Gracie's Choice

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Mommy?

Mommy?

Police!

- Jake, come on!

- All right, children.

Come on. Come on.

What's going on? Oh, my God!

Where are my kids? Where are my kids?

What's going on?

Oh, my God! We got kids in here!

- Control that dog!

- I'm trying.

- Where are you taking us?

- Into that car.

What was going on in that garage?

- They was cooking something.

- It smelled bad.

Medicine.

I had nothing to do with it!

- Do you know who this is?

- That's our mom!

- Call welfare for these kids.

- We're already on welfare.

Look, we don't know

who these people are.

My mom has nothing to do with them.

We just stayed here.

- Are they gonna put us in jail, Mom?

- What? No.

No, they're not gonna put us in jail.

They're just trying to help. Right?

Please, I don't want my kids

to see me like this. Please.

- You handle this.

- We've got no one to look after them.

- We won't cause any trouble.

- Get in the car.

Get those kids out of here now. Now.

- Okay.

- Now!

Come on. Come on.

No dog! No dog!

- Get in the car!

- No.

- Gracie, are you gonna help me or what?

- Mom!

Down, boy, down. Lay down, boy.

Gracie!

- Get in the car!

- I love you.

Come on, Spike. You can do it.

Come on. Don't slow down.

Come on, Spike!

Faster, Spike!

- Come on! Come on, Spike!

- Speed up! Don't give up!

Come on, boy!

Okay, everybody duck.

You too, Rose.

I thought we weren't stopping

until Grandma's.

I am not in the mood.

Let's make this good.

It's just me and my daughter.

I will have the money for you in the

morning. I swear on a stack of Bibles.

- No credit card?

- Credit card?

I'm lucky to have the clothes on my ba...

These aren't even my clothes.

They're my neighbor's.

Oh, God. I must look like hell.

What exactly happened?

This crapped-out guy next door

was smoking and burned the place down.

Can you believe?

Our grandmother says that she's coming

tomorrow with money and clothes.

How early will she be here?

- Very early.

- Crack of dawn, man.

What time do you get up?

- Why?

- Because we wanna cook you breakfast.

Cook me breakfast?

Why would you do that?

Because you deserve it.

Because you're a sensitive man.

And not many people see that.

But who does?

- We do.

- We do.

I wish I had long hair like you.

My hair used to be longer than this.

It used to be down to my butt.

When you were young

and lived in Wyoming?

Yeah, when I was young.

Well, you still are young, Mom.

- That's what I like to hear.

- Yeah, Mom. Tell us about Shamire.

Oh, Shamire.

Shamire was the most beautiful horse

in the world.

- Arabian.

- All white, huh?

Oh, honey, he was pale.

He was a ghost.

- You rode bareback like an Indian.

- Oh, I was wild like an Indian.

I rode him all night long.

My hair flying out...

...Shamire snorting, tossing his head.

His hooves were galloping,

thunder in that prairie grass.

You forgot the wolves.

Oh, no. No, no, because the wolves,

they was a-howling.

And the wind, it was a-blowing.

- But you wasn't scared.

- Oh, hell, no. We didn't care.

It was just him and me

in a dead-out run.

Oh, man, my heels were boring

into his belly.

I could feel every breath he took.

God, I could feel his heartbeat.

We were galloping forever,

never wanting to stop.

And we didn't stop until we got

all the way to Montana.

And Grandma Lou had a cow, right?

She had so many cows,

she could have had a cow farm.

Hey, hey.

Mom, we're gonna wake up the manager.

Killjoy.

Hey, Mom, when do we

get to go to Wyoming?

Soon, baby. Soon.

- Is Shamire still there?

- No, silly.

Shamire's dead like your grandpa.

Shamire lives in the barn in Wyoming.

We'd better get everybody to bed.

Okay, okay. One, four, three.

- One.

- I.

- Four.

- Love.

- Three.

- You!

All right, come on. Come on.

Are we blowing the joint?

Kids, towels, towels. Come on.

Got it?

Ready to put it in? Okay, ready?

Count of three. One, two, three.

Go, go, go.

Hey, hey! Hey, you!

Come back. You didn't pay!

Hey!

Grandma Lou! Grandma Lou!

Looks like we've got some

company, unexpected.

- Grandma!

- Oh, my Lord.

Hi, Grandma.

Oh, yeah!

- Guys, these are for Grandma's guests.

- Rowena, I hope you're not staying...

...because I've got my monthly

Bible meeting happening.

- Put that one back.

- Now, don't touch those.

- They're for the Bible ladies.

- Put it back.

Don't put it back. Eat it now

that you've got it. Don't put it back.

Nobody wants to touch food

dirty fingers have touched.

- Oh, there's sandwiches!

- Ladies, this is my family.

Ladies, go right on with your meeting.

When's the last time

these children had something to eat?

These kids have been through hell...

...but I have so learned my lesson.

- Oh, Rowena. Oh, I've heard that before.

- I mean it.

- All right.

All right. I'm gonna do it.

I'm gonna do it.

I'm gonna help you. God help me.

But you can't stay here. No, no.

Yes, I'll help you find a place,

but that's it.

- Hi, Rose.

- Hi, Gracie.

Hi.

This is the last of my dishes.

You have cleaned me out, Rowena.

Of course, you never

take care of anything.

Look what we found by the canal.

Mine is Shadow,

and Rose's is Snowball.

Look at them.

Oh, they're so tiny and cute.

Well, now, that's all you need

is two stray cats.

I mean, how do you know

that they don't have germs?

Can we keep them?

Of course you can keep them.

They look hungry.

Why don't you go get them some milk?

And pick me up some hamburger...

...and a can of tomatoes and some paprika.

Gotta have paprika if you're gonna cook.

- Will you make Rudy's Hungarian goulash?

- I don't know, Rose. You want me to?

- Yes.

- Well, then, hell, yeah. I'm gonna make it.

Who's Rudy?

Mama...

...Rudy was a Hungarian friend of mine.

Only now he's in prison.

Which commandment did he break,

stealing or murder?

What's a commandment?

"What's a commandment?"

- The Ten Commandments...

- That God gave Moses, Rose.

Don't you know anything?

I know you never take the kids to church,

but you should get them back into school.

Tomorrow!

Damn, do I have to write it in blood?

Tomorrow!

Well, don't just stand there gawking.

Go get the milk.

- And the stuff for the goulash?

- Forget the goulash.

Yeah. Your mom's gonna be too busy

cleaning up her dishes.

Would you give them some money

for a frozen pizza?

"Rom... Romeo, Romeo...

...wherefore art thou, Romeo?"

"Wherefore art thou, Romeo?"

She's not asking where he is.

She wants to know why he's called Romeo.

"That which we call a rose

by any other name would smell as sweet. "

Go on.

"Deny thy father...

...and refuse thy name...

...or if thy while... "

Wilt!

"Or, if thou wilt not,

be but sworn my love...

...and I'll no longer be a Capulet. "

What's your name again?

- Gracie Thompson.

- Okay, Thompson.

You ever heard of Romeo and Juliet?

I know what a Romeo is.

But the story, the play,

Romeo and Juliet...

...Shakespeare, star-crossed lovers,

West Side Story...

They're from two different families

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