Pride Page #5

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-Talk to me.

And they thought the same thing.

They thought that because they were white

they were better than you.

And you know what?

They were.

-They proved it today.

-I thought so.

Yeah, but they cheated.

You saw him kick me, Coach!

You know who I think cheated,

Mr. Williamson?

You did.

You all cheated.

Because here you had a golden opportunity

to do something special,

but you pissed the whole thing away

'cause you wouldn't take it seriously.

-Say, man, what's happening?

-Nothing, man.

Right on, man.

But let me show you what's happening.

You see your rec right there?

In a couple of months, it's gonna be gone.

You know why, Mr. Carter?

Because the people it was built for

don't care about it.

This is your house.

And I tell you something,

my life is way too short

for me to spend my time around people

who don't care about nothing.

So you see your little

basketball court there with no hoop?

Go play life with no hoop.

Laugh it up, man. It's a joke.

He just playing.

-It's funny, ain't it, man?

-Yeah.

-Right on, man.

-Right on.

Give me some of that, man.

Sue. Sue.

-Elston, what you doing here?

-Hold on one minute.

Need to talk to you about something.

-Well, can it wait? I'm late for a meeting.

-No.

Sue, we had our first meet yesterday.

-I'm telling you.

-Yeah, I met your coach.

He got his work cut out for him, girl.

You came all the way down here

to tell me that?

No.

Chocolate-covered cherries.

-What do you want, Elston?

-Please take it, please.

Sue, I need you to pull some strings.

We need all the publicity we can get.

Sue, that's the only way

we gonna be able to keep that center open.

-Elston...

-Look, I'm telling you.

And by the way, your little brother, Hakim,

girl, he's turned

into one hell of a swimmer.

Hakim isn't supposed to be swimming.

Hakim is supposed to be in school.

And he's doing that too.

Get on it.

Get on it.

On it!

Okay.

Listen to your biceps.

Listen to your biceps.

I wanna see those ears

right against the biceps.

There we go.

See your goal, do an alley oop.

Dive in, right under the ball.

Everything tight, arms as close as you can.

And you slice through that water.

Reach for it with everything you've got,

like it's your last bit of life.

Go.

Get to that wall

like you're right within reach of it.

You can't be scared of him.

You got the whole other side.

Look at that water,

that's your world, you own that.

The race ain't over

till you ain't got nothing left.

It ain't about being tired,

it's about being strong.

When your legs get tired,

let your heart do the rest.

Come on, Mr. Davis, bring it up,

you the anchor.

You see, when you're training,

resistance is your friend.

But when you're trying to race,

it's called drag.

If you cannot see your face in the mirror,

your head is too low.

You can go faster, Mr. Taylor.

All you gotta do is kick your legs.

Hey, Elston,

don't you think they can go faster?

They're too busy admiring themselves

in the mirror, Coach.

You know, I still haven't found an anchor

for my relay yet.

-You think we got one here?

-They all anchors.

And they gonna sink us right to the bottom.

You see, coming together

is just the start of it.

Yo, yo! Hey, Coach! We got a special guest.

Staying together, winning together,

that's success.

Nice of you to join us, Mr. Williamson.

Come on back.

Everybody come back.

For every minute you're late, that's 10 laps.

-Hey, Elston, you got a slide rule on you?

-Mine don't count that high.

Yeah, you know, I majored in Mathematics

and that's 100 laps.

That's 2,500 yards you gotta do.

-I ain't doing no 100 laps.

-I know you're not.

-They gonna swim it for you.

-What?

You gonna sit there in that chair

and let them do your work for you

since you don't know how to show up

when you're supposed to.

We gonna start off with 2,500 yards.

That's four sets of 500.

The last 500

is gonna be broken up into two 50s.

The first 500 is breaststroke.

Second 500 is gonna be freestyle.

Third 500, I wanna see backstroke.

Fourth 500, I wanna see a butterfly.

You either work as a team

or you're nothing at all.

You're your own worst enemy.

You got so much potential.

But you ain't gonna do none of it because

you won't get out of your own way.

Have a seat, son.

Okay, let's go.

I believe in them so much.

There's so much they can do.

Hey, dig, Coach.

Let them stop or I quit.

If that's what you wanna do, then go.

It's your choice,

but your team is doing your work for you.

And remember, if you walk out,

you are walking out on your life.

You don't wanna leave,

and I don't want you to leave.

Hey. Hey, little man.

Little man.

Time to pay up, little man.

I figure that radio I stole from that guy

must have cost a good 50 bucks.

I've no money.

You think I want ice, waterman?

Hop in the car.

Hey, hey, wait up!

Hey, Reg. What's going on?

Your boy's got a job to do for me

to pay off his debt.

Reggie, man, look,

you don't need to do this.

-You don't have to, man.

-The boy's gotta do a delivery for us.

I gotta do this or he won't ever

leave me alone, you know that.

Time is money. Get in the car.

I gotta do this.

I gotta do this. I got it. I got it.

I got it, okay?

I got it.

Frank, let me do this for him.

It's me you want, not him.

That's looks like a real nutritious dinner

right there, Miss Carter.

Well, I've got protein in the eggs,

calcium in the cream frosting,

not to mention fruit

in the fruit topping, yeah.

Mind if I join you?

Please.

Thank you.

Ma'am, can I get a piece of cake, too?

So, how's things in the big City Hall?

You win some, you lose some.

I bet.

So, I understand Hakim is swimming again.

I assumed that

he had your permission earlier.

No, he didn't.

But it's a good thing

'cause he's back in school.

-Mr. Ellis, I just...

-Come on, Sue, we're having cake together.

It's Jim.

Hakim is not much of a student.

Yeah, I just think he's waiting

for something to catch his attention.

That's all. Thank you, ma'am.

Guess I just don't know

how to get through to him. I try.

Don't know how?

You've gotten through to him.

He's back in school, right?

And he hates it.

But he's doing it

because he wants to make you happy.

Yeah.

How's the cake?

Good.

So, Hakim's a good swimmer, huh?

Yeah, like a little tadpole.

-Well, Jim, I will make a deal with you.

-Proceed.

If Hakim stays in school,

he stays in the pool.

So that means we can keep

the rec open, right?

You said deal.

-You...

-I like the deal.

Excuse me.

Mr. Jones, get out of the car.

Come on.

Hey, baby boy,

why you so bent out of shape?

-Now!

-Coach, I can handle this.

I said they're with me, baby boy, chill.

Why you doing this?

Man, get on home.

Don't you ever come around my kids again.

N*gger, who the hell

do you think you talking to?

You don't understand, do you?

These are my kids.

They will always be my kids.

Welcome to Franklin-town, n*gger.

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