The Greatest Ears in Town: The Arif Mardin Story Page #2

---

[PEOPLE CHATTERING]

What's going on, pal?

What up?

Hey, there he is.

DOUG:
Boom.

JEM:
Sober Jackson.

DOUG:
What's up?

-Hey, hey. Krista's here.

JEM:

Go on, tell the story.

GLOANS:
Dougy, sit down. l'm trying to tell

these motherfuckers about your father.

The feds will never understand

the guy who's facing 40 years.

Gonna give him the opportunity

to walk scot-free if he gives up his friends.

He tells them,

''Suck a dick. Give me the 40.''

JEM:

''F***ing suck a dick.''

Yeah, well, here's to Big Mac.

Doing his time like a man.

JEM:
That's right.

GLOANS:
Last crew in Charlestown.

DOUG:

l'm gonna get a tonic, l guess.

All right.

Get me an umbrella for my beer.

Let me get a Shirley Temple

with an extra cherry, please.

Poor f***ing sober bastard.

-Thanks.

BARTENDER:
No problem.

Juice?

Yeah. Juice.

Do you want some snappers

to go with that?

-What are you doing?

-l was just playing.

F***.

My drink.

Heard you got in a fight, Kris.

Do l look like l got in a fight?

l don't know. Let me see.

They pull your hoop out?

That's right.

F***ing Somalian started talking sh*t

when l was with my daughter.

-You were with Shyne?

-All they see are yuppies down here.

They think there's no more serious

white people in Charlestown.

So they can f***ing talk sh*t?

No.

Well, do you miss it?

F***ing coke and Oxy

and all that sh*t? Yeah, l miss it.

We smoked it to the filter, right?

You know what l miss?

[BREATHING HEAVILY]

There you go.

There you go.

That's what you want, right?

-Yeah.

-ls that what you want?

[MOANING]

-Say you love it.

-Oh, f***.

Good night.

WOMAN:

l'm grateful to be here today.

Growing up in Charlestown in,

you know, a small-knit community...

...we took care of each other,

were protected.

MAN 1:
My friends were really

like my family.

MAN 2:
l'm ashamed of the things l done

when l'm out there.

l don't know

where l learned these things.

WOMAN:
Seven years went by,

and l'd watch Christmas, birthdays

l didn't know what my son looked like.

MAN 1 :

Make a fast buck ifwe had to...

...that progressed

into getting arrested, and....

The struggle that you have within yourself,

the loss, you know what l mean?

The disappointment in yourself. The anger

that turns into disappointment. The despair.

lt's like the guy sitting in the bar,

and a priest walks in.

The guy says, ''Hey, wait a minute.

l hate to tell you this, don't waste your

time, but l happen to know there's no God.''

The priest says, ''Yeah, how's that?''

The guy says,

''l was an explorer in the North Pole.

l got caught in a blinding storm once.

Freezing. l was blinded.

Freezing to death. And l prayed,

'lf there's a God, save me now.'

Now, God didn't come.''

And the priest says, you know, ''How's

that? You're alive. He must've saved you.''

He says, ''God never showed up.

An Eskimo came along.

Took me back to his camp and saved me.''

That's Janice. She's my wife

and she's sitting right there.

She's my Eskimo.

-How you doing?

MAN:
Hey.

CLAIRE:

Excuse me?

Are you doing laundry?

Huh?

l just wondered if you had any change.

The machine is out.

-Can't help you. Sorry.

-Okay.

l can just hang them up

when l get home.

You all right?

l'm fine. l'm just

Are you sure?

You okay?

Yeah, l'm fine. l'm fine, thank you.

l'm fine, yeah.

Well, this is embarrassing.

No, you got nothing

to be embarrassed for.

Do you need help?

l'm just having a bad week.

l understand.

l like to have a good cry

at the nail salon.

[CLAIRE LAUGHS]

Just open right up to the ladies.

They're very understanding.

But, you know,

you like the Laundromat, so that's fine.

Hey, why don't you let me

buy you a drink.

Make up for letting you down

with the quarters.

You know, see if we can turn

your week around.

What's the worst that could happen?

DINO:

FBI! Open the door!

Open the door!

HENRY:

F***.

[GRUNTING AND GROANING]

F***.

F***ing cocksucker. Get off him.

Jesus Christ, Henry.

Oxy, guns?

lt's like townie Christmas.

Minimum federal sentencing,

[FRAWLEY WHISTLES]

You're gonna need a friend.

And she ain't it.

Great girl, though.

She really loves you, l can tell.

Good news for you is you have an alibi

for the Cambridge job.

The good news for me

is l bet you know something about it.

Everyone does trucks.

These guys beat the alarm

for the vault.

-Yeah?

HENRY:
It's what l heard.

A kid, he gets into the junction box.

DOUG:
There she is.

-Hey.

DOUG:
All set?

-Yes.

l should have come

get your door for you, huh?

What kind of a guy lets you open

your own door like that?

What?

l have to get something out there...

...otherwise l'll be pretending

to listen to you all night...

...when really l'm thinking about

something else.

Okay.

A few days ago my bank was robbed.

Four men took it over

and opened the safe.

They took me as a hostage.

They blindfolded me

and drove me around.

And then they stopped and let me out

over at the beach and....

And one of the guys told me...

...to walk until l felt the water

on my toes.

lt was the longest walk of my life.

l kept thinking l'd step off a cliff.

And then l felt the water.

l'm sorry.

lt's not your fault.

Anyway, the FBl guy told me

it would feel like l was in mourning.

FBl? You're working with the FBl?

Mm-hm.

What does that mean?

Guy comes by, checks in on you,

gives you a call? That kind of thing?

Pretty much.

They don't have any suspects?

Any clues? Any leads? Anything like that?

l don't know.

Not that they've told me.

He intimated that they were

scouring Charlestown...

...but they were wearing masks, so....

-Sh*t.

-Mm.

l'm sure l'd recognize their voices

if l heard them again.

l don't know,

might be harder than you think.

So, what do you do for work?

Boston Sand and Gravel.

l break rocks.

Punch a ticket at the end of the day...

...slide down the back of a brontosaurus

like Fred Flintstone.

Call it a night.

[CLAIRE LAUGHS]

-Can l ask you something?

-You sure can.

l volunteer at the Boys & Girls Club

in Charlestown

-Oh, yeah?

-Yeah.

As a kickball pitcher since they haven't

been able to afford any ice for the rink.

Embarrassing. City won't put

any money into that place.

Yeah, l know. Yeah, well, some of the kids

were calling me a toonie.

lt just means a yuppie. Someone who's

not from Charlestown, that's all.

-Of course it does.

-They're just being punks.

BARTENDER:
Hey, Jem. How's it going?

JEM:
Hey, B. Can l have a beer? Thanks.

DOUG:
Oh, sh*t.

-What up?

-How you doing?

-All right. Sox got rocked.

What's going on?

You, uh, check on that thing?

What?

The license.

-Yeah.

-And?

Nothing. It's a dead end. We're all set.

So no need to remove her

from the equation?

-What?

-You heard me.

What are you, a triggerman now?

Just loose ends, kid.

You're gonna get the f***ing electric

chair brought back over to Charlestown.

Don't be so goddamned panicked,

all right, Dig Dug?

Just, you know, l don't wanna get

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote