[THEME MUSIC PLAYING]
[CRICKETS CHIRPING]
[FATHER SIGHS]
[EXCLAIMING IN ANNOYANCE]
[UTENSILS CLATTERING]
Honey, it's family hour. There must be something on.
DAUGHTER: Oh, wow, Candy Critters!
[FATHER EXCLAIMS]
Oh, great. It's Monsters, our favorite show.
[MONSTROUS LAUGH]
Shh, it's starting.
[MONSTROUS LAUGH]
[FATHER CHUCKLES]
[SINISTER MUSIC PLAYING]
[FOOTSTEPS]
[DOOR CREAKING]
WOMAN: How does this oil taste today, hmm?
Should I add a little more peat moss for my babies?
Mother?
Sheila, you scared me half to death.
You should've called before I came up.
I'm sorry. You're right. I should have.
I'll just come back some other time.
Oh, don't be silly.
Come over here. Give your old mother a hug.
So glad to see you, child.
Good lord, what has he done to you now?
Ah, I sold her into white slavery.
But you know, I think I'm gonna re-neg on the sale.
I'd be a fool to let go of this girl for a mere two million dollars.
I should've known you were here.
The only time my daughter comes to see me is when you bring her.
[SIGHS] Come on, Ma.
You know that's not true.
Could we go inside the house, Mother? It's so hot and sticky in here.
They like it that way, so do I.
Oh, all right.
[WHIRRING]
Ah. Bought you cake.
From that really good French bakery near us.
Black forest, your favorite.
I've decided I'm on a diet.
Mother, please.
Nelson just wants to be part of the family.
Right. I mean, family is the most important thing in the world to me.
Even if we don't see eye to eye, I never forget that.
I mean, we should come up more often.
Just saw what you came to say, Nelson.
Well... [SIGHS]
We've had a little emergency recently, and it's hit us pretty hard.
How much do you want?
Well, we're 8,000 in the red but 5,000 would take care of us for now.
The answer is no.
What? You heard me.
I'm through paying for your gambling and your womanizing.
You'll not get one more penny from me.
Ma, I don't think that you completely understand the problem.
I understand perfectly.
Sheila and I discussed it,
and she agreed that I should ask you for a loan.
Yes, that's right. We both agreed.
Given the circumstances,
I will have to disregard my daughter's wishes.
Well, how do you think your daughter's gonna feel
when her own mother abandons her like this?
She's a smart girl.
She knows why I'm doing it.
But if you don't help us we'll have to move out of the condo,
we'll have to get a cheap apartment in some bad neighborhood somewhere.
I mean, Sheila's gonna have to walk down unsafe streets every night.
There's nothing more unsafe than her addiction to you.
SHEILA: Mother. Hush, child.
Are you forgetting that I'm Sheila's husband?
If I'm not happy, chances are she's not gonna be happy.
In fact I can guarantee that.
So it's finally come down to that.
I knew it would sooner or later.
The answer's still no.
You selfish, old vulture!
You'll help us or you're gonna regret it. Do you hear me?
Nelson, please... [SLAPS]
Don't you ever, ever strike my daughter!
You got out of your wheelchair.
You picked him up.
How did you do that?
It's the enzymes in the pulp.
The pulp?
From the melons.
I found they contain an enzyme which super energizes the human muscle tissue.
[COUGHS]
One glass of melon juice will charge up even an old bird like me.
What a pity the effect doesn't last.
I'm not used to exerting myself to this extent.
Run to the hot house and get me another
glass of juice.
Maybe I'll prevent her from bringing you that juice.
I could drink it myself.
You could, but then you'd be taking a gamble.
Just guessing what amount was safe for your first dose.
But then you like to gamble, don't you, Nelson?
All right, then I won't.
Look, why don't we just cut out all the fencing
and just talk straight for a minute, all right?
You don't like me because I married your daughter for her money, right?
[SCOFFS]
Your candor is refreshing.
[SCOFFS] I'll admit I'm not the perfect husband.
If there's one thing I've got it's a nose for a good deal.
And when I get a hold of a deal like that
nobody on earth can stop me from making it happen.
And this good deal is?
We mass produce those melons and a string of hot houses.
Then we'll market the enzyme as a muscle...
Miracle muscle energizer.
[CHUCKLES] God! We'll be making money hand over fist.
And you'll account it for me. Is that the idea?
I'll be the company's general manager.
I'll handle the leg work, I'll handle the advertising.
You don't really have the savvy for that kind of job.
You disgust me, Nelson.
Do you think I give a damn about the money?
I care about my daughter.
Okay.
Let's take a close look at your daughter.
She's not likely to find another husband.
Have you thought about who's gonna take care of her
after you're gone and the inheritance money runs out?
No.
But I certainly wouldn't trust you in that role.
I'm not asking you to.
We can setup a company so a large chunk of the stock is in Sheila's name, not mine.
You'd be giving your daughter a safety net for her old age.
Thank you, dear.
Well, have we got a deal?
I'd soon sign a pact with the devil
than to go into business with you.
I'll be in the hot house if you need me.
[DOOR SLAMS] What were you and mother talking about?
I offered to help her set up a company to market that enzyme.
You heard what she said.
Not that I blame her, considering the way I treated the two of you.
I'm sorry. I just...
I lost my head, I didn't wanna hurt you.
I know you didn't mean to.
I just want everything to be perfect.
Your mother doesn't understand that.
She's never really accepted me.
She will.
She just needs time to get to know you.
Things will work out.
I know they will.
Let's go see what your mother's up to.
Never satisfied.
No matter how much peat moss I give you, you just want more and more and more.
Do you think I own the peat works or what?
There you go. There.
Honey, she's talking to her plants, for God's sake.
You want some too, huh? There.
[CHUCKLES]
Sweetheart, I think your mother's just getting a little too old
to be making important decisions.
Refusing to exploit those melons is a perfect example.
We're just gonna have to take a few and grow them ourselves.
Steal them?
Oh, no, I couldn't.
Look, I don't like having to go behind her back any more than you do.
This is for us, honey. This is for our future.
But she'd hate me.
She'd never speak to me again.
Once she sees how successful our company's gonna be
she's gonna come right around.
I don't know. It just doesn't feel right.
I think we should sleep over.
Honey.
Why don't you come back to bed?
I will.
Come here and help me with this first.
Come here.
[GROANING]
[SCREAMS]
[SQUEALING]
[NELSON SCREAMING]
Nelson! Nelson!
[GROANING]
Nelson!
[GROANING]
[SCREAMING]
[GRUNTING]
[SCREAMING]
[YELLING]
[SQUEALING]
Wait!
French toast.
Oh, Mother, you shouldn't have gone to the trouble.
Nonsense, there's no trouble.
Boy, it looks really wonderful.
If you want breakfast, get it yourself.
I'm going to do the morning watering.
Just leave the dishes in the sink.
I will.
You gotta pick her brains about those worms.
Ask her some indirect question.
I can't. She'll know we were in there last night.
She'll guess why. I just can't do it.
You know, if we can market that enzyme
we'll be able to do all the things we planned.
We'd get that little house in the country you like.
Be a great place to raise a family.
We don't have to wait anymore.
And your mother would love grandchildren, you know she would.
I guess I could talk to her.
Oh, you're in your wheelchair.
I'll get you some melon juice.
Never mind, dear. I don't like to depend on it.
Come here. I wanna talk to you.
When you were born,
your father and I were already middle aged.
Tenured at the university, set in our ways.
Bugs and plants were all we ever cared about.
We didn't know how to be parents so we simply ignored you.
It's in the past, let's just forget about it.
I don't wanna forget it.
I wanna make amends and be a good mother to you.
I'm going to start right now by trusting you.
[GASPS]
What is it?
Before he died, your father shipped a crate
of these rare giant blood worms
back from his Amazon expedition.
The crate broke and they escaped into the hot house.
Soon after that, the melons I was working on began to produce an unusual enzyme.
The muscle energizer.
The worms did that?
Yes. I discovered that they chemically altered the soil,
radically changed any plant that was grown in it.
The melons are completely worthless without the worms.
But they're so dangerous looking.
Never mind how they look, child.
They can change any plant species, not just the melons.
Thousands of new, miraculous substances can be created.
This is the gift I've been saving for you.
My dear daughter, do you understand why I haven't old you until now?
I didn't want a man like Nelson to get a hold of something so important.
I love you so much.
I love you, too, Mother.
[DOOR CREAKING]
Nelson, please. I really don't think we should go through with this.
Will you just shut up and dig?
[WORM SCREECHES]
[GRUNTS]
Will you just keep digging?
[GRUNTS]
[WORM SQUEALING]
[CHUCKLING]
Well, let's go.
You going somewhere, Nelson?
[CHUCKLING] Yeah.
Yeah, I don't need to hang around this dump any longer
now that I know about your little secret.
Your precious little girl told me.
I knew she would.
I planned it that way.
Yeah.
You knew?
There's no shame in it, dear.
You were never a match for that monster.
So, now you're trapped.
[LAUGHS] Well, who's gonna trap me? You?
I've drunk some of that juice now.
Get out of my way or I'll rip you in half.
Leave her alone...
Sorry, love.
But I don't need you anymore now that I have a breeding pair of these worms.
You bastard.
You used me.
[LAUGHS]
Saying that you loved me.
Lied through your teeth.
You're not stealing worms, you idiot!
You're taking her children.
"Her" children?
Don't ever mess with the mother instinct.
[ROARING]
[SCREAMING]
[NELSON GROANING]
[SCREAMING]
[NELSON SCREAMING]
It's all right.
It's all over.
He's gone.
I'm okay now, Mother.
[THEME MUSIC PLAYING]