| Ashes, AshesCatherine: Dante should have reserved a very special circle in Hell for lawyers that make unnecessary motions.
Peter:…The first time I met Cathy, she was stark naked.
Catherine: You might also mention I was upside down and screaming at the top of my lungs.
Peter:<chuckles> And ruin a good story?
Dimitri: Can you understand loving so much someone?
Vincent (To Catherine about Dimitri): If only you could hear the love in his voice when he speaks of her. He has crossed half the world, risked his life, left everything and everyone behind him…all for Anna.
Father: Tell me, Dimitri, do you play chess?
Dimitri: You say because I Russian.
Father: <chuckles>
Dimitri: And you?
Father: A little.
Joe (to Cathy and Rita): If this is a conspiracy to get my job, it won’t work…Moreno left hours ago.
Father (to unfinished chess game with Dimitri): "Check!”
Dimitri: It is difficult leaving. Its---how you English writer say?
Vincent: Shakespeare?
Dimitri: Yeah.
Vincent: "Parting is such sweet sorrow.”
Dimitri: Yes, its that, sweet and sad. He was a little bit Russian I think.
Dimitri has coughing fit.
Vincent: Perhaps, we should go back.
Dimitri: I must go on.
Vincent: Are you strong enough?
Dimitri: For Anna, very strong…You, Vincent, understand me best of all. Yes? Little bit of Russian in you too.
Dimitri: It is Russian to be like babies to say goodbye.
Catherine (waiting for Helper): Peter!
Peter: Cathy! What on earth are you doing here?
Catherine: Message said to meet a helper.
Peter: You! No wonder you have been so secretive this past year.
Catherine: How long have you been involved?
Peter: Since the beginning. Jacob and I went to medical school together…
Catherine: One thing I learned from Vincent—Nothing is impossible!
Father: Catherine, you should not have come here.
Catherine: How could I stay away.
Father: Pneumonic plague is the most contagious form of this disease. The risk is…
Catherine: It’s mine to take.
Father: Dimitri is dead.
Catherine: Vincent!
Father: He’s alright. He appears to be immune, thank God.
Catherine’s Lullaby:
"Sleep my pretty one. Rest now my pretty one.
Close your eyes the day is nearly done.
Rest your heart, tomorrow will surly come.
Sleep my pretty one. Rest now my pretty one.
Close your eyes the day is nearly done...”
Vincent: I watched you a moment ago with Ellie.
Catherine: My mother use to sing me that song. I have not heard it since. I think she must have made it up.
Vincent: <sigh> You are remarkable.
Catherine:<smile in her voice> I hope you were not talking about my singing.
Vincent: No, I’m not….How much you give to them…to all of us.
Catherine: To be able to give is what all of you have given to me.
Vincent: I have something very hard to tell you, Eric. No words of mine will make it any easier.
Eric: Is it about Ellie? Is she better now?
Vincent: She wanted to get better, to come back to you. She fought with all the strength she had in her. But sometimes, bad things can happen in life and all our courage and all our love cannot change that. Then all we can do is cry for those we have lost and remember them always in our hearts… and go on.
Eric: Ellie will get better. She promised.
Vincent: Ellie loved you very much, Eric, but we cannot always keep our promises no matter how much we try or how much we love.
Eric: Ellie will. She’s different.
Vincent: Eric…Ellie is gone.
Eric: You liar! Liar! <Pelts Vincent with his fists>
Vincent: …They need you, Father. Eric needs you.
Father: Eric. Ellie was the last family he had in all the world.
Vincent: No. He has us. He has you. But he does not know that now. He ran off. He is alone with his fear and his grief.
Father: Eric? It’s Father. May I come in?…It’s all right not to talk if you don’t want to…What are you writing?
Eric: A letter to Ellie.
Father: A letter?
Eric: To say I am sorry…because I said I hated her but it wasn’t true.
Father: Then…just say that…I know she will understand.
Eric: Will she be mad at me?
Father: No.
Eric: But how am a going to send it to her?
Father: I think I know a way…Umm…I would like to write a letter to Ellie too…Maybe you could lend me a piece of writing paper.
Catherine (speaking of Dimitri): Poor man, to come so far only to have his dreams turn to ashes in his hand. Even if Deimitri had lived, he would have found his Anna too late.
Vincent: Perhaps he knew that even when he first received her letter.
Catherine: But he came anyway.
Vincent: He loved her. He had no choice.
Catherine: Even though he already knew.
Vincent: One either moves toward love or away from it, Catherine. There is no other direction.
Dead of WinterRebecca: I love making the Winterfest candles. They’re special.
Catherine: Vincent, it’s beautiful. Remember how I told you that when I was little I was afraid of the dark. My mother gave me a candle to light at my bedside before I went to sleep. Just a tiny little thing, a birthday candle. Somehow, it made it all right. I have loved candles ever since.
Vincent: This is no ordinary candle. This is for Winterfest. It is a special time for us. We have other celebrations, all the holidays and traditions we share with your world, but Winterfest is our own. A time to remember the past, dream of the future. Each year, we deliver these candles to our helpers in the world Above. Without their light, our world would be dark. Our lives would be cold without their warmth. The candles are our way of saying they are a part of us. Everyone—the entire community—has agreed this year that Winterfest would be incomplete unless you are there.
Vincent (after Samantha beats Father at chess): Don't think of yourself as a bad player, Father, only a very good teacher.
Father: Third of a century…Hard for me to believe it, Vincent. You were only a babe in arms that first year.
Vincent: My oldest memory is of a Winterfest. I must have been three or four. I remember a cold, dark room. Footsteps echoed all around me. I was frightened. Devin held my hand. Then, they lit the candles and the darkness pushed back. When I saw the tapestries for the first time…they took my breath away.
Paracelsus: quoting Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold
"…For the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and fight
Where ignorant armies clash by night.”
Vincent: Can I lead you through the dark?
Catherine: There is no darkness, Vincent, when you're with me.
Winterfest Dedication:
Father: The world above us is cold and gray, summer a distant memory. Our world too has known its winters, so each year we begin this feast in darkness, as our world began in darkness.
Vincent: Long before the city above us raised its towers to the sky. Men sought shelter in these caverns.
Mary:In those days, these tunnels were dark places and those who dwelt here dwelt in fear and isolation. Vincent: This was a land of lost hope and twisted dreams, a land of despair, where the sounds of footsteps
coming down a tunnel were the sounds of terror. Where men reached for knives and rocks and worse at the sound of other men's voices.
Father: At last a few people learned to put aside their fear.
Mary: And we began to trust each other, to help each other.
Vincent: Each of us grew stronger, those who took the help and those who gave it.
Father: We all were part of one another, one family, one community. Sometimes we forget this and so we meet here each year to give thanks to those who have helped us and to remember, even the greatest darkness is nothing, so long as we share the light.
Catherine (tapestries): Wonderful. Where do they come from? Who is the artist?
Vincent: It is a mystery that we have never solved, Catherine. Perhaps, they are enchanted. I use to imagine they were magic windows that if I stared at them long enough and hard enough they might open up and I could pass through to another world. But when I reached out, they were only cloth.
Mary: Pascal, why are you leaving so early?
Pascal: I have to check the pipes.
Father: My friend, what is there to check? Everyone is down here, including the helpers.
Pascal: I don’t like to leave them too long. You never can tell…
Vincent: Pascal, surely, you can spare a few hours.
Pascal: I just want to check the pipe chamber. Make sure everything is…
Catherine: Still there?
Sebastian: Ah…Chess. The game of kings—not to mention rooks and pawns. Well, set them up! Set them up! Time for your annual humiliation.
Father: Never again. Last year, he took my king.
Sebastian: Well, isn't that the whole idea?
Father: No, the whole idea is that you capture the pieces, not make them disappear. Peter, would you care for a game?
Peter: Oh, Jacob. Have you ever considered consulting a psychologist about that streak of masochism?
Father: You know, in its time the waltz was considered to be quite scandalous. Wicked, even.
Catherine: Huh. Imagine that! (Turns to Vincent) Vincent, Can I ask you something very personal?
Vincent: You can ask me anything, Catherine.
Catherine: Do you dance?
Father: I ought to have my head examined for letting you talk me into this.
Sebastian: You can examine it all you like, Jacob. It won't help your game one little bit.
Narcissa: Beware the poison rose!
Father: Winterfest is a time for brotherhood, for joy and trust. Now, if we forget that, if we let this day of all days to be tainted with fear…then Paracelsus will truly have won.
Vincent: Is this how we want Winterfest to end? Each of us slinking away to nurse our wounds, each alone? Have we forgotten what this day means?
Mouse: Ok good. Ok fine.
Father: Catherine, you are a part of us now. Come. Complete the circle.
Winterfest benediction:
Father: Darkness almost engulfed us, but our unity gave us strength. Our shared light showed us the truth. As we part for another year let us remember. Darkness is only the absence of light... and all winters end.
Catherine: Can you hear it, Vincent?
Vincent: Only the quiet…and the wind crying to get in.
Catherine: You can hear it if you try…The Music.
Vincent: Yes. I hear it….Catherine, that question you asked me earlier…….
Winterfest Dedication:
Father: The world above us is cold and gray, summer a distant memory. Our world too has known its winters, so each year we begin this feast in darkness, as our world began in darkness.
Vincent: Long before the city above us raised its towers to the sky. Men sought shelter in these caverns.
Mary:In those days, these tunnels were dark places and those who dwelt here dwelt in fear and isolation. Vincent: This was a land of lost hope and twisted dreams, a land of despair, where the sounds of footsteps
coming down a tunnel were the sounds of terror. Where men reached for knives and rocks and worse at the sound of other men's voices.
Father: At last a few people learned to put aside their fear.
Mary: And we began to trust each other, to help each other.
Vincent: Each of us grew stronger, those who took the help and those who gave it.
Father: We all were part of one another, one family, one community. Sometimes we forget this and so we meet here each year to give thanks to those who have helped us and to remember, even the greatest darkness is nothing, so long as we share the light.
Winterfest benediction:
Father: Darkness almost engulfed us, but our unity gave us strength. Our shared light showed us the truth. As we part for another year let us remember. Darkness is only the absence of light... and all winters end.
Winterfest Dedication:
"The world above us is cold and gray, summer a distant memory. Our world too has known its winters, so each year we begin this feast in darkness, as our world began in darkness. Long before the city above us raised its towers to the sky. Men sought shelter in these caverns. In those days, these tunnels were dark places and those who dwelt here dwelt in fear and isolation. This was a land of lost hope and twisted dreams, a land of despair, where the sounds of footsteps coming down a tunnel were the sounds of terror. Where men reached for knives and rocks and worse at the sound of other men's voices.
At last a few people learned to put aside their fear. And we began to trust each other, to help each other. Each of us grew stronger, those who took the help and those who gave it. We all were part of one another, one family, one community. Sometimes we forget this and so we meet here each year to give thanks to those who have helped us and to remember, even the greatest darkness is nothing, so long as we share the light.”
Winterfest benediction:
"Darkness almost engulfed us, but our unity gave us strength. Our shared light showed us the truth. As we part for another year let us remember. Darkness is only the absence of light... and all winters end.”
God Bless the ChildCatherine (to Lena): Your baby is about what can be, not about what is. If you don't believe that then nobody will.
Lena (to Catherine): Things don't change… not on the street. You look into the houses and you can see what's inside. You see the lights, the Christmas tree, people talking and laughing... and, you get this cold feeling on the outside, like, you're never going to be the one who's in there.
Catherine (about Lena): She's dying, Vincent. The streets are killing her and she's fighting to hold on to her spirit.... and she's carrying a child. She told me that she would rather see the baby die, than bring another life into this world!
Vincent: How can it be, that this world could have no more to offer her?
Catherine…... I know she won't respond. She doesn't have the strength any more…or the hope.
Vincent: Then she has lost her way.
Catherine: I am afraid to think of what might happen to her, Vincent, if she's left alone. She's so far away from herself….
Vincent: Perhaps Father can break a few rules of his own.
Father: What has Catherine told you about where we live?
Lena: She told me it's a secret place where people live together and take care of each other. I thought she was making it up.
Father: No. She wasn't making it up. We have made a life together down here. We've built a home and, yes, we really do try to take care of each other.
Catherine: Each of us is also responsible for keeping this place safe from those who wouldn't understand.
Lena: I can keep a secret.
Father: Whatever may happen?
Lena: Whatever happens.
Father: Good. Now, I'm going to ask you a difficult question. Ordinarily, there's a process by which people come to live with us. It's a slow and gradual process. Our friends Above, like Catherine, act as our eyes and ears, judging need, trustworthiness... Sometimes, as with you, we are forced to make exceptions. But we must ask ourselves, why should we risk everything we've worked so hard to create? Why should we trust you?
Catherine: It's all right. Just tell him what you're feeling.
Lena: What I'm feeling... I'm feeling you got no reason to trust me, and I should just save you the trouble and walk out of here myself. But I can't. I got someone else to think about now, and it's not fair that this baby should have to suffer just 'cause it's unlucky enough to get stuck inside of me instead of someone else. You give my baby a chance for something better, and I won't mess it up!
Father: Don't be frightened…You spoke your heart. I want to welcome you.
Mary: Don't worry. I've delivered a hundred babies.
Lena: Who's Vincent?
Father: He's, uh, one of us.
Children: Please Father, you promised. Tell us the story about Vincent.
Father: Aren't you at all tired of it?
Children: No, Father, please, it's Christmas, please?
Father: All right. Very well. It was... the twelfth of January, the coldest day in the year.
Samantha: You're the one who found him, right Father, at St. Vincent's Hospital?
Father: Ah, not exactly, Samantha. No, he was found and then he was brought to me. And he was wrapped in rags, a lot like a present. Nobody wanted him, because of the way he looked.
Boy: Throw him out, they said. He's not our problem.
Zack: We don't want him, leave him to the topsiders!
Father: Yes, Vincent was different. And you see people are terribly afraid of what they don't know. But, soon, very soon afterward, the people--and they were mainly your parents and grandparents--they accepted Vincent. And they grew to love the very differences that at first made them so afraid.
Samantha: You left out the part about his being sick.
Father: I'm so sorry, you're quite right I did, Samantha. When Vincent first came to us, he was very tiny and very sick.
Zack: And he cried for three straight days.
Father: He cried for three straight days, and no one thought he would survive.
Samantha: But you knew, didn't you, Father?
Father: Yes. I felt the strength in him. But then came a time of terrible darkness in our world... a time we must never forget. It began when I brought a friend...
Lena: I heard Father talking back there…about Vincent.
Mary: What did you hear?
Lena: Not much. Just that he's different from everybody.
Mary: Vincent is very special to us. In some ways it's his fate, his life that holds us all together. He protects us and we protect him.
Lena: Will I ever get to meet him?
Mary: You'll meet him.
Lena: I've been hearing about you. It's almost like you don't exist. You're never around.
Vincent: There are reasons…
Lena: What reasons?
Vincent: We didn't want to frighten you.
(Vincent rises and turns away)
Lena: I want to see you.
Vincent: Lena-- ... Don't be afraid.
Lena(after she sees Vincent’s face): I'm not afraid.
Vincent (to Lena): Sometimes, if you let your mind go you can accept things you would have never thought possible.
Father: Imogen.
Vincent: Please, Father! Imogen?
Father: What's wrong with Imogen?
Vincent: Well, for one thing, it's difficult to pronounce.
Father: It was good enough for Shakespeare!
Vincent: Well, if it's Shakespeare you're set on, then why not Juliet or Mariah?
Catherine: What's going on?
Father: Oh, we were, uh, discussing possible names for the child.
Vincent: After every birth the child is welcomed into the community with a Naming Ceremony.
Catherine: Don't you think Lena should have a say in it?
Vincent: Well, yes, of course--
Father: Of course--by all means ... We were just, er... speculating.
Catherine: I see.
Catherine: Tell me…how it felt…to hold a baby in your arms.
Vincent: There are no words.
Lena: Vincent, when we first met, do you remember how we talked about feeling alone?
Vincent: I remember.
Lena: Well, I've been thinking... It doesn't have to be that way, not anymore. All these things keep... coming back into my head. Everything we've talked about... things I never talked to anybody about before. And I keep thinking about when the baby came. How you were there, close to me... close to her... Let me love you, Vincent.
Vincent: Oh, Lena...
Lena: I can feel your heart.
Vincent: I will always cherish the moment we first met. How you saw me, how you accepted me.
Lena: You did the same for me.
Vincent: I know. But, what you ask now isn't possible.
Lena: Why?
Vincent: Because... my heart... is bound to another.
Lena: Catherine?
Vincent: Yes.
Lena: Do you love her?
Vincent: With all that I am. With all... that I can ever become.
Lena: But she's not here. Why doesn’t she live here?
Vincent: She is where she needs to be. I can't expect…
Lena: But if--if she not here, how can she love you?
Vincent: Lena, you don't understand. Her love opened the world for me.
Lena: What do you think you've done for me?… Don't you see? I've never loved anybody before!
Vincent: Father, when Lena came to me... there was a moment, a pull, beyond thought... when I felt what it might be like... to be someone else's possibility…but it was just a moment.
Vincent:…It is I that did not see, or did not want to see.
Catherine: That she would leave?
Vincent: That she would fall in love…She was so vulnerable, so frightened. Yet, I saw a part of myself in her. I thought that if I just reached out to her, she would accept my friendship.
Catherine: Her need was too great.
Vincent: Perhaps, I should have come to you sooner.
Catherine: I understand why you didn’t.
Vincent: There was no gentle way…to refuse her love.
Catherine (to Lena): Do you remember what you told me that first night? About being outside, that cold feeling. You can hide there if you want, but you have a place on the inside now…with friends, people that care about you. It’s your choice.
Lena: I love him.
Catherine: I know. So do I.
Naming Ceremony:
Father: It has been said that the child is the meaning of this life. Today, we celebrate the child, this new life that has been brought into our world. We welcome the child with love, that she may be able to love. We welcome the child with gifts that she may learn generosity. And we welcome the child with a name…upon which I believe Lena has decided.
Lena: Catherine. Her name is Catherine.
Sticks and StonesVincent: It's been difficult for her Above. We've known that for some time. Little by little she began to shed her duties as a Helper, until last week when she disappeared.
Catherine: Why didn't you tell me, Vincent? I might have helped.
Vincent: Somehow, I still think of the Tunnels as her home. I always thought that if she needed sanctuary for whatever reasons, that she would seek it among us.
Catherine: Well, she's found it, Vincent, but in a dangerous place, among people who live by violence. One of them, we think, killed a security guard.
Vincent: This is her new home?
Catherine: I'm sorry.
Vincent: I know.
Catherine: Vincent... Laura herself may have broken the law. I'm not sure. But you should prepare yourself for that possibility.
Vincent: We have our own laws, Catherine, and Laura must still answer to them. Until the Council and the others determine otherwise, she remains a part of our community.
Catherine: I can't protect her in any way.
Vincent: I know... but, I must see her. Tonight. Please.
Vincent(signing to Laura): I’m here because I care for you, because I love you. Because I know that you have been unhappy. You could have come to me. (Laura signs) Our world choked you. (Laura signs) I understand your anger. But is this the right place for you? Are you happy here?…….Do you love him?…..You've become a woman…. I wish the circumstance were different. You know the message I bring.
**********************
Per SAS script:
V. It's good to see you…
L. Is it?
V. Yes, it is. It is painful as well
L. I won't apologize for my life.
V. I would never ask you to apologize…
L. Then why are you here?
V. I'm here …because I care for you.. Because I love you. And because I know you have been unhappy. You could have come to me.
L. I couldn't. I had to see if I had the courage…if I was strong enough… I couldn't make it. The world choked me.
V. The world choked you…
L. Made me angry
V. I understand your anger…But is this the right place for you? Are you happy here? Do you love him?
L. Very much
V. You've become a woman. And I wish the circumstances were different but… You know the message I bring.
*********************
Father: Laura, our purpose here is not to judge you.
Laura signs (Vincent interprets): You stand there with straight eyes and tell me that?
Father: Please, Laura, remember we’re all your friends, and you know our rules as well as anyone. If you wish to continue as part of us, then you must---at the very least---abide by the moral principles according to which we all live.
Laura: What Principles? Love? Trust? Those are just words. What good will they do me in the world Above? Yes, I love. I trust. But I also hate. I also distrust. There are other, more complex feelings I need to help me to survive.
Father: You are always free to return here. We will always welcome you.
Laura: I have another family now……..We live as we must. The only way we can. We live as all of you do. We have made the same choices, to live outside of society. The only different I see is that you have chosen to live down here. We have chosen to live bound by our deafness…..Down here you taught me that I was no different, that I was the same as everyone. Now you call me handicapped?! …… It makes no difference. It is the same everywhere. I carry a shield with me now to protect me. You can vote if you want. I reject your vote! I reject your judgement!
Catherine (to Jerry): Secrets can get pretty heavy.
Vincent (writing in his journal):
It is late. Yet, I cannot sleep. I am thinking of Laura. Cold up there tonight. I can feel it. The chill down through the layers of pipes there to protect us insulates us. What is happening to her? Can there be anything so painful as watching a child you love falter in the world? Refuse your help. At what point do you draw quietly away from their lives? At what point do you say, "I am no longer responsible?” We taught Laura to depend on herself, to think her own thoughts. Do we now tell her to disregard those lessons, to doubt herself, to change? She is a woman now, no longer a child. What is happening to her up there?
Vincent (to Laura): Don’t be ashamed. Hate and rage are powerful forces in all of us. Don’t punish yourself for feeling them. They’re part of us we understand the least, and yet they’re the part of us we should try to understand the most.
Catherine: You have a lot to be proud of, Vincent, all that you have given to Laura and taught her.
Vincent: I never realized until now just how much she’s given me…and how much I miss her.
Catherine: She has been through a lot.
Vincent: The world has tested her.
Catherine: And yet she chooses to remain Above.
Vincent: She is in love.
Catherine: That she could forgive Jerry... that took courage. That's the rarest kind of love.
Vincent: To surrender yourself completely to your heart, to trust in it fully, to believe in it without doubting.
Catherine: To let it guide your life.... Somehow, Laura's found the way.
Vincent: Yes.
Catherine: Will it make her life any simpler, do you think?
Vincent: No, not simpler.
Catherine: But she'll be happier.
Vincent: Perhaps.
Catherine: Trust me, Vincent. She will be happier
A Fair and Perfect KnightBrooke: Vincent always says that love is more important than anything.
Vincent: Michael, you are a part of us. You always will be, wherever you go. There are times when you must go. When the greatest possibilities, in good faith, cannot be denied. The world Above has so much to offer you; gifts of the imagination, learning. You have the mind and the heart to cherish these gifts. You are on the brink of a wondrous adventure. But every adventure must…begin in farewell.
Michael: Some adventures don’t end happily.
Vincent: All you can do is…proceed…with the faith that they will.
Michael: I want to do this for you.
Vincent: No, Michael, you must do this for you. This is your journey.
Vincent: Perhaps, I have done him a disservice.
Catherine: By encouraging him to embrace his future?
Vincent: I assumed that is what he wanted.
Catherine: Vincent, he has come this far because of his desire…and because you believed in him.
Vincent: I always believed Michael would want this opportunity.
Catherine: You dreamed he could have what you couldn’t have…And it is a little freighting when our dreams begin to come true.
Vincent: Yes.
Catherine: Then Michael must come back to face that world, to face those disappointments, to make his peace.
Catherine: Don't worry, Vincent. Michael comes Above with a great advantage over almost everyone else up here... He has your faith in him.
Michael: How do I thank you?
Vincent: You already have…..Go now. The world awaits!
"The Songs of Innocence” by William Blake
"Thou fair-hair'd angel of the evening,
Now, while the sun rests on the mountains, light
Thy bright torch of love; thy radiant crown
Put on, and smile upon our evening bed!
Smile on our loves; and, while thou drawest the
Blue curtains of the sky, scatter thy silver dew
On every flower that shuts its sweet eyes
In timely sleep. Let thy west wind sleep on
The lake; speak silence with thy glimmering eyes,
And wash the dusk with silver. Soon, full soon,
Dost thou withdraw; then the wolf rages wide,
And the lion glares thro' the dun forest:
The fleeces our flocks are cover'd with
Thy sacred dew: protect them with thine influence.”
Vincent: She's a rare person. You couldn't have a better guide.
Vincent: To leave a safe place and find your way among strangers is a difficult passage for anyone.
Vincent: Fear makes our enemies loom larger and larger.
Catherine: You have to get Oriented, Michael. Too many people go through college disoriented.
Michael(to teacher at party): What classes do you teach?
Catherine: It doesn't matter. Take her, she's fabulous.
Beth: Mainly the 19th Century Romantics.
Catherine: Oh that figures.
Beth: The 19th Century is the only place you can find it these days.
Catherine: Oh, I don't know about that!
Vincent: You must leave.
Catherine: No.
Vincent: Leave, now.
Catherine: Why do you want me to leave?
Vincent: Because what I'm feeling... My thoughts... Shame me.
Catherine: Tell me. Tell me what you feel!
Vincent: You must not see me like this.
Catherine: Please don't send me away!
Vincent: My thoughts are poisonous!
Catherine: Tell me these thoughts.
Vincent: What you shared... I envied.
Catherine: Vincent.
Vincent: I betrayed Michael. I betrayed you. Everything I hold dear.
Catherine: How did you betray us?
Vincent: I know what it is to love you... I love Michael like a brother, like a son. But his life has been such a struggle... He needed to be healed by your tenderness. And yet, I was unwilling to share your love with anyone.
Catherine: Don't be ashamed of those feelings.
Vincent: It violates everything I believe.
Catherine: Don't you think I have those feelings too? Sometimes, I envy Father, and others in your life who receive your love and your care every day. I know those feelings. They are ugly. But... all of those feelings come from love. They are the other side of it. To turn away from them is to forget where they come from.
Vincent: Catherine... the better part of me would rejoice to see you find love with someone as fine and as good as Michael. You have so much love to give…
Catherine: Because of you!
Vincent: What we share must always be so measured, so limited..
Catherine: We don't know what the limits are!
Vincent: You deserve a life without limits!
Catherine: There is no life without limits! …Vincent, if this is my fate, I accept it, gratefully. You must believe that. Don't be afraid to want it, even only for yourself. Don't be afraid to deserve it. You deserve everything!
Vincent: How could anyone not love her?
Michael’s opening reading: Henry IV, Part I, Act I, Scene 1 by Shakespeare
Samatha’s poem: "Piping Down The Valleys Wild” by William Blake
LabyrinthsVincent: Catherine, I come on an urgent mission. The children insist that you come Below tonight to Father’s Chamber.
Catherine: Really? What is the occasion?
Vincent: Something of a miracle.
Catherine: Tell me.
Vincent: This year, there were several children in the music classes who we felt were not ready to perform at the Winterfest. Some were simply too inexperienced, but others failed to show a true commitment to the music. I think that in order to prove to all of us that we were in grave error, these children have joined together to form their own Concert Society.
Catherine: Sounds wonderful.
Vincent: Their recital is tonight. They say you must be there.
Catherine: Well then, I would not miss it.
Vincent: You hold a special place in their hearts.
Catherine: They are like a part of my family.
Vincent: (beat) Until tonight…..
Catherine(at the recital): They are really good.
Vincent: We offered our help but they refused. They were so determined.
Catherine: Just look at their faces. They know they have done it.
Vincent: Yes, they have succeeded in humbling their elders.
Catherine: Besides the music, what can be sweeter?
Vincent: You know children.
Catherine: I use to be one once.
Vincent: Yes, but you remember.
Catherine: More and more.
Catherine (after Brian is found Below): I don’t know how I could have been so careless.
Vincent (at council): Perhaps, instead of concealing the truth from this boy, we should tell him who we are and how we live.
Mouse: Maybe let him stay.
Catherine(at council): I think this boy has a good heart and a conscience. If he understands that people’s lives depend on him keeping the secret, I believe he can be trusted.
Elderly man: My crime was that I grew old. You see, in the world Above people don't want to look at me, an old man, this unpleasant reminder of their future. I was to be cast away, hidden from the eyes of the young, who want to believe they'll live forever. In the world Above I lived too long. But here, Below, I've not lived long enough. So why am I here? To make memories, so that the last moments of my life may be as full of warmth and love as the very first moments of my life.
Mary: Home. Children. I help the children grow. I nurse them when they are sick. Teach them. I love all of them as if each one was my own…I lost my own…To lose a child is to lose everything…It was here that I found family again. The children are safe here. This is our safe place. I tell them it will be here for them always.
Pascal: Trust. Continuity. A tradition of work and honor passed down from my father to me: a system of communication, a way in which we can always be connected. I continue what he began so many years ago, so that those who come after will remember him long after I am gone. I was born here. This is my birthright and my legacy.
William: My life Above was filled with disappointments and failures. Nothing ever good happened until I found this home beneath the city. I do what I do best—I cook. Feed people…and they appreciate me.
Daniel(?): It’s a new beginning. A chance.
Brooke: Hope.
Mouse: I help everyone…and everyone helps me. I go. They miss me. I come back. They're glad. Never alone. Before, I was no one. Now I am me. I am Mouse.
Geoffrey: When my mother died, I went to the orphanage and people would come to adopt us. We would all line up and I would smile as they came by, hoping they would choose me. But they never did. But everyone wants me here. I don’t cry anymore. I got chosen.
Father: When I left the world Above, I was disillusioned, heartbroken. I had lost my faith. Here, it was that I learned to listen to my heart and heal my wounds. Here, I learned to believe again. Hopes and dreams created this fragile world. Pride and vigilance maintain it, and it survives only because it is separate and apart. It is a refuge, where the disillusioned regain their vision, where the lost become found. Where each one of us can explore the best of our being, the best of what it means to be...human and to be alive.
Vincent: My very existence lies here within these tunnels. It is my salvation. I could not exist elsewhere. Without this place there is nothing for me…You must never, as long as you live, reveal what you have seen tonight. To do so would mean the end of life for all of us…and the end of our world. You bear the weight of a great responsibility…but it is also a great privilege. You will always have a safe place here should you need it. Now, you must go back to the world Above and carry our secret with you forever…in silence.
Catherine(to Brian): Our secret is now in your hands. Please keep it safe for us.
Mouse: We have rules here too. Break the rules, get in trouble. I know!
Mouse: Hard to keep secrets. First time is hardest. Gets easier. Gets better.
Vincent (of Brain’s father): His life must be in great torment.
Brian: And so is mine.
Vincent: Do you remember a time when all was right with your family and you could feel their love for each other?
Brian: Yes.
Vincent: Try to imagine the sorrow and the terror for having lost that.
Brian: There is nothing I can do about that.
Vincent: There is…Understand him. Forgive him. Love him. There is great strength in that…but to do those things you have to go back and face him. You have to be braver then you have ever been before.
Brian: I know…but part of me just wishes I could stay here.
Vincent: This is not a place to hide. It is a place to gain strength. You carry that now within you. Hold it close deep inside yourself.
Vincent(to Brian): Your heart led you here…Let it show you the way when you go home.
Catherine: He will keep the secret.
Vincent: There will be times his strength is tested.
Catherine: Some secrets give us strength.
Vincent: Yes…and comfort.
Catherine: I know what Brian was looking for when he followed me down. It was the same thing I looked for…for so many years.
Vincent: What, Catherine?
Catherine: A family.
Vincent: You find family... wherever people love each other.
Brother.Catherine: That's a mysterious smile.
Vincent: Look... the moon.
Catherine: It looks enormous.
Vincent: Do you remember the first time you saw the moon?
Catherine (laughs): Who would remember the first time-- Can you?
Vincent: Mmm-hmm.
Vincent (of Mouse’s gift): Incredible.
Mouse: Saw it Uptop. Figured it out. Built it.
Vincent: You stole it…”The Eye of the Storm.”
Mouse: Didn’t steal! Got the stuff from Catherine.
Vincent (turning to Catherine): So, this is why you wanted to visit Mouse.
Catherine: It’s a gift from both of us. We wanted to surprise you.
Mouse: Her idea.
Catherine: So that you can always have a piece of sky.
Mouse: Even down here.
Mouse(warning buzzer): Broken maybe….Or working maybe.
Devin (to Charles): Remember what I told you? About the secret place where I was born? It's right over there across the bridge. It's full of music and candles everywhere you look... and the people…they're like a family.
Vincent: There are no freaks here.
Charles: You’re different.
Vincent: Like you.
Charles: No. No, your face is good. Not like me, Vincent.
Father: Devin... even when you were a small boy, I could always count on you to make life... interesting. Nonetheless, it’s good to have you home.
Vincent: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...”
Devin: That pretty well describes it, doesn't it?
Vincent: Our childhood?
Devin: My life... This used to be my favorite book.
Vincent: On Tuesdays, anyway.
Devin: "Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.”
(Quote: "A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens)
(Quote: Ralph Waldo Emerson "Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”)
Devin: This place brings back a lot of memories.
Vincent: It should…you lived here half your life.
Devin: Things are different. You moved things around.
Vincent: You left…..Things change, Devin. Years pass.
Devin: People change too.
Vincent: Some people…. sometimes.
Vincent: When I walk the city streets, I wear a cloak with a hood to shadow my face.
Charles: But your face is--
Vincent: A mirror, like yours. Where frightened men see the shape of their own fears, and small men see only ugliness.
Charles: Do you forget to hide?
Vincent: I do not hide my face here. This is my home.
Charles: My home?
Vincent: If you want it to be.
*************************
Vincent: A life is measured by more then just years. A life in a cage…is no life at all.
Vincent: Charles is not a problem, Father. He is a human being…in pain.
Father: Believe me, Vincent, I do understand his pain.
Vincent: Do you?… Can you?… I can.
Bernie (to Catherine and Devin): Win the little lady a prize. Come on, she looks like the kind of girl who needs a big fluffy lion!
Devin: "The time has come,” the Walrus said. "To speak of many things:”
Catherine: "Of shoes—and ships-- and sealing wax---"
Devin: Of cabbages---and kings--”
(Quote: "Through the Looking Glass” by Lewis Carroll)
Devin: We hatched plots, made up stories, called each other names... talked about fears you can't talk about during the day. And dream...Oh God, how we dreamed. Things we were gonna do, Vincent and me. Places we were gonna go, everywhere south of Oz and north of Shangri-La…Then I grew a little older. One day I realized that I was never gonna do any of them unless I left Vincent behind…I guess Eddie and me are not so different after all.
Vincent (spiral staircase): Charles? ….Charles….Charles. Please.
Charles: Stay away! Stay away!
Vincent: I’m not going to hurt you.
Charles: I was bad. Scared them. Hurt them. They hate me.
Vincent: No.
Charles: Yes! Down here. Up above. Same. Just the same. People yelling, crying. Looking at me. The same. I’ll hurt them! Hurt them all!
Vincent: When I was young, I only knew these tunnels. I would hear the other children talk about the world Above and all its wonders. I wanted to see them too. So one night, Devin took me up to the Park. The lights went on forever…And the night was full of sounds and smells and music, so much so that it made me dizzy. When I looked up…
Charles: Was it an airplane?
Vincent: No. It was the moon. It was the most magical thing I had ever seen. I was afraid that if I looked away for a second that it would vanish and I would never see it again. A car passed by, no further from me then you are now, but I never heard it. When I looked, I glimpsed a face pressed against the window. It was a little girl no older then I was. She saw me.
Charles: Was she afraid?
Vincent: She began to cry….I did not know why—not then.
Charles: She didn’t know. Didn’t mean to hurt.
Vincent: But it hurt just as badly. I told Devin and Father and everyone that would listen that I would never go back again.
Charles: But you went back.
Vincent: A month later. Devin made me. He promised to stay close and he reminded me that the moon would be full again.
Charles: I can never go back to see the moon.
Devin (from the stairs above): Who says!
Vincent (to William after what Charles "needs”): No….Only love.
Vincent: "They said of him, about the city that night, that it was the peacefullest man’s face ever beheld there. Many added that he looked sublime and prophetic.”
Vincent (Handing the book to Charles): The rest is for you.
Charles: "It is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.”
(Quotes: "A Tale of Two Cities” Charles Dickens.)
Catherine: Where will they go?
Vincent: To the mountains to begin. A place far away from people Devin says. Where Charles can feel the sunlight on his face and learn not to be afraid…a place to heal, to grow, to feel human. Somewhere---
Catherine:---south of Oz and north of Shangri-La?
A Gentle RainCatherine: (about the new chamber) Was Olivia’s first husband this romantic?
Vincent: How can I judge? I did not know Kanin was this romantic.
Vincent: (about the bedroom) Do you think Olivia will like this room?
Catherine: <sigh> Olivia will love this room.
Catherine: (confronting Kanin) What are you going to do, Kanin?
Catherine: Ten other desks in that office---Why did it have to land on mine?
Vincent: So you could help him.
Catherine: I don’t know what I am supposed to be here, Vincent. Am I a friend or a prosecutor? How can I be both?
Vincent: You follow the truth.
Catherine: The truth is…most of the time I think the people we prosecute deserve to be punished, but I know Kanin. He is a good man and I know what he means to all of us. Where is the justice in that?
Vincent: Perhaps, in making it possible for two people to release their burden.
Kanin: My sentence?…I live with that night. A day does not go by where I don’t think of it. There isn’t one thing I’ve done that hasn’t been some way to make up for it. Give something back…. To give something back because that is my sentence. I am already serving life……………..All the Topsiders wanted was one or two years of my life. I was the one who said forever. I am the one who said this was going to be forever. And now you are saying I have to go back and serve their sentence too?
William: It is not going to help anybody for him to turn himself in.
Catherine: It will help the mother…A woman up there is being destroyed.
Vincent: Does justice belong only to the people we know?
Kanin: I wish I could fix it, but I don’t know how.
Vincent: With courage.
Kanin: I don’t have that kind of courage.
Vincent: You do.
Kanin: No……..
Kanin:….I would do anything.
Vincent: Then face her. That is what she needs. It that is the only thing you can do for her, then do that.
Kanin: It won’t do any good.
Vincent: It would give her someone to blame and then…it would give her someone to begin to forgive.
Kanin: She is never going to forgive me.
Vincent: You’ve never given her that chance. You think there is nothing you can do for this woman, but there is so much you can do for this woman. You can change her life.
Kanin: What do I say to her?
Kanin: I’m sorry….Sorry.
Mrs. Davis: So am I.
Catherine: I'm not asleep.
Vincent: No.
Catherine: Mmm...Just in that wonderful place in between.
Vincent: Where everything shimmers, and floats.
Catherine: Am I floating?
Vincent: Yes.... A great burden has been lifted.
Catherine: They both seemed finally free... Now maybe the healing can begin.
Vincent: Rest now.
Catherine: As long as you keep reading...
Vincent’s reading: William Wordsworth – "Ode: Intimations of Immortality from recollections
of early childhood” – excerpt
What through the radiance which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be;
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering;
In the faith that looks through death,
In years that bring the philosophic mind.
(Vincent and Catherine dialog)
And O, ye Fountains, Meadows, Hills, and Groves,
Forebode not any severing of our loves!
Yet in my heart of hearts I feel your might;
I only have relinquished one delight
To live beneath your more habitual sway.
I love the Brooks which down their channels fret,
Even more than when I tripped lightly as they;
The innocent brightness of a new-born day
is lovely yet;
The Clouds that gather round the setting sun
Do take a sober colouring from an eye
That hath kept watch o'er man's mortality;
(End of episode)
Another race hath been, and other palms are won.
Thanks to the human heart by which we live,
Thanks to its tenderness, its joy, and fears,
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.
The OutsidersVincent's journal entry: (Whitman, "Leaves of Grass” excerpt)
Our world sleeps. These deep tunnels and chambers and caverns---even the pipes---are still with sleep. Yet it is in these quiet moments that I truly feel the balance of this place, and remember the delicate miracle that it is. At times, even to me, our world seems half-imagined, as if... suspended, kept in place only by the weight of the world Above. I know how fortunate we are---all of us---to have each other, and what my life would be like without them. Sometimes in these hours, I hear Whitman’s Song echo gently.
"I cannot define my satisfaction, yet it is so.
I cannot define my life. Yet it is so.”
Is there any gift greater then this joy? Can the soul offer a prayer more perfect than this tender silence?
Mr Ling(to Catherine about the Tunnels):... There's not enough I could ever give them, or do for them, to return what they gave me.
Zach: I can carry that, Vincent. We’ll be Ok. You can catch up with us later. (Twinkle in his eye)
Catherine: He’s sweet….Not too subtle…but sweet.
Vincent: Zach knows my time with you…is special.
Catherine: I can’t believe how much he’s changed.
Vincent: He’s becoming a man.
Catherine: It must be wonderful to watch a child grow…To follow a life.
Vincent: Zach reminds me so much of Devin. The way he leads the others, his sense of adventure.
Catherine: He’s restless.
Vincent: Umm Humm
Catherine: Are you afraid he may leave some day?
Vincent: Children grow up and leave home. Zach would not be the first to make that choice.
Father: Perhaps we can approach them, talk to them.
Mary: Let’s make them an offering of food and clothing. And our good will.
Father: That is a fine idea…good. We’ll make them a package. Anything we can spare. We’ll offer to help.
Catherine: Who are they?
Vincent: We don’t know. Perhaps a family.
Catherine: maybe I could do something to help?
Vincent: No. You must stay away from the tunnels until the danger is past.
Catherine: What does father say?
Vincent: He struggles to remain optimistic. I think he still believes these people can be moved by good will and reason.
Catherine: But you don’t think so.
Vincent: No.
Catherine: You think you know how it will end.
Vincent: We are so vulnerable…
Catherine: Then let me try to help.
Vincent: No! You must stay away from it.
Catherine: Your world, those tunnels are part of my life too…and so are you.
Vincent: If the worst should happen, you mustn’t be anywhere near.
Catherine: If the worst happens, I want to be by your side, with you.
Vincent: NO! Not like that. Not ever again.
Mary: Kindness has always been our first impulse.
Father: In this case, our kindness couldn’t have been more misguided.
Vincent (to Mary about moving): It won’t be for long. I promise you.
Father: We must be together in this.
Father: This world was built on the foundation of fairness and respect for all. No, we do not renounce violence altogether. If we are attacked, we will fight to protect our home, but we will never instigate that violence! And I will not allow this community to be dragged down to that level!
William: We’ve tried diplomacy and look where that got us. Now is the time for action…Our strength is in our numbers. We could overwhelm them. Drive them out.
Father: Drive them out at what risk?
William: No greater risk then what we’re facing now.
Father:..Is it justice you are seeking…or vengeance?…Or do you presume them all guilty?
Father: Our strength lies in our unity.
William: You’re making a serious mistake. You’re letting ideas get in the way of what’s obvious. More blood will be spilt.
Vincent: Part of what William says is true.
Father: A violent confrontation with these people must be avoided.
Vincent: And when violence can no longer be avoided?
Father: Only then. When there is no other option.
Vincent: And when that time comes Father, you must not hesitate.
Father: Of coarse, I won’t hesitate.
Vincent: You will let me go out, to do what must be done - whatever must be done?
Father: I pray that won't be necessary.
Vincent: So do I.
Father: That is not who you are, to us.
Vincent: That is who I am... perhaps even my fate. The very part of me that I struggle to overcome gives me the power to protect the people who protect me - who give me life.
Father: Vincent, that is not your fate.
Vincent: My survival depends on this world. There is no other choice for me. For me there is no other place, Father.
Father (to Catherine about the gun): We need a way to…to discourage these people from further violence. We cannot allow them to control our lives with fear……I pray it will never be used as anything more then a threat. But perhaps that threat will keep him and us safe.
William: This is cowadice!
Vincent: There is no shame in making sacrifices for something you believe in strongly, William.
William: I believe in the children. I believe in the life we have built here.
Mary: So do we.
William: And yet you’d see it destroyed? Changed without a fight?
Vincent: No one will ever destroy this place.
William: We must strike back. Hard. We have the means. We have each other…And we have something else…We have you, Vincent.
Father: You would send Vincent out to do murder!
William: I would do what is necessary!
Catherine: Talk to me, Vincent
Vincent: Nothing to say.
Catherine: What you did was necessary…Let me share your pain.
Vincent: How can you even look at me?
Catherine: Because I know you. I know who you are.
Vincent: You do not know me.
Catherine: Vincent, there are dark places in all of us.
Vincent: A part of me feeds in that darkness. And I am lost in it.... Leave me now... please.
Catherine: I love you.
Vincent: (voice over)That night, she truly walked alone. And deep within me I felt the cold and terrible truth of all that kept us apart. Fate had left me adrift, with no wind to carry me to the safe shores of her love.
OrphansVincent: I'm here. Always.
Catherine: Always. Such a father's word, always.
Vincent (to her Father):Please know this... That I will protect Catherine, watch over her, and love her... until my last breath.
Vincent: Don't ever be afraid of the truth.
Vincent: And my heart is with you. Wherever you are, wherever you go, you take me. You stand for me. For us. For our dream. Your carry our light. That too is your destiny.
Catherine: Do you think that someday... Will we ever be together? Truly together?
Vincent: Only if and when we understand how great the sacrifice is. How large the fee is. And are able to move through them.
Catherine: I'm not scared.
Vincent: Catherine, we are something that has never been. And our journey is one that none have ever taken. We are just now setting out. We must go with courage, and we must go with care.
Catherine: I’m a little scared.
Vincent: I know.
Catherine: Isn’t that strange?
Vincent: No.
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