Finding Forrester

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Marker.

Hey, Jamal!

Jamal, you awake?

Jamal! l know you can hear me, boy.

Jamal, l'm writing all this down.

l've got that thing with your teacher

and l'm working late.

So you're gonna have to take care

of yourself for dinner, okay?

Okay?

Okay.

Hey, l thought you wanted

to get up by 7:
30.

-Play the ball.

-Ball!

-Play the ball.

-Ball!

-You want to change things?

-Check that.

Play ball, baby. Stop crying.

Hold on. What up, J?

Where you been, man?

-What's up?

-Sleep, yo.

-Hey, what's up, man?

-Up wondering how to save your ass.

-What are you saving?

-Hey, Damon.

Let's go.

J, break him up, man.

Take the ball, man, okay?

-Oh, he broke your ankles, man!

-Yeah!

You can't give him that.

-You can't give him that.

-l'm awake.

Come on, yo.

-You got something for me?

-What you got?

Souffle, baby!

Where's the D?

Got nothing for me, man.

A lot of good that's doing.

-lt's something for The Window.

-You ever seen him?

-The Window?

-Yeah.

No. But he see us, man.

Come on, what's wrong with y'all?

Y'all want to play ball?

-All right, baby.

-Wake up.

-You got to help me out, man.

-Shake it!

Hip-hop, man.

ln 1845, Poe wrote his

most famous piece, ''The Raven''...

...a poem he wrote while strung out

on coke and obsessed with death.

''The Raven'' is like the football team.

There's a team obsessed with death.

Always get their ass kicked.

Baltimore Ravens, only pro football

team named after a classic poem.

Anyone read it?

''Once upon a midnight dreary

While l pondered, weak and weary....''

Jamal, how about it?

No, l never read it.

Okay, l need those essays

by next Tuesday.

Yo, man, my dad saw The Window, man.

Yo, man, my dad saw The Window, man.

About 20 years ago.

Just like a ghost, like the ones

that be in our science books.

-Just like that.

-So, what, he was white?

Ain't milk white?

-Ever see a ghost that wasn't white?

-Just playing.

l heard he killed somebody.

That's why he stays inside.

You gotta kill an army to hide here.

-True.

-Y'all play too much.

Remember Shurrita?

She used to live below The Window?

She calls me up this one night,

bugging, dog. Bugging.

Saying she heard this tapping

from upstairs by The Window's place.

Tap...

...tap...

...tap.

While she was on the phone,

she started screaming, dog.

Because now the tapping made

its way down the stairs somehow.

Tap...

-...tap, tap.

-Listen to him, fool.

And now it was on

the other side of her door, dog.

She could tell there was some

type of knife he was tapping with.

Before she can even hang up,

the phone disconnected.

-That's the last time we seen her.

-Shurrita from across the street?

Come on, man, yo.

You know that girl is a crack ho.

No, no, she was nice.

Listen, man, all l know is

that The Window's bad news.

Rules was, you go outside,

you stay away from The Window's place.

-No, stay away from your lying ass.

-Yo, J, you believe me, right?

You full of sh*t, dog.

Damn.

So let me guess.

So you'd go up in there, right?

lt's an old man

looking out a window, man.

-You'll go?

-He won't go.

-So you'll go up there?

-Let them know, J.

-He's not gonna go.

-This nigga's scared.

Yo, l got the next call.

-So?

-So....

l dare you to go up there, right?

Right? Right?

-Whatever, man. l'll go up there.

-Yeah.

-He's going.

-Big shot. Superman.

-Bring it, son.

-That's my dog.

You feel me.

D, l believe you, dog.

Man, shut up.

Go to class or something.

Here, man, sit over here, son.

Are you kidding me?

Stop playing with me.

-lt's a vibrant thing. Go over there.

-Fine.

Here, take your apple too.

-Ms. Joyce?

-Yeah. Hi.

Good to see you.

Have a seat here.

Thank you.

Okay.

We got Jamal's test scores

back this week.

-Test scores?

-Assessment tests.

The state education department

requires all kids to take them.

He didn't tell you?

Mrs. Wallace,

Jamal maintains a C average.

Which means he does just enough

to get by without standing out.

Now, what makes Jamal's case

unusual are his test results.

Oh, my God.

l see him reading all

these books all the time.

Books l never read.

Some l never even heard of.

And he's always writing

in his notebooks.

Ever since his father left.

But that's what l see.

All he ever talks about is basketball.

Basketball is where

he gets his acceptance.

Kids don't care about

what he puts down on paper.

Let's go! Between the yellow lines!

Let's go!

Yo, T.

What up, Fly?

-How you?

-Maintaining.

Look, look. You looking

for tickets, little bro?

Dead tonight.

Sorry about that.

Come on, man.

We know you got tickets.

l got four words for you:

Bos-ton Red Sox. All right?

The Yanks and Sox tickets, they damn

near been sold out almost a month.

All right, Mr. Fly?

And by the way, why don't you go

tell Camry boy over there...

...that he need to back up

his little cheap-ass bumper...

...on that Mercedes there.

Go handle that.

Let's go, Fly! Let's go!

What the hell, Jamal? Moms called.

Tell me about the test.

What's up with that?

-Nothing, man.

-What do you mean, nothing?

This in the way of your plans?

Remember, it was your plan first, T.

Yeah, l know.

A little college ball and all.

Then start signing checks,

solving everybody else's problems.

Look at me, though.

Whoa, hold a minute.

Hold on to these.

l guess this makes it our plan now.

-One thing.

-What up?

Don't say nothing

about them test scores.

Don't worry, l'm your brother, dog.

Whatever me and you discuss,

it stays between me and you.

-Right.

-Love you, dog. All right?

Make sure you keep one thing in mind:

Moms knows when the game ends,

so take your ass straight home.

-Okay.

-Don't get into no trouble.

Be careful. Stay safe, all right?

-Love, dog.

-All right, T. Good looking.

All right, Jamal. Be careful.

Stink in here.

J, you see that window?

He keeps that one cracked sometime.

Yo, light's been out

for two hours, dog.

You sure he asleep?

That Methuselah's like a thousand

years old. That's all they ever do.

Yo, J, man. For the reals, son,

l don't know about this.

-l know.

-l think l'm-- Oh, sh*t!

l think l'm gonna pull the call, yo.

-No, yo, l got this one.

-Rats.

All right. Yo, Fly.

Keep it.

You gotta bring something out.

Yo, man, you hear us,

drop down, all right?

All right.

Don't stay in there too long.

Got you.

Damn, this thing's rickety.

Lucy Chapman around?

Last stool on the other end.

Lucy Chapman?

-Yeah.

-l'm Bannion, Homicide.

With this band playing, you need

megaphones to talk at the bar.

-We can sit in a booth.

-All right.

-Yo, look, look!

-Oh, sh*t!

-Yo, yo, got something?

-Oh, sh*t!

-Yo, what happened?

-You son of a b*tch!

D*ckheads, he wasn't asleep.

-Yo, did you see him?

-No, not for long, yo.

Jamal, would you stop bouncing

that damn ball in the house?

l got Michael Jordan's name

written in dirt all over my floor.

Don't worry, l'll clean it.

l got a better chance

of Michael Jordan cleaning it.

lf you're thinking of a shower,

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