Child of Rage (1992 TV Movie)

Rosanna DeSoto: Doris

Quotes 

• Doris : [Doris is describing to Jill and Rob the circumstances under which she found Catherine and Eric]  The house was filthy; there was garbage everywhere, the whole place stank of urine. I could hear the screaming all the way outside, it was Catherine at eighteen months old. She'd been tied to a table leg, she was lying in all the filth on the freezing kitchen floor wearing nothing more than a little sunsuit that was all caked with her own...

  [Doris notices Rob and Jill's distress] 

  Doris : Anyway, I picked her up and tried to comfort her, but she went stiff in my arms and she would not stop screaming... I've seen some horrors! I walked through the whole house and

  [except for Eric] 

  Doris : there was nobody else there. It had been the postman who'd called when he heard all the screaming.

  Jill Tyler : And Eric?

  Doris : He was lying in his crib. His diaper hadn't been changed in days, his skin was infected... there was a bottle of milk lying next to him except that the milk was so sour it had curdled. And there was this strange bulge

  [gestures over her forehead] 

  Doris : to his head and I couldn't figure out what it was... until I picked him up and saw that the back of his head was flat. Apparently, he'd been lying like that for weeks.

  Rob Tyler : [Exasperated]  Where were the parents?

  Doris : The mother was in the hospital. When I went to see her, she just stared. Never said a word. The nurses told me that she'd been beaten and that she'd refused treatment for pneumonia. They said they thought she wanted to die... and she did.

  Rob Tyler : What about the father?

  Doris : All I can tell you is that he would take off for days on end and leave the two babies with their thirteen-year-old sister.

  Jill Tyler : A sister? Do you think she'd speak to us?

  Doris : [Hesitates]  Maybe.

• Doris : [Over drinks in the strip club where Stephanie works]  Stephanie, nobody's blaming you.

  Stephanie : You can blame who you want. I did what I had to. He'd get drunk and come into my room. When I got bigger, I'd fight him; he'd beat me up, but I'd still fight him. And after I got to be more trouble than it was worth he started going upstairs.

  Jill Tyler : [Clearly shaken]  But she was just a baby...!

  Stephanie : [stony-faced and indignant]  ... what do you think I was? I can still hear her screaming, the dog going crazy, except one night she stopped... I thought she was dead... so I snuck upstairs... almost. He'd passed out. I had to roll him off of her...!

  [Jill is crying] 

  Stephanie : .

• Doris : [At the strip club where Stephanie works]  Stephanie?

  Stephanie : [Scornfully looks up from her drink]  What do you want?

  Doris : This is Jill Tyler, she'd like to talk with you.

  Jill Tyler : [Politely offers her hand]  Hi!

  Stephanie : [Annoyed, thinking that it's a proposition]  I don't do women.

  Jill Tyler : [Clarifying]  My husband and I adopted Catherine and Eric.

  Stephanie : [Bitterly sarcastic]  Oh, lucky you!

  Jill Tyler : We want to know what their life was like, what your life was like, what happened. Catherine's very disturbed. She hurts Eric; she tried to kill him. Please, help us!

  Stephanie : [Sarcastically, extending her open hand]  Lucky me!

  [Doris wordlessly urges Jill to pay Stephanie, who looks on in silent annoyance as Jill gives a large wad of bills to her. Stephanie then throws a couple of bills on to the bar, addressing the bartender] 

  Stephanie : Drinks

  [snidely] 

  Stephanie : for the ladies!