- Wayne Lyon: [telling Scotty a bedtime story] Chapter One: The Hero. Once upon a time, there was a girl named Dot. Dorothy. She was the sun's favorite. You know, the, uh... the sun? And everywhere she went, there were rainbows.
- Scotty Lyon: Dorothy. Like Mom?
- Wayne Lyon: Mmm-hmm. And she could do anything, our Dorothy. You know, she could, uh, climb a tree. She could wrestle an alligator. And everyone she met, she put a smile on their face. But the darkness hates the light, and the ugly things come out at night. And so she, our Dot, in order to save the rainbows, she had to go fight against the darkness. And leave the, uh... the flowers and the birds at home. Her family, I'm sayin'. Because until you go someplace, you can't come home.
- Lindo: It's kind of a death, what they do to us. Our men. The way they make us feel about ourselves.
- Dorothy 'Dot' Lyon: You haven't asked about him. Gator. He's trying, I think. He's got to be, what, 27 now? You can see it in his eyes, he wants to be good. But more than that, he wants to be like his dad.
- Linda: You see things clearly, dear. You always did.
- Helen: To or from?
- Dorothy 'Dot' Lyon: Sorry?
- Helen: Are you heading to something or away from something?
- Dorothy 'Dot' Lyon: [quietly] Home.
- Helen: As in you're going home or running away from home?
- Dorothy 'Dot' Lyon: [pause] Are your pancakes any good?
- Helen: Best in the county.
- Dorothy 'Dot' Lyon: Oh.
- Scotty Lyon: Can we get donuts?
- Wayne Lyon: Sure can. And bear claws for your mom.
- Scotty Lyon: [excitedly] Is she back?
- Wayne Lyon: [hesitates] No, hon. Sorry. I-I got confused. No, Mom is, uh... she's still out there.
- Scotty Lyon: Maybe skip the donuts, then. She'd want us to eat a vegetable.
- Wayne Lyon: Yeah, she would.
- Linda: I can't leave. They need me here.
- Dorothy 'Dot' Lyon: I need you more, and you owe me.
- Linda: I gave you a home, three meals a day. What could I possibly owe you?
- Dorothy 'Dot' Lyon: You used me. You fed me to him so you could escape.
- Linda: We both made choices.
- Dorothy 'Dot' Lyon: You left your boy, too. Gator.
- Linda: And just so I know, do you have children?
- Dorothy 'Dot' Lyon: I've got a daughter.
- Linda: Where is she?
- [Dot doesn't answer]
- Linda: So you left her, too.
- Dorothy 'Dot' Lyon: I'm looking for Linda.
- Lindo: You found her.
- Dorothy 'Dot' Lyon: No, that's... She was Tillman, my Linda, Linda Tillman.
- Lindo: That's her married name? I had one of those, too. Most of us did. Husbands' names, boyfriends' names. Now we"re just Lindas. Or variations. I earned my first new letter last week. So you can call me Lindo.
- Dorothy 'Dot' Lyon: I don't understand.
- Lindo: When you leave a man who abuses and controls you and you find this place, you take on a new name. A transition name. Linda.
- Lynda: This is your workstation. Choose your wood, make the doll, dress the doll, choose some hair and make-up. And then the final step.
- Dorothy 'Dot' Lyon: They've already come for me twice. And my family.
- Lynda: You tell your story through the puppet, and in this way, you expel the trauma so you can start again. Then you take your new name and leave.
- Dorothy 'Dot' Lyon: I've done this. I have a name.
- Lynda: Start by examine the wood. Really see yourself in it. For some, this process takes weeks, months.
- Dorothy 'Dot' Lyon: This is... I *am* the me I want to be, I'm here to do something.
- Lynda: I know.
- Dorothy 'Dot' Lyon: I have to make this doll, yeah? There's no way around it?
- Lynda: If you want to tell your story.
- Dorothy 'Dot' Lyon: I don't. I want to take Linda and go.
- Lynda: The next step is to saw the wood, soften its edges for shaping.
- [frustrated, Dot grabs a wood block and hacks at it with a saw]
- Dorothy 'Dot' Lyon: Can I carve?
- Lynda: I feel like you're rushing.
- Dorothy 'Dot' Lyon: No shit!