Nathan:
Dad, why does this have to be so difficult? You're my father, so I should love you, but I spent so much of my life hating you.
Dan:
I was a terrible father, I know that.
Nathan:
You know I can justify a lot of the screwed up things that you've done. You bullied because you wanted to make me tough, you tried to ruin my marriage because you wanted me to have a career, you even burned down your diner just because you wanted to see me again. But I can't understand how you can murder your own brother, and I'm worried when you're gone that's all I'll remember and I'll still hate you for it.
Dan:
You should hate me for it.
Nathan:
So why did you do it?
Dan:
I was always jealous of Keith, even when we were kids. I was athletic, popular, all of the things that he wasn't, but still I was jealous of him. People were drawn to Keith and I hated him for it.
Nathan:
So you shot him because people liked him more?
Dan:
The day I shot Keith I was in a dark place. I was convinced that he had tried to kill me, I'd lost you, divorced your mom. My life was spiralling downwards, and meanwhile Keith was building a new life with my highschool sweetheart and the child that I had abandoned. Everytime I looked at him I felt like I was punched in the gut.
Nathan:
So what happened in that hallway?
Dan:
Keith wanted to go into the school to save that kid, so I let him go, hoping he'd get shot. Let him be the hero as long as he's the dead hero, and then I thought 'why should he be the hero when it could be me?' So I followed him in. Jimmy was crying and Keith was telling him 'it gets better, that pain in your heart, the voice in your head that tells you there's no way out, it's wrong. It gets better.' And I felt like he was talking to me. And in that moment, maybe the most heroic, kindest moment of my big brother's life, I hated him. I hated him more than anyone or anything, because nothing had gotten better. That pain was still in my heart, that voice in my head saying there's no way out was right, and he was standing there lying to me. And after Jimmy died, I picked up the gun and I aimed it at Keith. And he looked at me, and all I could think of was everything that had gone wrong in my life was his fault, and it wasn't going to get better until he was gone. Just pull the trigger and it all ends. So I pulled the trigger, and it didn't end, it got worse. I'm so sorry.
Nathan:
There are a lot of people that you need to say I'm sorry too, but I'm not one of them. I wouldn't be where I am if it wasn't for you. My career, my family, my life. No matter what you've done, you're still my father. You're my father and I love you.
Dan:
Oh, Nathan. I love you too ... You know, we never got a chance to play a game together on the River Court, how about it?
Nathan:
What do you want to play to?
Dan:
Let's not keep score, for once let's just play to play.
