A Bronx Tale Page #2

I couldn't hear.

All I could see was Sonny

with the gun in his hand.

What happened?

Is he all right?

Dad, it was just

a parking space.

- You don't understand.

- Is he all right?

- Baby, are you OK?

- He's all right. Let's go inside.

- What happened?

- I'm OK, Mum, I'm OK.

- Oh, my god, I got so scared.

- I'm OK, Mum.

You don't understand, Dad.

They were fighting over a parking space.

- Over a parking space?

- Over a parking space, Daddy. Why?

It wasn't over a parking space.

They just met at the wrong time.

- What kind of answer is that?

- Just leave it alone.

Let's mind our own business.

He's OK. That's the main thing.

I can't believe somebody would do this.

Who is it?

Police. Is this

the Anello residence?

Yeah. Can I help you?

We're detectives.

We'd like to ask you some questions.

- About what?

- Just open the door!

How you doing? OK, good.

I'm Detective Belsik.

This is my partner, Detective Vella.

Hello, son. How you doing, ma'am?

- We'd like to ask your son a few questions.

- About what?

There was a shooting in front of the building,

and we believe your son was there.

Really? Well, he knows

nothing about that.

Well, we feel he does.

There were people who saw him.

Well, they're wrong.

He don't know nothing.

Listen, Mr Anello. We can do things

the nice way or the hard way, all right?

I don't care what way you do it.

He don't know nothing.

Daddy, I know everything.

Kids. Sometimes they

make believe they see things.

We didn't pick your name out of a hat.

We know your son was down there.

So, come on, let's go.

Son, listen. Here's what

I'd like you to do for us.

I'd like you to take a walk downstairs

with us and your father.

We have people down there.

All I want you to do is pick out

the person you saw with the gun in his hand.

That's it. You think

you could do that for us?

Good. Come on.

Let's take a walk.

Mr. Anello,

take a walk downstairs.

- We won't be long. Go ahead.

- Officer, is he gonna be OK?

Everything's gonna be fine, dear.

They'll be back in two minutes.

There's Lorenzo.

Hey, fellas, turn around.

You two, take your hats off.

Hey! Put your head up.

Straight ahead. Look this way.

- Is that him?

- No.

How about this guy?

Straight ahead, fella.

- How about him?

- No.

Straight ahead, you.

How about this guy?

Give me an answer.

- How about him?

- No.

How about him?

Is it this guy?

Give me an answer.

Hey! Put your eyes up!

How about this guy?

Let's go. Hey, look

straight ahead! Over here.

Look at me. That's it.

Is it this guy?

- How about this guy?

- No.

OK.

Look at this guy.

How about him?

Hey! Straight ahead.

How about this guy?

Is it him?

Give me an answer.

No.

- You satisfied, Officer?

- No, I'm not satisfied.

- He don't know. He can't help you.

- Yeah, yeah, your son doesn't know anything.

- He said no, he can't help you.

- I'll tell you what. Take a walk.

- Go ahead. Go ahead. Take a walk.

- Come on, son. Let's go.

All right, you guys can breathe again.

Beat it. Get out of my sight.

- We really fooled them, Dad.

- Yeah, we fooled them.

I didn't rat, Dad, I didn't rat.

No, you didn't rat.

I did a good thing, right?

Yeah, you did a good thing -

you did a good thing for a bad man.

I did a good thing for a bad man.

I didn't understand that,

not at nine years old.

All I knew was...

a rat was the lowest thing anyone

could be in my neighbourhood...

and I didn't rat.

Daddy, why did you say

I did a good thing for a bad man?

Because sometimes in life you gotta do

certain things that you gotta do,

even though they're not right.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

No. It's just that I thought

I did the right thing.

Now I'm not sure I did.

You did do the right thing,

and when you get older, you'll understand why.

Your mother and I

love you very, very much.

Tomorrow you take a ride

on the bus with me. OK?

City Island was the last stop

on my father's route.

It was one of our

favourite places.

It was like going

on a vacation for a day.

My dad would listen to his jazz

and we would talk about baseball.

Dad, can I have an ice cream?

We do our job first,

and then I'll get you an ice cream.

- OK?

- OK, Pop.

Here.

- Let's play the game, Dad.

- OK, let's see how good you are today.

Who was the last player

to win the Triple Crown?

Mickey Mantle.

Batting average, 353.

RBls, 130.

Home runs, 52.

- That's pretty good, son.

- The best ballplayer that ever lived, Dad.

Joe D's the greatest ballplayer.

The Yankee Clipper.

- 56-game hitting streak.

- That's right.

- Nobody beat that. Right, Dad?

- Nobody beat that, son.

- Do you know why Joe D. Was so great?

- Because he was Italian?

- Well, that's part of it.

- Then why?

Because he had

more talent than anybody.

- Talent?

- That's right.

Do I have talent, Dad?

Of course you have talent.

You got all the talent in the world.

Can I be a ballplayer?

You can be anything

you want to be.

Remember, the saddest thing in life

is wasted talent.

You could have all the talent in the world,

but if you don't do the right thing,

then nothing happens.

But when you do right,

guess what, good things happen.

- You hear me?

- You're right.

- Let's go for that ice cream.

- Yeah, good.

- I'm gonna shut the doors, right, Dad?

- Yeah.

Ready? Watch it.

- Got it?

- I got it.

Wasted talent.

That was something

my father would talk about all my life.

Come on, let's hurry,

so we can catch the start of the game.

'36, 683 here to see

the final game of the '60 Series.

'And what a ball game

they're looking at.

'Moose Skowron, with that

infield hit deep to third...

'has picked up his twelfth

World Series base hit in 1960.

'Time called. Blanchard back... '

Come on, Sonny.

'One out, unassisted,

to Nelson, to end the sixth.

'Southpaw hitter.

'And Elroy Face 'staring down

to his battery mate Hal Smith.

'Into the stretch now.

The little man sets.

'And here's the first one

coming to Blanchard.

'Outside and a ball. '

- See you later, Pop.

- OK.

Get right upstairs, and watch the rest

of the game. No hanging out, son.

Hey, Lorenzo, how you doing?

Keep driving.

I want to talk to you.

- Your kid is a good kid.

- Thanks.

Sonny really appreciates

what you and your son did for him.

That's all right.

I'm just glad everything worked out.

He'd like to do something for you.

All you gotta do is

drop some numbers off for us.

You're gonna get $150 a week.

Won't even have to get off the bus.

Tell him I appreciate it, but I got a city job.

If I get pinched I could lose it.

- At least think about it.

- I just can't do it. It's not for me.

$150 a week. You don't

want to think about it?

I can't do this. It's not for me.

I can't do it.

Sonny's gonna be disappointed,

but I'm gonna tell him what you said.

OK.

Stop the bus here.

I want to get off.

- They offered me a job today.

- Doing what?

Numbers.

All I gotta do is pick up a piece of paper

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes