"The working men of God's Pocket are simple men." "They work." "They follow their teams." "They marry and have children who rarely leave the Pocket." "Everyone here has stolen something from somebody else... or when they were kids, they set someone's house on fire... or they ran away when they should have stayed and fought." "They know who cheats at cards and who slaps their kids around." "And no matter what anybody does, they're still here." "And whatever they are is what they are." "The only thing they can't forgive is not being from God's Pocket." "Say it." "Say it." "Oh, your balls." "Oh... oh, my God." " Oh." " Oh, my God." "It's good, right?" "Oh, it's so good." " Oh!" " Your cook's so good." "Mm." "You okay?" "Great." "Jeanie." "Mickey, I know." "You love me." "I do." "If Leon is going to work today," "I got to be down at Bird's by 8:00 if he wants a ride." "Leon, honey, it's time for work." "All right." "Mickey's got to be to Bird's by 8:00 if you want a ride." "Honey?" "I'm up!" ""Everyone here has stolen something from somebody else, or when they were kids, they set someone's house on fire, or they ran away when they should have stayed and fought."" "That Richard Shellburn's got it right." "I don't know why writing down what everybody knows is any better than knowing it in the first place." "If you were from here, you'd get it." "That's what everyone tells me." "I don't know how you eat that shit and still look so good." "You get sugar diabetes, they're gonna cut your feet off." "Fuck you looking at?" "Something to eat in the truck, hon." "See, I told you it'd take me no time at all." "You got me ten minutes late already." "Fuckin'...fuck it." "You mind spotting me 20 bucks?" "They start on one end, and the air in Camden is so bad and it takes so fucking long to get to the other end that by then, the paint is all peeling, and they got to go back and start all over again." "Year after year, painting the same fucking bridge over and over." "It's like a nightmare." "Ho!" " You're late." " I know." "I'm sorry." "Another five minutes, we was gonna leave without you." ""We"?" "This horse is a fantastic, beautiful horse, talented horse." "Hard for me to believe." "I seen it myself in Florida." "You're telling me there was something wrong with the horse's pussy, made her quit 300 yards from the finish?" "Turning Leaf, her name was, and she hit the stretch and just quit." "Turns out she sucked up air, you know, vaginally." "A couple gallons of air get trapped up in there, and she cramps up, and she can't run... very uncommon." "It's like running while you're trying to take a shit, huh?" "It was the humidity." "Horse like that runs up here, she'd take the field." "Let's go!" "I want to know what a white man's doing walking... while this nigger is riding around all day." "Nothing personal, Lucy, huh?" "So I grab that fucking cat by the tail, right?" "I hold him upside down, and that little stewardess is screaming for me to leave him alone, and I says, "I'll leave him alone, all right," and... and I take my knife..." "Boy, you're about to figure a way to wipe your ass with that razor, ain't you?" "I ain't said a word all morning." "Which one is it?" "It's a green truck." "I got a plate number right over here." "All these trucks are green." "Yeah, but I got a number right over here." "It's gonna take a fucking month just to read the fucking license plates on that one." "Well, that ain't it." "We're looking for a reefer." "A refrigerated truck, you know, so the meat don't cook on its way to Vermont." "Mm-hmm." "It's running." "They don't shut them off." "They're diesels." "Keep them running for weeks at a time." "That's very interesting... the history of the trucking industry." "All right, stay here." "I'm gonna go take a piss." "All right." "Oh." "What's Sal doing here?" "Doesn't take three people to steal a truck." "I owe him a little money." "He just wants to make sure everything goes down." "Look at him over here." "He's pissing on his shoes." "Yeah." "Why don't you tell him?" "He'll shoot you just to show you he knows what he's doing." "That's it right there." "Hey." "Yeah?" "Notice the whole world's got a fucking attitude lately?" "Listen, you go in there, and you have a nice breakfast, pal, all right?" "You take an hour." "Understand?" "One hour before you come back out here looking for your truck." "Who's driving?" "You all right, pal?" "Look, you got your business." "We got ours." "You take the money, your business is over." "Am I right or wrong?" "Huh?" "Okay, just take a couple of deep breaths." "Here's your hat, all right?" "Can you get up?" "And gonna have a nice breakfast, just like I said." "Come on." "All of a sudden, the world ain't got no attitude no more." "What the fuck?" "Don't do it." "Shit." "Jesus Christ." "Motherfucker." "You shit yourself, Mickey?" " Oh, yeah." " Huh?" "Fuck you." "I almost cut her tits off after I, uh, took care of her fucking kid." "I seen that happen to a girl once." "Huh?" "Sliced and diced, just right fuckin'..." "Bullsh-shit." "What the fuck you say?" "I heard you talking about me." "I don't give a shit personally, but I don't like a nigger talking about my business." "This old nigger's been talking about me all morning." "Whoa." "Whoa, whoa, whoa." "You hear me now, don't you, fuck?" "I didn't mean to cut you, Lucy." "Somebody get Lucy a Band-Aid." "He's..." "He's got a cut." "I thought he was..." "I love this city... not the sights, the city." "I love her last night, and I loved her this morning, before she brushes her teeth or I know she snores." "I'm used to the feel of her beside me." "I'm used to the feel of her beside me." "I've known her warmth and her coolness." "She's... forgiven me." "I've forgiven her." "I'm used..." "I'm used to the feel of her beside me." "I'm used to the feel of her beside me." "You're right." "I think I fucked her last night too." "I hope she don't have no type of herpes." "I'm used to the feel of her, you know?" "I've been writing the story of this city for 20 years." "What's up with the lights?" "Oh, talk to Arthur, Mick." "I keep telling him he's got to relax." " I'll do that." " Do that." "All we can do is have faith in the electric company." " Am I right?" " Yeah, yeah, yeah, right, yeah." "Sophie says we ain't had electric for two hours." "It's out in the whole neighborhood." "Yeah." "What are we gonna do with the load I just brought in?" "What the fuck do you think we're trying to figure out here, Mick?" "It's gonna be back right away." "Just relax." "Yeah." "Listen, we got a little business to talk about, all right?" "Right." "I got a problem." "Let me guess." "You don't have my $700." "I'm into Sal for 20 large." "Jesus Christ." "I got so much shit going down," "I don't even know where it's coming from." "Forget it." "I'm doing all right." "When you get it, you can give it to me." "All right?" "Take some of the meat." "Nothing I can do with that." "It's not even cut." "Fuck it." "Let's get this shit in your truck." "I can't use it like this." "There's nowhere to cut it up." "Look, we'll get the electric back on, you come back tomorrow, we'll get somebody to cut it up for you." " Here you go." " I got it." " You got it, Mick?" " All right." " You okay?" " Yeah, I'm fine." "Fuck it all." "It all works out in the end." "All right, what happened here?" "It was the lift." "The shackle come loose." "Usually it's tied down when we're not using it." "The... chain swung out, and the shackle... hit the boy right in the back of the head." "That's what happened." "I seen the whole thing." "Kid never knew what hit him." "Anyone else?" "I seen it too." "What was his job?" "He was a day laborer." "That it?" "That's what happened." "Jeanie?" "Jeanie." "Leon's dead." "Richard." "You feeling all right?" "Yeah, I had the flu." "Didn't see your column on page two yesterday." "Opened the paper to see a goddamn picture of some girl that had her teeth wired together to lose weight." "Readers count on you, Richard." "Feeling much better today, okay." "So I looked over the last year." "Did you know you missed 42 days, not counting vacations?" "Really?" "Mm-hmm." "And I got to thinking about it." "Maybe we ought to bring in another columnist, you know, someone to lighten the load." "Found one yet?" "Thought I'd give you a chance to think it over." "Whatever you want, Brookie." "But of course, if it's a drinking problem..." "No." "'Cause we have sent people up to Horizons to dry out." "We could do it for you too." "No." "It's a bug I caught." "Here's my anniversary column." "Yeah." "You have to eat something." "She probably already ate lunch." "He was just a baby." " Hello." " Mick, it's Bird." "Hi." "You get your electricity back?" "Yeah, it came on right after you left." "This isn't a great time." "Why, what's the matter?" "We had an accident with Leon." "What, he got his dick caught in somebody's cash register?" "No, it's a real thing." "Something happened at work." "Some kind of accident." "He's dead." "What?" "What is it?" "Well, they say something fell on him." "Fell on him?" "No shit." "Yeah." "Jesus." "I'm sorry to hear that." "Yeah." "Anyway, what I was calling about..." "I don't know if it's the appropriate time, but it's that horse, the one you was talking about, Turning Leaf?" "She's running in a $15,000 claimer tomorrow at Keystone." "I'm scaring up everything I can." "{figured you'd want to do the same." " Okay, thanks." " Okay." "I'll let Jeanie know." "Uh, just a friend, heard about the accident." "Uh, I got to take care of the arrangements." "I think I've been there" "I think I know just what you're going through" "A fallen angel is what you are" "You're Richard Shellburn." "Yes, I am." "I thought you'd look older." "Thought you would too." "You go to Temple University?" "No." "I graduated." "Journalism." "Oh." "Yeah." "Now I freelance, mostly sports." "Who's Yama Bahama?" "A fallen angel is what you are" "Is that a name for your penis?" "Jesus." "Everyone's got a name for their penis." "Mickey." "We're real sorry, Mick." "Leon was a good boy." "It don't make no sense to me." "I mean, somebody ought to do something." "The youth is our hope for the future." "What happened?" "I don't know." "They say something dropped on him... down at the job." "Jesus." "That's a shame." "Got to go see Smilin' Jack, make arrangements." "Jeanie's messed up." "Well, Saturday's a good day for a funeral, always." "Nobody has to get up the next day." "Mm." "We're collecting for the funeral." "Fuckin' Leon's gonna cost me more dead than alive." "He was always a nice youngster." "Tell Jeanie that for me." "For Christ's sakes, Eleanor." "You didn't even know him." "That's a damnable lie!" "I know all our youngsters!" "He was nice back then, Mickey." "He never broke into nobody's house in the neighborhood..." "Eleanor!" "Are you gonna sit down, or I got to pour out your drink?" "I mean it today." "I'm cutting you off!" "Yeah, well, you can't cut off the truth!" "Fuckin' neighborhood." "Jack." "Mickey." "I'm so sorry to hear about Leon." "Yeah." "You know, sometimes you wonder about God's plan." "I just want to make Jeanie feel better." "Let me show you what we got, Mick." "This is our best seller... mahogany veneer, champagne interior." "What about that one?" "Well, of course, you know Jeanie best, but she ain't gonna want some piece of junk." "I got to think it over." "Mick... we'll work something out." "I just don't want to give her anything that she ain't gonna like." "Well, how about I stop over tomorrow morning?" "It might be easier for her to talk about it in familiar surroundings." "I guess so." "Yo, Mick." "Was the body messed up?" "No, his body's fine." "It's just the back of his head." "That's no problem at all." "The back of the head takes care of itself." "Leon didn't take no shit." "If I was a father, that's what I'd want my kid to be like." "You know what I did the day my mother died?" "I went out and I banged a Locust Street whore." "Remember those girls?" "No." "I got home at 1:00 in the morning." "My whole family was waiting up for me." "It was the Christians and the lions all over again." "On the day your mother died?" "I felt bad, but I had to do something." "What the fuck you doing, man?" "Fuck you." "Fuck him!" "Hey, what the fuck is wrong with you guys?" " You're always doing that!" " Play the game." " Get out of here!" " Sit down!" " Got a problem?" " Get the hell out of here!" "Fuck him!" "I got to get the fuck out of here." "Your fucking shoe." "You had a lot of those screwdrivers." "18." "But you drank one." "That's why I can't get it up." "Could you always write?" "I mean, did you always want to be a writer?" "What?" "Do you think sometime I could watch you write one of your columns?" "Sometime." "Oh." "It is the damndest thing." "I can't remember which one of you is which." "What time is it?" "Closing time." "You been drinking?" "Yeah." "Tonight you've been out drinking?" "And don't go in Jeanie's room." "The doctor had to come twice to give her medicine, and he said that she needs a good night's sleep." "I thought maybe she might want someone..." "Joyce is in there with her." "So you're Joanie." "Aah!" "Oh, Jesus." " Oh, my God!" "Oh, my God!" " What?" "Oh, my God." "It's all right." "It's all right." "I thought I saw Leon!" "Oh, my God!" "It's all right." "Now, last but perhaps not least," "I feel obliged to show you the blue-gauge steel." "In my opinion, uh, I think..." "I think she likes the mahogany." "Now, do you have a particular suit in mind for the service?" "Come upstairs." "Voilà." "Jesus Christ." "It's a fucking men's shop." "You know, I never owned anything you couldn't put in a fucking drawer till I met Jeanie." "You suppose all this shit is hot?" "You learn in my business not to question." "So the 6 grand, can I put it on layaway or what?" "You want me to tell Jeanie you want something cheaper?" "Hey, I'm just..." "This should be all I need." "Something happened to Leon over at that job, something nobody's told us yet." "Anybody tell you anything you didn't tell me?" "All they told me was that something dropped and hit him on the skull." "That's the whole thing." "Something else happened." "It did." "Okay." "I'll see what I can find out." "Okay?" "Hey, Mick." "The power's back on." "Let's get that meat cut for you." "Listen, Bird..." "I appreciate you taking it instead of the cash." "We'll get all this shit straightened out." "Don't you worry." "Hey." "Look it, queers, huh?" "Remember in school when they said you was queer if you wore yellow on Tuesday?" "That's the stupidest fucking thing I heard all day." "I forgot you ain't from here." "You missed a lot of great shit, Mick." "Hey, Tony!" "Come here." "This is my nephew." "Say hello to Bird's main man." "Hmm?" "He don't talk much." "But this little fucker can cut meat." "Take the meat out of Mickey's truck and cut it up for him, all right?" "Do a nice job." "Don't sneeze on it or nothing." "Listen, Mick." "I made up my mind." "That horse, Turning Leaf?" "She's gonna come in tomorrow." "Nice horse." "She's running with a bunch of shit too." "She's a lock." "Bird, there's nothing weighs half a ton with little bitty ankles that's a lock." "Hey, I'm trying to help you out here, but if you don't want to listen, it's on you." "You want to help me?" "I need that $700." "Hey, all I got is this horse." "Smilin' Jack ain't exactly giving away funerals." "Jesus, the funeral." "I-I forgot." "How's Jeanie doing?" "She's got some idea that something else happened down there to Leon." "I don't know where the fuck it came from, but there it is." "Yeah, fucking Leon." "Yeah." "Actually, I was hoping you..." "you'd ask around for me." "Yeah." "You mean you want me to talk to Sal?" "I-I hate to ask, but Jeanie ain't gonna let go on this one." "I'll do it for you." "You got my word." " All right." " Oh." " What the fuck?" " Come on." "We ought to sue these motherfuckers." ""A 22-year-old construction worker was killed yesterday when he slipped and fell to his death."" "Leon Hubbard didn't slip on nothing." "They're laying block down there." "Where was there to fall?" "Jeez, you look worse than I do." "Everybody in the fucking city's gonna think we're a bunch of jerk-offs down here, walking around falling off shit all the time." "I'm gonna call these motherfuckers." "And they fucked up his age." "He was a year ahead of me in school." "1,440 bucks." "Yeah?" "Let me have the bag back sometime." "Yeah." "Thank you." "Cheers." "Cheers." "Thank you." "Richard." "Huh?" "Brookie here." "You feeling better?" "Well..." "I'm lying here with a... jaybird-naked-ass girl graduate of the Temple University School of Journalism." "I'm glad to hear it." "How was she?" "Well, if you get off the phone, I'll try and find out for you." "Did you notice that you weren't in the paper again this morning?" "Why?" "I gave you my anniversary column yesterday." "And I enjoyed it, just like I did last year and the year before that." "You've written the same anniversary column four different times." "I could write the same column every day and get away with it." "I need a favor." "We ran a story about a kid got killed on a construction job, and somehow we fucked it all up." "Is this really important, Brookie?" "I mean, she got my dick in her mouth." "So I'm thinking, "Why don't I ask" ""Richard Shellburn to go down there" ""and write me a column about that boy and get it done right?"" " Bibles, pictures..." " I really..." "I can't talk now." "I'm eating pussy." "1821 25th street, God's Pocket." "Thank you for listening." "I'll get you some more coffee." "It's my pleasure." "This is my husband." "We'll be in touch." "Sorry for your loss." "We're still investigating the accident." "We'll get back to you when we're finished." "Thank you, Officer." "So what did they say?" "They were nice." "They said they'd go back to the yard and talk to the men." "Something happened." "How do you know that, Jeanie?" "I don't know, but I know." "Sal." "How you doing?" "You got my money?" "Hey, the electric went out." "As soon as I get the meat cut, get it out, everybody gets paid." "All right, don't fuck around, Arthur." "Sal." "Hey, I got a... a favor to ask." "This kid got killed at the block yard downtown." "His mother's going crazy." "They ain't telling her what happened." "What's this to me?" "The mother's married to a guy who works for me..." "Mickey, the guy who took the truck?" "Yeah." "Maybe you could send a couple of guys down there, bounce somebody around so they talk to you." "Nothing's gonna happen down there?" "Nah." "Just a couple guys to push around?" "That's it." "All right." "For a point on top of what you already owe." "Fine." "Whatever you want." "And, Arthur, don't fuck around." "Okay." "Hey." "Make sure you get my money." "You'll get it." "You'll get it." "You'll get it." "It was an accident." "That's... all there is to it." "Kid was the wrong person at the wrong place." "Cops get the... n-nigger?" "You ain't grown enough to call that old man a nigger." "Old Lucy will be back when he's ready." "All right, let's go." "I'll have a beer." "She don't even care about me" "Is that Leon Hubbard's house across the street?" "You're aren't Richard Shellburn, are you?" "Mm-hmm." "I-I read you every day." "Yeah, you're different from your picture, but I knew it was you." "It's me." "So is that the Hubbard place?" " Scarpato." " Oh." "The mother remarried." "Jeanie Scarpato." "How's she taking it?" "Well, it was her only child." "Mr. Shellburn, you're the only one that knows what it's like down here in the Pocket." "God bless you." "Another?" "Thank you." "It's the mother." "The mother thinks something happened." "What does she think?" "You missing somebody today besides Leon Hubbard?" "Seems like there was an old man." "He was sitting against the wall." "That's Old Lucy." "Some days, he comes in, and some days, he don't." "He does as much work either way." "He's about 100 years old." "Look." "That mother, she's got something." "She could look at you a certain way and you'd stick a fork in your leg." "They say that her husband is connected." "If that's true, that might be where your problem comes from." "Either way, she's got his balls in a blender." "You can see that." "And there ain't no telling what anybody will do with his balls in a blender." "Fuckin' write it down or something." "Hi." "All right." "Same race it was last night, Bird." "I don't like this other filly, the 6 horse." "She scares me." "She got a decent workout last week." "So?" " Put her at the bottom of an exacta." " I don't like her." "This horse can beat Turning Leaf, the 6 horse." "Your nerves are eating your brain, Bird." " I am telling you, Mick..." " Bird, if Turning Leaf runs at all, there's nothing in that fucking dog kennel that's gonna catch her." "How much you got there?" "Whatever I could get my hands on it." "I borrowed some of Sophie's flower money." "Feel terrible." "Turning Leaf, eight-to-one." "You'll feel better once you place your bet." "I'm telling you, Mick." "It's the 6 horse." "Jesus, Bird." "I'll be right back." "Stay here." "Don't do anything fucking crazy." "Number 3 horse, Turning Leaf, to win." "45 times." "Hey." "You the boss?" "I'm the only one here." "That's a fact." "The thing is, somebody got killed here yesterday, and there's some feeling it didn't happen the way the cops said." "So we were wondering if, uh, maybe you were here when it happened." "'Cause the guy who got it, he was an important guy." "Huh." "He always said he was important." "So how do you want to do this?" "It happened the way I said to the police." "And you Jew boys can do it any damn way you want." "It don't matter to me." ""Jew boys."" "Now, why you want to do that?" "Did we insult you in any way?" "Huh?" "Come on." "Let's go somewhere we can talk." "Hit him, Ronnie." "Fucking hit him!" "Oh, God!" "You didn't bet the 6 horse, did you?" "Well..." "You're fucking crazy." "And they're off at Keystone, $15,000 claiming race." "The number 4 horse, One Hit Wonder, takes an early lead." "My Oh Might tucked in at the rail and Shana Three coming up between the horses." "No Man's Land moves up on the outside." "One Hit Wonder, Shana Three, No Man's Land." "My Oh Might makes a move on the inside." "One Hit Wonder, Shana Three, and into third, Turning Leaf." "Turning Leaf stiff moving up to the second spot." "One Hit Wonder, Turning Leaf, Shana Three." "We're into the far turn, and it's One Hit Wonder showing the lead by a length with Turning Leaf..." "Come on, you motherfucker." "One Hit Wonder, Turning Leaf." "And it's Turning Leaf pulling in." " Come on!" " Yes!" "And at the top of the lane, it's Turning Leaf moving into first." "Turning Leaf-One, Hit Wonder holding on to second." "Please." "And passing the number 5 horse is Holmesdale, the number 6." "Turning Leaf, One Hit Wonder, and Holmesdale racing up on the outside." "Turning Leaf, Holmesdale on the outside." "It's the 6." "Turning Leaf, Holmesdale... they fight it out, and it's Holmesdale." " Ohh!" " No." "I-I tried to tell you, Mick." "It was the 6." "Mm." "Hello?" "Can I help you?" "Uh, I'm looking for Mrs. Scarpato." "Yes." "You're Mrs. Scarpato?" "Yes." "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry." "Uh..." "I'm Richard Shellburn of The Daily Times." "Oh, my." "Uh, please come in." "This one makes his ears look bigger than they were." "Oh." "I'm so sorry for your loss." "It didn't happen like they said it happened." "There's something wrong with it." "I knew Leon, and he was my boy." "I know." "Mr. Shellburn?" "So, um, what..." "what kind of boy was he?" "Hey." "What was that job, uh, yesterday... 700?" "It's old business." "I took the meat." "Fuck that." "Here." "I took the meat." "Keep your money." "Take 7." " Take 10, for the interest." " Bird." "Look, I got maybe 12 grand here." "I owe Sal 20." "But if I give him 10, maybe he'll lay off for a while." "7?" "All right." "Thinking of taking Sophie to Florida." "She wants to live in one of those trailer parks with her friends, grow some shit in the yard." "Jack." "Jesus, God." "You scared the piss out of me." "Oh, shit." "You think people are gonna smell this shit on her?" "Irish funeral." "Listen, uh, I got a problem with the money." "Oh, that's too bad." "Yeah, it's nothing permanent, but if we have the service," "I could pay you back in a couple weeks, and if I can't get it back to you then, I'll sell the truck." "How much money you got?" "700." "What about the fucking money from The Hollywood?" "There was more than 700 there." "Things happen." "I'll get you the money." "I just..." "I-I got to have the funeral, and Jeanie's fucked up over all this." "That's nothing to me." "It's your fuckin' woman and your fuckin' body unless I get paid." "Don't get hysterical." "I don't need my business on the street." "You ain't got no fucking business." "What you got is something on the side." "No." "No, you bet a game, right?" "You bet a fucking game." "What I did has nothing to do with you, and what you got to worry about is making sure that everything's all right Saturday, and then you get your money." "Sure, Mick." "Sure." "Yeah." "Don't look at me like that, Jack." "W-what?" "What are you talking about..." "look at you?" " Don't look at me like that." " What?" "Oh." "Motherfucker!" "No need to panic." "I'll pay you back in a couple weeks, a month on the outside." "You understand?" "I'm sorry, Mick." "I don't know what's wrong with me." "Let me..." "let me go get us a beer." "Leon always loved animals, ever since he was a little boy." "He always wanted a dog or a cat or something." "I used to think it would be nice to live out in the country and have a few." "Think that country air would..." "Mr. Shellburn?" "I have a place by the water." "I've had it for a very long time, and nobody knows." "I go there sometimes at night, I drink too much, and I wake up with the birds, and things are growing everywhere you look." "Do you need to know anything else about Leon?" "Yo, Mick." "I don't know what got into me." "I was wrong." "I need this done right." "We'll take care of it." "You and me got no arguments, Mick." "I hope you don't mind going out the side." "I'm locked up in front." "I don't mind nothing." "I got to get this light fixed." "It's getting cold." "Yeah, it's a cold world." "What the fuck?" "Holy shit." "Oh, Jesus, Leon." "I need to know what happened to my boy, please." "Oh, um... can I call you tomorrow?" "Yes, please." "Thank you, Mr. Shellburn." "Okay." "Jeanie?" "I'm up here with Richard Shellburn." "He wanted to see Leon's room." "Richard Shellburn, this is my husband." "Oh, um, yeah, I'm sorry for your loss." "Um, you know, I think that's, uh..." "I think it's all I need, uh, for now." "Anything, please." "If you need anything, call me." "Okay." "It's all I have to do." "All right." "Jeanie, there's something I need to tell you." "Jeanie." "Jeanie." "Everything set for tomorrow?" "All set." "Just a few last-minute details." "Where's Arthur?" "Who?" "Where is he?" "This is the way you do business..." "scaring an old woman?" "Oh, now... now you're gonna steal from me?" "He's in the back." "Want me go around back?" "Yeah, he can't run, but what the fuck?" "Well, he's... he's got the money." "He told me." "This ain't about the money." "You see my cousin out there?" "Yesterday he had two eyes." "Now he's gonna have a piece of glass in his fucking head the rest of his life." "Without Arthur, what's gonna happen to me?" "If I were you, I'd shut my mouth." "Run for your life, Arthur!" "What the fuck?" "Oh!" "Sophie!" "What are you doing, Sophie?" "One second." "Oh." "This is my family, you hear me?" " You little fuck!" " No, no, no, no!" "I'll fucking kill you, you fuck!" "Arthur, Arthur, Arthur!" " I'll kill you!" " Stop." "Stop." " Arthur, you're getting..." " Yeah!" "You're getting blood all over your pants." "Just go change." " The cops will be here." " I swear to Christ, Sophie," "I didn't know nothing like this was gonna happen." "Go change your pants." "You don't want people taking pictures of you looking like this." "Right?" " Fuck." " Arthur." "That fuck." "Arthur, this is not the time to go wacko... not now." "Yeah, Operator?" "I want to, uh, report that two men tried to rob my flower shop." "Mickey left early." "He seemed different." "Hello." "This is Richard Shellburn." "Richard Shellburn." "Mr. Shellburn?" "Uh, we need to talk." "Did you find something out?" "I'D' pick you up." "Where are we going?" "We're almost there." "Almost." "It all looks the same, doesn't it?" "If you woke up here alone, you'd never get back." "Never want to." "Hey, Nick." "Got a minute?" "I'm here." "I got some meat." "Thought maybe you could use some." "No." "Well, how much you got?" "Four sides, Kansas choice beef." "No." "How much you want?" "$1,000." "I don't got time to fuck around with this." "You got it with you?" "Yeah, let me take you down a side to look at." "I could look at it in the truck." "I got some other shit in there." "I don't care what you got in your truck." "I don't see nothing but meat when I'm looking at meat." "Let me pull you down a side." "Eh, fuck it." "I don't think I want in on this." " All right, take a look." " For Christ's sakes." " I don't see nothing..." " It's good beef." "I don't see nothing but what I'm looking at." "Anything else is your own business." "Oh." "This looks good, man." " What are you doing?" " Let me take a look at it." "You don't got to go up there." "I'm just doing some guy a favor, all right?" "Don't pay any attention to that." "It's nothing." "It's cold." "It's a refrigerated truck." "What do you say, Nick?" "You gonna take it off my hands or what?" "It's a cheap suit." "What happened to him?" "He died." "I-I-I'm doing some guy a favor." "I don't like this." "You put me in a bad position." "Because of you, I'm an accessory now." "You ain't nothing because you ain't seen nothing." "I ain't taking that kind of meat." "Who knows what kind of sickness it could have got riding back here with a human body?" "You're the one that wanted to fucking look at it." "I didn't want to see that." "As a matter of fact, I didn't see it." "I don't know nothing about it, and you didn't come by today." "Take the fucking meat." "I ain't... get the fuck out of here." "I thought when you told me about this place, you might have made it up." "I bought this for my wife without telling her." "That's before she realized that she hated me." "Okay." "Wait a minute." "Wait a minute." "All right." "This is where the living room was supposed to be." "It's a good view." "Shit." "Ah." "I'm 60 years old." "You don't look that old." "Well..." "I'm 60 years old, and a whole city loves me." "I get letters every day from people... asking me to come to dinner, visit them in the Poconos." "Do you go?" "No." "Golf... they want me to play golf." "It's pretty." "It's actually beautiful." "Tell me, how long would it take you to get tired of having a celebrity around?" "Mickey!" "What, you come here to finally sell me that truck, huh?" "Yeah, yeah." "I need to get rid of it." "Oh." "What's... what's wrong with it?" "Ah, nothing." "Temporary financial problem." "Okay, well, what did you... what did you pay for that thing?" "Oh, my God, Mickey, they saw you coming, huh?" "And there's nothing wrong with it?" "60,000 miles on it." "I check the oil, keep it in the garage." "Now, you can start it up, but I don't want nobody taking it out." "I got some stuff in the back." "I don't see nothing but what I'm looking at, Mickey." "You heard me." "All right." "Stretch!" "Stretch!" "It's hard to believe only two days ago, Leon was alive." "Nothing works against you like time." "Time's a bitch." "Oh." "So you said you found something out about Leon?" "My husband's gonna wonder where I am." "Let me tell you about your husband." "He can put an air conditioner into a wall all by himself or lift an engine block, but he sits in that bar for two hours every night, and then he comes home, and he doesn't say jack shit." "He doesn't have the faintest idea what to do with you." "How long you had that thing?" "About a year and a half." "Well, you know, if everything works out, Mickey, you know, I could probably get you, like, 5 1/2, 6." "Yeah." "Yeah, because business sucks in the summer, Mickey." "Everyone's thinking about pussy." "Hmm." "What the fuck?" "He's just gonna make sure that everything checks out." "What the fuck?" "He'll be right back." "He's gonna be back in a sec..." "Mickey." "Mickey, I can't buy no truck without taking it out for a drive first." "You know that." "I really should be getting back." "I'm not mad." "I'm just running!" "Wait a minute!" "Stop!" "Stop!" "This is my motherfucking meat." "Take it easy, lady." "Where the fuck did he think he was going in a suit like that?" "Anyone see the vehicle hit the victim?" "Jesus Christ." "I love you." "The moment that I laid eyes on you, I was in love with you." "Where... where's your truck?" "It's wrecked." "Stretch?" "I don't know... hospital, I guess." "You got insurance, Mick?" "I told you you could start it but not to take it anywhere." "I got to try it before I buy it." "You told me 6." "Oh, Mickey, I..." "You know, I can't buy something that's wrecked." "I would love to help you out, but I..." "You bought it already." "You know, technically, Mick..." "That's for the mahogany box, the funeral, and everything else, right?" "Where's the deceased?" "He's down at the morgue." "There was another accident." "When it rains, it pours." "Yeah, well, they got him down there." "They probably don't know who he is." " He wasn't carrying no identification." " What the hell happened to you?" "Can we take care of this tomorrow?" "I want it done tomorrow." "Let me call down the morgue and find out." "You know, this never come up before." "Jeanie." "Jeanie." "Hello." "Hey, Mick." "It's Bird." "Yeah." "You heard, right?" "What?" "You should have seen it." "I didn't even know Sophie kept that fucking thing loaded." "What, Sal?" "Yeah." "Sophie and I are gonna get out of here tonight." "I'll let you know where we end up." "Good luck, Mick." "What the hell happened to you?" "The funeral's tomorrow at 3:00." "If you wouldn't mind letting people know?" "That's good." "Saturday is a good day for a funeral." "Small service at Jack's." "Shame about the kid." "The whole neighborhood was sorry." "But they didn't live with him." "They don't know what it's really like." "That's the truth." "And they didn't live with Jeanie." "They can say this or that." "It's all just talk." "What is?" "Don't listen to them." "Nobody in here went any further than the 10th grade." "What's just talk?" "She was just riding in his car." "It doesn't mean anything." "What the fuck are you talking about?" "The big thing is, you can leave all of this behind." "That's the beauty part." "Remember that." "You want to know why I never got out of here?" "What I want to know is what everybody's saying." "Ray." "It's nothing." "I'm telling you." "Ray." "That Jeanie's been fucking Richard Shellburn." "It's not what I think." "It's what they're saying." "Come down off your throne" "And leave your body alone" "She ain't fucking nobody." "Somebody" "Must change" "She ain't." "I've been waiting so long" "Somebody holds the key" "Well, I'm near the end" "And I just ain't got the time" "She's got... she's got some idea that Leon died differently than the cops said, is all." "He's helping her." "What the fuck you starting now, Ray?" "We're just talking." "Fuckin' funeral's tomorrow, and you're talking shit like that?" "I didn't say anything everybody else in here didn't say first." "Don't believe anything this guy says." "Fuckin' people!" "Talk about everything!" "Last call!" "It's not even time!" "Right." "Drink up." "Ooh, ooh" "Ooh, ooh, ooh" "But I can't find" "My way home" "Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh" "But I can't find my way home" "Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh" "But I can't find my way home" "Still I can't find" "My way home" "And I ain't done nothing" "Wrong" "But I" "Can't find my way home" "It's in the paper!" "What?" "That Leon was killed again." "What?" "Why would they say that?" "Because they found his body in the street!" "Why did they find his body in the street, Mickey?" "I didn't have the money to pay to bury Leon, so I took the truck to Little Eddie's, but his guy took it out and wrecked it, and Leon fell out." "What?" "What?" "Leon was in the truck." "No." "With the meat?" "He was separated from the meat." "I knew that would upset you." "Where is he now?" "He's at Jack's." "And it's all settled." "He was just a baby!" "And it's in the paper." "I'm sorry, Jeanie." "But it's... it's nothing to be ashamed of... you know, people having money problems." "I have to live in this neighborhood!" "And everybody's gonna know." "Everybody already knows... everything." "Until recently, you only had to die once in this city... even if you came from God's Pocket." "There was a time when a 23-year-old working man could die once, have the event noticed in his local newspaper, and then move on to his reward without the complications of an additional death." "Give us this day our daily bread..." "Leon Hubbard's death was reported incorrectly by this newspaper last week." "But, then, Leon Hubbard wasn't important." "Mickey." "Oh, motherfucker!" "Leon Hubbard was like the other working people of God's Pocket... dirty-faced, uneducated, neat as a pin inside." "Motherfucker!" "They Work, marry, and have children who inhabit the Pocket, often in the homes of their mothers and fathers." "They drink at The Hollywood or the Uptown Bar... little places deep in the city, and they argue there about things they don't understand... politics, race, religion." "And in the end, they die like everyone else..." "Leaving their families and their houses and their legends." "And there is a dignity in that." "We owe Leon Hubbard an apology and all the people who knew him and loved him and worked with him." "If we stop listening to Leon Hubbard's story and all the neighborhood stories like it, eventually the neighborhoods will stop listening to ours." "Packed my bags, I'm ready" "Give me a beer." "To go down to the city" "Mr. Shellburn, nothing personal, but I think that I better ask you to leave... for your own good." "Give me a beer." "What the fuck are you writing about us in the papers for?" "How is it your business what we do?" "Calling us ignorant, dirty-faced." "That was a compliment." "You work for a living." "You get dirty." "That's dirty hands." "Dirty-faced, you don't take a bath." "I mean, you ain't from around here, and you're making us look like assholes." "You don't fucking know us." "No, I don't..." "I didn't make you assholes." "I said the opposite." "If he wasn't busy fucking Leon's mother, he might have noticed everybody in here ain't dirty." "No offense, Mickey." "All right, maybe we all ought to calm down." "Fuck calm down." "What is he doing down here?" "I'm down here because of a misunderstanding." " That's why..." " Misunderstanding, my ass." "This motherfucker came here to get fucked up." "This is my city." " Bullshit." " Fuck you." "But I'm on your side!" " Take it outside, Danny." " Wait a minute." " Let's go." " Stop!" " It's his own fault." " What the fuck?" "Because of something he wrote?" " Take it outside!" " Come on." "Go." " Come on." " Get him out." " Let's go." " Get him out!" "What the fuck is wrong with you?" "You ain't from here either!" "Yeah, you piece of shit." "This ain't your city, motherfucker!" "What are you gonna do, huh?" "20 of you against this old man for something he wrote in the newspaper?" "Ain't none of your business, Mickey, so stay out of it!" "Shut the fuck up!" "I don't give a fuck!" "Not this!" "Get in your car." "Get him!" "Watch the step." "Morning, Mick." "Morning." "You want some breakfast?" "I can't even think about food this time of the morning." "We better go practice, Sophie." "You want to come along, Mick?" "I'm gonna read the paper." "You don't mind if we do." "It's all right." "Just be careful." "Mm-hmm." "Oh." "Let me get those." "Jesus." "Would you put something on those legs?" "Yeah." "Sweetheart." "Yeah." "Ah, Christ." "We got to keep our guard up, Mick." "You never fucking know." "Bird, I can't stay forever." "I got to get a job, start something." "You'll be here when they come, Mick." "You'll know what to do." "A little bit to your left." "Okay, that was better." "Yeah, yeah... and try not to shake." "Last night I had a fight with a bottle" "A bottle full of whiskey bourbon" "I started a fight with a bottle" "And if you think I look bad" "You should see him" "Dad was a down-dirty fighter" "He taught us a lesson or two" "I may be a lovely young flower" "But I'll kick all the dirt out of you" "Yeah, I was banging nails with a hammer" "The day I found that blood was really red" "Yeah, I was banging nails with a hammer" "It turned out that the hammer was my head" "Mama was a cold-blooded lover" "She taught us a lesson or three" "I may be a lovely young flower" "But you won't take the piss out of me" "Yeah, Dad was a down-dirty fighter" "He taught us a lesson or two" "I may be a lovely young flower" "But I'll kick all the dirt out of you" "Last night I had a fight with a bottle" "A bottle full of whiskey bourbon" "I started a fight with a bottle" "And if you think I look bad" "You should see him" "Yeah, if you think I look bad" "You should see him" "If you think I look bad" "You should see him" "If you think I look bad" "You should see him"