You Can Count on Me

And it's right down the road, straight down...

And the great-- And there's great sandwiches

and great sourdough bread.

And they have great soups as well, and if you have enough room--

Why do they always put braces on teenage girls at the exact moment

they're most self-conscious about their appearance?

I don't know.

- Tom. - I see him.

- Tom! - Jesus!

Tom!

Hello, Amy.

Hi, Darryl.

Amy, can you tell the kids you'll be right back,

and, uh, shut the door and step outside and talk to us for a minute?

Okay.

I'll be right back, you guys.

- You're not supposed to go out, Amy. - She's going to smoke a cigarette.

Rudy, come on, I'm really late! Come on.

- How was school? - Stupid.

Why do you say that?

We're supposed to write a story for English homework,

but they didn't tell us what it's supposed to be about.

Well, what do you mean?

I mean, they didn't tell us what it's supposed to be about.

- They said do whatever you want. - Oh, well, what's wrong with that?

I don't know. I just think it's unstructured.

Well, I'm sure you'll think of something. If you can't, I'll help you.

- Okay. Here. Don't forget your backpack. - It's not a backpack. It's a knapsack.

Well, then, don't forget the knapsack. Hey. Give me a hug.

Okay.

- Guess who's been asking for you. - Oh, no. Really?

- Is that his car? - Oh, yeah.

- Yeah, come in. - Mr. Everett.

- Oh, yeah. Brian. - Brian, hi.

I'm Samantha Ann Prescott. I'm the lending officer.

- Yeah, hi. Hi. - Hi.

How are you? Have a seat.

- I am so sorry I was late. - Yeah, we missed you before.

I got held up. But believe me, it's nothing I make a habit of.

Oh, I'm sure it's not.

Would you get that door for me, please?

- Thanks. - Sure.

So I always run out at 3:15 to meet him

and then run him real quick over to the sitter's house.

Anyway, Larry never seemed to mind about it, so I was...

hoping you'd feel the same way about it too.

Well, Samantha, I realize that Scottsville is not exactly a major banking center.

- No, it's not. - No, I know it's not.

But it's kind of a personal challenge for me

to see what we can do to bring local service

up to the kind of standards that we would be trying to meet

if we were the biggest branch in the state.

Now, that means

I don't really want anybody running out at 3:15 or 3:30

or whenever the bus happens to come in that day.

So is there anybody else who can pick your son up after school?

- Does your husband work in the area? - Uh, no.

Rudy Sr. isn't on the scene, so to speak.

Well, I can give you a few days to make some other arrangement, but--

Well, Brian, I understand what you're saying and I think it's great. I do.

Because a lot of things here could use attention, believe me.

But I've been meeting this bus every day for three years now.

It really does-- It just takes 15 minutes.

And if I take the time out of my lunch hour--

Well, I'd prefer if you made some other arrangement, okay?

I'll do my best.

So how old's your son?

Uh, he's 8.

Ah. That's a terrific age.

Got a letter from Uncle Terry.

What?

- What room is he gonna stay in? - Well, he can stay in the living room.

And you know what? He's not gonna live here.

He's only coming to stay here for a little while.

And it's okay if you don't remember him

because you were only 6 the last time he was here.

But, um, I think it's, uh--

It'll be nice if you guys have a chance to get to know each other.

Don't you think?

Hey, Rudy, would it distract you if I put on some music?

No.

Did you think of a story?

- What's it about? - My father.

What about--? What about your father?

Well, it's just a made-up story about him.

- Can I read it when you're done? - It's not very good.

Don't say that.

Anyway, Bob, it's kind of this adventure story.

Rudy's father is a secret agent or something,

working for the government.

And it made me feel kind of weird, you know,

because I never say much to him about Rudy Sr.,

because I don't know what to say.

And I don't know if I should just let him

imagine what he wants to imagine, or if I should sit him down sometime

and, you know, tell him that his father's not such a nice person.

Well, I don't know, Sammy. What have you told him already?

Not much. Uh...

He knows...

He knows I don't have the highest opinion of him,

and he knows that I don't want to see him...

and I don't want to know anything about him,

and I don't want to have anything to do with him ever.

But I've tried to keep it kind of neutral.

Anyway, I could go into a lot more detail--

No, it's an interesting problem. I don't know what to tell you.

It's, um, you know, a little outside my personal field of, uh, expertise.

- All right. - I'd be glad to give it some thought.

Okay.

- What? - No, nothing. I'm just glad to see you.

I'm glad you called me.

Bet you were surprised.

Yeah, a little.

- I should get going. - Really?

- Uh, yeah, I have the babysitter. - Oh.

But thanks for a lovely evening.

Oh, thank you.

- Hey. - Hey, Terry.

- Where'd you get that hat? - I got it on the street for a dollar.

It's nice.

Well, you know, it's pretty much your standard woolen hat.

I had a very similar reaction to it.

Um...

- Can I get that money from you? - Oh, yeah. Sorry.

- Is that all you have? - Yeah.

Can you borrow some more from your brother?

- Well, that would involve speaking to him. - Well, I'm definitely gonna be gone

- for a couple of days, Sheila. I mean-- - Why do you have to stay for so long?

Because my sister is not a bank, okay?

- You seem to think my brother's a bank. - Can we just cut the puerile crap?

I'll be back as soon as I can, okay? I am not the kind of guy everyone says I am.

I know you're not.

Okay. Uh...

I'll call you tonight.

- Don't you wanna tell me that you love me? - I love you.

That was really convincing.

Well, I think after this is over,

you should seriously consider moving back home.

Yeah.

- All right. - So you'll call me tonight?

Definitely, yeah.

Hello? Terry!

- Whoa. - Terry.

- That's me. - Terry Prescott.

- That's right. - Well, give me a cuddle.

How you doing? Good to see you, man.

- You too. How you doing, Darryl? - Where you been?

- I've been all over the place. - Which way you headed?

- I'm going up to see Sammy at the square. - Can I walk with you a bit?

- So she said you'd been to Alaska? - Oh, yeah, yeah.

Oh, how you doing, Mr. Parker? Good to see you. Yeah, take care.

What were you doing? You working up there?

- Yeah, yeah. - Sammy says she was getting postcards

from all across the country.

- Oh, yeah. I've been all over, man. - Pretty cool.

- It's good to have you back here. - Oh, thanks, Darryl.

- Good to see you, Terry. - Keep enforcing the peace.

A little harder now you're here, but I'll do what I can.

- No, man, I'm reformed. - Oh, yeah.

- Hey, I'll see you around. - All right.

- Don't be a stranger, all right? - You too. Take care.

- Sorry about yesterday. - I don't care.

I was studying the bus description and I got on the wrong bus.

- I mean, I missed my stop. - I don't care, Terry.

- I'm so glad to see you. - I'm glad to see you too, Sammy.

Um, so you're coming from work?

Uh, no, it's Saturday.

Yeah. No, it's just you're dressed so formally.

Oh. No. You know, I thought I'd--

Yeah. You know, I thought it was a special occasion, which it is.

Oh, it's good. No, it's good. I thought I'd get dressed up too.

- It's okay. You look fine. - Yeah.

This is the haute cuisine of garments.

- What? - Nothing, nothing.

So how are you?

I'm fine, Terry.

So, um, how's Rudy?

We're fine, Terry.

How are you?

Uh, yeah.

Where have you been lately, Terry?

- Uh, no, I haven't been-- - I got a postcard from you from Alaska.

Yeah, yeah. I was out there for a little while.

- That was in the fall, Terry. - Yeah. I know I've been out of touch.

- I was a little worried. - I've been to a lot of different places.

I was down in Florida for a little while.

I was doing some work in Orlando.

Man, I've been all over the place.

Well, I wish you had just let me know you were okay.

Yeah, I didn't realize it had been so long.

You staying in town for a while?

Well, I don't know.

Uh, I got all these things I got to do back in Worcester.

Oh.

So I'm probably not gonna be able to stay for more than a day or so.

Oh.

I mean, I'm trying to keep to a schedule of sorts.

Oh. That's-- I just-- That's all right.

It's a very worthy story, but I won't trouble you with it right now.

Are you expecting someone?