03x11 - Seasons of Belief

[bunniefuu]

[theme music playing]

NARRATOR:
Man lives in the sunlit world

of what he believes
to be reality.

But... there is,

unseen by most, an underworld.

A place that is just as real

but not as brightly lit.

A dark side.

MAN:
Nice.

Okay, these are the fish sticks.

WOMAN:
Mm-hmm.

With a new kind
of bread crumb covering.

Right.

And my headline says...

"What the best dressed
fish sticks

will be wearing this year."

Best dressed?

Yeah, that's the new kind
of covering.

Bread crumbs?

Oh.

Has anyone here seen my watch?

Look under your bed,
Sandy.

I think
it's good, Jerry.

Eh, so-so.

I like it, I think it's cute.

Did you ask about the raise yet?

Hey, Mom, can I have
my birthday present

a month early?

No, you may not.

What do you want, son?

A new watch,
obviously.

Well, look
for your old one, honey.

I've looked everywhere.

In seven seconds?

Guess I'll just have
to ask the milkman.

What was that?

Well, you see, everybody's...

been getting presents
from the milkman.

Mr. Collier, Mr. Hemley.

See, they write down
what they want on the notes,

and the next day, they get money
and stuff with their milk.

Sounds like one
of Jimmy Rice's

tall stories to me.

Mr. Driscoll told me
that he asked for $50 in a note,

and the next day he won it
in his office lottery.

Howard Driscoll told you that?

Yeah, just yesterday.

Time for bed, kiddo.

But it's barely dark out.

WOMAN:
Well, you can take the extra
time to look for your watch.

Wait, take this up
while you go, okay?

Hey, sport, if you
can't find your watch,

I'll get you another
one tomorrow.

All right!

[running]

Jerry, I really wish
you wouldn't do that.

Honey,

I actually haven't gotten around
to asking for that raise.

You told me two weeks ago
that you would.

I figure another couple
of campaigns under my belt

and better timing...

Jerry, we're losing our lease.

We're down to our last $200.

Don't let's press
the panic button here.

Honey...

we lost a baby
girl last year.

We lived
through that.

This is
only money.

Only money?

All right, I'll tell you what.

I will ask for that raise
tomorrow.

I promise.

I'll tell you
something else.

I don't care what
any dumb doctor says.

We're going to have
another baby girl.

Oh, Jerry.

We are handsome,
charming people,

and from now on, things are
going to start breaking our way.

Okay?

Okay.

Honey, will you write
the milkman a note?

I think we've got
a whole quart in the fridge.

Jerry.

Okay.

Maybe I'll ask him
for the raise.

"Dear Mr. Milkman,

"please leave two quarts--
h*m*...

...and a wristwatch
for my son Sandy."

Ooh.

Magic time.

[dog barking]

Good morning.

Morning, love.

Honey, you missed
your train.

Mom, Dad.
Oh, boy.

Zoom.

Look.

It was on my desk
the entire time.

The busted timer
hand even works.

Jerry, you didn't go out
and get him a watch, did you?

No, what do you think, there's
any watch stores open at dawn?

Maybe the men
in your life are

a little more
responsible than
you think.

That was delicious.

Delicious is an
understatement, Howard.

That sauce was the
work of genius, Ruth.

Thank you, Edna.

HOWARD: It's amazing
you can stay so thin.

Good Lord.

[Howard chuckles]

I owe it all to clean
living and easy recipes.

You're making it hard
on the rest of us, Ruth.

No, no, she's just warming up
for that extra mouth on the way.

Is it really going to be a girl?

That's what
the doctors tell us.

HOWARD:
Yeah, well, our kids
are all grown up,

thank God.

Well, they still need a little
financial help every so often.

HOWARD:
Yeah, but that's
because they don't make

as much money as I do.

But then again, they don't have
our milkman either.

Oh, Howard.

Milkman?

Uh, Howard,

I thought you told me

that milkman business
was just a fantasy.

It is, oh, it is.

It's just that we need our
fantasies here in dull suburbia.

It's funny you mentioning
the milkman, Howard.

I haven't heard anything about
him since Sandy brought him up.

Uh, honey,

do we have coffee?

Oh, sure, I forgot.

I'll help.

That was a dumb move, Howard.

I thought she knew.

Edna knows.

She does?

I had to tell her something.

I'd been winning a new car in
a different contest every week.

[chuckles]

It is just so wonderful that
you're having a baby girl

after all that trouble.

Mm, it's more
than wonderful.

It's miraculous.

You know, Edna says that, uh,

we have to sell some
of our eight cars,

but I don't know
which ones to sell.

I mean, I've never had
eight cars in my whole life.

I only ask for cash.

This way I can keep it secret.

That's good.

You don't need a garage
to keep cash in, do you?

[chuckles]
Well, not yet anyway.

[chuckling]

That Howard-- he's a crazy
old coot, but I like him.

I read your note,
Jerry.

My note?

I saw you sneak it
into the milk box

while Howard and Edna
were still here.

Do you always ask the milkman
for a thousand dollars?

Well... I guess I took
Howard's words at face va--

honey, this is a joke.

Then I'll just tear it up.

No.

I mean, might as
well give it a try.

What harm can it do?

I'm worried, Jerry.

What about?

I don't know, I-I'm just,
I'm just worried.

Hey. We're getting our baby,
we're paying everybody off.

Honey, we've been on a
roll for eight months.

You don't want to
let go of the dice

while we're still
hot, do you?

But you said yourself
he didn't exist.

Right... right.

But until a year ago,

I didn't know that
horse race gambling existed,

but it does, and it's paying us
off a hell of a lot better

than any nine-to-five job
I ever had.

So, what's the problem?

You've changed, Jerry.

You mean I'm different from you,
don't you?

No, I mean you're not
the man I married.

It's like... it's like
you've gone underground.

What the hell is that supposed
to mean?

Look, I saw the way
you changed the subject

when Howard brought up
the milkman.

I'm not a total idiot,
you know.

I think we're growing apart,
Ruth.

I don't even know what
you're thinking anymore!

We never talk!

We don't even talk
about your job anymore.

There is no job.

Jerry, you didn't quit?

I told Doug and Willie and the
rest of those sad-sack admen

they could take their job

and take a bus.
Why?

Because I want to get us
off the treadmill.
[sighs]

I want us to take a bite
of the good life, Ruth.

Honey... you are going to have
a beautiful baby girl,

and I'm gonna pick up
that novel

I put down
when we got married

and I'm gonna conjure us up
a masterpiece.

I've got a lot
of new ideas.

You're going to be proud
of me, Ruth, honest.

It's going to
be you and me,

and these are going to be
the best years of our life.

Jerry, we can't live
off a novel.

Sure, we can.

It'll take months
to finish it.

Not necessarily.

Oh, what are you going
to do, Jerry,

just sit down
at a typewriter

and start banging out
some novel?

Bang out a novel,
that's correct,

and I'm gonna win with it!

That's what's freaking you out,
isn't it?

You like the old
Jerry Cooley.

You like the guy that didn't
even have enough guts

to ask for a raise.

The old Jerry Cooley
told me the truth.

You want the truth?

I'll show you the truth.

This is the truth.

Here, here,

and more and more

and this and
this and this.

This is wrong, Jerry.

So help me... this is wrong.

[dog barking in distance]

[snoring]

[alarm buzzing]

[buzzing stops]

[barking continues]

[crickets chirping]

[door creaking]

You're waiting for the milkman,
aren't you?

That's where all the money's
coming from.

I get my money at the track.

I never met the milkman.

I write him notes,
like everybody else.

But tonight, you're meeting him.

Tonight is different.

Why, Jerry?

Are you in trouble?

Go to sleep, Ruth.

No one gets something
for nothing

in this world, Jerry--
not unless...

Unless what?

Why am I pregnant?

What kind of a crazy question
is that?

Honey, four different doctors
told me

I could never conceive again.

In six weeks, I'm giving birth.

Did you ask the milkman
for a baby girl?

Oh, honey,
please talk to me.

We used to talk.

We used to laugh.
We used to love.

Please talk to me.

It's all under
control, Ruth.

Sweetheart, it's all
under control...

[footsteps, rattling]
What?

Shh.
What is it?

[dog barking, rattling]

Jerry, no.
[bottles rattling]

Honey, please!
Don't leave.

Don't leave!
Jerry, no!

Come back! I need you!
Honey, I'm worried.

Please, it'll be all right!

Please!
Come back
tomorrow night!

I swear it'll be all right.
Jerry.

[typing at typewriter]

JERRY:
Bravo.

It's pretty easy.

Son.

Come over here and take a look.

See these papers?

They're going to get us
rolling again.

As soon as Mom has
your little sister,

they're going to get
her rolling, too.

You know, Sandy,

I know things have been
a little bit strained here

for the last few days,
but I want you to know that...

Maybe you shouldn't get things
from the milkman anymore.

Maybe that's what's making
you guys fight so much.

Has your mother discussed this
with you?

Mom doesn't have to tell me
everything that goes on.

I take my bike all over town.

I see things.

What kind of things?

Like everybody

within three blocks of here
getting rich.

Or adding on to their homes.

People have been adding on
to their homes

for years, Sandy. It's, uh...

Tommy Edison.

He told me his dad got a new
oak tree for the front yard.

He woke up one morning,
and it was there,

like it had been
growing for years.

He told me his dad
got money, too.

That's what you've been doing,
haven't you?

You've been getting money
from the milkman

so you don't have
to work anymore.

I work, Sandy.

It's just a different kind
of work.

[knock at door]

JERRY:
Howard, yeah.

Come on in. It's open.

Hi, Mr. Driscoll.

Hello, Sandy.

Can I speak to your dad alone?

Just for a minute, okay?

Uh, why don't you help your mom?

Help her do what?

She's been lying down
all week.

Hey.

JERRY:
Come on in, Howard.

Care to join me
in a little drink?

Yeah.

You know, it's a funny thing
about writing this book.

I keep drinking
and typing and...

drinking and... the
ideas keep coming.

Feel a little bit
like Hemingway.

Of course, I think those
stories about Hemingway

are probably a little
overblown, but...

Edna's dead.
What?

[sighs]

She was k*lled in a car crash.

I just got off the phone
with the police.

What can I do?

Nothing, Jerry.

How did it happen?

[sighs]

She took one of those damn
new cars out for a drive,

and the brakes gave out
on the interstate.

I-I don't know what
to say, Howard.

You seen the milkman lately?

Nobody sees the milkman.
You know that.

Yeah, well, maybe it's time
somebody did see him.

Seeing as how he k*lled my wife.

He k*lled?

Oh, he had an accomplice.

Of course.

I was the one who set her up.

But, Jerry, if you're dealing
with this guy,

you'd better get it on paper.

You'd better get records,
and you'd better keep them.

Howard, Howard,
just take it easy.

Slow down.

You're not
making sense.

Okay.

Two weeks ago...

I wrote a note,

asking for a sweet, young thing.

I wanted a looker--
a girlfriend--

to replace the nag I got now.

To replace, Jerry.

You know what that means?

So, you think that...

Hell, man,
Edna and I had our fights.

I mean, there's no denying that.

But I didn't want to lose her.

I loved her, Jerry.

I swear it's as if
I took a g*n and I...

I put it to her head
and I pulled the trigger.
Howard.

Howard, take it
easy, old friend.

Just take it easy.

I think I got to have a
talk with this guy myself.

Why? Did you ask
for something more than cash?

Yeah, I did.

You'd better
see him, Jerry.

You'd better get a hold of him
right away and work it out.

I tried the other night.
I don't know how.

I... Ruth scared him off.

Well, try a box
of chocolates.

I mean, it's weird,
but I did that once,

and he ate every piece.

I'll try.

Jerry, you don't think
I k*lled her, do you?

I mean, that stuff's
just speculation.

No, Howard.

It was an accident.

It was just a horrible,
horrible thing but...

could happen to anybody.

Just anybody.

[crickets chirping]

[crickets chirping]

[faint rattling]

[louder rattling, footsteps]

Excuse me.

I won't come out
and look at you.

But I want to talk to you,
all right?

First of all, I want to
thank you for everything.

Especially the money.

It was sort of cute
how you had me go to the track

and bet on the horses
in order to get it.

Little too cagey to put it
in anybody's milk box,

huh, pal?

I especially want to thank you

for all those good ideas
on the book.

The thing is,
I-I wanted

to talk to you
about my new baby.

I really appreciate
all you've done on that.

Really.

I just wonder if...

I mean, I wish that...

maybe you could see to it
that she has it soon.

I mean, like tomorrow.

I mean, I don't care
if it's a girl or a boy.

Anything, just as long
as it comes soon.

No! Don't go!

Oh, don't go.

[dog barking]

Please.

Please just...

make it be healthy.

Please.

[light footsteps]

♪ ♪

[birds chirping]

[faint footsteps]

Sandy, is that you, son?

What is it, Sandy?

[eerie shrieking]

[eerie shrieking continues]

NARRATOR:
The dark side is always there.

Waiting for us to enter.

Waiting to enter us.

Until next time, try
to enjoy the daylight.