An Officer and a Gentleman

BYRON: I knew you'd make it! Where's your girl? Didn't she come?

ZACK: Naw. That's over with.

ZACK: That's not how she told it. She said you wrote her every week you were away.

BYRON: I wrote. Not every week...

ZACK: She said you told her in every letter how much you loved her, how you wanted to marry her, have children with her...

BYRON: I never said any of that!

ZACK: I found them, pard, and read them myself, right after she did it!

BYRON: Okay, I wrote those things... and yeah, I had big thoughts of getting together with your mom... but when she hit me with being pregnant, I saw who she was. I'd had quiff lay that shit on me before!

ZACK: What did you call her? What did I hear you call her, you son of a bitch?

BYRON: Who's that?

ZACK: Nobody. Just a girl I've been making it with the last couple of weekends.

BYRON: Great ass.

ZACK: Yeah, I sort of thought so myself.

BYRON: Better watch out for that kind, Zackie. You know what they call 'em, don't ya?

ZACK: Yeah, I know.

BYRON: Back east in Newport, Rhode Island, they call 'em the Fall River Debs. In Pensacola, the Mobile Debs. In Norfolk --

ZACK: That what she was... a Norfolk Deb?

BYRON: Who? Aw shit, Zackie, let's not get off on your mother again, please.

ZACK: What if I want to talk about her, pard? What then? You know, that's all I've ever heard from you, since I was a kid... you never want to talk about that, man, and it's important.

BYRON: There's nothing to talk about. Two goddamn times I made it with your old lady. We barely even talked.

BYRON: Hey, what did you want? A lot of fatherly bullshit? A big pat on the back?

ZACK: From you, pard? Never. Thanks for the graduation present.

BYRON: Hey, Zackie -- don't go away mad.

BYRON: Don't be pissed. I'm on your side, Pard. I just don't want you to do something you'll regret. You gotta give six years to the Navy if you wanna fly... that's six years with the most uptight assholes God put on this earth. Officers aren't like you and me, man. It's another breed.

ZACK: You afraid you'll have to salute me, Chief?

BYRON: Fuck, no! Why would I care about something as dumb as that?

ZACK: I don't know. That's just how it sounded. Well, I'll see you.

BYRON: You... in the Navy?

ZACK: That's right. I'm on my way over to this officer school in Port Ranier.

BYRON: Why?

ZACK: To fly jets. To be the fastest motherfucker in the world. You gotta come and visit me. I'm only a couple hours away.

BYRON: Who gave you this idea?

ZACK: Nobody. It just came to me.

BYRON: So what're you doing in Seattle?

ZACK: Get ready pard. This one's gonna blow you away.

BYRON: Zackie, nothing you do will ever surprise me, pard, not after some of the shit you've pulled.

ZACK: I joined the Navy.

ZACK: Ay, palequero. Never hochi in the P.I.

BYRON: Wha-chu-say, palequero? Short time, long time, only ten dolla.

BYRON: Hey, honey, look at this! My son! Isn't he beautiful? You should've called!

ZACK: You were out at sea! Hey, guess what? I graduated. I got my degree.

BYRON: I thought you quit school. Last I heard you were on your way to a construction job or something down in Brazil.

ZACK: Yeah, I made some money down there, then I talked my way into another college and I did it. I wasn't magna cum laude but I did okay. You should've seen me in my cap and gown.

BYRON: Why the fuck didn't you invite me? I would've come.

ZACK: Hi, Byron.

BYRON: Zack, you little shit! You haven't changed a bit!

ZACK: Neither have you, pard!

BYRON: Come back here, kid!

ZACK: What for?

BYRON: Okay, okay. You win.

ZACK: Thank you, sir!

BYRON: Stop calling me 'sir! I ain't no officer. My name is Byron.

BYRON: This is it. This is where I live. I suppose you could bunk over there and you could go to school at the base.

ZACK: Great.

BYRON: I'm not finished. I'll only be in port one week a month and when I'm here you'd never catch me playing daddy with you 'cause it's not who I am. Like I told you on the phone, you I'd be better off in that state school back in Virginia.

ZACK: I ain't never going back to that school, sir.

BYRON: You got to kid. Let me spell it out for you. This is a whorehouse. And I happen to like my life the way it is and nobody's gonna make me change.

ZACK: I don't care about that. I just ain't going back. You don't want me? Okay. I'll find me another place.

BYRON: How was the flight? They take care of you okay? Long way from Norfolk, isn't it?

ZACK: Yes, sir.

BYRON: Listen, kid, I was sorry to hear about your mom. That's pretty rough. I would've returned your call a lot sooner but I was out at sea...

ZACK: I been calling for four months.

BYRON: Well, that's how long I've been out at sea.

BYRON: You, Zack?

ZACK: Yes, Sir.

BYRON: I'm Byron. Nice to meet you. C'mon. Let's go get your luggage.

CASEY: Go on, Zack! Go for the record!

ZACK: Fuck the record. Now you listen to me and do exactly what I tell you. Start back ten yards and take off from here. Not here... or there... but right here! No excuses, Seeger! You are going to plant those legs here and then you're going to yank yourself over that wall because you have to! You want jets? Then do it, goddamnit!

CASEY: Zack, we've got to go.

ZACK: Just trying to have fun. That fucking prison is really starting to get to me. C'mon, Seeger. Gimme a push. Fuck you guys! I'll do it myself!

ZACK: Good morning, girls.

CASEY: Ever heard of knocking, mayo?

ZACK: Hey, did you hear? Sands and Kantrowitz DORed last night. Survival of the fittest.

CASEY: The whole world's a jungle, huh, Mayo? Dog eat dog down to the last one, right?

ZACK: You got it, Sweet Pea. Nice boonies, Seeger.

ZACK: Hey, baby, you could get sent to war, get your ass shot down.

CASEY: Don't lose any sleep over it. I wouldn't mind being the first woman to fly a jet fighter in combat.

ZACK: Great. You can go in my place.

CASEY: You're pretty funny, Mayo.

ZACK: Maybe we'll be roommates, Seeger, and you'll find out how funny I really am...

ESTHER: He doesn't mean anything by it, Zack. Do you, Joe?

JOE: I don't mean anything by it.

JOE: Esther, do you think she's using... ...birth control?

ESTHER: Yes, Joe.

JOE: When did this happen?

ESTHER: A long time ago.

ESTHER: Joe!

JOE: Come over here where I can see you.

FOLEY: See you in the fleet, sir!

ZACK: Yeah. See you in the fleet, Sarge. And thank you.

FOLEY: Congratulations, Ensign Mayo, sir!

ZACK: I'll never forget you as long as I live, Sergeant.

FOLEY: I know.

ZACK: Well, goodbye.

FOLEY: You're good.

ZACK: Get on your feet and find out how good, sir.

FOLEY: What're you waiting for, Mayo? Get your scuzzy ass up here.

ZACK: Yes, sir!

FOLEY: Mayo, the rest of your class knows about candidate Worley, and we're all sorry.

ZACK: Sir, this officer candidate requests permission to speak to you in private.

FOLEY: I'm busy, Mayo. It'll have to wait.

ZACK: It's important, sir!

FOLEY: Mayo, you didn't hear me -- I said I I'm busy! And so are you! Go get cleaned up!

ZACK: Aw screw it...

ZACK: I thought the D.I.'s were supposed to help you in this place! What kind of human being are you?

FOLEY: Stop eyeballing me, Mayo, or you're out!

ZACK: You didn't kick him out...? Wait, didn't he tell you what he's been going through?

FOLEY: It doesn't matter what he's going through. That's the whole purpose of this zoo. What matters is he freaked out for some reason at twenty-five thousand feet and that can't ever happen again.

ZACK: But you don't understand. There's this girl he's gotten pregnant and she's putting him through hell, sir.

FOLEY: Mayo, are those your friends?

ZACK: Yes, sir!

FOLEY: Maybe there's hope for you yet.

ZACK: I want to fly, sir!

FOLEY: That's no reason. Everybody wants to fly. My grandmother wants to fly. You going after a job with one of the airlines?

ZACK: I want to fly jets, sir!

FOLEY: Why? Because you can do it alone?

ZACK: No, sir!

FOLEY: What is it, the kicks? Is that it?

ZACK: I don't want to do something anybody can do.

FOLEY: Pity you don't have the character.

ZACK: That's not true, sir! I've changed a lot since I've been here! And I'm gonna make it, sir!

FOLEY: Not a fucking chance, asshole!

FOLEY: Hey, what do you say we call off this little charade of yours over a couple of beers at Trader Jon's...? Come on, man. You're about as close to being officer material as me.

ZACK: Sir, this candidate believes he'll make a good officer, sir!

FOLEY: No way, Mayo. You don't give a shit about anybody but yourself and every single one of your classmates knows it. Think they'd trust you behind the controls of a plane they have to fly in? Hey, man, I figure you for the kind of guy who'd zip off one day in my F-14 and sell it to the Cubans.

ZACK: Sir, that's not true! I love my country!

FOLEY: Sell it to the Air Force, Mayo!

FOLEY: Stop eyeballing me, mister! I've looked through your file and done a little checking, and I know it all. I know about your mother. I know your old man's an alcoholic and a whore chaser. Life sure has dealt you some shitty cards! Hasn't it, Mayo?

ZACK: I'm doing okay, sir.

FOLEY: No you're not. You're failing the big one, baby, and I don't just mean in here. I mean in life. I've watched you, Mayo, and you don't mesh. You grab-ass and joke around but you don't make friends, not the way the others do.

FOLEY: She may not make it through the program, but she's got more heart and more character than you'll ever have. I've seen your college record. I've never heard of most of those schools. Tell me something, Mayo. Did you buy that degree?

ZACK: No, sir! It was the hardest thing I ever did, sir! Until this.

FOLEY: That's a lie, Mayo. You've gone through a lot worse, haven't you?

FOLEY: I want your D.O.R.

ZACK: No, sir. You can kick me out, but I'm not quitting.

FOLEY: Get into your fatigues, Mayo. Before the weekend's out, you'll quit.

FOLEY: Where'd you get this, Mayo? This is really wonder work.

ZACK: Subic Bay, sir. In the Philippines.

FOLEY: I thought I recognized the work. Be proud of those wings. They're the only ones you're gonna leave here with, Mayo-naise.

FOLEY: What's your name, boy?

ZACK: Mayo, Zack Mayo, sir!

FOLEY: How did you slip into this program, Mayo? I didn't know the Navy was so hard up. You got an injury there, Mayo?

ZACK: Not exactly, sir.

FOLEY: Are you laughing at me, dick-brain?

ZACK: No, sir!

FOLEY: What did you call me, Mayo?

SID: Zack, don't!

SID: Whatever you say, Mayonnaise.

FOLEY: Fall out on the lawn in five minutes, in your Poopie suits!

FOLEY: What did you call me?

SID: Pardon?

FOLEY: What did you call me, boy?

SID: I called you Sarge.

FOLEY: Before that.

SID: I didn't call you anything before that.

FOLEY: You said, 'How're you?' I am not a 'ewe,' boy! A ewe is a female sheep, boy! Is that what you think I am, boy?

SID: No.

FOLEY: No, sir!

SID: No, sir.

FOLEY: Lauder, Sweet Pea!

SID: No, sir!

FOLEY: Do you want to fuck me up the ass, boy? Is that why you called me a 'ewe'? Are you a queer?

SID: No, sir.

FOLEY: Where are you from, boy?

SID: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

FOLEY: Only two things come out of Oklahoma, steers and queers. Which one are you, boy? I don't see any horns so you must be a queer.

SID: No, sir.

FOLEY: Stop whispering, Sweet Pea, you're giving me a hard on!

FOLEY: Hi, son.

SID: How're you doing, Sarge?

FOLEY: I know why most of you are here. We're not stupid. But before you get to sell what we teach you over at United Airlines, you gotta give the Navy six years of your life, Sweet Pea. Lot of things can happen in six year. Another war could come up in six years. If you're too peaceful a person to dump napalm on an enemy village where there might be women and children, I'm gonna find that out. Understand?

GROUP: Yes, sir!

FOLEY: Stop eyeballing me, boy! You are not worthy enough to look your superiors in the eye. Use your peripheral vision! Understand?!

GROUP: Yes, sir!

FOLEY: Now when I say "understand" I want the whole group to say, "Yes, sir!" Understand?

GROUP: Yes, sir!

FOLEY: Louder!

GROUP: Yes, sir!!

FOLEY: I don't believe what I'm seeing! Where've you been all your lives, at an orgy? Listening to Mick Jagger and bad mouthing your country, I'll bet.

PAULA: Don't you dare ask me that question. I'm an adult and you got no right to push your nose into my affairs like that!

JOE: Well, as long as you live in this house, young lady, you live by my rules! You should be dating local boys.

PAULA: Uh-uh! Not a chance! There's nobody in this town doing anything with his life, except what his father did, which is nothing. If I can't have more out of life than that, I'd rather be dead!

JOE: Do you honestly think you'll find a boy in that... that officer's school who's serious about marriage?

PAULA: Yes I do!

JOE: Then you're dumber than I thought! All you'll get from their kind is pregnant!

PAULA: I don't know what it is. It could be anything.

JOE: But you knew right off what I was talking about, didn't you, Paula! Did you let that boy --

PAULA: Daddy, I don't want to get into anything with you tonight. I'm tired and I...

JOE: What are you tired from?

PAULA: I know I'm late and I'm sorry, but Mrs. Rufferwell asked us to help with the cleanup and...

JOE: I said, come here!

LYNETTE: Let's go tell Paula! God, I wonder where we'll be stationed first. I hope it'll be Hawaii. I've always wanted to go to Hawaii.

SID: We're not gonna be stationed anywhere, baby. I DORed.

LYNETTE: You what?

SID: I had to, baby... I'm no aviator. I was faking it, like I was with everything else in my life... up 'til right now.

LYNETTE: But... but what would we do? Where would we go?

SID: Oklahoma. I can get my old job back at JC Penney's. In a couple of years, I'll be floor manager. Oh, you're gonna love Oklahoma, Lynette. You and mama'll get along just great. Of course, money will be a little tight for a while, but we'll make it.

LYNETTE: Sid, there's no baby.

SID: What?

LYNETTE: I'm not pregnant. I got my period this morning. There's no baby, Sid.

SID: Well, I'll be goddamned.

LYNETTE: Sid! Oh, it's beautiful! You mean...

SID: That's right. Let's get married, Lynette. Let's find a justice of the peace and just do it!

SID: Hi, babe. Come on. I've got a couple of things I want to tell you.

LYNETTE: What're you doing out of uniform, Sid? You don't want to get in trouble.

SID: Forget that. Come on. Got a little surprise...

LYNETTE: I can't go like this. Can't you wait a few minutes 'til I'm ready?

SID: No way. I'm so happy I'm about to bust. Here, honey. This is for you. It cost me my whole savings, but I said what the fuck.

SID: ...I'd want to pay for the abortion... I'd want to be with you through the whole thing... by your side. So how late are you, Lynette?

LYNETTE: Let's just wait and see what happens.

LYNETTE: What other issue is there, Sid?

SID: My responsibility as its father, for one. I mean, if I've made you pregnant, I'd want to... do the right thing.

SID: By the way, shouldn't you have had a period by now?

LYNETTE: I'm a little late, that's all.

SID: How late?

LYNETTE: What difference does it make? If anything was to happen, which I'm sure it isn't, it would be my responsibility.

SID: Exactly how late are you, Lynette?

LYNETTE: What do you care? Suppose I was pregnant. Just suppose it. You don't think I'd try to make you do anything you don't want to, do you?

SID: No. But that's not the only issue here, sweetheart. There's a lot more to it than that.

LYNETTE: Sid Worley, I think you're ashamed of me.

SID: Ashamed? No -- I love you, Lynette. I mean that. After I leave them, I'll meet you at the motel, okay?

LYNETTE: If you won't take me to dinner with your parents, I won't meet you at the motel.

SID: Lynette, I told you already, it won't work.

LYNETTE: Then, I'll see you around.

SID: What would you girls like to do? Want to stick around here for a little or... or could I suggest another plan...?

LYNETTE: Like pick up some booze and go to a motel?

SID: Or we could do that yeah.

SID: You're sure it's okay?

LYNETTE: Don't worry. I'll respect you afterwards.

SID: Something tells me you've been here before.

LYNETTE: Now what on earth would give you an idea like that?

LYNETTE: You been through the Dilbert Dunker yet?

SID: Cake walk. Both my dad and my brother went through it and made it, so I know I can.

LYNETTE: Is your brother a flyer?

SID: He was. He died.

LYNETTE: Vietnam?

SID: Yeah.

LYNETTE: I had a big brother who died over there, too. He wasn't no flyer though. He was just your basic Marine Corps type. I was only twelve when it happened, so I don't remember much about him.

SID: I sure remember Tommy. Mind if we talked about something else?

LYNETTE: We don't have to talk at all.

LYNETTE: Is this you boys first night of liberty since you got here?

SID: Yes, ma'am. Four long, hard weeks of sacrifice for my country... for my people... for you. But I survived.

PAULA: God help you, Lynette!

LYNETTE: You're no better than me, Paula! You're just the same!

PAULA: No! That's not true!

PAULA: Lynette, where's Sid?

LYNETTE: Already come and gone. Can you believe it? He DORed in the twelfth week. How can you win?

LYNETTE: Paula, how far would you go to catch Zack?

PAULA: What do you mean?

LYNETTE: You know what I mean. Would you... let yourself get pregnant?

PAULA: No way... Would you?

LYNETTE: I never used to think I'd do something like that, but now I'm not so sure. You ask me, nine weeks just ain't long enough to get a guy to fall in love with you.

PAULA: That don't justify trying to trap a boy by getting pregnant, Lynette! Nothing justifies that. I can't believe you're even thinking like that. I mean, that's really backward.

LYNETTE: No more backward, if you ask me, than the way these hotshot assholes fuck us, then ditch us. Don't you ever feel used, Paula? Don't you ever feel like if this is all you get for your trouble then the sonofabitch ought to be paying for it...?

PAULA: No. I never feel like that.

LYNETTE: I do.

LYNETTE: You serious about having him over?

PAULA: I haven't made up my mind.

PAULA: He ask you out for next weekend?

LYNETTE: No, but I told him I'd be at the Town Tavern next Saturday night, and he sounded like he might come.

PAULA: I told Zack about Saturday night, too. The fifth week's supposed to be the roughest. Come Wednesday, he'll be wishing he took my number.

LYNETTE: You hope.

PAULA: He'll show. I'd bet my paycheck on it.

PAULA: How did it go with you guys?

LYNETTE: Big Sid came in about two and a half seconds, then had the nerve to ask, 'Did you make it, too, sweetheart?'

LYNETTE: Well, it you're not gonna ask, then I will. How was it?

PAULA: Great.

LYNETTE: Details, Pokrif. From what I saw he had an incredible body.

PAULA: Yeah... Mmmm...

LYNETTE: What did he do? Did he do anything that was different?

PAULA: Everything was different.

LYNETTE: But in what ways?

PAULA: Hurry, Lynette. It's almost midnight.

LYNETTE: I got my foot on the floor.

PAULA: That was you guys, huh?

LYNETTE: Come on. Let's go dance.

LYNETTE: Far fucking out! I've been wanting to meet one of the Blue Angels since I can remember.

PAULA: Lynette, watch your mouth! Somebody might overhear.

LYNETTE: Paula, look at the new Poopies.

PAULA: Yeah, I saw 'em. Poor guys.

LYNETTE: See you in a month when you get liberty!

PAULA: Don't worry. It grows out about an inch by them.

LYNETTE: Come on, guys. It's five o'clock.

PAULA: One more minute.

ZACK: You little bitch! How could you? Was there ever a baby, Lynette? That's all I want to know! Did you make up that baby, Lynette? Did you??

LYNETTE: Of course there was a baby. I'd never lie about something like that. Would I, Paula?

ZACK: What did you tell him about the baby?

LYNETTE: That there isn't one, as of today. I had my period. I couldn't believe it. He still wanted to marry me.

ZACK: And you turned him down??

LYNETTE: Of course. I don't want no Okie from Muscogee. I can get that right here in Port Angeles.

LYNETTE: God! I've never seen anything like that in my whole life! Did you see that guy's nose?

ZACK: Lynette, just keep your mouth shut until we get to the motel. Will you do that for me, please.

LYNETTE: Well, excuse me for livin'!

PAULA: Please stop it. None of that's true. Goddamnit, I love you. I loved you ever since I met you.

ZACK: Come on, Paula! You were looking for a ticket out of here and you didn't care who it was, any more than you cared with the last class of candidates you and Lynette fucked your way through, looking for a husband! Or the class before that!

PAULA: Yeah. You got the whole story just right.

ZACK: Beware of the Puget Debs -- and we all laughed, especially him.

PAULA: I'm not a Puget Deb. I hate that goddamn term!

ZACK: I bet you do!

PAULA: However you got it figured, I didn't kill Sid and Lynette didn't kill him! He killed himself!

ZACK: That's brilliant.

PAULA: Maybe not, but it is the truth. And Zack, you didn't kill him either.

PAULA: I'd like to come with you.

ZACK: Why?

PAULA: Because he's my friend, too.

ZACK: I'm looking for Sid.

PAULA: So?

ZACK: Paula, he DORed and nobody's seen him.

PAULA: Why'd he do it?

ZACK: Hey! You know goddamn well what happened so let's not play any games, okay?

PAULA: I'm not playing any games! Go look at Lynette's!

ZACK: I don't know where that is.

PAULA: Call me during the week if you get the chance.

ZACK: I'll try, but this week we go into survival training, so I can't make any promises. Well, thanks again for dinner. Thank your mom again for me, will you?

PAULA: Sure. Zack, I hope you know I didn't have to show you that picture.

ZACK: I know that.

ZACK: Your real father was an Officer candidate like me?

PAULA: Twenty-two years ago.

ZACK: No wonder he was looking at me like that.

PAULA: Zack, do you ever think about what it'd be like to have kids... a family.

ZACK: No. Is that what you want?

PAULA: Some day. When I'm sure I can do a better job of it than my folks.

ZACK: What would you do differently?

PAULA: For a start, I wouldn't marry a man I wasn't in love with.

ZACK: Why'd your mom marry that guy if she didn't love him?

PAULA: Because my real father wouldn't marry her.

ZACK: Your real father?

PAULA: So, after you graduate you go on to basic flight, right? Is that in Pensacola?

ZACK: Yeah, then if I get jets, it's on to Beeville, Texas.

PAULA: I'm so embarrassed. I knew I shouldn't have brought you here.

ZACK: No, it's okay. It was a great free meal. Everybody was so uptight I felt sorry for you.

PAULA: That's okay. I'm used to it.

ZACK: Hi.

PAULA: Are those for me?

ZACK: No, they're for your mom.

ZACK: Hey, what about Sunday dinner? When're you gonna let me know?

PAULA: When I'm good and ready.

ZACK: Come on. Invite me. All day the idea of a family Sunday dinner's been coming into my head. Since you're the only one I know around here with family...

PAULA: Zack, I don't know if I want to do that...

PAULA: What's the matter?

ZACK: Nothing. Go back to the show, Paula.

PAULA: I've seen all that a hundred times.

ZACK: Hey, will you just leave me alone?

ZACK: I'm sorry. I can't sit with you.

PAULA: I understand. Maybe we'll see each other after the show...

ZACK: My old lady swallowed a bottle of pills one day while I was at school.

PAULA: God.

ZACK: The thing that really got to me... she didn't leave a note. Nothing. I've always hated her for that.

PAULA: Does it still hurt?

ZACK: Naw. You're alone in this world no matter what kinda folks or background you had. Nothing hurts, pard, once you got that one down.

PAULA: I don't care what the magazines say... it's just not as easy being a girl, especially from a Catholic family. You don't know the junk I grew up listening to, 'bout the way women are supposed to think and act.

ZACK: That's no excuse for not going after what you want.

PAULA: Who says I'm not going after what I want? My mother's thirty-nine years old and she still works in that factory. Every time I see her, I know exactly what I don't want.

PAULA: You know, sometimes I wish I was one of those girls they're letting in the flight program these days. God, I'd love to fly.

ZACK: What's stopping you?

PAULA: Want me to get a towel?

ZACK: I'll get it if you want.

PAULA: I don't want you to move.

ZACK: I don't want to move. But somebody has to move sometime. Eventually.

PAULA: They found them like that, shriveled up from weeks without food or water...

ZACK: That was great.

PAULA: It sure was.

ZACK: I forgot to thank you for breakfast.

PAULA: Any time, sailor.

PAULA: Zack, when you're through with a girl, what do you do? Do you say something or do you just... disappear?

ZACK: I've never had a girl.

PAULA: Zack, I dare you not to fall in love with me. I ain't gonna get serious with you, no way. But how can you resist me? I'm like candy.

ZACK: You're better than candy.

PAULA: I'm serious. It's gonna be hard to get enough.

ZACK: Paula, I never try to fool anybody about who I am, what I want... so if even in the back of your --

PAULA: I know who you are and what you want.

ZACK: What do you want, Paula? What do you really want?

PAULA: To have a good time with you until you have to go.

ZACK: That's it?

ZACK: You stayed after all.

PAULA: Wrong. I've driven a hundred and twenty miles, told a hundred and twenty lies, and said a hundred and twenty Hail Mary's since I saw you. Hungry?

ZACK: I'm starving.

PAULA: I don't know who you think you're talking to! I ain't some whore you brought here! I've been trying to be your friend and you treat me like shit!

ZACK: Be a friend. Leave.

PAULA: You got no manners and you never tell the truth! You're nothin' special. And if you ask me, you got no chance at all of being an officer!

ZACK: You want me to fuck you? Is that it? Okay, come here. Take your clothes off. Get into bed.

PAULA: Where's that coming from? I wouldn't fuck now if my life depended on it!

ZACK: Forget it. Just get out of here.

ZACK: I shouldn't have done that. I should've walked.

PAULA: He didn't give you much choice.

ZACK: There's always a choice.

PAULA: Where'd you learn to fight like that?

ZACK: I don't feel like talking, if you don't mind.

PAULA: Opening up just a little wouldn't kill you, ya know.

PAULA: I vote for the motel.

ZACK: My kinda group!

ZACK: I think we're making some of the locals jealous.

PAULA: Who cares? Mmmm. Now I remember. Mayo the Wop. Gee, I'm glad you're here. I've been looking forward to this all week.

ZACK: Me, too.

PAULA: Think you'll make it all the way to getting your wings?

ZACK: Who knows? Guys a lot smarter than me are dropping out like flies.

PAULA: Just think 'I'm gonna do it!' Program yourself. See yourself making it. It'll happen. I know 'cause I just read this article in Cosmo, and it was about that very thing.

ZACK: You're a very pretty girl, Paula.

ZACK: I hear most of the girls who come to these things are looking for a husband.

PAULA: Not me.

ZACK: Yeah? Why're you here?

PAULA: To meet interesting people, improve myself. You wouldn't believe the losers we got over in Port Angeles.

ZACK: Do you go to school?

PAULA: No. I work for National Paper. It's a good job. I make eight-twenty-three an hour. When I get enough money saved, I plan to go on to college.

PAULA: You got a girl?

ZACK: No, and I'm not looking for one either.

ZACK: Hey, what kind of name is Pokrifki?

PAULA: Polish. What kind of name is Mayo?

ZACK: Italian. My mom was Irish. I got her ears. But the rest is all wop.

PAULA: Where are you from, Mayo the Wop?

ZACK: Everywhere and nowhere, Paula the Polack.

PAULA: Seriously.

ZACK: My father is a Rear Admiral in the Seventh Fleet.

PAULA: Really?

ZACK: Yeah. We've lived all over the world. Katmandu, Moscow, Nairobi.

PAULA: Really? I've never been out of Washington except once when I visited this aunt of mine over to Portland. I mean, over at Portland. Ain't it pathetic the way folks talk around here?

ZACK: How about that prick! He told me he wasn't officer material because he grew up poor like me.

PERRYMAN: He said he grew up poor?

ZACK: The kid on the windy side of the baker's window. That's how he put it.

PERRYMAN: Foley's not poor. Buddy of mine in oh-four told me he's the son of a rich doctor down in Louisiana.

ZACK: Hey, do you guys ever... feel like you don't belong here...?

PERRYMAN: Yeah. All week long.

PERRYMAN: I see you didn't DOR, Mayo.

ZACK: Hey, Sid, thanks.

PERRYMAN: I'll never get it polished in time. Give me a buckle, Zack.

ZACK: I can't risk it.

PERRYMAN: You'd make it. He's just getting to the girls. Come on, Zack. I gotta see my family, man. I couldn't take it if he keeps me here over the weekend.

ZACK: Sorry, pard. Wouldn't want you to get an honor violation.

PERRYMAN: Hey, man, is the piss-ass money you're making off this worth the risk of getting us all kicked out of here on an honor violation?

ZACK: I don't notice anyone else complaining.

ZACK: Two bucks a buckle, Perryman. Look at that shine! Boonies'll cost you five.

PERRYMAN: Who's got two bucks? It's costing me every penny they pay us just to keep my old Lady and my kids in that motel.

PERRYMAN: How do you figure that's your bunk?

ZACK: He said it's up to us and I got here first, didn't I?

SID: Please, Zack -- go back to the barracks!

ZACK: I don't get it! He's the best candidate in our class! Ask anyone! The best student! The best leader! The best friend to everybody! Couldn't you bend your goddamn standards just a little?

SID: Zack, it wasn't him! He didn't ask me to D.O.R. I came to him on my own. I'm glad it's over, Zack. I really mean that. He was right. I wasn't doing this for me.

SID: He's right, Zack. It doesn't matter.

ZACK: Just like that it's all over? With less than two weeks to go, you're out?

ZACK: Sid, what happened?

SID: I don't know... I felt like... like I was suffocating... Christ, Zack... I was so scared... so godddamn scared...

ZACK: Okay, but what if it's like Foley said and she got knocked up, to trap you -- is it still your responsibility?

SID: No matter how it happened, if she goes ahead and has it" Zack, there'll be a child in the world that's mine -- and I couldn't go through life knowing that and not knowing its name or where it lived.

ZACK: Jesus Christ, Sid! Is everything your responsibility?

ZACK: So what's the problem? Girls do that all the time.

SID: I can't let her go off and have the kid by herself and not do anything. If it's my kid, too, then I've got a responsibility, don't I?

ZACK: Not if she won't even talk about an abortion.

SID: But it would still be my kid. That's the point.

ZACK: Do you know that for sure?

SID: It's mine.

SID: It's a big religious thing with her and she won't even discuss it.

ZACK: But she expects you to marry her?

SID: She said it was up to me. If I don't, she'll go off and have the baby on her own somewhere.

ZACK: Calm down, Sweet Pea. She seen a doctor?

SID: No, but she's gotta be at least a month late.

ZACK: Doesn't mean shit. Get her to a doctor. You can't do anything until you hear what he says. Make the appointment yourself.

ZACK: Talk to me in the morning. I feel like shit.

SID: But it can't wait.

ZACK: You should've done what I did. A clean break.

SID: Lynette told me it really tore her up when you didn't call this week.

SID: Thanks for covering for me.

ZACK: No problem, but who's Susan?

SID: My girl back home. We're supposed to get married after I get my wings. She was Tommy's girl. They were engaged to be married before he died. I should've told you about her. I don't know why I didn't, except I didn't want you to think I was a shit for making it with Lynette.

ZACK: I'm not your folks, man. You love this... Susan?

SID: She's the sweetest person I've ever known. Loves kids. Works with handicapped kids every afternoon at the church. Everybody loves her.

ZACK: I didn't ask you all that, Sweet Pea. I asked if you loved her.

SID: Listen, I'm not going to go to that little reunion party. I'm meeting Lynette at the motel. Best head in fifty-two states. After three days of survival training, how could I resist?

SID: I kid you not, Mayo, I am in love. We must've set a new indoor record today. You want to know how many times we did it?

ZACK: You'd better get smart, man. It's time to walk away.

SID: What? You've gotta be kidding!

ZACK: Remember what Foley said? His little warning? Those are the girls he was talking about. They're out to marry us any way they can.

SID: I don't believe that. They're just having a good time, same as us.

ZACK: That's what they want you to think, but I saw where she lived, what is she's trying to get away from. Just take my word for it, pard. Break it off now. Do it this week.

ZACK: That isn't true, is it?

SID: A little.

SID: What's the matter, Sweet Pea. Foley finally starting to get to you?

ZACK: Naw.

ZACK: Hey, you guys still awake?

SID: Yeah.

ZACK: You okay?

SID: Sure.

SID: Nice, hospitable folks they get around here. I hope she comes.

ZACK: She'll come, pard. A rich socialite Oakie like you oughta be a big catch around these parts.

SID: Get off my case, Mayo. I didn't grow up rich.

ZACK: Look at Foley! Can you believe it!

SID: Shhhh...

SID: Could you believe those girls!

ZACK: 'Nellie's Nymphos!'

SID: Jesus, that Lynette! I rode her hard and put her up wet.

ZACK: You told us it would grow out an inch.

SID: It's grown out more than an inch, sweetheart.

ZACK: Hey, you gonna tell anybody about this?

SID: Not if you make it worth my while. How about free boonies for the duration?

ZACK: Jets.

SID: I hate to tell you guys, but only two out of every class make it into jets. Which one of you is going with me?

SID: Think there's any truth to what he was saying about those girls? Is that still going on?

ZACK: Sure it is, Sweet Pea, but he should've warned you 'scuzzy' female types about the 'Puget Dudes.' They'll tell you they're wearing a rubber but they've bit a little hole in the end.

SID: That Foley looks like he's been through a war or two.

ZACK: I've seen better.