Little Men Page #4

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That's your assignment.

- Hi.

- Hi.

- Hi, Leonor.

- Hi, Jake.

Where are you going?

- Is Tony in the office?

- He is, and he's staying there.

He's helping me out today.

But we're supposed

to meet some friends.

Are those the same friends

that beat him up?

- What?

- That's right.

They beat him up.

And you should ask him why.

What's up?

- What happened?

- Nothing.

- I bumped into Joey at soccer.

- But your mom said that...

She's so dramatic.

She deserves an Academy Award.

She doesn't want me

to go out with you

'cause she wants me

to help her with this. Look.

She's not good with numbers,

you know?

Go ahead,

I'll meet up with you later.

Okay.

I'm so sorry, Leonor.

Our rehearsal went late.

- Is this still a good time?

- Yeah.

I sent the girl home early

so we could talk.

You wanna go in?

- I'm just going to finish this.

- Okay.

- The store looks nice.

- Thanks.

Brian, why don't you sit down?

My...

sister and I were working

on a transfer of ownership.

It's...

It's almost done.

My father left everything in order,

the taxes and all of that.

The only thing still pending

is the store, which needs a lease.

You know, your father never

thought much about contracts.

And he was very happy

to have me here.

Max thought my store gave

glamour to the neighborhood,

and he was proud to be associated.

Well, the neighborhood's changing.

I'm sure you've noticed

the rents have gone up a lot

in the last couple of years.

Yeah, I noticed, and so did Max.

But it was his desire

that I stay here.

Well, we don't want you

to go away.

My sister has worked up a new lease.

We think it's very fair.

It's not market price.

We know that's not

even possible but,

still, you can't expect

to pay the same amounts

that you did

when you first moved in.

Here, just take a look at this.

Before we go any further

with this conversation,

I want you to take a look at this.

I am probably the last person to have

photos printed the old-fashioned way.

It's completely different than

seeing them on a cell phone,

don't you agree?

That's me in the backyard,

on July fourth.

Mm.

That's me, Tony and Max

at the Saint Anthony's fair.

That's us with my family,

when they came to visit.

Your father and I

were very good friends.

We spent a lot of time together.

What you and your sister

don't understand

is that your father

wanted me to stay here.

He thought of me as part of

this house, of this neighborhood.

I was more his family,

if you want to know, than you were.

Well, that's a ridiculous thing

to say.

You hardly talked to each other.

You never came to visit.

I was the one here.

I saw him every day.

This is not what I came here for.

Just, please, take a look

at the lease, okay?

Let's just get back to that.

It's very fair.

I don't need to.

I have an idea of what

you and your sister have in mind.

I'll just give this to my lawyer.

Okay, well...

there's nothing else

to talk about then, I guess.

Okay, good night, Leonor.

Brian, can you give me

a hand here?

I have to call a patient.

Give me a moment. Is Jake here?

Yeah.

- Hi, Dad!

- Hi, Mr. J.

Jake,

you know it's a week night.

What are you doing

playing video games?

- Can Tony stay and eat with us?

- No.

Well, why not? He wanted to ask you

about your acting career.

That's enough for tonight.

Just turn this thing off.

- Dad, come on.

- I said no!

We're not even finished

with this level.

Tony, you need to go home now.

We can talk about acting

some other time.

Sure, Mr. J.

Your mom's waiting for you

downstairs.

Did you ask your mother?

She loves

when Jake comes over.

- Please, Mom? Please?

- Jake, I just made dinner.

I'll eat it tomorrow

for lunch, I promise.

Okay, but I want you back here

in the morning.

- Yes. Thanks, Mom.

- Thank you, Mrs. Jardine.

- Please, Mami?

- No, Antonio.

Come on, Ma,

we got spaghetti in the fridge.

No, Antonio, when I said "no,"

I mean it. Don't ask me again.

It'll be super quiet,

aren't we, Jake?

Oh, yes, we're gonna be very quiet.

No, Antonio, don't insist!

It's okay, Tony,

I'll see you tomorrow.

Yeah.

- Good night, Jake.

- Good night, Mrs. Calvelli.

- I'll see you tomorrow.

- See you tomorrow.

Yo!

Hey!

Hey, I'm not talking

to my mother anymore.

Why not?

- She said you can't come over.

- Why doesn't she want me over?

I don't know.

I don't think your dad wants me

around anymore either.

He may be too chicken

to tell you, but I can tell.

Why are they so mad at us?

Our parents are involved

in a business matter,

and it's getting ugly,

so they're taking it out on us.

You're right,

my dad was very cold to you.

I won't talk

to my parents, then, either.

- Really?

- Really. Not unless they apologize.

It's not gonna be easy.

You sure you can handle it?

- I can handle it.

- You're a great friend, Jake.

You too.

Hey.

Did something happen

with Leonor downstairs?

The store's closed,

but it's not even five.

Have you seen Tony?

Jake...

can you stop

joking around for a minute?

Did you see if the store was

open earlier when you came home?

Was it open?

No, it wasn't?

Jake, talk to me.

Audrey, hi.

No, no, I haven't heard from her.

Today I got home early

and the store was closed.

I feel responsible.

We are responsible.

Audrey will tell you if

she thinks you owe her money.

- Don't worry about it.

- Well, she sort of did already.

- What?

- Yeah.

She told me

we owe her money for the store.

- Incredible.

- Yeah.

Jake,

did you see Leonor today?

Still not talking?

No.

You can't go on

like this forever, you know.

You look like

you've been doing this

acting thing for a long time.

Really?

When you did the Emotional Recall

exercise, it seemed so natural.

My father was a stunt man

when I was a kid,

so I spent a lot of time

on sets and stuff.

Oh, so you've been

doing this forever.

Well, no, because when I was

eight years old, he died.

Did he die doing a stunt?

- No, he had throat cancer.

- Oh.

I'm sorry for your loss.

Thanks.

- I'll see you later?

- I hope so.

Hey. You know anyone

with a swimming pool?

No, Why?

I would kill to see her

in a bathing suit.

- Could you imagine?

- I never thought about that.

So, who do you like, huh?

- They're all nice.

- You can tell me, you know.

- Tell you what?

- If you like someone.

- I don't know.

- That's what you always say.

Well, I do have an idea

you might like.

Yeah? What's that?

Eva talked about going dancing.

There's a matinee club,

like after hours, for kids.

- When?

- Sunday afternoon in the city.

- Let's go!

- Would be fun, wouldn't it?

That would be great,

if I could just dance with her.

Wow, Jake,

that's actually getting good.

- I'm impressed.

- Thank you.

Hi, can I help you?

Thank you, I want to talk to Leonor.

- Hi, Leonor.

- Hi.

Just a second, let me finish this.

You're home early.

Monday.

That's right, your day off.

That's a cute dress.

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