The Winner Page #2

be alone forever."

Something like that.

And did she stick out

her hand and say,

"that'll be 500 bucks"?

Unfortunately,

I didn't have

the money at the time.

Say you'll marry me.

Say it's you and me

from this moment on.

We're in this together.

Please, Philip.

So I know.

I wanna know.

Yes, baby.

I'll marry you.

We'd like to welcome

all shriners...

Louise. Hey.

Where you been?

I've been lookin' for you.

That's where I've been.

What do you want?

Here's what I need.

I need you to go to my place

tonight and wreck it.

Why?

I'm bringing Philip there.

I want him to see it.

I'm gonna tell him

the mob did it because

I owe them money.

You do owe money.

I'm gonna tell him

I owe 150,000.

Philip is gonna want

to save me, and he can win

that money this Sunday.

One bet, he can win it all.

The odds are 36 to 1.

He's never bet

more than 1,000.

But this time

he'll be doing it for me.

He loves me, Jack.

Did you hear

the magic words, honey?

How much cash

has he got around?

He keeps some in a box

under his bed.

I counted it

the other night.

It's about 5,000.

If he puts all that

down and wins,

there's our 150,000.

We pay off Kingman,

we still have

$100,000 to spare.

Do you see how beautiful

life can be?

Louise, don't

look at me that way.

You know how it makes me feel.

It's good to feel, Jack.

You know what

I'm talkin' about.

You want to hear me say it?

Is that it? I think I can

get it up this time.

Why torture yourself, Jack?

We have a good thing,

don't we?

We understand each other.

Why mess with it?

A lot of people want

your lover boy to lose.

Kingman wants him to lose.

Yeah, but, see,

he is not gonna lose.

This is one thing

I know for sure.

Hope you're right.

I know one thing.

You got him.

I watched the two of you.

I don't think he'd suspect you

if you came at him

with a knife in your hand...

And blood coming out

of your eyes.

Louise, Jack,

do you have a light?

What is that?

A joint?

No, it's a roll-up.

I'm sorry. I don't.

This guy is so f***in' weird.

I know.

Talks with that phony French accent.

He's not even French.

I heard he's from New Zealand.

What the f*** is this?

Looks like a rehearsal.

For what? There's nothing

going on here tonight.

Hey, Garson!

Hey!

Get in here.

My name is gaston.

Whatever the f*** it is.

What is this?

I don't understand.

It's my rehearsal.

Could you take it up

in the parking lot?

For you... anything.

Come on, girls.

To the parking.

Now, listen, when you

tear up my place tonight,

do not f*** with

my aquarium or my canopy

over the bed, okay?

Okay.

Or my vase on the dresser.

I hate that f***in' vase.

That's the first thing

that'll go.

Jack, my father gave me

that vase the last time

I saw him, all right?

When was that?

I was 14. He took me

to a bus depot in Detroit.

I'll never forget it.

I've heard the f***in'

vase story, okay?

It was nighttime,

and it was rainin'.

You were cryin',

but you didn't know why.

Don't f*** with my vase.

Is that too much to ask?

Hey, Philip.

My dress, honey.

Ha! Joey was dyin'

to meet ya.

He saw you playin'.

He was so impressed

with your abilities...

Joseph.

It's a pleasure, Joseph.

Please, to you, it's Joey.

Right. Joey.

Were you lookin'

at wedding rings?

Yeah, I'm getting

married soon.

Hey! Congratulations!

We'll have a party.

That is something.

That's the best thing

about this place.

You can married like that.

I want to write

an article about you.

What?

I want to write an article

about you.

People all over

the place have heard of you,

but nobody really knows you.

There's people out there

who don't believe you exist.

I want to write a book

about you.

A book?

You just said an article.

An article becomes a series

of articles becomes a book.

I write for a major, uh...

Metropolitan daily newspaper.

This is the kind of feature

I've been lookin' to write.

A major metropolitan

daily newspaper.

That's right, Phil.

I'm flattered.

Can't do this right now though.

I can't do an interview

right now.

It's a human interest piece

is what it is.

What the readers

are dying to know is

how'd you get so damn lucky?

I really never was before.

That's interesting.

Those are the kind

of comments, foresight...

And interesting thoughts

we need for this piece.

Is that thing rolling?

It's rolling.

Why... Sundays?

Why do you only

play on Sundays?

I first won on a Sunday.

And, why did you first play?

I don't know.

Nobody's really ever

asked me that before.

The night that I first won,

I was depressed.

Now that I think about it,

I was incredibly depressed.

I thought that the world

for me would always be...

A lonely place full

of deceit and suffering...

I'd never understand.

I felt lost in a

huge crowd of strangers...

I couldn't penetrate.

Soon it seemed the wheel was...

was calling out to me.

That... that it

was pulling me...

Into the world,

and I wouldn't

be allowed to resist.

And how did it feel?

How did it feel to win?

Like I might finally know

what it's like to be happy.

I thought that the world...

go on. Don't stop.

Let it out.

I felt lost in the crowd

of the world.

And I wanted to leave.

Vegas?

The world.

I haven't thought about

this in a while, but now

that I think about it,

that night I first won

I had planned to kill

myself at midnight.

I've thought...

I've thought about that too.

I think all great men have.

For your out-of-state,

cheque-cashing needs,

the money market is here...

whether you have

a personal cheque, two party,

government, cashier's cheque

or payroll cheque,

the money market

will cash it for you.

He has the ticket.

Money

market at the casino cashier...

Will help you with your needs,

letting you get back

to the action.

Oh, my God!

Oh! My God! Jesus!

- Everything wrecked.

- Well, they left your jewelry.

My mother gave me this

the last time I saw her,

Philip.

We should

call the police.

No!

I owe some people

a lot of money.

Louise!

Think they're gonna kill me?

You know, I mean, I...

we should leave!

I'm tired of running.

How much do you owe?

I can't even tell you,

Philip.

A quarter of a million dollars.

Louise.

Oh, don't.

Thank you, Philip.

I thought I still had time.

I've been paying them off

in slow increments.

My mother

died last year.

Oh.

And then my father

three days later.

He couldn't live without her.

It was all up to me to take care

of the funeral arrangements.

I had no idea how expensive

all that is.

They've got you screwed to

the wall unless you cremate.

I had nowhere to turn.

One of those

pauper's graves.

A pauper's grave?

Strangers piled together

in some ditch somewhere.

Somebody told me

you can't even clothe them.

Thank you.

These guys just pour

the money on you at first,

because they want

to get you hooked.

Before I knew it, the 50 grand

had turned into 100.

When I couldn't pay

that back, they added on

some f***ing crazy interest,

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