Touched by an Angel

Oh, Tess.

I'll never get tired of seeing the sunrise.

Neither do I, baby.

It's always good

to get up with the sun.

It's a wonder more people don't get up to see the dawn.

It's not the sunrise he's up for.

Some people can't stand the silence of the night.

The night-time has its own special beauty.

Not for him.

James Mackey.

He just gets up with the sun to start running again.

He looks like quite an athlete.

Well, he is a good runner.

But that's not the kind of running I'm talking about.

Did you ever hear the story

about the man who was afraid of the lions?

Well, he was so scared,

he ran, and he ran, and he ran,

and he kept looking behind him to see

if a lion was catching up to him.

And he looked over his shoulder so much

he didn't see where he was going,

and one day, guess what he ran smack dab into?

A lion.

Oh, yes, sir. He's a terrific kid.

A letter from you sure would

shake the walls down.

Oh, yes, sir.

Your name is still real good around these parts.

I'll call you from the car later then.

Hello.

I'm here to see Sheriff Mackey.

Jim!

The college boards are coming up

so we have to know pretty soon, sir.

Right.

Well, thank you. I appreciate that, sir.

Thank you.

All right. All right!

What did he say?

I want you to call Matt's school

and have them fax a copy of his grades over

to Congressman Atwater right away. He's going to do it?

He likes what he sees,

he's going to write the letter of recommendation to Annapolis.

I'm on it.

I'm so proud of that boy,

I don't know what to do.

Oh, Jim,

this is...

Hello. I'm Monica.

Hello, Monica.

What brings you to Tapford?

I'm doing a story for the Globe.

Reporter down from the capital, huh?

We have them for breakfast, don't we, Vicky?

Well, don't hold it against me.

I'm just a freelancer.

What can I do for you?

I'm doing a profile on local heroes.

Oh?

Well, you were given the Governor's Medal of Valor.

Well, that was three years ago.

Why do you want to do an article on that now?

Well, this is just a follow-up story,

a "where are they now" sort of thing.

I'll tell you where he is.

He's on cloud nine.

His kid's going to get into Annapolis.

That would make a great angle.

Father and son, yesterday's hero, tomorrow's hero?

Yeah, but that just seems like old news to me.

Not the way I'm going to write it.

You go on, let Monica ride with you.

Please. I won't be any trouble.

All right.

I can't fight off both of you.

I'll get my hat.

So when my wife died,

something about big city life didn't work anymore.

I took Matthew,

packed a few things and moved to Tapford.

It certainly is a wonderful place

to bring up a boy.

Hi, Sheriff.

Sure is.

We got fishing down at the lake,

meadows for track runs, great local schools.

Pretty much everything

we need is right here on Main Street.

It's lovely.

Mm-hmm.

Is that the bank that earned you

your medal?

Yeah, that's it.

Tell me, Sheriff Mackey, what's it like to be a hero?

My partner, Nick Hansen, died in that holdup.

I know.

This kid was cleaning the bank out.

He had everybody on the floor ready to execute half the town.

He had one woman by the throat with a pistol to her head.

Nick and I went in together.

The kid shot Nick.

And you shot the boy?

He couldn't have been more than 19.

Next thing I know, they're pinning a medal on me.

Calling me a hero.

It's not your fault that your partner died.

You risked your life to save him

and think of all the others that you saved.

Yeah...

Yeah.

What the...?

Be right back, Monica.

Come on, man.

Pass it back out.

Dad.

I'm driving down the street thinking my son's

in the library, and what do I see?

He's spending the last few hours of his study time

out here in a damn basketball game.

Listen, dad, I was just... I was taking a break.

No, there are no breaks, Matthew.

The boards are tomorrow.

You got that? Tomorrow.

You're fresh out of time.

There are no breaks.

Jim, Jim. He has studied enough.

If anybody is ready for the boards, it's Matthew.

Mike, I know you're a good man and you mean well,

but you stay out of my business.

Jim, I'm sorry, but I've got to say it,

you are too hard on your son.

Are you telling me how to raise my boy? No...

You telling me what's best for my son?

No, I just think you...

Don't think.

They don't pay you to do that.

They pay you to coach, so you stick

to what you do best

and leave my son to me, huh?

Excuse me for interrupting,

but I think there's been

a wee bit of a misunderstanding.

You see, the sheriff here was given some very exciting news

about his son today.

Hello, Matthew.

And in his eagerness to share it,

I think he got a little worked up.

I was out of line, Mike. I apologize.

It's all right, Jim.

Good. So now are you going

to tell Matthew the news?

Congressman Atwater came through for us.

You got the recommendation, Matthew.

That's great, Dad.

What, no jumping up and down?

No whooping and hollering?

Matthew, we're talking Annapolis here, the Naval Academy.

That's top of the line, son.

Boy, I'm so proud of you I could bust.

Now, look, you gather up your stuff

and get on back to the library.

I'm sorry for the trouble.

You boys get on back to your game.

Man, your dad's hard-core.

I guess if they tell you you're a hero,

you can get away with anything.

Shut up, man.

He knows what he's doing.

You know, I try to keep a lid on my temper,

but hell, when it comes to Matthew,

there's nothing that makes my blood boil more

than some joker trying to tell me

what's right for my son.

He seems like a very special boy.

Yeah.

A shrine to the son,

so little about the father.

Well, the son's a lot more interesting

than the old man ever was.

Excellence in track, football, math, English.

You're right, he is quite a boy.

You know, people like Mike on the basketball court,

they say I'm too hard on him.

But I know what hard is, and I know what discipline is.

The two of them are interchangeable.

If you want your son to be successful,

you've got to give him discipline.

The only way to do that is to be hard.

So discipline is Sheriff Mackey's secret weapon

for success, huh?

Well, look at me.

I'm up every morning by 4:00, jogging on the road by 5:00,

in at work by 6:00.

Efficient but exhausting.

When do you sleep?

Sleep? I don't believe in sleep.

Sleep is eight wasted hours of hot-air ballooning.