The Sweet Hereafter

Mitchell Stephens:
I did not have to go as far as I was prepared to go, but I was prepared to go all the way.

Nicole:
No matter what I'm asked I'lltell the truth.

Mitchell Stephens:
It's not going to be easy Nicole.

Nicole:
I won't lie.

Mason:
Nicole, did the Pied Piper take the children away because he was mad that the town didn't pay him?

Nicole:
That's right.

Mason:
Well, if he knew magic, if he could get the kids into the mountain, why couldn't he use his magic pipe to make the people pay him for getting rid of the rats?

Nicole:
Because... he wanted them to be punished.

Mason:
So he was mean?

Nicole:
No, not mean, just... very angry.

Mitchell Stephens:
Well, enough rage and helplessness and your love turns to something else.

Alison:
What... does it turn to?

Mitchell Stephens:
It turns to steaming piss.

Mitchell Stephens:
I can help you.

Billy Ansell:
Not unless you can raise the dead.

Mary:
(Speaking of a new computer, a gift) From Mr. Stephens... That was him on the phone just now. He was calling to see how you were.

Nicole:
Who's Mr. Stephens?

Sam:
Uh, he's a lawyer. He's our lawyer.

Nicole:
You and Mom have a lawyer?

Sam:
Well, yes. He's your lawyer, too.

Nicole:
My lawyer. Why do I need a lawyer?

Mary:
Well maybe we shouldn't be talking about this just now, with you barely home. Aren't you hungry, honey? You want me to fix you something?

Nicole:
No. What's this lawyer business?

Billy Ansell:
Mitchell Stephens, Esquire. Tell me, would you be likely to sue me if I was to beat you right now? I mean, beat you so bad you piss blood and couldn't walk for a month. Because that's what I'm about to do.

Mitchell Stephens:
No, Mr. Ansel. I wouldn't sue you.

Billy Ansell:
You leave us alone, Stephens. You leave the people of this town alone.

[phone ringing]

Mitchell Stephens:
That's my daughter. Or it may be the police to tell me they've found her dead. She's a drug addict.

Billy Ansell:
Why are you telling me this?

Mitchell Stephens:
Why am I telling you this, Mr. Ansel? Because we've all lost our children. They're dead to us.

Mitchell Stephens:
Tell me your news, Zoe.

Zoe:
Okay. Yesterday I went to sell my blood. I'm in this f***ing city, and I'm selling my blood.

Mitchell Stephens:
That's not news, Zoe.

Zoe:
No, but this is. They wouldn't take my blood. Do you know what that means, Daddy? Does it register? I tested positive.

Zoe:
Welcome to hard times, Daddy.

Mitchell Stephens:
What do you want me to do, Zoe? I'll do whatever you want.

Zoe:
I need money.

Mitchell Stephens:
What for?

Zoe:
No, you CANNOT ask me that. YNot anymore. You asked me what I wanted, not what I wanted it for. I want money.

Mitchell Stephens:
Do you have a blood test?

Zoe:
You don't believe me? You don't F***ING believe me?... I like it when you don't believe me. It's better that you don't believe me, but have to act like you do.

Sam:
Nicole, tomorrow Mr. Stephens wants you to make your deposition at the community center. Thought I'd take you over.

Nicole:
Great.

Sam:
You seem, uh, I don't know. Distant, I guess. Hard to talk to.

Nicole:
We didn't used to have to talk a lot, did we Daddy?

Sam:
What do you mean?

Nicole:
I mean, I'm a wheelchair girl now. And it's hard to pretend that I'm a beautiful rock star. Remember, Daddy? That beautiful stage that you were gonna build for me. You were gonna light it with nothing but candles.

Nicole:
As you see her, two years later, I wonder if you realize something. I wonder if you understand that all of us - Dolores, me, the children who survived, the children who didn't - that we're all citizens of a different town now. A place with its own special rules and its own special laws. A town of people living in the sweet hereafter.

Dolores:
I remember wrenching the steering wheel to the right and slapping my foot against the brake petal. I wasn't the driver anymore. The bus was like this huge wave about to break over us. Bear Otto, the Lambston kids, the Hamiltons, the Prescotts, the teenaged boys and girls from Bartlett Hill Road, Pete, Suzy, Laura, Rick, Sean Walker, Nicole Burnell, Billy Ansel's twins, Jessica and Mason... all the children of my town. [begins sobbing]

Mitchell Stephens:
Then what happened?

Mitchell Stephens:
[speaking of his estranged daughter's feeling for him and her mother when she was a child] She loved us both equally then... Just as she hates us both equally now.

Mitchell Stephens:
Something's happening that's taking our children away.

Mitchell Stephens:
You'd make a good poker player, kid.