- Wayne Arnold: Look, I'm not gonna be around to take care of you anymore. Well see, the thing is, even when I'm not around I'm gonna be around. I mean I want you to have fun, get into trouble. Just don't be 'obsequious' or 'phlegmatic' and when you think of me, don't be 'lugubrious'
- Kevin Arnold - The Narrator: Let's face it: the guy was no orator.
- Kevin Arnold - The Narrator: Love is never simple. Not for fathers and sons. We spend our lives full of hope and expectations. And most of the time we are bound to fail. But that afternoon, as I watched my father sheltering his son against a future that was so unsure, all I knew was they didn't want to let each other down anymore.
- Kevin Arnold - The Narrator: A few days later, Wart left for basic training. He spent 2 months at Fort Polk, Louisiana. And then David Wartschafter was shipped to Vietnam. A big goofy kid who didn't know what he future would be.
- Jack Arnold: [to Wayne] How did you come up with such a dumb, stupid, idiotic idea?
- Wart: Well actually it was my idea.
- Jack Arnold: [to Wayne] And you listen to him? Well that's real bright.
- Wart: Thanks!
- Wayne Arnold: Look, I'm not gonna be around to take care of you anymore. Well see, the thing is, even when I'm not around I'm gonna be around. I mean I want you to have fun, get into trouble. Just don't be 'obsequious' or 'phlegmatic' and when you think of me, don't be 'lugubrious'
- Kevin Arnold: Let's face it: the guy was no orator.
- Jack Arnold: [to Wayne] How did you come up with such a dumb, stupid, idiotic idea?
- Paul Pfeiffer: Well actually it was my idea.
- Jack Arnold: [to Wayne] And you listen to him? Well that's real bright.
- Paul Pfeiffer: Thanks!
- Norma Arnold: Jack? Jack? Is Wayne home yet?
- Jack Arnold: Not yet.
- Norma Arnold: Oh, he was so nervous this morning. Hope he remembers what obsequious means.
- Jack Arnold: I hope he remembered his pencil.
- Jack Arnold: You didn't take your physical yet, right?
- Wayne Arnold: No, but you know, that's just...
- Jack Arnold: He's not in the army. Tomorrow you'll go down there and tell them you changed your mind.
- Wayne Arnold: No, you don't understand.
- Jack Arnold: You don't understand. They're going to send you off to Vietnam. They're going to pack you up and ship you out so fast, your head's gonna spin.
- Wayne Arnold: That's not what the sergeant said. The sergeant said that...
- Jack Arnold: What's the matter with you? They'll tell you anything!
- Wayne Arnold: You went to Korea.
- Jack Arnold: That was different.
- Wayne Arnold: Why? What was different about it?
- Jack Arnold: Because you're a young dumb kid.
- Wayne Arnold: Well, you were a young dumb kid too...
- Jack Arnold: Wayne! Listen to me! You're not going.
- Wayne Arnold: Whatever you say, Dad.
- Kevin Arnold - The Narrator: And with that, so ended my brother's brief career in the military.
- Wayne Arnold: Hey.
- Kevin Arnold: Hey. What's going on?
- Wayne Arnold: Well, I was cleaning out my room and uh, I thought maybe you wanna buy some of this stuff. Five bucks each?
- Kevin Arnold: Hey! That's my football!
- Wayne Arnold: Oh! Well, that I'll sell you for two
- [laughs]
- Kevin Arnold - The Narrator: That afternoon I thought about all the times that Wayne and I had had. When growing up was still a game, and life was what we made it. I thought about how we played at war, afternoons in Harper's Woods, and how every night we shared a room. And how much I would miss him.
- [Jack drives into the car park, and parks beside Wayne's car]
- Kevin Arnold - The Narrator: I guess I wasn't the only one.
- Jack Arnold: Wayne, you know I'm against this. I haven't prepared you for it.
- Wayne Arnold: Dad...
- Jack Arnold: Let me finish. I haven't prepared you for anything. You've been looking for my help. I don't know where I've been.