Bill Quote #26
Quote from Bill in Be Prepared
Deacon Loren: Sorry, men. Troop 24 is no more.
Bill: How come?
Deacon Loren: We had to shut it down when the older boys got drafted to Vietnam to fight. Guess I did too good a job teaching those boys how to run through the woods and shoot. [chuckles]
Dean: Well, my friend Cory and a few others would like to be Scouts. Maybe we could start it up again?
Deacon Loren: No, not with me. I'm too old to be sleeping out there on that hard ground, and eating all of those weenies and beans out of a can gave me the gout.
Bill: Well, son, we tried.
Dean: Dad, you could do it!
Bill: Wait, what?
Dean: Yeah, you could be the Scoutmast... Scout leader. You already know a lot about it, like how the Scouts stole all their ideas from Africa.
Deacon Loren: Is that so, Bill? I didn't know that, and I was a Scout for years.
Bill: True, I'm acquainted with the history, but you know how busy I am with the college and the band.
Dean: Don't worry. You'll figure it out. You're good at everything.
Deacon Loren: Welcome to the Scouts, Bill. [chuckles]
The Wonder Years Quotes
‘Be Prepared’ Quotes
Quote from Bill
Adult Dean: Growing up in the '60s, I was surrounded by images of the ideal middle-class, suburban life, and I wanted nothing more than to have my own big, fat slice of that American pie. Can you blame me? Those smiling White people made happiness and prosperity look so damn appealing. It only seemed fair... if other families got to have these cool, middle-class experiences, who said mine couldn't, too?
Dean: Hey, Dad. Can we go to the beach?
Bill: Sharks.
Adult Dean: My dad. That's who.
[montage:]
Dean: Hey, Dad, can we rent a cabin in the woods?
Bill: Bears.
Dean: Hey, Dad, can we get a dog?
Bill: Fleas.
Quote from Bill
Dean: Hey, Dad. Can I join my friend Brad's Dixie Scout troop?
Bill: The Dixie Scouts? So you want to join the White troop? Or as I call them, the junior Klan.
Dean: No, but, Dad, it's not like that. Brad's father is the Scoutmaster.
Bill: I'm sorry, did you say Scoutmaster? The man in charge is called "master"? Listen to yourself, son.
Dean: But, Dad, all my other friends are doing it.
Bill: Yeah, your White friends. I'm not letting you join in with those East Montgomery boys.
Quote from Bill
Lillian: Well, what's the harm in it, Bill?
Bill: Well, for starters, I don't like how the white Scouts stole all their rituals from African tribal rites of passage.
Adult Dean: My dad was of the opinion that if there was something of value in American culture, it was definitely stolen from Black people.
[flashback to Bill watching Ed Sullivan Show on TV :]
Bill: Elvis Presley? Ha! Everything he does, Big Mama Thornton did first... except better.
[flashback to Bill holding a drink:]
Bill: Coca-Cola? [scoffs] Please. They'd be nowhere if Africans hadn't domesticated the kola nut.
[flashback to Bill hanging decorations on a Christmas tree:]
Bill: [chuckles] Santa Claus? You know the real Saint Nicholas was a black Moor.
[present:]
Lillian: Are you sure about that, Bill? I thought the Scouts got their rituals from the Native Americans.
Bill: And where do you think they got it from?