Orphan Page #3

- Do we?

- Yes, we do.

See, there are certain things

that grown-ups do...

...that children aren't supposed to see.

And that was one of them.

Esther, listen to me.

When grown-ups love each other

very, very much...

...they wanna show each other

that love. Express it.

I know. They f***.

She could've picked it up anywhere.

Probably at school.

This wasn't something she overheard.

I mean, she knew what it meant.

Huh.

And, babe,

the way she said it is...

I don't even think she expected

to get in trouble over it.

Well, we'll talk to her about it tonight.

Fine.

Well, what did you have in mind?

No, I thought we could take her

to Dr. Browning.

I don't think we need to take her

to the shrink quite yet.

Well, you know,

we just don't know that much about her.

The family she stayed with

could've been like:

"Pass the f***ing potatoes"

at dinnertime, you know?

If she's saying it to my face, what

is she saying when we're not there?

I don't want her exerting

that kind of influence over Max.

Anyway, I just don't want to make

a big deal out of one little dirty word.

Fine. F***ing spend some time

with her, then.

All right, b*tch.

[ LAUGHS ]

[ KIDS CHATTERING AND LAUGHING ]

GIRL:

Let's have a snow fight!

WOMAN 1:

Come on, no throwing snowballs.

WOMAN 2:

Hey, neighbor.

- Hey.

- Haven't seen you around lately.

JOHN:

I've been pretty busy.

Has the homeowners' association

been soldiering on without me?

It's not the same.

[ BOTH CHUCKLE ]

Um, actually, I had a favor to ask.

I have a chair

that I need moved upstairs...

...and I was hoping you could come by

and help me with that sometime.

Yeah.

- Yeah, sure.

- Good.

Maybe Kate and I could help you out.

Just let us know.

I'll call you.

Let's go, honey.

MAN:

Okay, I'm watching you.

[ SCREAMING ]

[ CRYING ]

Brenda's father says

that you pushed her.

That's not true.

We were just playing.

I swear.

- Okay.

- And did you see what happened?

[ SIGNING ]

What? Mom, what's she saying?

She wants you to pass the bread

and butter.

- Wasn't asking you.

JOHN:
Hey, now.

Can you eat normal?

I am eating normal.

Yeah, maybe in Transylvania,

or whatever country you're from.

Incidentally, I'm from Russia.

Transylvania isn't even a country.

It's a part of Romania.

You are such a freak.

- Hey.

- Hey, Danny.

I don't want any more talk like that.

But why does she have to act

like that?

All my friends make fun of me

because of her.

Maybe you need different friends.

Maybe you should send her back

to the retard camp.

- Daniel.

- Daniel.

Apologize to your sister.

She's not my f***ing sister.

JOHN:

I got it.

Okay.

That's me.

You get the key back

when you say you're sorry.

Is there anything special

you want me to make tonight?

You have any favorites?

[ CELL PHONE RINGING ]

Hello.

- Well, how are you?

- Hi, we're great. We're doing good.

- How is she?

KATE:
She's here, hold on.

Hey, Sister Abigail.

Do you wanna say hello?

- Come on. Esther, just quickly say hi.

- I said, no.

You know what, do you mind, darling,

can you get five apples for me?

Sorry, she got shy all of a sudden.

It's all right.

I'm just calling to remind you...

...that I'm gonna need her medical...

...and dental charts

for my supervision report.

She's not thrilled about the dentist.

How is everyone doing?

Is she opening up to you?

I guess you can say that. She dropped

the F-bomb on me a few weeks ago.

[ SIGNING ]

I guess she's finally

coming out of her shell.

[ LAUGHS ]

Yeah.

Any other glitches I should know of?

We had a big one recently.

It's a girl named Brenda at school.

They were at the playground,

there was a slide, well, she fell off.

Esther may have pushed her down.

I'm not getting the story straight,

but she got hurt.

Is she all right?

Luckily. She broke her ankle

and had something like six stitches.

That doesn't sound too lucky.

Well, she's lucky

she didn't break her neck.

[ PIANO PLAYING ]

You told me

you didn't know how to play.

- No, I didn't.

- Yes, you did.

You offered to teach me

and I accepted.

Okay. So then you were

just pretending this whole time?

I thought

you would enjoy teaching me.

It must be frustrating for someone

who loves music as much as you...

...to have a son who isn't interested

and a daughter who can't even hear.

Wait, wait, wait.

I walk in on her playing Tchaikovsky

without a mistake.

I mean, she's been lying to me

this whole time.

JOHN:
She just wants to spend time

with you. It's hardly a lie.

KATE:

You wouldn't know.

You wouldn't.

She's on her best behavior with you.

She's completely different with me.

So, what are you saying?

I don't know.

She threw a fit at school.

She pushed Brenda at the playground.

- Now you're saying that was her fault?

- I don't know. Honey, I don't know.

I wasn't there.

You were watching them.

Oh, come on. It was an accident.

Okay, let's not blame her

for anything, fine.

I'll take her word for everything.

Should I just believe what she said

about you and Joyce too?

What did she say?

- She says that you were hitting on her.

- What?

Oh, come on. She must've

misunderstood. It was, like...

Did she invite you over?

She asked me

to help her move a chair.

- She did?

- Yeah. I blew her off.

Oh, God.

Why didn't you tell me?

- l...

- We could've laughed about it.

- No, I knew how...

- You were hiding it.

Honey, I knew how you'd react.

Kate. Kate.

You can't get jealous of every woman

that I talk to, right?

- It's been like 10 years.

- What does that mean?

You say that

like it actually means something.

It's only been two years

since you told me.

You know how sorry I am. I just feel

like I've earned a little trust here.

- I gave you a second chance.

- That's not fair. That's not fair.

Let me get this straight. We can talk

about my mistakes, not yours?

I was sick! You were an a**hole

who wanted to f*** somebody else!

You put our child's life in danger.

I could've walked away months ago.

Nobody would've blamed me.

Oh, that's sharp. That's sharp. Where

did you get that from, your mother?

[ ROCK MUSIC PLAYING

OVER SPEAKERS ]

Danny. Turn that crap down, please,

I gotta work.

- Fine.

- Thank you.

[ DOORBELL RINGS ]

ESTHER:

I'll get it.

- Hello, Esther.

- What are you doing here?

May I come in?

I'm afraid I may have made a mistake.

There could be something wrong

with Esther.

What?

What? You told us that you'd never

had any trouble with her.

I didn't. But trouble does have a way

of finding her.

What kind of trouble?

Two girls get into a fight, there she is.

Someone gets caught stealing,

there she is again.

- So? Does that mean...?

- Just let her finish.

After you told me about the girl in

the playground, I called her old school.

While she was there,

there was a boy...

...who fell with scissors in his hand...

...and accidentally stabbed himself

through the jaw.

And Esther was there again.

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