Dean: Is Cory with you today?
Coach Long: Uh, no. See, um, my brother-in-law, he's a former Tuskegee Airman. Cory wanted to spend some time with him. I mean, matter of fact, he's probably looking at a P Redtail Mustang fighter plane as we speak, baby.
Dean: Glad we're both having fun.
Coach Long: [to Lillian] Hey, um... I hope you brought this boy an extra jacket, 'cause you know they keep it cold in here. [Lillian laughs]
Adult Dean: I wouldn't understand that joke until my freshman year in college when I had my first White roommate. Thanks, Connor Murphy.

Adult Dean: I never knew the role Mama played at work. I knew she had a job, but I just pictured her grocery shopping and running errands all day. She ran that place. People listened to her. People had to listen to her. Her job was just as cool as Dad's... maybe cooler. And I don't even think you had to be a woman to do it.
Lillian: [answers phone] This is Lillian Williams from the State Treasury Department. Yes, I need to...
Adult Dean: Before now, I'd only heard Mama use her White voice on the phone with the bank. Now I knew where she'd honed it.

Jennifer: Hello. And who might you be?
Dean: Uh, I'm Dean Williams.
Jennifer: Oh, Mrs. Williams' son.
Sheryl: Dean Williams.
Jennifer: And what do you got there? [Dean holds the cupcakes] Why don't you put them over here on the table?
Dean: Excuse me.
Jennifer: Oh! Such nice manners!
Adult Dean: [sighs] Not to brag, but this was normal. White women loved me.
[fantasy montage:]
Mrs. Anderson: [gasps] Oh! You speak so well!
Lunch Lady: You're so well-mannered.
White Mother: You're so not going to rape my daughter.

Adult Dean: Funny. Instead of being bored enough to jump out the window and shoot myself on the way down, I actually wanted to learn more about Mama and her job.
Dean: So... Did you always want to work here?
Lillian: You know... I didn't know what I wanted to do, but none of the women in my family had careers. I knew I wanted more than what Waugh, Alabama, had to give me, so I went to college and then I got my master's. And then, after months of searching for work without so much as an interview, I saw a posting about a job at the Department of Treasury. Never thought I'd get it, but like I tell you and your brother and your sister...
Dean: "Give out before you give up."
Lillian: That's right. I tried. And I got the job.
Adult Dean: Sometimes, you don't appreciate the rare beauty of a unicorn until you see it in the wild.
Dean: So, you had to get a master's to work here?
Lillian: Baby, I'm the only one here who has a master's.

Bill: Good morning.
Lillian: Who ate the pork rinds?
[Dean points at his father]
Bill: Not cool, man. Not cool.
Lillian: Those were for Bruce.
Bill: When I was in Korea, nobody sent me care packages from home.
Lillian: Well, he's in infantry. You were a cook.
Adult Dean: Unfortunately, Daddy still had more kills.

Washboard: Bill, you're late.
Bill: Hey.
Washboard: Was it because you and the wife had a little...
Bill: Hey, everybody, my 12-year-old son, Dean... who is 12... is with me for a class assignment. He's 12.

Bill: Dean, welcome to where the magic happens. But this is still work, so let's go over the ground rules. Rule Number One... stay out of the way. Rule Number Two... don't touch anything unless I tell you.

Adult Dean: Seeing my mom in action was like watching a Crimson Tide QB call a play right before halftime.
[fantasy: Lillian and her colleagues are wearing football gear as they huddle in the corridors:]
Lillian: Accounts receivable, go left! Cash flow, go right! Ledger, up the middle! On three! Break! Blue! 89! Hike! [cheers and applause]
Coach Long: Touchdown! [cheering]

Max: Hey, Lillian.
Adult Dean: Finally, someone's gonna give her her propers.
Lillian: Hey, Max.
Max: Did you make those cupcakes for Ted's birthday?
Adult Dean: Are you kidding me? Were they gonna pay her extra for that?
Lillian: [to Dean] Pass me that bag over there, please. [chuckles]
Adult Dean: She made a care package for Bruce and cupcakes for the office, all in pantyhose and heels? My dad had two jobs, but Mama had, like, 30.
Max: Mmm. Lil, what would we do without you? Let's be honest... none of the secretaries can make food taste "down home" like you do.
Lillian: Uh, thank you.
Adult Dean: Mm-hmm. You guys heard that too, right? There were cupcakes.

Adult Dean: She also made lunch? When did she have time to make us lunch? I'm starting to think my mom wakes up before 8:00 a.m.
Dean: You're not gonna go to the cafeteria with the other account execs?
Lillian: Oh, uh, they don't want to eat with me. [chuckles]
Dean: What about the secretaries?
Lillian: They have other things to worry about.
Adult Dean: Lunchtime was the part of the day I enjoyed most... when I got to catch up with my friends. But lunchtime for my mom meant spending time alone. But maybe I could help her out.
Dean: Coach Long! Come eat lunch with us!
Coach Long: Uh, h-hey, uh, I-I would, but, um, I d... I didn't bring anything with me.
Dean: My mom made enough food to share.
Coach Long: Well, you know, that s... that sounds great, but, um...
Dean: You know, on second thought, maybe it'll be fun for me to sit and have lunch alone with my mom. I wanna learn more about what she does around here. [Coach Long nods]
Lillian: Well, just for that, I'm gonna give you that cupcake I was saving for Cliff.
Adult Dean: Even Coach Long left my mom hanging. I guess for a Black woman in the position my mom was in in the 1960s, "working mom" meant you didn't have a place at anybody's lunch table. But it didn't slow her down, and that made her even more of a hero to me.