The Glass Castle

REX:
Rich city folk live

in fancy apartments,

but their air's so polluted,

they can't even see the stars.

We'd have to be out of our minds

to trade places with any of 'em.

(TRAFFIC NOISES)

JEANNETTE:
...and I have four

sources saying that it is.

TIFFANY:
And what did he say?

He said, "Jeannette Walls,

"you are nothing but

a bottom-feeder

"with a silly little

gossip column.

"If you print this story,

"I will have my lawyers

crawl so far up your ass

"that you will taste their

ink in your mouth."

Oh, my gosh! What did you say?

I thanked him for the

perfect kicker quote

and hung up the phone.

(LAUGHS)

The whole office gave

her a standing ovation.

And you ran it?

Oh, heck, yeah, I ran it.

Where I come from,

you never miss an opportunity

to serve a bully

a slice of humble pie.

(ALL LAUGH)

Could you box this up for me?

And maybe yours, too, if

you're not gonna eat it?

Yeah. (CHUCKLES)

She's just kidding.

No, I'm not. I never

joke about food.

(CLEARS THROAT) So, where

are you from, Miss Walls?

I think I detect a slight

twang in there somewhere.

Jeannette grew up in

Virginia surrounded by trees

and fields of wild flowers.

If we could all be so lucky.

Mmm. I own a mining

company near Richmond.

Your folks still there?

Ah, yep, they are. They have

a little house there on a

hill overlooking a river

and they love it, yeah.

And what do they do?

My mom is an artist.

My dad, um, is an engineer.

He's developing a

technology that'll burn

low-grade bituminous

coal more efficiently.

Wow. (CHUCKLES)

You have him give me a call

when he has that figured out.

I sure will.

And what do they think of you

hitching up with

this big city boy?

Well, I haven't told them yet.

Well, Tiffany still hasn't

told her parents about me,

and we've been

together over a year.

(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)

Well, you better hurry up.

Who knows how much

time he's got left?

(ALL LAUGH)

That was unbelievable.

I can't believe he gave you

the account on the spot.

I know. This is

huge for the firm.

I'm taking you with me to

all of these from now on.

I'm gonna be home soon.

I just wanna have

everything ready for him

to sign in the morning.

All right.

Hey, when it comes to my family,

let me do the lying. Okay?

You got it.

Hey, don't forget

your leftovers.

See you at home. Love you. Bye.

(CLATTERING)

(HORN HONKING)

You in a hurry?

DRIVER:
Come on, man!

(HORN HONKS)

You need to get out

of the street.

Hey!

(LINE RINGING)

LORI:
Hello? Hey, Lori.

Hey, Jeannette. What's goin' on?

(SIGHS)

I just saw Mom and Dad diggin'

through the trash downtown.

(LORI CHUCKLES)

Did Mom find any new treasures?

I didn't stop.

What? Why not?

I don't know.

Are you okay?

Jeannette...

(CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYING)

Mom, are we gonna

have any lunch?

Go outside and play

with Brian and Lori.

But I'm hungry.

(SIGHS)

Would you rather me

make you some food

that'll be gone in an hour,

or finish this painting

that'll last forever?

Go on. You know how to do it.

How many do you want, Mom?

ROSE MARY:
Two, please!

(JEANNETTE SCREAMS)

(CONTINUES SCREAMING)

Rex!

Jeannette,

can you tell Miss Kelly

why you were cooking hot

dogs all by yourself?

I cook all the time.

You know, the address

that your parents gave us

doesn't seem to be right.

Where do you live?

All over. Dad says our

home goes wherever we go.

MISS KELLY:
And where

do you go to school?

(PEOPLE HOWLING)

That's how gray wolves

call for their family.

(HOWLING CONTINUES)

(HOWLS)

REX:
Mountain Goat,

where the hell are you?

I'm in here!

(ALL HOWLING)

Oh, sorry, Doc, just

havin' a little fun

gettin' those healing

endorphins goin'.

Mr. Walls, I'm Doctor Taylor.

No offense, you got a lot

of sick on that hand.

(CHUCKLES) Uh, this

here is Miss Kelly.

She's our resident

social worker.

These guys treatin' you okay?

There's so much food here.

You can eat as much as you want.

Maybe I should break my arm.

Me, too.

What happened here?

He fell off the couch

and cracked his head

open on the floor.

He's fine.

There was blood everywhere.

You should check him in.

One kid in the hospital

at a time is enough.

Besides, Brian's

head is so hard,

I think the floor took

more damage than he did.

(ALL CHUCKLE)

Mr. Walls, I don't find

any of this very funny.

Any of what, Doc?

These children need proper care,

and you're making a joke of it.

ROSE MARY:
Rex...

JEANNETTE:
Dad!

A veteran of the U.S. Air Force

brings his little girl

in here so you can wrap

her in a Band-Aid

and hand him a bill

for more than a pilot

makes in a year.

Now, my family won't

eat for three months

so that you can

drive a Cadillac.

You're part of a system

that is gettin' rich

off of the human need

to survive, Doc.

You call that "proper care"?

Mr. Walls, can we have

a moment, please?

Dad's in trouble, Mountain Goat.

We'll be back.

ROSE MARY:
Come on,

kids, time to go.

Okay.

In order to pull this off,

every fiber in your being

has got to believe

that this is real.

If you can convince yourself,

then you can convince them, too.

You got it?

Good. Let's see that poker face.

Regular face. Poker.

Regular. Poker.

Regular. Poker. Regular. Poker.

Incredible. Let's go.

(ELEVATOR BELL DINGS)

(INDISTINC ANNOUNCEMENTS OVER PA)

(SCREAMING)

(CONTINUES SCREAMING)

Mornin', Sunshine. You

ready to skedaddle?

(CHUCKLES)

Ready to go! Brian, wrap it up!

Bye!

REX:
I've been lookin' into

this new Solarban glass.

It lets in the light, but

blocks the radiation.

It will drastically reduce

our energy demands.

Is it still gonna have glass

walls and a glass ceiling?

Of course! How else we gonna

see the stars at night?

You think my room can have

glass stairs goin' up to it?

That's a great idea. Uh,

baby, take the wheel.

Structurally, we

could make that work

if it was a spiral

with a steel stringer.

That way all the weight

pushes in toward the middle.

Just don't let it block

any light to my studio.

I need full exposure.

Oh, I like full exposure

from you, dear.

(ROSE MARY CHUCKLES)

You really think we'll build it?

Of course.

When?

You know, this running

around is only temporary.

We just need the

perfect location,

and then we can get to

work on our castle.

Okay, now who needs a book?

BRIAN:
Me!

Me!

(CHUCKLING) You can drive.

Here's a new Zane

Grey adventure.

And, oh, look...

You'll love this one, Jeannette.

Black Beauty.

It's like Uncle Tom's

Cabin but for horses.

JEANNETTE:
Doctor Taylor said

stayin' home and reading

books on our own

isn't a well-rounded education.

Mmm. Really?

He said we should be

goin' to a real school.

A real school, huh?

(TIRES SQUEAL) (REX WHOOPS)

(ALL SCREAMING EXCITEDLY)

LORI:
He's gonna kill us!

Everyone out!

Come on!

Look at this!

All those Juniper

and Joshua trees

have adapted to survive

on only five inches

of rainfall a year.

That inselberg was formed

from cooling magma

over a hundred

million years ago.

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