Film Transcript - Act 1

TRAILER — LIVING ROOM

They look at me like I’ve been poor like this my whole life — I haven’t been. I wasn’t always married to an inmate.

BECKY: Your daddy just got his haircut. He said he’s got a new style and we’re gonna like it.

DONNIE: We’re gonna like it?

BECKY: We’re gonna like it.

DONNIE: What does it look like?

BECKY: He told me he had it — move your head I’m gonna cut your ear off!

Alan did have a job — he had a very good job. We were well supported. When he first started coming into my life. I was in an abusive relationship.

Alan came in to kind of take care of me I was pregnant and having a rough time with pregnancy so we did everything. We went out — took the kids to the park, went swimming, did everything with the kids. And he was my out — He helped me get out and stuck with me the whole thing — we escaped — he stayed with me. He was there and he stayed, he’s been there for the passed ten years.

BECKY: Alright — you go get your hair off. C’mon Josh!

Currently I’m poor — I’m very poor now. I wasn’t before we had everything in the world, comfortable, we knew where our meals were coming from- we knew how the rent was going to get paid. Now I struggle to cover the rent. I can hope that I keep my lights on — we struggle.

BECKY: Josh take it easy now! Hey, hey, hey — don’t do that. Don’t do that I need to tighten the top up.

Families doing a sentence, families doing time right along with their men — if you’re sticking it out you’re doing their same sentence — family pays — he might be paying but I don’t think as dearly as his family is.

Alan always wanted to move down south. And I wanted to get out of New Hampshire. I had a bad marriage there and my x husband still caused a lot of problems for me — and I wanted to get me and my kids away and get a fresh new start.

We knew that we were ditching everything so we had no money, we had nothing and then he gotten arrested — since we had already given up our house and given up his job — we had no place to live and no income — the courts were kind enough to let us come to Georgia and set up house before he was sentenced.

WALKING THROUGH OLD NIEGHBORHOOD

BECKY: There’s the house I used to live in. That was a nice house.

Alan set us up in a nice house. Doing what we always did — living comfortably, living nice.

BECKY: That was a beautiful house.

Unfortunately when he got sentenced all that went out the door. Everything went down and the house that we had set up I had to move out of.

CICI’S PIZZA

Me, Alan and the boys we all went out to Cici’s pizza the night before he left. It was a good night.

We tried not to concentrate on the fact that — now daddy going to be going up north and not coming home. Alan was real cool about it. He was more like it’s no big deal it’s like I’m going on vacation, you know you know like — when I went to work and you’d get out of school and I wasn’t there, and on weekend I was there. He says well I’m just gonna be away on weekends too.

Well we packed up the next day, off we went and my mom took the kids. And I was up there for a month. And I came home and as soon as I pulled in the yard you know the kids are going to run out and give everybody hugs and the first question was — where’s daddy? And I had to explain, your daddy’s in jail — he’s not coming home.

TRAILER - DONNIES BEDROOM

He broke down crying — Donnie did. His heart was broke. It was broke because to him it was daddy died. That's what it was to him. Is your dad's not coming home and whenever you tell a kid something's not coming home it's usually because it's never coming home. And then trying to explain to him that your dad's gonna come home when you're eighteen. You know not gonna have him for your childhood but you're gonna have him when you're eighteen years old. That didn't work cause kid can't see that far in the future. So to him — Daddy’s just not coming home.

DONNIE: I asked my mom if am I every gonna see dad again. She said yeah when dad's getting out of jail. When I'm gonna turn eighteen and my brother's gonna turn 16 or 17 maybe 15 I don't really know. Turn 13 yeah, yeah I got six more birthdays to go.

He built and built and built with rage. And he didn’t have any place to vent that anger. He couldn't be mad at the police because the police did their job. You can't be mad at the court either. You know, your dad did something wrong and they had to do what they had to do. So you can't be mad at them.

And couldn't be mad at his dad and that's the place he kind of would want to be mad at. He couldn't be mad at his dad either because dad was so perfect to him.

TRAILER - KITCHEN

DONNIE: I have to move this over. I bet my dad thinks that I’m a great drawer. Some day I’m gonna be just like him.

He was leaning further and further into psychosis. He was hearing bad voices. Voices that were telling him to die. Kill himself. Kill his brother. Kill his family. Voices that had him drawing pictures of himself in a coffin and the word "die" was written up in the word balloon.

DONNIE: Wow! I don’t think I did a very bad job… how do you think that looks?

He had a suicidal edge going to him - and a very violent one. I brought him to the Doctor and this all was enough to put him on anti-psychotics.

TRAILER - LIVING ROOM

DONNIE: These, these and these.

And Donnie’s has never improved 100%. He started to go on a very small uphill grade — enough to where he was functional.

TRAILER — KITCHEN

DONNIE: Dad oh dad, it makes me sad to see you in jail. But you did the crime so you do the time — and then I will see you again. Oh dad it breaks my heart to see us apart — dad oh dad oh man! PS I Love You - peace and love forever!

WOODS

When Alan went up north everything about Josh got taken away. Josh was this little pit crew boy with the helmet and the overalls. Who went out and got all greasy sitting on a car engine. You know he took apart things and put things together and they repaired small engines. Everything about Josh that you see is all Alan created and molded it and put in to that boy.

You know Josh had the helmet on his head and dad and the racing thing — this kid would come out in the middle of the night, curl up next to daddy on the couch and watch the race. So now when Josh, 2, 3 o’clock in the morning when he’s not going to sleep — is gonna come out, expecting his daddy to be sitting on the end of the couch, flipping through the TV, having somebody to curl up to watch the race. I’m not dad, I don’t fit that spot, I’m not on the right side of the couch — that’s not what he wants. So he’ll put the big teddy bear or the helmet on his head and he’ll curl himself up in this one spot pretending that the picture and the helmet and the teddy bear replaces the dad that sat there on the corner of the couch and watched the race with him.

He doesn't understand hurt. Doesn't understand pride. Doesn't understand anything emotional that we understand. So it comes out to him in misbehavior.

JOSH: Hey! Hey!

And most misbehavior can usually be translated back to he had this he doesn't. He had that he doesn't. This was here it's not here anymore. This changed and it disrupted his life. And now he's responding this way. And you can usually trace it back and everything about him gets traced right back to the day his dad left.

So he lugs around his tools and his stupid little helmet and goes out and takes things apart.

This is Josh trying to tell you that I miss doing these things. I miss going out working with dad on the car. I miss going to the races. This is why I've got this helmet on. I miss the wrestling and the football and the fishing.

TRAILER - COURT

DONNIE: Need any help?

JOSH: Shut Up please.

DONNIE: Maybe I’ll do a little bit of banging…

JOSH: No!

DONNIE: Now go get it. Piece of crap. Hit me again. Give me my shirt back — give me my shirt back!

TRAILER - COURT - BOYS SWORD FIGHTING

JOSH: Touchin’

DONNIE: Boink.

JOSH: Touchin’

DONNIE: Boink.

JOSH: Touchin’

DONNIE: Quit it!

TRAILER PARK

My trailer park… Oh it's run down. It's not a place to show your friends but everybody that lives there are my friends and they all live the same so I guess that works.

My street that I live on is a whole little family community all itself. Um I've got Joyce down there she lives the next trailer in front of me.

BECKY: Anybody home?

TRAILER — LIVING ROOM

I’ve got Joyce down there — she lives the next trailer in front of me. Joyce and her son Malcolm are a big part of my life. Joyce is my best friend and has stood by my side from all of this. I met her when I came down here to Georgia — and she has stood by my side and Malcolm has stood by my kids.

DONNIE: Done? Dang that was quick.

MALCOLM: Look Donnie.

DONNIE: Hmm that look good — Mommy could you come check on this stuff I think it might be done.

BECKY: What was that all about? Go on.

Being a single mother with two boys is not an easy thing to be. Discipline is a big thing Mom’s get walked over real easy. So I want to make sure for the kids sake, when I say Oh your dad’s gonna hear about that — they know — we don’t want dad to be upset.

JOYCE: What’s wrong with him?

BECKY: He wont come out into the living room. He’s being a brat.

When Josh brings home a behavioral slip — I handle it. But I also turn around and say this is gonna get sent to your daddy, we’re gonna photocopy this and this is gonna get sent to your dad. Report cards are sent to his dad. Everything good or bad is sent. So he does stay involved and when he gets that in the mail he'll either try to call and say, "Josh I just got this thing in the mail you know what's that all about?"

TRAILER PARK — MAILBOXES

I keep it going even though your dad doesn’t live with you. But that doesn’t make him any less your dad and I keep it up and I keep it going.

I'm big on you write to your dad, your dad wrote you a letter you read that letter and you write.

TRAILER — DONNIE’S BEDROOM

DONNIE: Dear Donnie — how are you doing son — well Easter is almost here, I hope that you have a good Easter. I have enclosed your Easter card and also your birthday card along with this letter — oh I swear I wish I could be there for your birthday — but as you already know I can’t — I hope that you have a good birthday and remember that you are always in my heart son. Take care of yourself and always remember that I love you with all my heart son. Lots of love, your dad Alan JR — that’s the end.

TRAILER PARK — WATER FIGHT

Josh he needs a man. There's not a whole lot I can do for Josh. Josh needs to get out there, the riding bike thing you know, have male contact, swimming, playing ball, wrestling, all these things that I just physically, unfortunately, can't do.

BECKY: OK I’m getting out of the way. No don’t spray up here I’m done I said! Hey gimme my glasses — they got me.

JOYCE: They got you! Ahhhh!

BECKY: I lost — I’m blind —

JOYCE: Alright cut the water off!

TRAILER PARK — SIDE YARD

Whenever anything ever went wrong in my life there was always an animal that I can turn to.

BECKY: You barking at me?

I found that animals don’t betray you like humans do, most animals don’t leave you — they certainly don’t get drunk and commit stupid mistakes.

Walk through my house and you know animals live there I have them on my table, they’re on my cupboards they’re everywhere! They run the home. But for us it’s a happy home. If my animals were to be gone the home wouldn’t be happy.

WALKING THROUGH THE WOODS

JOSH: Mom.

BECKY: What Josh?

JOSH: I’m gonna show you where that hole is ok?

BECKY: Yes that’s where we’re going.

DONNIE: Something underneath it.

BECKY: Yeah I want you guys to move. Move away Josh. Move that way!

Sammy my cat had some up missing. Not uncommon he was a tomcat — he was the most adorable cat and he followed me form place to place. So I had him the whole year that Alan was down there and he was just a family child.

BECKY: Alright guys. Boys come here. Come here! Sammy is not coming home.

DONNIE: It was him?

JOSH: It is Sammy?

DONNIE: It really was him? Oh…

SCHOOL PLAYGROUND

DONNIE: Driving to New Hampshire — yoo hoo….

BECKY: Where are we going?

JOSH: We’re going to New Hampshire.

BECKY: We’re going to New Hampshire? What are we going to do there?

DONNIE: Oh we’re gonna go see daddy.

BECKY: In this thing? You think it’ll make it?

JOSH: No we’re not.

DONNIE: Yeah!

JOSH: No we’re not.

BECKY: What are we going to do?

JOSH: Never mind.

BECKY: Never mind what?

DONNIE: I really miss Sammy.

JOSH: Ain't you sad?

BECKY: Hm?

JOSH: Ain’t you sad?

BECKY: Ain’t I sad about what?

JOSH: Sammy?

BECKY: Yea.

DONNIE: He was a very good cat.

BECKY: Yes he was.

JOSH: We’ll have one more look at it.

BECKY: Noooo.

JOSH: Donnie will.

BECKY: No.

DONNIE: I sad I wanted to have one look at him.

BECKY: Donnie why?

DONNIE: He’s still the same?

BECKY: No.

DONNIE: Is he all tored up?

BECKY: He’s just not pretty anymore. Okay.

DONNIE: He must have had bugs coming out.

BECKY: Uhh no he didn’t.

DONNIE: He didn’t?

BECKY: No.

DONNIE: Was he still in his bones?

BECKY: Donnie — he just wasn’t pretty anymore. You guys think of all the morbid things.

DONNIE: Was his eyes falling out?

BECKY: Donnie!

JOSH: Yes!

BECKY: No that was the cat — that was the first cat me and Daddy got when we got down here — stop OK.

DONNIE: Now he’s gone?

JOSH: Now we have to tell dad.

BECKY: Yeah.

TRAILER — LIVING ROOM

DONNIE: Can I cut an onion?

JOSH: Can I cut some?

BECKY: You can wait one minute. Alright — just a minute Donnie. Donnie.

DONNIE: I got it.

BECKY: No look. Wait, wait, wait.

DONNIE: What? What kind of meat are we gonna use?

BECKY: We’re gonna use onions for protein, iron actually.

DONNIE: Ooh I don’t want regular old potato.

BECKY: Donnie I ain’t got no groceries in this house. And I have to stay off my feet today so I can’t go down to the store and get nothing right now. We got potato that’s what we eat. Do I have any green pepper or yellow pepper or any kind of pepper — I don’t have any

JOSH: no, no, no.

DONNIE: I’ll go see — Josh how do you know?

JOSH: I looked in the refrigerator.

DONNIE: We have basil leaves —

BECKY: No in the fridge Donnie.

DONNIE: Steak spice!

BECKY: No Donnie! In the fridge I’m looking for a green — a pepper — a vegetable —

DONNIE: We have lemon pepper!

BECKY: No, no Donnie, Donnie those are spices I want you to look in the fridge. Daddy’s going to be calling pretty soon.

Ring — Ring.

RECORDING: This is a collect call from ALAN. Who is an inmate incarcerated at Concord men’s Prison. To accept charges press zero.

There's a phone connection and every week they wait and Daddy's gonna cal.

BECKY: Hello.

The only father to those children, the only husband I have is a voice, once a week.

Divorced parents when they get split up and you gets parents in another town there's usually just a weekend visit and maybe once a month or sometimes they can spend a school year. My kids don't have anything like that. All they've got now is one hour a week and not even that because we have to split it up between the 3 of us. So in order to keep the family together, you figure that’s all there is.

JOSH: Dad what are you doing next week? You gonna send us — one of those pieces of papers that you always do?

BECKY: Letter Josh.

JOSH: Letter!

I've got one child who can't read. Letters for him are completely meaningless. You know you can write him a ten page letter telling him everything that happened and Josh isn't going to absorb that. Josh needs something real and grounded, something he can grasp on to and the only thing he's got is the sound of his dad's voice.

DONNIE: Hey Daddy. Um we’re gonna go swimming and have a cook out tomorrow. It’s gonna be fun too. What are you gonna be doing tomorrow?

It gets expensive; I mean that's half the reason why I can't get a better place to live is because the only way to keep the marriage together is the stupid telephone. I mean I've paid a lot of heavy-duty bills. My past bill was an $850 bill.

DONNIE: Love you bye.

And people are thinking that I'm on the phone all the time which I'm not. We're very good. He's got a watch and uh as soon as we pick up the phone and we're connected he starts timing and in an hour the phone gets shut off not because the prison does it because got to keep the phone bills down.

BECKY: We made a round — so it’s just about that time so. I’ll let you go until Saturday then. OK? I love you. Happy anniversary again — oh we just got disconnected.

RECORDING: Thank you for using Sprint

ACT 2

ACT 3

ACT 4

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