- [first lines]
- [Nick pulls his truck up to Beulah's Star Ice Castle Lanes, or, depending on how you read the marquee sign, Beulah's Ice Castle Star Lanes]
- Nick Peterson: Hey, Charlie.
- Charlie: Hi, Nick.
- Nick Peterson: How ya doin'?
- Charlie: Beats the hell out of me. Hey, what are *you* doin' home?
- Nick Peterson: Beats the hell out of me.
- Charlie: Hey, Beulah, rack 'em up! Come on!
- Nick Peterson: Howdy, Les.
- Les: Hey! Nick, what the hell are *you* doin' here?
- Nick Peterson: Beats the hell out of me.
- [Nick peers around a corner to watch Lexie being trained in ice-skating by Beulah, who is shouting out instructions about Lexie keeping her head up and so forth, and telling her she isn't doing well enough. Lexie spots Nick and runs over on her skates]
- Alexis Winston: Nick! Wow!
- Nick Peterson: [grabbing her into a hug and allowing her to spin him around] Ohhh.
- Beulah Smith: Hey, that was the fastest pre-med course in history!
- [Nick hugs Beulah while still hugging Lexie]
- Beulah Smith: What are you doing home?
- Nick Peterson: I couldn't stay away from my girls.
- [Nick has just encouraged Alexis to skate and she has managed a double spin on her own]
- Nick Peterson: Whoo! Aw, baby!
- [He runs to her across the ice rink]
- Nick Peterson: Aha! You did a double! Oh, my...
- [They grab each other, hugging and jumping up and down, and cross-talking]
- Alexis Winston: It wasn't perfect...
- Nick Peterson: Well, it was damn good!
- [He cradles her face in his hands]
- Nick Peterson: What a girl.
- [Their hugs and laughter lead to a passionate kiss]
- Alexis Winston: [panting] Nick...
- [Nick shakes his head, starting to speak something that sounds like "Oh" or "No..."]
- Alexis Winston: I love you. I know you don't like me very much any more... but I love you.
- [He grabs her and they kiss for a long time]
- Hockey Coach: Hell, if I were, uh, a pretty good shot, skate pretty fast, once in a while score a few goals, I guess I'd still be worried as hell about somebody who could skate harder, shoot harder and is more suicidal.
- Nick Peterson: Oh, there ain't
- [imitating Robert DeNiro in "Mean Streets"]
- Nick Peterson: nobody, nobody more suicidal than me.
- Hockey Coach: I don't know why you want to beat yourself to death playing hockey. I mean, you can speak English, for Christ's sake.
- [Beulah has provoked her by saying that Alexis wanted to get hurt so that she would not face any more challenges. They tussle in the attic in a scene worthy of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan]
- Alexis Winston: [sobbing to Beulah] I didn't mean to hurt myself. I didn't want to hurt myself. I didn't.
- Beulah Smith: It's all right, baby. It doesn't matter. It's okay. We just want you back. We love you. We just want you back. Come back to us.
- Nick Peterson: Here. There's a hand in front of you. Grab it.
- Alexis Winston: What are you doing here?
- Nick Peterson: [affectionately] Came to see you break your ass.
- Alexis Winston: Can't see you very well. I don't know if you're kidding.
- Nick Peterson: Just listen to my voice. I'm not kidding.
- Brian Dockett: Do you remember me?
- Alexis Winston: [sadly and sweetly] Yes.
- Brian Dockett: I missed you.
- Alexis Winston: I missed you.
- Brian Dockett: Want to try again?
- Alexis Winston: [gently, but meaning it] I don't miss you any more, Brian.
- [Deborah leads Alexis into a busy restaurant in the building where all of the skaters are living temporarily, and then guides her to a table]
- Deborah Machland: There are five girls that the judges have been looking at since - sit down - since the last Olympics. So they're the ones that everyone expects to win. Now, even if you're as good as they are, they're gonna win, because the judges are gonna think you're a flash in the pan.
- Alexis Winston: So, if I can't win...
- Deborah Machland: I didn't say that. I just want you to know what we're up against.
- Alexis Winston: I dunno...
- Deborah Machland: If you're not tough enough, you're never gonna make it. The pressure, the pace... even the other girls are gonna kill you.
- Brian Dockett: Scared?
- Alexis Winston: I don't know what I'm scared of.
- [They kiss]
- Brian Dockett: Nothing. You're not afraid of anything.
- Brian Dockett: [on the microphone, speaking to his photojournalist:] And I don't mind telling you, ladies and gentlemen, I think I'm more nervous than Alexis is. But this is the bottom line.
- [He hands the microphone over, turns to Alexis, takes her hands, and bends over to speak softly to her]
- Brian Dockett: Nothing. You're not afraid of anything. Remember: nothing.
- [Alexis has just done an excellent skating job, and she skates over to Deborah and the film crew, hugging everyone and crying, "I love you!" Then she looks up to see Nick, who has a shattered, excluded expression, and he turns to leave. Lexie chases after him into the crowd]
- Alexis Winston: Nick! Nick! Nicky! Hey!
- [She grabs him, but he is insulted and looks as though he wants to leave]
- Alexis Winston: Come on.
- [Her name is being announced on the loudspeaker to come forth and win a prize]
- Alexis Winston: Come on. Please, Nick, I have to go.
- Nick Peterson: [bitterly] Looks like you got everything you need.
- [They share tragic looks. The announcer is calling for Alexis to come accept her prize]
- Alexis Winston: [upset, and in agony] Why don't you just go try out for another hockey team?
- [This hurts Nick terribly, and his chest is heaving as he watches her leave for the ice rink]
- [Marcus is teaching Lexie how to skate again after her accident. She is afraid and holding tightly to his arm. He is encouraging the whole time]
- Marcus Winston: Okay, let's turn around and try to... Let me pull you a bit, okay? Now hold on to me, so I don't fall.
- [chuckles]
- Marcus Winston: That's it. C'mere. Nothin' to it! You're skatin' like you've done this before. Have ya?
- [Alexis, her father, Beulah, and Nick are gathered around the dinner table]
- Marcus Winston: I don't know where the hell you come up with those hare-brained ideas.
- Nick Peterson: She can do it! Now, there's five months until the first competition. That's plenty of time!
- Alexis Winston: I don't care about any of that.
- Nick Peterson: Yeah, you do. If you could see, you'd be right back in there at the broad moment of that whole business.
- Alexis Winston: I wouldn't.
- Nick Peterson: I don't believe you!
- [Silence around the table]
- Alexis Winston: I can't.
- Marcus Winston: Baby, that's okay, you don't have to do anything you don't want to do.
- Nick Peterson: If nobody made her do anything she didn't want to do, she'd be sittin' up in the goddamn room staring at the walls!
- [pause, while everyone glances at Alexis]
- Nick Peterson: I don't know if she can do it; I just know she's got to try.
- Beulah Smith: For who? For you or for her?
- Nick Peterson: For both of us. If she doesn't try, it's gonna be second best... for us. Whatever it is, hell, man, she can skate! Now, I don't know who took this seriously in the first place, even her, but she can. She just won the Sectionals. That's all the skaters in the middle of this damn country and by God, that's saying something!
- Marcus Winston: It's pointless and cruel.
- Nick Peterson: Don't give me that. Not trying is pointless and cruel. Not trying is wondering your whole life if you gave up too soon. Who the hell needs that?
- Alexis Winston: They'll laugh at me.
- [Nick takes her hand and nods]
- Nick Peterson: They might.
- [Lexie has achieved a triple which has all of her skate-competitors jealous. But not her trainer, Deborah. After the practice, Deborah stops the car on a highway above a cliff down to a deep gulch; the metaphor cannot be any clearer]
- Deborah Machland: The next time you pull a stunt like that, it's over, you hear me? You could get hurt very easily, and then where are we? A stupid show-off thing with the triple.
- Alexis Winston: [beginning to cry] But I did it. I've been working on it, I wanted to surprise you.
- Deborah Machland: It was a lousy triple.
- Alexis Winston: [crying] You didn't even see it.
- Deborah Machland: You're not good enough for a triple! You're not good enough. Let me tell you something. Triples may be big crowd-pleasers, but to world-class judges, it's just a piece of show-off acrobatics. You can't win at this game with that kind of crap. You know what the judges want, and you do it better than anybody else, and that's what wins. Annette knows that; every goddamn coach here does.
- [softly]
- Deborah Machland: I'm a goddamn laughing-stock. You could make a fool out of yourself, but not me. Now, which is it? My way, or do I drive you to the airport right now?
- [Marcus, Alexis, Beulah and Nick are all in a restaurant booth, with the remains of their dinners on their plates. They have been chatting and arguing about a few topics]
- Beulah Smith: Well, if we're through with that, there's something that I'd like to discuss.
- Marcus Winston: Well, now, what could be more important than finding out what old buddy here
- [gesturing at Nick]
- Marcus Winston: is doing home in the middle of his first year?
- Beulah Smith: Lexie's competition.
- Marcus Winston: The subject closed.
- Beulah Smith: [sarcastically] I'm glad to see that at least you have an open mind.
- Marcus Winston: Now, now, wait a minute: Lexie's a fine skater. But there's a big difference in this Seven Counties Kiwanis Competition! Now, this is big time things; it's worse than being professional. A little country girl go up there, they eat her alive. I just don't want you to get hurt, honey.
- Beulah Smith: Marcus Winston, you are so full of bull, it boggles the mind. Where the hell are you coming from?
- Marcus Winston: [dismissively] Ahhh...
- Beulah Smith: [tough as nails] You're what's hurting her! Let her be. She's good. She's got more natural talent than anyone I've ever seen, and that includes those girls at the Olympics.
- [Lexie has been hanging her head all this time, but now she looks up and speaks plaintively]
- Alexis Winston: Let me go, Daddy. I know it's scary, but I really want to do it!
- Beulah Smith: Christ, Marcus, it's one competition!
- Marcus Winston: She's too young.
- Alexis Winston: I'm too *old*! It's already too late! If I wait any longer, there won't be any chance at all.
- [Marcus turns and studies her anguished face]
- Marcus Winston: For what?
- Alexis Winston: For me. Just - for me.
- [She rises and leaves the table]
- Alexis Winston: [approaching through the snow] Daddy? Hey, Dad.
- Marcus Winston: [fixing tractor] On your way, huh, babe?
- Alexis Winston: Yes. They'll be here any minute. I'll be back in a couple of days. Three at the most.
- Marcus Winston: [car honks] I guess that's your ride.
- Alexis Winston: Wish me luck... Please, Dad?
- Marcus Winston: Yeah, sure, honey.
- [unenthusiastic:]
- Marcus Winston: Knock 'em dead.
- [car honks again, and Alexis walks back the way she came]
- Brian Dockett: [re the hands-on throng of admirers] All gone.
- Alexis Winston: [as he kisses her shoulder] What do they want?
- Brian Dockett: Nothing. To see you. Touch something that's exciting. A winner.
- [nods]
- Brian Dockett: And that's what you are, Lexi.
- [kisses the back of her head]
- Alexis Winston: Why do they have to touch me like that?
- Brian Dockett: Because... because they want to... touch someone... who can do something they can't.
- Alexis Winston: We're on display, aren't we?
- Brian Dockett: That's right. And damn lucky someone wants us to be. Everybody out there tonight, everybody who saw you today... would change places with you in a minute...
- [a long silence as Lexi takes this in]
- Brian Dockett: Don't worry about it. You're a star.
- [she considers this uncertainly]
- Brian Dockett: You wanna give it up?
- Alexis Winston: [reaches for his hand] No.
- Deborah Machland: Are you afraid she might make it? What would happen if she became a champion? She'd probably leave here. Come back only for Christmas.
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