Going My Way Page #3

- My old man happens to own the mortgage...

- Your father holds the mortgage?

You're darn right he does.

Confidentially,

he'd like to find a way to foreclose.

He wants to tear down the church

and make a parking lot of it.

Can you imagine it?

He's a very disliked man.

- I'm sort of following in his footsteps.

- Junior?

[Turkeys gobbling]

HERMAN:
It's turkeys.

TONY:
Let's cut through the churchyard.

[Turkey gobbles]

FITZGIBBON:
Good afternoon, boys.

BOYS:
Hello, Father.

That's a fine fat bird you have there.

We was sort of bringing it over for you.

- It's sort of a present. Ain't it, Herman?

- Yeah.

That's very generous of you.

Such a fine bird and all.

Now, where may I ask did you get it?

- We got...

- We won it in a raffle over at the theatre.

- We were lucky.

- Isn't that great?

- But, surely, your mother...

- Except on Christmas, Ma don't like turkey.

- She don't?

- Honest.

That's most fortunate for me.

There's nothing I'm more partial to

than a nice tom turkey.

Roasted, all with dressing.

I appreciate your kindness, boys.

It ain't nothing, Father.

FITZGIBBON:
On the contrary,

I appreciate the thought behind it.

Small luxuries, like small sacrifices,

are ofttimes the most godly.

Bless you both. Thank you.

Take it inside the kitchen

to the housekeeper.

HERMAN:
Okay, Father, we'll see you later.

FITZGIBBON:
So you guaranteed

Mrs. Quimp's rent?

O'MALLEY:
Of course.

FITZGIBBON:
St. Dominic's can't afford it.

I expected you to counsel Mrs. Quimp,

not to adopt her.

[Exclaims contentedly]

- Hot turkey.

- Hot? Of course it's hot.

That's what I say.

"Bless us, O Lord, for these Thy gifts

which we are about to receive. Amen."

Amen.

Say, Father, you know a youngster

around here named Tony Scaponi?

FITZGIBBON:
What about him?

O'MALLEY:
This afternoon...

Tony belongs to

a fine upstanding Catholic family.

Eleven children. Sure, I know Tony.

As fine a lad as there is in the parish.

Police don't think so.

- They don't?

- No.

If something isn't done

about Tony and his pals...

they're gonna wind up in a reform school.

- Who told you that?

- The police.

You've been listening

to Patrick McCarthy, no doubt.

Let me tell you that that man

hasn't been to Mass in the last 10 years.

That may be, but I think

McCarthy's right about those kids.

They're terrorising

the whole neighbourhood.

No use talking like that.

To hear the police talk, you'd think

that every lad in the parish was a criminal.

I'll have you know

that the very food there before us...

is brought to us by two of those very lads

the police are so maliciously slandering.

Is that so?

Tony Scaponi was one of them.

I gave them both my blessing.

O'MALLEY:
And they gave you the bird.

FITZGIBBON:
Yeah.

[O'Malley laughs heartily]

[Doorbell buzzing]

I'll get it.

O'MALLEY:
Hello, McCarthy.

MCCARTHY:
Good evening, Father.

Well, I brung them.

Tony Scaponi, Herman Langerhanke.

O'MALLEY:
Hi, fellows.

I don't think you have to wait, McCarthy.

Okay, Father.

O'MALLEY:
Say, I understand that

you fellows like baseball pretty well.

TONY:
Yeah.

O'MALLEY:
I was thinking, Saturday...

the Yanks are playing the St. Louis Browns,

a doubleheader.

Would you like to go out

and see the games with me?

St. Louis is my old hometown, you know.

I'll get all the passes I want.

- What do you say?

- Well, I guess so.

Yeah, sure, I guess

the fellas would like that.

It's a date then.

I'll meet you here Saturday at noon?

That'd be good.

You run along and have your dinner.

I'll go finish my turkey.

Let me see now, where was I?

Oh, yeah, I know.

I was going to ask you something.

- What made me become a priest?

- No.

About young Tony.

What was it the police accused him of?

Stealing.

- Stealing what?

- Turkeys.

Seems the boys hijacked a poultry truck

down the street here.

There was quite a bit of excitement.

The driver reported them to the police.

Did the poor man get his turkeys back?

All but one, Father.

[O'Malley clears throat]

Thank you.

[Playing sombre music]

O'MALLEY:
McCarthy, how are you?

Good morning, Father.

You open for business?

Always open for business, McCarthy.

Come on in.

MCCARTHY:
Come on.

Come right in, Pat.

- I got a problem, Father.

- Yeah?

Seems like it's more yours than mine.

It's her. Well, Father, it's this way.

Last night I'm walking me beat, see?

Who do you think I runs into?

- Her?

- Mrs. Quimp.

[Lmitating Hattie] "Officer McCarthy,"

she says.

- You know how the old stool pigeon talks.

- Yes, I do.

"If you'll go around the corner,

you'll find a girl.

"I've been watching her

and she ain't up to no good."

Well, Father, I goes around the corner

and there, like the Quimp says, I finds her.

MCCARTHY:
Do you follow me, Father?

O'MALLEY:
Yes.

Well, I looks at her and sizes her up.

One of those things, I think.

I'm just about to say to her:

"Look, sister, not on my beat."

When she turns,

and right away I sees I'm out of line.

- You follow me, Father?

- Yeah.

To get down to it, Father,

I find she's broke and run away from home.

Doesn't know a soul in town.

So, instead of booking her,

I takes her home.

It's all right with the missus for one night,

but if she stays any longer...

I guess Mrs. McCarthy,

good woman that she is...

is no different from any other woman.

- You follow me, Father?

- I follow you.

So, anyway, she tells us

that she's run away from home...

on account of

her folks don't understand her.

We tried arguing with her, Father,

but she's a tough one.

She thinks "Honour thy father

and thy mother" is a belly laugh.

Well, Father, guess I'll let you

pick it up from here.

MCCARTHY:
Says her name's Carol James.

O'MALLEY:
All right, McCarthy.

MCCARTHY:
So long.

O'MALLEY:
Goodbye.

MCCARTHY:
All right. You can go in now.

Come right in.

Won't you sit down over here?

Carol, suppose you give us

your version of it?

I guess it's just about like he said.

- You don't get along with your parents?

- No.

- So you're going to leave home?

- I've left.

How are you fixed for funds?

I haven't any.

That's how I met Officer McCarthy.

But I'll get by.

- Why don't you go back home?

- I tell you, at home my life is intolerable.

O'MALLEY:
Parents?

CAROL:
We don't agree on anything.

Don't like the way I do my hair,

my eyebrows, too much lipstick.

Too something or other, too long, too short.

Do you think it's too short?

Well, I don't know.

They even object to my boyfriends.

If they do let me go out, they say,

"Where are you going? Come home early.

- "Come right home after the show."

- "No drive-in."

No matter how early I get in, it's too late.

And if I say we ran out of gas,

they say I'm lying.

- Are you?

- Sometimes.

Did you ever think of maybe

having the boyfriends over to the house?

[Sighing] Now you talk like they do.

I can't have them over to the house

because Grandma sleeps in the living room.

She does?

By 9:
00 we have to be off the couch.

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