- [Narrator] Every morning, for as long as I can remember,
I have had the same dream or perhaps it is a memory.
It's evening, and I am in the backseat of a moving car.
Another child sits beside me on my right.
Was this a boy or a girl?
How old is he?
What is her name?
- It's gonna be okay.
- [Narrator] I am cold and hungry.
The world whooshes by in blurs of color in night.
Am I at a hospital?
Why was I brought here?
- Calm down.
- Don't worry.
- Hi, honey.
Come with me.
I hope this time you'll be okay.
It's gonna turn out okay.
- Calm down.
- You have to sit.
- [Man] Control her.
- [Woman] I will.
- [Man] If you can't control her, I will.
[gasps]
[gentle piano music]
- [Narrator] For every morning after that dream,
and for as long as I can remember,
I would peer into the bathroom mirror
in search for clues to answer the questions
that had haunted me my whole life.
Where had I come from?
Who did I look like?
Where did these eyes come from?
And most importantly of all,
where were my mother and father?
But that magnificent piece of glass always kept its secrets.
My only leads were the mysterious scars
and bruises that covered me.
A story had been written upon me, and a violent one at that.
But it was a tale I neither remembered nor understood.
One day, I will understand these images
that live in the gray somewhere between memory and dream.
- One day.
- [Betty] Stephen Klakowicz, you shut that water off,
get dressed, and get down here!
- Yes, ma'am!
- [Betty] Don't you scream in this house, boy.
Don't you dare scream!
[elegant music]
[gentle music]
- [Narrator] By this age,
I'd been in so many foster homes I'd lost count.
Those homes where compensated for taking me in,
and the truth was I meant little more to them than that.
But the Robinson family was supposed to be different.
[loud crack] - Boy, get your ass down here!
You mean to tell me that one day
after school is out for the summer,
some high school counselor wants to see your light eye ass
in his office this morning?
- Some counselor?
- Don't be smart with me.
[loud clank]
Why he wants to see you?!
- I don't know who you're talking about.
- Mr. Sykes called last night.
Teacher's pet's in trouble.
- I don't know why he wants to see me.
I didn't do anything.
- More eggs, Willie?
I think little Mr. Bookworm's
been talking too much at school.
Have you been talking too much, Steve?
- No, ma'am.
- Because if you have,
rule number five.
- No one will ever take my word over yours.
- Why?
- Make him say it.
Make him do it, Mama.
[chuckles]
- Rule number four.
- Because I am dumb and ugly.
There's something wrong with me,
and everyone knows this.
- Make him do number eight, please.
[chuckles]
- Rule number eight.
Rule number eight.
Willie?
- No one will ever want me,
especially not my own mother or father.
- [Lisa] Thanks, Mama, that one's my favorite.
- What you doing just still standing there?
Go away from me.
[somber music]
[door slams]
- Hey.
[loud thud] Hey!
Better not makes me late.
Come on, let's go. Get in.
Got no idea why this Mr. Sykes
wants to see you this morning?
- No, sir. - Look, I can't be late.
Understand me? I can't be late.
That's what a man does.
Can't be late for work.
That gives him his pride.
That's what he am!
- Yes, sir.
- Uh, there, right there, what it say?
- It says to buy eight gallons
of bright red paint, number four.
- I know that.
I ain't stupid!
I just, I just have some trouble sometimes
with them big words.
What it say?
- It says that make sure you bring his laundry
on your way in or you're fired.
You know, if you ever wanted, I could show you.
- Show me what?
- How to read.
- It's just them big words.
- I could help you with those big words,
if you wanted.
- Yes. Can you?
Look...
You go in to Mr. Sykes.
You tell him I had a job to do.
- Yes, sir.
- Home right after.
I finds out later you done something wrong,
I'm have to beat that ass.
[school bell rings]
- Stephen.
Hey.
Come on in.
Hey, come on in.
Take a seat.
Hey, kiddo.
Hey.
- Mr. Sykes--
- John, please.
- Look, sir, did I do something wrong?
- No.
No.
Actually, you've done something really right.
Your placement test numbers are great.
They're better than great.
Now, have you thought about
what you wanna do after high school?
- No.
- Now, I know it seems like a long way off,
but doesn't have to be.
With your test scores, you could even skip a grade or two.
- College.
Isn't that really expensive?
- It is, but that's why I would really like you to consider
joining our Upward Bound Program.
The program helps provide under-resourced students
with support to continue their education.
Weekly tutoring, college planning,
and the access to financial help.
Scholarships.
That's why I have these booklets.
Southern Massachusetts University, UMass,
and Boston College, isn't that great?
- I would love that.
- You love it?
It's great.
That's what I was hoping you'd say.
Now, I've prepared a application packet here,
and you just gotta get your foster parents
to fill out the forms and the PSAT application.
- I don't think they'll do that.
- Why wouldn't they?
- I cannot imagine anyone not wanting their child
to be a part of my program.
- Miss Dottin?
- You two know each other?
- I mean, yes.
Well, no.
I mean, everybody knows Miss Dottin.
- Now, you stop that before it goes to my head.
But I do believe we have met before.
If memory serves,
there was a very talented young speller few years back
who won the city-wide spelling bee with melody.
- Modicum.
- You are right.
Modicum was the word.
[Miss Dottin chuckles]
- You remembered.
- Oh, honey, I remember.
A very big word for a very small boy.
I remember a bright little boy up on that stage
spelling words that I'd have to look up,
and I thought to myself, this boy has a future.
This boy will change the world.
- [John] Mm-hm.
- Now, what's this I hear about you
not want to join our program?
- No, oh, I do,
but I just don't think Miss Robinson will let me.
- Betty Robinson?
- Yes, ma'am.
- Ah.
You leave Betty to me.
[gentle music]
- So, the prodigal son returns,
and what does he tell his mother?
That he's moving out of state to take a job.
What if she needs something?!
I guess that's just too bad for her, huh?
'Cause her oldest is moving out of state for work.
You hate your mama and daddy so much
that you leaving the state.
- It's not like that.
I just have to do what I think is best.
- Go.
See if I care.
Thank God for Reggie and Lisa.
We gonna adopt that girl, you know?
- I know, Mama. - See, there's a child
willing to take care of those who take care of her.
- I just wanted to stop by before I left.
Look, I have a few things left in the basement.
Is it all right if I go get them?
- Get them.
And go!
Oh, what the hell are you all smiles about?
What that counselor say you did?
- Nothing, nothing, ma'am.
If it was nothing, he wouldn't be asking to see you
when school was out.
- I did well on my placement test.
- Mm.
Well, placement tests don't put food on the table
or a roof over your head.
- No, no, ma'am, no.
- What you got there?
- An application for a placement program.
It could help me get into college.
- College?
Well, you ain't getting into college.
[chuckles]
College?
Who do you think you are?
Some rich boy whose parents are gonna pay for college?
Send him off to Harvard and whatnot?
Your parents don't even care enough to find out
whether you living or dying.
Now, how's a little bastard like you gonna pay for college?
- They said they could help with that.
Maybe a scholarship.
- Scholarship?
Ah, I guess you feel real special then, huh?
Scholarship.
Is that what's in those forms there?
Well, hand it over to me, then.
Mm, didn't know they were gonna give you a scholarship.
- All you have to do is sign there
and I'll fill out everything.
- Where?
Here?
Okay, um, where's that pen?
Oh, here it is.
There's your scholarship.
- Why'd you have to do that?
All you had to do was sign it.
- How dare you speak to me that, you good for nothing.
You don't have a chance in the world
of getting into college, let alone no goddamn scholarship.
You're no good.
Always gonna be no good.
Just like your father.
Mm-hm.
You heard me right.
Boy, let me tell you something.
After they killed your father,
they broke into the funeral home and set his body on fire.
They sure did.
They hated him so much they had to roll a rock
over his grave to make sure nobody dug up his body.
He was no good.
And let me tell you something right now,
apple don't fall far from the tree.
- That's not true.
- Not far at all!
[door slams] [Betty chuckles]
You ain't even gonna say goodbye to your mama?
- Bye, Mama.
But you're wrong.
- About what?
- Sometimes the apple does fall far from the tree.
As far as it can get.
[door slams]
Figured you'd be long gone by now.
- [Stephen] What d'you mean?
- When she'd go off on me like that, I'd take off.
- Didn't Willie whoop you?
- Sometimes, but if I gave it a day or two, he'd cool off.
Still get a whooping, but some of the sting would be off it.
- I got nowhere to run to.
- Yeah.
Look, what she said in there about
Kenny being your father and dead--
- Kenny?
- Only one person died that way
and that was Kenny Pemberton.
He was one of the best boxers this city has ever seen,
but got mixed up with some bad stuff
and got killed in some kind of a fight.
But I don't think he was your father though.
- But she said that--
- You know how she is.
She was just being mean.
- But you're not sure.
- Kenny still got a lot of family around,
so if you were his son,
I think one of them would've told us.
- You'll ask for me, right?
- I could ask, but she wouldn't tell me.
Steve, I'm leaving town.
Going over to New Jersey for a job.
- You're leaving?
- Gotta, little man.
And you will too one day.
Just get Willie to sign those papers.
Know he can't read,
so just try to get him to do it when she's not around.
Just tell him, you know, it's about--
- More money from the state.
[chuckles]
- Hell, he'll sign 10 forms for that.
Just keep your head down, little man, okay?
And when you graduate college, I expect an invite.
- [Narrator] I'll never forget that day.
I would lose the only Robinson family member
who ever showed me any kindness.
On the Robinson meter,
Eddie was always treated as an outsider,
only slightly better than a foster child.
An alienation I never fully understood.
- Stephen, honey, come in the house!
[Stephen sighs]
Oh, I know, Mrs. Dottin, I have tried everything I know
to get Steve to try the program, but he simply refuses.
Oh, well, I try to get my boys a better life,
but I so hate to force them to do something
that they don't wanna do.
Oh, oh, here he is.
Oh, I'll be happy to get you try.
Mm-hm.
One second.
You better tell her no
or there won't be enough of you left to go to that program.
- Hello?
Yeah.
No.
Mr. Sykes told me how great of an opportunity this is,
but I just don't think that it's right for me.
Thank you though.
- Mm.
Like I told you,
I can't make him do something he doesn't wanna do.
Well, yeah, of course I know the...
No, I don't think it'll be necessary
to have him come over and talk to him.
Well, of course, I'm the boy's guardian.
I just don't think it'd be necessary...
Yes, he should.
Oh, of course, I agree.
Mm-hm, I'll make sure he's there.
With the signed forms.
Mm-hm.
Oh, but we need a new form.
He was so insistent, he tore them up right in front of me.
Okay.
No, thank you.
Bye-bye now.
Get out of my sight.
Go down in the cellar and don't come back till the morning.
Get that form from her at 9:00 a.m.
and be back here by 11 or there'll be hell to pay!
- [Narrator] The cellar was cold, musty, and dank.
It was where I was sent, often, for punishment.
The cellar was storage space for many other things
the Robinsons had no further use for.
These abandoned items had served their purpose,
but the Robinsons held onto them,
believing that someday
someone foolish enough to value them more
would come along and take them off their hands.
To the Robinsons, the cellar was precisely where I belonged,
but I loved the cellar, for it was a welcome refuge
from the Robinson rules.
It was a place for me
to eat from my stash of hoarded pilfered food,
and to immerse myself in wonderful worlds of imagination.
[loud creak]
It was in the cellar I came to love books,
the smell, the feel in my hands,
and the thoughts that would whisk me away.
When I felt resigned to what fate had dealt me,
that I would forever be the Robinsons' prisoner,
and that their world would be
the only one I would ever know,
the characters that unfolded in my books
in the worlds they lived in, showed me a different light,
a future beyond the pain of the Robinsons' house.
It was an amazing gift and owed it to Mrs. Levin.
[gentle music]
- What are you reading there?
- Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Midnight Detective.
- Oh, the boy detective.
- Yes, ma'am.
- You like mysteries?
- Yes, ma'am.
I like to figure out the mystery for myself.
- Mm.
Now, if I remember, last week when I passed this way,
you were reading that same book?
- Yes, ma'am.
I like to go back and read it all over again.
- Apparently you've read that one a few times.
- Six.
- I see.
[gentle music]
[knocking]
- [Betty] Who in the...
[door clacks]
Oh, hello.
That's very sweet of you.
I'll make sure he gets them.
- [Mrs. Levin] If it's all the same,
I would like to give them to him myself.
- [Betty] Of course.
Stevie, honey!
Come here!
- You remember me?
I thought you might like these.
- [Stephen] Ooh.
- [Mrs. Levin] These are for the boy who likes to read.
- What do you say?
- Can I keep them?
- Of course you can.
Nothing better than a good book.
Oh, except the good book, that is.
Say thank you to the nice lady.
- Thank you.
- My pleasure.
- [Narrator] The first book I read was Watership Down
and it was my favorite.
I would read it over and over again.
I found kinship in the rabbits of Watership Down.
They became my childhood friends,
the only ones I was allowed to have.
For Hazel and his followers,
it was never a question of if they would find home,
it was simply a matter of when.
- "We need daylight, to that extent is utilitarian,
"but moonlight, we do not need.
"When it comes, serves no necessity.
"It transforms.
"It falls upon the banks and the grass,
"separating one long blade from another;
"turning a drift of brown, frosted leaves from a single heap
"to innumerable flashing fragments;
"glimmering lengthways along wet twigs
"as though light itself were ductile.
"Its long beams pour, white and sharp,
"between the trunks of trees,
"their clarity fading as they recede into the powdery,
"misty distance of beech woods at night.
"In moonlight, two acres of coarse bent grass,
"undulant and ankle deep,
"tumbled and rough as a horse's mane,
"appear like a bay of waves,
"all shadowy troughs and hollows.
"The growth is so thick and matted
"that even the wind does not move it,
"but it is the moonlight
"that seems to confer stillness upon it.
"We do not take moonlight for granted.
"Just like snow, or like the dew on a July morning.
"It does not reveal but changes what it covers.
"And its low intensity,
"so much lower than that of daylight,
"makes us conscious that it is something added to the down,
"to give it, for only a little time,
"a singular and marvelous quality
"that we should admire while we can,
"for soon it will be gone again."
[school bell rings]
- Review part two of the prep book
and we'll go over that later this week, all right?
Got it?
Any questions?
- No, no.
I got it.
You guys are gonna help me with entrance exams
and also gonna help me
with essays and books and things like that.
[chuckles]
- Yeah, things like that, right?
[chuckles]
- Mr. Sykes-- - John.
- I mean, John.
- It's all right.
- If I wanted to write a report on someone
and I didn't have much information,
maybe just a name, where would I start?
- Just a name.
Well, maybe encyclopedia.
- Well, what if that person wasn't famous enough
for an encyclopedia?
Just locally.
Where would I go?
- Locally.
You could always interview the person.
- What if they're dead?
- There's always the obituaries.
That's a place to start.
You can always look those up at the library or microfiche,
but you need a date of death and you find that out
with a death certificate request to city hall.
- Thanks, John.
- No problem, Steve.
Hey.
Steve, you know, we're not just here for your education.
- I thought that's what the program is for.
- If you ever need someone to talk to,
if you ever needed someone, you know, to talk to...
You know where my office is, right?
- Right.
- Steve, you like to read, right?
- Yes, sir, I mean, John.
- This is a few of my favorites.
Billy Budd by Melville.
Here, you read it.
You and I go over it
for the critical reading portion of the test
and the math part, okay?
- Great.
- And don't forget, I need those forms back, okay?
Noon. Tomorrow.
Okay, I'll see you.
[thrilling music]
- Come on, baby girl.
I'm just talking about dinner.
Look, look at this face.
See this serious face?
Now, come on.
Come on.
Dinner, dancing, that's all.
- You're pushing it.
- [Charlie] I know a great place.
- Hi, can I help you?
- I need to get a death certificate
for a man who lived in New Bedford.
His name was Kenny Pemberton.
I don't know when he died.
- What would I young boy like you
be looking for a death certificate for?
- Well, my school's doing a report
on some New Bedford history,
so I'm doing mine on local boxers.
- Mm-hm.
What school do you go to?
And what grade are you in, young man?
- I go to New Bedford High.
I'm gonna be a sophomore.
- Mm-hm.
So, if I called your teacher,
she would know all about this report, huh?
- Well, my teacher's John.
I mean, Mr. Sykes.
School is out, so I don't know if he'll be in
and sometimes he is during the day or summer,
but you could call him, if you want to.
- Okay.
Well, you just hold on.
I'll be right back, okay?
[sighs]
- What's your name, kid?
- Steve.
- You heard the report on Kenny, right?
A lot of bad things been said out there about him.
Well, most of them are lies.
People just running off their mouth.
Okay, Kenny made some bad moves, but he was a good man.
You understand, kid?
Kenny was a good man.
- Charlie Carmo, leave that boy alone.
He's just trying to do a report for school.
He doesn't need to hear a bunch of neighborhood gossip.
- Yeah, yeah, just wanted him to get it right.
Gonna get it right, right, Steve?
- Yes, sir.
- Here you go, don't mind him.
Just a lot of people cared about Kenny, okay?
- Thank you. - You're welcome.
- [Charlie] Seven o'clock.
Be ready.
[thrilling music]
[gentle music]
- Oh, no, no, no, no.
August 2nd.
Got it.
Why isn't it here?
It's not here.
He died on August 2nd.
Why isn't it in the papers?
Because papers only write about what happened.
It'll be on August 3rd.
He doesn't even look like me.
She lied.
[sighs]
Oh, my God.
I'm gonna be late.
[clock ticking]
[suspenseful music]
[panting]
[door clacks]
- Well, it's about damn time.
You don't have time for any education in this house,
especially when it's so hot out.
Go get me a washcloth from the linen closet.
Now.
- Mama!
He's got books!
- Steve, what'd I tell you about books upstairs?!
Get me a washcloth and get those books down to the cellar
before you catch a beating.
What are you standing there for?
Run it under some cold water and bring it back to me.
Miserable heat today.
[groans]
Mm.
Oh, feels so good.
Oh...
What is that smell?
Steve!
Where did you get this?
- The linen closet.
- Linen...
You pissed in the linen closet!
- No, I didn't!
- Boy, you piss on me, I'll beat the life outta you!
[loud thud]
Jesus.
Come on.
Boy, sit down.
Come on, sit down.
Stop bleeding!
Oh, God, they're gonna wonder what happened.
Okay, this is what you're gonna tell them.
You were outside in the backyard playing on a shopping cart
and then you got up and you fell backwards
and you hit your head.
You got that?
- Mm. - Okay, you tell them anything
different and Willie's gonna shoot you dead.
[siren wails]
- You're at the hospital now.
- Bleeding all over!
Jesus, somebody help him, please!
- It's okay, honey.
You're gonna be fine.
- [Betty] Can we get somebody--
- Severe contusions to the head.
We have a concussion.
[Betty sobbing]
- He'll be okay.
- [Nancy] You're awake?
I thought you were gonna sleep away the rest of the day.
- I'm gonna be okay?
- You're gonna be okay, sweetheart.
We're gonna see to that.
But I have a very important question I have to ask you.
How did you get hurt?
- I fell when I was playing in the yard.
- That must have been quite a fall.
I need you to be really brave, Steve.
I'm gonna ask you one more time.
How did you get hurt?
- No, my poor baby!
Where did you put him?!
What did you do to him?!
Oh, lord, did something happen to him?!
I don't know what I'm gonna do.
Oh, there you are.
You're awake.
You all right.
Oh, my brave baby.
Oh, my lovely little boy.
I don't know what they did to you.
What did you tell them?
- I told them I fell from the cart.
- Don't you lie to me.
They've been talking to me all morning
when you've been in here lying
and telling them God knows what.
- If you don't mind, ma'am,
the doctors need to examine him.
- Oh, whatever it takes
to get my baby back home and outta here.
- Yeah. [Betty chuckles]
- Now, you tell me if it hurts, okay?
Come here.
You're fine.
That's good.
- Why does it take two doctors?
What are you doing to my boy?
- Mrs. Robinson, can I please see you outside?
- What for?
- If you'd please, ma'am.
- [Announcer] Dr. Stevens, please report to the ER.
Dr. Stevens to the ER.
- I'm gonna admit Steve to the hospital overnight.
- Admit him?!
What for?!
- I need to rule out a concussion.
As for his other injuries,
I don't believe that they're the result
of a single fall from a cart.
The bruising on his back is inconsistent with that story,
and I need to find out what happened.
- And just what's that supposed to mean?
- I've called Social Services.
- Huh! Good!
I want you to call them.
You call them and you ask them about Betty Robinson.
I have won awards for raising foster children,
39 of them, so you call them!
You call anybody you want!
Oh, as a matter of fact, why don't you call Dr. Downey?
He's supposed to be a bigwig around here, isn't he?
- He's chief of pediatrics, yeah.
- Well, you ask him how I treat my little ones.
He'll tell you how I treat them.
He'll tell you Steve's just clumsy.
He falls a lot.
- I will.
- How long you keeping him?
- I'll know more after I run some tests,
and I speak to his social worker.
- Well, you can run all the tests you want to,
but I'll tell you one thing, my baby's coming home with me.
- Not tonight he's not.
- You're gonna be okay,
but we're gonna keep you overnight
just to make sure you didn't bust your head.
- What is this place?
- Oh, this is where hurt children come to get better.
- How long am I gonna be here?
- [Nancy] We don't know that quite yet.
- Is Mrs. Robinson coming back?
- She probably just went home to get a few things
you'll need for your stay and she'll be back.
- Okay.
- Steve.
This story you're telling
about falling out of the cart and getting hurt,
that's not what really happened, is it?
It's okay.
We can talk about it later.
Why don't you just rest?
[somber music]
- [Narrator] They knew.
They didn't believe Betty's story.
I could tell by the whispers in the hallway,
the empathetic looks.
I didn't need to say a word.
The bruises on my body would speak for me
and scream, "Take me away from these people."
And they would hear the truth over my mumbled lie.
They were smart.
They would see the truth
and I would avoid Betty's rage and Willie's belt.
These beautiful shades of blues and purples and orange,
these would free me.
- Hey, sport!
Boy, things kids will do to get out of a book report.
- I didn't, I mean, I would--
- Look, it was a joke, or was supposed to be.
It's not really a joke though
if you have to explain it, is it?
Anyway.
So, how you feeling?
- I'm okay.
How did you know I was here?
- Well, you didn't show up.
I called your house, your sister told me you were,
so I figured I'd swing by
and see if you knocked anything loose up here
and hurt those scholarship chances, you know?
- I don't think it's that...
Joke again, right?
- Right.
Did you get a chance to look at that book
I gave you to read?
- No, not yet.
- Well, since you're gonna be laid up for a bit,
I figured it's a good time to catch up on some reading.
- The book's at home.
- I figured that too, so bought you a new one.
You give me my old copy back when you're back on your feet.
Besides, there's nothing really better
than cracking the spine of a new book.
It's like--
- Opening the door to a new world.
- Oh.
I was gonna say like the smell of a new car,
but [chuckles] I like yours better.
Yeah, let's rev her up.
So?
- I think she'll drive nice.
- [John] Me too.
- "Truth uncompromisingly told
"will always have its jagged edges"?
What does that mean?
- Well, that's what you're supposed to tell me
when you're done with it.
[chuckles]
- And just who is this?
Another doctor?!
- No, no, I'm John Sykes from the Upward Bound Program.
We haven't met.
Unfortunately.
[chuckles]
Well, I think you've spoken to my boss.
Ruby Dottin?
- Oh, my, yes.
Oh, do tell her hello for me.
- I will. - We have so many
friends in common.
- I'll do that, okay?
- So, Mr. Sykes--
- John, please.
- John, oh, John-- - John.
- Oh, was it that brings you here?
- You do, Betty.
- [Betty] Oh, are you charming or what?
- No, you really do. [Betty laughs]
No, I've come to actually keep an eye
on my number one student, making sure he doesn't slack off.
- Well, he would never do such a thing.
Education comes first.
That's a motto in our house.
- [John] That's a good one to have.
- Mm-hm.
So how exactly did you know that he would be here?
- Oh, Stephen's sister told me
when I phoned your home earlier.
- Oh, that was considerate of her.
Well, John, I hope you don't mind,
but as we can well-imagine,
it's been a really trying day for my poor baby over there.
I think he needs his rest.
- I understand.
I understand, Betty.
Betty, I understand far more than you think I do.
In fact, I understand completely.
Now, Stephen,
you read that book, young man.
- Yes. - Okay?
- I will. Yes, sir.
- I know you will.
Okay.
I'll see you, young guy.
Bye.
- Now, they gonna ask you a bunch of questions
and you're not gonna tell nothing.
You understand?
- Yes, ma'am.
- Good.
Now, I want you to know that I feel bad about this.
I never meant for this.
- It's okay.
- Oh, no.
No, it's not.
Now, I know how important it is to you, about your folks,
so when you come home tomorrow,
providing there's no problems or delays with that,
I was thinking maybe we should sit down
and talk about your parents and who they are.
- You'll tell me who they are?
- Maybe even call them with you.
You would like that, wouldn't you?
- Call them?
But you said my father was dead.
- Oh, you know better than to listen to me when I get mad.
I can say some spiteful things.
But you'd like that, wouldn't you,
to speak with them, your real mother and father?
So, we're just gonna keep what happened our little secret,
and tomorrow when you get home, we're gonna do just that.
- Hungry?
It's a beautiful night out.
You have quite an appetite, huh?
Steve, I was wondering if you felt
up to talking about your accident.
I have to ask you how you got hurt.
Steve, I can't help you unless you tell me the truth.
- I have to go back.
- Steve, did Mrs. Robinson hit you?
- I fell.
- Okay.
Okay.
We'll leave it at that.
Hey.
What about those vegetables?
- I'm not hungry.
I'm more than tired.
[sighs]
- All right.
Okay.
I'm gonna go, Steve.
You want me to turn the lights off?
Okay.
- Nurse Nancy?
- Yeah?
- Thank you.
- You're welcome, Steve.
- Steve?
Steve Klakowicz?
- Yes?
- I'm Miss Holt.
I've been assigned to your case as your social worker.
Is it all right if we talk for a bit?
- Sure.
- Well, Steve, do you know why I'm here?
- You're my social worker.
- I am, but that's not why I'm here this morning.
The doctors and nurses here are worried
about your injuries and how you got them.
- I told them I fell.
- [Holly] I know you did,
but they find it a little hard to believe
that you got all these injuries
from falling from a cart once.
And having reviewed your file,
I find it a little hard to believe too.
- I fell.
- Steve, is someone hurting you?
We can remove you from the home.
- No!
- Okay.
I'm sorry.
I don't want to upset you, but I can't help you, Steve,
if you don't tell me what really happened.
- All these years, you were never there.
Nobody was.
Now that I'm so close to find...
I fell.
Can you please just leave it alone?
- All right.
I want you to take my card.
Now, if anything changes, if you ever need help,
I want you to call me directly.
- Okay.
- Mr. and Mrs. Robinson are outside.
You'll be released to them.
- Now?
- Unless you have anything to tell me.
Then, yes, right now.
Why don't you get dressed
and I'll let them know that you'll be going home with them.
I'll be checking on you.
A little later, just to see how you're doing.
Mrs. Robinson, I'll instruct the doctors
to release Steven to you immediately.
- Oh!
- We'll schedule a follow-up on Stephen
some time early next week.
- Thank you, Jesus!
My baby boy's coming home where he belongs!
Oh, my poor boy.
This horrible place with these evil-minded people.
Oh, my little Stevie's coming home.
Oh, my little angel.
[chuckles]
And his mama's gonna give him everything he deserves.
[chuckles]
[somber music]
- [Narrator] They did not say a word to me on the ride home,
and I did not say a word to them.
I had nothing to say.
She had bought my silence with the promise of something
I waited a lifetime for,
a conversation with my mother and father.
I had kept my side of our agreement,
the only thing that mattered
was to see if Betty would keep hers.
[sighs]
- Well, now, home where you belong.
You happy to be home, Steve?
Good 'cause we're gonna have a little talk.
Oh, now, now, none of that.
We're just gonna talk, okay?
Come on, baby.
Sit down.
Stevie, now tell Betty what you told those people.
- That I fell from a cart.
- And?
- That's all.
I swear, nothing else.
- And why should I believe you?
- 'Cause I wanna talk to my mother.
- Oh, that's right.
A promise is a promise.
- Yes, ma'am.
- Go read or something.
- Yes, ma'am.
- Oh, Steve, what are we gonna say
when that lady from Social Services comes?
- That I fell from a cart.
- Good boy.
[phone ringing]
No one's home, honey, but we can try again tomorrow.
Maybe around 10.
- But I have to be at school for my program.
- Oh, well, if it's not that important to you.
- No!
It's very important.
Can we please wait till after I get home?
- Well, we could, maybe, if you drop out of that program.
- But college.
- Well, life's about choices, boy.
It's about time you start making one.
Oh!
Here are those forms you wanted me to sign.
- And after
removing
the fra, frame
re, releasing the...
I'm a nobody.
How long you watch me?
- [Stephen] Not long.
- What them words say?
- You can sound it out.
Ca. - Ca.
- Li. - Li.
- Bration. - Bration.
Di. - Divides.
[laughs]
- Calibration divides, that's right.
That makes sense, that makes sense.
That's good.
See, the main spring,
it determines the weight of the trig, can I show you?
Okay, come on.
See, now, see, that's the weight there.
And the main spring's right on that,
so you pull back and then when you release, pah-yow.
[laughs]
[softly chattering]
- Steve, something bothering you today?
Huh?
- Mr. Sykes--
- John.
- Mr. Sykes, I don't think this program is right for me.
- What?
- I don't think this program is right for me.
- But, Steve, you're all set.
I thought you wanted to be in the program.
- I do!
I mean, I did.
It's complicated.
But I'm sorry I wasted your time.
- Okay.
Oh!
Man.
Did you finish the book?
- I did.
- Well, let's at least go over it
so it's not a complete waste of time, all right?
- All right.
- Well?
Tell me the story.
- It was good, sad, but good.
- That's a review, not the storyline.
Try again.
- There's this sailor, Billy Budd.
He's really just a kid and he signs up
to be a part of the crew on this boat, the Bellipotent.
- [John] Mm-hm.
- While he's on there,
he meets this master-at-arms, Claggart.
At first, Claggart's really nice to him,
but he's just pretending.
Claggart's really mean and he sets up Billy
to make him look like he's a mutineer.
- And how does that work out for Billy?
- Not good.
They hang him.
- Why?
- Because he doesn't defend himself.
- [John] Why doesn't he do that?
- He can't.
He stutters and when he gets upset, he can't speak.
He can't defend himself.
- Mm-hm.
Well, it's kind of unusual
to kill the hero of your story, don't you think?
Think Melville was trying to say something by doing that?
- That if you don't speak up,
bad people in the world will kill you.
- I think that's true.
- I have to go.
- Fair enough.
Steve, if you change your mind,
anything, you just let me know.
- [Narrator] I knew that the program
was my best way to get into college,
and college was my best way to get away from the Robinsons,
but that did not matter today.
Today is the day I will find a home.
Today, I will have an answer to all my questions.
I will finally find where I've come from
and who I belong to and who I look like.
There is a hope,
a prayer for a real mother and a real father,
and that's all I've ever asked for.
- Mama, who'd you call?
- Your grandma.
That phone will ring forever and she'll never hear it.
[chuckles]
- And he believed you?
[somber music]
- Can I help you?
- Yes, can I speak to Miss Holt?
So, you see, you have to get me out of there.
- Well, we're gonna try our best, honey.
It's just that when they took custody of you,
they assumed legal guardianship.
- I don't understand.
- Just means it'll be a bit of a process,
but we'll get you out of that home.
You'll have to file a 51A against them.
- What's that?
- It's a form you have to complete
if you want to file a complaint against the Robinsons.
You'll have to describe what's been happening in the home.
- And then I'll be able to leave?
- Well, then, an investigation
will be conducted by the agency
and they'll see what the facts are, and then, yes, Steve.
Yes, you will be able to leave.
There is a little problem.
It's just that when you complete the form,
you have to be very specific about what's happening.
And, Steve, they're gonna know
it was you who filed the form.
- I don't understand.
So, when I file that form, they're gonna know it was me?
Oh, oh, no.
[crying]
They're gonna kill me.
- Steve, Steve, Steve, look at me.
They're not gonna hurt you anymore.
Now, once you file this form,
they will know that if something happens to you,
we are coming after them.
- Social worker called.
- [Willie] Boy!
- [Reggie] Nice knowing you.
[loud thud]
[ominous music]
[phone ringing]
- Hello, this is Miss Holt.
I'm away from my desk right now.
Please leave a message.
[phone beeps]
- Hi, Miss Holt.
This is is Steve Klakowicz.
You have to get me out of here.
They're gonna kill me.
Please. - You little bastard!
Don't put any marks on him.
- I'm gonna kill you!
[loud thud]
- I'm not gonna take this anymore.
I'm doing this my way.
[audience applauds]
- You see, they shouldn't be letting them beat a dollar.
That's not right.
- [Woman] $500.
- [Man] 550!
- [Host] Actual retail price, $555.
- What you doing in there?!
- [Host] Be right back with the Showcase Showdown.
- [Betty] Don't you have chores to do?
- The garbage can was full, ma'am.
I thought I'd take it outside.
- Mm.
[key jingles]
Go ahead.
I'll be watching you.
Standing right here.
And hurry up!
Showcase Showdown's coming on!
- [Host] We're back.
It's time for the Showcase Showdown.
[bell chimes]
[audience applauds]
And Juan, come on down!
And Carl, come on down!
- [Steve] I need to see Miss Holt.
- Miss Holt is sick today, flu.
- [Steve] Please.
[gasps]
- I'll get you Mr. Silvia.
Your name?
- Steve.
Steve Klakowicz.
- Hello.
Mrs. Robinson?
Yeah, this is Mike Silvia
from the Social Services Department.
- Steve ran away!
- No, he didn't.
He's right here, Mrs. Robinson, and he's badly beaten.
- Well, he broke up the house and my antique chifferobe
and all the presents we bought him for his birthday.
- Steve says he didn't get anything for his birthday.
Is that true?
Because you know the department
gave you extra money to provide for him.
- He's lying.
I have taken 39 children into this home--
- Yeah?
So if I came over in the next 10 minutes,
you'll be able to show me everything you got him?
And the broken antique chifferobe
or whatever you call it, huh?
'Cause I can be there in 10 minutes, you hear me?
Hey, Steve has the right to press charges
against you and Reggie,
but he doesn't want to, you hear me?
He just wants to get his things and get outta there.
So let's just do this as soon as possible.
- Fine by me.
We never wanted him in the first place.
- It's the other way around.
You don't deserve him.
But you have two choices:
I can come by with Steve and get his stuff
and you can sign the papers and relinquish the guardianship,
or I can call the police on you and have you both arrested.
- Fine.
- I'm glad we understand each other.
We'll be there in 30 minutes.
Have his things ready.
[knocking]
Mrs. Robinson please?
- They're over there.
- Mrs. Robinson, I'll have you sign these papers,
and once you do that, consider this matter closed.
- Why you don't waits till I gets home?
- For what?
So they can lie to you again and you can beat me some more?
- Nobody touched nobody around here.
- Really?
Look at my face.
No more.
- Oh, yeah?
So you's a man now, that's it?
- I've always been a man.
You just never noticed.
- Mrs. Robinson, this isn't productive having...
Hey, Steve, get your things.
We're gonna leave now.
- He's not taking any out this house
until he pays for what he breaks!
- [Mike] Now, we talked about this, Mrs. Robinson.
I thought you said everything was gonna be all right.
- They've never given me anything worth keeping anyway.
But I am taking my books.
- Okay, kid.
Yeah.
[loud thud] [loud clattering]
- Come out here!
Come on, come out now.
I'm not afraid of you.
Come on, fight me!
Coward.
- Ready, kid?
- Yeah.
- Get the hell outta here!
We never wanted you in the first place.
You were never family.
We could've adopted you a long time ago,
but we didn't want you!
Nobody wants you!
Not even your own parents!
You gonna be no good, you hear me?!
No good!
- You stopped being able to hurt me a long time ago.
- Come on, it's time to go, Steve.
- God's gonna take care of you.
- You okay, man?
- Never been better.
- Okay, now, we just need you to find a place to stay.
[gentle music]
No, I understand.
No, I do. Thank you.
If anything changes, can you...
You got my number.
You can't do anything?
Okay.
Thanks for trying.
No, I understand.
Thank you.
No.
No, thank you.
Let me know if anything changes, all right?
Okay.
No one.
It's Friday night, I guess I waited too long.
Can you think of anybody?
A relative or a friend you could stay through the weekend,
so we can find a more permanent place for you?
- This might be a long shot,
but there's this teacher from the Upward Bound Program.
Mr. John Sykes.
- John Sykes.
- So, Mike, you hungry?
I mean, you sure you don't want any?
I make plenty. - Nah, I'm fine, thank you.
- Okay.
Hey, kiddo.
It's better than it looks.
- [Steve] I would hope so.
[laughs]
- It's getting late.
My wife's gonna kill me.
If I could just have you sign
a couple of these temporary custodial forms,
and we'll be good to go.
- All right, what do you say we go to my office.
I got a pen in there
and some questions I wanna ask you, okay?
- You have some questions?
- Yeah. - Okay.
- [John] Hey, we'll be right back, okay?
- Okay.
- [Mike] And don't leave town, all right?
- [John] This way.
- All right.
I'm gonna go, Steve.
I'll talk to you on Monday and see if we can get something
a little more permanent for you, okay?
I almost forgot my bags.
Must be getting tired.
- [John] Thanks a lot, Mike.
- Yeah.
Okay, I'll talk to you on Monday.
- Thought it was in here somewhere.
Oh.
Got it.
- John, did you use that cot at the Battle of Gettysburg
or the Battle of the Little Bighorn?
- Uh.
Both.
Yeah, both, if you really wanna know.
Hey.
So, look, I'm sorry.
I don't have a lot of guests, you know, stay over.
So...
We'll find a better place for you
to sleep in the morning, okay?
- This, this is fine, John.
Thank you.
I'm really glad to be here.
I'm really glad.
- I'm really glad too.
Hey, come here.
Come on, let's give it a try.
There you go.
Lay down there.
All right.
From my Civil War days.
You know what they say.
There you go, Stephen.
There.
- This will be great.
Goodnight.
[gentle music]
- [Narrator] I did not sleep my first night of freedom.
Rather, a half moon illuminated the world outside the window
and I stood there for many hours taking it in.
For the first time all day, I was alone with my thoughts.
I can't explain it, but for me,
it was a new world with a new promise,
but it also held far too many unanswered questions
about a family I never knew.
And it was time for this new world
to answer those questions.
- My mother's name was Marian.
- Up and at 'em, sport!
I've created us both a favor not to miss breakfast.
There's this great waffle house...
Hey.
What is it? You okay?
- John. - Yeah?
- My mother's name was Marian.
- [John] Uh-huh.
- She's dead.
- It's okay.
Remember what I promised?
It's all gonna be okay.
- [Narrator] And I would be.
Despite Mike Silvia and Holly Holt's best efforts,
the weekend turned into a week, and the week into two.
After a few weeks together,
John invited me to stay with him permanently
and finish high school.
The Department of Social Services
agreed to this arrangement.
I would come to terms with my mother being gone.
I was glad I had taken those few pages, for until then,
I'd always wondered why my mother had left me.
The picture the pages painted
was far different from what I had imagined.
It was not an unloving mother who had left me,
rather, a woman who had been victimized
by her circumstances in a series of violent men,
and who would eventually succumb
to an ongoing battle with alcoholism.
She died a little over three years
after I moved into my first foster home.
So while my dream of a mother was gone,
I still clung to a fantasy
of finding out who my biological father was,
but fate had now given me John to fill that role.
Never before had I been loved
so immediately and unreservedly.
I enjoyed the consistent support of not only John
but of his parents, Theresa and John Senior,
who insisted I call them Grandma and Grandpa Sykes.
Miss Holt and Mike Silvia
would continue to check on me through the years,
but now, it was not for my safety,
rather, it was to see how I was doing in school
or check on my progress towards my goal of college.
With John's help, and the help of Mrs. Dottin,
I would complete the Upward Bound Program
and be accepted into Boston College on a full scholarship.
Yet despite all the good things that life was giving me,
I was never fully free from endless thoughts
about the birth family I'd never known,
especially on my frequent and solitary bike rides.
My favorite spot to ride was around Buttonwood Park.
These rides, in the beauty of the park,
gave me time to reflect on the young boy that I once was,
the man I was so trying to become.
And so I would sit in this sanctuary listening to the wind
rushing through the trees in a natural harmony,
staring at a lake whose origins appeared
as deep and mysterious as my own.
I had fought through seemingly endless suffering
on the unyielding belief
that one day my family would come and rescue me,
but they never did.
And though the tide had turned,
I still longed for my own history.
The still water seemed to answer me.
"This is your fate.
"You survived.
"You have yourself now, and that has to be enough."
But it was not.
There was one thing left to do.
- [Mike] Yeah, just, if you can get me that file, all right?
Thank you.
Hey, Steve.
- Mike.
- What's up, kid?
You all right? - Yeah.
Mike, can we talk?
- Sure.
- Mike.
In my file, does it say who my father is?
- Steve, you know I can't discuss that with you.
- But I'm entitled to know.
- If there was a definitive answer to that question,
department would've tracked him down
to discuss him taking custody of you.
- So that's a no.
- I mean, a more definitive answer would be a blood test
or maybe a statement from your mother, but...
- But she passed away.
- Yeah.
I figured that's where those pages went.
Steve, you're really too young, legally,
for me to answer that question.
I can lose my job.
You know what I mean?
- Yeah.
- But if there was an investigation,
it would be in your file.
Right? Like I said.
Right?
And it wouldn't be definitive,
but there would be a list of people they interviewed,
phone numbers, possible people that knew your father,
your real father.
Wanna soda?
- But-- - I'm gonna grab a Coke.
I'm gonna go down the hall, like, one minute.
Wanna Coke?
- Yes, please.
- And my file will be here when I get back, huh?
- Yeah, Mike.
Thanks.
- For what?
Coke?
Don't mention it.
- She didn't lie.
- Gerri!
Gerri!
- Hi, I'm Steve.
- I know who you are.
She's this way.
Now, you're gonna have to give her some time.
- I still can't believe it.
You're a spitting image of him.
- You have my eyes.
[chuckles]
- Oh, about half of us do.
Your grandmother was Cape Verdean.
- What was he like?
[chuckles]
- You mean besides thinking he could walk on water?
[chuckles]
He had a terrible street reputation,
but, to me, he was just my mischievous little brother.
I loved that boy.
And Mama, oh, she loved that boy.
She doted on him.
Was 13 children in all.
Our older brother, Gordon, he passed when he was eight.
We had a lot of hard times.
Now, some of the younger kids was put in a orphanage and...
They would later grow up in foster homes.
Daddy left after the fire,
Mama died at 39,
and Kenny, he threw himself into boxing.
Oh, but the draw of the streets was too much for him.
Beyond marijuana and selling and using heroin,
he robbed dealers for his own use.
Said to me, "I'm hooked, Gerri!
"I'm trying to stop, but it's hard."
They gonna shoot you if you keep this up.
There was no talking to him.
Once he made his mind up about something,
couldn't stop him.
I got a call in the middle of the night.
It was from a hospital in River Falls,
asking if I knew a Kenny Pemberton.
Said they called me
because my number was the only one he had in his wallet.
When I got to the hospital,
he was already gone.
They had a sheet over him, except his face.
I could still see that bandana he had tied around his head.
When I looked at him, I hit the floor.
- You don't have to keep talking about this.
- No, no, no, no.
You need to know this.
Have you been to his grave?
- No.
I don't even know where he was buried.
- I'll have Manny take you.
I'm just gonna sit for a bit.
- Thank you.
- All the way to the end, down a row right there.
I'll wait here.
- Mr. Gomes...
When I first came to your house
and you were talking to Gerri,
can I ask you what you said to her?
- I told her Kenny's son was across the street,
so she should sit down.
- I would spend several more years trying to put together
the broken pieces of my biological family.
I would find three brothers and a sister,
I would have aunts and uncles and a grandmother,
and we would become close.
But when I look back,
I now realize I did have a family after all.
John Sykes, Mrs. Dottin, Mike Silvia, Mrs. Levin,
they were my family because they chose to be,
and I will be forever grateful for that choice.
I would gladly not repeat what I went through,
but I wouldn't change it either.
Hey there.
- Daddy, are you okay?
- I am now.
[elegant music]
There comes a time that you do have to fight,
and that fight is still in me.
I'm still fighting against that prediction
made of me at one and a half years old,
that I didn't have a chance in the world.
That was my adversary,
and I wanted to defeat it so convincingly
that no future generation of Pembertons
would ever encounter the likes of it again.
It ends and it has ended with me.
I had that power, had that ability, and so do you.
[gentle music]