Thunder Bay Page #3

to feed and a dog.

What's the matter?

Doesn't your wife eat, too?

Ah, that's no time

for joking.

No more shrimp,

l gonna give it up.

For what?

You can't go in a monastery

with nine kids and a dog.

l can get job someplace.

Sephalu, you don't mean

what you say.

Yes, l do.

You would die

if you leave this place.

You belong here.

We've had bad times before.

Keep looking, Sephalu.

All of us will keep looking,

and one day we'll find the

Golden Shrimp. This big.

Oh, no. This big.

And then

we'll have good times.

l look for them

since l was this high.

Now l look for job.

That's enough, Sephalu,

that's enough.

Hey, Louis!

Two more beers!

You are just afraid

to look at the truth.

And don't complain while

you drink beer on my credit.

Your credit has this cuff so

full there is no more room.

Then buy yourself

another shirt

and put it on my cuff.

No more shirts.

No more credit.

l'm a poor man, too.

l think he means that.

l do.

But, Louis,

l'm thirsty.

All right.

Who wants to get

in the circle with me?

Huh?

Anybody?

Loser pays for the beer.

Toups, how about you?

Polo, do you want to try?

Campagna?

Antoine,

do you want to try?

l think l do.

All right.

Antoine is going to fight

Teche Bossier.

Having fun?

Hey, foreigner,

you come back, huh?

Yeah. To stay a while

this time, l hope.

Are you all right?

Pay no attention to him!

lt's just a friendly,

little game that we play.

Game?

Knocking your sheriff

around, a game?

He's only half sheriff. The other

half, he's bartender with no pay.

He's a cousin

to the owner.

Come on.

Father's in the back room.

Hey, foreigner,

you really mean you're going

to look for oil out in the Gulf?

Starting in the morning.

Well, Mr. Gambi,

you're with us again.

How are you, Dominique?

And l see

you have met Francesca.

l wouldn't have missed it

for the world.

We were old friends

in 30 seconds.

How are you,

pigeon?

Have you met

my sister's fianc?

Oh.

You didn't tell me

l had competition already.

Down here we get engaged

before we're born.

Oh, one of those kind.

l think we remember each

other from that $5 truck ride.

Let's not

go through that again.

Johnny...

Mr. Gambi

wants to rent our boat.

Yeah. Same price.

For a week, maybe more.

No.

We won't rent our boat.

But, Stella,

$50 a day.

We don't want anything

from him. Not for $100.

Hey, you rent

my boat, then.

lt's a better one

anyway.

Well, Dominique's got

first chance.

Don't do it, Dad.

But why not?

They're going to

cause trouble.

The trouble

is only in her head.

l take a chance

for $50 a day.

l didn't come here to argue.

lt's a deal, Teche.

You got a good boat. And

Phillipe here, a good crew.

Come on,

l'll buy you a drink.

Hey, Louis!

Three on the cuff.

No more cuffs.

What's the matter with her?

She needs a good man,

but l won't marry her

until she asks me.

You people sure go for

marriage, don't you?

Why not?

lt makes it nice for the kids, don't it?

Three on the cuff.

l'll buy.

Set them up for the house,

Louis. Drinks for everybody.

The oil men

have come to town!

How much of a job

you got left?

l'm almost through

on this boat.

Where's the one

Gambi went after?

l wish l knew.

l didn't think anybody could

get lost in a town this size.

Might have found something

to get lost with.

Yeah.

Yeah, well,

it's a little early,

but l'd better go and find

out. l'll see you later.

Come on, gusher!

Set them up again, Louis!

Everybody, drink!

No, now, you been

buying drinks all night.

Now it's my turn.

Louis, this round is on me.

You thankless uncle. All

right, l'll tell you what.

l win the drinks from you.

What do you think of that?

Who cares?

Just so we drink.

All right, you get

in the circle with me.

ln the circle?

Come on.

l win,

you buy the round

and l save my pride.

And if l win, we go dry?

Don't worry, my friend.

l take care of that,

all right.

You're liable

to get hurt, Johnny.

Watch me.

l didn't teach judo

in the service for nothing.

Where do you want me

to throw him?

You are my friend.

You ready?

Ready.

Are you having fun?

l'm spreading good will.

You look it.

Did you get a boat?

Sure, l did.

Best boat in the river.

Mine.

Glad to see you back.

We're not mad at each other. Just a

friendly little game we're playing.

Yeah, relax, sweetheart.

We haven't had

a night off in two weeks.

Come on, come on,

meet the people.

lt's the finest bunch

of fishermen you ever saw.

And this...

This is Francesca.

She's pledged to Bayard,

as they say down here,

but l'm not so sure

he's gonna get her.

Come on. Come on.

l've been telling her l'm

gonna plaster her with mink,

and set her up

in a 10-mile-high penthouse.

She'd outshine

the Statue of Liberty.

Oh, your friend

is crazy, Mr. Martin.

Have you ever seen

a penthouse, baby?

Stay away from her!

What's the matter

with you?

lt's only in fun.

Stay away from him, Fran.

He'll hurt you

if you don't.

Stella, they are

our friends.

Friends.

Because they feed you drinks?

l thought you'd have

brains enough to see them

for what

they really are, Teche.

They're selling themselves with

this party. They're buying the town.

They'll spoil everything

they touch.

Oil crews with their filthy

men and their filthy money.

l thought l had a clean

place to come home to,

but if they stay they'll make

it as filthy rotten as they are.

l'm sorry. How can you talk like this?

Because l know.

Three years away from here taught

me plenty about men like these.

Buy and sell, anything you

want, anything you've got.

l don't want to hear

any more.

Well you're going to hear. l

don't care what you think of me,

but you must believe

that l know their kind.

l learned.

You don't think

l sent $100 a month home

on secretary's pay,

do you?

Maybe now you'll believe me.

Hey, wait a minute!

Now we're not in business

to break up your family.

Gambi didn't mean

anything in there.

He just had a little too

much to drink, that's all.

Didn't mean anything? Well,

maybe it didn't to him.

But what do you think

it meant to Francesca?

Words she's never

heard before

from the kind of man she

doesn't know anything about.

All right, l'll keep him away from her.

The only way to stop it is

for you to get out of town.

Well that'd only mean

another crew would come in.

There's oil out there,

somebody's got to get it.

Now you may not

believe this right now,

but this is gonna be good

for your town

and it's gonna be good

for the people.

Oh, listen.

Why does there have to be this

sort of trouble between us?

Don't touch me.

Don't ever touch me.

That's quite a chick!

Yeah.

Yeah.

You all set?

Hey, did you get married yet?

Lay off.

lt was only a joke.

Morning.

How do you like this?

Teche Bossier,

the oil baron.

What are those things?

They're geophones.

They're worth a small fortune,

so take good care of them.

Sure, like babies.

How do you find oil

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