The Best of Me Page #3

- You're coming home with us.

- No, I'm not.

I ain't gonna tell you again,

boy.

I have had it with you, Dawson!

You're all puffed up,

you're thinking that you're special.

Well, let me ask you something?

Do you really believe that that girl

is gonna have anything to do with

a white trash piece of sh*t like you?

No. Come on.

Get your stuff, put it

in the truck and let's go.

You touch him again,

the next one will kill you.

Now, I've come here for my boy

and I ain't leaving without him, so...

I guess you're gonna

have to shoot me.

All right.

That windshield is gonna

cost you about $1,000.

And those floods run about

$500 each.

Do you want me to keep going?

Go on now.

This is nice.

What you've done here.

Your wife plant these?

Get in the truck, Ted.

If I stay, they'll come back.

ljust shot up a $17,000

pick-up truck.

About broke my heart to do it.

They'll be back

whether you're here or not.

Not safe for you to sleep out here

anymore. I'll fix you a place inside.

Well, come on.

Dawson...

- What are you doing?

- I had to see you.

- Well, come in.

- That's not a good idea.

- I need to talk to you.

- OK.

- Wait, what are you doing?

- I mean, if you're not gonna come in.

- My parents think y0u're dangerous.

- They're right.

Sooner or later, I'm gonna have

to pay for what happened today

and I can't have you standing

next to me when I do, OK?

- I can't have you getting hurt.

- I'm not gonna get hurt.

You hang around with me

long enough and you will.

I don't care! I don't care!

I mean, Dawson, do you want this?

Do you want me?

I do.

I do.

All right.

- Just give me one second.

- Sure thing.

You work here?

No, sir. Just picking up

some stuff for my uncles.

You look a lot like

an old friend of mine.

- People tell me I look like my dad.

- Yeah'?

Bobby Cole'?

You knew him'?

Goddamn it, Aaron. How many

times I gotta tell you that you...

Well, as I live and breathe.

The Prodigal Son returns.

You might wanna stay away from

that sh*t. Good talking to you.

It's been a longtime,

Dawson!

About 2O years?

Thank you.

Thank you.

- You know who that is, Aaron?

- That's Dawson Cole.

I thought maybe you'd

need a hand.

Hey. I thought you might

want this.

You can take it.

Ijust didn't want to pack things away

if you might want to keep 'em.

Ifs OK. I don't want much.

I'll make my own box.

OK.

- What? What is it'?

- Nothing.

Is there something you

want to say?

N0.

I guess I just want to know

if you're happy.

You want facts?

I... went to Tulane, as planned.

Got pregnant sophomore year,

not planned.

Got married, moved to Baton Rouge.

Bought a house.

Had another baby. Did some volunteer

work. Bought a bigger house.

Law school?

I didn't finish college.

I had so many plans

and I don't know what happened.

Life?

I guess. Anyway.

Am I happy?

Being a mother makes me happy.

Look what I found.

Oh, wow.

Iforgot he had this.

She's a real beauty.

Thanks.

S0 if you're not going to college,

then why do you study so much?

Oh, wait, I know why.

Because you are going to college.

You'll definitely get in.

You'll probably get a scholarship.

- Grab the stuff from the back, please?

- I got it.

All right, these are

applications.

- I know what they are. I've seen them.

- All right. Well, get started on them.

- There's a problem.

- Already? You haven't even started yet.

They want a home address.

You live with Tuck.

Why don't you ask him?

- No, don't ask Tuck, please.

- Why?

He's private. He won't like you snooping

around and stuff... Amanda!

- OK!

- Amanda.

- Tuck?

- In here.

- Oh, hi.

- Hi.

Wow, you look handsome.

Here, I got you these.

They're chocolate covered pralines.

I hope you like them.

- Can I ask you a couple questions?

- OK.

- Do you have an onion'?

- I do.

Good. 'Cause we forgot one.

Second thing, we were just going over

Dawson's college applications

and we were wondering, can we use

your address as his home address?

- Thafll be fine.

- Great.

Lefs get cooking.

- Maybe you should set the table.

- Maybe I should set the table.

Wow, those are beautiful.

Yeah, they came in real good this year.

It was a wet spring.

- These are my wife's favorite.

- Oh, yeah?

How long were y'all married?

We're still married.

We're just on different schedules.

She had a stroke

four years ago this May.

L'm sorry.

There's still times that

l'll step outside there at night

and have a little chat

with Clara.

Ain't that foolish'?

All I'm saying is when two cars

break down on consecutive days,

that bring two people together

that fall in love, that's destiny.

Destiny? No, Destiny is the name

the fortunate give to their fortunes.

What is that supposed to mean?

That means that people

never call bad things destiny.

You are absolutely impossible.

Why can't you just agree

with anything that I have

to say, Dawson? Why?

- Tuck, please help me out here.

- Come on, Tuck.

- What'?

- What do you think?

I never did believe

in any of that stuff.

But I will tell you one

thing now.

Uh, back in the war,

I was in the Navy,

l'm sewing aboard a destroyer.

And at the Leyte Gulf, we...

we took a Jap torpedo.

Blew me right off the deck.

Broke my back.

There I am bobbing around in

the water like a fishing cork,

all hell breaking loose

all around me and l...

I started singing.

This old Irving Berlin song.

Whafl/ I do with just a photograph

to tell my troubles to?

WhatW I do? Whafll I d0?

Whafll I d0?

Well, after a few verses of this,

this calm just, poof,

came over me and I knew right

then I was gonna be all right.

That I was gonna go home,

that I was gonna...

Iwas gonna hold my wife again.

Well, a few years pass by, we built

that little cottage at Vandemere and...

...l walked outside one day and Clara

was out there in the garden singing...

Whafll I d0?

Now, she saw the look on my face

and so I told her the story.

And then she told me hers.

It seems like right about that

same time, she'd had a dream.

A dream where I was

singing to her.

And you care to take a guess

at the name of the song?

Come on. Get out of here, Tuck.

Well, now, I don't know exactly

what you'd call that, but

whatever you call it,

it got rne home.

"Whafll I Do?")

Would you dance with me'?

- You can dance'?

- No.

But I figured you'd make me

learn sooner or later.

I guess you have a good point.

- Now, don't step on my feet.

- I'll try not to.

Hey, look at me.

Dawson?

L'd like to talk to you.

Four years after Jared was born,

Frank and I had another child.

A wonderful little girl.

She was so full of joy.

Tuck loved her.

"She shines with her own light,"

he said.

He was right about that.

She was diagnosed with leukemia a few

weeks after that picture was taken.

She'd just turned two.

And I remember that day.

You know, it was just a day.

And you want so much

to go back tojust a

not-so-special day like that,

you know.

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