Hot Summer Nights (2017) Movie Script
(SIREN WAILING)
BOY: (WHISPERS) Shh. Listen.
This all happened a while back
in the town I'm from.
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
I can't swear
to every last detail,
but I can swear
to most of them.
(POLICE SIRENS WAILING)
So I don't care
what the newspapers said,
or what your parents told you.
Before the storm came in
and blew the whole world
to the ground,
this is what really happened.
(ENGINE REVS)
(TIRES SCREECH)
(FOLK ROCK MUSIC PLAYING
ON STEREO)
I'm going down
to see your father.
You gonna come?
(FOLK ROCK MUSIC CONTINUES)
Daniel, If I wanted
to talk to something
that didn't talk back,
I'd get a cat.
(LOWERS VOLUME)
You think this is easy
for me, huh?
You think I'm just...
It's not, okay?
It sucks. It does.
But it... It just kills me
to see you pissing
the whole summer away
just doing nothing
with yourself.
I'm meditating.
I'm leaving in 10 minutes.
I'd like it
if you came with me.
(SIGHS)
BOY: Daniel Middleton's father
was just the kind of guy
they don't make anymore.
He lit his cigarettes
with a match.
Like a cowboy in an old movie.
And he changed the oil
in his car all by himself.
He fought in Vietnam,
for Christ's sake.
He went to church.
He loved his wife.
People liked him.
But when he died,
Daniel was so fucked up
he quit his paper route
without giving notice.
And after a week,
Mrs. Schrader
would phone the police
to report
that the Puerto Rican kids
had been stealing
her newspapers.
He burned the records
his father bought him
for his birthday.
Elvis, fucking Johnny Cash,
Frank Sinatra.
He thought
it would help him move on.
He told his mom
it was an accident,
but the school psychologist
told her
it was something else.
This is what we call
a cry for help.
You're spending the summer
with your Auntie Barb.
DANIEL: Fuck.
Watch it, that's family.
And mind your mouth,
you're in a goddamn cemetery.
Do I get any say in this?
Daniel, if I wanted your
opinion, I would've asked.
Sending me away
for the summer.
What a clich.
You know what I did
the summer after high school?
You mean before you
started drinking at breakfast?
You know...
I hope by this age
you have a little bit
of your father in you.
Just a little.
(POP ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)
BOY:
When Daniel Middleton arrived,
the town wasn't too different
than any other.
It was hot in the summer
and cold in the winter.
And when it was Christmas,
you were just six months
away from the 4th of July.
And on the Fourth of July,
you were just six months
away from Christmas again.
People love Jesus
and macaroni salad.
And they hung American flags
above front doors
that they never locked.
Everyone had two kids,
and mowed their lawns
on Saturday mornings.
Some of the old people
even still had a milkman.
A lot of things
happened that year.
America went to war,
Freddie Mercury died of AIDS,
and I turned 13 years old.
And, in Hyannis,
Massachusetts,
it was the hottest summer
in 68 years.
(POP ROCK MUSIC CONTINUES)
There was the parade
on Saturday,
and then on Sunday,
the summer birds would show up
and change the whole town.
It's delightful.
BOY: They came
from Connecticut and New York,
and had white cars
and white clothes
and white teeth.
And their kids
always had names like...
- Tanner.
- Kendall.
BOY: There were two types
of people in this town.
There were the summer birds,
like these guppies.
And then there were
the townies.
Save your shit, we're late.
(AUNT BARB COUGHING)
BOY: Look, see,
Daniel Middleton
wasn't either.
He wasn't a townie because
he didn't grow up here.
And he wasn't a summer bird
because his family
wasn't rich.
We din't have a name
for people like that.
But whatever it was,
you didn't want to be it.
Something changed inside
Daniel Middleton that summer.
I never did figure out
what exactly caused it.
Wonder if he ever did.
(HIP-HOP MUSIC BLASTING
ON STEREO)
GIRL: You a summer bird?
What? Yeah. What?
- Are you a summer bird?
- No.
Are you from here?
Yeah. Wait...
- Are you from here?
- What? What?
- Are you from here?
- No, no.
- Okay.
- Okay.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(CAR ENGINE REVS)
(BLUES MUSIC PLAYING)
(ENGINE REVVING)
(ENGINE CONTINUES REVVING)
(BLUES MUSIC CONTINUES)
BOY: It was 96 degrees
the first time he saw that
cold-blooded motherfucker,
Hunter Strawberry.
And Hunter Strawberry
wasn't sweating.
Oh, I forgot to mention,
these summer birds
absolutely love to get high.
I mean, these fuckers
smoked tons of weed, man.
Every chance they could.
Even the adults.
And they had to get it
from someone.
They'd come in
for a new muffler
and leave with a bag
of the best shit
south of Route 6.
Plus, they felt less guilty
buying their drugs here
than off
some little Portuguese kid
down at the harbor.
I mean, if you
were on the Cape
during the late '80s
and early '90s,
you knew who he was.
The boy's a criminal.
Waste of talent.
Wicked fucking hot.
- Bad.
- Cool.
BOY: Everyone knew
the stories.
You'd hear them in a
locker room or at a barbeque.
Or at a sleepover
or something.
Like the one where they said
he was kicked out of school
'cause he boned
Principal Finney's wife
in the butt without a condom,
and never called her back.
But how many
of these stories were true?
No one really knows.
I heard he drove a motorcycle
180 miles per hour
at night, in a thunder storm,
without a helmet.
I heard his cock
was 10-inches long.
Eleven, idiot.
I heard he burned down
an ice-cream shop
for putting sprinkles
on his cone.
Hunter Strawberry
does not like sprinkles.
BOY: But there was
that one thing
everyone could agree on.
I heard he killed a man.
BOTH: I heard he killed a man.
I heard he killed a man.
Fuckin' killed him.
BOY: But at the end
of the night,
everyone had gone home,
we're still just a townie.
And he knew that's all
they'd ever see in us.
He sold weed
to this guy yesterday.
And banged his daughter
the night before.
But, you see,
that's the thing.
In public, they all look
the other way.
Nobody was proud
that they knew him.
RADIO ANNOUNCER:
Mainly clear skies today.
It hit 90 in Boston.
Tenth time that's happened
so far this summer season.
And it's still toasty
in the late afternoon hours...
(MUFFLED RADIO CHATTER)
(CAR APPROACHING)
(TIRES SCREECH)
Hide this.
(UPBEAT ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)
(INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER
CONTINUES)
Drink's free.
The heat.
HUNTER: You get high?
(UPBEAT ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(SNORTING)
HUNTER: What happened to Adam?
- What's your name again?
- Uh, Daniel.
Dan. Well, my mom...
I'm gonna call you Danny.
- Danny. Okay.
- Yeah.
Danny? Why Danny?
'Cause it's cool.
Take that. (SNIFFS)
Yeah, yeah.
(MATCHSTICK STRIKES)
(BUBBLING)
NARRATOR: (ON TV) Marijuana.
Derived from the hemp plant.
It inhibits
and distorts the action
of the brain
and nervous system
in a manner somewhat different
from opium.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(THUD)
(SOFTLY) Oh, my God.
(MUSIC CONTINUES)
(SLOW ROCK GUITAR
MUSIC PLAYING)
(GLAM ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)
(GIRLS LAUGHING)
(SLURPING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
WOMAN: Honestly, fuck you.
Yeah. Fuck you!
BOY: She was the biggest fox
in 50 miles.
Most kids I know
would've chopped off a nut
just to touch her hair.
Phil Lambert once stole
a pair of her underwear
from the girls' locker room.
And he has the picture
to prove it.
I mean, like,
every boy in town
used to jerk it to her.
I know I did.
Still do.
Before he and his prom date
were killed by a drunk driver
on the Mass Pike,
Ricky Worrel
swore on his mother
he saw her naked once.
He said if you rode your bike
past her house
at just the right time,
you could steal a look
in her bedroom window.
He promised everyone she had
a mole on her left tit
which, if true,
would be the closest thing
to an imperfection
ever documented about her.
Too bad he was alone,
no one could back him up.
That Bazooka Joe
would be the closest
he ever came to kissing her.
He kept that piece of gum
until the day he died.
Others had better luck.
Freshman year in high school,
she was dating a senior,
Kirby Wells.
He was the first kid in town
to get a tattoo.
But when he drowned
that summer in Louis Bay,
she didn't bat an eye.
Or so the story goes.
But Kirby Wells
wasn't her only ex
that wound up dead.
By junior year,
she was dating a linebacker
on the Boston College
football team.
And he would drive up
from Chestnut Hill
every weekend just to see her.
- I play football.
- BOY: But when she dumped him,
he was so heartbroken
that he quit the team.
And then,
when he heard
she had a new boyfriend,
the poor bastard hung himself
by the neck.
(CAR DOOR SHUTS)
It smells
like fucking shit in here.
Can you take me home?
(GIRL SIGHS)
(SIGHS)
Come on, gorgeous.
Enough with the hysterics,
all right?
You're embarrassing yourself.
Suck a fucking dick, asshole.
Who's the river rat, huh?
Or you could just stay here.
(TIRES SCREECHING)
(LIGHTER CLICKING)
Want one?
What?
Oh, no. No, thanks.
I have asthma.
That blows.
He looked like a real...
He looked like a real asshole.
(CHUCKLES)
And how would you know that?
He was eating Raisinets.
Food of...
Food of assholes.
- (RADIO SWITCHES ON)
- (CLASSIC R&B MUSIC PLAYING)
(GIRL LAUGHING)
What?
What are you laughing about?
(CLASSIC R&B MUSIC CONTINUES)
- Wanna hear a joke?
- (SWITCHES RADIO OFF)
Sure.
You're not going to laugh
'cause it's not funny.
Okay.
Okay.
So, this
man walks into a man
with his pet... (STAMMERS)
(CLICKS TONGUE) This, um...
Just gonna start again.
This man walks into a bar
with his pet giraffe.
And the giraffe just
goes to sleep on the floor.
And there's a bartender
in the bar,
and he says, "Hey, hey,
what's that lyin' there?
"Can..." You know...
And the guy says,
"That's not a lion,
"that's a giraffe!"
(CLICKS TONGUE)
That's my joke.
You're dumb.
What's your name?
Uh, Daniel. But people
call me Danny.
Why Danny?
'Cause...
It's cool.
I don't really think
it's cool,
so I'm just
gonna call you Daniel.
- Cool?
- Cool.
Very cool.
(SIGHS)
Hey, what... What's your name?
(CHUCKLES)
(SIGHS)
(PATTING POCKETS)
Fuck.
(WHEEZING)
(SIGHS)
(CLASSIC R&B MUSIC RESUMES)
You know,
I drove her home last night
in my car.
And, uh...
I just, I can't get her
out of my mind.
Her nails were, like,
painted black
but she chewed 'em down
real low and, uh...
This look she gave me, man...
This fucking look...
I don't even know her name.
(CHUCKLES)
What would you say
if I told you
I wanted
to start selling weed?
No, don't tell me this is
about fucking pussy.
No, no.
- Nah.
- It's about pussy.
- No, no, no.
- (COUGHING)
Wow, I'm, like, really high.
I'm, like, really high.
HUNTER:
Where's this chick live?
What?
- Where does this girl live?
- She...
Oh, just, like,
over near the airport.
Oh, fuck.
DANIEL: "Oh, fuck" what?
Uh-oh...
Did you bang her? (LAUGHS)
She's got, like, a penis
or something? (GIGGLES)
She's my sister,
you little shit.
Well, is it cool if I...
Just leave her alone.
- Okay.
- "Okay"?
- No. No "okay." I'm serious.
- Yeah, no, dude.
- I'm serious.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Leave her the fuck alone.
- All right. Okay, okay.
Yeah.
Don't tell her
I said anything.
She doesn't talk to me
anymore.
Why... Why not?
She's gonna get outta here.
She's gonna go on
and live a good life.
Yeah.
Okay, all right.
All right, forget her,
you know.
I still want
a piece of your action.
- Why?
- Look, look,
cops are all over you, dude.
Nobody know...
Nobody knows me.
- You're serious?
- Yeah, I'm...
- (SNICKERING)
- I'm serious.
Why not?
Exactly.
- Yeah?
- Yeah.
Yeah.
DANIEL: So what's
the standard pricing?
A gram goes for 10 bucks.
We call that a dime bag.
That's what
we smoked at the party.
Exactly. Good,
you're a fast learner.
What's this one?
That's 3.5 grams.
We call it an eighth.
It's 30 or 40, depending
on how good the bud is.
Most people
wanna buy those things.
What about this bad boy?
That's a zip. It's an ounce.
So it's 200 bucks,
give or take.
If more people bought these,
my life would be
a lot fucking easier.
Well, we should sell
more of those.
Yes, we should sell
more of these.
But you can't make people
buy what they don't want.
And how can we
make them want it?
(PUFFS)
You're a smart little fuck,
you know that?
You're too smart
for your own fucking good.
(COUGHING)
All right?
(INAUDIBLE)
BOY: And so it began.
Over the next month,
they sold all up and down that
town and five towns over.
And if you were like me,
which means
you were getting stoned
in lower Cape Cod that summer,
you were getting it
from Hunter Strawberry
and Daniel Middleton.
(CAR ENGINE STARTING)
(MUSIC BLARING ON CAR RADIO)
(POLICE SIREN WHOOPS)
(MUSIC STOPS)
(INDISTINCT POLICE RADIO
CHATTER)
(GLASS SQUEAKING)
OFFICER: You're new
out this way.
- Yes, sir.
- That wasn't a question, pal.
(SIGHS) Happens every summer.
And when the air's so heavy
you can't breathe,
the nights turn long
and sleepless
and the stars feel like
they're burning out above you.
The whole world
feels like it's
folding in.
When you long
for cooler times,
do you know what it is
that's gonna tear you apart?
No, sir.
You will soon.
See you further down the road,
Mr. Middleton.
HUNTER: Yeah,
that sounds like Calhoun.
DANIEL: Who?
Calhoun. That's his thing,
just putting the fear of God
into anyone
- that'll fucking let him.
- Okay, yeah.
He scared the shit out of me.
He's been on my back
for fuck knows how long
and I'm still here.
Hey, I don't know about you,
I don't wanna end up
in Walpole
getting fucking butt-raped
by a skinhead in the showers.
Whoa, whoa, whoa,
take it easy, bro!
No. I had a half pound of weed
in the back of my car
when he pulls me over.
That's insane.
Keep your fucking voice down.
Hey, I'm serious.
Right now, the risk
versus reward is all fucked.
Yo, what do you want?
Can I get you, uh, a beer?
You want an ice cream,
some sprinkles on it?
No, you don't get
what I'm saying.
If you're starting
to fucking shake already,
Then maybe this isn't the
fucking thing for you.
We have a choice,
we have to choose.
You're fucking confusing me.
You want to be the guy that's
putting gas in those cars
or you want to be the guy
that owns the gas company?
(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)
- That's good.
- Yeah.
DANIEL: So what do
we have now,
25, maybe 30 customers?
Altogether about
a pound a week, right?
HUNTER:
That's good fucking money.
DANIEL: That's great money.
Look, the problem is
we're dealing dime bags
to teenagers.
All right? We need customers
who buy in bulk.
A month ago, you didn't know
how to use a fucking bong.
Right?
And now you're trying
to tell me how to flip weed?
Have I disappointed you yet?
Look, the problem
isn't with the demand.
It's with the supply,
all right?
By the time it gets to us,
it's already been through
a load of hands, like,
everybody's taking their cut.
We would need to find someone
who can move heavyweight.
All that shit comes
through Portland, anyway.
- Oregon?
- No, Maine.
But that's besides the point.
One of those
big-time motherfuckers
is not gonna want to deal
with two fucking kids.
(MUFFLED MUSIC PLAYING)
DANIEL: We'll see.
(LAUGHTER)
Look, are you gonna tell me
what the fuck
we're doing here?
Or... Like, who
are you looking for?
That big-time motherfucker.
(SIGHS)
- All right.
- No, no, hold back.
My cousin said this guy will
talk to me only if I'm alone.
It's cool. Don't worry.
- I'm not worried.
- Yeah. You're not worried.
You're cool,
you're not worried.
(MIMICS SCHWARZENEGGER)
I'll be back.
(ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)
DANIEL: Hey.
Hey.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, little man.
You can't just be sneaking up
on people.
Sneakin', sneakin'
like a little snake, huh?
Sorry.
I heard you had...
I heard you had weed.
Yeah, there's pussy
everywhere, huh?
(STAMMERING) No...
I heard you sold weed.
Come here.
- Who are you?
- Uh, I'm Taylor, Daniel's...
Taylor's cousin Daniel.
- You a narc?
- Uh, what?
- A narc.
- A narc?
Taylor didn't tell you
I was coming?
No, Taylor didn't tell me
you were coming.
- You're not a narc, huh?
- No.
(STUTTERS)
Taylor didn't tell you
- I was coming?
- (IMITATES MOCKINGLY)
- You cool?
- Yeah, I'm cool.
Cool. Okay.
(PANTS) You wanna party, huh?
- Huh? Wanna party?
- All right.
(WHISPERING) Well, I really
want to buy some weed.
I heard you had weed.
Like, a lot.
- Like, as much as you can get.
- Oh, really?
Pounds, you know?
- Pounds?
- Mmm-hmm.
Tons?
Well... (GRUNTS SOFTLY)
I'm a little high,
so let me get this, uh...
You come to my place...
I don't know who you are,
little snaky.
You don't know who I am.
And you ask me
to sell you pounds of drugs?
Let me tell you something.
I look like a jungle monkey
from Dorchester to you, huh?
- You know, I'll just...
- No, no, no, no.
You tell your little slippery
Jew fucking cousin...
No, no, no, no...
(GROANS)
(PONYTAIL GROANING)
(GURGLING)
- (PANTING)
- (GURGLING CONTINUES)
Let's go.
(PANTING)
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
(ENGINE STARTING)
(FUNK MUSIC PLAYING)
BOY: The next time he saw her
was a Wednesday.
Earlier that day, Gary Pinkus,
the diabetic kid,
collapsed and nearly drowned
at the pool
after trying Nutella
for the first time.
It was also the same day
Terminator 2 came out.
I don't think any
of those events were related,
but I can't be sure.
(CLATTERING)
- Daniel?
- What? Hi.
What, uh...
What happened here?
Oh, just a fight.
I don't know.
- Naughty.
- Yeah.
I'm guessing
I should see the other guy.
Yeah. (CHUCKLES)
Why?
It's an expression.
So how long have you
been following me for?
Following...
What, following you?
I haven't been following you.
(FUNK MUSIC CONTINUES)
Can you smell my sunscreen?
(SOFTLY) Yes. Coconuts.
- (SOFTLY) Good.
- Thanks.
I'm looking for Epsom salt.
Why?
Have you ever thrown
Epsom salt on a slug before?
No. What's it do?
It's pretty cool.
But I can't find any.
Slugs?
Salt.
Oh, fuck me.
(CAR HORN HONKING)
Well, I gotta split.
You gonna go to the fireworks
on Thursday?
Maybe.
Maybe. Okay.
Maybe we'll share
another lollipop?
Keep dreaming.
(DOOR OPENS, CLOSES)
(TIRES SCREECH)
(TIRES SCREECH)
- Hey!
- DANIEL: What?
- Come here. Come here.
- What?
- I...
- Come here. Come here.
It's cool.
If I were here to hurt you,
you'd be hurt.
- You understand?
- Yeah.
I have something you want.
Something, uh,
you've been looking for, huh?
- Okay. Hey, I'm not...
- Get in.
- I'm not into any of...
- DEX: I'm not asking.
(CASH REGISTER DINGS)
(SING-SONG)
I've been watching you.
Longer than you'd be
comfortable with knowing.
You've got reach,
I've seen that.
You're, uh, smart, careful.
But not careful enough.
That kid whose head
you split open,
he shits into a bag now,
but he's alive.
You're lucky. However,
you caught my attention.
Which means before long,
you'll catch the wrong kind
of attention.
Look, I don't know how close
you've been watching, bro,
but I've been around the block
a few times
so I know
that the cops out here
ain't worth spit in a bucket.
I'm not talking about cops,
bro.
You know what your problem is?
Got a feeling
you're about to tell me.
You're selling dime bags
to tourists.
You're sitting
at the penny slots
trying to take down the house.
Yeah, well, it's doing
just fine for me so far.
All right. I'll tell you what.
If all you're looking
to do is, uh...
Is scratch together
enough cash
to buy the Traci Lords'
videocassettes,
I'll settle this tab
right here.
We part ways. No love lost.
Something tells me
you're looking to do more
than blow
your itty bitty loads
into your tube socks.
Amen to that.
Amen to that.
All the running around,
all the, uh,
transactions...
Keep it up.
It'll end one of two ways.
Either you'll be in Walpole
getting raped by a skinhead
in the showers
- or...
- That is exactly what I said.
Which, I can assure you,
is not pleasant.
Or the homeboys
from Jamaica Plains
are gonna come out here
and take all your...
You've made
your fucking point.
Ooh.
Oh! Thank you, ma'am. Hello.
Yes, yes, yes.
Your job
is to find people who are
looking to buy in bulk.
HUNTER: And what's your job?
Hmm?
- What's your fucking job?
- Ah.
The man I work for who,
sure as the sky is blue,
you will never meet,
will provide you with as much
product as you can handle.
My job is to make sure
you pay us back on time.
What does your boyfriend do?
My boyfriend here, he drives.
He also occasionally
hurts people,
but that's another story.
(SOFTLY) How do we know
this isn't some sort of,
like, sting operation?
How do we know
you're not cops?
That's a good question.
A very good question.
Cops can't do that. Sit down.
Okay.
Um... Sit down?
(DEX HUMS)
What happens from here on
is something
of a trial period.
We front you some weight,
you have till Thursday,
and not a second more,
to flip it
and pay us back the principal.
Whatever you make over that,
that's yours to keep.
- That's two days.
- Mmm-hmm.
That's a shit fucking deal,
man.
How much are we talkin' about?
Two pounds. Good shit.
Better than anything
around here.
It'll sell like, um...
Like cold cherry ice
on a hot summer night.
How about five pounds?
Think you can handle five?
That shouldn't be a problem.
But what if something happens?
What if we... What if
we're late? What then?
You've seen the movies.
Five pounds? Are you out
of your fucking mind?
Now we're caught up
with those cocksuckers.
They're exactly
what you said we needed.
Five pounds.
- That was fucking dumb.
- I have a plan.
What?
What is your fucking plan?
Trust me.
- What if it doesn't work?
- It has to.
Now give me
one of them cigarettes.
(SLOW ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)
BOY: Daniel Middleton
had this crazy cousin
who lived down in Quincy.
He was sent away
at 10 years old
after lighting a squirrel
on fire
during a family cookout.
When he was a kid,
his drunk daddy
crashed the car
into a Chinese restaurant.
And he was the only survivor.
And after that, he called
himself the "Lucky Jew."
But, several years later,
somewhere outside Sioux Falls,
South Dakota...
- (GUNSHOT)
- ...that luck ran out.
But for a while,
life was good.
He knew every crook,
junkie, tweaker,
doper, gambler, hustler
and low life in South Boston.
If anyone could get rid of
five pounds of pot overnight,
it was him.
(TAYLOR LAUGHING HYSTERICALLY)
God damn, boy!
You grew up fast!
Why were you running?
Why were you running?
You were running.
Why the fuck were you running?
I have no idea!
(LAUGHS HYSTERICALLY)
- Go!
- What? Did you get it?
- Go!
- Did you get it?
(POLICE SIRENS WAILING)
Go!
(TIRES SCREECHING)
BOY: It was the biggest gamble
Daniel Middleton had ever
taken. And he won.
Just let me
- do the talking, okay?
- Yep.
Shut your mouth.
Guess who did a good job?
Who?
You did, fuck-up.
DANIEL: I got Wellfleet,
Chatham,
most of Falmouth,
half of New Bedford,
my cousin down in Quincy,
my guy up in Marblehead,
if we can get Framingham,
that's...
That's 15 pounds a week.
Holy shit.
- Fuck! Fuck!
- Fuck!
- Daniel?
- Yeah, I... Just...
All right, just tell her
I'll call her back!
(ENGINE REVS)
DANIEL: Take it for a spin?
They want more.
They want more.
They want more. Ha-ha!
They want more.
(LAUGHS HYSTERICALLY)
(KIDS SCREAMING, CHEERING)
(CARNIVAL MUSIC PLAYING)
So who's coming to
the beach house this weekend?
Yeah?
Oh, sounds like
a fucking blast.
(CHUCKLES) Hey, I'm gonna go
grab some more beer
out the Beemer.
You ladies have any requests?
Something strong.
(BLAIR CHUCKLES)
He's fuckin' wicked hot, Kay.
Not to mention, like,
rich as f'ing God.
He's fine.
You always do this.
You wouldn't know
Prince Charming
- if he came in your mouth.
- That's gross.
What is this creature doing?
Hey.
Hey yourself.
I was hoping you'd show up.
Guess who got lucky.
I brought you something.
I gave it a shot.
It's fucked up.
But you're right,
it is awesome.
Well, don't kill 'em all
at once.
It's too late for that.
I'm hooked.
(FOLK ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)
OKIE: I think my tampon just
crawled up into my stomach.
BLAIR: So who let
the clodhopper
- out of his shed?
- BOY: Right? What?
(FOLK ROCK MUSIC CONTINUES)
BLAIR: Hey, whoa, shit
swallower, take a step back.
GIRL 1: Seriously?
GIRL 2: Yeah, I know.
GIRL 1: He's like
a really cute older man.
GIRL 2: I don't see it.
He's married.
Okay. Well, I'm not married.
- What are you, a homewrecker?
- Mmm-hmm.
- Um... Not yet.
- Ew!
Speaking of
home-wrecking though,
did you guys hear
some random summer bird
kissed McKayla Strawberry
at the fireworks last night?
Oh, my gosh, she is so pretty.
She's a whore.
GIRL 1: I thought she was
with that rich kid
from Connecticut.
GIRL 2: Exactly.
Oh, my gosh, Amy, he's, like,
so staring at you right now.
GIRL 1: He is such a fox.
GIRL 2: Ew!
(GIRLS CONTINUE CHATTING
INDISTINCTLY)
(POP MUSIC PLAYING)
GIRL 1: Um... No.
GIRL 2: No.
GIRL 1: Whatever.
I'd let him take a bite.
GIRL 3: Yuck!
I have a boyfriend.
Nah, no, you don't.
If you don't stop being
so frickin' cute,
you will soon.
You don't know
the first thing about me.
I know you like ketchup.
MAN: Hey! Hey!
(GASPS)
Yeah, I gotta pee.
- Yo, hold on.
- (GUNSHOT ON FILM)
Nah, it's really bad.
(COUGHING)
This is the best fucking part.
D!
Fucking pussy.
(GUNSHOTS CONTINUE ON FILM)
Hey.
Hi, everyone.
(SIGHS) Just getting
some Gummy Bears...
Who do you think you are?
...and sour peach rings.
I'm sorry. What?
Seriously. Who the fuck
do you think you are?
You think you can just
walk around and kiss girls
on the mouth
in front of their boyfriends?
On the mouth.
In front of their boyfriends.
You're lucky
all he did was punch you.
So lucky.
DANIEL: Um, listen.
Sorry?
- No, you're not.
- OKIE: No, you're not.
Listen, I...
I really have to pee.
You pencil-dick,
rat-faced little fuck.
Why are you
still standing here?
Fuck off.
Sour peach rings,
you stupid fucking...
Sour peach rings,
you stupid fucking...
Sour peach rings,
you stupid fucking...
(McKAYLA CLEARS THROAT)
(BOTH GASPING)
(SLOW ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)
(KIDS LAUGHING, SCREAMING)
(SLOW ROCK MUSIC CONTINUES)
Please? Come on.
- Please?
- HUNTER: No.
No, it's gonna be so good.
You can't give me
the puppy-dog face like that.
Whatever. Just get in.
Just get in. (GIGGLES)
(FLASHBULB POPPING)
(SLOW ROCK MUSIC CONTINUES)
(LAUGHS)
Oh!
Too much.
- (GIGGLES)
- I'm gonna be sick.
Ooh! Can we get one of those?
- One of what?
- One of these.
AMY: (ECHOING) Hey. Hey...
Hey, Hunter.
Look at me.
I know something better.
(SLOW ROCK MUSIC RESUMES)
HUNTER: Yeah,
I know where she lives.
Like, she's straightlaced,
but she's so nice that...
Thank you, Julia.
I swear. You and Amy
are, like, the only two people
in my life who really take me
- for who I am, you know?
- Yeah.
Don't lie to me.
Don't play me for a fool.
- Is that so much to ask?
- Yeah.
You were at the fireworks
the other night, right?
I hear some summer bird
walks right up
to my baby sister,
kisses her on the mouth.
Hunter, I'm...
HUNTER: I don't know
who this kid is,
but I swear to God
I'm gonna find him.
And when I do,
I'm gonna make sure
that he can't touch my sister
ever again.
Touch any girl ever again.
What do you mean?
(CHUCKLES)
Oh, shit!
- I almost had you.
- Fuck you!
Oh, you are
such a gullible motherfucker.
McKAYLA: I love how it gets
after a storm.
The air gets real light.
The sky's super clear.
Like I could just float away.
(CHUCKLES)
Mmm...
Or maybe I'm just super high.
(DANIEL CHUCKLES)
You know, I could get...
Like, more, like...
A bunch more.
You're not caught up
in anything shady, right?
What?
Shady stuff? What does that...
You think I would...
I'm not.
You better not be.
You know anything
about my brother?
Uh...
I've heard of him.
Anything else?
No, not really.
We don't talk anymore.
We haven't for a long time.
(FIREWORKS CRACKLING)
(PEOPLE CHEERING)
It was when my mom
got really sick.
My brother was
fucking up.
Selling drugs.
Fighting.
And got kicked out of school.
My mom asked him to stop.
She said it would mean
the world to her.
But he didn't.
(McKAYLA SIGHS)
And then she died.
He leaves money and...
I can never use it.
I just couldn't.
I'm sorry.
WAITRESS: So, how will you
be settling the bill tonight?
It's cash.
(SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PLAYING)
Hey.
HUNTER: Whoa,
what the fuck, man?
Dude, we got it.
That's 75?
- A hundred?
- More.
What? What, what, what? 150?
Open your fucking mouth, man.
How much?
- Two-fifty.
- Fuck you.
Two-fifty. (CHUCKLES)
- Fuck you.
- Fuck you, dude.
- Fuck you, man!
- Fuck you, dude.
- (THUNDER RUMBLING)
- (PEOPLE SCREAMING)
(TIRES SCREECH)
- (THUNDER RUMBLING)
- (PEOPLE SCREAMING)
(PSYCHEDELIC ROCK MUSIC
PLAYING)
- Okay.
- All right. Go.
(AMY GIGGLES)
(ENGINE REVVING)
(TIRES SCREECH)
(PSYCHEDELIC ROCK MUSIC
CONTINUES)
Hey, Daddy.
You been in here all night?
Yeah. Where else would I be?
(CHUCKLES)
Well... You might turn in.
You know we got church
in the morning.
Okay, Daddy.
Good night.
Good night, sweetheart.
(DOOR CREAKING)
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
- Fuck you. (LAUGHS)
- DANIEL: No, no.
(McKAYLA LAUGHS)
What about you?
If you could be anything.
I don't know. It's stupid.
No, it's just fantasy.
It doesn't matter.
That's what I'm worried about.
Yeah.
(McKAYLA GIGGLES)
(INDISTINCT)
(INAUDIBLE)
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
(McKAYLA YELPS)
DANIEL: Run!
(McKAYLA YELPS)
- (RAIN POUNDING ON CAR)
- (McKAYLA SIGHS)
I have... I've never...
Before.
Me neither.
Really?
- Fuck you.
- No.
Really?
Yeah.
DANIEL: I thought you said
you were good at this.
I'm destroying you.
I'm guessing you're yellow.
That's a rookie move.
McKAYLA: Shut the fuck up.
DANIEL: Can you get in?
Can you get in?
McKAYLA: You put in codes.
That's not fair!
DANIEL: You're the one
who got owned.
- (BOTH LAUGH)
- Hey, you...
Hey, get more coins.
Hurry. Hurry.
- You have money?
- McKAYLA: Yes.
Danny boy.
What're you doing here?
On your own,
you fucking loser.
You all right?
What are you...
Is this, uh...
Oh.
- Amy, Danny. Danny, Amy.
- Hi.
She's fucking cute,
isn't she? Huh?
- I can say that.
- AMY: Stop. No. (GIGGLES)
You're so fucking cute
I'm gonna punch you
in the face, huh?
You two know each other?
Uh...
No, we haven't met.
Yeah, there's, uh...
There was one time
I gave you a ride home,
but, uh...
You don't remember, probably.
Since when do you
go to the arcade?
I don't.
Okie forgot to give me a ride
so I had to get, uh...
Quarters to call her.
Dad okay?
You're getting the mail,
right?
I'm gonna walk home.
It was nice meeting you.
- Hey. It'll be okay.
- No. I'm cool.
How do you know my brother?
I don't, really. Just...
Met him at a party once.
He's gonna kill you.
WOMAN: (ON RADIO)
We are on weather watch.
Continuing to track
the severe storm
which is going to have
major implications
for multiple counties.
The National Weather Service
has informed us
that this storm
will likely be upgraded
to a category 4.
That means
you need to stand by
on further instructions
whether there will be
mandatory evacuations,
we don't know yet,
If you're in a red zone...
(ENGINE REVS)
(PANTS)
Daddy, you scared me.
Of all the boys in this town.
(BELL DINGS)
(INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER)
(DOOR CLOSES)
CALHOUN: It's a warm night,
isn't it?
This is private property,
you know.
I could call the cops.
Uh...
Why don't you and me
go for a ride?
Why don't you fuck off?
(SIGHS)
Let me show you something.
(DOOR OPENS)
I'll be in the car.
This is very romantic but what
the fuck are we doing here?
You know, you remind me of...
There was a boy
a few years back.
Kyle Tate, right? Yeah,
I know all of the stories.
I look like someone
who wants to spend
the next 20 years
rotting away up in Walpole?
I'm not gonna go out
like that.
Not like that.
You ever thought about
just giving it up?
Yeah, sure. And do... Do what?
Go to college.
Get a job, maybe.
I don't think that
meatloaf dinners
and a white picket fence
are in the cards for me.
Well, how do you imagine
this is gonna end?
Look, if you were
gonna get me,
you woulda got me already.
McKAYLA:
When I was a little kid,
I used to catch them
in those glass jars.
It always reminded me
of how planes looked
when they're
way up in the sky.
Why'd you stop?
Kept dying.
Got depressing.
I think you should
start collecting
the fireflies again.
You can't hold on
to everything.
I think some things you can.
Then I hope you're good
at being hurt.
(ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)
All right. So what?
So, last time I checked,
it wasn't illegal
for your old man
to be a fucking fuck-up.
It's a little hard
to tell now,
but half a lifetime ago,
your dad was the coolest thing
in 100 miles.
Yeah.
Kind of guy who could
break a girl's heart
just walking into a room.
Jimmy Strawberry.
Yeah, see, we was
thick as thieves, me and him.
(SCOFFS)
We, uh...
Got into some trouble.
(CHUCKLES)
They were good times.
You know, part of me
likes to believe
that it was him who saved me.
That he knew who he was.
And he knew
where his life was headed.
And he didn't want
that life for me.
The choices that we make
ain't always about us.
DANIEL: I've never
really said this before...
Uh...
But I think I might...
Whatever it is
that you want to say...
Wait.
And if you still wanna tell me
when summer's over...
Tell me then.
(CLASSIC R&B MUSIC PLAYING)
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
DANIEL: Hunter?
You hear what I said?
There's this guy
up in Portland,
he's got good stuff.
Good prices.
He wants to meet us.
What does... What does
Dex think about this?
Dex doesn't know.
What?
Dex doesn't know,
but, you know,
I can imagine
that it's gonna be fine.
All right. All right, am I
missing something here?
We got the best weed hookup
in the whole of the northeast.
And you want to
fuck it up, for what?
This guy...
He's not selling weed.
HUNTER: Oh...
So you think you're
a cocaine dealer now.
This is gonna be more money
than either of us
have ever seen.
Is that... Is that really
what this is all about?
What else would it be about?
You don't think
any of this shit through.
You don't, man, do you?
Cocaine.
All I'm saying is
how long are you
gonna be Dex's errand boy?
We're not the only guys
he sells to,
why in the fuck should he be
the only guy we buy from?
'Cause that's just how
this shit works, Danny.
That's how it's always worked.
I don't have to
explain that shit...
Okay. If we never upended
how things worked,
we'd be on that corner right
there selling nickle bags
and dime bags to summer birds
and teenagers.
If Dex finds out, and he
will find out, look at me.
Don't...
...come running to me.
That stuff that
people say about you.
Any of that true?
(McKAYLA SIGHS)
HUNTER: Hey, who was that?
Stop, wait. Will you...
Will you just talk to me?
McKayla, please.
I'm sorry about Mom, okay?
I know that I hurt her.
I don't expect you
to forgive me.
I don't expect it. I'm...
I'm just...
I'm trying to be good.
I'm trying
really fucking hard.
All right? I need...
- I can't do this on my own.
- Stop selling drugs.
You know,
it's not that simple...
How else am I supposed to...
How? Okay. All right.
It's all that she wanted.
WOMAN: (ON RADIO)
...Providence you're going
to have an extreme potential
storm surge
that could be
life threatening.
Why haven't you started?
WOMAN: (ON RADIO)
You're going to have
extreme hurricane-force winds.
(DOOR OPENS)
More information on this storm
for you now.
The winds are
105 miles per hour.
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
What the hell is this?
What's going on?
I'm gonna ask you something,
and I want you
to be straight with me.
Have you been seeing her?
No.
- What the hell is this?
- It's mine! Let go!
Wait, tough girl!
Where you going?
Where you going?
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
That shit I said before about
not wanting you
to go near her,
I don't fucking care anymore.
Just tell me the truth.
I said no.
You cool, dude?
(VEHICLE APPROACHES)
(BAG DROPS)
McKAYLA: You fucking assholes.
DANIEL: Hey.
Hey! Wait! Wait!
- Wait! Wait!
- (TIRES SQUEAL)
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
(DOOR UNLOCKS)
SHEP: Hey, hey.
Come in.
(MELANCHOLY ORGAN MUSIC PLAYS)
You want some coffee?
Huh? Hey, sit down.
Hey, you don't want coffee.
You're young.
When you're young
and you're free,
you don't drink coffee.
Guy spends his whole life
being good to people.
Trying to make them happy,
and he gets what?
A whoring wife and kids
who hate him.
Is that fair?
None of it's fair.
It's not supposed to be.
Where is the order?
There isn't any order.
- Stop fucking looking for it.
- (ORGAN PLAYING STOPS)
You think my rotten wife cared
when she took a big,
giant shit on my life
and stole all my money
and told my kids
that I was a drunk?
I'll tell you. She did not.
Have I had pain in my life?
More than you
will ever know, brother?
Daisy!
(ORGAN PLAYS)
Be happy, they say.
Life is too short, they say.
Be happy. What is happy?
What does that look like?
A new car? Hey.
Hot wife. Big dick.
What am I trying to say?
I don't know.
I think life
will be good to you.
- Is that the money in there?
- (SOFTLY) Yes.
(LOUDER) Yes.
- All of it?
- Yes.
Hand it to Chester, please.
To new friendships.
To new business.
Daisy, sweetheart.
Play something celebratory.
(PLAYS UPBEAT TUNE)
(SNORTING)
Oh, listen...
(EXHALES)
(SNORTING)
Take it.
I'm probably...
Probably gonna leave soon.
Take it.
(SNORTS)
Good shit, huh?
It's fucking great.
(SNIFFS)
Come on. Hit me.
Come on. Do it. Hit me.
I really
don't want to do that.
Come on. Look, look.
Jesus fucking Christ.
Hit me in the face. Come on.
Hit me in the face.
Come on, you, hit me.
(DAISY FINISHES SONG)
(DAISY STARTS PLAYING
NEW SONG)
(LAUGHS)
(LAUGHING)
(LAUGHING) It's... It's...
It's baby formula.
DANIEL: What... What is?
That. It's not cocaine.
It's baby formula.
Daisy, Daisy.
Stop...
Daisy!
Oh...
(SIGHS)
Look...
I'm gonna take
your money, okay?
I'm gonna take your money
because you're stupid
and you're weak,
and because I can.
Lift your head up.
Come on, look at me.
I know who you are.
And I know who you work for.
He doesn't know you're here
today doing this, does he?
Dex know you're here today
doing this? Huh?
When he finds out what you've
done here, it won't be good.
Now, if I were you,
I would go someplace
very far away.
And I would do so
very quickly.
- (PHONE RINGING)
- (TIRES SCREECHING)
(RINGING CONTINUES)
- DANIEL: Hey, Dex.
- (DEX GROANS)
You broke my heart.
(TIRES SQUEALING)
BOY: At roughly
4:15 Eastern Time,
Hurricane Bob made landfall
on the Massachusetts coast.
It was a Monday
and it was 74 degrees.
MAN: (ON TV) It moved on
to areas like Block Island
about 1:30 this afternoon,
with 125 mile per hour winds.
Falmouth, Massachusetts
reported
94 mile per hour winds.
FEMALE NEWSCASTER:
Governor Weld has now issued
a state of emergency
throughout eastern
Massachusetts.
- (THUNDER RUMBLING)
- (DOG BARKING)
(RAIN PATTERING)
(LINE RINGING)
(WIND HOWLING)
(PHONE RINGING)
(DIALING)
(LINE RINGING)
(PHONE RINGING)
(PHONE BEEPS)
DEX: (ON PHONE) You know
how this has to end now.
Got you.
I wish it could've
been different.
(THUNDER CRACKING)
(SIRENS BLARING)
Hey! Hunter!
(BANGING) Hunter!
(CONTINUES BANGING)
Hey, hey, whoa.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
I didn't know how to tell you
about me and her.
All right, I wanted to.
I just couldn't!
Now I fucked up!
All right,
I fucked up really bad!
I'll count to three.
Hunter, listen to me!
Dex is coming to kill me!
He's coming
to fucking kill me!
One...
Two...
All right, fuck you.
Fucking kill me.
Fuck you!
Run away. Never come back.
I just want to
say goodbye to her.
Then I'll leave, all right?
Just go.
(TIRES SQUEAL)
- (THUNDER RUMBLING)
- (WIND HOWLING)
(THUNDER RUMBLES)
(CAR APPROACHING)
(CAR DOOR OPENS)
(SHUTTER OPENING)
Where is your boy?
Where is your boy?
I don't know.
Now is not the time
to be proud.
Tell me where your boy is.
He didn't show.
(POLICE SIREN WAILING)
What happened to you, kid?
You could've
really been something.
Like you?
You knew how it would all end,
didn't you?
Your whole life.
Fuck you.
Okay.
(GUN COCKING)
- (HORN HONKING)
- (TIRES SCREECH)
(RAIN PATTERING)
(SYNTHPOP MUSIC PLAYING)
(SYNTHPOP MUSIC CONTINUES)
(CAR STARTING, ENGINE REVS)
(SYNTHPOP MUSIC CONTINUES)
BOY: Owen Shepherd's house
was swept out to sea.
And Kelly Fine's dog
died in the flood.
I didn't have electricity back
until Halloween.
And the drive-in theater
which had been around since
my grandma was a little girl
was blown to the ground.
REPORTER: Uh, do you
intend on ever having
a cottage on the shore again?
No. We're hoping to rebuild.
BOY: Overall, they say it was
more than a billion dollars
in damage.
Hunter Strawberry's body
was found on August 20, 1991.
He died young,
and left a pretty corpse.
Becoming what everyone always
expected him to become.
In the end,
only four people
attended his funeral.
His first-grade teacher
Miss Wolcott,
little Pat Shaughnessy
from the fish market
on South Street.
Amy, and Sergeant
Frank Calhoun.
Hey.
Amy.
BOY: For a while,
there was a rumor going around
that Calhoun paid
for the funeral.
And that at one point, his
eyes even watered up a little.
But nobody knows
if that's true.
I can't swear to it,
but I'd like to think
that it was in this moment
that Daniel Middleton knew
his time in this town
had finally come to an end.
And he knew
if he loved the girl,
the best thing was
to leave her be.
Some say he ended up
in Wyoming or Nevada.
In some forgotten little town
on the edge of the desert.
Others will tell you
he's in a big city somewhere.
Lost in the crowds.
Either way,
he was never seen again.
(WIND BLOWING)
(RAIN PATTERING)
(MOUTHING)
To this day,
I can't tell you why
I looked out that window.
But when I saw her
standing there,
somehow I knew neither of us
would ever be the same.
I'm the last person in town
to see her alive.
And I don't know how
I feel about that.
I really don't.
When she left town,
she killed the dreams of every
boy whoever knew who she was.
Even if they were
little dreams.
Like catching a whiff
of her perfume.
Or tasting a piece of her gum.
Or even, maybe one day, that
she would know our names.
She was last seen in a diner
outside Peoria, Illinois,
and headed west.
I wonder if she
got there okay.
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
(McKAYLA YELPS)
Wherever she was going.
And I wonder where she is now,
and how she's doing.
(RAIN PATTERING)
I guess I'll always wonder.
(INDIE ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)
BOY: (WHISPERS) Shh. Listen.
This all happened a while back
in the town I'm from.
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
I can't swear
to every last detail,
but I can swear
to most of them.
(POLICE SIRENS WAILING)
So I don't care
what the newspapers said,
or what your parents told you.
Before the storm came in
and blew the whole world
to the ground,
this is what really happened.
(ENGINE REVS)
(TIRES SCREECH)
(FOLK ROCK MUSIC PLAYING
ON STEREO)
I'm going down
to see your father.
You gonna come?
(FOLK ROCK MUSIC CONTINUES)
Daniel, If I wanted
to talk to something
that didn't talk back,
I'd get a cat.
(LOWERS VOLUME)
You think this is easy
for me, huh?
You think I'm just...
It's not, okay?
It sucks. It does.
But it... It just kills me
to see you pissing
the whole summer away
just doing nothing
with yourself.
I'm meditating.
I'm leaving in 10 minutes.
I'd like it
if you came with me.
(SIGHS)
BOY: Daniel Middleton's father
was just the kind of guy
they don't make anymore.
He lit his cigarettes
with a match.
Like a cowboy in an old movie.
And he changed the oil
in his car all by himself.
He fought in Vietnam,
for Christ's sake.
He went to church.
He loved his wife.
People liked him.
But when he died,
Daniel was so fucked up
he quit his paper route
without giving notice.
And after a week,
Mrs. Schrader
would phone the police
to report
that the Puerto Rican kids
had been stealing
her newspapers.
He burned the records
his father bought him
for his birthday.
Elvis, fucking Johnny Cash,
Frank Sinatra.
He thought
it would help him move on.
He told his mom
it was an accident,
but the school psychologist
told her
it was something else.
This is what we call
a cry for help.
You're spending the summer
with your Auntie Barb.
DANIEL: Fuck.
Watch it, that's family.
And mind your mouth,
you're in a goddamn cemetery.
Do I get any say in this?
Daniel, if I wanted your
opinion, I would've asked.
Sending me away
for the summer.
What a clich.
You know what I did
the summer after high school?
You mean before you
started drinking at breakfast?
You know...
I hope by this age
you have a little bit
of your father in you.
Just a little.
(POP ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)
BOY:
When Daniel Middleton arrived,
the town wasn't too different
than any other.
It was hot in the summer
and cold in the winter.
And when it was Christmas,
you were just six months
away from the 4th of July.
And on the Fourth of July,
you were just six months
away from Christmas again.
People love Jesus
and macaroni salad.
And they hung American flags
above front doors
that they never locked.
Everyone had two kids,
and mowed their lawns
on Saturday mornings.
Some of the old people
even still had a milkman.
A lot of things
happened that year.
America went to war,
Freddie Mercury died of AIDS,
and I turned 13 years old.
And, in Hyannis,
Massachusetts,
it was the hottest summer
in 68 years.
(POP ROCK MUSIC CONTINUES)
There was the parade
on Saturday,
and then on Sunday,
the summer birds would show up
and change the whole town.
It's delightful.
BOY: They came
from Connecticut and New York,
and had white cars
and white clothes
and white teeth.
And their kids
always had names like...
- Tanner.
- Kendall.
BOY: There were two types
of people in this town.
There were the summer birds,
like these guppies.
And then there were
the townies.
Save your shit, we're late.
(AUNT BARB COUGHING)
BOY: Look, see,
Daniel Middleton
wasn't either.
He wasn't a townie because
he didn't grow up here.
And he wasn't a summer bird
because his family
wasn't rich.
We din't have a name
for people like that.
But whatever it was,
you didn't want to be it.
Something changed inside
Daniel Middleton that summer.
I never did figure out
what exactly caused it.
Wonder if he ever did.
(HIP-HOP MUSIC BLASTING
ON STEREO)
GIRL: You a summer bird?
What? Yeah. What?
- Are you a summer bird?
- No.
Are you from here?
Yeah. Wait...
- Are you from here?
- What? What?
- Are you from here?
- No, no.
- Okay.
- Okay.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(CAR ENGINE REVS)
(BLUES MUSIC PLAYING)
(ENGINE REVVING)
(ENGINE CONTINUES REVVING)
(BLUES MUSIC CONTINUES)
BOY: It was 96 degrees
the first time he saw that
cold-blooded motherfucker,
Hunter Strawberry.
And Hunter Strawberry
wasn't sweating.
Oh, I forgot to mention,
these summer birds
absolutely love to get high.
I mean, these fuckers
smoked tons of weed, man.
Every chance they could.
Even the adults.
And they had to get it
from someone.
They'd come in
for a new muffler
and leave with a bag
of the best shit
south of Route 6.
Plus, they felt less guilty
buying their drugs here
than off
some little Portuguese kid
down at the harbor.
I mean, if you
were on the Cape
during the late '80s
and early '90s,
you knew who he was.
The boy's a criminal.
Waste of talent.
Wicked fucking hot.
- Bad.
- Cool.
BOY: Everyone knew
the stories.
You'd hear them in a
locker room or at a barbeque.
Or at a sleepover
or something.
Like the one where they said
he was kicked out of school
'cause he boned
Principal Finney's wife
in the butt without a condom,
and never called her back.
But how many
of these stories were true?
No one really knows.
I heard he drove a motorcycle
180 miles per hour
at night, in a thunder storm,
without a helmet.
I heard his cock
was 10-inches long.
Eleven, idiot.
I heard he burned down
an ice-cream shop
for putting sprinkles
on his cone.
Hunter Strawberry
does not like sprinkles.
BOY: But there was
that one thing
everyone could agree on.
I heard he killed a man.
BOTH: I heard he killed a man.
I heard he killed a man.
Fuckin' killed him.
BOY: But at the end
of the night,
everyone had gone home,
we're still just a townie.
And he knew that's all
they'd ever see in us.
He sold weed
to this guy yesterday.
And banged his daughter
the night before.
But, you see,
that's the thing.
In public, they all look
the other way.
Nobody was proud
that they knew him.
RADIO ANNOUNCER:
Mainly clear skies today.
It hit 90 in Boston.
Tenth time that's happened
so far this summer season.
And it's still toasty
in the late afternoon hours...
(MUFFLED RADIO CHATTER)
(CAR APPROACHING)
(TIRES SCREECH)
Hide this.
(UPBEAT ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)
(INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER
CONTINUES)
Drink's free.
The heat.
HUNTER: You get high?
(UPBEAT ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(SNORTING)
HUNTER: What happened to Adam?
- What's your name again?
- Uh, Daniel.
Dan. Well, my mom...
I'm gonna call you Danny.
- Danny. Okay.
- Yeah.
Danny? Why Danny?
'Cause it's cool.
Take that. (SNIFFS)
Yeah, yeah.
(MATCHSTICK STRIKES)
(BUBBLING)
NARRATOR: (ON TV) Marijuana.
Derived from the hemp plant.
It inhibits
and distorts the action
of the brain
and nervous system
in a manner somewhat different
from opium.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(THUD)
(SOFTLY) Oh, my God.
(MUSIC CONTINUES)
(SLOW ROCK GUITAR
MUSIC PLAYING)
(GLAM ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)
(GIRLS LAUGHING)
(SLURPING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
WOMAN: Honestly, fuck you.
Yeah. Fuck you!
BOY: She was the biggest fox
in 50 miles.
Most kids I know
would've chopped off a nut
just to touch her hair.
Phil Lambert once stole
a pair of her underwear
from the girls' locker room.
And he has the picture
to prove it.
I mean, like,
every boy in town
used to jerk it to her.
I know I did.
Still do.
Before he and his prom date
were killed by a drunk driver
on the Mass Pike,
Ricky Worrel
swore on his mother
he saw her naked once.
He said if you rode your bike
past her house
at just the right time,
you could steal a look
in her bedroom window.
He promised everyone she had
a mole on her left tit
which, if true,
would be the closest thing
to an imperfection
ever documented about her.
Too bad he was alone,
no one could back him up.
That Bazooka Joe
would be the closest
he ever came to kissing her.
He kept that piece of gum
until the day he died.
Others had better luck.
Freshman year in high school,
she was dating a senior,
Kirby Wells.
He was the first kid in town
to get a tattoo.
But when he drowned
that summer in Louis Bay,
she didn't bat an eye.
Or so the story goes.
But Kirby Wells
wasn't her only ex
that wound up dead.
By junior year,
she was dating a linebacker
on the Boston College
football team.
And he would drive up
from Chestnut Hill
every weekend just to see her.
- I play football.
- BOY: But when she dumped him,
he was so heartbroken
that he quit the team.
And then,
when he heard
she had a new boyfriend,
the poor bastard hung himself
by the neck.
(CAR DOOR SHUTS)
It smells
like fucking shit in here.
Can you take me home?
(GIRL SIGHS)
(SIGHS)
Come on, gorgeous.
Enough with the hysterics,
all right?
You're embarrassing yourself.
Suck a fucking dick, asshole.
Who's the river rat, huh?
Or you could just stay here.
(TIRES SCREECHING)
(LIGHTER CLICKING)
Want one?
What?
Oh, no. No, thanks.
I have asthma.
That blows.
He looked like a real...
He looked like a real asshole.
(CHUCKLES)
And how would you know that?
He was eating Raisinets.
Food of...
Food of assholes.
- (RADIO SWITCHES ON)
- (CLASSIC R&B MUSIC PLAYING)
(GIRL LAUGHING)
What?
What are you laughing about?
(CLASSIC R&B MUSIC CONTINUES)
- Wanna hear a joke?
- (SWITCHES RADIO OFF)
Sure.
You're not going to laugh
'cause it's not funny.
Okay.
Okay.
So, this
man walks into a man
with his pet... (STAMMERS)
(CLICKS TONGUE) This, um...
Just gonna start again.
This man walks into a bar
with his pet giraffe.
And the giraffe just
goes to sleep on the floor.
And there's a bartender
in the bar,
and he says, "Hey, hey,
what's that lyin' there?
"Can..." You know...
And the guy says,
"That's not a lion,
"that's a giraffe!"
(CLICKS TONGUE)
That's my joke.
You're dumb.
What's your name?
Uh, Daniel. But people
call me Danny.
Why Danny?
'Cause...
It's cool.
I don't really think
it's cool,
so I'm just
gonna call you Daniel.
- Cool?
- Cool.
Very cool.
(SIGHS)
Hey, what... What's your name?
(CHUCKLES)
(SIGHS)
(PATTING POCKETS)
Fuck.
(WHEEZING)
(SIGHS)
(CLASSIC R&B MUSIC RESUMES)
You know,
I drove her home last night
in my car.
And, uh...
I just, I can't get her
out of my mind.
Her nails were, like,
painted black
but she chewed 'em down
real low and, uh...
This look she gave me, man...
This fucking look...
I don't even know her name.
(CHUCKLES)
What would you say
if I told you
I wanted
to start selling weed?
No, don't tell me this is
about fucking pussy.
No, no.
- Nah.
- It's about pussy.
- No, no, no.
- (COUGHING)
Wow, I'm, like, really high.
I'm, like, really high.
HUNTER:
Where's this chick live?
What?
- Where does this girl live?
- She...
Oh, just, like,
over near the airport.
Oh, fuck.
DANIEL: "Oh, fuck" what?
Uh-oh...
Did you bang her? (LAUGHS)
She's got, like, a penis
or something? (GIGGLES)
She's my sister,
you little shit.
Well, is it cool if I...
Just leave her alone.
- Okay.
- "Okay"?
- No. No "okay." I'm serious.
- Yeah, no, dude.
- I'm serious.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Leave her the fuck alone.
- All right. Okay, okay.
Yeah.
Don't tell her
I said anything.
She doesn't talk to me
anymore.
Why... Why not?
She's gonna get outta here.
She's gonna go on
and live a good life.
Yeah.
Okay, all right.
All right, forget her,
you know.
I still want
a piece of your action.
- Why?
- Look, look,
cops are all over you, dude.
Nobody know...
Nobody knows me.
- You're serious?
- Yeah, I'm...
- (SNICKERING)
- I'm serious.
Why not?
Exactly.
- Yeah?
- Yeah.
Yeah.
DANIEL: So what's
the standard pricing?
A gram goes for 10 bucks.
We call that a dime bag.
That's what
we smoked at the party.
Exactly. Good,
you're a fast learner.
What's this one?
That's 3.5 grams.
We call it an eighth.
It's 30 or 40, depending
on how good the bud is.
Most people
wanna buy those things.
What about this bad boy?
That's a zip. It's an ounce.
So it's 200 bucks,
give or take.
If more people bought these,
my life would be
a lot fucking easier.
Well, we should sell
more of those.
Yes, we should sell
more of these.
But you can't make people
buy what they don't want.
And how can we
make them want it?
(PUFFS)
You're a smart little fuck,
you know that?
You're too smart
for your own fucking good.
(COUGHING)
All right?
(INAUDIBLE)
BOY: And so it began.
Over the next month,
they sold all up and down that
town and five towns over.
And if you were like me,
which means
you were getting stoned
in lower Cape Cod that summer,
you were getting it
from Hunter Strawberry
and Daniel Middleton.
(CAR ENGINE STARTING)
(MUSIC BLARING ON CAR RADIO)
(POLICE SIREN WHOOPS)
(MUSIC STOPS)
(INDISTINCT POLICE RADIO
CHATTER)
(GLASS SQUEAKING)
OFFICER: You're new
out this way.
- Yes, sir.
- That wasn't a question, pal.
(SIGHS) Happens every summer.
And when the air's so heavy
you can't breathe,
the nights turn long
and sleepless
and the stars feel like
they're burning out above you.
The whole world
feels like it's
folding in.
When you long
for cooler times,
do you know what it is
that's gonna tear you apart?
No, sir.
You will soon.
See you further down the road,
Mr. Middleton.
HUNTER: Yeah,
that sounds like Calhoun.
DANIEL: Who?
Calhoun. That's his thing,
just putting the fear of God
into anyone
- that'll fucking let him.
- Okay, yeah.
He scared the shit out of me.
He's been on my back
for fuck knows how long
and I'm still here.
Hey, I don't know about you,
I don't wanna end up
in Walpole
getting fucking butt-raped
by a skinhead in the showers.
Whoa, whoa, whoa,
take it easy, bro!
No. I had a half pound of weed
in the back of my car
when he pulls me over.
That's insane.
Keep your fucking voice down.
Hey, I'm serious.
Right now, the risk
versus reward is all fucked.
Yo, what do you want?
Can I get you, uh, a beer?
You want an ice cream,
some sprinkles on it?
No, you don't get
what I'm saying.
If you're starting
to fucking shake already,
Then maybe this isn't the
fucking thing for you.
We have a choice,
we have to choose.
You're fucking confusing me.
You want to be the guy that's
putting gas in those cars
or you want to be the guy
that owns the gas company?
(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)
- That's good.
- Yeah.
DANIEL: So what do
we have now,
25, maybe 30 customers?
Altogether about
a pound a week, right?
HUNTER:
That's good fucking money.
DANIEL: That's great money.
Look, the problem is
we're dealing dime bags
to teenagers.
All right? We need customers
who buy in bulk.
A month ago, you didn't know
how to use a fucking bong.
Right?
And now you're trying
to tell me how to flip weed?
Have I disappointed you yet?
Look, the problem
isn't with the demand.
It's with the supply,
all right?
By the time it gets to us,
it's already been through
a load of hands, like,
everybody's taking their cut.
We would need to find someone
who can move heavyweight.
All that shit comes
through Portland, anyway.
- Oregon?
- No, Maine.
But that's besides the point.
One of those
big-time motherfuckers
is not gonna want to deal
with two fucking kids.
(MUFFLED MUSIC PLAYING)
DANIEL: We'll see.
(LAUGHTER)
Look, are you gonna tell me
what the fuck
we're doing here?
Or... Like, who
are you looking for?
That big-time motherfucker.
(SIGHS)
- All right.
- No, no, hold back.
My cousin said this guy will
talk to me only if I'm alone.
It's cool. Don't worry.
- I'm not worried.
- Yeah. You're not worried.
You're cool,
you're not worried.
(MIMICS SCHWARZENEGGER)
I'll be back.
(ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)
DANIEL: Hey.
Hey.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, little man.
You can't just be sneaking up
on people.
Sneakin', sneakin'
like a little snake, huh?
Sorry.
I heard you had...
I heard you had weed.
Yeah, there's pussy
everywhere, huh?
(STAMMERING) No...
I heard you sold weed.
Come here.
- Who are you?
- Uh, I'm Taylor, Daniel's...
Taylor's cousin Daniel.
- You a narc?
- Uh, what?
- A narc.
- A narc?
Taylor didn't tell you
I was coming?
No, Taylor didn't tell me
you were coming.
- You're not a narc, huh?
- No.
(STUTTERS)
Taylor didn't tell you
- I was coming?
- (IMITATES MOCKINGLY)
- You cool?
- Yeah, I'm cool.
Cool. Okay.
(PANTS) You wanna party, huh?
- Huh? Wanna party?
- All right.
(WHISPERING) Well, I really
want to buy some weed.
I heard you had weed.
Like, a lot.
- Like, as much as you can get.
- Oh, really?
Pounds, you know?
- Pounds?
- Mmm-hmm.
Tons?
Well... (GRUNTS SOFTLY)
I'm a little high,
so let me get this, uh...
You come to my place...
I don't know who you are,
little snaky.
You don't know who I am.
And you ask me
to sell you pounds of drugs?
Let me tell you something.
I look like a jungle monkey
from Dorchester to you, huh?
- You know, I'll just...
- No, no, no, no.
You tell your little slippery
Jew fucking cousin...
No, no, no, no...
(GROANS)
(PONYTAIL GROANING)
(GURGLING)
- (PANTING)
- (GURGLING CONTINUES)
Let's go.
(PANTING)
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
(ENGINE STARTING)
(FUNK MUSIC PLAYING)
BOY: The next time he saw her
was a Wednesday.
Earlier that day, Gary Pinkus,
the diabetic kid,
collapsed and nearly drowned
at the pool
after trying Nutella
for the first time.
It was also the same day
Terminator 2 came out.
I don't think any
of those events were related,
but I can't be sure.
(CLATTERING)
- Daniel?
- What? Hi.
What, uh...
What happened here?
Oh, just a fight.
I don't know.
- Naughty.
- Yeah.
I'm guessing
I should see the other guy.
Yeah. (CHUCKLES)
Why?
It's an expression.
So how long have you
been following me for?
Following...
What, following you?
I haven't been following you.
(FUNK MUSIC CONTINUES)
Can you smell my sunscreen?
(SOFTLY) Yes. Coconuts.
- (SOFTLY) Good.
- Thanks.
I'm looking for Epsom salt.
Why?
Have you ever thrown
Epsom salt on a slug before?
No. What's it do?
It's pretty cool.
But I can't find any.
Slugs?
Salt.
Oh, fuck me.
(CAR HORN HONKING)
Well, I gotta split.
You gonna go to the fireworks
on Thursday?
Maybe.
Maybe. Okay.
Maybe we'll share
another lollipop?
Keep dreaming.
(DOOR OPENS, CLOSES)
(TIRES SCREECH)
(TIRES SCREECH)
- Hey!
- DANIEL: What?
- Come here. Come here.
- What?
- I...
- Come here. Come here.
It's cool.
If I were here to hurt you,
you'd be hurt.
- You understand?
- Yeah.
I have something you want.
Something, uh,
you've been looking for, huh?
- Okay. Hey, I'm not...
- Get in.
- I'm not into any of...
- DEX: I'm not asking.
(CASH REGISTER DINGS)
(SING-SONG)
I've been watching you.
Longer than you'd be
comfortable with knowing.
You've got reach,
I've seen that.
You're, uh, smart, careful.
But not careful enough.
That kid whose head
you split open,
he shits into a bag now,
but he's alive.
You're lucky. However,
you caught my attention.
Which means before long,
you'll catch the wrong kind
of attention.
Look, I don't know how close
you've been watching, bro,
but I've been around the block
a few times
so I know
that the cops out here
ain't worth spit in a bucket.
I'm not talking about cops,
bro.
You know what your problem is?
Got a feeling
you're about to tell me.
You're selling dime bags
to tourists.
You're sitting
at the penny slots
trying to take down the house.
Yeah, well, it's doing
just fine for me so far.
All right. I'll tell you what.
If all you're looking
to do is, uh...
Is scratch together
enough cash
to buy the Traci Lords'
videocassettes,
I'll settle this tab
right here.
We part ways. No love lost.
Something tells me
you're looking to do more
than blow
your itty bitty loads
into your tube socks.
Amen to that.
Amen to that.
All the running around,
all the, uh,
transactions...
Keep it up.
It'll end one of two ways.
Either you'll be in Walpole
getting raped by a skinhead
in the showers
- or...
- That is exactly what I said.
Which, I can assure you,
is not pleasant.
Or the homeboys
from Jamaica Plains
are gonna come out here
and take all your...
You've made
your fucking point.
Ooh.
Oh! Thank you, ma'am. Hello.
Yes, yes, yes.
Your job
is to find people who are
looking to buy in bulk.
HUNTER: And what's your job?
Hmm?
- What's your fucking job?
- Ah.
The man I work for who,
sure as the sky is blue,
you will never meet,
will provide you with as much
product as you can handle.
My job is to make sure
you pay us back on time.
What does your boyfriend do?
My boyfriend here, he drives.
He also occasionally
hurts people,
but that's another story.
(SOFTLY) How do we know
this isn't some sort of,
like, sting operation?
How do we know
you're not cops?
That's a good question.
A very good question.
Cops can't do that. Sit down.
Okay.
Um... Sit down?
(DEX HUMS)
What happens from here on
is something
of a trial period.
We front you some weight,
you have till Thursday,
and not a second more,
to flip it
and pay us back the principal.
Whatever you make over that,
that's yours to keep.
- That's two days.
- Mmm-hmm.
That's a shit fucking deal,
man.
How much are we talkin' about?
Two pounds. Good shit.
Better than anything
around here.
It'll sell like, um...
Like cold cherry ice
on a hot summer night.
How about five pounds?
Think you can handle five?
That shouldn't be a problem.
But what if something happens?
What if we... What if
we're late? What then?
You've seen the movies.
Five pounds? Are you out
of your fucking mind?
Now we're caught up
with those cocksuckers.
They're exactly
what you said we needed.
Five pounds.
- That was fucking dumb.
- I have a plan.
What?
What is your fucking plan?
Trust me.
- What if it doesn't work?
- It has to.
Now give me
one of them cigarettes.
(SLOW ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)
BOY: Daniel Middleton
had this crazy cousin
who lived down in Quincy.
He was sent away
at 10 years old
after lighting a squirrel
on fire
during a family cookout.
When he was a kid,
his drunk daddy
crashed the car
into a Chinese restaurant.
And he was the only survivor.
And after that, he called
himself the "Lucky Jew."
But, several years later,
somewhere outside Sioux Falls,
South Dakota...
- (GUNSHOT)
- ...that luck ran out.
But for a while,
life was good.
He knew every crook,
junkie, tweaker,
doper, gambler, hustler
and low life in South Boston.
If anyone could get rid of
five pounds of pot overnight,
it was him.
(TAYLOR LAUGHING HYSTERICALLY)
God damn, boy!
You grew up fast!
Why were you running?
Why were you running?
You were running.
Why the fuck were you running?
I have no idea!
(LAUGHS HYSTERICALLY)
- Go!
- What? Did you get it?
- Go!
- Did you get it?
(POLICE SIRENS WAILING)
Go!
(TIRES SCREECHING)
BOY: It was the biggest gamble
Daniel Middleton had ever
taken. And he won.
Just let me
- do the talking, okay?
- Yep.
Shut your mouth.
Guess who did a good job?
Who?
You did, fuck-up.
DANIEL: I got Wellfleet,
Chatham,
most of Falmouth,
half of New Bedford,
my cousin down in Quincy,
my guy up in Marblehead,
if we can get Framingham,
that's...
That's 15 pounds a week.
Holy shit.
- Fuck! Fuck!
- Fuck!
- Daniel?
- Yeah, I... Just...
All right, just tell her
I'll call her back!
(ENGINE REVS)
DANIEL: Take it for a spin?
They want more.
They want more.
They want more. Ha-ha!
They want more.
(LAUGHS HYSTERICALLY)
(KIDS SCREAMING, CHEERING)
(CARNIVAL MUSIC PLAYING)
So who's coming to
the beach house this weekend?
Yeah?
Oh, sounds like
a fucking blast.
(CHUCKLES) Hey, I'm gonna go
grab some more beer
out the Beemer.
You ladies have any requests?
Something strong.
(BLAIR CHUCKLES)
He's fuckin' wicked hot, Kay.
Not to mention, like,
rich as f'ing God.
He's fine.
You always do this.
You wouldn't know
Prince Charming
- if he came in your mouth.
- That's gross.
What is this creature doing?
Hey.
Hey yourself.
I was hoping you'd show up.
Guess who got lucky.
I brought you something.
I gave it a shot.
It's fucked up.
But you're right,
it is awesome.
Well, don't kill 'em all
at once.
It's too late for that.
I'm hooked.
(FOLK ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)
OKIE: I think my tampon just
crawled up into my stomach.
BLAIR: So who let
the clodhopper
- out of his shed?
- BOY: Right? What?
(FOLK ROCK MUSIC CONTINUES)
BLAIR: Hey, whoa, shit
swallower, take a step back.
GIRL 1: Seriously?
GIRL 2: Yeah, I know.
GIRL 1: He's like
a really cute older man.
GIRL 2: I don't see it.
He's married.
Okay. Well, I'm not married.
- What are you, a homewrecker?
- Mmm-hmm.
- Um... Not yet.
- Ew!
Speaking of
home-wrecking though,
did you guys hear
some random summer bird
kissed McKayla Strawberry
at the fireworks last night?
Oh, my gosh, she is so pretty.
She's a whore.
GIRL 1: I thought she was
with that rich kid
from Connecticut.
GIRL 2: Exactly.
Oh, my gosh, Amy, he's, like,
so staring at you right now.
GIRL 1: He is such a fox.
GIRL 2: Ew!
(GIRLS CONTINUE CHATTING
INDISTINCTLY)
(POP MUSIC PLAYING)
GIRL 1: Um... No.
GIRL 2: No.
GIRL 1: Whatever.
I'd let him take a bite.
GIRL 3: Yuck!
I have a boyfriend.
Nah, no, you don't.
If you don't stop being
so frickin' cute,
you will soon.
You don't know
the first thing about me.
I know you like ketchup.
MAN: Hey! Hey!
(GASPS)
Yeah, I gotta pee.
- Yo, hold on.
- (GUNSHOT ON FILM)
Nah, it's really bad.
(COUGHING)
This is the best fucking part.
D!
Fucking pussy.
(GUNSHOTS CONTINUE ON FILM)
Hey.
Hi, everyone.
(SIGHS) Just getting
some Gummy Bears...
Who do you think you are?
...and sour peach rings.
I'm sorry. What?
Seriously. Who the fuck
do you think you are?
You think you can just
walk around and kiss girls
on the mouth
in front of their boyfriends?
On the mouth.
In front of their boyfriends.
You're lucky
all he did was punch you.
So lucky.
DANIEL: Um, listen.
Sorry?
- No, you're not.
- OKIE: No, you're not.
Listen, I...
I really have to pee.
You pencil-dick,
rat-faced little fuck.
Why are you
still standing here?
Fuck off.
Sour peach rings,
you stupid fucking...
Sour peach rings,
you stupid fucking...
Sour peach rings,
you stupid fucking...
(McKAYLA CLEARS THROAT)
(BOTH GASPING)
(SLOW ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)
(KIDS LAUGHING, SCREAMING)
(SLOW ROCK MUSIC CONTINUES)
Please? Come on.
- Please?
- HUNTER: No.
No, it's gonna be so good.
You can't give me
the puppy-dog face like that.
Whatever. Just get in.
Just get in. (GIGGLES)
(FLASHBULB POPPING)
(SLOW ROCK MUSIC CONTINUES)
(LAUGHS)
Oh!
Too much.
- (GIGGLES)
- I'm gonna be sick.
Ooh! Can we get one of those?
- One of what?
- One of these.
AMY: (ECHOING) Hey. Hey...
Hey, Hunter.
Look at me.
I know something better.
(SLOW ROCK MUSIC RESUMES)
HUNTER: Yeah,
I know where she lives.
Like, she's straightlaced,
but she's so nice that...
Thank you, Julia.
I swear. You and Amy
are, like, the only two people
in my life who really take me
- for who I am, you know?
- Yeah.
Don't lie to me.
Don't play me for a fool.
- Is that so much to ask?
- Yeah.
You were at the fireworks
the other night, right?
I hear some summer bird
walks right up
to my baby sister,
kisses her on the mouth.
Hunter, I'm...
HUNTER: I don't know
who this kid is,
but I swear to God
I'm gonna find him.
And when I do,
I'm gonna make sure
that he can't touch my sister
ever again.
Touch any girl ever again.
What do you mean?
(CHUCKLES)
Oh, shit!
- I almost had you.
- Fuck you!
Oh, you are
such a gullible motherfucker.
McKAYLA: I love how it gets
after a storm.
The air gets real light.
The sky's super clear.
Like I could just float away.
(CHUCKLES)
Mmm...
Or maybe I'm just super high.
(DANIEL CHUCKLES)
You know, I could get...
Like, more, like...
A bunch more.
You're not caught up
in anything shady, right?
What?
Shady stuff? What does that...
You think I would...
I'm not.
You better not be.
You know anything
about my brother?
Uh...
I've heard of him.
Anything else?
No, not really.
We don't talk anymore.
We haven't for a long time.
(FIREWORKS CRACKLING)
(PEOPLE CHEERING)
It was when my mom
got really sick.
My brother was
fucking up.
Selling drugs.
Fighting.
And got kicked out of school.
My mom asked him to stop.
She said it would mean
the world to her.
But he didn't.
(McKAYLA SIGHS)
And then she died.
He leaves money and...
I can never use it.
I just couldn't.
I'm sorry.
WAITRESS: So, how will you
be settling the bill tonight?
It's cash.
(SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PLAYING)
Hey.
HUNTER: Whoa,
what the fuck, man?
Dude, we got it.
That's 75?
- A hundred?
- More.
What? What, what, what? 150?
Open your fucking mouth, man.
How much?
- Two-fifty.
- Fuck you.
Two-fifty. (CHUCKLES)
- Fuck you.
- Fuck you, dude.
- Fuck you, man!
- Fuck you, dude.
- (THUNDER RUMBLING)
- (PEOPLE SCREAMING)
(TIRES SCREECH)
- (THUNDER RUMBLING)
- (PEOPLE SCREAMING)
(PSYCHEDELIC ROCK MUSIC
PLAYING)
- Okay.
- All right. Go.
(AMY GIGGLES)
(ENGINE REVVING)
(TIRES SCREECH)
(PSYCHEDELIC ROCK MUSIC
CONTINUES)
Hey, Daddy.
You been in here all night?
Yeah. Where else would I be?
(CHUCKLES)
Well... You might turn in.
You know we got church
in the morning.
Okay, Daddy.
Good night.
Good night, sweetheart.
(DOOR CREAKING)
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
- Fuck you. (LAUGHS)
- DANIEL: No, no.
(McKAYLA LAUGHS)
What about you?
If you could be anything.
I don't know. It's stupid.
No, it's just fantasy.
It doesn't matter.
That's what I'm worried about.
Yeah.
(McKAYLA GIGGLES)
(INDISTINCT)
(INAUDIBLE)
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
(McKAYLA YELPS)
DANIEL: Run!
(McKAYLA YELPS)
- (RAIN POUNDING ON CAR)
- (McKAYLA SIGHS)
I have... I've never...
Before.
Me neither.
Really?
- Fuck you.
- No.
Really?
Yeah.
DANIEL: I thought you said
you were good at this.
I'm destroying you.
I'm guessing you're yellow.
That's a rookie move.
McKAYLA: Shut the fuck up.
DANIEL: Can you get in?
Can you get in?
McKAYLA: You put in codes.
That's not fair!
DANIEL: You're the one
who got owned.
- (BOTH LAUGH)
- Hey, you...
Hey, get more coins.
Hurry. Hurry.
- You have money?
- McKAYLA: Yes.
Danny boy.
What're you doing here?
On your own,
you fucking loser.
You all right?
What are you...
Is this, uh...
Oh.
- Amy, Danny. Danny, Amy.
- Hi.
She's fucking cute,
isn't she? Huh?
- I can say that.
- AMY: Stop. No. (GIGGLES)
You're so fucking cute
I'm gonna punch you
in the face, huh?
You two know each other?
Uh...
No, we haven't met.
Yeah, there's, uh...
There was one time
I gave you a ride home,
but, uh...
You don't remember, probably.
Since when do you
go to the arcade?
I don't.
Okie forgot to give me a ride
so I had to get, uh...
Quarters to call her.
Dad okay?
You're getting the mail,
right?
I'm gonna walk home.
It was nice meeting you.
- Hey. It'll be okay.
- No. I'm cool.
How do you know my brother?
I don't, really. Just...
Met him at a party once.
He's gonna kill you.
WOMAN: (ON RADIO)
We are on weather watch.
Continuing to track
the severe storm
which is going to have
major implications
for multiple counties.
The National Weather Service
has informed us
that this storm
will likely be upgraded
to a category 4.
That means
you need to stand by
on further instructions
whether there will be
mandatory evacuations,
we don't know yet,
If you're in a red zone...
(ENGINE REVS)
(PANTS)
Daddy, you scared me.
Of all the boys in this town.
(BELL DINGS)
(INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER)
(DOOR CLOSES)
CALHOUN: It's a warm night,
isn't it?
This is private property,
you know.
I could call the cops.
Uh...
Why don't you and me
go for a ride?
Why don't you fuck off?
(SIGHS)
Let me show you something.
(DOOR OPENS)
I'll be in the car.
This is very romantic but what
the fuck are we doing here?
You know, you remind me of...
There was a boy
a few years back.
Kyle Tate, right? Yeah,
I know all of the stories.
I look like someone
who wants to spend
the next 20 years
rotting away up in Walpole?
I'm not gonna go out
like that.
Not like that.
You ever thought about
just giving it up?
Yeah, sure. And do... Do what?
Go to college.
Get a job, maybe.
I don't think that
meatloaf dinners
and a white picket fence
are in the cards for me.
Well, how do you imagine
this is gonna end?
Look, if you were
gonna get me,
you woulda got me already.
McKAYLA:
When I was a little kid,
I used to catch them
in those glass jars.
It always reminded me
of how planes looked
when they're
way up in the sky.
Why'd you stop?
Kept dying.
Got depressing.
I think you should
start collecting
the fireflies again.
You can't hold on
to everything.
I think some things you can.
Then I hope you're good
at being hurt.
(ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)
All right. So what?
So, last time I checked,
it wasn't illegal
for your old man
to be a fucking fuck-up.
It's a little hard
to tell now,
but half a lifetime ago,
your dad was the coolest thing
in 100 miles.
Yeah.
Kind of guy who could
break a girl's heart
just walking into a room.
Jimmy Strawberry.
Yeah, see, we was
thick as thieves, me and him.
(SCOFFS)
We, uh...
Got into some trouble.
(CHUCKLES)
They were good times.
You know, part of me
likes to believe
that it was him who saved me.
That he knew who he was.
And he knew
where his life was headed.
And he didn't want
that life for me.
The choices that we make
ain't always about us.
DANIEL: I've never
really said this before...
Uh...
But I think I might...
Whatever it is
that you want to say...
Wait.
And if you still wanna tell me
when summer's over...
Tell me then.
(CLASSIC R&B MUSIC PLAYING)
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
DANIEL: Hunter?
You hear what I said?
There's this guy
up in Portland,
he's got good stuff.
Good prices.
He wants to meet us.
What does... What does
Dex think about this?
Dex doesn't know.
What?
Dex doesn't know,
but, you know,
I can imagine
that it's gonna be fine.
All right. All right, am I
missing something here?
We got the best weed hookup
in the whole of the northeast.
And you want to
fuck it up, for what?
This guy...
He's not selling weed.
HUNTER: Oh...
So you think you're
a cocaine dealer now.
This is gonna be more money
than either of us
have ever seen.
Is that... Is that really
what this is all about?
What else would it be about?
You don't think
any of this shit through.
You don't, man, do you?
Cocaine.
All I'm saying is
how long are you
gonna be Dex's errand boy?
We're not the only guys
he sells to,
why in the fuck should he be
the only guy we buy from?
'Cause that's just how
this shit works, Danny.
That's how it's always worked.
I don't have to
explain that shit...
Okay. If we never upended
how things worked,
we'd be on that corner right
there selling nickle bags
and dime bags to summer birds
and teenagers.
If Dex finds out, and he
will find out, look at me.
Don't...
...come running to me.
That stuff that
people say about you.
Any of that true?
(McKAYLA SIGHS)
HUNTER: Hey, who was that?
Stop, wait. Will you...
Will you just talk to me?
McKayla, please.
I'm sorry about Mom, okay?
I know that I hurt her.
I don't expect you
to forgive me.
I don't expect it. I'm...
I'm just...
I'm trying to be good.
I'm trying
really fucking hard.
All right? I need...
- I can't do this on my own.
- Stop selling drugs.
You know,
it's not that simple...
How else am I supposed to...
How? Okay. All right.
It's all that she wanted.
WOMAN: (ON RADIO)
...Providence you're going
to have an extreme potential
storm surge
that could be
life threatening.
Why haven't you started?
WOMAN: (ON RADIO)
You're going to have
extreme hurricane-force winds.
(DOOR OPENS)
More information on this storm
for you now.
The winds are
105 miles per hour.
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
What the hell is this?
What's going on?
I'm gonna ask you something,
and I want you
to be straight with me.
Have you been seeing her?
No.
- What the hell is this?
- It's mine! Let go!
Wait, tough girl!
Where you going?
Where you going?
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
That shit I said before about
not wanting you
to go near her,
I don't fucking care anymore.
Just tell me the truth.
I said no.
You cool, dude?
(VEHICLE APPROACHES)
(BAG DROPS)
McKAYLA: You fucking assholes.
DANIEL: Hey.
Hey! Wait! Wait!
- Wait! Wait!
- (TIRES SQUEAL)
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
(DOOR UNLOCKS)
SHEP: Hey, hey.
Come in.
(MELANCHOLY ORGAN MUSIC PLAYS)
You want some coffee?
Huh? Hey, sit down.
Hey, you don't want coffee.
You're young.
When you're young
and you're free,
you don't drink coffee.
Guy spends his whole life
being good to people.
Trying to make them happy,
and he gets what?
A whoring wife and kids
who hate him.
Is that fair?
None of it's fair.
It's not supposed to be.
Where is the order?
There isn't any order.
- Stop fucking looking for it.
- (ORGAN PLAYING STOPS)
You think my rotten wife cared
when she took a big,
giant shit on my life
and stole all my money
and told my kids
that I was a drunk?
I'll tell you. She did not.
Have I had pain in my life?
More than you
will ever know, brother?
Daisy!
(ORGAN PLAYS)
Be happy, they say.
Life is too short, they say.
Be happy. What is happy?
What does that look like?
A new car? Hey.
Hot wife. Big dick.
What am I trying to say?
I don't know.
I think life
will be good to you.
- Is that the money in there?
- (SOFTLY) Yes.
(LOUDER) Yes.
- All of it?
- Yes.
Hand it to Chester, please.
To new friendships.
To new business.
Daisy, sweetheart.
Play something celebratory.
(PLAYS UPBEAT TUNE)
(SNORTING)
Oh, listen...
(EXHALES)
(SNORTING)
Take it.
I'm probably...
Probably gonna leave soon.
Take it.
(SNORTS)
Good shit, huh?
It's fucking great.
(SNIFFS)
Come on. Hit me.
Come on. Do it. Hit me.
I really
don't want to do that.
Come on. Look, look.
Jesus fucking Christ.
Hit me in the face. Come on.
Hit me in the face.
Come on, you, hit me.
(DAISY FINISHES SONG)
(DAISY STARTS PLAYING
NEW SONG)
(LAUGHS)
(LAUGHING)
(LAUGHING) It's... It's...
It's baby formula.
DANIEL: What... What is?
That. It's not cocaine.
It's baby formula.
Daisy, Daisy.
Stop...
Daisy!
Oh...
(SIGHS)
Look...
I'm gonna take
your money, okay?
I'm gonna take your money
because you're stupid
and you're weak,
and because I can.
Lift your head up.
Come on, look at me.
I know who you are.
And I know who you work for.
He doesn't know you're here
today doing this, does he?
Dex know you're here today
doing this? Huh?
When he finds out what you've
done here, it won't be good.
Now, if I were you,
I would go someplace
very far away.
And I would do so
very quickly.
- (PHONE RINGING)
- (TIRES SCREECHING)
(RINGING CONTINUES)
- DANIEL: Hey, Dex.
- (DEX GROANS)
You broke my heart.
(TIRES SQUEALING)
BOY: At roughly
4:15 Eastern Time,
Hurricane Bob made landfall
on the Massachusetts coast.
It was a Monday
and it was 74 degrees.
MAN: (ON TV) It moved on
to areas like Block Island
about 1:30 this afternoon,
with 125 mile per hour winds.
Falmouth, Massachusetts
reported
94 mile per hour winds.
FEMALE NEWSCASTER:
Governor Weld has now issued
a state of emergency
throughout eastern
Massachusetts.
- (THUNDER RUMBLING)
- (DOG BARKING)
(RAIN PATTERING)
(LINE RINGING)
(WIND HOWLING)
(PHONE RINGING)
(DIALING)
(LINE RINGING)
(PHONE RINGING)
(PHONE BEEPS)
DEX: (ON PHONE) You know
how this has to end now.
Got you.
I wish it could've
been different.
(THUNDER CRACKING)
(SIRENS BLARING)
Hey! Hunter!
(BANGING) Hunter!
(CONTINUES BANGING)
Hey, hey, whoa.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
I didn't know how to tell you
about me and her.
All right, I wanted to.
I just couldn't!
Now I fucked up!
All right,
I fucked up really bad!
I'll count to three.
Hunter, listen to me!
Dex is coming to kill me!
He's coming
to fucking kill me!
One...
Two...
All right, fuck you.
Fucking kill me.
Fuck you!
Run away. Never come back.
I just want to
say goodbye to her.
Then I'll leave, all right?
Just go.
(TIRES SQUEAL)
- (THUNDER RUMBLING)
- (WIND HOWLING)
(THUNDER RUMBLES)
(CAR APPROACHING)
(CAR DOOR OPENS)
(SHUTTER OPENING)
Where is your boy?
Where is your boy?
I don't know.
Now is not the time
to be proud.
Tell me where your boy is.
He didn't show.
(POLICE SIREN WAILING)
What happened to you, kid?
You could've
really been something.
Like you?
You knew how it would all end,
didn't you?
Your whole life.
Fuck you.
Okay.
(GUN COCKING)
- (HORN HONKING)
- (TIRES SCREECH)
(RAIN PATTERING)
(SYNTHPOP MUSIC PLAYING)
(SYNTHPOP MUSIC CONTINUES)
(CAR STARTING, ENGINE REVS)
(SYNTHPOP MUSIC CONTINUES)
BOY: Owen Shepherd's house
was swept out to sea.
And Kelly Fine's dog
died in the flood.
I didn't have electricity back
until Halloween.
And the drive-in theater
which had been around since
my grandma was a little girl
was blown to the ground.
REPORTER: Uh, do you
intend on ever having
a cottage on the shore again?
No. We're hoping to rebuild.
BOY: Overall, they say it was
more than a billion dollars
in damage.
Hunter Strawberry's body
was found on August 20, 1991.
He died young,
and left a pretty corpse.
Becoming what everyone always
expected him to become.
In the end,
only four people
attended his funeral.
His first-grade teacher
Miss Wolcott,
little Pat Shaughnessy
from the fish market
on South Street.
Amy, and Sergeant
Frank Calhoun.
Hey.
Amy.
BOY: For a while,
there was a rumor going around
that Calhoun paid
for the funeral.
And that at one point, his
eyes even watered up a little.
But nobody knows
if that's true.
I can't swear to it,
but I'd like to think
that it was in this moment
that Daniel Middleton knew
his time in this town
had finally come to an end.
And he knew
if he loved the girl,
the best thing was
to leave her be.
Some say he ended up
in Wyoming or Nevada.
In some forgotten little town
on the edge of the desert.
Others will tell you
he's in a big city somewhere.
Lost in the crowds.
Either way,
he was never seen again.
(WIND BLOWING)
(RAIN PATTERING)
(MOUTHING)
To this day,
I can't tell you why
I looked out that window.
But when I saw her
standing there,
somehow I knew neither of us
would ever be the same.
I'm the last person in town
to see her alive.
And I don't know how
I feel about that.
I really don't.
When she left town,
she killed the dreams of every
boy whoever knew who she was.
Even if they were
little dreams.
Like catching a whiff
of her perfume.
Or tasting a piece of her gum.
Or even, maybe one day, that
she would know our names.
She was last seen in a diner
outside Peoria, Illinois,
and headed west.
I wonder if she
got there okay.
(THUNDER RUMBLING)
(McKAYLA YELPS)
Wherever she was going.
And I wonder where she is now,
and how she's doing.
(RAIN PATTERING)
I guess I'll always wonder.
(INDIE ROCK MUSIC PLAYING)