- Dr. Lecter : [shouts] No! I will listen now. After your father’s murder, you were orphaned. You were ten years old. You went to live with cousins on a sheep and horse ranch in Montana. And ?
- Clarice : [tears begin forming in her eyes] And one morning, I just ran away.
- Dr. Lecter: Not “just”, Clarice. What set you off? You started at what time?
- Clarice : Early, still dark.
- Dr. Lecter : Then something woke you, didn’t it? Was it a dream? What was it?
- Clarice : I heard a strange noise.
- Dr. Lecter : What was it?
- Clarice : It was screaming. Some kind of screaming, like a child’s voice.
- Dr. Lecter : What did you do?
- Clarice : I went downstairs, outside. I crept up into the barn. I was so scared to look inside, but I had to.
- Dr. Lecter: And what did you see, Clarice? What did you see?
- Clarice : Lambs. And they were screaming.
- Dr. Lecter: They were slaughtering the spring lambs?
- Clarice : And they were screaming.
- Dr. Lecter : And you ran away?
- Clarice : No. First I tried to free them. I .. I opened the gate to their pen, but they wouldn’t run. They just stood there, confused. They wouldn’t run.
- Dr. Lecter : But you could and you did, didn’t you?
- Clarice : Yes. I took one lamb, and I ran away as fast as I could.
- Dr. Lecter: Where were you going, Clarice?
- Clarice : I don’t know. I didn’t have any food, any water, and it was very cold, very cold. I thought, I thought if I could save just one, but he was so heavy. So heavy. I didn’t get more than a few miles when the sheriff’s car picked me up. The rancher was so angry he sent me to live at the Lutheran orphanage in Bozeman. I never saw the ranch again.
- Dr. Lecter : What became of your lamb, Clarice?
- Clarice : They killed him.
- Dr. Lecter: You still wake up sometimes, don’t you? You wake up in the dark and hear the screaming of the lambs.
- Clarice : Yes.
- Dr. Lecter: And you think if you save poor Catherine, you could make them stop, don’t you? You think if Catherine lives, you won’t wake up in the dark ever again to that awful screaming of the lambs.
- Clarice : [choking up] I don’t know. I don’t know.
- Dr. Lecter: Thank you, Clarice. Thank you.
- Clarice : Tell me his name, Doctor.
- Dr. Lecter: Dr. Chilton, I presume. I think you know each other.
- Dr. Chilton : Okay. Let’s go.
- Clarice : It’s your turn, Doctor.
- Dr. Chilton : Out!
- Clarice : Tell me his name!
- Boyle : I’m sorry, ma’am. We’ve got orders. We have to put you on a plane. Come on, now.
- [Chilton and the guards start leading Clarice out]
- Dr. Lecter: Brave Clarice. You will let me know when those lambs stop screaming, won’t you?
- Clarice : Tell me his name, Doctor!
- Dr. Lecter: Clarice, your case file. [their hands touch briefly] Goodbye, Clarice.
