Don't interrupt him in the middle of a sentence.
Am I supposed to raise my hand?
- Get me my shoes. Those sandals. - No, these.
I'm not wearing those. They're too sexy.
You're late. You owe him.
- I owe him? Who are you? - Go.
No stupid jokes! He's not that kind of person.
Thank you very much. Where's the phone? I got to call for a cab.
If I take a bus, I'll be another hour late.
- Stop yapping. - I've got to call for a cab.
Oh, my God!
Oh, my God. You're just about...
You're the greatest son in the world!
Okay, you have to go. Here, here.
Go, go.
- Lock both doors! - I will.
- I love you! - Love you too, Mom.
I respect you!
They kept me late at work...
...and then I got on the bus to go home and change, which was stupid.
I'm sorry, but I was all the way...
You're right on time.
I'm sorry.
I was living in Vegas. One night I was walking down the street.
Minding my own. Wasn't doing nothing to nobody.
I was just on my way to church.
Out of nowhere these five Bloods just peeled out of a truck.
And one of them, man, was real black.
Man, I start swinging one by one like, "Nigger, take that!"
Like Ali on them bitches. I was like...
"What's up, nigger, what's up?"
All five of them got up and started chasing me, man.
"We going to kill you, Crip."
I was like, "You can 't catch me, Blood."
Then, man, all of a sudden, out of nowhere...
...that's when I ran into this old lady.
That's who you want to know about.
Shit!
Hey, you in trouble?
- What? - Get in.
Get in?
Come on, get in.
Shit!
What are we doing?
Whatever we want.
Damn!
You think I'm going for your dried-up crusty ass? Whatever.
Shoot. I smell better than you do.
Yeah, all right.
All right, so what? What you want?
Don't matter...
...because you ain't going to do it.
You damn right about that. Shit.
Hey, not in my car.
Shit, not in my car.
Oh, my bad. My bad.
This is your pad? You don't want me to jack up your pretty curtains.
Son of a bitch.
I paid it forward for a hophead son of a bitch.
You paid it what? I didn't hear that.
I ain't going to tell you because your ass ain't good enough to touch it.
Oh, my ass ain't good enough, huh?
Now you gonna tell me.
You gonna tell me.
An old bat living in her car in Las Vegas tells you about pay it forward?
She ain't want to, but I wouldn't stop until she let it out.
What I really want to know is why?
Why did you pay it forward?
Because don't nobody tell me what I can and can't touch.
You're not supposed to date for a year.
They're not dates.
Seven dinners. What are they?
- It's a couple of adults sitting down. - Does he pay?
- He pays for everything. - Did anybody ask you?
- He doesn't know many people. - He likes her.
- So? - He fixed your TV remote.
- That's an engagement ring. - And he doesn't drink.
Don't you got to pee? Look.
- I need a smoke. - Yeah. Over there.
- So has he kissed you? - No, no, no, no.
Does he want to?
Sometimes I think he does.
He can't really want to or he would've.
Do you want him to?
I don't know.
It's just taking forever.
You ever gotten to know somebody before you went to bed with him?
- Is that bad? - It's pathetic.
Well, good night.
Do you want to come in?
And stay?
Come in.
Trevor's inside the house.
Well, he sleeps like the dead.
I don't want to make it any harder for you.
You're supposed to wait a year. Isn't that what Bonnie said?
Okay.
I can't.
I'm sorry.
No. I don't mean I can't.
It's just...
What?
This is complicated.
I get it. It's okay to say you don't like me that way.
Is that what you think it is?
It's okay.
How could you ever think that?
What?
What is it?
- And you're doing this because? - I need more links.
You're spending $300 to find an old lady...
...so you can sell a story for $300.
It's a news magazine feature. It's not something you wipe your ass with.
You have a lovely way of expressing yourself.
Do me a favor. Don't change the locks on me, okay?
Chris? What are you hoping this'll be?
You know, something that clears a check.
Are you sure that's all?
I drank the last of the coffee. Please put it on the list.
Bye.
Who's there?
- Do you look down on me? - What?
- Do you look down on me? - No.
I don't talk like you. I haven't read the stuff you read.
That's not pertinent, and you know it.
Don't talk to me like that!
I'm sorry, but that's the way I talk. Words are all I have.
Why?
Why, because you think you look like shit?
I don't care about your burns, if that's what they are.
- Is that what they are? - Yes.
Okay, well, whatever happened to you, you look good to me.
Well, you look good to me too.
Okay, so?
So I've never been here before.
Okay, so you're scared. I'm scared too.
Listen, bad things have happened to me, okay?
I can't take my shirt off with a guy without five beers...
...but I want that with you.
More than I'm scared, I want that.
You don't see me.
My life...
My life is familiar. My life is...
It's manageable.
It's manageable. Every day.
I have a thing I do every day.
It's all I've ever known.
And it's a routine and as long as I have that...
...as long as I have that, I'm okay.
If I don't have it, I'm lost.
So is that all you want? Your goddamn manageable day?
- It's what I have. - It isn't.
- Is it what you want? - Yes!
I don't believe you.
Okay. That's the best I got.
- It's not about you. - Yes, it is!
Something's been offered to you here and you don't want it.
Maybe you're scared to get rejected.
I can't reject you. You're too quick for me.
You didn't call me a fag, did you?
Look what I found.
Give me that! That's my asthma spray!
- Shut up! - Stop it!
- Stay still! - Stop! Help me!
- Hold still! - Stop!
Hey, McKinney.
Come here.
Let's hang out.
Help me, please.
Screw it. Come on.
Let me go! Let me go!
You cut my class.
It's been four days.
What's been four days?
Why haven't you called my mother? It's been four days.
I don't know.
Neither does she.
Hey, what's the matter?
Pay it forward didn't work.
I couldn't even do it.
I was gonna help Adam.
Help Adam do what?
Not get beat up.
But I crapped out and I let him.
I let him get beat.
No. you didn't. You didn't let him get beat.
It happened.
Sometimes there's nothing we can do.
- It's not fair. - I know...
No. You don't know.
You should call my mother.
You could do something if you wanted.
- Why are you chicken? - I'm not chicken.
Something's gonna happen, then it'll be too late.
What's gonna happen? What do you mean?
He'll come back.
Who will come back?
Hey, who will come?
Your dad.
Your dad will come back?
And...
...what will happen when he comes back, Trevor?
Will he hurt you?
Will he hurt her?
Not if someone's there...
...instead of him.
Trevor, it's...
...complicated for me now.
Is the world just shit?
No, it isn't.
You did good work.
Look at me. I'm proud of you, Trevor.
I'm proud of you.
And anyway, for what it's worth...
...I'm grading you on the effort, not the result.
I don't care about the grade.
I just wanted to see if the world would really change.
Come in.
Trevor!
- It worked! - Oh, God.
- Does he always get up early? - What?
He just saw me.
- It's okay. - I'm his teacher.
Now you have to pay it forward too.
Eugene!
You should still call me Mr. Simonet.
You had a sleepover.
- Go back to bed. - Why?
It's too early and I got to get to school.
- No, it's a Sunday. - It's a Sunday?
It's a Sunday?
Stay. Mom will make breakfast.
I have a schedule that you don't know about every Sunday.
Will you take care of him? I'll call you later.
Don't be a stranger!
You like him?
Lady, come on.
Go away.
I'm not going to hurt you, lady.
Here, take it.
It's a nice thought but it's not what I want.
What are you doing?
I'm not going to hurt you!
Oh, my God. Listen to me.
Nothing's this important. Come down here.
What are you doing?
What do you care anyway?
Because I owe somebody a favor.
Not me.
Why not you?
You know, a minute ago...
...all I could think about was getting my next fix.
And then I saw you and I changed my thinking.
Oh, please. Go away.
Trust me. I'm not worth it.
Why is that?
- For God's sake. - Come on, tell me.
Why are you not worth it?
Trust me. You wouldn't understand.
Are you kidding me? You think I live at the Ritz?
Have a cup of coffee with me.
What?
Do me a favor.
Save my life.
Get him, get him! Off the ropes!
He missed him!
He's dead!
Come on, bleed, dude.
Give him a DDT.
- What? - It's gonna be a DDT.
Drop him on his ass!
I'm worried about you. That's the DDT.
- Hear me? - He's dead!
- He's paralyzed, get out of the ring. - You can't get out of the ring.
He can. He has to get a chair.
A chair?
Slow motion.
Trevor, when did you become so violent?
Take me to a match. You get splattered in the front row.
I don't want to be splattered.
It'll be your birthday present to me.
You know what you're getting? A new encyclopedia.
Leather bound.
Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War.
No, I'm getting you 51 crackling volumes.
There'll be pop quizzes every day on the development of cotton farms.
Hi, Arlene.
You can't stay here, Ricky.
I know.
Look, I know what we had was a nightmare, Arlene.
- But I did it. - You did what?
I knew I couldn't come back unless I was sober.
It's the truth.
Five months, two weeks and four days are the truth.
- Where you been? - What does it matter?
I knew I had to change.
- Are you sober? - Yeah, I got sober staying right here.
Well, you're stronger than me.
Can you just stop for a minute?
Please?
Can we just sit down and talk?
God.
I'm sorry.
What are you doing here?
- I want you to understand. - No explanation required.
Please don't talk to me like that.
We had 13 years in, Eugene. He's sober now. We've never been sober together.
I wish you luck.
I feel like I've got to give him a chance.
A chance? A chance for what?
To change.
To try to make up for lost time.
To take Trevor to ball games? Do "daddy" things with him?
Yeah, he promised to try.
- What should I do? - Be smart.
He's his father.
He impregnated you, Arlene.
In what other way has he been a father?
Unless knocking somebody around is a new family value.
What do you mean? He never touched Trevor.
Oh, that's right, only you.
He only took it out on you. That's so much better.
What did Trevor tell you?
Enough.
Secrets like that shouldn't be kept. What good does it do Trevor?
Ricky never meant to hit me. We were drunk!
Christ! What is it with women like you?
Is that something you tell yourself? "It's okay he beat me."
"Trevor's okay."
Trevor locked himself in a bathroom and he can't breathe...
...and he's praying that it will stop!
- Trevor never went through that! - You know what Trevor went through?
How do you know?
How do you know the next time after you, he doesn't come for Trevor?
I know what I'm talking about, Arlene.
My father got on his knees and begged my mother...
...and my mother, she always took him back.
I never understood it.
She'd cover the bruises and the cuts and she'd take him back...
...because he begged and he cried.
Ask me what happened after he came back.
You wanted to know what happened to me! Now ask me!
- I don't like this. - "Did he hurt you?" Ask!
Did he hurt you?
Not for long.
By 13 I was gone. I ran away.
But I missed her, so I had to go back and see her.
So one night I did.
Ask what happened. "What happened that night you came back, Eugene?"
What happened?
He was there, drunk as usual.
Only this time, I wasn't the same.
I was 16 years old and I was no longer afraid of him.
And when I looked him in the eye...
...and told him if he ever touched her again, I would kill him, he knew.
He knew that he would never exist for me again.
And I'm standing in front of the house.
I'm screaming for her to come out.
I'm telling her she doesn't have to take it anymore.
She doesn't. She can come with me now.
I don't see it coming.
He hits my head with a two-by-four and I'm bleeding from my ear.
He's dragging me behind the house into the garage. Then he's gone.
A minute, five minutes, I don't know.
Then he's back and wetting me down. And I don't understand.
I don't understand why water should smell so bad.
I don't understand. And then I see it.
I see...
...this...
...this gas can.
This red gas can from his truck.
And he looks at me one last time...
...and he lights a match.
And the last thing I remember...
...and I'll never forget it...
...were his eyes.
His eyes, because they were filled with this...
...immense...
...satisfaction.
I'm so sorry.
Don't tell me how sorry you are for me!
Tell me how you'll stop it happening to Trevor.
Ricky would never do that.
Oh, Jesus, Arlene. He doesn't have to.
All he has to do is not love him.
Jeez!
What's going on?
I'll tell you what's going on.
- What are you doing? - What's it look like?
You can't do this.
What are you putting in my room? We had an agreement.
My son won't talk to me.
He won't look at me! You turn him against me?
I told you I wasn't gonna make him talk to you.
You could get a job.
- What am I supposed to use for a car? - Take the bus.
That'll be the day.
- You can't stay in this room. - This is our room.
This is our house, our bed.
- You've been drinking. - Kiss me.
Stop it! Stop it! I want you out of this house.
- What's your problem? - I want you out.
Turn that down! I'll come and pound your ass!
- Don't talk to him like that! - Don't tell me how to talk!
Don't tell me how to talk to anybody. I've had enough.
- Are you getting mad? - What are you gonna do about it?
I liked you better when you had a few drinks in you.
You want me out of the house, I'm out!
Sorry.
I think I made a mistake.
Everybody makes mistakes.
All right, bring them up.
Thank you. Carefully.
Thank you.
Careful. Did you get rid of your hiccups?
Told you holding your breath would work.
Thank you. Careful. Thank you.
Very nice.
Give me that one. Thank you.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Trevor, what is it?
Are you still gonna pay it forward?
You could say you don't have to...
...because it didn't work out.
But I thought you still might.
Trevor, I would like more than anything to do that for you.
- When I find something worthy... - I know somebody who needs something.
- You have to let me find this... - You know who it is.
Look...
...you don't understand everything. All right?
So you do not know what you're asking.
Give her another chance.
I will pay it forward. I promise you that.
But I cannot do that.
But that's why this is the one.
Because it's supposed to be something hard.
If you help my mom, even if you're still mad, in a way nobody could...
- Did she ask you to talk to me? - No, she thinks you won't forgive her.
But I still think you could.
If you wanted to do something huge...
...for someone...
...for my project.
For me.
She made her choice.
She said she made a mistake.
Well, that's the beauty of hindsight.
You don't care.
Yes, I do.
I will always care about you, always.
Yeah.
You're my teacher.
They pay you to.
- You got it? - Yeah.
I ain't saying a thing till I get one more.
You know, I thought you might feel that way.
No, no. Later.
I got my places.
Places where nobody cares where you park overnight.
Places where I live.
Anybody who knows me...
...knows where to find me.
Hi, Mom.
- What are you doing here? - I wanted to see you.
- After three years, why now? - I can't watch you do this.
I drive by your house.
I know.
- He's big. - Yeah.
What are you doing here?
Are you gonna try to put me somewhere?
No.
Then what do you want?
I want to try to do something.
All the things...
...when I was a kid.
The booze...
...and the men.
What happened to me when you weren't looking.
I know we're all weak.
- No, not you. - No, I've been weak.
Here's the thing.
I forgive you.
- I don't like your hair. - I know. I'm not putting it back.
So I'd like to see you sometimes. Is that okay?
Yes.
You can't live with me.
Who would want to?
Can I see him?
Not drunk.
You've got to be sober if just for two hours.
Yeah, I can do that.
Okay.
Then I'll come and find you.
Okay?
Yeah.
Okay.
Why'd you do this, Arley?
She told me why.
She told me I had to do something big...
...for three other people.
Happy birthday dear Trevor
Happy birthday to you
And many more
What'd you wish for?
He can't tell you or it won't come true.
Can I have some napkins?
Here you go.
I'll get it.
Mom?
I'm Chris Chandler. I'm a reporter. Could I have a moment of your time?
Why? I don't have anything to say about anything.
Please. I've already spoken to your mother, which naturally led me to you.
- My mother? - She told me about pay it forward.
How you helped her. I'm doing a story.
You can't. That's private.
It upset my son. It was a social studies thing and it didn't work.
Social studies?
Leave it alone. He just wants to get on with seventh grade.
It's his birthday and it's a bad time.
- I'm sorry... - No, I'm sorry.
I've been tracking this story from Los Angeles.
Pay it Forward, the movement, reached L.A.
- Come on. The movement? - Yeah.
Your son had something to do with this?
I really appreciate this, Mrs. McKinney.
It's up to him.
- Ready, slugger? - I guess.
Here you go. Up here, please.
Just like you're getting a haircut.
- You been interviewed before? - No.
This is for you.
Hi. How are you?
- What's your name? - Chris Chandler. Nice to meet you.
Less painful than the dentist. Just be yourself, okay?
- Ready to go? - I guess.
Come on, you got to have some gusto here.
All right, let's go. All right, great.
Just be yourself. Relax. It's gonna be a lot of fun.
Okay, we're on?
Hi, I'm Chris Chandler and I'm joined today by an unusual seventh grader...
...Trevor McKinney.
Trevor, you must be pretty proud of yourself.
No.
So you're not proud at all?
I don't know. I guess.
Come on, you start a movement like Pay it Forward. You're not proud?
I guess. I mean, I got an "A" in social studies.
But that was just for the effort.
Stuff I did, it didn't work out.
- You're here. - Yeah, but...
I don't know. I tried real hard...
...but nothing really happened.
My mom's stuff worked.
She talked to my grandma. Kind of made up with her.
It was really hard for her.
It was great for me, because my grandma came to my birthday party.
And I had really missed her.
And that's why Pay it Forward went to all those places...
...because of my mom.
Because she was so brave.
My stuff, I don't know. I think some people are too scared or something...
...to think things can be different.
The world's not exactly...
...shit.
I guess it's hard for some people who are used to things the way they are...
...even if they're bad...
...to change.
And they kind of give up.
When they do, everybody...
They kind of lose.
Hi, Arlene.
I don't want to be one of those people he's talking about.
And I've become one.
I don't want to spend another second of wasted air.
Please don't let me stay trapped in here forever.
I won't.
I don't want to spend another second without you.
See you around.
All right, see you later, guys.
Let me go!
- Stop it! - Who'd you tell?
- Who'd you tell, tattletale? - I didn't tell anybody.
I didn't say anything.
Help!
Stop it! Trevor!
Come here.
Let me go!
Cut it out! No!
Get out of my face!
Punch him! Come on!
No!
Leave him alone!
Someone get an ambulance!
I guess it's hard for some people who...
...are used to things the way they are.
...even if they're bad...
...to change.
I guess they kind of give up...
...and when they do...
...everybody kind of loses.
These moments make you sorry to report anything.
This remarkable young man died at 7:35 this evening.
There are now confirmed incidents of Pay it Forward in L.A., San Francisco.
In Phoenix, we're checking...
...if the 16 foster children who received computers...
...is connected to this movement.
It's hard.
You can 't plan it.
You have to watch people more.
Sort of keep an eye on them to protect them...
...because they can 't always see what they need.
It's like your big chance to fix something that's not like your bike.
You can fix a person.
Is that what you want for your birthday, everybody to pay it forward?
I can 't ask for that.
- Sure you can. Why not? - Wouldn 't work.
Why?
I already blew out my candles.