- Walter Nichols: [Addressing Jerry] What happened to him
- [Peter, Jerry's childhood friend and close Army pal in Vietnam War]
- Walter Nichols: ?... There's something more; something you never told anybody. Not one living soul. There's something his mother and father, sitting there in that courtroom, should NEVER hear...
- Grace Young: [Jerry's lady friend, silent, unseen, listening intently while standing behind the two men in a doorway's deep shadow, essentially making her very much part of the revealing, gripping conversation unfolding - as the director has assembled the scene]
- Walter Nichols: - the silence that you'll do at least 20 years for.
- Jerry Purdue: 20 years? Pete's going forever... . The dudes I knew over there - the 'battle boys,' the 'battle brothers' almost made it home
- [sighs]
- Jerry Purdue: ... When does killing become murder?
- Walter Nichols: By law... self defense.
- Jerry Purdue: ...it's weird, man. I think he
- [Peter]
- Jerry Purdue: wanted me to kill him.
- Walter Nichols: ...come on, soldier, tell it! Get it out of your system. You don't wanna carry it around like Pete and go crazy... . You can tell me; I won't use it. You can believe that; you can tell me. So you better tell somebody.
- Jerry Purdue: If I told you something you could win it with, you'd pass?
- Walter Nichols: My word has no price tag on it...
- Jerry Purdue: I'd like to tell it; I'd like to tell it just like it was. Maybe I could forget it.
- Walter Nichols: Tell it to me.
- Grace Young: [Elliot remains in the shadows; head tilted down, now hearing for the first time the most important thing she'll ever know about Jerry, short of him telling her he loves her]
- Jerry Purdue: It was VC country; night... four of us got shot. Next morning Pete and I spot two, a man and a girl,
- [she]
- Jerry Purdue: 14? 20? Are they VC? You can't tell. They put hands up... the man races off. Peter shot him down... . Pete chased after the girl. He caught her; they fell
- [pauses]
- Jerry Purdue: . And Peter
- [stops; can't continue]
- Jerry Purdue: .
- Walter Nichols: He killed her?
- Jerry Purdue: [nods 'yes'; dead glaze in eyes] After he raped her
- [sighs heavily]
- Jerry Purdue: .
- Walter Nichols: [silent; very dynamic]
- Grace Young: [silent; very dynamic]
- Jerry Purdue: Pete spent too much time in a place he didn't understand.
- Walter Nichols: And you said nothing?
- Grace Young: [still looking down, but shifting slightly out of the deep shadows]
- Jerry Purdue: I said we killed two VC; maybe we did.
- Grace Young: [approaches] I heard it - all of it. I'm glad I did.
- Jerry Purdue: [exasperated] Alright - you heard it. Are you gonna repeat it?
- Grace Young: You know I won't
- [caresses Jerry's neck]
- Grace Young: .
- Jerry Purdue: [to Walt] You wanna tell that story in court?
- Walter Nichols: I won't. Yes, I'd like to. Peter Calendar is dead; nothing can hurt him now - even the truth
- Jerry Purdue: I'd go to the gas chamber before I'd tell that in court. I loved Peter; I loved his mom and dad. I won't tell it.
- Walter Nichols: Alright...