"So, what are you gonna do for me?" "We're going to be straight that I've had it." "What do you say to the fact that..." "I'm gonna die?" "I'm going to miss you." "Fuck that." "I won't know about that." "I need to know what you're worth when I leave you nothing." "Who wants the world at their feet?" "It's confusing, isn't it?" "I'll do the best I can." "You can go knowing that, okay?" "You're me now..." "If you'll have it." "$10,000?" "Player wins." "$20,000?" "Player wins." "$40,000?" "Player wins." "Again." "Again!" "Double it." "Make it $80,000." "Come on." "Mister Lee can cover a lot more than that, buddy." "You must be new." "Double it!" "$80,000." "I hope you paid your rent, homes." "I don't pay rent, homes." "What's up, man?" "You got a problem?" "Issue of some kind?" "Yeah, I don't like your fucking hat." "You know, I think you kinda wanted me to have an issue, so I thought of that one." "I'll see you outside, my friend." "Oh, we all got to go outside sometime, brother." "This place is just a dream." "You a gambler?" "Not like you." "You want to fuck around or you want to cut cards for my last $500?" "I'll put 10 grand against your $500." "I haven't got 10 grand." "That's an unequal bet." "It's a unequal general situation." "Well, fuck it." "Get a deck." "That's funny, no?" "I thought you wanted my business card." "Congratulations." "I know you." "I think you're the kind of guy that likes to lose." "Life's a losing proposition, right?" "You might as well get it over with." " Need a stake?" " You like staking losers?" "I know how you guys stake people." "Then you know everything." "Your luck is no good tonight." "Oh, that depends, if you give me another $10,000 credit." "You came in with $10,000 in cash." "You didn't give it to me." "Well, I mean, this is a gambling establishment." "Have I ever not paid you?" "Eventually a debt gets too big to pay." "You owe me $240,000 and I want it in seven days." "He took it, man." "Stake me 50 grand." "At 20 points." "Give him 50 grand." "You make sure my man over here has your digits and so forth." "I feel better about your hat." "This motherfucker." "There's 40." "I'm going to keep back 10, okay?" "You know, you can take the whole 50 against my vig, but this is a gambling establishment." "I came to play." "Just one blue $10,000 marker, please." "No, no." "Don't look at anyone." "You look at me." "Just do it." "21." "Another satisfied customer." "Let's play the two." "$20,000?" "He doesn't want you to look at him." "Just keep dealing the cards." "$40,000." "I'm good." "Take it." "Player wins." "Don't look at him." "There's no limit." "He wants to fuck or fight, and I'm not interested in either." "So, please, just deal the cards." " It's for your protection." " For my protection?" "Fuck my protection." "You don't come here for fucking protection from yourself." "You come for the fucking opposite." "And here I am." "So, please, deal the cards." "Thank you." "$80,000." "Player wins." "No more bets." "You got me feeling lucky." "I'm putting everything on black." "Red's been coming up all night." "You want me to pay you now?" "Is that what you want me to do?" " No." " Why not?" "Maybe I enjoy watching the show." "What about ripping me off outside if I win?" "Not in that business, brother." "Everything on black." "No more bets." "Nineteen, red." "Float me some spending money." "That's at 20 points, too." "First public notice that was ever made of Shakespeare was from a Grub Street writer, Robert Greene, who called him an "upstart crow" ""beautified with our feathers,"" "in the book..." "In the book, under that title on the board." "Is the beautified feathers thing because" "Greene knew that Shakespeare was the Earl of Oxford?" "Absolutely..." "Not." "Not even close!" "I..." "The Earl of Oxford published poetry, okay?" "And it wasn't any good." "I mean, had Oxford been able to get a play put on, he'd have broken a leg to do it." "I mean, can you think of any human being that would, for any reason, not put his name on Hamlet?" "The Oxfordian thing." "The anti-Stratfordian thing." "What pisses people off about Shakespeare..." "What lies behind every controversy about Shakespeare is rage." "Rage over the nature and unequal distribution of talent." "The rage that genius appears where it appears for no material reason at all." "Desiring a thing cannot make you have it." "Now, the trouble with writing, if I may bring it up here in the English Department is we all do a little of it from time to time, writing." "And some of us start to think, delusionally, maybe with a little time, a little peace, a little money in the bank, and you get that room of your own, you think, "Well, shit," ""I might be a writer, too."" "I mean, we accept genius in sports as something we cannot do." "But it's no more likely that you could be a writer that you could be what?" "An Olympic pole-vaulter?" "Because what you have to be before you try to be a pole-vaulter..." "Hello!" "ls a pole-vaulter, no?" " Yeah!" " You are one." " A pole-vaulter?" " A novelist." "No, I am not." "For me to be a novelist," "I would have to make a deal with myself, that it was okay being a mediocrity in a profession that died commercially in the last century." "All right, people do that." "I am not one of them." "If you take away nothing else from my class, from this experience, let it be this..." "If you're not a genius, don't bother, all right?" "The world needs plenty of electricians, and a lot of them are happy." "I'll be fucked if I'll be a mid-list novelist getting good reviews from the people I give good reviews to." "Let's have a look at Dexter." "Dexter!" "An ordinary-looking young man with a what?" "Size 40 jacket, regular features, and decent dentition, is the second-ranked collegiate tennis player in the United States of America." "How did that come about, Dexter?" "You come from a tennis family?" "Well, I mean," "I started playing five years ago in high school 'cause the tennis guys have the best weed." "After you started tennis, how long was it before you were better than everybody?" "Before I was better than everybody, or before I knew it?" "What happened when you noticed you were naturally better than everybody?" "I..." "I got interested in the game." "That is an IQ break point, brother." "Right there!" "Do you remember Machiavelli?" "That would have been in September." "Man." "I can remember September." "All right." "Is it the game, brother, or the money?" "Virtu or fama?" "Fame or virtue?" "What are you after?" "Don't go modest on me." "What do you want?" "Both." "You got ambitious, yeah?" "I realised, as I learned about the game, that I was in reach of..." "In reach of..." "In reach of..." "Highest level?" "Highest level, yeah." "Highest level." "But it's still a gamble, isn't it?" "Look, I'm a literature teacher." "I can't write well enough to bother," "Or I just don't bother, whichever." "Whichever it is, there'll be no apotheosis around here." "There'll be no "Vae, puto, deus fio!"" "around here." "That's what Emperor Vespasian said on his deathbed," ""Dear me, I think I'm becoming a god."" "But do you know who does write at the highest level?" "When most of us and even I..." "Even I write barely adequately?" "Do you know who it is?" "In this room." "Who is it?" "Don't give me that look." "No, no, no, no, no." "It isn't the one who talks the most." "You're an NPR host, tops." "Okay?" "The literary person in here" "is Miss Phillips." "She's the least obstreperous in this room, the quietest, and the only one who can have a real career at letters." "Some of you can have one perceptually." "Only she can have one in reality." "She is better at writing than our U.S. presently amateur number two is at tennis." "Yet she chooses to hide, or just blend in with the rest of you." "Why?" "Why is that, Miss Phillips?" "I..." "Being in the middle is the safest place to be." "Where do you come from?" " Ohio." " Ohio." "Parents are geniuses, by any chance?" "Filthy rich?" "No." "Well, your dad wasn't the Earl of Oxford, was he?" "No." "No?" "How old were you when you read?" "I was two." "Two?" "Well, that's early." "That's prodigious." "Any advantages?" "Literary home life?" "Who's your father?" "Well..." "He worked in a factory." "Well, your mother?" "I don't..." " What was..." " She was an alcoholic." "She was insane." "Wait, wasn't your dad..." "I don't see how this is pertinent." "No money, no advantages, no peer of the realm." "You're not the Earl of Oxford, are you?" "No?" "Then why are you better than the rest of us?" "No, you look at me." "You are better than the rest of us." "If no one's told you yet you're a genius and an artist, let me be the first." "Okay." "I don't know if you can say that." "'Cause I think it's subjective, man." "I mean, we all have something to offer." "Bullshit." "Genius is magical, not material." "If you don't have the magic, no amount of wishing will make it so." "Miss Phillips, if you plan to continue to come to my class, you sit in the front where you belong or don't bother showing up." "Have a nice day." "So, I mean, if you can step in in some way, I..." "Dean Fuller?" "May I have a word?" "More words?" "The athletic department has asked how a certain person is doing." "You mean the certain person who cannot stay off his phone?" "I mean, you do realise that this certain person cannot write at a high school level, never mind a collegiate one." "That doesn't matter though, right?" "I mean, come on." "Half the fucking tenured faculty would be flogged to death for idiocy at ordinary grammar school, in any previous century, so..." "Why would it matter?" "Why do you care about that if you don't care about anything?" "You're probably right." "Motherfucker!" "I'll never beat you, Mr. Dexter." "But if you ever give me a point again," "I'll fire you." "Good luck in the finals." "Thank you, ma'am." "Why do you need the money?" "If you were escaping for a purpose, maybe I'd buy it." "Well, going on as I am is the only thing I've got." "That's sophistical." "It's beneath you." "I think you would agree that modification is possible." "Do you?" "I know you're in real trouble." "I know this is all connected to your grandfather's death." "But you're not narcissistic enough to put on a show, nor are you an adolescent." "And I think it goes without saying that you're far from stupid." "You're my son." "But you have to understand I've said good-bye before to people I love." "Yeah, whatever did happen to Dad?" "I have done it many, many times." "I don't want to know the nature of your problem." "I just want you not to have it any more." "I'm not giving you any more." "Hey" "You Jim Bennett?" " Yeah." " Get in." "Big Ernie." "You're not that big." "I'm not talking about my jacket, brother." "You know, with all due respect," "I'm not interested in your johnson, so..." "Sure you are." "It has been so since the Greeks." "I can't argue with that, I guess." "A friend of mine says that you're a teacher." "I'm associate professor." "The amount of cash you want is more than" "I am ordinarily disposed to loan out, unless, say, you're a medium-sized country with the ability to raise taxes under the threat of military force." "Or... a Eurotrash cokehead who has a father that can be squeezed after the little prick's micro-budget sci-fi film doesn't get picked up at Sundance." "Are you following me?" "You have family that can be squeezed?" "I'm saying that rhetorically." "Let's just deal with this as gentlemen, who understand each other, please." "No." "I need for us to treat each other like we're not gentlemen and that we're very, very stupid." "Okay." "There's no family." "There's never any family." "What do you make?" "$100,000, $150,000 a year?" "$200,000 before taxes?" "What's wrong with you?" "You got brain damage?" "Some fundamental disability?" "$200,000 is a monk!" "And you, a monk, owe that Korean son of a bitch, that prince of fucking darkness, that much already." "And then another $50,000, excluding the vig, to Neville Baraka, who will kill you, because when you cut cards he got the king of spades and you laughed at him." "You're pretty well informed." "You borrowed 50K from a very dangerous man after he was already going to kill you." "Yes, I did." "Birth, education, intelligence, talent, looks, family money, has all this been some real comprehensive fucking burden for you?" "I see two problems." "One, the world at his feet, in this town, and he's a fucking monk because, apparently, "Fuck it."" "Two, he wants to dance with the devil for some unspecified reason, and therefore owes money to Korean murderers, and talks about a schvartze's hat in a place where you can get killed, and they merely drop your body up" "the Angeles Crest." "Three, he wants to borrow a quarter of a million dollars to pay off debts, which he will, in fact, not pay off because, to go back to point two, he's suicidal." "Just let me know what you can do for me, all right?" "If I help you consolidate these debts, even at a lesser load, do you think that I will be anyone you want to fuck up the ass?" "Am I likelier to be fucked up the ass?" "Less likely, I imagine." "Listen to me." "Listen to me." "I'm not your doctor." "I'm not your cognitive therapist." "But let me be your uncle." "You have to pay 10% a week." "I know what I have to do." "Where you going to get my money?" "I'll get the money." "How much you want?" "I am $260,000 all in." "When's the last time you had money in your hand to pay a debt and paid it?" "Don't fuck with me." "This will be the first time when you pay, am I right?" "That's right." "We're not done." "I need something from you." "What, collateral?" "No." "I need you to tell me," ""I need this money because I am a scumbag gambler." ""I am a scumbag gambler" ""who is drowning in his own shit." ""That's the kind of man I am, Frank." ""And I want you to loan me, a dying, suicidal asshole," ""a lot of money."" "That's too much to remember." "Repeat it." "Well, I'll make it simpler for you." "You want this money, you tell me," ""I am not a man."" "Say it." "Say, "I am not a man."" "Yes?" "Did you mean what you said?" "About me having talent?" "Is there something you don't get about" ""A ++, see me "?" "Then you never see me." "Yeah, well, I don't want to see you." "Because I've seen you in your other life?" "No." "No, it isn't that." "Do you know why I'm in trouble here?" "Because I tell the truth." "That's what I do." "Do you want me to split the atom, succumb to velocity, and tell you the truth?" "Physiology doesn't lie." "Everything else does." "Everybody else does." "Physiology doesn't." "It's post-intellectual." "What are you trying to say to me?" "I'm not in any position to say anything." "Try." "Why should I try?" "Because what you said before." "I need you to leave." "Right now." "All right, this is not happening." "I'm serious." "Go." "You have to go." "I want you to sign this." "Absolutely fucking not." "I want you to fucking sign it." "Look, I am not being dramatic, okay?" "But that was somebody else." "You are being dramatic." "Which is fine, because the novel's basically okay, but that's what you are, a dramatist." "Did you write this because you believed in it, or because you thought this is what people wanted?" "Well, what do you propose we move on to?" "When was the last time that somebody told you that you're a genius?" "We're not having this conversation." "I want to go to a restaurant." "There's a whole bunch of things" "I don't do any more, and that's... kind of up there." "Guy with no money speaking." "How may I direct your call?" "I'm reading your book." "Not bad." "If you want to get into producing, there's only about a hundred grand against it at Warner Brothers." "Good script." "I know the guy who did it." "It's an indie at best." "Yeah." "Yeah." "That's what they thought." "I hear you went to Little Frankie for some money." "He wouldn't loan it to you." "Well, you heard wrong, because he did try to loan it to me and I didn't take it." "You didn't like the terms?" "No, the terms weren't acceptable." "But you're in to me." "And I ain't Fannie Mae." "Ain't no bailouts." "Oh, yeah, then Why'd you loan me the money?" "A gamble between two players who like to play." "Me and you." "Double header." "Let me give you a bit of advice here." "What's that?" "You owe somebody money, you don't fuck around." "I want the money by Monday." "I'll take that car of yours." "Consider it collateral." "In The Stranger Camus's protagonist fires five shots." "The sixth shot of the revolver he is reserving, symbolically, for himself." "Noticing that, originally, is why I'm here now." "Lamar." "Lamar." "You're taking notes or you're texting?" "You have anything you want to add?" "What do you think?" "Maybe the dude had a hammer on an empty chamber or something, or a weird French piece that only took five." "No, my idea works better if he has a full six." "I don't understand suicide." "Well, that's because you're happy." "You got a BMW M1." "How you unhappy?" "Do I look happy?" "I'm not happy." "You know why?" "Because I'm teaching the Modern Novel to a classroom full of students who don't give a fuck." "You know, you really should have gone for American Realism." "I mean, let's have more fucking realism." "I mean, shouldn't I be teaching you things?" "Nah, I should." "I know all you're here for is a sufficiency of English credits, but, Jesus, if I'm here," "I ought to be doing better." "Right?" "I could stand here stark naked and I could yell as loud as I want, and nobody cares." "When you leave here today, call your parents, and tell them you apologise for wasting their time, and more importantly, wasting their money, sitting in this classroom, learning absolutely nothing." "Let's start fresh." "Let's clean the slate right now." "Let me introduce myself." "My name is James Bennett." "I'm here pretending to teach." "And you've been here pretending to learn." "This is what I want you to do." "Write down that he saves the sixth shot symbolically for himself." "You're not going to find a reference anywhere, okay?" "Because I am the only one who thought of it, all right?" "It's in a monograph somewhere that got me into this situation..." "Where I can't, so I pretend to teach!" "And you pretend to learn." "Lamar!" "The fucking phone!" "You stay after." "Everybody else, just go." "Go." "Go!" "I guess, we should go." "Coming?" "What do I have to do?" "What do I do?" "Get ten guys, some weapons, take out a life insurance policy, and try to put that phone up your ass?" "Because I will." "I need you to pay attention!" "Is that too much to ask for?" "You come into this class and you pay attention for a fucking hour?" "You know, they expect me to pass you, regardless." "Regardless!" "They want me to give you a passing grade, so you can keep going out there and bouncing that basketball around." "I need you to put the phone down for a second." "You're not the only one losing his shit!" "I was going to talk to you anyway." "Because I can't talk to anybody over there." "'Cause all they going to say is what keeps me in line for what they want me to be." "Which is "Lamar," but I don't want to be "Lamar."" "I done all that." "I just want to be another fucking dude in the universe, or do more than just being "Lamar."" "Yeah, I know all about it." "But the fucking coach don't know about it." "There's more than being "Lamar."" "I stick with this shit, man, I'll go out of my mind!" "Probably be one of those brothers that talks to himself in, like, third person and shit." "Talk about how, "Lamar is at ease with his celebrity."" "They got me in a box where they want me." "Trapped by talent, imagine that." "You know, man, in here it's all existential situations and shit." "No matter what you start talking about, you come around to be free or not to be free." "How to be yourself or nothing at all." "Is that what I talk about?" "All or nothing?" "I've never heard you talk about anything else but to be or not to be." "And I've had four classes with you." "Maybe you got me." "I need to go pro." "I don't think you're going to have any trouble, Lamar." "I don't mean later." "I mean now." "I need to go pro." "I already got a knee." "Nobody knows about it, 'cause I don't say anything." "But I already got a knee." "See, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that my mom needs an operation, or my little sister has spina bifida." "But I am going to tell you that I got a knee." "I got a knee." "I'm a junior." "And whenever I tell somebody I don't wanna play college ball in my senior year, nobody listens to me." "It's like I'm talking Chinese on another fucking planet!" "And then the coach tells me" "I don't have the market value I would have if I don't play out my senior year." "But what he doesn't know is I got a fucking knee." "You have it looked at away from the department?" "Yeah." "Yeah, that's right." "All right, here's Allen bringing it up the court on a fast break." "Moves to the top of the key." "Lamar drives." "Throws it down, and he's fouled!" "Yes!" "Allen at the line to complete the three-point play." "After what's happened in the last two and a half minutes, there is no way Lamar is missing this free throw." "And swish." "His eyes on the prize." "Oh, here's Fisher inbounding the ball." "Wildcats bringing the full court pressure." "Martin bringing it up the court." "Three seconds on the clock." "Passes cross court." "Allen, from out of nowhere, tips it!" "This one is over!" "Wildcats have done it!" "Oh, my, oh, my!" "Lamar Allen, one of the best basketball players in the game." "All season long, he produced at a high calibre of play..." "Did you have money on the game?" "Why would I have money on the game?" "He's a student of mine." "That's unethical, all right?" "I would not bet on a student of mine." "You think I would do something like that?" "I would never do anything like that, okay?" "What kind of a person do you think I am?" "Do I have money on the game!" "Is he good at English?" "No, he's not!" "Fucking doing in my fucking house." "Fuck!" "How bad is this trouble you're in?" "I'm always in trouble." "No, I mean, do you still need money?" " No." " Truthfully?" "Truthfully." "I never know when to believe you any more." "Perhaps I should believe the gangster who phoned my home." "What's that?" "What I owe." "Jesus." "How is this possible?" "Same as your marriage." "I lost." "No." "Marriage is in the real world." "It's not a game of chance." "Now you're talking crazy." "What'll they do to you if you don't pay?" "Break every bone in my body." "Go after the family." "I can't help doing this." "I don't believe this is a disease." "Well, I just had a considerable conversation about character." "And there's going to be a moment when I want something again, when I won't allow myself to be seen in this condition." "But it's not now, and it's not up to you or anything you or anybody else fucking says, okay?" "Are you degraded enough to come with your mother to the bank?" "In cases like this I have to ask, is everything okay?" "Nothing's okay, when someone needs that amount of money in cash." "But it's my money, and it's none of your goddamn business." "Are you a relation?" "This is my son." "Either you can't see the uncanny resemblance, or you're implying she's under duress or something." "Should I be?" "Look, dean it's my money and there's plenty of it." "And don't even start to tell me that all of this bullshit is for my protection, because that is understood." "Now, you have the withdrawal slip." "Here is my I.D." "There are sufficient funds." "My family has been with this bank since my father-in-law started it." "Now, what I want is $260,000.." "...in cash." "Are you sure you want that in cash?" "Cash." "Okay?" "Cash." "I'm sorry, I'm going to ask for..." "What?" "For a second piece of identification." "It's for your own protection." "This is the last of it." "If I ever have to hear about your problems again," "I will never see you again." "Do you understand that?" "I need you to fucking understand that!" "Am I embarrassing you?" "Do you want to just take the money?" "You want to just take the money and go?" "Even if I say goodbye and consider it cheap to be rid of you?" "Yeah, I want to take the money and go." "Hey" "Hey" "If I have to pull you into an inappropriate relationship to get you out of your job," "I'm ready to go." "So am I." "What if I told you that I'm not a gambler?" "What if you saw me with a needle in my arm and I told you that I'm not a junkie?" "I saw you be a professor and I know you're not one of those." "Yeah." "It's good to come out here." "It's good." "I come out here because it makes me feel alive." "No." "No." "No." "Not good enough." "There's something else, I don't quite know what it is." "I know a lot, but I don't fucking know that." ""And I always sat on a blanket in the middle of nowhere" ""with nothing around me but infinite possibilities,"" "and it's bullshit." "I'm sick of it." "So..." "You are the perfect example of how a person can start off with no problems whatsoever, and then go out of their way to make sure that they have all of them." "There's no relative degree of suffering." "What, you want me to talk about my problems?" "Well, I don't like people with problems or the fucking vanity to bring them up." "That's where I'm from." "I'm like my mother." "You know, whether I'm like my father or not I couldn't tell you, because she got rid of him when I was little." "And you don't think that you need to talk to anybody?" "No." "I need a lot of things." "I need to wipe myself out first." "I need to have no past." "If I can get to nothing, then I can start over." "Hello!" "Echo!" "Do you want to help me start over?" "There is something wrong with everybody here." "They should be in the hospital." "Yeah, that's right, but they're not." "All right, the Man wants you to be in the hospital." "These people are fucking Americans taking a major stand for freedom." "Well, assisted autonomy." "This is the inside of my soul, kid." "This is what I got." "Wow." "Well, at least I'm going to get rid of my mother." "This table right here." "Come on." "Buy-in at $10,000." "How far you going, man?" "As far as it goes, buddy." "I go as far as that seat on the other side of you, man." "Save it for the old lady, cowboy." "That's $500, sir." "Yes, it is." "Are you a dealer or an investment counsellor?" "Double." "We gambling or what?" "Let's go." "Give me the three." "Is he kidding?" "Whoa." "What are you, Houdini?" "Pulled that one out of your ass." "Wow." "Unbelievable." "Pulls a three on an eight." "Unbelievable." "I'm sorry." "I'll play another $10,000." "Buy-in at $10,000!" "Give me the bag." "That's $500, sir." "It's not $500." "$1,000." "Another $500." "It's $2,000." "Deal the cards, please." "$2,000 plays." "Buy-in at $10,000!" "Buy-in at $10,000!" "Buy-in at $10,000!" "Everything?" "You want to hear something really fucking crazy?" "There was a student, just the other day, who said that my problem, if one's nature is a problem rather than just fucking problematic, right, is that I see things in terms of victory or death," "and not just victory but total victory." "It's true." "I always have." "Well, it's either victory or don't bother." "The only thing worth doing is the impossible, right?" "Everything else is fucking grey." "You're born as a man with the nerves of a soldier, the apprehension of an angel, to lift a phrase, but there's no fucking use for it." "Here?" "Where's the use for it?" "What, you're set to be a philosopher or a king or fucking Shakespeare, and this is all they give you?" "This?" "What?" "20-odd years of school, which is all instruction in how to be ordinary." "They'll fucking kill you, and they fucking will!" "You know, and then it's a career, right?" "Which is just not the same thing as existence, so..." "I want unlimited things." "I want everything." "I want a real fucking love, a real fucking house, a real fucking thing to do every day, and, I just..." "I'd just rather die if I don't get it." "Did I just say that out loud?" "Hey." "Jim!" "You stopped answering your phone." "I told you the time frame." "What the fuck do I care about your time frame?" "So you don't die." "Everybody dies." "Aren't you afraid of dying from something other than natural causes?" "I got to take whatever's coming, because I don't have the money." "Your grandfather pops, and you don't have any money?" "Well, my grandfather thought it was a character builder." "So..." "Not even, "I'll have it"?" "You just say no." "You give the Korean any of his?" "No." "You know Lamar Allen?" "No." "Don't fuck with me!" "He's a student of mine." "And what's this got to do with anything?" "You know what this got to do with everything!" "How much you know Lamar?" "Hey, Jim, pick up." "Jim!" "I called that number for Lamar and it wasn't the number." "Now, Jim, I need Lamar." "And I know where you live." "Tick-took, motherfucker." "Human weakness is not something I discourage." "How could I?" "I run gambling establishments." "I loan money." "I've not been in debt for many years, but," "I still remember the feeling." "What's that?" "To be obligated." "Unbalanced in one's thoughts." "Insecure, unclean." "I think you want to hurt yourself, but make others do it for you." "I'm not going to tell you I'll get the money, all right?" "Because I don't know if I can, and I wouldn't insult you." "It doesn't make any difference." "I mean, I have no position, right?" "You expected your money and I don't have it." "Here we are." "What the fuck do you want to do?" "How am I to collect?" "Loan me another $100,000." "It's how I got in." "It's the only way I'll get out." "One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, four Mississippi, five Mississippi..." "Fuck!" "It's not so bad." "Not so bad." "Perfectly good watch." "Why do you want to sell it?" "Well, either I don't need to know what time it is or I need money." "What do you care?" "Well, I need to know if it is..." "No, what you need to do is just come up with an offer or not." "We have so many of these here." "Look, it's an Omega." "It's worth more than $6,000 brand new, and when you have it no one'll know that it isn't brand new." "You are insulting me." "Why?" " I'm insulting you?" " Why are you insulting me?" " We're not gonna fuck around." " We're doing business." "No, no." "Don't even talk to me any more." "I want you to understand when I say what I want for it," "I am giving you the figure that I will take for it." "Do you understand me?" "No, no, no." "Look at me!" "I will say the price now and you will either say yes or no." "Do you understand?" "It is impossible." "Impossible to say yes or..." "All right." "Wait." "Wait, wait." "It is a good watch." "I am good man, you are good man." "No." "I told you, not to say anything but yes or no." "You're wasting my time!" "I am willing to listening to your price." "Okay?" "You can't counter it." "When I say my figure, that's the figure, and you either say yes or no." "You got it?" "How can I say yes or no if I am not hearing the price?" "You're not getting it." " I am getting it." " You're not getting it." " I am getting it." " No, no, no." " You're not getting it." " I am getting it!" "You need to understand fully that what I say is not an opening figure." "You can say yes or no." "You cannot say a lower figure, and expect to meet me at some point in the middle." "Do you under-fucking-stand?" "Please." "Please." "We are amour, yes?" "Amour." "Okay?" "Calm." "Calm." "Yes?" "I understand." "What is your price?" "$3,500." "$1,000." " $1,200." " Go fuck yourself." "I don't give a shit!" "No need for this!" "What?" "Where are you going?" "What are you doing?" "Wait one second!" "Please, please, I can't help myself." "Yes, you can." "Try." "$2,000?" "What?" "It is good price!" "And I'll give you cheque!" "ls no problem!" " Get in." " All right." "Jim!" "Man, you gave me the wrong number on Lamar." "You know what else I know?" "What's that?" "You think all Koreans are Korean and shit." "And they don't communicate with the American negro!" "I heard you asked Mister Lee to stake you out of your situation." "And to give you enough to have a shot at the title of being the world's stupidest asshole!" "Give me Mister Lee's money." " He didn't front me any." " Yeah, fuck you." "Well, your information is wrong." "How am I gonna get my money, Jim?" "What if I told you I quit my job and I'm gonna write a novel?" "Really?" "What did the first one make?" "With the advance and royalties, $17,000 all in." "Fuck me." "For one of the better reviewed first novels of 2007?" "I think I'll make other arrangements." "I mean, the culture apparently did." "So let's talk cash first, other business later." "What about your family?" "I got all I could get." "Can I get the money from them if I send you to Mexico?" "You know, "Oh, my God," ""I don't know what happened to him!"" "Get my friend Valerio to mail them your dick." "My family didn't make their money because they pay up easily." "Apparently that's genetic." "I'll tell you, boy, genetics, cruel motherfucking mistress." "What if I lit a cigar and put it out in your eyeball?" "Would you give me the money then?" "Do I look like a magician?" "You must've thought you was magic occasionally, or else you wouldn't be in the African Membership Club owing me 60 grand." "I'm gonna need the equity on your house, Jim." "We'll paper it right as a sale." "But then I got to take over the goddamn mortgage, find some fucking vice president of animation to rent it to..." "And I don't fucking wanna do that shit!" "But you got to make the turnip bleed from whatever hole it's got, right?" "Now, your grandfather, I respect him, he's a businessman." "But Lamar, who you gave me the wrong number for..." "Lamar's a good kid, all right." "He doesn't need any of this shit." "You gonna tell me you made a mistake with the number?" "Why would I tell you I made a mistake?" "I gave you a fake one." "I made it up." "Okay." "Well, see, my man Mr. Jones here is going to give you the real one." "That is the last time that you lie to me, my friend." "Lamar don't need your help." "Every man's got to go it alone, Jim." "And Lamar's got to make his own choices." "So let him make it." "Now, I'm not gonna call him." "That would merely confuse the issue." "But you're gonna get me Lamar." "And it will be more than an introduction." "In fact, I don't even want an introduction." "Lamar's going to do exactly what I want him to do without ever seeing my face." "I need him before the game tomorrow at home." "Now, they're running eight points on Michigan." "You tell Lamar he can win if he wants, but no more than seven." "But you get him for tomorrow." "Because if not," "I'm going to kill that pretty little blonde girl, show you the pictures, and then kill you next." "Hey, what's happening, man?" "Man, making it do what it do." "Yes, sir!" "No doubt." "What happened to your face?" "Whatever happened, it already happened and won't happen again." "So you're starting to make promises now?" "No, that's not happening." "You don't get it." "What's going on?" "I'm getting out of here as fast as I can as everybody and their fucking aunt is eyeballing me right now." "It might be better if you weren't chasing along as if you're my wife!" "Jesus Christ." "I tell the truth, all right." " That's all I got." " No." "No!" "You can't talk to people like that." "Really?" "Who says?" "Who says?" "I do." "I want you to stop looking concerned, okay?" "And I want you to shake my hand." "And you know the kind of fucking man I am." "Don't lie to yourself." "I don't." "What happened?" "Nothing happened." "You're not getting it, okay?" "Just..." "If I come to your door, then I'll have made it, and everything will start to be all right." "If I don't, then I didn't fucking make it!" "And what you do with the dead is bury them, that's it!" "You really hate yourself that much?" "Hold out your hand and say goodbye." "Please." "Please?" "It's really fucking easy to be passionate about" "Robert fucking Greene!" "One, two, three, four." "What happened to your face, man?" "A little while ago you came to me for advice about turning pro." "I know it's about your knee." "I know you have a feeling you have to put money in the bank." "So..." "I was wondering if you'd like to make $150,000 in two hours." "Depends on what you have in mind." "Throwing a game." "You can't win tomorrow by more than seven points." "That's not throwing a game." "That's winning by less than eight." "Who wants me to do it?" "What they got on you?" "Doesn't matter." "Man, they fucked you up." "But they ain't need to fuck you up." "No, I needed it." "And they'll fuck you up if you need it, too." "You gotta deliver." "I'm asking because I know you need it." "It's up to you." "It's your call." "I do this, I get you out of trouble?" "No." "Hey." "Where did a teacher like you get that kind of money?" "He's not there yet," "Percussion's in front, but Kaleidoscopio continues to gain." "Percussion..." "Here comes Kaleidoscopio!" "And he did it!" "No one can believe it!" "Well, they fucking weren't supposed to, were they?" "That was the point." "Sit down." "You drink?" "I don't remember if you drink." "Of course, there's drink, and drink." "I drink." "But I haven't been drunk since Reagan was president." "I got a DUI, and in jail" "I actually fell down and pissed my pants." "You don't need to do that twice." "I tell you this so you'll know everybody's been there." "Everybody's been there." "Once." "If you're there twice, having been there once, I can't help you." "You know," "I listen to the drunks and it's like you're listening to a fairy story about a fight with a fucking monster when the actual title of the story is" ""I Can't Handle My Liquor" by Mr. Crybaby." " Amen." " I don't know, maybe they got a problem, but fuck 'em if they do, 'cause I don't." "Which leads me to ask, are you pulling this shit just now, or forever?" "I mean, do you have a problem," ""Waah-waah-waah," like some little fucking girl, or some Somali who can't process that there's no food where they live?" "Or are you just fucked up temporarily 'cause you're temporarily fucking stupid?" "Are you long business or short business?" "What's the difference?" "I need to know if you got the fucking brains to walk when it's time to walk." "People don't, you know." "Ballplayers who can't play any more." "Assholes trying to maintain a standard of living not possible any more..." "A lot of those around." "I've seen you be half a million dollars up." "I've been up two and a half million dollars." "What do you got on you?" "Nothing." "What did you put away?" "Nothing." "You get up two and a half million dollars, any asshole in the world knows what to do." "You get a house with a 25-year roof, an indestructible Jap economy shitbox, you put the rest into the system at 3%-to-5% to pay your taxes, and that's your base, get me?" "That's your Fortress of Fucking Solitude." "That puts you for the rest of your life at a level of "fuck you."" "Somebody wants you to do something? "Fuck you."" "Boss pisses you off? "Fuck you!"" "Own your house, have a couple bucks in the bank, don't drink." "That's all I have to say to anybody at any social level." "Did your grandfather take risks?" "Yes." "I guarantee he did it from a position of fuck you." "A wise man's life is based around fuck you." "The United States of America is based on fuck you." "You're a king?" "You have an army?" "Greatest navy in the history of the world?" ""Fuck you, blow me!" "We'll fuck it up ourselves."" "Which we have done." "Beautiful "fuck you" position lost forever." "King George lll looks like a fucking birthday present." "This is the grandson of the 17th richest man in California." "Does he drink?" "What he wants is money." "Because he doesn't know when to say, "That's it," ""I'm two million ahead." "Fuck it." "Fuck you." ""I have a car and a house and a family," ""and it's all paid for, fuck you."" "I mean, even I did that." "Of course, it's out by Pearblossom." "I'll have a beer, just like anybody else, thank you." " What kind?" " Any kind." "We got 37 beers." "Don't fucking put it on me." "But he did put it on you, miss!" "You still owe large two places you shouldn't." "Why do you want door number three?" "How else do I get out?" "Time payments." "Sell your sperm." "Sell your ass." "How the fuck should I know?" "I am of the universe, and you know what it's worth." "It's worth plenty." "If I give you this money and you don't pay me back, there are no rules." "You never get to say fuck you to anybody ever." "You will get me not just what you owe me from your family, you will get me their accounts so I can have them vacuumed from Russia." "You jump off a bridge, you can do it knowing" "I will kill your entire bloodline." "Do you understand the gravity of your situation?" "I understand." "You get up, you get out." "$260,000 as requested." "What's this?" "This much money, what's a car?" "What do you want to be able to say to me?" "Fuck you." "You have my money?" "I don't have any money." "I want you to stake me." "Stake me, and I'll get your money." "Why did you see Frank?" "I didn't." "Now fucking stake me." "Please, tell me you hit your wife harder than that, you fucking pussy." "You got to give me $150-fucking-thousand." "What can I do with you?" "Stake me." "Fucking stake me!" "Hey, Lamar, let's go, come on!" "All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to tonight's semi-final conference game!" "Put your hands together for your" "Wildcats!" "The Wildcats come into tonight's game favourites against the Bulldogs, of course, led by All-American Lamar Allen." "Let's go, Wildcats, let's go!" "And as we know, as goes the play of Lamar Allen goes the play of the Wildcats." "You're talking first team All-American." "That's the kind of season Lamar Allen has had." "I expect big things from this young man tonight." "Let's jump on 'em hard in the first five minutes!" "Defence, let's smother 'em." "No second chances, okay?" "Let's go, "Wildcats" on three." "One, two, three." "Wildcats!" "Revenge on the minds and tonight the Wildcats looking to show the dominance they've had all season long led by that man right there." "That's my boy." "Yeah, Lamar!" " That's your boy?" " That's money, baby!" " That's the kid?" " That's the kid" "I'm talking about right there." "He knows what he got to do." "The kid is nice!" "The kid is nice!" "The kid is nice!" "All right." "All right now." "All right." "Lamar Allen with a left-handed slam!" "Gets to the basket, throws it down." "Cats looking to make something out of this." "He's got Lamar Allen." "Turnaround jumper." "Yes, he's got it!" "Lamar Allen throwing down the nasty jam!" "Here comes Allen taking it up the court on his own." "Throwing it down with a left-handed slam!" "Hang on, hang on, hang on." "This shit ain't right." "Does well in terms of looking for his shot." "Lamar Allen throwing down a dunk!" "What is he doing?" "Right now the Wildcats are in control of this game." "There's Allen driving down the left-hand side, and he's got it." "A little kiss off the glass..." "Man, he better start performing and less scoring." "I don't get it." "Ain't that your man?" "Yeah, if he don't handle his business, I'm a handle him." "Here's the Wildcats from the other end," "Lamar Allen from about 16 feet!" "That's not gonna go." "Yeah, that's better." "That's better." "Come on!" "Move your ass!" "Come on!" "Lamar usually makes that shot in his sleep." "The Wildcats up by 14 with a little bit left to play in this half." "Bulldogs back on offence, trying to cut into that Wildcat lead." "Here comes Brodey, right around Allen for the double-handed slam!" "That's a hell of a crossover by Brodey." "That's more like it." "That's what I'm talking about." "Wildcats up by 12 with nine minutes to go." "That's no effort, Lamar!" "Fast-break situation." "Two on one." "Allen lob to Aldinger!" "What was that?" "Did you see that?" "Coach also not pleased with what he saw." "Chester Moore checking in for Lamar Allen." "Coach not happy, pulling him out of the game." "Ironically, not to catch his breath but to really, I think, figure out what is happening." "That's all right." "That's all right." "Yeah, Lamar!" "He's blown possession the last four times he's touched the ball." "Not what we're used to seeing from this kid." "You're going to watch the game with me." "Take a seat." "The bench is the great persuader, the great teacher." "And this is what Coach is doing, giving Lamar Allen a chance to refocus, get his head together." "Started off the game with spectacular play, but over these past few minutes, has not been the Lamar Allen that we're used to seeing." "Stay on that bench, Lamar." "What the hell's wrong with you, Lamar?" "Here comes the Dogs back on of fence." "He's got Cunningham." "Cunningham finds Wilhelm in the paint!" "And a foul!" "Take it to the house, motherfucker." "Yeah, okay, we good, we good." "There you go." "Look at his face." "This is humiliating for Lamar Allen in the conference semi-finals against their rivals." "Bulldogs now have the lead for the first time!" "And here comes Lamar Allen." "Stay on the bench, Lamar." "Stay on that fucking bench, Lamar!" "Stay on the fucking bench!" "Lamar!" "Bulldogs score again!" "They now have a three-point lead." "The fans purring Allen's name, looking for him to do something." "Here comes Allen on the left-handed drive!" "He's got it." "Come on!" "What this motherfucker just do?" "Under two minutes to go in the game." "Here's Lamar Allen looking to make some magic." "Goes around." "Splits the defence!" "Throws it down with a left-handed jam!" "Wildcats have the lead now, 64-63, and Allen with another turnaround." "It is in!" "Lamar Allen singlehandedly going on a 6-0 run!" "Under a minute to go." "Allen throws it down again!" "Wildcats up by 5." "This has been the Lamar Allen show in these final minutes." "Bulldogs miss the lay-up." "Allen's got the rebound." "Oh, come on!" "He's on fire!" "He's fucking up like that." "He knows what he supposed to be doing." "You say that's your man." "He's scoring." "Yeah, too damn much!" "But that's not what Lamar Allen does." "Takes it around and to the hole!" "Cats up by seven." "Come on, man." "This some bullshit!" "I told him less than 8." "Right now, Lamar Allen is playing the game of basketball at the highest level one can play it." "Ten..." "Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one." "Yes, sir!" "Yes, sir!" "Our boy delivered." "You delivered." "You know how rare that is?" "A man delivers?" "So we square?" "You going to stop threatening the girl?" "How about I tell you, you get to keep your job at the university?" "Forever." "Just so long as you keep teaching English 101 to a whole lot of tall brothers." "Oh, I'd tell you to kill me." "Have a drink." "Don't want one." "Thanks, sweetheart." "I see the Koreans fucked your face up." "Yes, they did." "And you just move on to the next phase of bullshit." "You know, the only trouble is with the game today?" "What's that?" "Someone also bet an eight-point spread in Vegas for a whole lot of fucking money." "You wouldn't happen to know who did that, would ya?" "No idea." "You ain't tipped nobody?" "No." "What's your life's plan, Jim?" "Make part of it never seeing me again." "I don't need you no more, brother." "I know that." "Think I want you out there knowing that?" "Knowing this?" "I'm going to tell you that I'm not going to do you the discourtesy of assuming what you're thinking, but I know you'll do the right thing." "Why is that?" "That's the whole amount." "And points." "Where'd you get that?" "I borrowed it from Frank." "The fuck you did." " Ask him." " I will." "Then you will find out that I did." "You know, Jim, everybody's ready to be bent." "Some are ready to be straight." "Personally, I'm ready to be straight." "I'm going to get myself an avocado farm." "Or a winery." "Do what I got to do, you know?" "Not a huge fan of low company." "A man can transform his shit, Jim." "You know, I've never done anything like this before." "I mean, I didn't think I was going to make it out of there alive, you know." "Open it." "Take out 50 grand, that's yours." "Man, I'm going to have my fucking picture on a Wheaties box within months, dude." "Suit yourself." "What was the point of me going to Vegas?" "Obviously it wasn't to earn 50 grand." "Time to get away from me, Dexter." "Far away." "I got your money." "But I'm not coming there." "You got to meet me." "Koreatown." "You know the place, right?" "Everybody knows the place." "Whether or not I want you around that place with my money in your hand is another fucking story." "Well, that's the only place I'll meet you." "You have all my money, plus everything?" "Yeah, I have all your money, but I don't have everything." "You got to meet me there." "What do you do when you're in the "fuck you" position?" "Oh, we've had that discussion, and I understand your point, but you got to meet me there." "If there's a list of places where nobody gets ripped off," "I believe that's at the top." " You have my money?" " Yes." "Then you must come outside." "No." "I owe him, too." "You gonna play?" "It's the only way I could pay you both." "You can't take the money off me in here and neither can he." "Red or black, all or nothing, all the money down." "That's all I'll do." "Move." "Take a very sizable bet?" "That is what this room is for." " What the fuck are you doing?" " No!" "Fuck are you doing?" "All on black." "I was playing for Mister Lee and for that gentleman over there." "I'm not actually a gambler." "Keys are in the car." "You don't need a ride?" "No, I'll walk." "I feel like walking." "What do you got on you?" "Not a fucking cent." "That's not a "fuck you" position." "Oh, yes, it is." "Here's your $100,000." "Turns out there was a little extra cream on top." "On me." "Fuck you." "Good boy."