Adult Dean: Growing up, Mom and Dad gave me "The Police Talk" about how to handle yourself around cops. There was a presidential election that created a racial divide, and there was a flu pandemic that they said would kill a million people around the world. But it was 1968. And that's the state our country was in. Yeah, even the flu part. This was the year I turned 12, the age where you transfer from boy to man. Or as the old folks used to say, "When a boy starts smelling himself." The previous summer's race riots had caused the first wave of "white flight" to the suburbs. As a kid, I didn't understand all that. We had neighborhoods that were just as safe as the ones they were developing outside the city. There were teachers, veterans, shop owners, all united by pride, self-determination, and the right to spank any kid caught outside after the street lights came on.

Adult Dean: Mama was overwhelmed by what Daddy had done. He bucked society's norms for the woman he loved. Then she turned on a dime.
Lillian: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Where's Dean gonna live? What's he gonna do while you're working? What's he gonna eat?
Bill: I think they have food in New York, Lillian.
Lillian: Dean Williams, you listen to me. Don't you go anywhere without your father. There's a lot of traffic in New York City, so make sure you look both ways before you cross the street. [sighs] You know what? Just don't even cross the street. Just stay on whatever street you're on and make all lefts. Oh, my baby. [hugs Dean]

Adult Dean: We just spent 20 minutes in the car together, and he couldn't give me a heads up?
Lillian: Bill, are you sure about this?
Bill: Absolutely. I don't want to be the kind of husband that doesn't support his wife's dreams. So I thought about what my father would do... and decided to do the opposite.

Lillian: What's wrong with being yourself?
Adult Dean: "Just be yourself." Ageless wisdom that's just as true now as it has ever been. Nah, buddy, she was gonna have to come harder than that today.
Dean: You kidding me?! You have no idea what seventh grade is like! That will never work! I've been myself all year, all my life, and where has it gotten me?
Bill: Watch your tone.
Lillian: [sighs] It's okay, Bill. Let him speak his mind.
Dean: And, of course, you would think "just be yourself" would work. You're always yourself, and people love you for it.
Bill: [to Lillian] The whooping window is closing. Pretty soon it's gonna be more for me than him.

[Dean gasps as he wakes up in the middle of the night with Bruce knocking on his bedroom window]
Bruce: Shh. Shh. [whispers] Unlock the window.
Adult Dean: Well, well. The man who'd been bossing me around missed his curfew and needed my help getting back in our room. Hmm.
Bruce: [whispers] Unlock the window.
Adult Dean: But you know what? He was a good brother. And I knew Mom and Dad would be furious if they caught him.
Dean: [quietly] I'm sleeping.
Bruce: Dean. Dean! Dean! I'm gonna kill you, Dean. Dean!

Kim: Hang on, G.I. Jo-Jo. We need to talk. Things have changed around here since you've been gone.
Dean: Yeah. [broom thuds] Kim and I have come up with a system.
Bruce: System?
Kim: Mama gives us a chore. We do it quickly and poorly.
Dean: She comes in, sees it...
Kim: And it drives her crazy, 'cause you know how it all has to be perfect.
Dean: Then she says [as Lillian] "Move, boy." [normal voice] And then does it for us.
Kim: And then I get to talk on the phone with my friends.
Dean: And I get to go watch TV.
Kim: And everybody's happy.

Bruce: Mama, relax, okay? We'll do the dishes.
Lillian: Why, how thoughtful. You have been so helpful lately. Doing laundry, washing the car... I can't even get Dean to make his bed.
Dean: [quietly] Bruce is making us look bad.
Kim: Yeah, we need to have a little talk with him.
Adult Dean: Kim and I were rarely aligned on anything. It was nice to finally have a united front.
Kim: Has anyone ever told you that shirt makes you look like Peppermint Patty?
Adult Dean: Well, it was fun while it lasted.

Bruce: I did something earlier today, but I realize there's something that I probably should've told you guys before.
Bill: Whatever it is, you can tell us now.
Bruce: It was late, pitch black. We were on patrol, ready to head back, when out of nowhere, we started taking fire. We were pinned down. I called for retreat and started pulling my men off the line. I could see that we had three men down already, so my friend Brian and I went back to get them. And we were able to pull them back to safety, but we were still under fire, and I guess that's when I got hit. I called out to see if Brian was okay, but he didn't respond. I was hurt, and I couldn't stay there... I couldn't stay there and put my men in any more danger. On the battlefield, you only have a second to make a decision.
Bill: Sounds like you really earned that Bronze Star.
Bruce: That's what they, uh, say in the write-up that you asked about. They call me some hero. I can't even finish reading it. I should've been able to save my friend.
Adult Dean: We all wanted to tell him that he did the right thing and he could've died, but none of us could come up with the words that would make him feel better.
Bruce: And I guess, in some way... I was rushing things with Tammy, because after everything that happened over there, I... Brian... he won't get a chance to get married. He won't get a chance to have kids.
Lillian: I'm so sorry about your friend, son.
Bruce: Those medals, they're not for us. They're for everybody else.
Bill: Son... you didn't get that star for what you did over there. You got it for who you were before you went.
Bruce: We always said that if anything ever happened to one of us, we would write to the other one's family. But... I don't know. I felt so guilty, I couldn't even bring myself to do it.
Lillian: Try. If the situation were reversed, I'd want to hear from Brian.

Lillian: Dean, I can see you've been scratching. I brought you something for the itch. Y'all need to use it.
Granddaddy Clisby: No, ma'am. I'm not taking the White man's medicine.
Bill: Dad, I know you don't trust doctors, but you can't avoid them forever.
Granddaddy Clisby: Watch me.
Bill: See what I'm putting up with over here?

Kim: Friendship is what I want.
Bill: You're driving this?
Kim: Yes. And my friend and I are about to be late to Cathy's party.
Bill: So you're just gonna let her do all the talking for you?
Kwame: I'm... I'm sorry...
Bill: So you're just gonna interrupt her when she was talking?
Kwame: Oh, I'm... I...
Bill: So you're just gonna let me contradict myself like that?
Kwame: I don't...