Party of Five1994

Joe Mangus:
Bailey, your father was an alcoholic... just like you. Belive me, I was there. I've known him all my life. He was sober for 18 years before he died. But for many years before that, years...

Bailey Salinger:
Bull! That's a load of crap! I don't believe you! I thought that you couldn't get any lower then what they did. Lying about Owen. Saying he was hurt to get me to come over here, but you... you son of a b*tch!

Joe Mangus:
Come on, Bailey.

Bailey Salinger:
What do you think? You think that just because he's dead you can say anything you want about him?

Joe Mangus:
He'd want you to know if he were alive right now. He'd want me to tell you.

Bailey Salinger:
My father was not an alcoholic! I am NOT an alcoholic! Get out of here, Joe. Get the hell out of here! I don't need to listen to this!

[to Charlie]

Bailey Salinger:
Have you heard this load of crap? Have you? Or, hey this was probally your genius idea, right? Let's get Joe to say that Dad... Nick Salinger, was a drunk and then maybe...

Charlie Salinger:
Joe... is that true?

Julia Salinger:
[as Joe nods] I don't believe it.

Bailey Salinger:
You see?

Charlie Salinger:
He didn't... I would have known.

Joe Mangus:
You were just a little kid when he quit, Charlie. You were only six when he stopped drinking for good. You were probably too young to recognize the signs.

Charlie Salinger:
What signs?

Joe Mangus:
As far back as you can remember to when you were six, do you remember him coming home from the restaurant late every night, and I would always be with him when he walked in the front door?

Julia Salinger:
That doesn't mean... look, he had a business to run.

Charlie Salinger:
He liked hanging out with you and the guys late after work, shooting the bull...

Joe Mangus:
And drinking... a lot.

Julia Salinger:
No.

Joe Mangus:
Honey, I was the one who had to drive him home night after night from the restaurant because he was so drunk that he couldn't drive himself. That's why I was always with him when he came home. Remember, Charlie?

Julia Salinger:
[to Charlie] Did he?

Charlie Salinger:
[in denial] I don't know. I don't remember.

Joe Mangus:
Come on. I think you do. Don't you remember the fights and arguments he had with your mother afterwords? The shouting behind closed doors? It was very bad for a long time. If he hadn't gotten the help he needed when he did, he might not have lived to...

Julia Salinger:
But I never saw him drunk or take a drink in my life. Not once. Not even a bottle of beer or a glass of wine.

Joe Mangus:
That's right. And why do you think? Not a drop, not an ounce, nothing. He owned a restaurant. Hell, he owned a bar. Why never a sip? Because he knew he couldn't... ever. That's what it's like to be an alcoholic.