Dangerous Minds Page #8

find your way back.

Get on inside.

Clean up that pigsty of a room.

Hi. I'm Louanne Johnson.

I'm the boys' teacher.

I know who you are.

You're that white-bread b*tch

messin' with my babies' minds.

I beg your pardon?

My boys don't go to your school no more,

and that's gonna be it.

- You took 'em out of school?

- You're damn right I did.

I saw what they were bringing home...

poetry and sh*t.

A waste of time. They got more

important things to worry about.

Don't you think that finishing high

school will be valuable to their future?

That's not in their future.

I ain't raising no doctors and

lawyers here. They got bills to pay.

Why don't you just

get on outta here.

Go find yourself some other

poor boys to save.

Mama! I could stand

some lemonade.

"It is easier

to forgive an enemy...

"than to forgive a friend.

"The man who permits you

to injure him...

"deserves your vengeance.

He also will receive it."

Wow, who wrote that?

Some Mafia guy?

You know, let's go on

with this poem tomorrow.

Why don't you... Take out your work

sheets and do the vocabulary drill.

- Say what?

- Oh, man!

- Man, I don't wanna

do no vocabulary.

I don't wanna do

no damn vocabulary.

Then don't.

What do you mean?

You mean I have a choice?

You're not gonna let me get away

with not learnin' my vocabulary, right?

That's right.

You have to do your vocabulary.

Words are thoughts

and we can't think without 'em.

So... Please?

And so let's just do it, man. She's

gonna be down our back in a minute.

- Whatever. She's grouchy.

- Grouch.

- Thanks, Louanne.

- Grouch, grouch.

Thank you, Louanne.

Such a nice lady, Louanne.

What do I do?

What the f*** you want from me?

Who, my teacher? You think

I'm gonna f***in' talk to a teacher?

Like they're gonna

really help me, huh? Huh?

Teachers aren't gonna

f***in' help me, okay?

Miss Johnson! Miss Johnson,

we gotta talk to you.

- There's nothing to talk about, Angela!

- What, are you Superman?

Is your ass bulletproof?

Is that what you think? Tell her!

- Tell her what you're gonna do.

- What is it?

- He's strapped.

- Shut the f*** up! She don't

need to know my business.

Is your business dying? No!

There's this crackhead named Shorty.

He just came out of jail.

He says that I'm his girl

and that Emilio took me from him.

And now he wants to kill Emilio.

Emilio, if this boy is threatening you,

we can go to the police.

Look, this is nothing you

can do anything about.

This guy is looking for me to kill me,

and the only way for me to stop him...

is for me to kill him first.

That's just the way it is,

all right?

Wait, Emilio, wait, wait, wait, wait,

no! Can we... Can we talk about this?

- Come to my house.

- Yeah, right.

Oh, what?

You're too proud to hide?

It's better to wander

the streets all night?

- Come on.

- Please?

Please, just go.

Go. Go.

- Can we drop you?

- Just go.

Is this boy your age?

- Yeah.

- Does he go to Parkmont?

I won't tell you who it is.

No, don't.

But if you tell Mr. Grandey

about him...

not about his threatening you,

but about his being on crack...

not about his threatening you,

but about his being on crack...

he'll be turned over to the juvenile

court for... for drug abuse in school.

H-He won't serve hard time,

but by the time he gets out and

he's detoxed, he... he will have

gotten over trying to kill you.

No, I can't rat on him.

Right. Kill him.

That's better.

Man,

you don't understand.

You asked me once how I was

gonna save you from your life.

This is how. This moment.

Right now.

This will make the difference

in your life forever.

Emilio?

Emilio?

- Oh, Mr. Grandey.

- Is there a problem, Miss Johnson?

- Shouldn't you be in class?

- Yes, I'm late.

Um, I just wanted to ask.

Did Emilio Ramirez come

to your office this morning?

- Yes.

- Oh, God. Oh, thank God.

- Did you talk to him?

- No, I sent him away.

You... What do you mean?

- I mean I sent him away.

- Why?

Because he didn't knock,

Miss Johnson.

- Here we are.

- Because he didn't knock?

Yes, Miss Johnson. I'm trying to teach

these children how to live in the world.

And in the world, you just don't

burst into someone's office.

Because he didn't knock?

Damn it!

Uh, Louanne.

Mr. Grandey is with the police.

- Yes?

- Um.

They just found Emilio Ramirez

three blocks from the school.

He was shot this morning.

Is he dead?

- He's dead.

- I'm very sorry.

Um...

are you going to tell them now?

Do you think that's wise?

Yeah.

Well, uh, perhaps if you talk

to them a little bit about death...

and... and... and what it means.

What would you like me to say?

That if you don't want to die,

remember to knock?

- That's not fair.

- What is?

Bad news.

Emilio was shot this morning.

Is he dead?

- Yes, baby, he's dead.

- Oh, no.

Yo! Listen up. Miss Johnson

got something to say!

- Shh.

- Thank you.

I just want to say...

I, uh... I won't, um...

I will not be here next year.

I'm not coming back.

How come?

Is it something we did?

No. No, no, no. No. Um...

l-I never intended to stay.

Um, this was an unexpected job.

So if you knew you wasn't

gonna stay, how come you made me

promise what I promised?

L...

At that time,

I thought I would stay.

So how come you're leaving?

I just...

have my reasons,

certain reasons.

Is it because it's too sad for you,

what happened to Emilio?

Maybe.

And Durrell and Lionel

and Callie. And I just...

I just think that...

So if you love us so much and you're

so interested in our graduating,

- how come you choose to leave?

- Yeah.

You sad about Durrell and Callie

and Emilio and Lionel, but we're here.

What about us, huh?

None of us make you feel happy?

We been working hard and we stayed

in school, man. What about us?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

Why are you packing up today

when tomorrow is your last day?

Oh, just gettin' a head start.

Oh, I see.

What you did, when you

gave me the 200 dollars?

That was the nicest thing

anybody ever did for me.

I don't know anybody else

who would give 200 dollars...

to a Mexican kid

on his word of honor.

S-So you gotta let me

pay you back.

Even if I don't graduate,

all right?

Why wouldn't you graduate?

Ain't no other teacher

gonna give me no "A."

Yes, they will, if you work for them

the way you worked for me.

No, but it was different with you.

You gave me an "A" to start with.

- I didn't have to earn it.

I just had to keep it.

- Are you kidding?

Keeping an "A"

is harder than getting an "A."

Almost anyone can get an "A" once.

But keeping it,

that's an accomplishment.

- You think so?

- Oh, I know so.

Do you realize the work

you did this term?

Do you realize that

the poetry that we read...

is given to people in college?

- In college.

- These same poems?

- Yes.

- But they weren't even so hard.

So, you see?

Keep working.

You'll graduate.

I might even see you in college.

What do you think?

I feel so bad about leaving

I can hardly breathe.

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