "What's funny?" "That-- saying that because I already know how to play ball," "I don't have to practice." "That's a funny line, that's all." "I didn't know I was so funny." "Well, you're not, really." "Maybe I'll start laughing later, when I'm at work by myself." "I think the woolly spider monkey recognized me." "The way he tilted his head, it was, like, "You here again, Peter?" "Doing any better in math this year?"" "Are you hungry?" "Those hot dogs smell good." "You can smell them?" "I can hardly see them." "Well, I bet they smell good." "Well, we should get one." "How?" "We can't just go off and get a hot dog." "The woolly spider monkey can't get a hot dog." "The Tibetan water buffalo can't get a hot dog." "We should be able to get a hot dog." "But the bus is ready to leave." "Well, sure, it is, but has the bus ever, ever left on time?" "Hi, hon." "What are you doing home so early?" "We got a new assignment-- plainclothes." "Roxanne, tell her while I change." "It's a new policy." "Uniformed officers, on a revolving basis, are being introduced to other aspects of police work." "The idea is to get our feet wet and keep us from getting stale." "And we were just talking about how being in uniform all the time can take its toll." "Yeah, it's like sometimes people look at us as if we're the enemy." "Course, not always." "Sometimes we're the answer to everyone's prayers." "Either way, we're a magnet for people's emotions." "Most uniformed cops feel the same way." "There's this unspoken tension that we all carry around." "Well, you never complained about the tension when you were in uniform, and women looked you up and down." "Different kind of tension." "So what's the assignment?" "Or are you going to have to kill me if you tell me?" "It's a stakeout at the jewelry mart." "There's been a string of follow-home robberies." "Nothing too exciting or dangerous." "Just the two of us sitting in a car, maybe for hours." "Sounds dangerous." "When will you be home?" "Don't know." "But we have things to do tonight." "That's why I'm trying to get my schoolwork done early." "We're going food shopping, we have bank statements to go through, we" "It'll get done, Luce." "It'll all get done." "I'll try and call you." "Uh..." "I thought this was a plainclothes assignment." "Nothing plain about that sweater." "Thanks." "Did I get all the mustard off?" "Eh, close enough." "The rest could just be a touch of jaundice." "Think they'll pick up on the telltale hot dog smell?" "I don't think they'll notice because they're not here." "There's no bus." "How could there be no bus?" "Because they left." "How could the bus leave?" "The bus never leaves on time!" "Maybe we're in the wrong place." "It was just here a few minutes ago." "Now it's not." "It left." "Oh, God, I'm in trouble again." "I was just in trouble." "And now I'm in trouble." "What do we do?" "I don't know." "Maybe we can go back in the zoo and ask for sanctuary." "Am I too old to cry?" "Maybe we can borrow someone's cell phone and call my folks." "Or do you want to call your mom?" "I don't think we should call anyone." "I think we should try and get home on our own." "And how are we going to do that?" "How hard can it be?" "We're only a couple hours away... and we got a little money." "I bet we have enough for a train and that would beat the bus and no one will even miss us." "I don't know." "Listen..." "I've messed up enough over the past few weeks to last a lifetime." "This would ground me until marriage." "And where do we get this train?" "We'll ask." "We'll find a map." "We'll figure it out." "Hey, you wanted an unstructured life." "Here's your chance." "We can do this." "Okay, let's do it." "And I know it's work and I know he has to do it, but it's always like this." "Did I miss something-- like what you're talking about?" "Kevin has a special assignment with Roxanne tonight, and I'm, like, up to here with schoolwork, and now I have all this... housework-- ugh!" "Oh!" "Mom, is this what married like is all about?" "Years of laundry and cooking and aggravation, and then you die?" "No, sometimes there's ironing." "Mom..." "Hey, okay, let's just do a little reality check." "Kevin probably does as much laundry as you do." "And as for cooking..." "Mom... laundry and cooking are just figures of speech." "The point I'm really trying to make is that sometimes it doesn't seem fair." "I mean, Kevin's out there running around with Roxanne and here I am, Little Miss Support System." "Are you sure you're not just complaining about nothing, because what's really bothering you is Kevin and Roxanne "running around"?" "That's just a figure of speech." "Another figure of speech." "This has nothing to do with Roxanne." "It's just that I go to school, and that's full-time job, too, and then I have this other stuff, and, and... today" "I have a theology textbook to read that is as big as my desk." "And sometimes I feel like I'm gonna explode!" "Well, don't explode, honey." "Oh, you're just feeling overwhelmed." "We all feel that way sometimes, okay?" "It'll pass." "Listen, I'm gonna do some laundry later." "If you want me to..." "Really?" "Oh!" "That'd be great, Mom." "I'd really appreciate it." "Wow, smells good." "What are you making?" "Stew." "Hey, listen, when you come back later, for your laundry, do you want to help me make a pecan pie?" "Mom, I'd love to, but theology..." "Oh, right, sorry." "Theology." ""Big as a desk." Mm-hmm." "This is pretty cool, huh?" "I know, and they're right, change is good." "Sure is." "Don't get me wrong, I love patrol." "I know." "But sometimes you do get a little stale; all the driving." "Sometimes I feel more like a truck driver than a cop." "And all that paperwork we have to do before a bust-- even a small bust-- deadly." "Deadly." "You ticket someone for jaywalking or shoplifting, you've got paperwork up the kazoo." "I'll bet if they had to do the paperwork, they wouldn't jaywalk or shoplift." "Let's face it, patrol work is so routine, it's deadly." "And the reason most cops enter the force is they want or need the excitement;" "you know, the jolt of the job." "And that's why something like this is just what the doctor ordered." "Gives us a chance to recharge." "Yep, nothing wrong with a little jolt now and then." "Yep." "Yep." "Can you see okay?" "Do you want me to spray the windshield?" "No, I'm good." "Me, too." "Yep." "I knew that wasn't the right bus." "But the guy told us that was the bus." "He pointed right to it." "I told you, that wasn't a point, it was a twitch." "And we could have wound up halfway across the country because of that twitch." "Are you panicking?" "Yes!" "There's no reason to panic." "Just because we took a couple of wrong buses and..." "Just admit it, okay?" "We're not exactly Lewis and Clark." "I think we should just call home." "Come on." "Let's not give up now." "All we have to do is get to the train station and the rest is easy." "But we spent so much of our money on buses, we won't have enough for the train." "Don't worry about that." "They probably have a student rate." "Or if it comes down to it, we'll just ask someone down there for a loan." "You mean beg?" "There's something you should know right now:" "I'm not hopping a freighter." "Let's just get on the..." "number 53 bus, which we get on right across the street, and that will take us to the train station, and then we'll worry about the next stage." "Okay." "Man, I'm glad that's over." "Me, too." "It was dangerous out there the way those balls were bouncing off you." "I mean, I could have gotten killed off a ricochet." "It wasn't that bad." "Yes, it was." "But, in its own way, it was so bad, it was good." "Sublime even." "Like the last grounder the coach hit to you." "Not only did you drop the ball, you kicked it, then you chased it, then you threw it wild to first and hit the equipment manager right in the butt." "Sublime." "He shouldn't have been standing so close." "Yeah, he was in the dugout." "I just wasn't there today." "Cecilia and I got in a fight, I think." "I'm not even sure." "And that's all I could really think about." "I just couldn't focus." "Well, you better start focusing." "Yes, sir." "Maybe spending a little less time with the girls, a little more time on the field or in the batting cage could help your focus." "Coach, it's not that I'm..." "Martin... you've got a real shot here." "You've got all the tools, but at some point, it's not about how fast you can get to first or how quick you turn a double play." "Big league scouts, they want to know if you're head is screwed on right." "It is, coach." "It's just that..." "And they ask me my opinion, and I give it to them." "So don't screw this up, Martin." "The beer leagues are filled with guys with talent and big bellies and bad attitudes." "Don't get a label." "That's the last thing you need, son." "Great, now Coach thinks I have a bad attitude, and it's all because of Cecilia." "Why do girls mess with our heads?" "You know, when you really think about it, the beer leagues don't sound half-bad." "Hey, big guy." "How'd it go today?" "Fine." "Maybe we'll walk over and grab some ice cream before we drive home." "Here, might as well get this over with." "You may not want ice cream after you read it." "Hey, it says you didn't do your homework last night." "I'm sorry." "You told me you did." "I-I did some, then I got tired." "Maybe I have low blood sugar." "Jeffrey..." "It's not all my fault." "Remember, I asked you if you could do some of it with me." "Jeffrey, you have to do it." "You know that." "That's how it works." "Not at this school." "Most of the parents do most of the homework." "Ask anybody." "Why do you think the grades are so high?" "How are you supposed to learn if you're not the one doing the work?" "Well... maybe you could do some of it with me." "Jeffrey, homework is your responsibility." "Besides, I have to work at the church all day, not counting the planning and phone calls I have to do from home." "Well, I go to school all day." "Anyways, forget about it." "I'm used to it." "It's just that..." "I thought it was going to be different;" "that you and me would do stuff together." "That I wouldn't be on my own all the time and everything." "Okay, I'll tell you what." "I won't do it for you, but I'll help you." "We'll try that, okay?" "Okay." "Thanks." "You're welcome." "Well, what about the ice cream?" "We can't." "We have homework." "Maybe you should call the school." "They should be back by now." "I have this strange feeling, Eric." "Honey, we don't need to call the school." "And even if we did, which we don't, why wouldn't you, the one who has the strange feeling, and not me, the one who doesn't have the strange feeling, make that call?" "Does it look like I can call anyone right now?" "I've got something on every burner, here, okay?" "And I'm, I'm doing laundry for us and Lucy." "I still haven't bathed the twins and I have a pecan pie in the oven." "I understand." "That is a lot." "But I wish you could see what's going on up in here, in this oven." "Maybe I don't have a pecan pie up here, but believe me, all the racks are full." "Chandler, it seems, has taken to fatherhood like a duck takes to... hockey, and there's still my sermon to write, so... (phone rings)" "And the... huh!" "Hello?" "Yeah?" "Uh-huh." "I see." "Oh-oh, yeah, okay." "Thank you." "What?" "Nothing to get alarmed about." "The bus is back at school, but Ruthie and Peter weren't on it." "No, they, they just missed the bus, that's all." "I-I'm sure they're fine." "I don't understand." "This is a tourist map." "It should be simple enough anyone can follow it." ""You are here."" "Well, what if you're not where "here" is when you pick up the map?" "Your here isn't the map's here." "We need another map to find where here is." "Peter, I'm hungry;" "I'm really hungry." "We don't have any more money." "I know." "Five wrong buses will do that." "Here-- it's a raisin." "I think." "I was kinda saving it, but you can have it." "We have to find a policeman and ask for help." "But we can still..." "Peter, we're done." "Game over." "People are getting worried." "I'm getting worried." "I want to go home." "Now!" "Okay, you're right." "I'm sorry I got you into this." "You didn't do anything I didn't want to do." "Maybe those guys can help us." "I don't know, Ruthie." "I'm gonna ask." "I have a good feeling." "Um, can I remind you that I had a good feeling about the last two buses?" "Hi, I'm Ruthie and this is my friend Peter." "We're from Glenoak and we're lost." "I'm Jacob and this is Nicodemus." "We are from Sudan and they call us the Lost Boys." "(phone ringing)" "Hello." "RUTHIE:" "Hi, Dad." "We missed the bus and we're sorry." "I wanted you and Mom to know we're fine." "Could you call Peter's mother?" "Yeah." "Where are you?" "Um, I'm not sure." "Somewhere near the zoo." "We're here with the Lost Boys." "The Lost Boys?" "From Sudan." "I think they go to school around here." "They're really nice." "Ruthie, you and Peter stay there." "You're in good hands." "I'm gonna drive down there right now and get you." "Could you put one of them on the phone?" "Hello." "Hi." "This is Ruthie's dad." "I want to thank you for looking out for Ruthie and Peter." "Would you mind staying with them until I get there?" "Of course." "All right, where are you... or where will you be in a few hours?" "Okay, all right." "I'm leaving now and thanks again." "Okay, so what's going on?" "Who are the Lost Boys?" "Where are Peter and Ruthie?" "And, and..." "It's complicated, but I'll tell you later." "The main thing is-- they're in good hands and they'll be fine." "I just, I want to get on the road." "All right, so go, go, go." "Be careful." "Okay, good." "(sighs)" "(sighs)" "We must have taken five buses today." "All of them wrong." "PETER:" "Which meant we had to walk from one bus stop in one part of town to another bus stop in another part of town." "I may never walk again." "PETER:" "And all we had to eat was two hot dogs." "RUTHIE:" "And he had a raisin." "We have some food." "Would you like some?" "Oh, no, we couldn't take your food." "I think we could." "Oh, that's so nice of you." "Are you homesick for your country?" "Yes, very much." "Why did you leave?" "We didn't just leave." "We were rescued by America." "Like you rescued us?" "Yes, like we rescued you." "(chuckles)" "You were rescued by the Lost Boys." "Mom, I want to apologize." "You don't have to, honey." "You've got a lot on your mind." "No, no, not to you, to Kevin." "I was really rude to him and Roxanne today." "And you were right" "I mean, maybe there was a little jealousy." "And it's all so silly." "It..." "Are you okay?" "You look like you're not so okay." "Oh, no, I'm fine." "it's just that Ruthie and Peter, they missed their bus from the field trip, but they're with the Lost Boys." "I don't know either, but she's fine." "Your father went to get them." "They're, they're okay." "They're okay." "Okay." "So, anyway, I thought I would go down to where Kevin and Roxanne are and apologize." "You think that's a good idea." "They're working, aren't they?" "I know, and if it looks like they're busy or I'm in the way or something, I won't bother them." "By the way, how's the pecan pie coming?" "Well, it's cooling right here." "I think he came out fine." "Can I ask you a favor?" "Could I take it down to him as a peace offering?" "I made it for dessert." "Well, I know, but pecan pie is Kevin's favorite and after being so inconsiderate, taking him that pie would be really considerate." "Giving him a pie that I made is considerate?" "Well, I know, I know." "The logic is slightly skewed, but still..." "All right, it's for a good cause-- you can take it." "Great." "I'm gonna go change and then I'll come back and pick up the pie." "Thanks, Mom." "(line ringing)" "MARTIN:" "Hello." "Hi." "How was practice?" "Excellent." "Coach thinks I have an attitude problem and I almost killed the equipment manager." "I called to say I'm sorry about today." "I didn't mean to snap at you." "I know." "I said some things, too." "But I really miss you sometimes." "But sometimes it doesn't seem like you..." "I have to go, Martin." "Sorry." "Anyway, the good thing about division, or math in general, is that you can always double check." "It's just that... it's so boring." "Who invented it, anyway?" "What was their problem?" "Just stay focused, okay?" "Now, what I was saying..." "How am I supposed to keep on doing this all the way to college?" "I sit in class, like, 12 hours every day." "Hmm. 8:00 to 3:00." "That's seven hours." "Hm, see the beauty of math?" "And the lighting-- it's so bad in class." "I think it's ruining my eyes." "Hmm. maybe you need glasses." "Here, do this." "I'll check it after." "This pencil's dull." "I can't..." "All right, that's it." "All right, this is the deal." "It's called school and it's your job." "Adults have their jobs, kids have their jobs." "You don't have to work for food or a roof over your head." "All you have to do is school and your best at it." "No more excuses, all right?" "And I know all about excuses." "I've been making plenty of them myself lately." "All right, sometimes you just have to suck it up and do it." "It doesn't matter if you're overloaded or you're tired or if your pencil's dull or you squint-- you got it?" "Yeah, sure." "And you weren't the only one who wanted ice cream today." "These oranges are really good." "Are they from Africa?" "Trader Paul's." "I work there after school." "Why do they call you the Lost Boys?" "Because we were lost from our homes and our people, and we were just children." "Children looking after children, like the storybook." "Peter Pan." "Yes, Peter Pan." "Where are your parents?" "They may have been killed, or maybe they're alive somewhere in the world, because everyone run in different direction." "We were in the field with the cattle when we saw our villages burning, heard bombs and gunfire, so we run for our lives." "We have been separated from our families and friends since we were seven years old." "And we started to walk." "First, hundreds of us, then we became thousands." "Did you know where you were going?" "Away from death." "How far did you walk?" "More than a thousand miles." "We walk across Sudan to Ethiopia." "Then we walk back across Sudan to Kenya." "What did you do for food?" "Sometime nothing." "For days, no food, no water." "Sometime we would eat leaves." "Sometimes, we would eat wild fruit and sometimes, we would eat wet mud to moisten our throats." "Many of us died on the way, or in the refugee camps." "Thousands died." "But now, we are here-- going to school, working." "We are very, very lucky." "Martin." "Okay, listen," "I know you're busy and all, and maybe I don't always say the right things, and I miss you and you're terrific, but..." "But?" "But you've got to cut me a little slack." "I'm dealing with a lot of pressure." "I live with the Camdens and they're great, but it's not like my real home and I'm always worrying about my dad and I really need this baseball scholarship." "I know, and I try to understand." "But what about my pressure?" "I have school and then I have to come here and..." "Great." "Hey, Martin." "Hello, Mr. Smith." "Are you here to work?" "Because I don't remember you filling out a job application." "Uh, no, sir, I just came to talk to Cecilia." "You mean my daughter, who does work here." "Daddy, he wasn't going to stay long." "Guys, you know me." "I like to think of myself as one of those cool dads, except when it comes to my business-- the thing that puts food on our table-- and then I'm very, very uncool." "Maybe we can talk later, after work." "Sorry, sir." "Dad, that was not fair." "Really?" "He just wanted to talk." "What's not fair is that I pay you a good hourly wage, not to talk with your boyfriend." "That's why they call it "work,"" "not "talking with your boyfriend."" "Most girls my age don't even have to work." "They can talk to their boyfriends whenever they want." "That can be arranged." "We call that unemployment." "And if they have to work, they don't have to work with their parents." "I'm sorry it's so horrible for you, having a job like this-- to earn your own money, to save it or do with it what you want." "There are kids in this school who would kill for a chance like that." "It's still very hard." "File a complaint with your supervisor." "With what supervisor?" "It's just you." "Oh, guess you're out of luck." "Thank you so much." "You were so nice to us." "Yeah, thanks." "Thanks for letting us eat your food." "I don't know how I can ever thank you enough." "It was our pleasure." "(sighs deeply) Can I give you some money?" "No." "Thank you." "We work." "We have jobs." "Yes, I know, but still, I... there must be something I can do." "Yes... pray for peace in our country and an end to slavery." "Can I ask you something very personal?" "Never stopped you before." "Ask." "Does your butt hurt?" "It's killing me." "And my neck, too." "I never got this neck pain on patrol." "That's 'cause we were always in and out of the patrol car." "Here we're just in." "I know, but I guess that's what can happen on a stakeout." "Some nights, nothing." "I think something just happened." "What?" "My foot fell asleep." "Man, it feels funny." "I'll tell you what," "I'll rub your foot and then you can rub my neck." "Are we allowed to do that?" "I think we have to." "What if we're chasing after a perp?" "Can't do it with a numb foot and a stiff neck." "It may even be in the manual." "Okay, deal." "Deal." "Aah... ooh..." "Ooh, that feels good." "Remind me to recommend you for an official commendation." "(chuckles) I don't think they give commendations for a foot rub." "Maybe neck rub." "Lucy?" "!" "So this is what you call "undercover"?" "Hey, Luce, don't..." "Here, I brought you some pecan pie-- enjoy!" "(Kevin sighs)" "(Kevin sighs)" "This is not good." "I don't think that's in the manual." "What just happened here?" "That was Kevin's wife." "And what's that on the windshield?" "A pie, sir." "Go home." "(both sigh)" "I don't like stew." "It sounds like "poo."" "I don't care what it sounds like, I've been working all day on this dinner; you're the only ones here, so you're stuck." "Oh, good, you're just in time for some..." "You shouldn't have been there in the first place." "Of course, and then I wouldn't have been there to see it, and then who knows what would have happened?" "Some assignment!" "Come on, Luce, you know nothing happened." "Oh, please!" "You were playing with your partner's foot!" "I've been watching" "NYPD Blue for years, and I've never seen that once." "Mom, maybe I'll come back later and have something to eat, okay?" "Sure." "By myself!" "So, um, how was the pie?" "I don't know." "I didn't want to eat it off my windshield." "Oh." "(sighs)" "Oh, thank you." "Don't try to give this to Happy because she doesn't like people food." "Neither do I." "(whines)" "Ruthie, you scared us!" "How could you...?" "Mom, you wouldn't believe their story." "It was horrible and wonderful, and they're coming to visit us soon." "Who?" "Jacob and Nicodemus... they're the nicest guys." "You'll like 'em both." "If they helped keep you safe, I-I-I love them already." "They live with seven other Lost Boys in this tiny apartment." "And there are thousands of 'em, spread all across the country." "It's good because they're here, but bad because they're separated from their friends and family." "I'll tell you all about it." "Mom, I'm beat." "I think I better get to bad." "Okay, sweetie." "Why don't you say good night to the twins in the kitchen, okay, and wait for me until I come in, because even though" "I am very relieved that you're home, we have some talking to do." "I thought we might." "Wow." "Exactly." "Yeah, you must be beat yourself." "I am." "Well, you don't have to tell me anything now." "It can wait." "But I-I want to tell you something now." "I want to tell you how much I love you." "How much I've always loved you, even when I don't always show it." "I know." "I always know." "I'm so lucky." "I'm so blessed." "We all are, you know?" "And I don't always remember, and..." "Later." "(phone rings)" "Hello?" "Hi, it's Chandler." "It's nothing, really." "I was just calling to say thank you for covering for me for the last few days." "Oh, I hardly noticed." "Okay, I noticed." "You're welcome." "But you gave me something to shoot for." "I've been feeling out of control, and then I... just thought of everything you handle:" "family, work, all the juggling that you have to do, but you do it." "It's like you look at life like it's one big..." "I don't know, like, like, it's, it's one big..." "Stew?" "Exactly, a stew." "Like you mush all these elements of your life together in a big stew and it works." "Anyway, uh, that-that's it." "Thanks." "Well, don't mention it." "And, you know, I think you might like my sermon on Sunday." "Actually, I might not be able to make it." "I'm taking Jeffrey rollerblading and then to a ball game." "We're gonna be home kind of late, so, uh... but Sunday?" "I'll be there." "Good night." "Night." "Mm-mm." "...and since 1983, when civil war in the Sudan broke out, over two million have died." "Two million." "And those who fled, some as young as five, most no older than 11, all of them separated from their parents, they wandered across the continent for years, or barely survived in terrible refugee camps." "For these children-- now young adults-- hunger, fear, sickness and starvation was the only life they've ever known." "And even though some of them are now here, their struggles aren't over." "Basic things that most of us take for granted are insanely difficult for them:" "Finding a job, any kind of job, making enough money for food, rent, school." "And-And for them, school isn't just some career path." "It's a way to get skills so they can return home someday and help save lives..." "end this misery." "The Lost Boys have a saying:" ""Our education will be our mother and father." "Our education will speak for us."" "And all of us, myself included, tend to get bogged down with our problems in our everyday lives, problems that we sometimes blow way out of proportion." "I'm embarrassed to admit that, the other day," "I felt that picking up our dry cleaning seemed like cruel and unusual punishment." "But, uh, that's, that's human nature." "I know that, and yet, every so often, something or someone comes our way and helps us see things." "Helps us really see what's important and what's not." "And that's what these Lost Boys of the Sudan," "Jacob and Nicodemus have done for me and for my family." "'Cause, even though the horrors that they've lived through are unspeakable... there is such a sweet sense of joy and optimism about them-- it's truly inspirational." "I'll leave you with a quote from Jacob:" ""I may be called a Lost Boy, but I was never lost to God."" "(Sudanese music playing)" "*" "*" "*" "*" "(Sudanese music fades)"