The Pursuit of Happyness Page #4

No.

Come on, Linda.

Why you...?

Why you doing that?

No. I wanna take him

to the park.

To Golden Gate...

after daycare tomorrow.

How is he?

He's fine.

All right, just... All right,

take him to the park... and...

And... bring him back,

all right?

All right, just...

bring... Bring me my son back.

Okay?

Linda?

I'll bring him back around 6.

All right. All right.

Uh... thank you.

Um...

All right.

Bye.

I'm okay?

Excuse me. Excuse me.

Yes, I did.

Mr. Gardner.

This way.

It'll be right this way.

What is the word on that one?

Chris Gardner.

Chris Gardner.

How are you?

Good morning.

Chris Gardner.

Chris Gardner.

Good to see you again.

Chris Gardner.

Pleasure.

I've been sitting there

for the last half hour

trying to come up with a story

that would explain

my being here dressed...

like this.

And... And I wanted

to come up with a story

that would

demonstrate qualities

that I'm sure

you all admire here,

like... Like earnestness

or diligence.

And team-playing.

Something.

And I couldn't think...

of anything.

So the truth is...

I was arrested for failure

to pay parking tickets.

Parking tickets?

What?

And I ran all the way here

from the... The Polk Station,

the police station.

What were you doing

before you were arrested?

I was, uh...

painting my apartment.

Is it dry now?

Uh. I hope so.

Jay says you're

pretty determined.

Oh, he's been waiting outside

the front of the building

with some 40-pound gizmo

for over a month.

He said you're smart.

Well, I like to think so.

And you want to

learn this business?

Yes, sir, I wanna

learn this business.

Have you already started

learning on your own?

Absolutely.

Jay?

Yes, sir.

How many times

have you seen Chris?

Yeah, I don't know.

One too many, apparently.

Was he ever dressed like this?

No. No. Jacket and tie.

First in your class in school?

High school?

Yes, sir.

How many in the class?

Uh, 12.

It was a small town.

I'll say.

But I was also first

in my radar class in...

In the Navy,

and that was a class of 20.

Can I say something?

Uh... Um... I'm

the type of person...

if you ask me a question,

and I don't know the answer,

I'm gonna tell you

that I don't know.

But I bet you what.

I know how to find the answer.

And I will find the answer.

Is that fair enough?

Chris.

What would you say

if a guy walked in

for an interview

without a shirt on...

and I hired him?

What would you say?

He must've had on

some really nice pants.

Chris...

I don't know how you did it

dressed as a garbage man,

but you really pulled it off.

Thank you very much,

Mr. Twistle.

Hey, now you can call me Jay.

We'll talk to you soon.

All right, so I'll

let you know, Jay.

You'll... "You'll let me know,

Jay"? What do you mean?

Yeah. I'll give you a call

tomorrow sometime...

What are you talking...?

You hounded me for this.

You stood here...

Listen. There's no salary.

No.

I was not aware of that.

My circumstances

have changed some,

and I need to be certain

that I'll be...

All right. Okay.

Tonight.

I swear, I will fill

your spot. I promise.

If you back out, you know what

I'll look like to the partners?

Yes. An ass...

A-hole.

Yeah, an ass A-hole,

all the way.

You are a piece of work.

Tonight.

There was no salary.

Not even a reasonable

promise of a job.

One intern was hired

at the end of the program

from a pool of 20.

And if you weren't that guy,

you couldn't even apply

the six months' training

to another brokerage.

Only resource

I would have for six months

would be my six scanners...

which I could

still try to sell.

If I sold them all...

maybe we might get by.

I got him.

I got him.

He's asleep.

All right.

Okay, baby.

I got it.

I'm going to New York.

Uh.

My sister's boyfriend...

opened a restaurant,

and they may have

a job for me there, so...

I'm going to New York, Chris.

Christopher's staying with me.

I'm his mom. You know?

He should be with his mom.

I should have him, right?

You know you can't

take care of him.

What are you gonna do

for money?

I had an...

interview at Dean Witter

for... For an internship.

And I got it.

So I'm gonna stand out

in my program.

Salesman to intern's backwards.

No, it's not.

I gotta go.

Tell him I love him, okay?

And...

I know you'll take care

of him, Chris.

I know that.

Dean Witter.

Yes, hi.

Um...

Yes, uh, I'd like to leave

a message for...

For Mr. Jay Twistle.

Your name?

Uh... Yeah, my name

is Chris Gardner.

Uh... Uh, the message is:

Thank you very much for...

For inviting me

into the program.

Uh, I really appreciate it,

and...

I'd be very pleased

to accept your invitation.

Is that all?

Yes, that's...

That's it.

Okay.

Thank you.

Bye.

Be careful with that.

What?

Be care... Go ahead.

Are we there?

Yep.

Hey. You know

what today is?

Yeah.

What?

Saturday.

You know what

Saturday is, right?

Yeah.

What?

Basketball.

You wanna go play

some basketball?

Okay.

All right. Then we're gonna

go sell a bone density scanner.

How about that?

Wanna do that?

No.

Hey, Dad, I'm going pro.

Oh.

I'm going pro.

Oh-ho!

Okay.

Yeah. I don't know,

you know.

Uh... you'll probably be

about as good as I was.

That's kind of the way

it works, you know.

And I... I was

below average.

You know, so...

Whoa.

So you'll probably

ultimately rank...

somewhere around there,

you know, so...

I really...

You'll excel at

a lot of things,

just not this.

So I don't want you out here

shooting this ball around

all day and night, all right?

All right.

Okay.

All right, go ahead.

Hey.

Don't ever let

somebody tell you...

you can't do something.

Not even me.

All right?

All right.

You got a dream...

you gotta protect it.

People can't do something

themselves,

they wanna tell you

you can't do it.

If you want something,

go get it.

Period.

Let's go.

Dad. Why did we move

to a motel?

I told you. Because I'm...

I'm getting a better job.

You gotta trust me, all right?

I trust you.

All right, here. Come on,

come on. Come on. Keep up.

Dad, when's Mom coming back?

Dad. When's Mom

coming back?

I don't know, Christopher.

Dad, listen to this.

One day, a man was

drowning in the water.

And a boat came by and said,

"Do you need any help?"

He said, "No, thank you.

God will save me."

Then another boat came by.

Said, "Do you need any help?"

And he said, "No, thank you.

God will save me."

Then he drowned,

and he went to heaven.

And he said, "God,

why didn't you save me?"

And God said, "I sent you

two big boats, you dummy."

Do you like it?

Yeah, that's very funny, man.

Give me your hand.

Oh. Thank you very much, sir.

Yes, sir.

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