Tondeleo: Here are some more excerpts from Doc's counsel on how to raise a girl. You have to bear in mind that he has no children of his own, he says, and that Marilyn is his niece that he had to start raising just before her twelfth birthday, when his brother died. He has done a marvelous job raising her, as anyone can tell after spending a few minutes with her, and she is the pride of his life. For once, she came into the room and added her two bits worth.
Doc: Anyways Tondy, a man's job, if he's gonna be a daddy or in the place of one, is to raise a girl to know how to recognize a man who'll respect her and not take the vantage of her, if you know what I mean. They's always wooden headed boys out there just tryin' to see what they can get, an' most of the time all they can get is a girl pregnant and then they get cold feet. We ain't havin' none of that 'round here. The man's gotta be involved like bein' there when a boy shows up an quizzin' him a little bit here an' ther an' findin' out what he's about.
Like it ain't happenin' that a boy'll drive up here in my driveway an' 
blow his horn an spect Marilyn to come out an' hop in there with him. No sir. He comes to the door, an' comes in an' talks wi' ME first, an' lets me know where they's goin' an' who else is goin' an' when they's gettin' back which is when I set a time for. Ain't none of this 2 in the mornin' stuff, cause I ain't sittin up that late waitin' for her. An' I ain't goin' to bed til she gets in. That's IF he qualifies to take her out.
Tondeleo: DOC! You're talking about a 15 year old or 20 year old??? C'mon, man! You gotta lighten up, Doc! This is the 21st century!!
Doc: What you mean lighten up? First off when a girls' 15, she ain't got no business goin' out with a boy in a car or truck. That's a afro-daisy-act if you know what I mean. He'll get her out there and make her think the moon is blue. AIn't much gonna slow him down an' you can't expect no 15 year old girl to be able to resist, with him bein' older an' all that. No, I ain't talkin' no 15 year old. When she was 15, if a boy thought he needed to see her, he could come over here and hang out with her an' me both at first, and earn my trust before he is gettin' alone with her, an' it ain't gonna be out in the barn or in the shed or in her bedroom. They can be where I got public access when I want. I ain't tryin to be a uncle stepgran'daddy an' she ain't gonna be no single mom.
But when she turned 16, we turned on some rules an' those are the ones we stick with pretty much. Now that she is twenty, she's learnt that if a boy don't want to meet the old man, and spend a few minutes talking like an adult, he probably ain't about nothin' and ain't gonna amount to much any way.
Tondeleo: You don't think that's too restrictive? She's TWENTY ONE, Doc!
Doc: Yeh, she's twenty one. An' she ain't a mama yet and she ain't shacked up with no deadbeat an' she ain't never been in no trouble at all! I can tell you this much, Tondy, she wouldn't go out with YOU. She knows how you are an' she ain't impressed with your way of livin'.
an' people do it an' then wonder what happened.
Twenty one years old don't make no difference in right an' wrong an' 21st century whatever that is don't make no difference. They ain't but one way to make a baby, an' people do it an' then wonder what happened. You did the one thing to make a baby an' now you're shocked you got one an' think everyone ought to feel sorry for you. I feel sorry that you're that ignorant. Nobody just accidentally gets pregnant, they just don't do nothing to keep from gettin' pregnant. That's ignorant.
As for waitin' up for her, that's just about caring, Tondy. We got all kinds of deer out here, dogs runnin' wild an' anything could happen to a person out late at night - age ain't got nothin' to do with it. Yeah, I wait up for her an' she 'preciates it.
She don't go out that much anyways cause most the boys round here ain't qualifed to go out with her cause she don't want to be stuck out on some back road bein' pawed all over by a redneck which is likely to be the last time he does that when I find out cause she will come home madder'n the pope when he found out what all them priests was doin.
Marilyn: Tondy, you don't understand cause you're a boy an' you don't respect girls. Uncle Doc ain't too hard on anybody. I've had three boyfriends and they all knew the rules before we got involved and they knew I like it that way. It wasn't a problem and they all like Uncle Doc because they didn't none of them have real daddies at home that could teach them how to be real men. Uncle Doc got them working with him our in the shop and helped them with their cars and self defense so they could look out for me - everything. He even got one of them a Christmas present. I feel lucky to be like this. Most of my girlfriends don't have any kind of older man to be there for them. Their mom's boyfriends are just there to be with the mom and to live there rent free. That ain't happening to me. So there.
Doc: You gotta help a girl find out what she wants and don't want so she can pick for herself who ain't worth messin' wit so she can be free when a good one comes along. An' no, she don't have no interest in you, Tondy cause you ain't no 'merican an' you talk like a sissy. She said so herself, you talk girly.
Marilyn: That's right, Tondy. You're a Brit.
