The Way Back

Okay, Jackie, yourtotal is 67.85, please.

All right.

Here you go, my friend.

Hey, yo, Jackie.

Hey, Sal. What's going on, man?

- What's up, man? How you doing? - All right. How you doing?

- Good to see ya. - You too.

Yeah, what's going on? Where's your turkey today?

Uh, my sister's house.

My mom just moved in over there, so we're doing Thanksgiving.

Oh, nice, man. Nice.

Well, say hi to your mom and Beth for me.

I will. You still reffin' the Catholic League games?

Little bit, here and there. Yeah, my oldest is at UC Santa Cruz.

So, you know, every little bit helps, right?

You bet. Well, happy Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving, Jackie. Good seeing ya.

- You too, Sal. - What's up, man?

Give me a couple of scratch-offs, please.

- Sure. - Thank you.

Don't fill up on bread.

You gotta eat the rest of your beans. Okay?

Hey! Happy Thanksgiving.

- Look who's here. - Hey, Uncle Jack's here!

- Hey. Happy Thanksgiving to you. - How you doing, man?

- Glad you could make it. - No problem. How's the car business?

- It is going good. Thank you For asking. - Good.

Would you like some wine?

No. I have some. Thank you very much.

Hi, Uncle Fart-Poop.

Uncle Fart-Poop!

Don't tickle me! No, no, no.

- Uncle Jack's getting tickled. - Hi, sweetheart.

- Hi, Mom. - Mmm.

- Hello, sweetheart. - All right. Good.

Hey. Happy Thanksgiving.

- Sorry I'm late. - Hi. Really?

- Yeah. - Some people call when they're late.

I didn't have my phone with me.

Oh. Well, then why have a phone if you're not gonna use it?

I don't know. That's a good question.

- How you doing, buddy? - I'm good.

Good to see you.

I don't understand why somebody has a phone

if they don't ever answer it.

Can I have some of those potatoes, Mom?

- Do you want some potatoes? - Thank you so much.

Did your mom evertell you about our fish tank when we were kids?

No.

Well, your grandmother took us to the pet store

and we got a fish tank, you know, a bunch of cool fish.

And I came from school the next day,

and the fish tank was filled with shampoo.

And all the fish were dead. And your mom was there crying.

And Grandma said, "Why'd you put shampoo in the fish tank?"

And your mom said, "I wanted to give the fish a bubble bath."

Why'd she give the fish a bubble bath?

You're gonna have to ask your mom. I don't know.

I guess she always wanted to take care of everybody.

Mwah. I love you.

Don't let your mom near those fish.

- Good night, Uncle Jack. - Good night, chief.

- Hey. - Hey.

How's Mom, uh, settling in?

Uh, good. Yeah, really good. She seems to be.

Can't believe you got her outta Seaside.

Right? It's different now. It's just all young kids

- and little couples... - Yeah.

Running around, families.

I think she was feeling like a castaway out there.

Yeah, you did good. I'm glad she's here.

What's going on with you? What's new?

Not much.

Are you seeing anybody?

No.

I wish you would.

I really do.

I would feel much better.

I hate the idea of you down there by yourself all the time.

What do you hate about it so much?

That you're, you know, just alone.

Just drinking all the time and not...

I'm fine.

I appreciate it. But it's... I'm fine.

I know that Ang worries about you, so...

What does Ang have to do with it?

Why do you know what Ang would worry about?

Because she called and she wanted to see how you were doing.

- She called you? - Yeah.

- Why? - Is that okay?

I don't know. I mean, what, she called you to talk about me?

Why didn't she just call me directly?

She just wanted to see how you're doing.

Well...

I'm fine.

Look, I know Kathy Collins

says she sees your car outside Harold's bar every night.

Well, if Kathy Collins says it,

- must be true. - Mmm-hmm.

You know that something must be wrong.

So, I go to work, and then after work sometimes I go have a beer.

- I'm just saying... - You better start calling people.

- Okay. - Better get on this fucking case.

- Okay. - She has other things

maybe she ought to be worrying about,

instead of worrying about how much I drink.

I mean, she needs to worry about staying out of her fucking refrigerator.

- Nice. - She's losing a huge war

- agatnst the refrigerator. - What are you talking about? Jack...

- She needs to find a fucking treadmill. - Stop it.

That is so mean. She's my friend.

Well, she should mind her business.

- Okay. - That's why I don't come here.

'Cause it always turns to...

Which one of the 20 bedrooms am I supposed to be staying in?

Take the second one on the left.

Hey, Ang, it's Jack.

I'm just, uh... Happy Thanksgiving.

I wanted to call you, see how you're doing.

And also because my sister told me

that you had called her and wanted to know how I was doing.

I'm just saying, if you want to know in the future

how I'm doing...

you can call me,

as I still have the same phone number

that I had...

when we were married.

Hey, Jack, it's Miguel.

Haven't heard from you for a while, so...

Sofia was asking about you.

Thought I'd give you a call and see how you're doing.

Thought maybe we'd have you over...

Hello, Jack, this is Father Edward Devine

calling from Bishop Hayes High School.

Will you give me a call back here at the rectory when you get a chance?

1-424-145-3233.

And I'll be up until about 10:00 this evening.

If that doesn't work, we can chat in the morning.

Thanks, Jack. God bless.

- Hello, Jack. - Hi.

How are you? Come on in.

Thanks so much.

So, did you have a nice Thanksgiving?

- I did. How about you? - Oh, it was very nice.

All the kids and the grandkids were in.

- I was in my glory. - I bet.

- Good for you. - Oh.

You can go right in here.

Father Devine is just finishing up a call.

So, he will be out in just a couple of minutes,

so just make yourself comfortable.

- Thanks. - Yeah.

We are all so excited at the idea of you possibly coming back

to be with us at Hayes.

It's nice to see you agatn, Jack.

Hello, Jack.

Hey, Father.

It's good to see you. Thanks for making the drive.

- Sure. No problem. - Sit down, please.

So, been a while, hasn't it?

Yeah. Since, uh...

my father's funeral.

- That long? - Mmm.

My goodness. Where does the time go?

If I knew, I would tell ya.

- Married? - I'm separated now. For a while.

- Any children? - No kids.

Okay.

Well, Jack, it is really good to see you agatn.

And I suppose you're wondering why I called you over here.

I'm a little curious. Yeah.

Our basketball coach, Tom McGarrity, had a heart attack the other night.

Oh, no.

He's expected to make a full recovery,

but his wife doesn't think it's a very good idea

for him to return to the team.

And I tend to agree.

We need a new coach, Jack. You're the first person I thought of.

Try to suppress your enthusiasm.

No, I appreciate it. I just... It's, um...

You know, it's just, I've been away from the game for a long time.

I understand. I understand.

You know, I've never even coached before.

I just played, so I don't...

Is the, uh... I mean...

Is the team any good?

No. No.

We haven't been competitive for quite a while, actually.

In fact, the last time they made the playoffs?

Back when you were playing.

Wow.

Well, I really appreciate you thinking of me, Father.

- It's just, I... - Go home and think it over, Jack.

Well, I got a lot going on in my life right now.

- It's very busy. - Go home, think it over.

Call me with your decision in the morning.

- Tomorrow morning? - Our next game is Monday night, Jack.

I don't have a lot of time.

Hey, Father, listen, I...

Mmm...