Waco (TV Mini Series)

Visions and Omens (2018)

Paul Sparks: Steve Schneider

Quotes 

• David Koresh : This morning, I woke up with this funny feeling right here in my gut. And it took me some time to put a name on that sucker; I thought I ate something bad, but that wasn't it. Then I realized what it was. Joy. But how could that be out here in the middle of nowhere? No running water, no stuff. In this rickety old house, out here in the middle of the Texas plains? Joy? See, I don't know about you, but I wasn't raised out of joy. I didn't have much joy growing up. But now, after all this time... how is it a man can find joy here? Wayne. You got your law degree from Harvard. Was that enough for you, Wayne?

  Wayne Martin : Nope.

  David Koresh : No. Mike. You ran your own pool company. Was that enough?

  Mike Schroeder : Sure wasn't.

  David Koresh : "Sure wasn't." Steve. Professor of theology. Amazing. You lived with your wife Judy in paradise on the beach in Hawaii. Enough?

  Steve Schneider : Not even close.

  David Koresh : "Not even close"! See, that's the big trick. It's never enough, no matter what you do. So how is it a man can find joy here? I'll tell you. Joy doesn't come from having something, or being something. It comes from becoming. Becoming more than you are today.

• Judy Schneider : Steve, you men, with all your talk of suffering and sacrifice. You go ahead and feel sorry for yourself for everything you sacrifice for your faith. But you know what? I'm that sacrifice. You sacrificed me.

  Steve Schneider : [trying to shrug her off]  No, no, no, no.

  Judy Schneider : No! I begged you to leave when David had his revelation. I didn't want to be one of his wives. I wanted to be your wife. But you wouldn't go. And now I am his wife, and I'm having his child. We wanted a baby. We couldn't have one, and now one's on the way. I know you feel like this baby is a curse. But I gotta tell you... it's a miracle.

• [first lines] 

  Steve Schneider : David. David!

  David Koresh : They're coming for me.

• David Koresh : Hey, where y'all going? You know I have a show tonight, right?

  Steve Schneider : McMahon had an extra spot at the gun show in Austin tomorrow, so... I'll send Paul.

  David Koresh : I mean, aren't we waiting on permits, anyways?

  Wayne Martin : Came in a couple of days ago. We're all set.

  David Koresh : Hey, uh, try and sell some of those vests. I know they're not moving, but...

  Steve Schneider : Have you seen those vests?

  David Koresh : I have seen the vests, yeah.

  [Wayne takes one out to "model"] 

  David Koresh : Yes, Wayne, I've seen them.

  Steve Schneider : They're pretty ugly.

  David Koresh : The women are proud of 'em, so just try and move 'em. And remind Paul we're not just in it for the money. There's a lot of lost souls at those gun shows. Mission first.

• Wayne Martin : We're never gonna move those vests.

  Steve Schneider : Not a chance. But you heard the man. We gotta try.

  Wayne Martin : Maybe Paul can sell them to some garbage cans on the way home.

  Steve Schneider : [snickering]  At a discount.

• Judy Schneider : What's going on Steve?

  Steve Schneider : You know what's going on. You don't know how hard this has been for me. Trying to have a baby for ten years, and now you're having David's child. It's too much. Maybe I didn't think this through. Maybe it was a mistake to go along with David's "New Light Revelation". Maybe we should have left like Mark and Elizabeth.

  Judy Schneider : If you didn't like it, why did you accept it?

  Steve Schneider : I just thought... well, if your wife has a chance to marry the Lamb of God, who am I to hold her back? Right?

  Judy Schneider : Steve.

  Steve Schneider : No. I don't wanna talk to you. I need some time to think.

• David Thibodeau : So, you're David's best friend?

  Steve Schneider : On some days.

  David Thibodeau : So how'd you meet him?

  Steve Schneider : That is a long story.

  David Thibodeau : If you don't wanna talk, that's cool.

  [Steve gets into bed and turns off the light; after a moment of silence] 

  Steve Schneider : About seven years ago, my wife Judy and I were living in Hawaii, and I was working on my PhD in theology. And this friend of mine, he gave me an audiotape of David's interpretation of the Seven Seals. And it struck me.

  David Thibodeau : The Seven Seals?

  Steve Schneider : Yeah. The Seven Seals. It's, uh, in the Book of Revelation. It's considered to be the most mysterious and unknowable passage in the whole Bible. You know, I didn't believe him at first. And I was trying to catch him out. I even had one of my professors come down to argue with him. But David... I mean, I've been... I've been around this stuff my whole life. I'm raised Seventh-Day Adventist. You know, I'm going to college for it. His ability to understand Scripture was like nothing I'd ever seen. He's memorized the entire Bible.

  [derisive laugh] 

  Steve Schneider : Who does that? So, it didn't take me long to realize something... miraculous going on here with this guy.

  David Thibodeau : [skeptical]  Miraculous?

  Steve Schneider : Okay, let explain it another way. Do you believe that things can happen that are beyond our capacity to rationalize because we have this very, like, limited temporal view of reality?

  David Thibodeau : I guess, yeah.

  Steve Schneider : Well, stay here. Spend some time with David. And you're gonna see things like that. Miracles.

• Steve Schneider : [Opening scene] 

  [Enters room] 

  Steve Schneider : David?

  [David Koresh still stares outside] 

  Steve Schneider : DAVID!

  David Koresh : [Turns to Steve]  They're coming for me.