Changing Lanes Page #7

for 200 pianos.

You don't say anything about them.

You're taking everything

on your shoulder in this letter.

Why? You could send 'em to jail.

They gotta write their own letters.

Let me go.

Should've left me inside.

You're too important to me.

Come on. Let's go to a meeting.

No, no, no.

I went to one yesterday.

- Well, that was yesterday.

- Yeah, one day at a time, right?

Yeah, one day at a time,

and do the next right thing.

Let's go.

There's a meeting at 6:00.

""God, grant me the strength...

to accept the things

I cannot change.""

It's an admirable gesture,

but it's unnecessary.

It's unnecessary because

you've already filed...

the power of appointment

with the court.

A bonded courier delivered it

to the judge just before 5:00...

and her bailiff signed for it.

Your note of apology was contrite,

but it was absolutely professional.

Everything's taken care of.

- You filed a forgery.

- Bullshit.

I filed what I had to file.

What happened to--

You just disappeared.

Time was up.

Come on.

You scared the hell out of us.

I didn't know what to do.

So you finally hit rock bottom?

Today you almost killed a guy.

Tomorrow you might go all the way.

Keep doing the next wrong thing,

you could start a religion.

Convince the so ber to drink.

Don't tell them...

to keep each other alive with hope.

You saw today that everything decent

is held together by a covenant.

An agreement not to go bat sh*t!

- You broke the contract!

- I didn't have a drink!

Well, wow!

Thank you for sharing!

You didn't have a drink today!

What an inspiration!

That's the point, isn't it?

God!

You know, booze isn't really

your drug of choice anyway.

You're addicted to chaos.

For some of us, it's coke.

For some of us, it's bourbon.

But you,

you got hooked on disaster.

F***!

Here's what you shouId do.

You get up Monday morning...

and you get yourself

on a plane to Texas.

Take that letter with you.

When you get to Texas...

you get on the defense team

of somebody on death row.

And then put all your energy

into saving a man from execution.

And then come on back here

in a few months.

You still wanna confess, go ahead.

Come on.

How the hell do you think

Simon Dunne got his money?

You think those factories

in Malaysia...

have day-care centers in them?

Wanna check the pollution levels

of his chemical plants in Mexico...

or look at the tax benefllts

he got from this foundation?

This is all a tightrope.

This is all a tightrope.

You gotta learn to balance.

How can you live like that?

I can live with myself

because at the end of the day...

I think I do more good than harm.

What other standard

have I got to judge by?

I have to thank you.

For the house?

I understand what

you were trying to do, but...

my wife's moving,

she's taking the boys.

The house is a little bit

too much for me right now.

I'm sorry.

I was a horribly unstable father.

And Valerie says

I'll never see them again.

But you know what?

I will.

I'll see 'em in a year or two...

may be three.

I'll go to Portland,

I'll call her...

and I'll find a way

to be their father again.

How about you?

Well...

I have the file...

but I don't need it anymore.

It's been taken care of.

You know.

It never happened.

But it did happen. Right?

Right.

So, now what?

I'm going to dinner with my wife...

her parents.

And this weekend,

I'm gonna go look at a boat.

And then on Monday, I'm gonna

come back in here and go to work.

And then...

magically this whole...

incredible day just somehow...

becomes a memory.

It's like you go to the beach.

You go down to the water.

It's a little cold.

You're not sure if you wanna go in.

There's a pretty girl

standing next to you.

She doesn't wanna go in either.

She sees you.

And you know...

if you just asked her

her name...

you would leave with her.

Forget your life,

whoever you came with...

and leave the beach with her.

And after that day...

you remember her.

Not every day, every week.

She comes back to you.

It's the memory...

of another life...

you could've had.

Today is that girl.

I'm sorry about what I did.

Me too.

You brought the file back.

When you're done, there's a lovely

little place on the hill where--

where you can get a--

- Cappuccino.

- Yes, that's right, dear.

They're lovely cappuccinos,

and it's clean and it's cool.

They have these prints on the wall.

They're really quite lovely.

I don't know who they're by.

They're by that artist--

- Chagall.

- Right. They're Chagalls.

There's three of them.

They're early Chagalls.

I think he painted them

when he was visiting there.

Am I missing something this evening?

- What is this?

- This, my dear--

This is Simon Dunne's...

power of appointment.

- I got it back.

- No, you didn't.

- Yes, I did. This is it.

- Please.

This is behind us, isn't it?

Haven't we put this behind us?

I was thinking about

what you said to me.

About the end of the day--

about doing more good than harm.

That is what you said, isn't it?

- Don't you f*** with me.

- I am not f***ing with you, sir.

- Don't you f*** with me.

- I am not f***ing with you, sir.

Can you imagine how unpleasant

it would be...

if the judge

got ahold of this file?

That's not gonna happen.

That's not gonna happen, Gavin.

I think I might order the snapper.

I'm gonna hold onto this file. I'm

gonna keep it in a very safe place.

But I'm not going to Texas.

I'm gonna come back

into work on Monday.

I'm gonna start doing that pro bono

work that you recommended that I do.

But I'm gonna do it

from our office.

The first thing we're gonna do

is help a man buy a house.

- Gavin, can we please not do this?

- And I think...

I would like to be the one

to call Mina Dunne.

I'm gonna tell her

that you and Walter...

are gonna give back the three

million dollars you stole...

from her grandfather's foundation.

You were right.

I can do this.

I found the edge.

Can you live there with me?

Can you?

I haven't had a f***ing thing

to eat all day, and I'm starving.

So what are we gonna eat?

- Mrs. Gipson?

- Yes?

My name is Gavin Banek.

What do you want?

Five minutes, ma'am.

I owe your husband twenty.

Hell...

I'm only asking for five with you.

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