The End of Oak Street

Why am I doing this again?

Sorry, but this is... Give me one second. Brian!

No!

You can't leave Starbuck at home.

He loves this fellow, Blufford.

He loves it too much, all right? Your dad and I both said you can't bring him.

No. Dad said it was okay.

Okay.

Starbuck? Starbuck, listen to me, all right? You can think, but you have to be

good, all right? No biting, no digging holes, and no stealing food.

Oh! See, he knows.

graduate. Oh, and my mom's going to help me get a job at McMillan.

What about you?

I can't afford it, but if I could, I'd go to Cornell.

That's where Carl Sagan teaches.

Who's Carl Sagan?

You've never heard of Carl Sagan's book?

No, is that like science fiction?

No, he's an astronomer.

He wrote that human beings are like butterflies that glow for a day and be

forever.

That's kind of depressing, isn't it?

I hope so.

Maybe.

I wanted to spend the day with you.

Oh,

I'm

sorry. I can't do the grilling. I got to go.

Why? You said you'd do it. Yeah, they need me to do some deliveries this

afternoon.

I thought you were quitting the side jobs after Chris brought you back.

Well, yeah, I did.

I want to make a few extra bucks. What's the big deal?

Well, uh... We agreed we needed a family day.

And they're leaving.

And we agreed that Starbucks should stay home. And then you told Ryan you could

bring them.

Yeah. Let the boy hang out with the dog.

Can we talk for a minute?

Mom and dad are fighting again.

Do you think they're ever going to get a... No.

No, they wouldn't do that.

Well, I'm going to keep cutting off the conversation.

Okay, we'll just enjoy the weekend and not work.

It's going to be like Brian's already acting out.

He's just being 13 years old doing that. He doesn't want to get in the problem.

Speaking of stars, NASA is still cranking a series of unusual ripples in

space. Have you told your

husband about your book?

No.

No.

I don't think he'd appreciate it. Well, that's a shame.

I love what you've written so far.

Thank you.

It's hard to describe how much this surprised me.

never have guessed that you could write something so intense well i mean it's

not really me it's already well i love some of the little details

like the fact that she always keeps a yellow suitcase pat ready to leave for

new york the minute she gets up the nerve to do it and that scene where

she's holding the suitcase in her arms and cries while she watches her children

playing in the yard is heartbreaking and beautifully written.

I'd like to read the next draft when you're finished.

You have been so generous with your time. I feel bad.

Denise, I edited my husband's work for 40 years without a lot of gratitude.

I'm more than happy to give some editorial advice to someone who cares.

I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Oh, do you have a minute?

Sure.

I want to show you something in the back yard.

Great. Yeah.

What do you think it is?

I don't know.

I can get a botany book from the library and maybe we can figure it out.

I just don't know how it could have grown so fast.

I'm certain it wasn't here a couple days ago.

If we just went in two days?

Well, isn't that if somebody translated it as a joke?

I don't know how funny that is.

Want me to pull it up for you?

Shut your general mind.

Let me get some of that flask, bro. Who's this?

Being greedy.

Have you talked to Paris yet?

No.

Might you be a little bit worried about it?

A little bit.

Maybe they just, like, won't find out about it. Of course they will.

Charles Tucker's older brother's gonna beat the hell out of you.

The folksy kids are, Brian. Of course he's not going to forget.

Well, then actually... Bullshit!

You threw a stick into the spokes of the stars. What do you think would happen?

I thought he'd go flung off his butt like Superman.

Oh, he did.

Way up into the air. Yeah, you're lucky he's not dead.

I mean, when his brother sees you, he's going to kill you. And I mean kill you.

Bug on my bone, everyone. What good is that going to do?

But now... Hey, hey.

Hey, girl.

That's the new girl, right?

Oh, get down.

Wow, she's pretty.

I heard she goes to some kind of private school.

She doesn't look rich.

It must be rich to go to private school. She's got to be, like, Catholic or

something.

I'm thinking of becoming Catholic.

What a pretty lady.

Your dog got in my yard again last night. Oh, sorry.

Oh, you're sorry. Okay, well, I woke up hearing the damn thing barking. He would

not shut up. Do you know I barely slept last night?

Brian said there's some raccoons in the trees back there. He's trying to fuck

with your time. I don't care why he's doing it. Okay, he's now dug a hole

under my fence.

He has shit all over my yard. I am just so sick of it.

Well, I'll make sure that he is on a leash until we get the whole film, okay?

Fine.

Fine, but you know what?

If that dog comes in my yard one more time, I'm going to shoot it.

Listen, Mel, my husband is too kind to say this, but if you so much as point a

gun in the direction of my dog, I'll burn your damn house down.

You got us a pizza for dinner?

Great. Sorry.

Well, there's plenty to eat.

Why don't you take this thing off?

It should be easier to leave it on all the time. Yeah, it embarrasses your

mother. Oh.

You're going to stop with the cigarettes, right?

Don't smoke.

Don't lie to me, Brian.

I'm not. I can smell it on you.

What's with you anyway?

I said, don't try to press somebody. No.

Crap, that's the reason your grandpa got his vocal cords cut out. You don't want

cancer, do you?

I don't know.

Stupid thing in the garage where your mother can't hear.

What was that?

I'm not really getting into a problem.

He caught the dog today.

Wait, what?

Do you remember when he pooped in the bath?

That was a little poop. No, no it wasn't. No, she's right. It was a lot of

poop. Okay.

The boy's all wet.

Oh.

Good boy.

Did

anybody

else see that weird light in the background last night?

What weird light?

I don't know where it came from, but Starbucks was all freaked out and

barking. Oh, great, that's funny.

And how did it look like?

Well, there was a light coming through the window.

It was really bright, it flickered, and then the wind was blowing all crazy, and

then it was gone.

So then what? Some helicopter?

Or a UFO.

Alien. Shut up, Dad. How long was your barking for?

Long enough to wake me up.

Hey, Mel, what's going on? Nothing good.

Kid pulled off one hell of a prank last night.

What happened? He didn't do anything.

Oh, you got to see him.

It's going to take me all day to clean up. Hey, Mel, what are you talking

about? Come on.

Come take a look, Greg.

All right.

Holy shit. Yes.

Yes, that is exactly what that is. That is about a couple hundred pounds of cow

manure.

Do you think my kids did this?

Either them or your wife.

Oh, come on now, Mel. Really?

I knew it. I knew they did this. Damn it. Stop laughing. I knew it. They just

think it's funny.

I promise you, my family had nothing to do with it. Greg, please. Okay?

If it wasn't them that you worked at this, huh?

You're the only neighbor I'm having trouble with. I have no idea.

But if you need help cleaning it up, then I'll be here.

And Brian can help too.

What?

I was wondering if you could help me out with something.

Oh, yeah. What do you need?

Mrs. Huddleston found this plant in her backyard and we're trying to figure out

what it is.

Now, I looked through all of these books, but I can't find anything like

it. Do you have any idea what it's made?

Funny, it looks a lot like plurimia.

Uh, what's that?

It can't be plurimia, because that species has been extinct for over 200

million years.

200 million years?

Yeah.

Awesome. I thought I was going to get a kick out of that.

I'm sorry. I couldn't help you more.

Thanks.

I mean, the houses are pretty cool. I got some items for you.

I'm like, it's all black. I need a new one.

Yeah, this one's like red.

I think maybe I should get it too.