"Harry, answer that." "So, what do you wanna hack for, Bickle?" "I can't sleep nights." "There's porno theatres for that." "Yeah, I know." "I tried that." "So, what do you do now?" "Now?" "Ride around nights mostly." "Subways, buses." "Figure I'm gonna do that, I might as well get paid for it." "You wanna work uptown?" "South Bronx, Harlem?" "I'll work anytime, anywhere." "Will you work Jewish holidays?" "Anytime, anywhere." "All right." "Let me see your chauffeur's licence." "How's your driving record?" "lt's clean." "It's real clean, like my conscience." "You gonna break my chops?" "I got enough trouble with guys like you." "If you're gonna break my chops, you can take it on the arches." "Sorry, sir, I didn't mean that." "Physical?" "Clean." "Age?" "Twenty-six." "Education?" "Some." "Here, there, you know." "Military record?" "Honourable discharge." "May 1 973." "Were you in the Army?" "Marines." "I was in the Marines too." "So, what is it?" "You need an extra job?" "Are you moonlighting?" "Well, l-- I just wanna work long hours." "What's moonlighting?" "Look, just fill out these forms and check back tomorrow when the shift breaks." "O'Brien, please step up." "Take the car out through 58th Street, please." "Because it's crowded on 57th." "Hey, Rodriguez!" "All right, all right, I'm coming down there." "May 1 0th." "Thank God for the rain, which has washed away the garbage and the trash off the sidewalks." "I'm working long hours now." "Six in the afternoon to 6 in the morning, sometimes even 8 in the morning." "Six days a week, sometimes seven days a week." "It's a long hustle, but it keeps me real busy." "I can take in $300, $350 a week." "Sometimes even more when I do it off the meter." "All the animals come out at night." "Whores, skunk-pussies, buggers, queens, fairies, dopers, junkies." "Sick, venal." "Someday a real rain'll come and wash all this scum off the streets." "I go all over. I take people to the Bronx, Brooklyn. I take them to Harlem." "I don't care." "Don't make no difference to me." "It does to some." "Some won't even take spooks." "Don't make no difference to me." "Driver, 48th and 6th, please." "Man, you are gorgeous!" "Beautiful little girl." "I can't afford to get stopped anywhere." "Oh, no." "We wouldn't want that to happen." "There'll be a big tip in it for you, you do the right things." "You got a way." "Yeah." "Now you're talking!" "Driver, hurry up, will you?" "Each night when I return the cab I have to clean the come off the back seat." "Some nights, I clean off the blood." "Can I help you?" "Yeah, what's your name?" "My name is Travis." "That's nice." "What can I do for you?" "I'd like to know what your name is." "What's your name?" "Give me a break." "Look, you can tell me what your name is. I'm not gonna do anything." "Do you want me to call the manager?" "You don't have to call the manager." "Troy!" "All right." "Okay, I mean...." "Okay." "Can I have a Chuckles there?" "And do you have any Jujubes?" "They last longer." "I'd like to get some Jujubes." "What you see is what we got." "A Clark." "I'll take these." "Coca-Cola." "We don't have Coca-Cola." "Royal Crown Cola is all we got." "A dollar eighty-five." "Twelve hours of work and I still can't sleep." "Damn." "The days go on and on." "And they don't end." "All my life needed was a sense of some place to go." "I don't believe that one should devote his life to morbid self-attention." "I believe that someone should become a person like other people." "I first saw her at Palantine campaign headquarters at 63rd and Broadway." "She was wearing a white dress." "She appeared like an angel out of this filthy mass." "She is alone." "They cannot touch her." "Yes." "Well, you delivered two boxes." "I think it's a total of 5000 campaign buttons." "Now, all the ones we had before and our slogan is:" ""We are the people," and "are" is underlined." "These new buttons have "we" underlined." "That reads, "We are the people." Well, I think there's a difference." ""We are the people" is not the same as "We are the people."" "Let's not fight." "Look, we'll make it real simple." "We don't pay for the buttons." "We throw the buttons away, all right?" "Tom, come here a minute." "What?" "What is it?" "If Andy okays this canvass report, send a copy to all headquarters." "I gotta get that New York Times article xeroxed." "Don't forget the new photos." "l didn't forget." "We have to emphasise mandatory welfare." "That's the issue to push." "First push the man, then the issue." "Senator Palantine is a dynamic man." "An intelligent, interesting, fresh, fascinating man." "You forgot sexy." "I did not forget sexy." "Listen to you." "You sound like you're selling mouthwash." "We are selling mouthwash." "Are we authorized to do that?" "Very funny." "You can get in trouble selling pharmaceuticals in a campaign office." "My uncle's in jail because of that." "It's not really jail." "Of course, living with his wife, anything would be jail." "Look over there." "I love you." "Notice anything?" "No." "Well, put your glasses on." "Okay, just a minute." "All right." "That taxi driver's been staring at us." "What taxi driver?" "That one, the one that's sitting there." "How long has he been there?" "l don't know." "It feels like a long time." "Does he bother you?" "No." "You mean yes, and you're being sarcastic." "Oh, you're quick." "You're really quick." "Well, I try to be real quick." "I'll play the male in this relationship" "Good luck." "and tell him to move." "And I don't need good luck." "Thank you." "Oh, yes, you do." "You just think you don't." "Say, you're blocking our doorway." "You think you might move your cab?" "You know, eye shadow, mascara lipstick, rouge." "Not rouge." "Blush-on, they call it." "The kind with the brush." "Yeah, it's Blush-on." "Travis." "Hey, Wiz." "That's Blush-on." "My wife uses it." "Ask Travis." "He's a ladies' man." "A cup of coffee, please." "Anyway, whatever the fuck it is, she uses a lot of it." "And then perfume." "The spray kind." "Get this. ln the middle of the Triborough Bridge" "And this woman is beautiful." "she changes her pantyhose." "No." "Oh, yeah." "What'd you do?" "l throw the meter, you know and I jump in the back seat and whip it out. i said, "You know what this is?"" "She says, "lt's love." I'm gonna fuck her brains out." "She goes wild and she said:" ""That's the greatest single experience of my life."" "Then she gave me a $200 tip and her phone number in Acapulco." "Travis, you know Doughboy, Charlie T.?" "Hey, Travis." "Got change for a nickel?" "Doughboy'll do anything for a buck." "So how's it hanging?" "What's that?" "I turn on the radio." "Some fleet driver from Bell just got all cut up." "Stickup?" "No, he got cut up by some crazy fucker." "Cut half his ear off." "Where?" "lt was at 122nd Street." "Fucking Mau Mau land." "You run all over town, don't you, Travis?" "Travis?" "Travis." "You run all over town, don't you?" "Yeah." "You handle some pretty rough customers, huh?" "Yeah, I have." "You carry a piece?" "No." "You need one?" "No." "I know a fella who can get you a real nice deal." "There's lots of shit around." "I never use mine." "I'm conservative, you know." "But it's a good thing to have just as a threat." "I'm gonna go dig my dirt." "Travis." "Look." "Piece of Errol Flynn's bathtub." "Dig the symbols." "F-4-0-5-4-3-4." "And the watermark." "There's one person there's two persons and there's three persons." "I got this at his estate, The Pines." "Why don't you take it, and if you can sell it..." "...you give me half of what you got." "l don't want to." "Hey, I'm gonna get in my cab and boogie." "Oh, I'm so terribly sorry." "Well...." "Nothing." "That's very cute." "Thank you." "Hey, you wanna see something?" "Wait, I just typed, "You wanna see something?"" "What?" "lf you had these three fingers missing on this hand and that hand missing on that hand..." "...how would you light the match?" "l wouldn't." "Go ahead." "Give it a try." "Well, I don't think I could do it." "No?" "It's gonna be difficult." "I'll give it a try." "I got my thumb back for a second." "Thank God." "Just a minute." "I can't do it." "The guy at the newsstand can do it." "Well, I don't work at a newsstand." "Anyway, he's probably Italian." "No." "You're sure?" "He's black." "If he had been Italian, he might've been a thief." "The mob does that." "If a thief screws up on the job, they'll blow his fingers off." "This sounds like a joke, but it's true." "If they kill a stool pigeon, they leave a canary on the body." "lt's symbolic." "Why not a pigeon instead of a canary?" "I don't know why not a pigeon." "Wait a minute." "You gotta catch a pigeon." "A canary, you can walk into a pet store boom, kill it right there." "Put it on anyone you want." "Hi." "I'd like to volunteer." "Great. I'll take you right over here." "I'd rather volunteer to her, if you don't mind." "Why do you feel you have to volunteer to me?" "Because I think that you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen." "Thanks." "But what do you think of Palantine?" "Well, I...." "Palantine, the man you're volunteering to help elect president." "I'm sure he'll make a good president." "I don't know what his policies are, but I'm sure he'll make a good one." "You wanna canvass?" "Yeah, I'll canvass." "How do you feel about the senator's stand on welfare?" "I don't really know his stand on welfare, but I'm sure it's a good stand." "You're sure of that?" "Yeah." "We all work together here, day and night so I'm sure the gentlemen will sign you up over there." "The thing is, I drive a taxi at night, so it's kind of hard for me to work in the day." "Then what exactly do you want?" "Would you like to come have some coffee and pie with me?" "Why?" "Why?" "I'll tell you why." "Yeah." "I think you're a lonely person." "I drive by a lot, and I see you here." "I see a lot of people around you and I see these phones and all this stuff on your desk that means nothing." "And when I came inside and met you I saw in your eyes and how you carried yourself that you're not a happy person." "And I think you need something." "And if you wanna call it a friend, you can call it a friend." "You're gonna be my friend?" "Yeah." "What do you say?" "It's a little hard standing here and asking you, so...." "Five minutes, that's all." "Just outside." "Right around here." "I'm there to protect you." "Come on." "Just take a little break." "I have a break at 4:00." "And if you're here- 4:00 today?" "Yes." "l'll be here." "l'm sure you will." "All right, 4 p.m." "Right." "Outside in the front?" "Yes." "Okay." "Oh, my name is Travis." "Betsy?" "Travis." "I appreciate this, Betsy." "May 26th, 4:00 p.m." "I took Betsy to Charles' Coffee Shop on Columbus Circle." "I had black coffee and apple pie with a slice of melted yellow cheese." "I think that was a good selection." "Betsy had coffee and a fruit salad dish." "She could've had anything she wanted." "Fifteen thousand volunteers in New York alone's not bad." "But the organizational problems." "Yeah, I know what you mean." "I got the same problems." "I gotta get organized." "Little things, like my apartment, my possessions." "I should get one of those signs: "One of these days, I'll get organiz-ized."" "You mean "organized"?" "Organiz-ized." "Organiz-ized." "It's a joke." "O-R-G-A-N-E-Z-I-E-Z-D." "You mean "organiz-ize." Like those little signs in offices that say, "Thimk."" "Do you like where you work?" "We've got some good people." "And I think Palantine's got a good chance." "You know you have beautiful eyes?" "Do you like the guy you work with?" "He's okay." "Yeah, I know." "But do you like him?" "He's funny, good at his job." "He's okay." "Though he does have a few problems." "I would say he has quite a few problems." "His energy seems to go in the wrong places." "When I walked in and I saw you two sitting there I could just tell that there was no connection whatsoever." "And I felt when I walked in, there was something between us." "There was an impulse that we were both following." "So that gave me the right to talk to you." "Otherwise, I never would've felt that I had the right to talk to you." "I never would've had the courage to talk to you." "And with him, I felt there was nothing." "When I walked in, I knew I was right." "Did you feel that way?" "I wouldn't be here if I didn't." "Where are you from?" "Upstate." "That fellow, I don't like him." "Not that I don't like him, I just think he's silly." "I don't think he respects you." "I don't believe I've ever met anyone quite like you." "You wanna go to a movie with me?" "l have to go back to work now." "l don't mean now." "Another time?" "Sure." "You know what you remind me of?" "What?" "That song by Kris Kristofferson." "Who's that?" "The songwriter." ""He's a prophet...." "He's a prophet and a pusher partly truth, partly fiction, a walking contradiction."" "You saying that about me?" "Who else would I be talking about?" "I'm no pusher." "I've never pushed." "No, just the part about the contradictions." "You are that." "I called Betsy again at her office." "She said maybe we'd go to a movie after work tomorrow." "That's my day off." "At first she hesitated, but I called her again and she agreed." "Betsy, Betsy." "Oh, no." "Betsy what?" "I forgot to ask her last name." "Damn!" "I gotta remember stuff like that." "Don't worry about anyone committing themselves until things start coming in from California." "Listen, I think we should've waited for the limo." "I don't mind the cab, but I mind going to California without the right preparation." "That'll get us in trouble." "Are you Charles Palantine, the candidate?" "Yes, I am." "I'm a big supporter." "I tell everybody that comes in this taxi they have to vote for you." "Why, thank you Travis." "I'm sure you'll win." "Everybody I know's gonna vote for you." "I was gonna put one of your stickers in my taxi but the company said it was against their policy." "They're a bunch ofjerks." "Let me tell you, I have learned more about America from riding in taxicabs than in all the limos in the country." "Oh, yeah?" "That's true." "Can I ask you something, Travis?" "Sure." "What is the one thing about this country that bugs you the most?" "Well, I don't know." "I don't follow political issues that closely, sir." "Oh, well, there must be something." "Well, whatever it is, he should clean up this city here because this city here's like an open sewer. lt's full of filth and scum." "Sometimes I can hardly take it." "Whatever ever becomes the president should just really clean it up." "Know what I mean?" "Sometimes I go out and I smell it." "I get headaches, it's so bad." "And they just like" " They just never go away, you know?" "I think that the president should just clean up this mess." "He should flush it right down the fucking toilet." "Well, I think I know what you mean, Travis." "But it's not gonna be easy." "We'll have to make radical changes." "Damn straight." "Here you go, Travis." "Keep the change." "Thank you." "Nice talking to you." "Nice talking to you." "You're a good man." "I know you're gonna win." "Thank you." "Drive safe." "Come on, man." "Get me out of here, all right?" "Come on!" "Come on, baby." "This is a real drag." "Now, come on!" "Come on, don't make no scene." "You wanna get busted?" "Now, bitch, be cool!" "Don't start no trouble." "Cabbie, forget about this." "It's nothing." "Be cool, bitch!" "Stop!" "Wanna hear something?" "What's the matter, baby?" "Get your ass out of here!" "Hi, there." "Hi." "Have a nice day today?" "Not particularly." "I got a present for you." "Now back to Gene Krupa's syncopated style shortly." "Why'd you do that?" "What else am I gonna do with my money?" "I wish you'd have listened to this." "I would have, except my record player doesn't work now." "Your stereo's broken?" "How can you stand it?" "I can't live without music." "I don't follow music too much, but I would really like to." "Then you haven't played this record yet?" "No." "But I was thinking maybe we could listen to it on your record player." "Now, going back to 40 years of Chick Webb." "You gotta be kidding." "What?" "This is a dirty movie." "No, no." "This is a movie that a lot of couples come to." "All kinds of couples go here." "You sure about that?" "Yeah, I see them all the time." "Come on." "Shut the fuck up." "Where are you going?" "l have to leave now." "Why?" "l don't know why I came in here." "l don't like these movies." "Well, I mean" "I didn't know you'd feel that way about this movie." "lf I had known" "These the only movies you go to?" "Yeah, I mean I come and-- This is not so bad." "Taking me to a place like this is as exciting to me as saying, "Let's fuck."" "There are other places I can take you." "I don't know much about them, but I can take you other places." "We're just different." "Wait a second." "l have to go." "l've gotta go now." "Wait." "Wait a second, I wanna talk to you." "Look, I have to go." "Taxi!" "Can I talk to you at least?" "Won't you at least talk to me?" "I didn't know you'd" "Won't you take the record?" "l've already got it." "But, please." "l bought it for you, Betsy." "Now I've got two." "Let's go." "Can I call you?" "Jesus Christ, I got a taxi." "Hello, Betsy." "Hi, it's Travis." "How you doing?" "Listen, I'm sorry about the other night." "I didn't know that was the way you felt about it." "Well, I didn't know." "If l-- l would have taken you somewhere else." "Are you feeling better or...?" "Maybe you had a virus or something." "A 24-hour virus, you know." "It can happen." "Yeah." "You've been working hard, huh?" "Yeah." "Would you like to have some dinner with me in the next few days or something?" "How about just a cup of coffee?" "I could come by the headquarters or something, and we could...." "Okay, okay." "Did you get my flowers in the...?" "You didn't get them?" "But I sent some flowers." "Yeah." "Well...." "Okay, okay." "Can I call you again?" "Tomorrow or the next day?" "Okay." "No, I'm gonna-- Okay, yeah, sure." "Okay." "So long." "I tried several times to call her but after the first call, she wouldn't come to the phone any longer." "I also sent flowers, but with no luck." "The smell of the flowers only made me sicker." "The headaches got worse." "I think I got stomach cancer." "I shouldn't complain, though." "You're only as healthy...." "You're only as healthy as you feel." "You're only as healthy as you feel." "Let's not have any trouble, okay?" "Why won't you talk to me?" "You think I don't know you're here?" "You think I don't know?" "Please leave." "Take your hands off!" "I just want you to know" "Please, just leave." "This is no place to do this." "Take your hands off me." "Take your hands off!" "Just leave." "All right, just leave, then." "l'm gonna tell you you're in a hell!" "You'll die in hell like the rest." "Come on." "There's a cop." "You're like the rest of them." "Look, I'm calling the cop." "Officer!" "Officer!" "Look, don't come around here, because I'll call the police!" "I realise now how much she's just like the others, cold and distant." "And many people are like that." "Women for sure." "They're like a union." "Yo, cab!" "Okay, pull over to the kerb over there." "Right over to the kerb." "Over there." "No, no, don't" " Don't" " Don't" "The fucking meter." "What are you doing?" "What are you doing with the meter?" "Did I tell you to put--?" "Did I tell you to do that with the meter?" "Put the meter back." "Let the numbers go on." "I don't care what I have to pay." "I'm not getting out." "Put the meter back on." "Put it down." "Put it" " That's right." "Put it" " Put it down!" "That's right." "Why are you writing?" "Don't write!" "Put the thing down." "Just sit." "I didn't tell you to write." "I just said, "Pull over."" "We pulled over to the kerb." "We're gonna sit here." "We're gonna sit." "Cabbie, you see that light up there?" "The window?" "The light?" "The window in the second floor." "The one that's closest to the edge of the building." "The light up in the window." "Second storey." "What are you, blind?" "Do you see the light?" "Yeah." "Yeah, you see it." "Good." "You see the woman?" "Do you see the woman in the window?" "Yeah." "You see the woman." "Good." "I want you to see that woman because that's my wife." "But that's not my apartment." "It's not my apartment." "You know who lives there, huh?" "No, I mean, you wouldn't know." "But you know who lives there?" "A nigger lives there." "How do you like that?" "And I'm g" " I'm gonna kill her." "There's nothing else." "I'm gonna kill her." "Well, what do you think of that?" "I said, what do you think of that?" "Don't answer." "You don't have to answer everything." "I'm gonna kill her with a .44" "Magnum pistol." "I have a .44" "Magnum pistol." "I'm gonna kill her with that gun." "Did you ever see what a .44" "Magnum pistol can do to a woman's face?" "I mean, it'd fucking destroy it." "Just blow it right apart." "That's what it can do to her face." "Did you ever see what it can do to a woman's pussy?" "You should." "You should see what a .44" "Magnum's gonna do to a woman's pussy." "What's that?" "I know you must think that I'm, you know...." "You must think I'm pretty sick or something." "Right?" "You must think I'm pretty sick?" "Right?" "I bet you really think I'm sick, right?" "You think I'm sick?" "You don't have to answer." "I'm paying for the ride." "I picked up this midget, you know." "He's very well-dressed, Italian suit good-looking, with a beautiful tall blonde." "Was it a lady midget?" "No, the guy was a midget." "The blonde was a lady." "l got you." "Those midgets are funny." "Sometimes I like to hold a midget." "They're funny." "They always wanna sit in the front seat." "Then I pick up these two fags." "They're going downtown." "They're wearing rhinestone T-shirts." "They start arguing and yelling." "The other one says, "You bitch," and starts beating him." "I say, "I don't care what you do in the privacy of your own home, behind closed doors." "This is an American free country." "We got a pursuit of happiness thing." "You're consenting, you're adult." "But, you know, in my fucking cab, don't go busting heads." "God loves you, do what you want."" "Tell them to go to California." "In California, when two fags split up, one's gotta pay the other one alimony." "Not bad." "They're way ahead out there, you know?" "California." "So I tell them to get out of the cab." "One time, I saw a cop chase this guy with one leg." "He was on crutches, you know." "The cop?" "No, the dude he was chasing." "Fucking cops, they chase anything." "Hey, Travis." "Hey, you got that 5 you owe me?" "My man is loaded." "Loaded." "I'd be broke if I hadn't caught me some people from Ohio out at Kennedy." "I took them into Manhattan by way of Long Beach, tipped me $5." "What's the action around?" "It's pretty slow." "I'm shoving on." "Hey, Wiz, wait." "Can I talk to you for a second?" "Bye, Killer." "Thank you." "Night." "You put it down." "You can have them all you want!" "Hey, don't be hitting my man!" "You better take your ass out, boy!" "Yeah?" "I know you and I ain't talked too much, you know." "But I figure you've been around a lot, so you could...." "Shoot, that's why they call me the Wizard." "I got...." "It's just that I got a...." "I got a...." "Things got you down?" "Yeah, happens to the best of them." "Yeah, they got me real down." "Real...." "I just wanna go out and you know, like, really-- Really" " Really do something." "Taxi life, you mean?" "Yeah, well...." "No, it's...." "I don't know." "I just wanna go out...." "I really...." "I really wanna...." "I got some bad ideas in my head." "I just" "Look." "Look at it this way." "A man...." "A man takes a job, you know." "And that job you know, that becomes what he is." "You know, like...." "You do a thing, and that's what you are." "I've been a cabbie for 1 7 years." "Ten years at night." "And I still don't own my own cab, you know." "Why?" "Because I don't want to." "That must be what I want." "You know, to be on the night shift, driving somebody else's cab." "You understand?" "You get a job, you become the job." "One guy lives in Brooklyn, one guy lives in Sutton Place." "You get a lawyer, another guy's a doctor." "Another guy dies, another guy gets well and people are born." "I envy you, your youth." "Go out and get laid." "Get drunk." "You know, do anything." "You got no choice, anyway." "I mean, we're all fucked." "More or less, you know?" "I don't know." "That's about the dumbest thing I ever heard." "It's not Bertrand Russell, but what do you want?" "I'm a cabbie." "What do I know?" "I don't even know what the fuck you're talking about." "Maybe I don't know either." "Don't worry so much." "Relax, Killer, you're gonna be all right." "I know." "I've seen a lot of people..." "...and I know." "Okay." "Okay." "Thanks, man." "I'll see you." "I guess...." "Yeah, you know." "You're all right." "You're all right." "What do you think of your opponent's chances in the upcoming primary?" "Mr. Goodman is a fine man." "I would certainly, if it came to it, prefer him to our opponent in the other party." "I think that my programmes are better defined than his." "They're more imaginative." "I have a better chance of winning." "It's academic, though." "He's not gonna win the primary." "I am." "I see." "Well, one more thing I'd like to ask you." "How do you feel your campaign is going?" "When we came up with our slogan "We are the people" when I said "Let the people rule" I felt I was being somewhat overly optimistic." "I must tell you that I am more optimistic now than ever before." "The people are rising to the demands that I have made on them." "The people are beginning to rule." "I feel it is a groundswell." "I know it will continue through the primary and in Miami." "And I know it will rise to an unprecedented swell in November." "That bitch, goddamn!" "I'll blow her brains out!" "I'll kill her, goddamn it!" "I'm gonna get my hands on her, I'll kill her!" "Shoot, goddamn it!" "Fucker!" "I swear if I get my hands on her, I'll kill that fucking bitch!" "Hey, Sport." "Hey, Sport." "I'll kill her!" "Damn it!" "That guy keeps following us." "Don't look at him." "Hey, guys." "You wanna take a walk?" "Yeah." "Loneliness has followed me my whole life, everywhere." "In bars, in cars sidewalks, stores, everywhere." "There's no escape." "I'm God's lonely man." "June 8th." "My life has taken another turn again." "The days move along with regularity, over and over one day indistinguishable from the next." "A long, continuous chain." "And then suddenly there is change." "Travis, this here's Easy Andy." "He's a travelling salesman." "How you doing, Travis?" "You got a .44" "Magnum?" "lt's an expensive weapon." "That's all right." "I got money." "It's a real monster." "Stop a car at 1 00 yards, put a round right through the engine block." "Here you go." "It's a premium, high-resale weapon." "Look at that." "Look at that." "That's a beauty." "I could sell this gun to some jungle bunny in Harlem for $500." "But I just deal high-quality goods to the right people." "How about that?" "This might be a little too big for practical purposes." "In which case, for you, I'd recommend 38 snub-nosed." "Look at this." "Look at that." "That's a beautiful little gun." "It's nickel-plated with a snub-nose otherwise the same as a service revolver." "That'll stop anything that moves." "The Magnum, they use that in Africa for killing elephants." "That .38, that's a funny gun." "Some of these guns are like toys." "That .38, you go out and hammer nails with it all day..." "It's got a really nice action to it and a heck of a wallop." "You interested in an automatic?" "It's a Colt .25 automatic." "It's a nice little gun." "It's a beautiful gun." "Holds six shots in the clip, one shot in the chamber." "If you're dumb enough to put a round there." "Here." "Look at this." ".380 Walther." "Holds eight shots in the clip." "That's a nice gun." "That's a beautiful little gun." "Look at that." "During World War II, they used this gun to replace the P 38." "Just given out to officers." "Ain't that a little honey?" "How much for everything?" "All together?" "Well, only a jackass would carry that cannon in the streets like that." "Here's a beautiful handmade holster I had made in Mexico." "Forty dollars." "Three-fifty for the Magnum, 250 for the .38 one and a quarter for the .25, 1 50 for the .380." "You take this and wait here." "I'll walk down with you." "How about dope?" "Grass?" "Hash?" "Coke?" "Mescaline?" "Downers?" "Nembutal?" "Tuinal?" "Chloral hydrates?" "How about uppers, amphetamines?" "No, I'm not interested in that stuff." "I can get you crystal meth, nitrous oxide." "How about a Cadillac?" "A brand-new Cadillac with the pink slip, two grand." "June 29th." "I gotta get in shape now." "Too much sitting has ruined my body." "Too much abuse has gone on for too long." "From now on, it'll be 50 pushups each morning." "Fifty pull-ups." "There will be no more pills." "There will be no more bad food, no more destroyers of my body." "From now on, it'll be total organization." "Every muscle must be tight." "Look at the size of that." "Oh, yeah." "Oh, yeah." "Oh, it looks so good." "It's getting harder and harder, and it's throbbing now." "The idea had been growing in my brain for some time." "True force." "All the king's men cannot put it back together again." "Where do we get more of these?" "Where do you think?" "At headquarters." "All the way back there?" "Come on." "They'll work." "Maybe it's the speakers." "l've done this 1 00 times." "You've done this before?" "Yes, don't worry." "When was the last time?" "l've never done this before." "Betsy!" "Betsy!" "What?" "!" "Betsy." "Come here, come here." "Hey." "Hey, you're a Secret Service man, aren't you?" "Just waiting for the senator." "You're waiting for the senator?" "That's a very good answer." "Shit, man." "I'm waiting for the sun to shine." "Yeah." "No, the reason I asked if you were a Secret Service man" "I won't say anything." "is because l" "I saw some suspicious-looking people over there." "You did?" "They were right over there." "They were just here." "They were very, very...." "Suspicious." "Yeah." "Where'd he go?" "Is it hard to get to be in the Secret Service?" "Why?" "Well, I was just curious, because I think I'd be good at it." "I'm very observant." "I was in the Marine Corps, you know." "I'm good with crowds." "I noticed your little pin there." "That's like a signal, isn't it?" "Sort of." "A signal." "A secret signal for a Secret Service." "Hey, what kind of guns you guys carry?" ".38s?" ".45s?" ".357" "Magnums?" "Something bigger, maybe?" "Look, if you're really interested, if you give me your name and address we'll send you all the information on how to apply." "How's that?" "You will?" "Sure." "Okay." "Why not?" "My name is Henry Krinkle." "K-R-l-N-K-L-E." "1 54 Hopper Avenue." ""Hopper"?" "Yeah." "You know, like a rabbit?" "Hip, hop." "Fair Lawn, New Jersey." "Is there a zip code?" "Yeah, 6-1-0-4-5-2." "Okay?" "That's six digits. 6, 1 ...." "Oh, well, 6-1 -0-4-5." "Okay." "I was thinking of my telephone number." "Well, I've got it all." "Henry, we'll get all the stuff right out to you." "Thanks a lot." "Hey, great." "Thanks a lot." "Hell." "Jesus." "Be careful today." "Right." "Will do." "You have to be careful around a place like this." "Bye." "Damn it!" "Yeah." "I'm faster than you, you fucking sick" "I saw you coming, you fuck." "Shitheel!" "I'm standing here." "You make the move." "You make the move." "It's your move." "Don't try it, you fuck." "You talking to me?" "Well, then who the hell else are you talking to?" "You talking to me?" "Well, I'm the only one here." "Who the fuck do you think you're talking to?" "Oh, yeah?" "Okay." "Listen, you fuckers, you screwheads." "Here is a man who would not take it anymore." "Who would not let" "Listen, you fuckers, you screwheads." "Here is a man who would not take it anymore." "A man who stood up against the scum the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit." "Here is someone who stood up." "You're dead." "Hey, Travis." "Hi, Melio." "Yeah, man?" "Okay, shut your fucking mouth and give me the cash out the drawer." "Come on!" "Let's go." "Give me the damn cash." "Don't shoot." "Stop taking so long." "Come on!" "Let me have it." "Give me the bread." "This all you got?" "That's it." "I don't have any more money, man." "That's all I got!" "You got more." "l tell you, I got no money!" "Reach in your sock." "Give me the rest of the bread." "Hey." "Hey." "Did you get him?" "Yeah, I got him." "Shit, man." "ls he dead?" "l don't know." "His eyes are moving." "I ain't got a permit for this thing." "I don't know what I'm gonna do." "Don't worry." "I'll take care of it." "Can I give you some money?" "No, man, just get out of here." "No, man." "I'll take care of it." "Go ahead." "The fifth motherfucker this year!" "Walt Whitman, that great American poet spoke for all of us when he said:" ""I am the man. I suffered." "I was there." Today I say to you:" "We are the people." "We suffered." "We were there." "We, the people, suffered in Vietnam." "We, the people, suffered." "We still suffer from unemployment, inflation crime and corruption." "Dear Father and Mother July is the month I remember which brings not only your wedding anniversary but also Father's Day and Mother's birthday." "I'm sorry I can't remember the exact dates but I hope this card will take care of them all." "I'm sorry, again, I cannot send you my address like I promised to last year." "But the sensitive nature of my work for the government demands utmost secrecy." "I know you will understand." "I am healthy and well and making lots of money." "I've been going with a girl for several months and I know you'd be proud if you could see her." "Her name is Betsy, but I can tell you no more than that." "Hey, cabbie, you can't park here." "Come on!" "Come on, let's go!" "Let's go!" "Move it!" "bear the burden of suffering for the few." "No more will we fight the wars of the few through the heart of the many." "I hope this card finds you all well, as it does me." "I hope no one has died." "Don't worry about me." "One day there will be a knock on the door and it'll be me." "Love, Travis." "Don't you have some idea?" "I'm not the one who wants to talk." "But you must know that the reason that I didn't marry him is because I couldn't stand to be a cause of divorce." "Now he's getting a divorce anyway." "Phillip wants to marry me, Brock." "I do love him." "What about us, June?" "Our marriage?" "You gotta know our marriage wasn't legal." "In the eyes of God, we are married." "Brock, please don't do this to me." "I love him so" "Damn." "Goddamn!" "They trying to get in the picture." "You looking for some action?" "Yeah." "You see that guy over there?" "Yeah." "You go talk to him." "His name is Matthew." "l'll be over there waiting for you." "Okay." "Your name Matthew?" "I want some action." "Officer." "I swear I'm clean." "I'm just waiting here for a friend." "You gonna bust me for nothing, man?" "I'm not a cop. I ain't a" "Then why are you asking me for action?" "Because she sent me over." "I suppose that ain't a .38" "you've got in your sock." "A .38?" "I'm clean, man." "Shit, you're a real cowboy?" "Yeah." "That's nice, man." "All right." "That's all right." "Fifteen dollars, 1 5 minutes." "Twenty-five dollars, half an hour." "Shit." "A cowboy, huh?" "I once had a horse." "In Coney Island." "She got hit by a car." "Well, take it or leave it." "If you wanna save yourself some money, don't fuck her." "Because you'll be back for more." "She's 1 2 and a half years old." "You ain't never had no pussy like that." "Do anything you want." "Come on her fuck her in the mouth, in the ass." "Come on her face." "She'll get your cock so hard, she'll make it explode." "But no rough stuff." "All right?" "All right, I'll take it." "Hey, man!" "Don't take out no money over here." "You wanna fuck me?" "You're gonna fuck her, you give her the money." "Catch you later, copper." "What'd you say?" "l'll see you later, copper." "I'm no cop, man." "Well, if you are, it's entrapment already." "I'm hip." "Funny, you don't look hip." "Go ahead." "Have yourself a good time." "Go ahead, man." "You're a funny guy." "But looks aren't everything." "Go ahead, man." "Have a good time." "You're a funny guy." "Hey." "The room'll cost you 1 0 bucks." "I'm timing you too." "Come on." "Are you really 1 2 and a half?" "Listen, mister, it's your time." "Fifteen minutes ain't long." "When that cigarette burns out, your time is up." "How old are you?" "You won't tell me?" "What's your name?" "Easy." "That's not any kind of name." "lt's easy to remember." "Yeah, but what's your real name?" "I don't like my real name." "But what's your real name?" "Iris." "What's wrong with that?" "It's a nice name." "That's what you think." "No, don't do that." "Don't do that." "Don't you remember me?" "Remember when you got into a taxi?" "It was a chequered taxi." "You got in and that guy Matthew came by and he said he wanted to take you away." "He pulled you away." "I don't remember that." "You don't remember any of that?" "No." "I'm gonna get you out of here." "Listen, we better make it or Sport'll get mad." "How do you wanna make it?" "l don't wanna make it." "Who's Sport?" "That's Matthew." "I call him Sport." "Wanna make it like this?" "Listen, I...." "Can't you understand something?" "You're the one that came into my cab." "You wanted to get out of here." "Well, I must've been stoned." "Why?" "They drug you?" "Oh, come off it, man." "What are you doing?" "Don't you wanna make it?" "No, I don't wanna make it." "I wanna help you." "Well, I could help you." "Damn, man!" "Goddamn it!" "Shit, man." "What the hell's the matter with you?" "We don't have to make it, mister." "Damn it!" "Don't you wanna get out of here?" "Can't you understand why I'm here?" "I think I understand." "I tried to get into your cab and now you wanna come and take me away." "ls that it?" "Yeah, but don't you wanna go?" "l can leave any time I want to." "Then what about that one night?" "Look, I was stoned." "That's why they stopped me." "When I'm not stoned I got no place else to go." "So they just protect me from myself." "I don't know." "I don't know." "Okay, I tried." "Hey, look, I understand." "And it means something, really." "Yeah, well." "Well, look, can I see you again?" "That's not hard to do." "l don't mean like that." "I mean, you know, regularly." "This is nothing for a person to do." "How about breakfast tomorrow?" "Tomorrow?" "l get up at 1 :00." "One o'clock?" "One o'clock." "Well, I got a thing." "I don't know" "Do you want to or not?" "Yeah, I want-- Okay, all right." "Okay, 1 :00." "One o'clock." "Okay." "See you tomorrow." "Oh, Iris." "My name is Travis." "Thanks a lot, Travis." "So long, Iris." "See you tomorrow." "Sweet Iris." "This is yours." "Spend it right." "Come back anytime, cowboy." "I will." "Why do you want me to go back to my parents?" "They hate me." "Why do you think I split?" "There ain't nothing there." "Yeah, but you can't live like this." "It's a hell." "A girl should live at home." "Didn't you ever hear of women's lib?" "What do you mean, "women's lib"?" "You're a young girl." "You should be at home now." "You should be dressed up, going out with boys." "You should be going to school." "You know, that kind of stuff." "Oh, God, are you square." "Hey, I'm not square." "You're square." "You're full of shit, man." "What are you talking about?" "You walk out with fucking creeps, lowlifes and degenerates and you sell your little pussy for nothing, man?" "For some lowlife pimp?" "Stands in a hall." "I'm the--?" "I'm square?" "You're the one that's square, man." "I don't go screw and fuck with killers and junkies the way you do." "You call that being hip?" "What world you from?" "Who's a killer?" "That guy Sport's a killer." "Sport never killed nobody." "He killed" "He's a Libra." "He's a what?" "I'm a Libra too." "That's why we get along so well." "He looks like a killer to me." "I think that Cancers make the best lovers but my whole family are air signs." "He's also a dope-shooter." "What makes you so high and mighty?" "Will you tell me that?" "Did you ever try looking at your own eyeballs in the mirror?" "What'll you do about Sport and that old bastard?" "When?" "When you leave." "I'll just leave them." "Just leave?" "They got other girls." "You just can't do that." "What are you gonna do?" "Want me to call the cops?" "The cops don't do nothing." "You know that." "Look, Sport never treated me bad." "He didn't beat me up once." "But you can't allow him to do the same to other girls." "You can't allow him to do that." "He is the lowest kind of person." "Somebody's got to do something to him." "He's the scum of the earth." "He's the worst sucking scum I have ever, ever seen." "You know what he told me about you?" "He called you names." "He called you a little piece of chicken." "He does" " He-- He doesn't mean it." "I'll move up to one of them communes in Vermont." "I never seen a commune before, but I don't know." "I saw some photos once in a magazine." "It didn't look very clean." "Why don't you come with me?" "What?" "Come to the commune with you?" "No, no." "Why not?" "l don't go to places like that." "Oh, come on, why not?" "I don't get along with people like that." "Are you a Scorpion?" "What?" "That's it." "You're a Scorpion." "I can tell every time." "Besides, I gotta stay here." "Come on." "Why?" "l got something very important to do." "So, what's so important?" "I'm doing something for the government." "The cab thing is just part-time." "Are you a narc?" "Do I look like a narc?" "Yeah." "I am a narc." "God!" "I don't know who's weirder, you or me." "Sure you don't wanna come with me?" "l'll give you the money to go." "You don't have to do that." "l want you to take it." "I don't want you to take anything from them." "And I wanna do it." "I don't have anything better to do with my money." "I might be going away for a while." "You're just a little tense, that's all." "I don't like what I'm doing, Sport." "Baby, I never wanted you to like what you're doing." "If you ever liked what you were doing, you wouldn't be my woman." "You never spend any time with me anymore." "Well, I got to attend to business, baby." "You miss your man, don't you?" "I don't like to be away from you either." "You know how I feel about you." "I depend on you." "I'd be lost without you." "Don't you ever forget that." "How much I need you." "Come to me, baby." "Let me hold you." "When you're close to me like this, I feel so good." "I only wish every man could know what it's like to be loved by you." "That every woman, everywhere had a man who loves her like I love you." "God, it's good so close." "You know, at times like this I know I'm a lucky man." "Touching a woman who wants me and needs me." "It's only you that keeps me together." "Now I see it clearly." "My whole life has pointed in one direction. I see that now." "There never has been any choice for me." "Ladies and gentlemen the next president of the United States, Senator Charles Palantine." "Thank you, Tom." "Ladies and gentlemen we are met today at a crossroads, Columbus Circle." "This is no ordinary place." "It is a place where many roads and many lives intersect." "It is appropriate that we meet here today because these are not ordinary times." "We meet at a crossroads in history." "For far too long, the wrong roads have been taken." "The wrong roads have led us into war, into poverty into unemployment and inflation." "Today I say to you, we have reached the turning point." "No longer will we, the people, suffer for the few." "Now, I would lie to you if I told you the new roads would be easy." "They will not be easy." "Nothing that is right and good has ever been easy." "We, the people, know that." "And we, the people, know the right roads and the good." "Today I say to you, we are the people, you and I." "And it is time to let the people rule!" "Thank you." "All right, let him through." "Pull back." "Palantine." "Thank you." "Thank you." "Over there." "Get that man." "Give him some air!" "Give him some air, will you?" "l never saw him." "l saw him run." "l saw him." "Where was he?" "What's happening?" "Got the money?" "Iris in her room?" "Yeah." "Okay." "Hey, Sport, how you doing?" "Okay, okay, my man." "How--?" "Where do I know you from, man?" "l don't know." "How's everything in the pimp business?" "Do I know you?" "No." "Do I know you?" "Get out of here." "Come on, get lost." "Do I know you?" "How's Iris?" "You know Iris." "No, I don't know nobody named Iris." "Iris?" "Come on, get out of here, man." "You don't know anybody named Iris?" "l don't know nobody named Iris." "No?" "Get back to your fucking tribe before you get hurt." "I don't want no trouble, okay?" "You got a gun?" "Get the fuck out of here, man." "Get out of here." "Suck on this." "Hey!" "You crazy son of a bitch!" "Fucking son of a bitch!" "I'll kill you!" "I'll kill you!" "I'll kill you!" "I'll fucking kill you!" "Crazy son of a bitch!" "I'll kill you!" "Crazy son of a bitch!" "You fucking bastard!" "I'll kill you!" "You crazy son of a bitch!" "I'll kill you!" "I'll kill you!" "I'll kill you!" "I'll kill you!" "Stop!" "Don't shoot him!" "Dear Mr. Bickle:" "I can't say how happy Mrs. Steensma and I were to hear that you are well and recuperating." "We tried to visit you at the hospital when we were in New York to pick up Iris but you were still in a coma." "There is no way we can repay you for returning our iris to us." "We thought we had lost her and now our lives are full again." "Needless to say you are something of a hero around this household." "I'm sure you want to know about Iris." "She's back in school and working hard." "The transition has been very hard for her as you can well imagine." "But we have taken steps to see she has never cause to run away again." "In conclusion Mrs. Steensma and I would like to again thank you from the bottom of our hearts." "Unfortunately, we cannot afford to come to New York again to thank you in person, or we surely would." "But if you should ever come to Pittsburgh you would find yourself a most welcome guest in our home." "Our deepest thanks, Burt and Ivy Steensma." "Eddie, the owner-operator, comes up, he says, "Hey, I wanna swap tyres."" "I say, "These are new tyres." "Why not throw in something else, like your wife?"" "His wife was Miss New Jersey of 1 957." "That's why the fleet has no spares." "Doughboy, Wizard, Killer." "Hey." "Charlie T." "What's happening?" "Hey, Travis, you got a fare." "Shit." "Well, see you later." "See you, Travis." "Hello, Travis." "Hello." "I hear Palantine got the nomination." "Yeah, won't be long now." "Seventeen days." "Well, I hope he wins." "I read about you in the papers." "How are you?" "Oh, it was nothing, really." "I got over that." "The papers always blow these things up." "Just a little stiffness." "That's all." "Travis." "How much was it?" "So long."