City Hall Page #9

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as simple as black and white.

And for the media, certainly not

as interesting.

But it's who we are.

What are you gonna do now?

You mean "we. "

We'll fight the sons of b*tches.

We're gonna come out swinging.

We're gonna tell them, "Hey!

We're only human.

Everybody makes mistakes.

Frank Anselmo is dead.

He was a friend...

...but the last

of the clubhouse bosses is gone. "

We're gonna clean up

the Augean stables.

We'll go to Miami...

...have them on their knees, begging me

to make the keynote speech.

And then?

A short sojourn to Albany...

...followed by a long one

at the White House.

If I didn't know better,

I'd be bursting with admiration.

I thought I'd come in and

find you on your knees.

Instead, you're turning

adversity into triumph.

That's just a reflex.

An old habit of mine.

But it's still good to hear you say it.

The way you say it too.

"Adversity into triumph. "

It's good to know

you still believe in me.

Did I say that?

I don't know.

I thought you did.

Don't fathers listen to their sons?

How is your father these days?

I haven't heard you mention him

for a while. Where is he?

In a nursing home in

Crowley, Louisiana.

Plays dominoes with orderlies.

Fulminates over his Cream of Wheat.

Don't be too hard on him.

We can't dictate our finishes.

I don't like the sound of that.

Of course you don't.

Because underneath

all that need to believe...

...under all the concrete

you poured into my pedestal...

...something is crying to get out.

What?

You know I called Judge Walter Stern.

Anselmo called me.

I knew the Mafioso had called him, but

in this business, you don't trade names.

And I called Walter.

That's all there was to it.

I was doing Anselmo a favor.

Run caution lights all my life.

This time you ran a red, and

someone cut across the intersection.

A cop and a 6-year-old child.

That's with me forever.

That's not good enough.

Not good enough?

You think I don't know that?

I hope so, John.

Scares me when you call me John.

Why's that?

Because I...

...I thought a minute ago

we were off to the White House.

I thought I could feel you come aboard.

The old menschkeit.

Horseshit.

Menschkeit is horseshit.

It's 120 years of graft

and sweetheart contracts...

...featherbeds and

inside information...

...and everywhere people in power

gather to carve up the turf.

That's your menschkeit.

It's horseshit.

You know where you can put it.

Maybe spread it over the fields.

If we cross our fingers,

maybe a flower will grow.

It has.

Out of all this crap...

...you emerged.

- You're the only voter I care...

- I'm getting that "con" feeling.

- Like you're copping a plea.

- No, come on. No plea.

I'm just a pol who kept rolling along

until he ran into a stone wall.

You were that wall.

And I realized...

...just like me when I was a kid.

Young, ambitious, go-getter, but fair.

Trading up, but always for

the right causes. You're doing good.

Not putting money in your pocket.

Just trying to maintain your position.

Your power.

What good are you

to the people without it?

But down deep...

...you know there's a line you

can't cross.

And after a thousand trades...

...and one deal too many...

...the line gets rubbed out.

I had the fire in the belly

just like you, Kevin.

And the odd thing is,

I still have it.

Never left me.

I had the dream...

...and I had the weight.

Like one of those guys before me said:

"If a sparrow dies in Central Park,

I feel responsible. "

Well said. I feel that way.

I was gonna take

that feeling with me...

...all the way to Washington.

The things you could have done.

F***ing things I could've done.

You're gonna take yourself out, John.

You're gonna take yourself out.

Take a long vacation in Greece.

Pick up the law again.

Go the way of William O'Dwyer.

He f***ed up

and played ambassador to Mexico.

I'm not that ambitious.

Then suck it up,

and find some other way.

Listen to you.

I thought I'd see a boy's tears.

The tears are there.

Just can't see them right now.

You got the stuff, Pappy.

I love to see it in a guy.

Kevin Calhoun for City Council.

Voters of the 6th District...

... come meet your next

city councilman, Kevin Calhoun.

Kevin Calhoun. How are you?

Kevin Calhoun.

How about some literature?

Kevin Calhoun. How are you, sir?

Good afternoon.

I'm running for 6th District.

We got some important issues.

We need to clean this place up.

I'd love your vote.

I'm running for City Council.

Hello. Kevin Calhoun.

- Running for City Council.

- I'll vote for you.

Good afternoon, ma'am.

Will you be voting?

- You're running in the 6th District?

- I am.

Well, 6th District is my district.

I'm very interested

in who'll represent me.

I'm interested that you're interested.

As Huey Long once said, and I quote:

"If you got a friend, you got a vote. "

- Did he say that?

- He sure did.

He told me to move to the 6th District.

He said the people are special.

- So do I have your vote?

- You can count on it.

That's one.

No. More than one, actually.

I hear Elaine Santos is ready

to stand up for you.

Sounds like a groundswell.

I wish I could tell you I won...

... but I got thrashed by a

Dominican from 104th Street.

I got branded an outsider,

and I was never in it.

But I'll be back in 2 years,

and I'll win.

You know why?

I'm willing to be lucky.

And if you're willing to be lucky...

... New York will give you a chance.

Gelula/SDI

SkyFury

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