"You been nipping at me all night, son." "Thing I got to figure is, is you ready to bite the whole ass?" "Ain't me with a mountain by my elbow." "You doing all right." "You like the Town Car?" "You young 'uns, you all into them Lexus and hum-fucking VSU fucking U-ray or some shit, I don't know." "See, but me?" "I like me a Town Car." "Man look quiet and correct in one of them." "So, I tell you what - you win this," "you be sure to pick one up for yourself, son." "Bye-bye." "Showtime." "Shit, nigger, turn." "Man got clubs." "One day soon I'm walking out with a Rolls, hear?" "Way you been going to school up here, son," "I suspect you're gonna walk out of here with Morgan Freeman to drive it for you too." "See y'all next time." " I'm up the grocery on Monroe." " All right." "Water, $1." "What the fuck?" "You think I dream of coming to work up in this shit on a Sunday morning?" "Tell all my friends what a good job I got?" "I'm working to support a family, man." "Pretend I ain't talking to you." "Pretend like I ain't even on this earth." "I know what you are." "And I ain't stepping to, but I am a man." "And you just clip that shit and act like you don't even know I'm there." "I don't." "I'm here." "Look, I told you I wasn't stepping to you." "I ain't disrespecting you, son." "You want it to be one way." "What?" " You want it to be one way." " I don't know..." " You want it to be one way." " Man, stop." "Stop saying that." "But it's the other way." "When you walk through the garden" "Watch your back" "Well, I beg your pardon" "Walk the straight and narrow track" "If you walk with Jesus" "He'll save your soul" "Gotta keep the devil down in the hole" "He's got fire and the fury" "At his command" "Well, you don't got to worry" "Hold on to Jesus' hand" "We'll be safe from Satan" "When the thunder rolls" "But you gotta keep the devil" "Down in the hole" "Oh, yeah, mm" "We'll be safe from Satan" "Gotta keep the devil" "Down in the hole" "Keep him in the hole In the hole" "Down in the hole Down in the hole" "Keep him in the hole Keep him in the..." "Down in the hole Down in the hole" "Keep him in the hole Keep him in the..." "Down in the hole Down in the hole" "I'm saying, man, the way she was all, "aah" on Chiquan, like..." ""Laugh now, stanky bitch!" "Laugh now, huh?" "How you like this?" " "How you like I cut your titties off?"" " Get the fuck away from me." ""How you like I carve your pussy to your chin?"" " What?" " He said leave him be, so leave him be." " I'm just saying." " That's all you ever do, just say." " Dude, shit was fucked up." " So it was fucked up." "Her father killed, like, three police." " What?" " Nah, it's true." "Her father killed three police and her mama boil cats." " Nigger, please, man." " It's what I heard." "She boil cats and serve 'em and shit." "Serve 'em to who, boiled-cat-eating motherfuckers?" " Who want him some boiled cats?" " Heard that's how she live." "Nigger, you been boiled." "Laetitia live up in one of them group homes off Edmondson." "In them places, you don't need to eat cats to make you crazy." "Hey, Coach!" "If the boy not coming, you might as well let me and Michael go in the ring." " Ain't none of y'all seen Spider today?" " I ain't seen him." "Now, how in the hell he gonna fight next week if he don't show up to train?" "I tell you what - until the boy shows up for his lesson, you can lace 'em up and step on the mat one time." "No, no, no, no, no." "Not him." "Me." " Oh!" " Mm-hm." "I'm gonna show you as gently as I can how much you don't know, all right?" "Yeah, nigger, that's yo ass." "You about to get yo ass whipped." "Your Sabbath best?" "You hang around, you can see me preach on some young 'uns, solemn left and sanctified right." "Why you down here on a Sunday, Deacon?" "You need to see Ms. Donnelly at Tilghman Middle." "She's got some custodial work, you might call it." "Union wage." " Custodial?" " See Ms. Donnelly tomorrow." "She can explain it better than I can." "Tell me something - how is it you got so much wisdom about who should be where?" "A good church man is always up in everybody's shit." "That's how we do." "Yo, Coach, you ready?" " Who's winning?" " No one wins." "One side just loses more slowly." "Why don't we get out of the house?" "Take a walk." "It's a nice day." "I got this talk I got to give to my first period about what happened." "An hour." "I gotta..." "I gotta say something to those kids." "I mean..." "OK." "See?" "Somebody's winning." "I didn't expect you till tomorrow." "I heard my new squad had the weekend shift." "And besides, I figured if I got my shit out of Major Crimes on the Sunday," "I wouldn't have to run into that cocksucker Marimow." "Marimow does not cast off talent lightly." "He heaves it away with great force." "Freamon got here Friday." "Yeah, Lester's quick like that." "There's the colonel's office." "This is my humble abode." "The board." "And over here, this is your desk." " It's clean." " You'll fix that." "A clean desk is the sign of a sick mind." "Homicide." "Damn." "I don't know where your chair went." "Make that your first case." "And put that down, will you?" "You live here now." "Ooh, look." "Actual police work." " Any of these?" " He the one, right there." "Just put it to Fruit's head." "The next thing Fruit on the ground flopping and his girl all screaming and this pink shit coming out the side of his head." "The Bunk, working weekends." "The man's dedicated." "I'm gonna partner you with Crutchfield to get started." "You won't catch anything for the first few months." "Give you time to learn the basics." "Our H files by year." "Witness dump." "Our cut necktie mausoleum." "The coffee." "And the mailboxes, arranged by shift and squad." "Lester." "I believe you two refugees know each other well." "Still getting your head around it?" " A bit, yeah." " You'll do fine." "Just fine." "As tender as this moment may be, Detective, you've got mail." "You got Lyon on your ass already?" "Another switch-up on the methane probes." "I'd call that number." "Get on top of that shit before you catch a case." "Chair or no chair." "What the hell is a methane probe?" " Hello, Kathleen O'Shea." " Yes, hello?" "Mm-hm." "I need to speak with Mr. Lyon about the protocols." "I beg your pardon?" "Mr. Lyon, please." "You sound a little old for this, hon." "Excuse me?" "Who is this?" "This is Detective Greggs with the..." "This is the Baltimore City Zoo." "Fine, and this is Detective Greggs..." "And you're calling for a Mr. Lion." "I'm sorry." "I misdialed." "Methane probe." "Scarred-up faggot." "I need to hunt him down, 'cause there ain't no protection against that shit." "Can't plan against that nigger." "It's like..." " You know what he's like." " What he like?" "He like one of them terrorist motherfuckers." "Blowing up shit just to." "Don't care who get hurt, what kind of sense it makes." " He got a point." " Heh." "And the government, right?" "If they have one of them terrorist attacks, they cut Delta or whoever some slack." "The insurance companies, the banks, the whole NASDAQ and shit get some time to pay back what they owe, because the government know ain't nothing they could do." "Yeah, I know you see it." "You see the big picture." "Problem with niggers today, they always see the narrow view." " That's nice." " What?" "You like that?" "I had it for a long time now." "It's got some sentimental values." " Just a thing." " What's the real value?" " Huh?" " Real value?" "I ain't much for sentiment." "Oh, you know." "It's been a while since I checked." "I mean, the fluctuation in the global economy and all." " I'll find out for you." " You don't have to." "I'll find out for you." "Finger's swelled over the years." " Need some help?" " Yeah, man, you need help?" "Nah, I got it, I got it." " Maybe use some spit." " I don't want the man's spit." "I got it now." "Omar ain't no terrorist." "He just another nigger with a gun." "And you ain't no Delta Airlines, neither." "You just a nigger got your shit took." "So, bring me what you owe and talk that global economy mess somewhere else." "Feel me?" "Yeah." "I got another game." "How much you down already?" "Learning their ways requires patience." "Money too." "How much you need this time out?" "A hundred and a half ought to do." "A hundred and a half?" "I take that chicken-nose fool one day soon." "Take Super Stick too." "Take 'em all." "Else, maybe I get bored, send you to take 'em." "And my point, Colonel Foerster, is that your man Norris, he's fucking the dog on this, way I hear it." "Sir, this is a top-priority case, and there's a possibility of a murdered witness." "We don't even know yet if that was the motive for the murder." " This is my point." " Norris is a pro, sir." "His clearance rate this year says otherwise, Colonel." "Sir, Norris is good police." "Look, Ray, we need someone who can work it hard, work it round the clock, work it till it falls." "And I understand we just pumped some fresh blood into Homicide - female, took one in the line a few years back." "She's never worked Homicide." "Fresh eyes, then." "But with all due respect, sir, if I could guarantee that no more information would reach the press before election day, would it be possible to keep veteran investigators working it, sir?" "I resent the implication." "My apologies, sir." "You killing my time coming up here." "If you ain't noticed, it's costing us money." "How am I gonna trust you if you keep telling lies, saying one thing and doing another?" "I just missed Friday, that's all." "Look, think on it like this - school is work." "They're the same thing right now." "You skipping out on school is like not showing up for work." "And I done heard, made up, and tested every excuse invented." "So, unless you dead or dying, there ain't none you can use." " I told you I'm-a go." " Yeah, OK, I know." "For school or out the business, you are gonna go." "Come on." "Falling behind isn't the way to start a school year, particularly after a three-year hiatus." "We haven't seen you since you enrolled." "Is there a reason you haven't joined us?" "Look, I know you reaching out for Sherrod." "I want to apologize for the boy." "He's been helping me get a business going." "But he need to be here though." "Ain't no bout a-doubt it." " It's up to him." " That's what I've been trying to say." " That's it right there." " What about it, young man?" "I'm good." "OK." "One thing though been bothering me, ma'am - if Sherrod already missed the last three years, should he maybe be back in fifth or sixth grade, instead of up with his age?" "So he can follow the work." "Social promotion." "Excuse me?" "We don't have the resources to repeat grade levels, and we feel to place the older children in the younger classes is unfair to teachers who are responsible for maintaining order." "Your nephew has been socially promoted." "He's an eighth-grader headed to high school." "Sorry, but Ms. Johnson's here about Qadriyyah." "Excuse me for a moment." " Bill, this is nuts." " I told him that." "If this gets out, who do you think it's gonna land on?" "I got two years to make 40 and a pension bump." "Look, I don't agree with the call either, but it's his call, not yours, not mine." "He's the one over at City Hall every day getting his ass chewed." "I don't care about nothing you say." "If you start shit, you can't complain how somebody finish that shit." "Man, she was on her from the beginning with the mirror and everything, man." "I wouldn't have waited." "Mr. Pryzbylewski, this is Sherrod." " And he's all yours." " OK." "Take a seat, Sherrod." "OK, listen up." "I'd like to..." "Everybody..." "Everybody, I'd like to talk..." "Listen up!" "Now, we all know something... unpleasant happened here Friday, and I know some of you are still trying to get your heads around..." "Ain't my head got a big old gash." "And I'd like to discuss..." " Yo, is it true that you police?" " What?" "Miss Carmandy up in the office say, "Mr. Prezbo, he police."" " You police, man?" " You ever shoot somebody?" " We should talk..." " He ain't shot no one." "Look at him." "Yo... you ever bust a man named Ashanti Graham?" "Sometimes when something bad happens..." " That your dad?" " Nah, my brother." " Why can't you tell us if you shot somebody?" " What kind of gun you carry?" "I used to be police." "Now I'm a teacher." "Being a police isn't just about carrying a gun." "Yeah, right." " It's about working with the community." " The community?" "Y'all ain't been in my community in a long time except to whale on people." " Yo, Mr. P, you ever been shot?" " I mean, like, bah." "Namond, that's enough." "Get up." "Get up." "Get back in your seats." "Thank you, very entertaining." "Sit down." "Get in your seats!" "Sit down, sit down." "Kwaneese, sit down." "Sit down, now." "Yo, Mr. P, you ever choke somebody dead like..." "Yo, you ever get videoed?" "Mr. P, Ashanti Graham." "You gots to know him." "He was a player for real." "He work Sunday to Thursday, 7:00 early to 5:00 late." "So, it ain't no moonlighting thing, then." "Nah, he ain't no real police." "He full time on this Mickey Mouse shit here." "What he do again?" "Talked back." " Go over Hilltop now?" " Yeah, we got that too." "See ya." " Decision time, son." " Yo, what's your play?" "I told Little Kevin to shoot y'all both in the head twice." "But seeing as he done walked away..." "Oh, you funny." "Yeah, I guess I'm on your package." " Where the boy at" " Michael?" " He ain't no regular." "He's just working off a debt." " Why?" "Why you care?" " Never mind you why." ""Why" ain't in your repertoire, nigger." "Yo!" "60-40 split on that." "Do not be messing with Marlo's money." "Randy Wagstaff, you aren't a sixth-grader, are you?" "Oh, hey, Ms. Reese." "If you were a sixth-grader, it would mean you and the rest of the knuckleheads would still be in my first-period English class." "And that would mean it was two years ago." "And that would mean time stands still at Tilghman Middle, and that would be a catastrophe." " I just forgot and wore my old shirt today." " Mm-hm." "If this isn't your lunch, then where is your hall pass?" "Why not just write it in crayon?" "Come on." " Deacon says you're a good man." " Good enough to swing a mop, I guess." " A mop?" "More like a vacuum cleaner." " What?" "I get a few fellas like you to help me out every September." "You go out on the street, you find these kids, you drag 'em in." "A truant officer." "The system hasn't been funded for truant officers in 20 years." "Where the hell you think you are, Montgomery County?" "Nah, I keep a couple custodial positions unfilled every year just for this." "Those kids?" "You haul 'em in, you cross 'em off the list." "Each kid, one time, clear the list." "Come October, you start on the list again." "Job's yours if you want it." "Pays 12 an hour." "Excuse me, hon." "Sit." "Why'd you leave class?" "I got hungry, couldn't concentrate." "Maybe, Randy, you had another reason for running the halls, hm?" " Tagging walls, maybe?" " Uh-uh." "You know I don't." "I don't know anything." "I know it's the second week, and I got walls covered with tags." "Does that make you feel good, walking past that?" "I don't know." "Maybe 'cause you're the one doing the marking." " I'm not." " Then who is?" " Miss Thompson?" " Yes, ma'am?" "Could you get me the number for Randy Wagstaff's foster mom?" "What you want to call Miss Anna for?" "You're skipping class, running the halls." "She's got a right to know." " Is this her work number?" " Yes, ma'am." "Hold on." "Wait." "The new girl, Greggs..." "Sir, if I may, respectfully..." "Norris has a full plate, OK?" "The Braddock case goes to Greggs." " His plate is fine." " No, it's not." "His plate's a pile of shit, OK?" "Listen to me." "Burrell wants this case stalled until everybody votes." "And Rawls?" "How the fuck I know what Rawls wants?" "He never said shit." "Let me tell you something, he knows this is fucked up." "I have this correct?" "We are pulling a veteran off a pending case and giving it to a rook so as not to make timely progress on said case?" "The Braddock case to Greggs." " A pilot program?" " For one of your middle schools, yes." " A $200,000 grant is attached." " Free money." " I'm just trying to help, Mrs. Conway." " Help how?" "You say that your target group is repeat violent offenders." "Are you suggesting that the system's lost control of the school?" "No, that's not what I'm suggesting at all." "The system's fine." "The system's great." "I mean, this isn't about the system." "We're just gonna try to find a way to get to some of the troubled kids who won't be in the system too much longer." "Well, look, just make sure there's no fuss." "Nothing that gets anyone upset, you know?" "There's an election, and we don't want to put our schools in the middle of that mess." "No, indeed." "Humping a radio car like a young sprite." "I'm a little bit proud to know you." "Just a little bit?" "It ain't like there aren't better things to do." " Like what?" " See, I told you, Lester, the worm has turned for my boy." " I heard they torpedoed your wiretap." " Yeah, they sent us a new lieutenant." " Marimow from ET." " The Unit Killer." "Lester and Kima bailed to Homicide, and Sydnor's looking to jump at the first opening." " So, Major Crimes is dead, huh?" " Yeah, Lester killed it good." "Went looking for the money." "Guys like you, you never learn." " Guys like me?" " Yeah, 13 years..." " Four months." " Four months." " You guys call for backup or what?" " Yeah." "We got arrest papers on a murder for one Curtis Anderson, aka Lex." "He's been on the wing for a couple of weeks, so I don't expect him at his mama's, but..." " What's the address?" " 643 Harlem." "How about you taking the door with me for old time's sake, Jim?" " I'll take the back, gents." " The back?" "Damn, junior, the worm has turned for you." "You know what they say about the man who volunteers to take the back?" "He buys." "BO Tavern, tonight at nine, son." " I throw myself out after one." " Shit." "You don't believe me, ask Bunk." "True." " The bedroom's clear." " Yeah, basement too." " Clear." " Yeah." "Clear." "Nine tonight, McNulty," "BO Tavern." "He's not here." "I told you." "Is he coming home again?" "Ma'am, is your son alive?" "Because if he's not, we can end this right now." "Otherwise, we've got a witness." "That gives us a murder warrant." "That warrant says that we can come through your door as many times as necessary." "I don't know where my son is." "It's like them birds of yours." "They go out, and they fly around the city." "They free to do as they do." "End of the day, they come back here, get water, get fed, 'cause they know you got this place set up regular as the rain." "No surprises, 'cause at the end of the day, a man don't want no surprises." "You know, birds neither." "Same as what I'm offering." "You part of a co-op, a whole lot of surprises you never worry about again." "You just do as you do, knowing the product will always be there and be the finest quality, knowing that if one of yours takes a pinch, he got a lawyer and a bondsman waiting for him before he even step out the wagon." " I know how to hire lawyers." " Ain't just about the lawyers." "It's having a connection so that you know before the bust even go down." "What I got to give up to get that good dope?" "Muscle." "You got muscle." "You stand with us, we run these New York boys right out of East Baltimore." "Fuck I care about East Baltimore?" "The point of the co-op is we stand together." "We share information, and no one fucks with any of us." "No one fucks with me now." "That don't mean there couldn't be some unforeseen cir..." "No one fucks with me now." "African colors." "Subtle." "Tony Gray is pulling 24% now." "You need new colors and a new message, Clarence." "You need to rally the base." "You want me to start wearing dashikis?" "Go all Marion Barry and shit?" "I'll tell you what I would like - another 75 in cash for walk-around money." "75, huh?" "Call another game." "It's a waste of time, and right now time is everything." "They're gonna spit in your eye and endorse Royce." "They only waited this long out of respect to Tony Gray." "Otherwise, they give it to Royce months ago." "That's not the point." "You go there uninvited, and you're gonna piss them off." "Am I?" "Or do I piss them off even more by pretending that they don't exist, that I don't need them?" "I've door-to-doored every neighborhood, saying I'm ready to be mayor to all of it, not just my base, but all of it." "What does it say I don't go see these guys?" "He's right." "They endorse Royce, fine." "The hell else they gonna do?" "But what they say and don't say from the pulpit that Sunday before the primary, we still got a dog in that fight." "I do this right, they'll respect it." "And if they don't, at least they get to see a begging-ass white man on his knees." "Always a feel-good moment for the folks." "And as to my attendance at council meetings, those who know the job understand there is more to being a councilperson than just the meetings." "Yes." "Charles?" "Yeah, they're putting a halfway house at the end of my block." "Addicts and such." "Not if I have anything to say about it." " Where you living at, sir?" " 800 block North Carrollton." "I'm gonna take a look into that." "Is there anyone with a question for any of the other candidates?" "Anyone with an issue, a concern?" "I would say that with regard to the gentleman's concern about the halfway house, that while I share your concern, it's also true that the city has thousands of drug addicts in recovery, and those halfway houses and shelters have to go someplace." "Though not in white neighborhoods." "Ma'am, could I see that Royce flyer?" "That is a fair point as well." "But these are people - our brothers and sisters, our children, our friends." "They are trying to change their lives, and so it's up to us to be responsible for them." " Feel good to miss a hand, huh?" " What's the point?" "Eventually, we all got to ante up." "Yeah, we do." "But I can't believe he had the balls enough to call two games in one month." "He's loading up on walk-around money." "He wants cash on the street come election day." "Carcetti got to him." "Called it a war chest." "Maybe we got us a war this time." "I wish he wasn't so fucking ugly with it." "That two pair he bet on, right into Roger's trip nines." "I folded on a flush." "Full boat, four hands ago." "It's immoral, what it is." "So, what's the game, gents?" "Clarence's deal." "Texas Hold 'Em." "I begin to understand the popularity of this game." "No limit." "Oh, peachy." "I was beginning to think you'd lost it." "That living room shrine of hers would have shamed Elvis and Tupac both." "Her son's deader than both of 'em." "She's just too scared to say so." "That shit wasn't there the first time I talked to her." "I'd have seen it." "Mm-hm." "You being a detective and all." " Mm-hm?" " Mm-hm." "Mm-hm." "Hey, look, she got a friend." "She too young for you, boy." "Young?" "They get younger, William." "Skinnier too." "We don't." "Younger, skinnier - where's Jimmy?" "That's just the nature of things." "Age is age, fat is fat, and nature is nature." " Pitiful." " And pitiless." "Nature don't care." "Nature just is." "Now my boy Marlo, I thought he was skewing that." "Screwing what?" " The boy's a young lion." " "Hello, is Mr. Lyon home?"" "And a lion has to have his kill." ""Methane probe for Mr. Lyon."" "So then where are my bodies?" "Here I am over here on the one hand without a body in six months, and here you are looking for a suspect who's most likely dead, and most likely for dropping one of Marlo's." "Then again, if he's dead... where's that body?" "You know what the plural of pussy is?" "Puss-i." "Jimmy taught me that." "Where's he putting the bodies, Bunk?" "In the sewers?" "Rogue funeral home, maybe?" "They teach that fancy-ass Latin at them Catholic schools." " You remember the Eddy Crane case?" " Mm-hm." "Word was they put him in an acid vat down near Curtis Bay." "They're coming up on us now." "Now, for a West Side boy like Marlo Stanfield, that would be the traditional dumping grounds." "Right?" "Right?" "What?" "Oh, man." "Jimmy!" "Jimmy!" "Trying to get some of that puss-i." "What the hell you still sitting here for?" "Fucking Huxtables and shit, right?" "There they go right there." "He's still with school." "Shit." "Just so they can spring out that shit pile every day." "Make a good run at that boy, he'll be on a corner, no problem, man." "Yeah, we gonna see." "You hung over?" "Just saying you look like shit." "You know what you need at a crime scene?" " Rubber gloves." " Soft eyes." "Like I'm supposed to cry and shit?" "You got soft eyes, you can see the whole thing." "You got hard eyes, you're staring at the same tree, missing the forest." "Oh, Zen shit." "Soft eyes, grasshopper." "Lividity puts the time of death at 7:48," " give or take." " Noted." "You're gonna want a chemstat." " You think?" " Couldn't hurt." " A CBC too?" "Splatter distance?" " Yeah, definitely." "You know, where the hell did my Q-tips go?" " Don't sweat it." "I got mine right here." " Good." "You want to take a look?" "Won't bite." "Hey, don't forget the stippling." "I'm a rookie?" " There's something in his hand." " Yeah?" "Give her some tweezers." ""Tater killed me."" "Oh!" "Is it typed?" "'Cause that would hold up a lot better in court." "Phone number in the other hand." "A standard confidentiality agreement." "And this one?" "Oh, that one indemnifies us should you or any of your staff be injured." "Who wants to get some learning today?" " I roll up front with you?" " You got dibs in the back, little man, let's go." " Come on." " Don't worry about him." " We'll catch him later." " Yeah, little man's so excited about what's on that blackboard, he gonna race us." "What's the line on us so far?" "In the teacher's lounge, I mean." "They're saying you're this year's band-aid." " Is that how you feel?" " I was hoping for more than that." "This year's splint?" "Hey, Miss Sampson." "Yo, he police." "I mean, the school system seems benign." "And I get the sense North Avenue might give us some latitude, if not support." " You think so?" " You sound doubtful." "You can tell the days by their faces." "The best day is Wednesday." "That's the farthest they get from home, from whatever's going on in the streets." "You see smiles then." "Monday is angry." "Tuesdays, they're caught between Monday and Wednesday, so it could go either way." "Thursdays... they're feeling that weekend coming." "Friday, it's bad again." "This is where I leave you." "Your class." "Language arts, huh?" "Yes." "Anyway, you should see it without me." "They behave differently when I'm around." "No doubt." "What do you think this 20 stands for?" "It's not the number of days you've been suspended." "It's not the number of years you'll spend in prison if you don't shape up." "It's 50% below average." "It's 30% below failure even." "But, really, it stands for the amount of interest you're taking in your own future." "The next question is worth two points." "Who can tell me, why was Clarence Mitchell Jr" " important to the civil rights movement?" " I know!" "And I can tell by Shalanta's smile, she's gonna win for the blue team." "Did you see that one over there?" "Anybody here DeShawn Price?" "Never heard of him." " What's your name?" " Herbert Brown." "This the roundup van, right?" "Oh, yeah, here you go, my man." "Come on." "No, yo, no." "Yeah, see, Howard Brown." "That's my brother." "He over on McHenry Street if you want him." "I was just in school on Friday, so I'm phat till October." "Sorry." " Hold up, my man." " Nah, he's right." "School gets a certain amount of money for each kid that shows up one day in September" " and one day in October." " One day?" "After that, they don't lose the government money, so we done with it." "Nah, man." "School is school." "Yeah, well, I'm just trying to school you, brother." "All right, which one of y'all still need your September day?" "Get it over with now, we won't be messing with y'all later." "What up, Butch?" "How do we begin?" "You the one called the meet." "Why don't we begin by you respecting my time and getting to it?" "First of all, I heard you may be under the impression" "I was somehow involved with the late Mr. Bell, in his play against you with Brother Mouzone." "I was no way involved." "Stringer came at me to set up the parley with you." "He used me like he used y'all," "I feel the need to say." "It's said, then." "Tip out on it." "Businessman such as myself does not believe in bad blood with a man such as yourself." " Disturbs the sleep." " I bet it do." "By way of amends, a proposition." "I know of a card game on the West Side - high rollers, lots of cash money, boxcar-sized." "You trying to set me up, Joe?" "You ever known me to be stupid?" "I'm trying to make things right here with you." "How much we talking about?" "If there ain't at least a few hundred K in that room, I wish myself blind." "Serious, Joe." "I say again, have you ever known me to be a stupid man?" " What are the strings?" " No strings." " What's your cut, then?" " Quarter of the take." "I scope this and it don't look right, I'm gonna come back on you now, Joe." "Where did everybody go?" " Which one of you is Sergeant Hauk?" " Sir." " And you must be Dozerman." " Yes, sir." "Welcome to Major Crimes." "I'm Lieutenant Marimow." "I see you just made sergeant after driving the mayor around for less than three months." "You must be a hell of a driver." "Anyone here?" "Greggs?" "Freamon?" "Sydnor and Massey." "And they're on the street, making rips." "That's what we do here now." "We get on the street and we rip and run." "Can you get with that, Sergeant?" "The Western District way, sir." " Thank you." " Thank you." "Thanks for seeing me." "I understand you've heard from Mayor Royce and Councilman Gray, and I'd like to thank you for being able to join in this process." "I don't expect to walk out of this room today with an endorsement from the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance." "I don't." "But the point is..." "I think I can be a better mayor for Baltimore than the present one." "I voted for Clarence Royce eight years ago." "I voted for him four years after that." "I felt there was promise in the man." "But now I'm disappointed." "I'm disappointed and I'm angry at the crime and the waste and the damage done to so many neighborhoods." "Not just in my district, but on the West Side " "Pimlico, Cherry Hill, Edmondson Village." "Wherever I go, people want the same things, they need the same things, but they're just not getting them." "I'm gonna change that." "I'm not gonna ask for your vote now." "Maybe I haven't earned it yet." "But I am here to say that when I am mayor, my door is open to you, regardless of who you endorse." "And I want you to remember that I came here today to say these things." "Thank you." "Councilman." "Thank you for coming." "OK, I'm gonna need an APB on a motherfucker named Tater." "Call Mr. Sweet ASAP?" "Let me guess - the Gay and Lesbian Alliance." "Uh-oh." "She's catching on, boys." "Oh?" "What do you want?" "Another methane probe?" "Or some other CSI bullshit that don't exist?" "You're the primary on the Braddock case." "The dead witness." "Norris is back in the rotation." "What?" "You caught your first murder." "Kudos." "Come on, man, damn." "Bam, bam!" "Yeah." "Do that to whoever be snitching." " Who snitching?" " Don't know, but kids be snitching." "Rashid got suspended for tagging walls." "Y'all ain't heard?" "Maybe he just get caught with a paint can." "Ms. Donnelly came and pulled him out of the classroom." "Bam!" " I'll see y'all later." " You going past the gym?" "All right, man." "Peace, peace." "I ain't gonna tell you again." "Give me the remote." "Did y'all learn something today?" "Y'all learn something today?" "Yeah." "What y'all learn?" " I said give me the remote." " Mm-mm." "Give it." "Math your favorite, right?" "Start with it." " I like math." " Yeah, you good at it too." "Watched this show five damn times." "Hey, you good?" "All right now." "So, it turns out the one girl... 200-something stitches to close her up." "She's looking at a lot of rehab and maybe more surgery." "The muscles in her face don't even move right." " How's the class seem?" " Like it didn't really happen." "They're still processing." "I know it doesn't seem so, but they are." "What about Laetitia?" "What happens to her?" "Nothing worse than she's already seen." "She'll probably go to a juvenile facility, which is only a little worse than her group home." " She was in a group home?" " She grew up in the system." "Monday-to-Friday angry." "Last year, she was suspended twice, and then expelled." "Chiquan wasn't positive though, if you're looking for a silver lining." "Excuse me?" "She didn't have HIV, in case you were worrying." "Marcus." "Boy, what are you trying to do?" "You trying to get knocked out?" "Drop your head, son." "Left up!" "Get that left up!" "Pick your hand up." "Damn!" "Man, that boy listen to anyone?" "All right, all right." "Time, time." "Not bad, y'all." "Not bad, Justin." "Marcus, you got to concentrate, man." "Think." "All right?" "Listen, I got tickets to the fights tonight," "Pikesville Armory." "Now, I was gonna take Justin and Spider, but Spider ain't been hanging out, and, Marcus, I know you got your mother." "So, Michael, you want to see the fights?" " You going?" " Yeah, I'm in." " Yeah, all right." " All right." "Come on, get this headgear off." "What the fuck is that?" "Souvenir." "What?" "Trouble with doing it this way, disappearing 'em and shit - nobody knows." "I remember when I was a kid, if you had a map of the world, the playground over at Baker and Moreland would be at the center of it." "And as I got older, the playground just kept on getting bigger, went beyond the neighborhood." "Everything changes, you know?" "One minute the ice-cream truck be the only thing you want to hear." "Next thing, them touts calling out the heroin be the only thing you can hear." "What's that?" "Workbook I need to use with this." "So you read from the small one and answer questions in the big one?" "Yeah, ain't no thing." "Yeah, I see that." "I see that." "All right, you see how he keeping his hands up?" "Look at his feet." "Look at their feet." "See how they keep their feet moving?" "See what I'm saying?" "See how he stay in close?" "That's how you take away his power." " Yo, dude is cut." " Yeah, man." "That's discipline." "You take care of your body, your body take care of you." "Yo, I bet his woman is fine, man." "Yeah, I bet she is too." "Flush to the queen." "Full house." "All right, everybody, let me see them hands, yo." "Hands." "Big man, back up." "I don't know about cards, but I think these four-fives beat a full house." "Hey, yo, banker, cash me out, yo." "Boy, you want a head on that body, you best hop to." "That's my money." "Man, money ain't got no owners, only spenders." "I tell you something else - I like that ring too." "Boy, you got me confused with a man repeats himself." "This ain't over." "That's how you carrying it, Shorty, huh?" "'Cause I can find your peoples a whole lot easier than they can find me." "Wear it in health." "No doubt." "Phew!" "You see what I'm talking about, Justin?" "That's the real deal." "You keep training, I'm telling you, boy, you can get there." "See, the last fight was the best." "The Puerto Rican boy had a good left." "Yeah, shit was tight." "This it, right here on the right." "All right." " All right now." " I'll see you tomorrow, Coach." "All right, now, so you live over on..." "Hey, my boy, what you doing?" " I'm gonna take you home." " No, thank you." "Michael, come on now, serious." "Nah." "No, thank you." "I'm good from here."