Out of the Fog Page #7

You can beat a man to

death with rubber hose.

And it hardly leaves a mark on them

for their wives to complain about.

I see.

I got nothing against you personally.

But the next time any of my clients

decide they might want to kick up a fuss.

They'll remember what happened to you.

Purely a business measure.

- I'm glad you see it that way.

One yell out of you and it will

be your last. Remember that.

Go ahead .. go ahead.

That will be enough.

Because you're an old man.

Now, no more funny business about

the hundred and ninety bucks.

Look at me when I talk to you! I'll be

here tomorrow night at nine to collect.

Well ..

Why don't you say something, Pop?

Go ahead, say it .. tell me

what you'd like to do to me.

Go on, talk. Talk it out.

You're all alike. Scared.

Scared of your own shadow.

That's why I get away with things

like this, Pop. Because I know that.

If you did to me what I'm doing

to you, do you know what I'd do?

I'd kill you .. yeah, I'd kill you.

You'd never have the nerve to do that.

Here. It's easy .. go on, take it.

Take it!

All you got to do is pull that little

trigger and there is no more Goff.

Go ahead, Pop. Go ahead.

What's the matter? Can't you do it?

Remember, Pop.

Tomorrow night. Nine o'clock.

One hundred and ninety smackers.

Pop.

The door was open.

I thought I'd come in.

What's the matter with you, Pop?

You don't look well.

I don't look well? Oh, I'm fine. Fine.

You're up late, aren't you?

Yeah. I've got some things to do.

- Oh.

You have got some things to do.

What are you doing?

Going away? Where?

I'm .. I'm going to Cuba, Pop.

Cuba?

- Yes, I'm going with Harold Goff.

When?

The day after tomorrow at midnight.

Stella.

Stella, is there anything I

can do .. or say to stop you?

No, nothing, Pop. It's all been said.

I can't help it, Pop.

To get what you're

after in this world ..

You've got to be hard and

tough inside, like Goff.

What?

Yes. Not caring what happens to

anyone else or what you do to them.

Like Goff.

I'm sorry, Pop.

That's the best you'll ever get

out of anything, his talking.

"You're all alike. Scared.

Scared of your own shadows."

"That's how I get away with things."

Pop .. what are you saying?

What are you talking about?

- Yes, Stella.

Maybe you're right. Maybe

that's the way to be. Like Goff.

Take a man like me, like Olaf.

All our lives we're peaceful men.

We don't want to hurt anyone.

We don't want anyone to hurt us.

But they keep pushing us, pushing.

Pop, I've never heard

you talk this way before.

I've never felt this way before.

Stella, dear.

For the last time, I beg you.

Don't go with him.

For your sake, for my sake.

- Oh Pop, it's no use.

You must love him very much.

All I know is, Pop is that when

he talks, I feel like I'm burning.

When he takes my arm as we

go past a Cop in the street.

I know that someday that Cop

might shoot him. He knows it, too.

And even so, he laughs.

And then I get hot and cold

all over and I feel like yelling.

Nothing that ever happened to

me before made me feel like this.

Pop.

What's the matter with you?

Nothing.

Nothing.

Goodnight baby.

- Goodnight, Pop.

Pop .. aren't you going to bed?

- Bed?

No, I'm not going to bed.

- Well, where are you going?

Well, I ..

I have a headache and

I need a little fresh air.

I'm going for a walk.

You lose again, Bublitchki.

Hello Mr Goodwin.

- Hello Jonah. What brings you here?

I've got a pain in my back.

- You've come to the right place.

Steam is good for everything.

I'll see you alright Mr Goodwin.

Bublitchki .. Bublitchki!

Come back soon, Bublitchki.

I'm going to miss you.

[ singing ]

[ singing ]

Bublitchki, Bublitchki.

- What do you want?

Hit me on the neck, but hard.

Harder.

Ah, that's good. Thank you Bublitchki.

What is more peaceful than a Russian

bath at 2 o'clock in the morning?

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow the creditors come and hold

an auction front of my Dry-Goods Store.

On Pitkin Avenue for sixteen years.

A bankrupt.

I Propotkin, a bankrupt.

A man that once had $12,000 in the bank.

The more I sweat, the more I forget.

Sweat is my only happiness.

Here is your towel Mr Goodwin.

- Thank you.

Are you sure you haven't

seen Mr Johnson? A little man.

Speaks with kind of an accent.

Young, more or less.

I'm sorry, I not see him.

- Thank you.

Well .. the bankrupt becomes one.

I sweat and the profit system

comes right out of my pores.

They push you. They push you. They take

everything from you. They strip you naked.

Naked as a mule. And what do you do?

Yes, yes. What do you do.

- Did I ask you?

No.

- Then don't answer.

Oh, it's you. I didn't recognise you.

Bublitchki .. Bublitchki!

Alright, alright. What do you want now?

Give me a rub, but first hit me on the

neck again. And this time make it hard.

Okay, don't you worry. It will be hard.

Okay, okay. That's enough. That's enough.

Thank you very much, Bublitchki.

How is business at

the store, Mr Propotkin?

Business at the store? I am no longer the

owner of Propotkin's Dry Goods Store.

They tell me that my books don't balance.

For me they balance, but for them

they don't. So I am a bankrupt.

Always, they thought I was joking when

I told them that I didn't make any money.

Finally, it turns out

that I am losing money.

Even I am a surprised.

- I am sorry .. I am very sorry.

16 years I did my own, and then I pay.

- Yes.

Yes, come and go.

I am the victim of people who

don't understand my accounts.

Just because I kept them in my own way.

Everyone has different taste in clothes.

Why not a different taste in bookkeeping?

16 years it takes them to find

out I can't add or subtract.

A situation like this could make

a man like me an anarchist.

Please don't repeat that.

- Around now.

What a life.

Oh .. Olaf.

Over here.

- Yes, Jonah.

Sit down.

- I came as soon as you called.

Caroline is ready to fire me.

Why the rush, Jonah?

We have a decision

to make tonight, Olaf.

A great decision.

All night long, I've been

faced with great decisions.

First Caroline,

then the yacht, then this.

It's too bad it all had

to happen in one night.

Misery grows like a boil.

At first, a little red spot.

Then, all at once, tragedy.

Pardon me, this is

a private conversation.

I'm not listening to you. I've

got enough troubles of my own.

Rub Bublitchki, rub.

Why the Russian Bath

all of a sudden, Jonah?

After you left me tonight Olaf,

Goff caught me.

He hit me with a rubber hose.

It's a little hard to move now.

Harder, harder, I said!

Shake the brains well!

That's terrible. But what can we do?

If you lived in the jungle.

And a tiger stole your food,

and ran off with your children.

What would you do?

- I don't know.

You would kill him.

The modern man is a

size 12 foot with a size 8 shoe.

Massage the spine, please.

Did I .. did I hear right

what you said, Jonah?

Yes, Olaf .. you did.

Did I understand you?

- I think you did, Olaf.

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