"Nice." "Okay, these are the fish sticks." "Mm-hmm." "With a new kind of bread crumb covering." "Right." "And my headline says..." ""what the best dressed fish sticks" "Will be wearing this year."" "Best dressed?" "Yeah, that's the new kind of covering." "Bread crumbs?" "Oh." "Has anyone here seen my watch?" "Look under your bed, sandy." "I think it's good, jerry." "Eh, so-so." "I like it, I think it's cute." "Did you ask about the raise yet?" "Hey, mom, can I have my birthday present" "A month early?" "No, you may not." "What do you want, son?" "A new watch, obviously." "Well, look for your old one, honey." "I've looked everywhere." "In seven seconds?" "Guess I'll just have to ask the milkman." "What was that?" "Well, you see, everybody's..." "Been getting presents from the milkman." "Mr. Collier, mr." "Hemley." "See, they write down what they want on the notes," "And the next day, they get money and stuff with their milk." "Sounds like one of jimmy rice's" "Tall stories to me." "Mr. Driscoll told me that he asked for $50 in a note," "And the next day he won it in his office lottery." "Howard driscoll told you that?" "Yeah, just yesterday." "Time for bed, kiddo." "But it's barely dark out." "Well, you can take the extra time to look for your watch." "Wait, take this up while you go, okay?" "Hey, sport, if you can't find your watch," "I'll get you another one tomorrow." "All right!" "Jerry, I really wish you wouldn't do that." "Honey," "I actually haven't gotten around to asking for that raise." "You told me two weeks ago that you would." "I figure another couple of campaigns under my belt" "And better timing..." "Jerry, we're losing our lease." "We're down to our last $200." "Don't let's press the panic button here." "Honey..." "We lost a baby girl last year." "We lived through that." "This is only money." "Only money?" "All right, I'll tell you what." "I will ask for that raise tomorrow." "I promise." "I'll tell you something else." "I don't care what any dumb doctor says." "We're going to have another baby girl." "Oh, jerry." "We are handsome, charming people," "And from now on, things are going to start breaking our way." "Okay?" "Okay." "Honey, will you write the milkman a note?" "I think we've got a whole quart in the fridge." "Jerry." "Okay." "Maybe I'll ask him for the raise." ""dear mr." "Milkman," ""please leave two quarts homogenized And a wristwatch for my son sandy."" "Ooh." "Magic time." "Good morning." "Morning, love." "Honey, you missed your train." "Mom, dad." "Oh, boy." "Zoom." "Look." "It was on my desk the entire time." "The busted timer hand even works." "Jerry, you didn't go out and get him a watch, did you?" "No, what do you think, there's any watch stores open at dawn?" "Maybe the men in your life are" "A little more responsible than you think." "That was delicious." "Delicious is an understatement, howard." "That sauce was the work of genius, ruth." "Thank you, edna." "It's amazing you can stay so thin." "Good lord." "I owe it all to clean living and easy recipes." "You're making it hard on the rest of us, ruth." "No, no, she's just warming up for that extra mouth on the way." "Is it really going to be a girl?" "That's what the doctors tell us." "Yeah, well, our kids are all grown up," "Thank god." "Well, they still need a little financial help every so often." "Yeah, but that's because they don't make" "As much money as I do." "But then again, they don't have our milkman either." "Oh, howard." "Milkman?" "Uh, howard," "I thought you told me" "That milkman business was just a fantasy." "It is, oh, it is." "It's just that we need our fantasies here in dull suburbia." "It's funny you mentioning the milkman, howard." "I haven't heard anything about him since sandy brought him up." "Uh, honey," "Do we have coffee?" "Oh, sure, I forgot." "I'll help." "That was a dumb move, howard." "I thought she knew." "Edna knows." "She does?" "I had to tell her something." "I'd been winning a new car in a different contest every week." "It is just so wonderful that you're having a baby girl" "After all that trouble." "Mm, it's more than wonderful." "It's miraculous." "You know, edna says that, uh," "We have to sell some of our eight cars," "But I don't know which ones to sell." "I mean, I've never had eight cars in my whole life." "I only ask for cash." "This way I can keep it secret." "That's good." "You don't need a garage to keep cash in, do you?" "well, not yet anyway." "That howard..he's a crazy old coot, but I like him." "I read your note, jerry." "My note?" "I saw you sneak it into the milk box" "While howard and edna were still here." "Do you always ask the milkman for a thousand dollars?" "Well..." "I guess I took howard's words at face va.." "Honey, this is a joke." "Then I'll just tear it up." "No." "I mean, might as well give it a try." "What harm can it do?" "I'm worried, jerry." "What about?" "I don't know, I-I'm just, I'm just worried." "Hey." "We're getting our baby, we're paying everybody off." "Honey, we've been on a roll for eight months." "You don't want to let go of the dice" "While we're still hot, do you?" "But you said yourself he didn't exist." "Right..." "Right." "But until a year ago," "I didn't know that horse race gambling existed," "But it does, and it's paying us off a hell of a lot better" "Than any nine-to-five job I ever had." "So, what's the problem?" "You've changed, jerry." "You mean I'm different from you, don't you?" "No, I mean you're not the man I married." "It's like..." "It's like you've gone underground." "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" "Look, I saw the way you changed the subject" "When howard brought up the milkman." "I'm not a total idiot, you know." "I think we're growing apart, ruth." "I don't even know what you're thinking anymore!" "We never talk!" "We don't even talk about your job anymore." "There is no job." "Jerry, you didn't quit?" "I told doug and willie and the rest of those sad-sack admen" "They could take their job" "And take a bus." "Why?" "Because I want to get us off the treadmill." "I want us to take a bite of the good life, ruth." "Honey..." "You are going to have a beautiful baby girl," "And I'm gonna pick up that novel" "I put down when we got married" "And I'm gonna conjure us up a masterpiece." "I've got a lot of new ideas." "You're going to be proud of me, ruth, honest." "It's going to be you and me," "And these are going to be the best years of our life." "Jerry, we can't live off a novel." "Sure, we can." "It'll take months to finish it." "Not necessarily." "Oh, what are you going to do, jerry," "Just sit down at a typewriter" "And start banging out some novel?" "Bang out a novel, that's correct," "And I'm gonna win with it!" "That's what's freaking you out, isn't it?" "You like the old jerry cooley." "You like the guy that didn't even have enough guts" "To ask for a raise." "The old jerry cooley told me the truth." "You want the truth?" "I'll show you the truth." "This is the truth." "Here, here," "And more and more" "And this and this and this." "This is wrong, jerry." "So help me..." "This is wrong." "You're waiting for the milkman, aren't you?" "That's where all the money's coming from." "I get my money at the track." "I never met the milkman." "I write him notes, like everybody else." "But tonight, you're meeting him." "Tonight is different." "Why, jerry?" "Are you in trouble?" "Go to sleep, ruth." "No one gets something for nothing" "In this world, jerry-- not unless..." "Unless what?" "Why am I pregnant?" "What kind of a crazy question is that?" "Honey, four different doctors told me" "I could never conceive again." "In six weeks, I'm giving birth." "Did you ask the milkman for a baby girl?" "Oh, honey, please talk to me." "We used to talk." "We used to laugh." "We used to love." "Please talk to me." "It's all under control, ruth." "Sweetheart, it's all under control... what?" "Shh." "What is it?" "Jerry, no." "Honey, please!" "Don't leave." "Don't leave!" "Jerry, no!" "Come back!" "I need you!" "Honey, I'm worried." "Please, it'll be all right!" "Please!" "Come back tomorrow night!" "I swear it'll be all right." "Jerry." "Bravo." "It's pretty easy." "Son." "Come over here and take a look." "See these papers?" "They're going to get us rolling again." "As soon as mom has your little sister," "They're going to get her rolling, too." "You know, sandy," "I know things have been a little bit strained here" "For the last few days, but I want you to know that..." "Maybe you shouldn't get things from the milkman anymore." "Maybe that's what's making you guys fight so much." "Has your mother discussed this with you?" "Mom doesn't have to tell me everything that goes on." "I take my bike all over town." "I see things." "What kind of things?" "Like everybody" "Within three blocks of here getting rich." "Or adding on to their homes." "People have been adding on to their homes" "For years, sandy." "It's, uh..." "Tommy edison." "He told me his dad got a new oak tree for the front yard." "He woke up one morning, and it was there," "Like it had been growing for years." "He told me his dad got money, too." "That's what you've been doing, haven't you?" "You've been getting money from the milkman" "So you don't have to work anymore." "I work, sandy." "It's just a different kind of work." "Howard, yeah." "Come on in." "It's open." "Hi, mr." "Driscoll." "Hello, sandy." "Can I speak to your dad alone?" "Just for a minute, okay?" "Uh, why don't you help your mom?" "Help her do what?" "She's been lying down all week." "Hey." "Come on in, howard." "Care to join me in a little drink?" "Yeah." "You know, it's a funny thing about writing this book." "I keep drinking and typing and..." "Drinking and..." "The ideas keep coming." "Feel a little bit like hemingway." "Of course, I think those stories about hemingway" "Are probably a little overblown, but..." "Edna's dead." "What?" "She was killed in a car crash." "I just got off the phone with the police." "What can I do?" "Nothing, jerry." "How did it happen?" "She took one of those damn new cars out for a drive," "And the brakes gave out on the interstate." "I-I don't know what to say, howard." "You seen the milkman lately?" "Nobody sees the milkman." "You know that." "Yeah, well, maybe it's time somebody did see him." "Seeing as how he killed my wife." "He killed?" "Oh, he had an accomplice." "Of course." "I was the one who set her up." "But, jerry, if you're dealing with this guy," "You'd better get it on paper." "You'd better get records, and you'd better keep them." "Howard, howard, just take it easy." "Slow down." "You're not making sense." "Okay." "Two weeks ago..." "I wrote a note," "Asking for a sweet, young thing." "I wanted a looker-- a girlfriend" "To replace the nag I got now." "To replace, jerry." "You know what that means?" "So, you think that..." "Hell, man, edna and I had our fights." "I mean, there's no denying that." "But I didn't want to lose her." "I loved her, jerry." "I swear it's as if I took a gun and I..." "I put it to her head and I pulled the trigger." "Howard." "Howard, take it easy, old friend." "Just take it easy." "I think I got to have a talk with this guy myself." "Why?" "Did you ask for something more than cash?" "Yeah, I did." "You'd better see him, jerry." "You'd better get a hold of him right away and work it out." "I tried the other night." "I don't know how." "I..." "Ruth scared him off." "Well, try a box of chocolates." "I mean, it's weird, but I did that once," "And he ate every piece." "I'll try." "Jerry, you don't think I killed her, do you?" "I mean, that stuff's just speculation." "No, howard." "It was an accident." "It was just a horrible, horrible thing but..." "Could happen to anybody." "Just anybody." "Excuse me." "I won't come out and look at you." "But I want to talk to you, all right?" "First of all, I want to thank you for everything." "Especially the money." "It was sort of cute how you had me go to the track" "And bet on the horses in order to get it." "Little too cagey to put it in anybody's milk box," "Huh, pal?" "I especially want to thank you" "For all those good ideas on the book." "The thing is, I-I wanted" "To talk to you about my new baby." "I really appreciate all you've done on that." "Really." "I just wonder if..." "I mean, I wish that..." "Maybe you could see to it that she has it soon." "I mean, like tomorrow." "I mean, I don't care if it's a girl or a boy." "Anything, just as long as it comes soon." "No!" "Don't go!" "Oh, don't go." "Please." "Please just..." "Make it be healthy." "Please." "Sandy, is that you, son?" "What is it, sandy?"