Late Phases Page #3

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And a lot of the cranks that live here,

they throw fits, lose their minds

and call in every little problem,

making them into our little problems.

Since when is murder a little problem?

They're animal attacks, sir.

Considered acts of God.

And forgive me, but death at old age is not

on our list of this town's biggest problems.

The only big problem

I'm sensing around here is you.

So don't be a pain in the ass.

You wouldn't like me if I hated my job.

You can always retire. This place is great!

Units opening up all the time!

Sir, please. Please, just stick

to your own property, okay? Thank you.

Hey! I found this in my mailbox.

Can you tell me what it is?

Oh! It's just a flyer

from the St. Anthony's church.

They send a shuttle up here

every Sunday to get people down there.

- You should consider going this Sunday.

- I'm not religious.

Well, even so. You get out of the house,

you get to meet your neighbors.

You might have a good time.

- Morning, sir. You ready to go?

- I was born ready.

I gotcha. Here you go.

Thanks, James.

I'm Father Roger Schmidt

from St. Anthony's.

Who might you be?

Ambrose McKinley.

United States Army. Retired.

Glad to have you. Welcome.

To your left that's James Griffin.

He's the one who organizes

the shuttle services.

Welcome.

You smoke?

Yeah. Guilty.

It's really hard to get the smell

out of your beard...

- What about you?

- Used to. Had to quit. Doctor's orders.

So I've never seen you

at Saint Anthony's before.

- You just moved in, right?

- That's right.

I live on Duke Street, myself.

Right over near the woods there.

It's good to know you, neighbor.

What gives with the shovel?

I lost my cane.

Well, maybe we can get one

donated to you?

It's hardly worth it. Besides,

I like the feel of this one.

A lot of people.

A lot of people

when they hear the word

"sacrifice" think

"I don't think that's so bad.

I make sacrifices all the time."

And they sacrifice their time

and they sacrifice their schedule.

And their plans.

And parents, in particular,

make a life-long

occupation of sacrifice.

And if they... And if they do it right,

their children have no awareness

of sacrifices that have

been made on their behalf.

But it dawned on me

that if sacrifice comes easily,

if sacrifice comes naturally to you,

you don't know the half of it.

Richard.

Why does he have to bring a shovel?

Why is he bringing the shovel

into our church?

Hey, Ambrose.

- Follow my smoke trail?

- Yeah.

Hey, I hope you don't...

mind me gearing my sermon towards you.

You said you were a vet

and it got me thinking about sacrifice.

You were in 'Nam?

Yeah.

Hey, you got an extra fag?

Oh, sure. Take mine.

Because, my brother...

older brother... went over there.

I was in the seminary

when he shipped out.

When he came back...

he came back... he came back screaming.

And he still does it at night sometimes.

I guess it's fear...

No. He's angry.

Yeah.

Me?

I come back with eye trauma.

Kept getting worse, but...

I was too stubborn to ask for help.

By the time I went blind I couldn't stand

to look at the world anyway.

You mean, you think you deserved it

because you didn't ask for more help?

Maybe.

Well, because you said that you didn't think

it was worth you getting a cane.

Canes are for cripples.

Besides, I don't plan on

being around much longer anyway.

I hope you're not talking about

what I think you're talking about.

Because that's not an option.

I will not participate

in that sort of giving in.

Everybody dies, Father. Besides,

some things are okay to quit.

Mr. McKinley, Father.

The shuttle's getting ready to go.

One, two,

three,

four, five.

It's two weeks

and he's still doing this.

Oh, god, that smell.

I can't believe the neighbors

haven't complained about it.

Six,

seven.

One, two, three, four, five,

six...

One, two, three.

One, four, two, five, three, six.

One, four, two...

Mr. Griffin?

I just want to say that we all really

appreciate what you're doing for us.

Keeping the shuttle bus going.

And we do believe that everyone

should have a chance to hear God's word.

But, I don't feel comfortable

having him on this bus.

He tried to kill my husband and he

scratched up my floors with his shovel.

I mean, I think he has a capacity for...

- Violence.

- Yes!

I'll talk to Father about it and see if I can

get an alternate vehicle or something.

- Oh, thank you.

- Means a lot to us.

- Thank you, Mr. Griffin.

- Please, just James.

Four, five, five, seven,

eight, nine.

Seems to be a lot of new dogs

popping up in the area.

Maybe we should start talking about

getting you a little Shadow Jr.

No, thank you.

How are you doing

on your blood pressure medicine?

I've got a couple bottles left.

F***ing things make me constipated.

You know, Ambrose, I was reading

about this thing online,

this great new microwave

for the visually impaired.

It actually reads the numbers out loud

as you're entering them.

Jesus Christ,

I'm not that goddam lonely.

I want this one.

- Dad...

- Are you sure?

That's a little pricier than some of

the ones we were looking at before.

You don't have that much

money left. Okay?

I mean, how can you justify

spending it all on a headstone?

Because it's not for me.

Okay!

This should cover it.

- Okay. Hey.

- What?

- These are tens not hundreds!

- You're kidding.

- Okay. It's just a joke.

- Real funny.

Can I have this delivered to my house?

Yep! I've got a guy. Take two days.

As long as I have it in two weeks.

- You got it.

- Is there a gun store around here?

What you want a gun for, old man?

Guns I got. I need ammo.

I know a guy. Uptown.

Westmark. That's the name of the shop.

Can you write it down for me?

Will,

he still has all that cash with him.

What if he loses it?

Oh, sh*t. Pops! Hold on!

What?

- Pops.

- What?

Hey.

- What do you want?

- I need to get that cash from you.

What for?

I want to deposit it in a bank, okay?

Why?

Because it's not safe walking around

with your entire savings

in your pocket like that.

I can take care of myself.

What do I look like, an idiot?

Would you please stop acting like this?

Okay? I'm trying to help you. Alright?

You're making it harder

and harder for me to do that.

It's my money. I'm keeping it.

Stop acting like your mother.

I don't want to argue

about it anymore, Will.

I said, I didn't want to talk about it.

I smell you, you son of a b*tch.

When are you going to bury

your dog, Mr. McKinley?

Thinking about having him stuffed.

Look, we can't get prints off a scarf.

None of the neighbors

saw any sign of this assailant

but he did kill a couple of dogs.

But there's not witnesses.

Well, there was one.

- But it was an Alzheimer's patient.

- You can smell the scarf though, right?

- No, sir. Not over the smell of your dog.

- Smelled like smoke.

What the f***?

Mr. McKinley! It's James Griffin.

I'll be your ride today.

- Here, let me help you.

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