The Panic in Needle Park Page #2

Terrific.

- Thanks.

- See you again. Hey, she's cute.

Give him my best, will ya?

- I like it here.

- Yeah?

All your friends are here.

You're here.

Some friends.

You know I've been beat by

half the people out there? Half of them.

Hey, there's Hank.

Hey! Hank!

Hey!

Hank!

Dumb bastard's deaf.

Wait a minute.

- Oh!

- Where you going?

Watch this guy!

He don't know where he's walking! Hey! Hank!

Hank!

( HORN HONKS )

Why don't you go direct traffic?

- F***ing Hotch.

- Who's Hotch?

He's a prick.

He's a narco.

This is my brother Hank.

Hank, this is Helen.

- She's an artist.

- Yeah?

What kind of artist?

Bad paper?

Bad paper.

Where'd you meet her?

What is this, a party?

Look who's here.

- See Hotch?

- Yeah. You were right.

Say, uh, you still selling grass in the Village?

When I get a chance.

I bet the spades think

you're a real bad man.

( hank chuckles )

Hank's a burglar.

It's my business.

It's what I do good.

Go ahead. Tell her how you never got caught.

Ain't never got caught. Tell her.

- Get out of here.

- Go ahead!

- I'll tell her how you get caught.

BOBBY:
No. Not me.

Tell her.

Go ahead, tell her.

Well, you see, uh, when I go into an apartment,

I, uh, I jam the lock,

...stick some toothpicks in the

keyhole and break them off.

That way,

when people come back,

I can hear them trying to get in,

make it out the fire escape.

- I copped a television yesterday.

- Yeah?

- Yeah.

- What'd you get, 10 bucks?

Twenty-five.

Six hundred bucks

last night alone.

Aw, terrific.

BOBBY:
What's he going for there?

Little treat.

( money crinkling )

Why don't you get a decent meal?

Aw, Hank.

Ten dollars.

BOBBY:
I'm gonna keep this.

What a brother I got.

Bobby?

Bobby?

- Miss Montez.

- Room 41.

Thank you.

Hey.

- Sonny said you were here.

- Yeah, I told him to tell you.

- I was worried. I didn't know where you were.

- Oh, man. What a night.

What's that?

- What's what? What we got here?

- Yeah.

- Coffee, man.

- Yeah.

- We saw them sitting outside a delicatessen.

WHISPERS:
There's a cop.

Sh*t.

Quick. Under here.

Damn.

Poor cop, just sitting there all day,

watching the germs go by.

- Carrying coffee.

- Carrying coffee.

You want to go up?

Two rings for up.

( chuckles )

( groans )

I don't know. I'm just nervous. What?

(KNOCKING)

There he is.

There he is.

BOBBY:
Come on!

Did you get the stuff?

- You're beautiful.

- Did you get the stuff?

BOBBY:
Come on. Move your ass. Yeah.

Easy, man, easy.

Instant. Hey!

This is Helen.

Listen, there's a Pic 'n' Pay grocery store on 74th Street.

Get the number, all right?

Hey, man, I had to go

up to 112th Street to score.

- Some kid said he'd cop for me, but I didn't want to get beat.

- Nobody does, baby.

- Nobody ever does.

- Hardly.

Bobby, get me some water,

would you?

WOMAN:
How much is it going for up there?

BOBBY:
Seven bucks for a nickel bag, and it's sh*t.

- It certainly is.

- Enjoy.

- Oh. Thanks.

Did you get the number?

555-3092.

You shouldn't have worried.

I had to go uptown to score.

It's all right.

Is he okay?

BOBBY:
He's just a little sick. Hey, Mickey, you all right?

WOMAN:
He's all right. Mickey boosted a vet's office and shot himself full of worming medicine.

Hey, Mickey,

how's the worms?

( mickey groaning )

( imitates groaning )

Here.

Hold that for me.

Doing all right.

I took this guy for 48 cartons

of cigarettes once.

I told him I'd leave him alone

if he bought our stuff.

Hey, Penny,

look what Daddy's got.

BOBBY:
Yeah. Two cartons of instant.

No, man.

I didn't boost any cat food from you.

What would I want

with some kitty litter?

All right, you want it or not, man?

All right.

Okay, I'll be by then.

How do I know when?

I'll get there when I get there.

All right, forget when.

(RECEIVER HANGS UP)

- You eaten yet?

HELEN:
No.

Gonna hit the spot.

Hey, Bobby, give me a soda, would you?

MAN:
Eeeeyahhhh!

Here, Mr. Chico.

- All right!

- Enjoy life.

Uh-huh.

Try to. Light my fire.

Ooh.

CHICO:
Cookin'. Now I'm cookin'.

- Cook that some more.

CHICO:
Yeah. I got...

That's my girl in there.

WOMAN:
It's a real panic, man.

It's worse than '68.

The dealers have all gone down to Florida

and they're driving the prices up.

CHICO:
It's worse than '64 even.

I seen guys kicking their habit

in the streets,

...puking in the alleyway.

SAMMY:
It's an election year. That's why there's no sh*t.

- What election?

- I don't know, man. Some election.

WOMAN:
Next time you boost clothes, I want a size six.

HELEN:
I don't like to wake up alone.

I don't want you to.

But it happens sometimes,

you know.

Believe I'm gonna do it.

SAMMY:
'Cause this panic's something else, man. It's-It's something else.

This guy was telling me that they burned...

(WOMAN LAUGHS)

10 tons of raw heroin in Turkey.

HELEN:
If I went away somewhere, would you come with me?

BOBBY:
Where?

HELEN:
I don't know.

Yeah, do it, baby. Do it. Yeah.

HELEN:
Somewhere.

All right, getting...

getting it in.

BOBBY:
Yeah. We can go to Fort Wayne, Indiana.

No, I could get a job

selling encyclopedias.

I want to make a good impression

on your folks, right?

WHISPERS:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

WOMAN:
Yeah, the politicians are putting the heat on.

SAMMY:
Politicians.

And that's why we gotta pay $7.00

for a $3.00 bag.

Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm.

MAN:
Joe says it'll break tomorrow.

Tomorrow, man.

Well, if it don't float now,

I tell you, man.

Mm-hmm.

( rapid, shallow breathing )

( grunts )

( exhaling )

BOBBY:
You're not going anyplace without me.

HELEN:
Mmm.

BOBBY:
Okay?

( laughing, chattering )

You know what you are?

What am I?

You're my girl.

Right?

- Hey.

- What?

You wanna be Miss Subways?

Oh, yes.

- Yes?

- Yes.

I know a guy who could get you in.

You don't have to ball him or anything.

WOMAN:
Think I could get something at the hospital?

CHICO:
Sure. You can get busted.

SONNY:
Can't get nothing nowhere.

BOBBY:
Hey, there's Hotch.

Two weeks ago

it was coming in like the morning milk.

I know someone who shot

paregoric and shoe polish.

- What?

- It's a high.

Hey, good night, Irene.

- Hey, baby.

- What's happening?

- Hey, baby. You holding anything?

- Sh*t.

They have more stuff in the house

of detention than they do out here.

- What kind of stuff?

- Smack, man.

- All the butches be pushing.

- Looking pretty butch yourself.

Yeah, well, when you in the house,

you play along.

Smack with a bombita.

That's good.

Smack with anything

is pretty good. Coke.

- That's cool.

- What'd they get you for, Irene?

Robbery.

They sure did, Jim.

I walked up to this john on 72nd Street.

CHICO:
No problems with smack and coke, baby, none at all.

BOBBY:
You ever try shooting glue?

CHICO:
You mean sniffing it.

BOBBY:
I mean shooting it.

IRENE:
John turns out to be a narco.

- You know the best high of all is?

- What is it?

IRENE:
They busted me for robbery.

- Death.

Never mind that sh*t.

I said, Man, I ain't no robber.

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