DANNY: O.K. I-I understand. I'll talk to you later. Bye.
As he hung up, he thought, "No, I don't. I don't think I ever will."
He tried to figure out what he did to cause his parents' divorce, but to no avail.
"It MUST have been something I did. My mom and dad love each other too much to end it like this," thought Danny, grief-stricken. "Whatever it is, I know I didn't mean it. I guess I was so preoccupied with my career that I didn't have time for them. I should have been there for them. But now they're seperating all because of me..."
He flops down on his bed and sighs deeply.He stares up at the ceiling for a while, then he buries his head in his pillow and starts to cry softly for a few minutes. He regroups what composure he has left and stares at a picture of him, Sawyer, and his parents together in a group shot.
DANNY: I'm sorry, Mom and Dad...
(He hears the doorbell ring. He goes downstairs and is greeted by Buster and Babs.)
BABS: You forgot to call us, Danny.
DANNY: [voice broken] I'm sorry... I was going through a family emergency.
BUSTER: What happened?
DANNY: I-I don't want to talk about it now.
BABS: You can tell friends anything, Danny.
DANNY: No, really. I'm fine.
BUSTER: [puts his arm around Danny] Danny... if you don't tell someone about it, it'll well up inside of you and it'll hurt even more. It won't help at all. So please... tell us about what happened...
DANNY: My parents are breaking up and I think I'm responsible.
BABS: We can assure you're not, Danny. How could YOU drive anyone to that point?
DANNY: There's no other reason, Babs. My mom and dad love each other too much.
(Plucky suddenly pops up of the bushes.)
PLUCKY: Really?
BUSTER: Plucky, will you go AWAY?!?
DANNY: It's all right, Buster. Yea, they're leaving each other.
PLUCKY: Wow...
BABS: Danny, you need to go see them and find out why they're doing this.
DANNY: I suppose you're right.
(With that, Danny grabs his car keys and heads to his parents' apartment. As he arrives at the apartment, he starts hearing VERY raised voices. He walks in to see his parents screaming at each other, fussing about how much the other parent is worth. Once they notice Danny, they stop.)
DAD: Oh. Hi, Danny.
DANNY: Dad... Can I talk to you for a minute?
DAD: Shoot.
DANNY: Please tell me WHY you two are doing this! [voice breaking again] It w-was something I did, wasn't it?
MOM: No, honey, it's that... You wouldn't understand it. It's too complicated.
DANNY: COMPLICATED?!? I'M 20! That might work if I were 8, but I'm a full grown cat! WHY CAN'T YOU'LL TELL ME?!?!? Don't keep things like this from me!
DAD: Well... It's that me and your mother... We just don't see things eye-to-eye anymore like we used to. It's time for us to move on. It's for the best.
DANNY: [Very broke up] No... It isn't... You don't need to do this...
MOM: Me and your father need to talk in private.
DANNY: All right...
(Danny goes into the next room. His parents resume their argument. Soon, it's louder and harsher than ever. It then gets more explict, and Danny's mom slaps his soon-to-be-ex-husband.In the face. Danny is totally shocked as his father reacts by punching his ex-wife in the face. Danny runs in the room and grabs his father's arm.)
DANNY: STOP IT! THAT'S ENOUGH!
(Danny's eyes well up with tears and immediantly he breaks down and cries. He buries his head in his downed mother's chest and sobs like crazy as huge tears roll down his face.)
DAD: I'm so sorry you had to see that, Danny.
DANNY: Please... Don't ever do that again! None of this is necessary...
(Danny's father embraces his son. Danny cries into his shoulder.)
DAD: I think you'd better go now.
DANNY: I don't understand... I thought you two cared for each other...
(Soon, Danny's parents are off to fill out the divorce papers, arguing as they go along. They hit a traffic-tight intersection. Meanwhile, Sawyer is stuck in the same traffic jam.)
SAWYER: Oh, forget it! This lane is never gonna move! I'm outta here!
(Sawyer cuts into the next intersection. At the same time, Danny's parents are too busy bickering to see exactly where they are going. Out of nowhere, Sawyer sees a car speeding straight towards her direction. She cannot move out of the way in time as the other car slams headfirst into hers. Sawyer staggers out of the car, badly injured. She checks to see if there is anyone alive in the other car and she assumes that there is not. She opens the car door to be sure and it falls off. She discovers two people in the car. She takes a closer look and gasps in horror when she finds out who they are the parents of.)
SAWYER: Oh God, no... What will I tell Danny?
(An ambulance arrives at the crash site. Two paramedics head out.)
MED 1: What happened? Who's injured?
SAWYER: (Losing composure) Danny... his parents... my car... crashed... They're dying!
MED 2: Get them to the strecher!
(They take Danny's parents and they all rush to the hospital. Soon, Danny gets a phone call he wished he would never get, but fate is cruel and yet infallible...)
DANNY: WHO'S DYING?!?!?
OPERATOR: Your parents, I assume. Am I speaking to Mr. Danny Cat?
DANNY: Yes...
OPERATOR: Then you should come here right away. You know, I love your movies...
(But Danny has already hung up and he grabs his coat and speeds to the hospital. He rushes into the waiting room and he finds Buster, Babs, Plucky, Calamity, Pudge, and Sawyer and they don't look too happy.)
DANNY: WHAT HAPPENED?!?
BUSTER: It was a car crash... They're in critical right now.
DANNY: This can't be happening...
PLUCKY: Don't worry, Danny. I'm sure they'll be okay.
(At that point, the doctor comes out. She seems kind of down.)
DANNY: Are... are they all right?
DOCTOR: I'm sorry, Mr. Cat, but your parents have died shortly after their arrival.
DANNY: No...
DOCTOR: There was nothing we could do.
DANNY: NOOOO! Where are they? (hysterical) Mom! Dad!
BUSTER: (grabs Danny) Get ahold of yourself! It's too late. They're... (getting choked up himself)... They're gone...
(Danny breaks down again and bursts out into tears. He hugs Buster out of sheer emotion. Buster is starting to cry himself, too. So are Sawyer and Pudge.)
DANNY: This is not happening... Please God, don't let this be happening!
BUSTER: I'm so very sorry, Danny.
(Suddenly, out of sheer hysteria and emotion, Danny whispers something to Buster he really didn't mean that clearly...)
DANNY: (whispering) I love you, Buster.
BUSTER: It's all right, Danny. Let it all out. I'm sad, too.
BABS: We never meant for this to happen.
DANNY: I know. None of you did. Certainly not me.
(Danny lets go of Buster and heads out the door back to his car and heads home. He runs into his room, throws himself on the bed and cries himself to sleep. A few days later, he attends his parents' funeral. All of his family are there, as are his friends. He chose to speak about his parents prior to the service. Trying not to lose it, he steps up to the podium.)
DANNY: My parents died in a manner that no one would want to die- unhappily. Their assumed-to be never-ending love had collapsed completely by their final day on the face of the earth. Prior to their last day, their romance was an inspiration to us all. In a way, each and every one of us owes them. Many of us are here to repay them by remembering them always. Well, actually, that is how ALL of us are repaying my parents... for all that they have given us... [getting choked up again, voice breaking]... All that they taught us... If only time and fate were on our side... but they just weren't! (two tears roll down his face, sniffles) I'm sorry... I just was remembering the way they raised me... firm, yet lovingly...how they told me to go with myself and my dreams and that I could achieve anything I chose. They were so right. I made them proud in turn, but they won't be here to watch it last. They're watching it from Heaven... and only God understands why things ended the way they did.
(He dejectly steps off the podium and leans down to the open coffins where his mother and father are resting.)
DANNY: Please... come back...
(The twin coffins are then lowered into their final resting place. Buster puts his arm around Danny's shoulder.)
BUSTER: It'll be alright, buddy.
DANNY: I hope so, Buster... I hope so...
All Tiny Toons and Cats Don't Dance characters are © Warner Bros.
| This page was last modified on 03rd December 1998 |