Me, A Teen Father (1980)

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Jeez. A few hours of forgetting, then wake up and the whole mess hits like a ton of bricks. Oh, I wish I could sleep for a year. Ah, what good would that do? Oh, Carol, I know it's worse for you. Jeez, every time I see you, you're crying. That's not going to get us anywhere. We can't cry ourselves out of this mess. [Music] Carol, I was so crazy about you. We had such a ball together. Bite my foot. Laughing and loving and it was sweet, like some kind of dumb romantic song, I guess. But now, now it's gotten so I almost hate you. Oh, I don't really mean that. I just feel like a trapped animal. I want out. I want out. I don't know what's wrong with me. That day when you found out your test was positive, all I wanted to do was split. Get on the first plane and get lost. I keep remembering all those rotten things I said. Like, how do I know it's mine? So, if you did it with me, there could have been others. How could I even think? We'll figure something, let alone say something like that to you. I don't know what to do. What do you want to do? I don't know. Everything's wrecked now between us. I don't even want to go near you. Why do I want to make it out to be all your fault? And when you're through at the dog, I want you to take out the trash and straighten up your room. And you're not going out tonight. I want you to stay home. I want you to do your homework. You understand? Yes, sir. Dad and my stepmother treat me like like I'm an idiot. Like, didn't I know where babies came from? And who do I think I am sleeping around and getting girls pregnant? Didn't I know that two and two makes four? That if you drink too much, you get drunk? If you drive like crazy, you have a smashup? If you have sex without using protection, the gal gets pregnant. That's right, Dad. I'm an idiot. Who wants to be a father at 17? I've got other plans for my life. Why did everything have to get spoiled? Just when things were going along real good. Just got my car paid for. Making enough to have a good time. pay for birthday and Christmas presents and all, but a baby. Oh, wow. I mean, who counted on supporting a baby? Doctor bills, baby food, clothes, all that stuff. Man, I can't begin to hack that on a part-time job. And her parents, huh? They think I'm the pits. Got the sweet little girl pregnant. Not that they say anything. They're too anxious to keep me sticking by her. Carol's sick. She's been feeling pretty lousy all day. She's upstairs. My friends say I'm crazy if I let them pressure me into marrying her. But it'd be bye-bye college. Stuck in some stupid job. Jeez, what am I trained for now? Nothing. Home every night with a crying baby. How long could I stick that out? Come on. Even if we went to live with her folks and I kept going to school and we both worked some Jeez, the whole setup gives me the creeps. All of us living together in that dumb little house. Okay. Oh, Carol, it's not going to work. Look at it. Isn't this adorable? Oh, Randy, look at that. Isn't that cute? Girls, they got to be nuts when it comes to babies. So many cute clothes. Here's Carol couping over baby clothes. And look at this. Isn't that Oh, it'll be so cute. Like it was some kind of doll or something. Sure, I want to have a kid someday. That's normal and all, but not now. Oh, Carol, why'd you have to go and get pregnant? Carol, Randy, the abortion clinic looked clean and decent and safe to me. We have four rooms. I know deciding to have an abortion is a real serious thing. And Carol's got a lot of mixed feelings about it. I have, too. You got to feel guilty about killing your baby. only it's not really a baby yet. The doctor begins the abortion by inserting the speculum just as if he's going to do a papsmear. Have you had a pelvic examination before? Okay. So, you know what a speculum is is? It's inserted in the vagina. The doctor will put a tenaculum on the cervix to hold the uterus steady. The counselor there says I mustn't pressure Carol. Just enough. It's a decision she's got to make herself. But jeez, she's only got a couple more weeks to make up her mind. No matter what she decides, I can't just walk out on her. I've got to do the decent thing. I only wish I knew what my stepmother says. the best thing would be for her to give the baby up to be adopted. She says neither one of us are ready to be parents. She's right, too. [Music] I don't want to be a father. Not now. But Carol, she cries every time I mention adoption. How can I give up my baby? She keeps saying I'd always keep looking for it. Does give you goosebumps thinking about your own kids somewhere out there and you don't know who it's with or where. If she keeps the baby, I can help her. Give her what I earn. Then someday when I have a decent job or maybe she marries someone else, I can really do something for the kid. Most of my friends feel sorry. They really do. But jeez, when you think of some of their crazy advice, you know, for Carol to bring on her period, falling downstairs, taking some concoction of mixed herbs, all that dark ages stuff. Some of the guys though, hang tough. Like Bud, he knocked a girl up last year and just laughed the whole thing off. Said she should have known what she was doing. Hey, I wonder if he really meant that or if he was just talking tough. Maybe under all that big man stuff, he felt as crummy about it as I do. My Carol, she was so sweet and kind of innocent. Maybe it was more my fault for pushing the whole thing. I mean, telling her everybody does it. And how else could she prove her love for me? [Music] I don't have any excuse. I guess neither of us do. We both knew where babies came from. I mean, Carol talked enough about us being careful and all, but sometimes it was just sort of fun to forget and let go. Oh, why didn't we have sense enough to know we were playing with fire? I mean, how dumb can you get? Carol, I do want to help. I want to do what's right. I don't know why people seem to think a guy doesn't give a hoot. It isn't true. A guy has feelings, too. I never wanted to hurt anybody. And now I've made everybody miserable. your family, mine, and making a poor baby that no one wants. Carol, if you only knew how low I feel, how absolutely rotten. I'd give anything in the world if Carol. Carol, I promise whatever you decide, I'll I'll do my best to help. Honest.