- Eileen: We do have counselors. Father Hubley is very good.
- Ray Barone: No, no. That's the last thing that we need.
- Eileen: Why do you say that?
- Ray Barone: Because then everybody's talking about it and...
- Debra Barone: Look what are you... Why do you have to be so closed minded? You see this is the attitude.
- Ray Barone: I'm not close minded.
- Debra Barone: Ugh! What are you doing? Right now? This is who you are! Why can't you just talk about things? Huh? Talk!
- Eileen: You know I have to say that you're actually exhibiting some of the very traits that seemed to jump off the page in Michael's book.
- Debra Barone: Who?
- Eileen: Um. well, uh, you.
- Debra Barone: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. First of all, it's not a book. It's pieces of construction paper.
- Ray Barone: You sound a bit close minded.
- Debra Barone: Hey!
- [she turns towards Eiieen and throughout the next statement grows increasingly upset]
- Debra Barone: Eileen, you have no idea what I have to put up with. When I got married I didn't just get a husband. I got an entire freak show that put up their tent right across the street. And that would be fine if they stayed there. But every day, *every* day. They drop a truckload of their insane family drek into my lap. How would you like to sit through two people in their sixties fighting over who invented the lawn? The lawn! And then the brother!
- [She starts imitating Robert]
- Debra Barone: I live in an apartment. I don't even have a lawn. Raymond has a lawn.
- Debra Barone: [as herself again] But you can't blame him when you see who the mother is. She has this sick hold on the both of them! And the father is about as disgusting a creature as God has ever dropped on this planet. So no wonder the kid writes stories! I should be writing stories! My life is a gothic novel. And until you have lived in that house with all of them in there with you, day after day, week after week, year after friggin' year, then you are in no position to judge me!
- Marie Barone: You think Michael's book is my fault, don't you? Don't you? Huh? If there's ever a problem in the family, it's the mother. It's *always* the mother. Well, you all ought to be ashamed of yourselves. And you, you-you allow that, Father Hubley? Shame on you. That's right. You had a mother. And you allowed all this to happen in your school, in your parish. This "new psychology" that children are always right, that they're being rewarded for every little thing they do with the stickers. I mean, these kids are coming home full of stickers for doing nothing! "Ooh, I went to the potty." "Here's a sticker." In my day, you had to *earn* a reward, and even then, you didn't get it. And if there was yelling in the house, you earned that, too. There was nothing to be ashamed of. I want to tell you something. There is nothing wrong with this family. We're very close, we're very open, and we're very loving, cause I make sure of it. But everybody has to make a big deal. You have to have a meeting, you have to have an inquiry, you have to have a witch hunt!
- Frank Barone: I think they found one.
- Father Hubley: Believe it or not, I do understand the pressures and tensions of raising a family in today's world. But I think this particular family compounds the problem by maybe being a bit too close to each other constantly, like Ping-Pong balls pounding and hitting off each other in the lottery machine. Except nobody wins in this one, least of all, the children. Which is what I got from this book. So it's not about you. Or you. Or you. Or you. Or even Raymond, today. It's about this little guy and this sweet, simple way of maybe giving you a message.
- [Frank pulls a tissue out of his pocket and dries his eyes. Marie takes it from him and does the same. Then Debra does it and offers it to Ray, who bats it away childishly]
- Robert Barone: If I may, you mentioned, Father Hubley, I was not included in that book and that is a very astute observation. And I do believe that my unique position in this family, as that of an outsider, allows me to view this hodge-podge of life from a rather unique vantage point
- Ray Barone: The top of a beanstalk?
- Robert Barone: [he pauses in order to shake off Ray's comment and then continues talking to Father Hubley] And I do maintain that if anyone is to blame, Father, for this river of pent up hostility that runs through this sorry bunch like a you-know-what through a we-know-what. That person goes by the name, of Raymond.
- Ray Barone: Oh sit down you dope.
- Robert Barone: He is and always has been the center. The center of attention. The center of affection. He always gets the center chair in the kitchen. And this anger of which you speak from these poor souls stems from his unwillingness to share even the tiniest portion of the spotlight that shines, without end, on him. Thank you
- [Robert begins to sit back down. Ray puts his hand on the seat which causes Robert to jump]
- Robert Barone: Ah! What are you doing? What are you doing?
- Ray Barone: What are *you* doing? Center chair. It's my kitchen get your own kitchen!
- Robert Barone: There ya go! See because I only have a kitchenette and he loves it! Right, Rub-It-In-Raymond? No house for me! No wife! No kids! No lawn! No nothing!
- Ray Barone: There are times where you seem to yell for no reason, you know? Maybe... maybe that's what he's picking up on.
- Debra Barone: I'm pretty sure that most of the leading characters in that story were from the Barone side.
- Ray Barone: Yeah, okay, but the loud part, I'm thinkin', is probably you.
- Eileen: I was really impressed with that Michael wrote about in his book, weren't you?
- Debra Barone: Me? Uh, definitely. Oh, definitely. Um, but I do think that his book was just a story. And, yes, obviously all stories do come from somewhere.
- Ray Barone: Well, not all of them.
- Eileen: Hmm?
- Ray Barone: I was just thinkin' something. I was just thinkin', some stories come from... like-like those shows you go to where they say, "Give us a location!" And then the audience goes, "An elevator!" And then they say, "What language should we do?" or something. And you yell, "French!" You know, and they do a hilarious thing right there. "Second floor - croissants!" You know? Yeah. They just-they make that stuff up right there on the spot. Yeah. So that would be one example where some stories do come from.
- Eileen: Is-is that what Michael did?
- Ray Barone: Probably not.
- Ray Barone: If you were on top of stuff, you coulda stopped the story from leakin' out.
- Debra Barone: I am on top of stuff! What do you do, huh? Look, those stories were supposed to be a surprise for the parents.
- Ray Barone: A surprise for the parents? I think the surprise is, you get to the school and there's an open bar. No, this was like an ambush.
- Debra Barone: And you can't even see what the real problem is here, can you? There's an image that Michael has of us.
- Ray Barone: Come on, we're normal.
- [Debra stares at him]
- Ray Barone: Comparatively normal. Watch the news.
- Adam: Do any of you feel that the "anger" gets out of control?
- Ray Barone: No.
- Debra Barone: No, I really don't.
- Frank Barone: No, no way.
- Marie Barone: Yes.
- Debra Barone: What?
- Marie Barone: Yes, I do feel that the anger sometimes gets out of control. I feel it whenever I come into the house.
- Ray Barone: There is a solution.