- Sgt. Pierce: That's if your stuff can be found.
- [yawns]
- Willie Lawrence: Gee, I hope we're not keeping you up.
- Sgt. Pierce: Sonny, why don't you cal Lt. Kojak? Lt. Kojak can find your stuff in less than an hour.
- Doug Lawrence: [after a robbery in at the Lawrence house, Doug notices the hatch on the back door was unlocked and locks it in place] This door was left open. Who would have done that?
- Willie Lawrence: [notices he is guilty] I came back to get the car. I think it was me.
- Doug Lawrence: [seething] You think it was you? Since when did you starting thinking again?
- Willie Lawrence: Dad...
- Kate Lawrence: Willie, how could you?
- Doug Lawrence: [angrily] For months, you've been acting like an INCOMPETENT CHILD and this is the result!
- [Willie, in utter frustration, throws a cookie, he was eating, down onto the floor as Kate and Buddy look on nervously]
- Willie Lawrence: [after an argument with Willie in the car during dinner, Buddy hops into the backseat] What are you doing?
- Letitia 'Buddy' Lawrence: Take me home.
- Willie Lawrence: Oh, come on, Buddy. Let's go play some miniature golf. We got time.
- Letitia 'Buddy' Lawrence: Take me home.
- Willie Lawrence: [firmly] Buddy, come up here and stop acting like that!
- Letitia 'Buddy' Lawrence: I prefer to sit back here alone. That's what you want me to be, isn't it?
- Willie Lawrence: [annoyed] Buddy, please!
- Letitia 'Buddy' Lawrence: You stink.
- Willie Lawrence: [sitting in Doug's chair in his office at the law firm, Willie notices him coming in] Oh, Dad.
- Doug Lawrence: Terry Wallace said to say "hello'.
- Willie Lawrence: Terry Wallace?
- Doug Lawrence: Yeah, he was there when I was speaking to your... the senior class.
- Willie Lawrence: [sighs] I forgot that was today. How'd it go?
- Doug Lawrence: Bright kids. Asked a lot of good questions. They wouldn't accept any casual answers. They wore me out.
- Willie Lawrence: And I don't help, do I?
- [gets up from the chair]
- Doug Lawrence: [tiresome] I don't want to get into a hassle, Willie.
- Willie Lawrence: [as Doug sits down] Yeah, okay. Well, the reason I'm here is I came to try to explain things to you better than I have.
- Doug Lawrence: Fine. You look good sitting in this chair.
- Willie Lawrence: [chuckles dryly] Dad, I mean, that's not fair.
- Doug Lawrence: I guess it isn't.
- Willie Lawrence: [as he sits down on a chair near the desk] But that's what I wanted to talk to you about. When I quit high school, it was because I knew I was never gonna go into law.
- Doug Lawrence: There are plenty of careers open to you, besides law.
- Willie Lawrence: I want to write.
- Doug Lawrence: [tersely] You don't know what you want. You're not prepared to do anything, so you say you're a writer. That's a good title to hide behind.
- Willie Lawrence: Do you think Falter and Fitzgerald were hiding?
- Doug Lawrence: [impatient] No, but before you include yourself in that group, please consider that they were both highly educated men.
- Willie Lawrence: I am not including myself anywhere. That's why I want to go away, to take the time to find out where I do belong.
- Doug Lawrence: The answer is no.
- Willie Lawrence: [frustrated] You know, I just don't get it.
- [stands up]
- Willie Lawrence: When I was twelve years old, it was always "Look what Willie made", "Look what Willie wrote." You and Mom were proud of me, at least, you said you were.
- Doug Lawrence: We were.
- Willie Lawrence: Then, why is it when the time has come for me to find out that I do have any talent, it's "Forget it, Willie."?
- Doug Lawrence: You're not twelve anymore. You're not prepared to do anything in the real world. You can't get a job running an elevator without a high school diploma.
- Willie Lawrence: [angrily] That's the point! That's not what I have in mind, but what bothers me is that you and Mom don't trust me enough to find out what I need to know!
- [Doug, outraged by Willie's statement, firmly stands up, but Willie gathers his motorcycle helmet and storms out the door]