The House Without a Christmas Tree1972

Addie Mills:
...Why won't you buy me a tree, Dad? I'll settle for a small one.

Jamie Mills:
I've already told you no, and no means no!

Addie Mills:
What's this all about, money? Because you spend more on cigarettes in a year than one tree costs. I added it up myself!

Jamie Mills:
ADDIE! Will you stop pestering me and go to bed!

Addie Mills:
Just tell me it looks like Christmas in here. Or feels like it!

Jamie Mills:
How would you like me to take a belt to you?

Addie Mills:
How would you like me to beg?

Jamie Mills:
...Right, anything's better than that. If you can drink a glass full of water, I'll let you have a tree this year. But you only get one try, and if you blow it, you can't bring the issue up ever again. Deal?

Addie Mills:
Deal! [She fills a glass with water and downs the whole thing. James smiles triumphantly]

Jamie Mills:
You blew it, kid.

Addie Mills:
What are you talking about? It was full and I drank it...

Jamie Mills:
No, the deal was that you had to *drink* it full. You drank it *empty*. [Flustered, Addie runs from the room in tears]

Grandma Mills:
James, that was cruel.

Jamie Mills:
Oh, can't you take a joke? Where's that infamous sense of humor I grew up with?

Grandma Mills:
I never played a joke like that on any of my friends. What a thing to do to a child, over something she wants so badly!

Jamie Mills:
She has to learn. In this life, you can't have everything you want.

Grandma Mills:
James, let her have a tree this year. Why not? It's such a little thing to make her happy. If you give it a chance, you might enjoy it yourself.

Jamie Mills:
You're at least two hundred percent wrong about that.

Grandma Mills:
You've let your whole life turn sour. You've no right to sour Addie's life as well.

Jamie Mills:
I'm exercising my right as her father.

Grandma Mills:
Oh, you just don't want anything around to remind you. Well, Addie's around. If you can't look at her without being reminded...

Jamie Mills:
I don't have to listen to this! [He gets up and storms out of the room]

Grandma Mills:
[calling after him] For two cents, I'd buy her a tree myself!

Jamie Mills:
[returns to room] Don't you dare, Mother! She's *my* daughter, and *I'll* decide what she can and can't have! [slams the door]