06x07 - One Small Step

Episode transcripts for the TV show "Cold Case". Aired: September 2003 to May 2010.*
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06x07 - One Small Step

Post by bunniefuu »

july . moon landing

- is in.

We copy you down,Eagle.

Houston,uh,Tranquility Base here.

The Eagle has landed.

("bad moon rising "by
creedence clearwate )

You just missed the moon
landing,you little troglodyte.

Get out of here,Laura!

Don't have a spaz.

I don't care about your
stupid toy,Danny boy.

It's not a toy.Get out!

Why don't you get out?

You haven't left the
house in three days.

Mom!Laura's bothering me!

Mom sent me.

Personally,I could care less if you
stay a friendless goober your whole life.

Hello?Earth to Danny...

Wow,he's leaving the house!Hold
on.Let me get a picture.

Detective McAvoy,Lilly Rush.

A retired detective.Just Mack,now.

Well,you said you got
something for me to look at?

Yeah,couple days ago guy comes
into the Fairmount Station.

- Drops this off.
- Some kind of model rocket?

Yeah,he found it up near the
bluffs over the Wissahickon.

Some,uh,civilian desk jockey processed it and
didn't even bother ID'ing the guy who brought it in.

Yeah,civilian humps doing cops' work.

Yeah,take a look here.

"The Chestnut Hill Rocket
Boys launched this vehicle

July , AD in peace for all
mankind." Signed "Danny Finch."

Day after we landed on the moon,Danny
Finch's body turns up in the Schuylkill.

He was years old.

That was my first year in Homicide.

Tough way to start out.

Yeah,tough on the family.

- Any suspects?
- Scumbag Reggie Blunt.

He got popped for a laundry list of
murders around the city that year.

And the DA lumped my
kid's case in with them.

Never got a conviction,but everybody
was sure he did it.Except me.

Talk to Danny's friends back in the day?

No,he didn't have any.

Boy was a loner,you
know,science nerd type.

Blunt went down for the other murders and
brass said there was no more meat on the bones.

He pushed me to move on.

This gives you something to chew on.

Yeah,this rocket was in the park two miles
upstream from where the body was found.

I interviewed all the
kids in the neighborhood.

I got nothing.

But this makes me think that maybe
he did have some friends after all.

- These "rocket boys."
- I don't know,Mack.

A toy rocket's a tough
sell with the bosses.

I've been years turning over in my
sleep what could have happened to this kid.

You have any idea what
that does to you,Detective?

No one else around here
will give me the time of day.

And I hear you take
cases nobody else will.

You find this kid's m*rder,maybe
I can get to sleep again.

Rocket Boys,huh?

Yeah,you think I'm crazy,huh?

I don't think you're crazy,Mack.

This baby is a freaking
marvel.Check it out.

Custom-machined,high-grade
chrome nickel washer.

A -year-old
kid built this?

Get it to Evidence,see if they can
lift any prints inside the cylinder.

Pretty skimpy box on this kid.You sure
your boyfriend did all his homework?

Blunt gets credit for the m*rder,suddenly
Mack's strong-armed to move on.

Blunt gets shanked in Graterford in ' .

He knew anything about
it,he took it to his grave.

Old Crackpot Mack.

Oh,you knew him,boss?

He was in Homicide when I was
still walking a b*at in Fishtown.

He's a good cop.

Bosses thought he
cared a little too much.

Autopsy report's got Danny with abrasions on the
face and body,a cracked skull,blunt-force trauma.

Kid got banged up pretty bad.

Aw,Chestnut Hill Chemistry Award, .

I didn't even know they
had chemistry in th grade.

Danny's sister Laura
is in with Jeffries now.

See if she knows anything
about this rocket.

Or the Chestnut Hill Rocket Boys.

Can I smoke in here?

Uh,no.-

Sorry. I thought police
station,you know,maybe.

Not unless you're
planning on confessing.

I lost my baby brother the
day they put a man on the moon.

I still can't look at it
without thinking about him.

You two were close?

I was pretty awful to him,actually.

It breaks my heart now.

At that age,you just don't think.

Danny say where he was going that day?

He never told me anything.

He sort of holed up in the science.

Skipped a grade when he was eight,ended
up in my class.Drove me crazy.

We found this up in the park.

Danny's name on it.

Know anything about it?

Math,science,chemistry.He was more
about equations than this sort of thing.

What about a "Chestnut
Hill Rocket Boys" club?

Danny in a club?

No way.But...

the week before he d*ed,I saw him
with some boys from the neighborhood.

Right...right here.

All right,perfect.

Okay.Perfect.

Neil Armstrong readies the
launch vehicle for ignition.

How come you always get to be Neil?

Huh,Chuck?

'Cause I'm the commander.

You can be Buzz Aldrin,the
mission specialist.

Okay,she's set to fly,Captain.

Saved every cherry b*mb I
could find from th of July.

Rocket's loaded and ready for liftoff!

Loaded and ready.This
baby's going to the moon!

I hope you know it's not going to work.

Go play with your Bunsen
burner,Poindexter.Busy here.

Look,you can't just pack
it full of expl*sives.

You have to cut the powder
with sulfur,otherwise...

Kid,we need your help,we'll ask for it.

Got it?

All right,men.Let's light this candle.

Let me do it,Chuck.

Here we go!

Ten,nine,eight,seven,six,five,four...

Told you so.

That stunt caused a lot of trouble.

Chuck's dad about skinned him alive.

Remember their names?

Just Chuck Pierce,the cute one.

But those three,they were
always together,though.

Ever see them with your brother again?

Chuck came by the next day.

Asked to see Danny.

I remember being disappointed.I
thought he was there to see me.

Civvie who took in the
rocket's a real paperweight.

Oh,let me guess: less than helpful.

Like pulling teeth.

I finally got him to rember
what time the guy brought it in.

I went back and dug through
the catch desk sign-in sheets.

Came up with a name: Mike Collins.

Great,got to be what, of
them in the Philly phone book?

Yeah.Go,Irish.

Your boyfriend called again.

Mack asked if we want
him in on interviews.

Told him,"Thanks.We're good.

" You going to share your
desk with this guy,Lil?

Aw,he was a good cop.

Tough to walk away when
you got business to settle.

I'm still sweating cases after I get my gold
watch,do me a favor,put me out of my misery.

Count on it.

Crackpot Mack said Chuck Pierce used to run
with some boys: Seth Rundgren and Bobby Kent.

All three of them interviewed in ' .

Said they were watching
the moon landing together.

Doesn't look like Chuck
let go of the rocket thing.

Naval aviator,applied
for NASA in the ' s.

Private air captain now.

Lear jets of the rich and famous.

Poor man's Neil Armstrong,this guy.

Let's see what Neil Armstrong
has to say about the Rocket Boys.

Yeah,it was a real shock
when Danny turned up dead.

Block was never the same again.

Yeah,how so?

Predator on the streets.

Parents wouldn't let kids play
outside after dark anymore.

Only now,thinking Danny might have
been with friends the night he d*ed.

You friends with Danny back then,Chuck?

Friends?Not really.

No,Danny was kind of
a...kind of an odd duck.

On the night of the moon
landing,did you see him around?

No,I was at home watching it on TV.

Pinnacle of human achievement.

You with anyone?

Yeah,I was,I was with,uh,Seth
Rundgren and Bobby Kent.

Haven't seen those guys in years.

- They lived on my block.
- The Chestnut Hill Rocket Boys,right?

Yeah,well,rockets were a phase,I mean,probably
because of the moon landing and all.

I think we were into
sharks the next week.

Then,uh,why'd you stop by Danny's the day
after you and your posse blew the neighborhood

to China trying to launch a rocket?

Ah,well,we wanted to see what he knew.

I mean,a rocket without a brain to
guide it is pretty much just a pipe b*mb.

He help you out?

Oh,yeah,sure,he'd do
anything,anything to be our friend.

We,we were just out to have
a good time,but this kid...

this kid was obsessed.

Once we're in,we got to move fast.

The foreman,Mr.Wallace,hates kids.

Heard he k*lled a guy on his site once.

They say he buried the body in the yard.

Never found it.

We have to make the nozzle out of something
that'll hold up to the heat from takeoff,

launch the vehicle all the
way into the mesosphere.

Geek.

You don't shut it,I'm gonna
launch you in the mesosphere.

We're supposed to be sneaking in,nimrods.Wallace
is going to hear us a mile away.

This is it.

Up and over,men.

Uh,guys?

I'm really not so great
at climbing fences.

Ah,gee,there's a surprise.

There,we need tt piece.

The one that's shaped like a
cone right on top-- it's perfect.

Come here!

Hey,you little bastards!

- Go,go,go!
- Get the hell off this property.

You think you're going to steal from me?

bite it,dirtbag.

You runt.

Show your face in here
again,you'll see what happens,man.

Come on! Come on!

That guy was a damn menace.

Everybody knew it,but like I
said,that kid Danny-- he was obsessed.

You saying he went back?

He told us that...everything we need to
launch a rocket was inside that fence.

When was this?

Oh,I don't know,maybe a
week before the moon landing.

NEIL ARMSTRONG That's one
small step for man,one...

giant leap for mankind.

Night,Lil.

You find anything on
the rest of Chuck's crew?

Well,Seth Rundgren
has a colorful history.

A court-ordered lockup ' to ' .

Schizo-affective disorder.

Bobby Kent's a floor manager at
Zane's Sporting Goods in Germantown.

What about this Wallace character?

Picked up an as*ault and battery in ' for slapping
around a junkie trying to steal copper from his site.

Put the guy in ICU for three weeks.

You get something off that rocket,Nick?

Rocket science,people.

Well,the factory that machine-tooled the metal cone
Danny used as a nozzle was located right here in Philly.

DWC Custom Manufacturing.

Place was knocked down,the summer of ' ,and guess who's
on the books as site foreman for the demolition company.

d*ck Wallace.

Meaner than a junkyard dog.

Best demo company on
the Eastern seaboard.

Ain't a building they put up
I can't pull down on a dime.

' ,though,you were just starting
to make a name for yourself.

I paid my dues.

Took any job that'd have
me.Demo,drywall,construction.

Site watchdog.

Yeah,I was the ogre.

Somebody had to be.Rob
you blind,otherwise.

Like that junkie you
busted open back in ' .

Freak pulled a Kn*fe on me.

What am I supposed to do?Bleed on him?

Sure,I get it.

Sometimes you got to cr*ck
a few skulls,get things done.

Yeah,you said it.

What about Danny Finch?

Kids tried to sneak on your
lot,you make a few threats.

Week later,this boy
turns up beaten to death.

Danny thought he could
outsmart you,sneak back in.

It's not like you didn't warn him.

Yeah,I warned him all
right,not that it did any good.

You got to be some kind
of special nitwit,right?

It's almost $ .

It's all I got.

W
- We just need maybe grams of potassium nitrate.

Forget it.

Seriously,kid,amscray.

Look,I'm sorry we broke
in,but my friends--

they're counting on me.

I'm like Wernher von Braun to them.

Wernher von Braun.

The scientist who
created the space program.

Without him...

without me that rocket will never fly.

I've been up all night working
out the mix,trying to get it right.

If I do,maybe they'll see that I'm...

That you're what?

Nothing.

Probably hopeless anyway.

The calculations never come out right.

It's going to explode or fly off course.

I'm gonna regret this.

Should be about the right mix.

Need an emulsifier to bind the powder.

The right nozzle,it should
burn clean instead of a...

fast expl*si*n.Know what I mean?

Hey,kid.

Calculations'll only get
you so far in life.Right?

At some point,you got to get
outside,you got to make it work.

Wow,this is perfect.

- Yeah,the scrap metal's...
- Yeah,I know.

Saw the perfect part for the
nozzle when we were here before.

Well,take what you need,all right?

Just don't be bringing
your little hood pals back.

Hey,kid.

You blow yourself up,you leave
my name the hell out of it.

You dig?

All right,now b*at it.

You gave a -year-old
kid dynamite?

It was a different time.

No lawsuits,no helmets,no safety seats.

We let kids be kids.

So...Danny,he...

managed to launch that rocket,huh?

Looks like it.

That's good.

Good for him.

Seth Rundgren?

Detectives Rush,Vera.

Need a hand?

- No,thanks.
- Few questions about Danny Finch.

Danny Finch.

Mind if we come inside,talk about it?

The last time I saw Danny,he wanted
us to break into a construction site.

We heard.

We climbed a fence and,and a man came out
with a baseball bat and chased us away.

Right.What about after that?

The day of the moon
landing.You see Danny that day?

Please don't touch that.

Whoops.

Seth.The day of the moon landing.

The-There was no moon landing.

Come again?

It's the pinnacle of human
achievement,and it was a hoax.

Th-They sh*t the whole
thing on a,on a soundstage.

- Who's "they"?
- NASA,the CIA,LBJ.

Lyndon Johnson faked the moon landing?

I've talked to agents who were there.

They tell me things,th-th-the tr--
the truth about what happened that day.

Danny think the same way?

He said it was the
scientists whmade it happen.

Without them,the Eagle
never would have landed.

Seth,the broadcast about the Eagle
landing happened the day Danny d*ed.

If he said that,it means
you saw him that day.

Three of you were with him
when he launched the rocket.

The Chestnut Hill Rocket Boys.

I know what you're trying to do.

Y
- You're trying to get me to say that I,I see Danny.

But he's gone.

I
- I know that.

But you still see him sometimes?

They say it's the disease.

It,it,it makes me believe
things that aren't true.

- Who's "they"?
- Chuck and Bobby?

Seth,you talk to them lately?

Your friends when you were .

How many of them do you still talk to?

Guy gives new meaning to
the word "certifiable."

Keep pushing,we'll never get
a straight story out of him.

Just lock up under pressure.

Stick a tail on him,see
what he does,where he goes.

Believe his rap about not
talking to Bobby and Chuck?

Not for a second.

I did steal his phone bill off his desk.

Lot of calls to one number.

Bet it ain't the CIA.

I got a few minutes before
I'm back on the floor.

Say you're looking for some
contact info for Seth Rundgren?

Yeah,know any way we
can get a hold of him?

I wish I could help,but...I
haven't talked to him in,gosh,ages.

Go ahead.Pick it up.We'll wait.

Hello.

What up,liar?

Got your number off of
Seth's phone records.

He's been calling you times
a week for the past month.

You sure you haven't
talked to him in ages?

You can hang up now,Bobby.

The three of you were with
Danny the night he d*ed.

- Seth already told us.
- Question is: why is he calling you so much?

And why are you both lying about it?

Look,Seth has a pretty
weird imagination.

One way of putting it.

Something go down with
Seth and Danny that night?

No.

Oh,come on,Bobby.

- Unstable guy...
- Maybe not even his fault,right?

Out in the woods,a dare gone bad.

Guess we got to take you
downtown,sort this all out.

Okay,okay,all right.

It isn't about Seth.

Seth and Chuck are lying to protect me.

This is outstanding.

Nice job,Danny.

Yeah.

Nice job.

Bobby,why do you say everything
Chuck says right after he says it?

I don't.

Actually,you kind of do.

Shut up,dork.What do you know?

Hey,ease off.

He's the reason we're out here.

Ought to be at home watching this on TV.

You kidding?

- This is way better.
- We're living it,man.

Right,Danny?

Yeah,this is the best.

Never really been in the woods before.

We're explorers.

Conquerors.

I'm Neil Armstrong,commander of the...

What was that?

There's something in the woods.

My half-brother,Malcolm,and
his dirtbag buddy,Griff...

they used to b*at our
ass every chance they got.

You left Danny behind with them?

- Nothing we could have done...
- And when Danny turns up dead?

They k*lled Danny-- what do you
think they would have done to me?

Where are your parents in all this?

Dad split,and Mowas
working all the time.

She left Malcolm in charge of me.

Best thing that ever happened was the two of them
shipping off to Vietnam the second they turned .

Griff d*ed over there.

Malcolm came back even worse.

And where is he now?

Up at Graterford,doing ten
to for armed robbery.

So,now Brother Bobby's trying to
pin a m*rder on me-- that's swell.

It sounds like you got it coming.

Made his life hell.

Life is hell.

Better he learned that early on.

Nice record you got,Malcolm: armed
robbery,as*ault,k*lling animals.

Not a big leap to doing in a kid.

You made your minds
up.Pull the trigger already.

Says here you got a sh*t
at parole in seven months.

Number might come down or go up,depending
how interesting you make our time here.

This is a simple question.

See Danny that day or not?

Yeah,we saw him.

Kid was about to wet his shorts.

- You like that sound,maggot?
- Let me go.

Should have learned to
run faster,professor.

Might have lived a little longer.

Hey,what have we got here?

Man,that is one big-ass firecracker.

Fuse and everything.

What are you gonna do with this,dork?

Let's light it under his twerp ass,see
how many pieces it makes of him.

Leave it alone.It's ours!

"Leave it alone!" Or what,wuss?

Light it up,Griff.

Broke my nose!

k*ll him.

What?The rocket's mine,numb-nuts.

Wait up.

Deviated my septum,little bastard.

You hear that?Still
whistles when I breathe.

Got your asses kicked
by a couple -year-olds?

Seth wanted that rocket real bad.

He was crazy enough
to take us on for it.

Hey,I was honest with y.That's
got to be worth something,right?

Right.We'll get back to you,Malcolm.

No,you won't.

I been in here long enough.I
ain't stupid,but hey...

Tell Bobby his big brother
says hello,would you?

Uh,took you long enough.

Thank you.

Never much into housekeeping.

Those intervie that you took from
the boys in the neighborhood...

still got them?

I got everything.

So,where do you want to start?

Seth Rundgren,Bobby
Kent,and Chuck Pierce.

You ever have a case like this?

You know,one that sticks
with you,doesn't let you rest?

Yeah,I...I do.

Name's Cooper.

And the kicker is he's still out there.

Unsolicited advice?


Don't let it sit for years.

Starts eating away at
you.Trust me on that.

Their stories are exactly the same,across the board
- "pinnacle of human achievement. "

Still doing it today.Chuck says it.

Seth's got the same lines,word for word.

Like The Manchurian Candidate.

Danny gets k*lled here in the
park and dumped in the Wissahickon.

Then floats all the
way down to the river.

Some of the injuries could have
come from the b*ating he took,

but the marks on his legs and arms...

maybe postmortem,bumping
off the rocks as he drifted?

Well,it was a rainy summer.

Creek was swollen.Would
have only taken a few hours.

Now,that spot could be right where
our Michael Collins found the rocket.

- Michael Collins?
- The guy who brought in the rocket.

Probably a fake name.

Michael Collins was the third
astronaut on the Apollo mission.

Third astronaut?

Armstrong and Aldr landed on the
moon,put their footsteps down,

became heroes,and Michael Collins...

he stayed in orbit around
the moon and never landed.

The boys were playing astronauts.If Chuck
was Armstrong,and Bobby was Aldrin...

Seth was Michael Collins.

Michael Collins.

You...you followed me.

You found the rocket here?

No,not,not...not here.

Up the path by the ravine.

You ought it in 'cause you wanted
us to reopen Danny's case.Why?

I don't want to...to see it anymore.

I...I want it to stop.

What do you want to stop,Seth?

What I remember.It can't be real.

What wasn't real?The
moon landing,the launch?

No,our...our launch was...was real.

You chickens through running away?

Oh,you made it back.

You got away.

- Holy crap.
- How did you do it?

Danny punched Malcolm
right in the honker.

Nah,it was all Seth.

I'd be dead if he didn't come back.

We're all dead anyways.

Malcolm will never let this go.

Forget it.

He can k*ll us tomorrow.

Right now...

we got a rocket to launch.

Yeah.

Let's do it.

- This is right here.
- Yeah Great.This is it.

Engraved it,so whoever
finds it knows who we are.

the rocket boys

We're now switching to mission control
as Neil Armstrong exits the spacecraft.

Hey,guys,listen.

They're walking on the moon.

That's one small step for
man,one giant leap for mankind.

They did it.

You light it,Seth.
Ten,nine,eight,seven,six,five,four,three,two,one!

What happened then,after the launch?

What happened out here?

We had to jump.

It was only way to get home
before our parents caught us.

Chuck and Bobby told me he...he didn't
make it,but I know that's not true.

Because I saw him.

I think you're gonna
have to come with me.

How long you been at him?

Hour or so.Guy's all over the place.

Still think he knows who did it?

I don't know.

A whole lot more than just
phone calls between these three.

Chuck and Bobby have been paying
Seth's way the last years.

A lot of money.

Got Chuck's name on receipts
for clozapine,Loxitane.

Heavy meds.

They're doing everything
they can to keep him quiet.

Boss!

Get the medics!

This is Rush in Homicide.

Get a medic unit in here now.

Pronounced him at the ER at Roxborough.

Guy was a mess.I shouldn't
have left him alone.

Yeah,well,nothing you
could have done,Nick.

Something happened at that creek.

And Seth would rather die
than tell us what it is.

Your friend's on the slab,Bobby.

- Seth?
- k*lled himself right over the table you're leaning on.

d*ed keeping your secret.

Almost like you k*lled him yourself.

Poor guy.

- Never really had a chance.
- Friends like you...

I guess not.

Don't seem very surprised,Chuck.

We did everything we could to help him.

Why is that?

Goodness of your heart?

We were practically
brothers,the three of us.

We couldn't let him down.

That's what everybody
did his whole life.

- You tried to help him.
- That's right.

Just little things.Making
sure he was okay.

Little things.Like the ,
bucks for his mental hospital?

Ten years' worth of antipsychotic meds?

- That wasn't me.
- What happened at the creek,Bobby?

Seth said Danny made the
jump; Chuck said he didn't.

What's Chuck paying
all that money to hide?

All right,so I...I paid
a few of Seth's bills.

It's only because he couldn't
afford to do it.Bobby,either.

You were keeping him quiet.

No,I was helping him cope.

With your secret.Tearing him
up inside for the past years.

The jump,Chuck.Tell us
what happened at the jump.

Chuck bent over backwards to help Seth.

That's the kind of
guy he is.End of story.

I got nothing else to say.

Little memento for you.

Sit here with your dead friends
and think about w they got that way.

Chuck's not gonna break
unless we got him cold.

Bobby's so deep in his thrall,it's
like getting him to rat out Jesus.

Hero worship.

Chuck's throwing money at the
problem,but Bobby's doing all the work.

'Cause Bobby actually cares.

I got this.

Get up.

I gotta cuff you before
I take you to your cell.

Wait...what?

Chuck tossed you uererhe bus.

You're locked up for m*rder.

Chuck wouldn't...

- He wouldn't do that.
- Well,he did.

And he's gonna get away with it because
you're too spineless to do the right thing.

Get up.

I didn't do anything.

I didn't do anything!

Save it!Bedtime story for your cellmate.

Wait,Chuck said I did something?

- Why would he do that?
- I don't get it.

You follow the guy around like a sheep.

- I'm not a sheep.
- Baaa,baaa,baaa.

That's all I hear when
you open your mouth.

Guy thinks he's the king of the world,jetting
around,and you're stuck here cleaning up the mess.

With Seth?I was glad to do it.

Chuck said we were a team.

He's my best friend.

Sit down.

Last chance.

Or you're gonna spend the rest of your
life in a cell half the size of this room.

We tried to get back home
after we launched the rocket.

Chuck said he knew the
way,but he was wrong.

Not this place again.

We've been outere e alnight.

We gotta get home.

Too far to jump.

We gotta go around.

That's what you said last time.

How we got lost in the first place.

We're never gonna make it back
before our parents wake up.

- What about your dad?
- I said it's too far.

Standing around talking about
it is just gonna take longer.

We can do it.

You?

Not a chance.Forget it.

We can do anything.

- We're the Rocket Boys.
- Will you shut up about that?

- It's stupid.
- It's not stupid.

- It's the best thing ever.
- You don't get it.

I'm not even supposed to be out here.

My dad finds out,I'm dead,okay?

We go around.

What's this?

Let's go.

I'm with Danny.

You'll never make it,Seth.

Yeah?Watch me.

He's right.

See you at home,suckers.

Almost didn't make it over,fat-ass.

Lay an egg,psycho.

I cleared it by a mile.

Yeah.

Race you to the bend.

I never saw a kid so proud of himself.

Chuck said he was too
weak,he didn't make it.

But he did.

- So how'd he end up in the water?
- I don't know.

We ran on ahead.

Look,Chuck was the leader.

If he said it,it had to be true.

After a while,I started
believing it myself.

But Seth never did.

It just chewed him up on the inside.

I've been checking
into your family,Chuck.

Who knew the Pierces were
such an American dynasty?

Yeah,Dad's a w*r hero.

Built a textile company from
scratch,turned it into an empire.

You got a point?

It's hard to live up to.Only son..

A lot of pressure on a kid.

I thrived on it.

- Some people do.
- Right.

Right,'cause you were
following in his footsteps.

And years old or
not,you were a leader.

That's why,when Danny fell in
the crick,you tried to save him.

He was so out of shape...

he couldn't hold
himself above the water.

He must've panicked.

That's what
happens,situations like that.

He was going to pull me down with him.

I... I had to save myself.

I... I mean...

so help me,God,I let him drown.

Then covered it up.

Papa Pierce found out,worse than being
punished,he'd have been disappointed in you.

It was an accident.

And I spent the rest of my
life trying to make up for it.

You know,there's just this one
little detail that doesn't fit.

Danny didn't drown,Chuck.

There's no water in his lungs.

- That's got to be a mistake.
- No mistake.

Someone cracked him in the
skull with a blunt object.

Whack.

We didn't just check into your
family,Chuck.We checked into you.

Being an astronaut
- now that would've gotten your old man off your back for once.

No,but NASA rejected you.

Three times.

Pretty good thing he's not
around anymore to see you.

Bus driver in the sky for rich people.

Now Danny,he was a real leader.

Danny was weak.He was no leader.

Buddies thought he was.Launched
the rocket,made the leap.

Danny said jump and they jumped.

But you...you were scared.

Papa Pierce finds out about
that,might as well not go home at all.

You go to hell,all
right?I was no coward.

- And Danny's death was no accident.
- I want a lawyer.

You're dying to shut us up.

Can see it on your face.

Know what we did to piss you off
- what did Danny do?

Danny shouldn't even have been there.

Danny was no Rocket Boy.

Maybe not at the
beginning,but he made the jump.

He made it across.

He wasn't the hero.I was.

It's okay,Chuck.You can do it.

You're Neil Armstrong,remember?

Just shut up!

I'm not scared,all right?

Then jump.Come on.It's no big deal.

Help me!

Chuck!

Chuck!

Chuck,I lost my glasses!

I can't see!

- Help me!
- Chuck!

Chuck,help!

Chuck!

Chuck,help me!Chuck!

Hey,what's going on?

- I won't tell them you were scared,Chuck.
- Hey,where are you guys?

- You think I was scared?
- What's going on?

"a white shade of pale"by Procol Harum

* we skipped the light fandango *

* Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor *

* I was feeling kind of seasick *

* The crowd called out for more *

* The room was humming harder *

* As the ceiling flew away *

* When we called out for another drink *

* The waiter brought a tray *

* And so it was that later *

* As the miller told his tale *

* That her face,at first just ghostly *

* Turned a whiter shade of pale *

* She said there is no reason *

* And the truth is plain to see *

* But I wandered through
my playing cards *

* And would not let her be *

* One of vestal virgins *

* Who were leaving for the coast *

paul cooper DOB: / /

* And although my eyes were open *

* They might just as well been closed *
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