The Sandpiper

If you didn't mean to do it, why did you?

I guess I wanted to find out what the fun was.

Fun?

My mother says that men are the only animals that kill for fun.

Danny, will you wait for me outside?

I want to have a word with your mother.

We won't be long.

Why did you take that boy out of school?

His teacher was a fool.

I taught him more in two months than he learned at school in a full term.

In the course of his studies

what have you taught him about respect for the law?

As he grows up, he'll learn that there are good laws and bad ones.

- He'll respect the good ones. - And disobey the bad ones?

At least I hope he does.

Based only on his personal judgment as an individual human being?

Now, you can't choose between right and wrong by taking a census.

You can choose by respecting the whole body of the laws

as man's best hope for justice.

Why does a young woman like you live way out there alone

in a shack on a deserted beach?

I don't live alone. I live with my son

and I live there because I love it.

I love every day I spend out there and every night.

I love the sea and the mountains and the sky and the birds and I love all of it.

Then I take it, you feel you have escaped

from the corruption and conformity of the modern world

and that your life is serene

because, like Thoreau you live in direct communion with nature.

But Thoreau didn't go to Walden Pond

with a 9-year-old boy.

What are you trying to raise? A "noble savage"?

What would you have me raise?

A slick little specialist in weather-cocksman-ship?

I beg your pardon?

Oh you know: whirling around like a weathercock

every time the wind changes.

Oh yes, of course.

I see.

Let me see. Is this the third time

that you and Danny have been brought up before me or the fourth?

- The third. - And the first was...

The little girl.

Oh yes, of course.

She was swinging.

Her skirt blew back and Danny put his hand on her thigh.

- Well? - Oh the child was frightened.

Oh come on! She was delighted.

And it was her dirty-minded mother that made the trouble.

And then there were the two horses

that Danny turned loose, and finally the deer.

Well that makes three strikes and out.

You've heard of San Simeon School haven't you?

- That religious school? - Episcopalian.

The headmaster is a friend of mine.

I'm going to ask him to enroll your son.

Oh no, you don't! He is my son. I'll be damned if...

It's either that or reform school.

Now force my hand and I'll take him away from you altogether.

I'm going to make an appointment for you with the Reverend Dr. Hewitt

and I suggest that you keep it.

It's Cos and Larry. Hi

Sweetie, what are you doing way out here?

We called by your home and there was nobody there.

- And now you see why. - Where are you going?

Oh San Simeon. Is that too far out of your way?

Out by about 10 miles.

San Simeon? Two nice people like you? What's the word?

Our English tongue has a long history

and I am pleased with your interest in its oldest and most ardent words.

I think it's sad, however, that these ancient expressions

should be degraded to a position on lavatory walls.

You will scrub the walls down, of course.

Then you will learn the equivalent words in German, French and Latin

after which you will decline each noun and conjugate each verb in all tenses

including the subjunctive.

Thank you for your attention and good day.

- Edward, do you have a minute? - Of course.

I just had another call from Ward Hendricks

and he said, since it was you who put him in charge of the Building Fund

the least you can do is make up your mind about flunking the Rogers boy.

Chapel in 15 minutes, sir.

Thank you, Tommy.

What's this got to do with Ward Hendricks?

Jack Rogers is willing to make a substantial donation to the fund

if his boy stays in school, so quite naturally

Ward wants your answer.

What would you do in my shoes?

Wear them.

Very well.

If Jack Rogers' contribution

falls within the range of $2,000

that quality of mercy which runs through my blood like a fever

whenever money is mentioned

will be strained yet once more to give the Rogers boy another chance

his third, I believe.

Dr. Hewitt

the boy Judge Thompson sent you is here with his mother.

Thompson?

Oh yes, yes. Send the mother in first.

- Her name is Reynolds. - Reynolds. Thank you.

You're Mrs. Reynolds. I'm Dr. Hewitt.

Please sit down: over there.

I am told you've brought a young man for us.

I was ordered to bring him.

Yes. Well I hope we'll be able to help him.

I want to make it quite clear that in my opinion he doesn't need any help.

Yes, I see. Judge Thompson has briefed me, of course

but I'd like a little more general background.

For example what is the chief source of your income?

I'm an artist.

I paint. Nobody buys.

Then I turn out water colors when I need grocery money.

May I ask, what are your religious affiliations?

- Of course. I am a naturalist. - What?

We believe that man is doomed by his myths

that there can be no peace on earth until man rids himself

of all belief in the supernatural.

I see. Yes, very interesting. Go on.

That's about it.

It's a very small sect.

With a membership of approximately one?

Exactly one.

With Danny as an officiate, of course

but I have no objection to your lack of religion or to your son's.

But you do have compulsory religious training here, don't you?

Well chapel is compulsory, yes but I have never yet forced a boy to pray.

It can't be done, you know?

It could be tried.

San Simeon is not a jail, Mrs. Reynolds.

Students don't come here to be punished. They come here to be educated.

Now we don't have many boys from broken homes, but...

My son is not from a broken home.

Oh. Forgive me. I was under the impression that you've been divorced.

I've never been married.

Oh I see.

That puts an entirely different light on the matter.

Abandonment by the father...

I was not abandoned by the father, Dr. Hewitt.

The father was abandoned by me.

Are you trying to shock me

Miss Reynolds?

You may call me Mrs. Reynolds if you like.

...because if you are, it's not easily done.

You asked the questions.

You're a minister. You wouldn't want me to lie to you, would you?

Neither would I want you to lie to me if I were a truck driver or a disk jockey.

I questioned you because it's my job to do so.

You send us a deeply disturbed boy...

My son is not deeply disturbed. He is not disturbed at all.

He's a healthy, normal boy because he hasn't been brainwashed yet!

and I aim to see that he stays that way.

What happened?

I am not exactly sure.

She didn't seem to have any doubts.

Apparently she thought I was behaving like a pompous idiot.

Were you?

Probably.

Look out for those rocks. Be careful, they're loose.

Joe, cross over and cut him off. If he gets to the top, we'll never catch him.

Danny, they're trying to head you off. Run, Danny. Run.

Oh God!

Lady, he's not going to jail. He's just going to school.

School!

Just 10 more minutes and we would have been gone.

It's an outrage, dragging a 9-year-old child into San Simeon under armed guard.

Well how else can you take him?

What, do you think one runaway boy

justifies setting up a police state in Monterey County?

Yeah. That's about the way it shapes up, Ed.

If you'd treated the mother a little more tactfully, it might not have happened.

Now that it has, I'm darn well going to see it through.

Do you accept the boy or don't you?

Of course I accept him

but after what's happened it's going to be difficult to prove to him

that we're not running an extermination camp out here.

I've never been too sure myself.

I've got somebody on the other wire. Goodbye, Ed.

One of your room mates is younger than you.

The other two are a little bit older.

Don't their folks like them?

What do you mean?

Sending them away like this.

Well of course they like them. They love them.

My mother wouldn't send me away.

She likes me to be with her.

So do all the parents, Danny, but...

Tell me about your mother.

How do you spend your time? What do you do together?

Oh we fish and she paints

and I hunt and get the firewood.

We swim and we play music

and she teaches my lessons

and we read poetry to each other to memorize it.

What sort of poetry?

The last was Canterbury Tales , only, we didn't get to finish it.

You were memorizing The Canterbury Tales?

Yeah, by Chaucer, you know.

A long time ago.

Whan that Aprill, with his shoures soote