Little Children

Mary Ann:
[the mothers are discussing Ronnie] He should just be castrated. Just snip, quick and easily.

Sarah Pierce:
[sarcastically] You know what else you should do? Nail his penis above the entrance of the elementary school. That'd really teach him a lesson.

Brad Adamson:
You have a nice place.

Sarah Pierce:
You think? Richard, does pretty well for himself.

Brad Adamson:
Oh, yeah? What's he do?

Sarah Pierce:
He lies.

[Brad and Sarah are having sex]

Brad Adamson:
Do you feel bad?

Sarah Pierce:
No, I don't.

Brad Adamson:
I do. I feel really bad.

May McGorvey:
There are four columns of lovely women in here, and only one of four men. The odds are on our side. Now why wouldn't any of these women want to meet a nice person like you?

Ronald James McGorvey:
I'm not a nice person.

May McGorvey:
You're a miracle, Ronnie. We're all miracles. Know why? Because as humans, every day we go about our business, and all that time we know... we all know... that the things we love, at any time now can be all be taken away. We live knowing that and we keep going anyway. Animals don't do that.

May McGorvey:
[helping Ronnie getting ready for his date] There, you look handsome. She won't be disappointed.

Ronald James McGorvey:
Yeah, wait till she hears about my criminal record.

Sarah Pierce:
I think I understand your feelings about this book. I used to have some problems with it, myself. When I read it in grad school, Madam Bovary just seemed like a fool. She marries the wrong man; makes one foolish mistake after another; but when I read it this time, I just fell in love with her. She's trapped! She has a choice: She can either accept a life a misery or she can struggle against it. And she chooses to struggle.

Mary Ann:
[sarcastically] Some struggle. Hop into bed with every guy who says hello.

Sarah Pierce:
She fails in the end, but there's something beautiful and even heroic about her rebellion. My professors would kill me for even thinking this, but in her own strange way, Emma Bovary is a feminist

Mary Ann:
Oh, that's nice. So now cheating on your husband makes you a feminist?

Sarah Pierce:
No, no, it's not the cheating. It's the hunger. The hunger for an alternative, and the refusal to accept a life of unhappiness.

Mary Ann:
Maybe I didn't understand the book!

Sarah Pierce:
Do you need nelp?

Ronald James McGorvey:
She's gone.

Sarah Pierce:
Who's gone?

Ronald James McGorvey:
Mommy's gone.

Sarah Pierce:
I'm sorry.

Ronald James McGorvey:
Mommy died.

Brad Adamson:
Go ahead and ask.

Sarah Pierce:
What?

Brad Adamson:
You know, what the person who wears the pants in the family does for a living.

Sarah Pierce:
You know what they call you?

Brad Adamson:
What?

Sarah Pierce:
The prom king.

Brad Adamson:
Oh God, really?

Sarah Pierce:
Yeah, they mean it as a compliment. You're a big character in their fantasy lives.

Aaron Adamson:
Why you hugging that lady?

Brad Adamson:
Well, that's what I'm trying to show you with Bozo. Sometimes it's a game that adults play to show that they're friends. You say, "Hi, I'm your friend."

Narrator:
Aaron was skeptical.

May McGorvey:
There are four whole columns of lonely women here, and only a handful of men. The odds are on our side. Why wouldn't one of these women want to meet a nice person like you?

Ronald James McGorvey:
I'm not a nice person.

May McGorvey:
You did a bad thing. But that doesn't mean you're a bad person.

Ronald James McGorvey:
I have a psychosexual disorder.

May McGorvey:
You're better now. They wouldn't have let you out if you weren't.

Ronald James McGorvey:
They let me out because they had to.

May McGorvey:
Well, maybe if you found a girlfriend closer to your own age you wouldn't have the bad urges so often.

Ronald James McGorvey:
I don't want a girlfriend my own age, Mommy. I wish I did.

May McGorvey:
What are you going to do when I'm gone? Who's going to take care of you?

Ronald James McGorvey:
What's the matter, Mommy? Are you sick or something?

May McGorvey:
I'm an old woman. I'm not going to live forever. Who's going to cook for you? Who's going to wash the dishes?

Ronald James McGorvey:
I can wash the dishes.

May McGorvey:
You've never washed a dish in your life.

Ronald James McGorvey:
I could do it if I had to. I'm not a retard.

Sarah Pierce:
You're nervous, aren't you?

Brad Adamson:
What? What do you mean?

Sarah Pierce:
The game. Don't worry. You'll be great tonight.

Brad Adamson:
I don't know. I haven't played in 10 years. It used to be my whole life. Then when I stopped, I just... stopped. I didn't even miss it. Now that I'm playing again, I... feel, I-- I don't know.

Sarah Pierce:
You feel alive.

Brad Adamson:
Yeah.

Sarah Pierce:
That's good. That's how you're supposed to feel.

Narrator:
Sexual tension is an elusive thing, but Kathy had pretty good radar for it.

It was like someone had turned a knob a hair to the right, and the radio station clicked in so loud and clear it almost knocked her over.

Once she became aware of the connection between them, it seemed impossible that she'd missed it before.

On a hunch, Kathy dropped her fork in the hopes that

while retrieving it, she would catch Sarah and Brad playing footsie.

But she was mistaken.

Narrator:
Smiling politely to mask a familiar feeling of desperation Sarah reminded herself to think like an anthropologist. She was a researcher studying the behavior of typical suburban women.

Narrator:
Sarah didn't really know why they even bothered coming here, except that she'd probably go crazy trapped in the house all day with this unknowable little person.

Narrator:
The jester's cap was something that truly disturbed Brad. All day long the boy ate, played and napped in it. But the moment his mother stepped in the house he had no more use for it. As if the entire day up to that point had been a pointless and somewhat useless charade.

Narrator:
Sarah was shocked by how Brad delivered this confession, with no apparent sense of being in the least bit embarrassed by his failure. Most men weren't like this. Her husband Richard certainly wasn't. She wondered if Brad was always this forthcoming. If anything, he seemed a little lonely, all too ready to open his heart at the slightest sign of interest, like a lot of young mothers she knew.

Narrator:
It was then while watching Brad kneel down at his son's feet that Sarah found herself gripped by an unexpected pang of sadness. "Don't go," she thought. "Don't leave me here with the others."

Narrator:
Brad showered quickly, sensing a rare opportunity to have sex with his wife.

Narrator:
Lately Slutty Kay had become a problem. He thought about her far too often, and spent hours studying the thousands of photographs available to him. Some of Kay's practices struck him as bizarre, even off-putting. She had a thing about kitchen utensils, spatulas, and dressing up like a little girl and playing with balloons. But who was Richard to judge?

Narrator:
In his wildest dreams Larry would never have imagined he'd once again be in this position, where precious minutes count. Tonight he could save a life. He knew Ronnie had done some bad things in the past, but so had Larry. You couldn't change the past. But the future could be a different story. And it had to start somewhere.