The Other Sister

Bye, Carla.

Thomas Porter, get off of that.

Ah, good morning. Jason, thank you for calling the auto club.

Good morning, Dr Tate. How are you?

- Dr Johnson. - Carla's ready to go.

She's just saying goodbye to all her friends. Very popular girl.

Very popular. Louise?

Carla? Carla, your father's here.

Pumpkin!

Ohh, Carla, come on.

You know, we talked about this. Now, you're ready to go home.

Right? You're ready to go home now.

She'll be fine. She'll be okay. You're ready. You can do it.

We're all so glad you're comin'home, pumpkin.

Heather flew in from New York, and Caroline came from school.

And Mom... Boy, she's just so excited.

She just keeps saying, "You get my Carla back here fast. "

Try these. I'm sorry the headset hurt your ears, but they don't come in sizes.

- How much longer before we land? - We're ahead of schedule.

We should be landing in about 15 minutes.

- Thank you. - Teeth okay?

Yes, they're okay.

Honey, I'd like the girls to come with me to the Palace of Fine Arts this weekend...

because there's this special exhibition...

Uh-uh, Carla. Oh, Carla, dear.

Can you please try to eat it with your fork, and that would be very... Carla.

With your fork. No, no, dear.

I said with the fork, not with the knife, dear.

All right. No, no. No more cake. No. No.

- Excuse me. - Carla?

No, no, what is the matter? Oh, my gosh. Oh, Car...

- Carla, you're... Radley. Radley. - No! No! It's my cake!

Please, come on. You're supposed to handle... Please, Radley. Radley.

- Leave me alone! - Carla. Carla.

- What the hell do they know? - They are experts, and she has all the symptoms.

- She has an I. Q bordering on 2nd grade. - I know about...

- I know a few things about experts. - She has... She has significant social adjustment problems.

- And now her school... - I'm sorry. Where's my drink? - What's the matter? What?

Oh, your drink. It's right there.

And now this school, her regular school won't even take her back.

- What about that, Radley? - Ah, I need another drink.

Forget the drink, Radley!

Now listen to me. We need to talk about Carla. Do you understand?

- She is beautiful! - We have got to! - Have you looked at her?

- She is gorgeous. - She nearly burned the house down with the other two girls in it.

- Radley, we can't do this. - That... That was an accident.

- You know that was an accident. - It was not. We can't keep saying things like that.

We can't keep saying, "Carla is a slow learner. Carla will blossom. "

Because those are lies. Now, Radley, we have to do something.

We have to make a decision. This is a special school in Santa Barbara.

- All right, back up just... The school... - It is for the mentally challenged.

- Right there. - Yes, what? - Now, they don't allow adults and the parents to go visit them. They...

They have limited... limited visitation, and let me tell you something, Radley.

- If it doesn't work out, she doesn't have to be there. - I don't...

- I don't want her to be retarded. - Of course you don't.

Of course you don't. I understand completely.

We have to send her there, Radley. We don't have a choice. All right?

- Sign it. - How are you two doing here? Can I get you anything?

Can I get you anything?

Uh, no, I've got water, and, uh... Ah.

We ordered a vegetarian worm. No?

- I'll see if I can find one in coach. - I would appreciate that.

I'd like to be the first to welcome you to San Francisco International Airport.

It's currently 54 degrees in the Bay Area...

and a beautiful, clear day.

Thank you for choosing to fly with us.

She's here! She's home. Mrs Tate!

Come on.

All right. Okay. Heather! Hang up!

She's home!

That call was important...

and you yelling in the background is not exactly good for business.

- I'm sorry. - Here we are.

Ladies and gentlemen, the homecoming queen, Carla Tate.

We're all waiting for you. Come on, honey.

Bring Tickles. Come on.

Oh. Ohh, hello, Carla.

- Welcome home. G... Hello. Hello. - Here. I'll take this.

Uh, would you like some help with that, sir?

- Hi, Carla! Welcome home. - Oh, Carla, it's so good to have you home.

- Thanks. Say hello to Carla. - We missed you, Carla.

- Who's that? - Uh... Oh, well, um...

This is Jeff Reed.

And, actually, Carla, I have kind of a surprise for you because...

we're engaged to be married.

Ooh, yea!

Well, let me take your coat, dear. All right?

- No! - Oh. You sure? You don't want...

All right, fine. Just...

Dr Johnson said that it would be nice...

if I got everybody presents.

- Oh! - And I thought so too.

Well, thank you, Carla.

- It's, uh... It's necklaces. - Oh!

- And they're beautiful. - Carla!

- Say cheese! - Winnie!

- Welcome home! - I missed you! - It's so good to see you!

Sweetheart!

We were thinking that maybe we would just like to elope, you know?

- That's very funny, but not hysterical. All right? - Okay!

We're gonna have a big wedding ceremony at the church.

- And the wedding... - I know. We're gonna have the wedding reception at the club.

- You remember the club, don't you, Carla dear? - Yeah!

You know what. You could just put this in your lap. That's good. That's very nice that way.

You look very grown up. So I hear you and Jeff settled on a honeymoon spot.

Did you two do it yet?

- No. Caroline. - She's gonna spit it out. I can see it.

Sex is something that we talk about in private, I think. Am I right?

No, but my teacher at the school says...

that two people do it when they're in love.

Well, I'm sorry, but I'm sure she meant that you do it after, you know, you're married or something.

Definitely.

And then you don't talk about it ever again in your whole life.

- Winnie. - A special dessert for Carla.

- Oh, boy. - Please.

- That's nice. - So a doctorate, Jeff? That is so refreshing.

So what is your doctorate dissertation gonna be on?

Um, multi-tiered financing of petrol chemical surveys...

in an uncertain political terrain.

Translation: Finding the big bucks in tiny little countries whose names you can't pronounce.

Wow!

I mean, it's so good to hear someone's actually using their college education.

Come on. You know, I'm not teaching second grade because I happen to like children.

You know, I think that they're the hope of the world.

Of course they're the hope of the world, but, really, isn't it just as noble...

to be a college professor and earn four times the money?

- Mother! - You know what. Daddy, will you make a toast right now?

I'd gladly make a toast, yeah. To the Tate family and its good...

- I want to go to school also. - That's great.

Well, dear, you just completed school. And, in fact, I think they gave you a certificate of completion, didn't they?

I am gonna be a veterinarian's assistant.

- Wow! - And, but to do that, I need a high school diploma.

I think the best thing for right now would be just to have a nice, big, long vacation...

and we'll explore your options later.

- Okay. To the Ta... - I would like to explore my options now, Mother.

Carla, we're all just a little bit too tired for such an important conversation.

So, Radley...

To the Tate family, all of us together again.

Follow me. Hurry.

- Just follow me. - Stop it.

Stop following me.

I can't, stupid.

- Stop it! - I told you, I can't, stupid.

Stop laughing at me!

Oh, my goodness! Are you all right?

- Carla! - Yeah.

All right. Now, I want you to close your eyes. Close your eyes.

Okay, Carla. All right.

- No, stop, stop. Stop. - Yeah.

You can stop. Good girl. Open your eyes. Surprise. Do you...

What do you think? You think... Do you like it?

- You gave my room to somebody else? - No!

I redecorated it for you, dear. I just changed it a little.

- But where is my tea party table that was right here? - Who did this?

Well, Carla, those are little-girl things, and you're a young woman now.

Remember, downstairs you were talking about taking on more responsibility.

- Well, this is... - I want my things.

Carla, I really think that you should live with these things for a while...

and you'll see, I'm sure that you will grow to like them very much.

And, anyway, Dr Johnson said that, uh, that these are your favourite colours.

Uh, you like red, don't you? Where...

Carla, wh... Why are your eyes closed?

I'm remembering my old room.

Ohh! Heather?

Heather!

Bye.

I'm really sorry we didn't visit you more frequently...

but I got a job in New York, and Caroline went to college.

- So... - Yeah, but that's okay 'cause sometimes...

we thought that the visits sometimes upset the parents...

more than it made the kids happy.

Well, we're sorry, Carla.

But I liked all your letters that you wrote, Heather.

They were better than Caroline's...

'cause she mostly drew pictures.

- What? - Honey, I think you just...

She's overwhelmed by all of this.

Now, why don't you just relax? You did great, okay?

Just don't be so hard on yourself.

Radley, I'm gonna make it up to that girl.

I really am.

Winnie!

Your mother said another 15 minutes.

Did you tell her that I don't like tennis still?

She said that all well-bred girls play tennis...

chess or bridge.

Oh.

Is it 15 minutes yet?

- We'll look at that. We'll look at that right... - Hello, Mrs Tate.

- How are you? - Oh, Victoria, you look so lovely. - Thank you.

I'd like you to meet my daughter. This is Carla.

- Hello, Carla. - Hello.

Didn't your other daughter, Heather, get married?

- No, no. Actually, it's, uh, Caroline is engaged. - Oh!

But anyway, I want to see a couple of sweater sets.

- And, Carla, come on. - That's a very nice shirt, Mom.

Very beautiful feet. Nice toes.

And the sock really accentuates your feet.

You know that the, uh, the Chinese say...

that the toes are the windows to the soul?