Golden Boy Page #2

personal, did such a violin cost you?

Fifteen hundred dollars.

I wait for this moment many year.

Fifteen hundred dollars?

A sum that staggers the mind.

My friend, does any boy

deserve such a sacrifice?

Deserve?

Joe's practised ten year.

He work hard. He get a scholarship

in the Music Institute.

And this is a gold medal he get.

The best in the city.

Could a boy make a living

playing this instrument

in our competitive

civilisation today?

Why, don't expect for Joe

be millionaire.

Millionaire is no necessary.

Joe love music.

Music, it's a great cheer-up

in the language of all country.

Joe take this violin...

a piece of wood...

and with his two hands...

hands so beautiful...

so fine...

he make music.

How about it, Mr. Bonaparte?

No, Siggie, no.

No what?

No taxicab.

Listen, I'm married

to your daughter, ain't I?

And when you do this little thing,

you do it for her and me together.

A cab and two shifts

is a big source of profit.

Joe takes the night shift.

I'm married, so you don't

expect me to take the night shift.

I no expect for Joe drive a taxi.

What's he gonna do?Play the violinski

in the back yard all his life?

Siggie!

Come to bed, Siggie.

Papa, don't talk to him

so he'll come to bed.

Women, women,

always buzzing around.

Women. The less we have

to do with women, the better.

As Schopenhauer says,

"Much ado about nothing."

I'm hungry, but I ain't got the heart

to go into the kitchen again.

It reminds me how my wife slaves

for this dizzy family.

A fine future for an

intelligent woman.

Hey, she's your wife,

but she's also my daughter.

And she's not so intelligent

like you say.

Also, you are not

so intelligent too.

You can't insult me.

I'm too ignorant.

What do you want?

Siggie. Papa, why don't you let

Siggie come to bed.

I no stop...

Sure he stops me.

He stops me every night.

I'm worried. I can't sleep.

Why don't you buy Siggie a cab, Papa?

You got the cash.

It don't have to be a new one.

It don't have to be a...

Sure, even an old one.

The way they're reconditioned nowadays...

Look, kids, go to bed, will you?

Come on, Mr. Carp,

one more game.

Wait a minute. Now, don't tell a lie.

How much you got in the bank?

I got millions.

How much?

What's your business

how much he's got?

Shut up, Duchess.

Am I asking for my health?

If I wanna take you out of the kitchen

is that the gratitude I get?

You and your father,

you get my goat. I'm sore.

Come to bed, Siggie.

"Come to bed, come to bed."

What's so special in bed?

It's a conspiracy

to put me to bed.

I'm warning one thing:

If matters go from worse to worst,

don't expect me to support this family.

I'm warning.

Okay.

We have receive the

warning. Go to bed.

And who asked you to stick in your

two cents about secondhand cabs?

As long as I'm not gonna get it,

I'll tell you what I want:

A first-class job

fresh from the factory.

You've got some nerve, Siggie.

Oh!

Next time I'll break your neck.

I'm super disgusted with you.

Hey, stop...

And with you, I'm super finished.

Sit here with this unholy alliance.

I sleep alone tonight.

You hit your wife in

private, not in public.

A man hits his wife,

and it's the first step to fascism.

What are you talking about,

my little prince? I love my wife.

And as for you,

don't make believe you care.

Let me see you help us out first.

We wanna raise a family.

It's a normal instinct.

Take your hands off my wife.

That's right, Papa.

He can hit me any time he likes.

And we don't want you

interfering in our affairs

unless you do it the right way.

Into bed, Duchess.

- Good night.

- Good night.

Get out of here.

There's old remark:

"You must never interfere in the

laws of nature, and you'll be happy."

Gee, you're up late.

Yeah, waiting for you, Joe.

What's...?

Oh, I had a fight.

A boy in the park.

Why you fight?

It's a long story.

I'm tired.

Good night.

Joe.

I was saying to Mr. Carp,

tomorrow's your birthday.

Twenty-one, eh?

How you like to be

so old, my boy, eh?

Papa...

do you wanna know where I was?

Do you wanna know the truth?

Sure, Joe. You always

tell me truth.

I...

Here. Here's my name in the paper.

I had a fight, ten rounds.

I got $100.

Had a fight?

That's no possible.

Joe Bonaparte.

Prizefighting, the

act of a foolish boy.

I don't wanna be criticised.

Joe, it is not true.

You sound like crazy.

Prizefighting it not for you.

I wanna do what I want.

Look, I proved it

tonight, I'm good.

I had a professional fight.

I can have some more.

But you are a musician, no?

Tomorrow's my birthday.

I change my life.

Just like that?

Just like that.

To me, it's a mystery.

Where did you learn fighting?

Oh, all over the city in the past

two years in the gyms.

Who could believe it?

But your music.

What will happen to your music?

I take a vacation.

The notes won't run away.

Papa.

Papa, don't hate me

for what I did.

I love the violin.

I love it more than

anything else.

But I've practised

for ten years, and where am I?

You and Siggie,

everybody I know,

the kids I went to school with,

all out working,earning real money.

Look at Anna. Even she does more

around the house than I do.

Your way to live is more

important than Anna or me.

No, Papa. People laugh at me

walking down the street

with my fiddle case,

year after year.

You better than them.

Someday you be big artist.

Someday?

Papa, everything

moves too quickly.

Life goes by 200 miles an hour, and

you want me to wait for the future.

It might never come.

Papa, I want to own things

and to give things.

Everything you want from breakfast

until you turn out the light.

I want you to go

to concerts every night.

Money's the answer.

I can get it fighting,

no other way.

I won't get it

playing a violin.

Money, money.

We got hearts,

we got souls.

We gotta take

care of them.

Joe, listen to me.

Do what's in your heart,

not in your head.

In there is music...

violin.

It comes out, it sings when you play.

Then you happy.

You do what

you born for.

The other thing is fake.

It's a bad dream.

And when you wake up,

it's too late.

Papa.

I wish I could make

you understand.

I gotta do what

I gotta do.

You're in a draft.

I just had a tough workout

at the gym.

Borneo says my left jab's

getting to be streamlined.

That's fine. A fighter

needs a good left.

Do you ever watch fighters train?

I might watch you someday.

Tomorrow?

Maybe.

I work with McCoy tomorrow.

He brings out the best in me.

A lot of clippings

for a newcomer.

Two months and you're ready for a

personal scrapbook.

By the way, have you read

Johnny Meyers' column?

Yeah, I read it.

"If that gorgeous curly hair doesn't

plop over in his eyes..."

I said, I read it.

You don't like my hair?

Sure, I like it.

Women are fools

for curly hair.

But in the ring, it's a different story.

They'll kid you to death.

All right, let them.

I'll do as I please.

Sorry I blew up.

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