The Gambler Page #4

Oh, here's Fisher inbounding the ball.

Wildcats bringing

the full court pressure.

Martin bringing it up the court.

Three seconds on the clock.

Passes cross court.

Allen, from out of nowhere, tips it!

This one is over! Wildcats have done it!

Oh, my, oh, my!

Lamar Allen, one of the best

basketball players in the game.

All season long, he produced

at a high calibre of play...

Did you have money on the game?

Why would I have money on the game?

He's a student of mine.

That's unethical, all right?

I would not bet on a student of mine.

You think I would do

something like that?

I would never

do anything like that, okay?

What kind of a person

do you think I am?

Do I have money on the game!

Is he good at English?

No, he's not!

F***ing doing in my f***ing house.

F***!

How bad is this trouble you're in?

I'm always in trouble.

No, I mean,

do you still need money?

- No.

- Truthfully?

Truthfully.

I never know

when to believe you any more.

Perhaps I should believe the gangster

who phoned my home.

What's that?

What I owe.

Jesus. How is this possible?

Same as your marriage. I lost.

No.

Marriage is in the real world.

It's not a game of chance.

Now you're talking crazy.

What'll they do to you if you don't pay?

Break every bone in my body.

Go after the family.

I can't help doing this.

I don't believe this is a disease.

Well, I just had a considerable

conversation about character.

And there's going to be a moment

when I want something again,

when I won't allow myself

to be seen in this condition.

But it's not now, and it's not up to you

or anything you or anybody

else f***ing says, okay?

Are you degraded enough

to come with your mother to the bank?

In cases like this I have to ask,

is everything okay?

Nothing's okay,

when someone needs

that amount of money in cash.

But it's my money,

and it's none of your goddamn business.

Are you a relation?

This is my son.

Either you can't see

the uncanny resemblance,

or you're implying

she's under duress or something.

Should I be?

Look, dear,

it's my money and there's plenty of it.

And don't even start to tell me

that all of this bullshit

is for my protection,

because that is understood.

Now, you have the withdrawal slip.

Here is my I.D.

There are sufficient funds.

My family has been with this bank

since my father-in-law started it.

Now, what I want

is $260,000...

...in cash.

Are you sure you want that in cash?

Cash. Okay? Cash.

I'm sorry, I'm going to ask for...

What?

For a second piece of identification.

It's for your own protection.

This is the last of it.

If I ever have to hear

about your problems again,

I will never see you again.

Do you understand that?

I need you to f***ing understand that!

Am I embarrassing you?

Do you want to just take the money?

You want to just take

the money and go?

Even if I say goodbye

and consider it cheap to be rid of you?

Yeah, I want to take the money and go.

Hey.

Hey.

If I have to pull you into an inappropriate

relationship to get you out of your job,

I'm ready to go.

So am I.

What if I told you

that I'm not a gambler?

What if you saw me

with a needle in my arm

and I told you that I'm not a junkie?

I saw you be a professor

and I know you're not one of those.

Yeah.

It's good to come out here. It's good.

I come out here because

it makes me feel alive.

No.

No. No. Not good enough.

There's something else,

I don't quite know what it is.

I know a lot,

but I don't f***ing know that.

"And I always sat on a blanket

in the middle of nowhere

"with nothing around me

but infinite possibilities,"

and it's bullshit. I'm sick of it. So...

You are the perfect example

of how a person can start off

with no problems whatsoever,

and then go out of their way

to make sure that they have all of them.

There's no relative degree of suffering.

What, you want me to

talk about my problems?

Well, I don't like people with problems

or the f***ing vanity to bring them up.

That's where I'm from.

I'm like my mother.

You know, whether I'm like my father

or not I couldn't tell you,

because she got rid of him

when I was little.

And you don't think that

you need to talk to anybody?

No.

I need a lot of things.

I need to wipe myself out first.

I need to have no past. If I can get to

nothing, then I can start over.

Hello!

Echo!

Do you want to help me start over?

There is something wrong

with everybody here.

They should be in the hospital.

Yeah, that's right, but they're not.

All right, the Man wants you

to be in the hospital.

These people are f***ing Americans

taking a major stand for freedom.

Well, assisted autonomy.

This is the inside of my soul, kid.

This is what I got.

Wow.

Well, at least

I'm going to get rid of my mother.

This table right here. Come on.

Buy-in at $10,000.

How far you going, man?

As far as it goes, buddy.

I go as far as that seat

on the other side of you, man.

Save it for the old lady, cowboy.

That's $500, sir.

Yes, it is. Are you a dealer

or an investment counsellor?

Double.

We gambling or what?

Let's go. Give me the three.

Is he kidding?

Whoa.

What are you, Houdini?

Pulled that one out of your ass.

Wow.

Unbelievable.

Pulls a three on an eight.

Unbelievable.

I'm sorry.

I'll play another $10,000.

Buy-in at $10,000!

Give me the bag.

That's $500, sir.

It's not $500.

$1,000.

Another $500.

It's $2,000.

Deal the cards, please.

$2,000 plays.

Buy-in at $10,000!

Buy-in at $10,000!

Buy-in at $10,000!

Everything?

You want to hear something

really f***ing crazy?

There was a student, just the other day,

who said that my problem,

if one's nature is a problem

rather than just

f***ing problematic, right,

is that I see things

in terms of victory or death,

and not just victory but total victory.

It's true.

I always have.

Well, it's either victory or don't bother.

The only thing worth doing

is the impossible, right?

Everything else is f***ing grey.

You're born as a man

with the nerves of a soldier,

the apprehension

of an angel, to lift a phrase,

but there's no f***ing use for it.

Here? Where's the use for it?

What, you're set to be a philosopher

or a king or f***ing Shakespeare,

and this is all they give you? This?

What? 20-odd years of school,

which is all instruction

in how to be ordinary.

They'll f***ing kill you,

and they f***ing will!

You know, and then it's a career, right?

Which is just not the same thing

as existence, so...

I want unlimited things.

I want everything.

I want a real f***ing love,

a real f***ing house,

a real f***ing thing to do every day,

and, I just...

I'd just rather die if I don't get it.

Did I just say that out loud?

Hey, Jim!

You stopped answering your phone.

I told you the time frame.

What the f*** do I care

about your time frame?

So you don't die.

Everybody dies.

Aren't you afraid of dying from

something other than natural causes?

I got to take whatever's coming,

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