Stir of Echoes: The Homecoming

Vehicle approaching.

Echo one. You got him?

Yes, sir, roger. Got him.

Sir, he is not going down.

Son of a bitch.

Fire a warning shot.

Echo one, wake up.

Goddamn it, wake up. Fire a warning shot.

Shut up! Shut up! I can't hear him talking.

Quit fucking around. Ping his radiator.

Get his tires!

Fuck!

Fire now!

Hold your fire!

Goddamn it, cease fire!

It's a kid.

Sir, I have the shot.

- Stand down. - Sir, she could be wired, sir!

Stand down!

Run!

Run!

Egry!

CL2, get out!

Kablinsky!

She's still alive.

I've got her, sir.

Go, go!

Clear!

Shut the fuck up!

Sir, he's just saying...

I don't give a fuck what he's saying!

Where was the warning shot?

Sir, I was in there, sir. It was the radio.

- We heard every tenth word, sir. - It's a goddamn family!

Your fault! Your fault! I am not to blame!

Kablinsky, how's she doing?

I got her stabilized.

Good job.

RPG! RPG!

There, there, up above!

- Where? - One right above!

Ahh!

Move it, move it!

Captain.

Cogan. Don't move. I'll get a nurse.

Kablinsky?

Kablinsky didn't make it.

How long have I been out?

About two weeks.

Shit.

It's good to have you back.

You hang on.

Sir...

I...

I should have held my fire.

There were kids inside.

Driver ignored the signs.

Warning shots, everything.

Besides, it was the hajis.

Their tank, their kill.

My command.

I trained them.

Stop beating yourself up.

You believed they were hostile.

Our rules are pretty clear on that.

You relax.

I'll get a doctor.

You all right?

What's wrong?

I just dozed off.

It's good to be home.

Yay!

Oh, God, I've only asked them to change that 500 times.

Max? Max, we're home.

Max!

Molly?

Molly?

Molly?

- Surprise! - Surprise!

Your face!

Oh, son of a bitch.

- Oh, sweetie! - Hey, dad.

I knew there was a reason he wasn't at the airport.

- Lookin' for this? - Max.

- I missed you like hell. - Me, too.

Hey, Mr. Cogan.

Hey there, Sammi. How you doin'?

- Good. - It's good to see you.

Yeah.

I'm, uh... I'm sorry about your dad.

- I just heard. - Yeah. Thanks. Thanks so much.

- Luke! - Welcome back, Mr. C.

What are you benching these days?

Like 250?

Still drinking this shit?

Hey. I cannot believe you let the trailer trash in here.

Trailer trash!

Nothing's changed!

Welcome back.

- Good to see you. - You, too.

Did you see my mom?

No.

Though Jackie from upstairs,

she said she already heard him talking about more layoffs.

He's not going to get fired.

He's in The National Guard. Isn't there a law?

Well, sorry, honey, but that don't cut it

when it comes to corporate restructuring. You know?

These guys are champing at the bit

to replace us with a bunch of Pakis

that work for, like, 50 cents and hour,

donate half of that to Al-Qaeda.

Did he just call me honey?

Isn't it past your bedtime, you guys?

My bad, my bad. All right?

Oh, speaking of which... heh heh...

You guys hear the one about the terrorist

who hijacks a 747 full of Pakis? OK?

He says he's gonna release one every hour

until his demands get met?

I got one. There's this Iraqi kid,

and he gets a baseball cap from a G.I.,

and he puts it on, and he goes to show his mom.

"Mommy, Mommy, look! I'm an American."

She slaps him upside the head and says,

"Go show that to your father."

Yeah, this is a good one.

- Yeah. - Max, don't.

So he goes to his dad and he says,

"Daddy, daddy, look! I'm an American."

And his dad clocks him right in the mouth

real hard and says,

"So now how do you like being an American?"

And this kid looks up at him with tears in his eyes and says,

"I've been an American for, like, ten minutes,

and already I hate you goddamn towelheads."

Max! That's not nice. No!

It's frickin' hysterical.

Where'd you pick up that kind of language?

Oh, Dad, you emailed me that joke.

You see me laughing?

Oh, come on!

Yeah, come on, Teddy, it's not like you've never

told a Nig... an African-American joke

before in your life, right?

Why don't you stay the fuck out of it?

- Whoa, Ted. - OK, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Wait a minute here. That's it.

Teddy's first night, it's getting late,

so let's just... Let's call it a night.

Smarten up.

I got it the first time.

What did you say to me?

Max, why don't you take Sammi home?

Give me that.

OK! Good night, kids.

- Thank you. - Yeah.

Welcome back, partner.

- Murray. - Thanks, Moll.

Want a lift?

No.

Come on.

Since when do you smoke?

I...

They're mine.

Sammi, you're a nice kid,

but you're a terrible liar.

Leave her alone. They're mine.

Give them up.

- I'm not gonna... - You're not gonna what?

Max, please take Sam home now.

Come on.

- Let's go to bed. - Did you know about this?

Once. I caught him once. He said he'd stop.

Well, that was effective.

You know what, Teddy? I'm really glad you're back

so you can whip us all into shape.

Maybe I can stop working double shifts

and go back to being a better mother and housewife

like God meant me to.

Good night.

Ted?

Ted?

You OK?

What happened?

I thought I s... saw something.

I know. I know.

I can't do anything about it. I can't.

What can you do? What can I do?

- I don't know. - Morning.

Everything OK?

It's fine.

Hi, Mr. Cogan. Sorry.

Is, uh, there anything I can help with?

- Dad! - Oh, no. It's just my mom. She's...

With you coming back and Daddy...

she's not doing so good.

I'm sorry. I could go by and, uh...

- Oh, could you? - I don't think that's a good...

- That'd be great. - Sure.