Left Behind

Hello.

Hi mom!

Chloe, welcome home. You're home, right?

Yup, safe and sound.

Your brother has been bouncing off the walls.

Oh, I can't wait to see him.

So, is everything up for dad's surprise party?

Um, honey, I'm afraid your dad's not gonna be here when you get home.

What?

Why not? Mom, what happened?

He got called in to work.

Did you tell him I was coming? Yeah, honey, I did but...

They called this morning and, eh...

What is his flight?

It's London. 3:35?

Honey, don't make it hard... Tell raymie I'll be home before supper.

You must feel like you've seen it all.

You seemed to be in the middle of a new disaster every time I turned on the news.

Oh, what is the old adage? 'It's a dirty job but someone's gotta do it'.

Can I ask you a question, Mr. Williams?

Yeah, sure.

- Do you read the Bible? - Well...

I guess not as often as you do.

Well, Matthew 24:7 says there shall be famines,

pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places.

All of these things, the disasters, the wars, they are all signs.

So, god knew all these things were going to happen?

Honey, god knows everything.

So, why didn't he do something?

I mean, he is god, right? Couldn't he stop the flood if

he wanted to? Maybe, sent a little rain for the famine...

It's a fallen world. God created it perfect and we destroyed it on the first set...

Who destroyed it? Me?...

You? Him?

The lord works... In mysterious ways, I know.

But somehow, people keep believing he loves them. Now, that is mysterious.

Sorry to interrupt.

Going my way?

I enjoyed your speech.

Yeah, sorry about that... Now, don't be.

That was really good.

I'm assuming it's not your first time making it.

Well, the first time aloud. Cameron Williams.

'Buck'... my friends.

I'm... eh, Chloe Steele.

'Chloe' to my friends.

So, you're in college.

Wow, that investigative journalism. It really pays off.

I just wanted to say thank you for rescuing me from that nutty lady.

Oh, thank my mom.

She, as you would, have been rehearsing for it.

Oh, is she... pretty?

Nutty...

Actually, I was looking through the thesaurus I've

found this morning, I've decided to go with 'wacko'.

Wacko?

I like that word, 'wacko'.

Can I buy you a coffee?

No, no, I'm fine.

Come on!

What if I throw in one of those fantastic little boxes with the strawberry jam...

Oh, my god... Wow, well, that is... that's tempting.

- Yes? - Hmm hmm.

But I'm waiting for someone, and he should be here any minute.

My dad.

I flew home to surprise him for his birthday, but...

Something came up.

Well, have a safe flight...

- Hi, sweet heart! - Hi!

What are you doing here? Well, I came home to surprise you on your birthday.

Honey, I just got called in. There's no way I can get out of it now.

Yeah, that's what mom said... I wished that you would've told me you would be coming.

Oh wait... you, you're Cameron Williams, holy cow...

- So you two? - Oh, we just met.

Hi, it's a pleasure, captain. Ray.

Well, I'm gonna let you two catch up, yeah. And

eh... it was really nice to meet you, Chloe.

- You look great. - Thank you.

Let's talk somewhere.

- How was school? - It's good.

Good, yeah...

What?

You know the first thing I thought when mom told me you're not gonna be home?

It's that you left.

I mean, really left. Just packed up your bags, slammed

the doors, squealed the tyres and just drove off.

Your mom and I are fine, Chloe.

It's okay, I don't blame you.

You don't blame me for what? For running away.

But I didn't run away. You said, you thought I run away.

- Who is that girl? - What girl?

That flight attendant, beautiful, blonde one.

Flight attendant... I worked with dozens of flight attendants...

don't even know her name.

If this was a year ago, you know before mom drank with collate, you'd be home by now.

We would be all be home, like a family or something.

Chloe, I... I think you know that your mom and

I got married when we were both very young...

And the changes that a person goes through between 20 and 50 are enormous.

She's just doing what she believes is right and maybe you should cut her some slack.

Me?... how about you? You're the one on the way to London.

You are a one who has not been home since Christmas.

I have school. And I have a job.

I just feel like she's always trying to shove it down my throat.

I know... look, I know that this past year, has been something of an adjustment, but...

She is your mother, and I think it'd be good if you, no, if we both...

Could be a little more supportive.

- You missed her... - Yes, I do.

But hey, if she's gonna run off with another man, why not Jesus, huh?

Where is your ring?

It's in my car. I never wear it when I fly.

Chloe, your mom means the world to me, I'm not

going to do anything to mess it up. Okay?

And I have to go. We'll talk when I get back.

Not gonna be here when you get back.

Oh, but you'll gonna be back home again soon, right?

Here...

The car is in the usual spot, and go easy on mom. She'll come around.

I love you.

Are you okay?

Yes, yes, I'm fine.

Investigative journalist, remember?

- Right. - Yeah.

So...

I'm just a little disappointed, that's all.

It was a big deal to me. All of us together, having a good time.

Well, I'm sure you would have stayed if he could.

The Turkey... a vulture

comes up to the gate and dropped two dead rabbits onto the floor.

And the flight attendant says... "I'm sorry...

We only allowed one carrier."

I'm sorry captain, that's bad.

That is always funny.

Well, if you have anymore bad jokes, you can always come and find me.

Hey Marcus, they got that computer problems figured out?

Negative that, Pentagon, apparently, some of

the equipment on the flight deck are outdated.

Yeah, you had me flying east, in 6 hours time, I would be 9 hours older.

Do that for about 6 years and maybe you'll catch up

to me. Happy birthday buddy, have a good flight.

Thanks.

Sounds like that's all your mom talks about.

Seems like it sometimes.

Hate someone who sees earthquake on the news and

then tries to convince everyone it's a good thing.

Does that make sense to you?

The day after Tsunami, there's that one woman, Medina.

She lost three of her four children in that wave,

dragged down to the sea while she watched.

It was all she could do was to hold on to a tree with a six-week old baby in her arms.

And she was so sure that god had saved her and

the baby that she went straight to her knees.

She thanked him.

She thanked him for killing the others?

She's got the chance, that night she refused to leave

the evacuation and after all god was watching over her.

- And... - Mudslide...

Buried the whole village under 10-feet of slime.

How do people see some things 'like that', and just...

If you look hard enough, you'll see whatever it is you're looking for.

But you might have to ignore a lot of other things to do it.

One of them...

Might be the truth.

And what about you?

What did you see in that village?

I saw a lot of people who'd lost everything that ever mattered.

Did you ask why?

I know why.

Tsunami.

You know what I mean.

No, no, I didn't.

If you had to find a reason for something like that to happen, then...

Well, you might end up behind a stranger at the airport?

Oh...

- Love that laugh. - Oh, no.

What?

Oh, just thinking about Ray's joke. That guy cracks me up.

Ray? You mean captain Steele?

Only in front of other people.

Really?

So, you two are...?

No, not yet.

But, we're planning on spending some time together in London.

Really? Why didn't you tell me?

Hey, wait... Where are you going?

Ah, some details, please...

I really needed someone to talk to today.

Thank you.

I'm going to call you from London.

- Really? - Really.

I'm gonna make sure you won't forget about me, right? Right, right.

I'm sure you've got a girl at every airport. Do you call all of them?

None of them, actually.

Chloe.

Oh, hi, Jim.

I got these things for your dad.

They're for tomorrow night.

U2. Wow.

These can't be easy to get.

You're telling me. It took me two weeks to find these things.