Killing Them Softly (Cogan's Trade Movie Tie-in Edition)

ass.’ Fuckin’ guy. He had white lipstick on.”
    â€œThe next night he wasn’t there,” Frankie said.
    â€œThe next night I wasn’t there,” Amato said. “If I had’ve been that fuckin’ nigger wouldn’t’ve, boy. I got Billy Dunn a wood chisel for that fucker, he was gonna grab him in the yard if I was there. Fuckin’ dumb screws, can’t always depend on them guys showin’ up when you need them like that, guy’s liable to learn a new way, he’s not careful.”
    â€œYou were in Norfolk,” Frankie said.
    â€œI was in Norfolk,” Amato said. “Sit there all day listening to some kid make a fuckin’ asshole outa my goddamned lawyer, all I can think about’s what Billy’s gonna do to that coon, I get back there, and then it turns out, I’m going to Norfolk. Only thing I see that night, there’s this nun in a gray thing, there, wants to know, do I wanna learn the fuckin’ guitar.”
    â€œI know her,” Russell said. “She’s all over the place. She was up to Concord once. I said to her, I said: ‘Sister, I wanted to play the guitar, I would’ve grabbed a fuckin’ guitar.’ After that she left me alone. Lot of the guys liked her, though.”
    â€œThat night the nigger was in the hospital,” Frankie said.
    â€œGood,” Amato said. “I hope he fuckin’
died
.”
    â€œNope,” Frankie said, “but I seen him. He was missing about three feet of skin off his fuckin’ head.”
    â€œHey,” Amato said.
    â€œHim,” Frankie said, nodding his head toward Russell.
    â€œNo shit,” Amato said.
    â€œPeeled him like a fuckin’ orange,” Frankie said.
    â€œMore like pulling bark off a fuckin’ tree,” Russell said. “Guy had skin like nothing I ever seen.”
    â€œHe came after you?” Amato said.
    â€œSomebody sure did,” Russell said, “somebody looked to me like he hadda be the biggest chungo bunny inna world, come after me. I had this blade there, another guy I meet onna way over, he told me, I give him a hundred out of my thing there and he had this blade for me. Said I was probably gonna need it. I bet I wasn’t in there ten minutes and that nigger’s coming after me. Didn’t do it again, though.”
    â€œThat’s how come,” Frankie said. “He’s a prick but he’s got all the moves.”
    â€œHe clean?” Amato said. “Both you guys clean?”
    â€œ
Frankie
,” Russell said, “you been
using
something?”
    â€œShut the fuck up, all right, Russell?” Frankie said. “Yeah. I haven’t had anything but booze since I get out. Not that much booze, either. Mostly beer. I been waiting for payday, I start in on the VO and other stuff.”
    â€œYou’re on pills,” Amato said. “You’re in, you’re on pills. I seen you, don’t forget. You were beating the hell out of them yellowjackets.”
    â€œJohn,” Frankie said, “the yellowjackets were there. I didn’t see nobody serving no beer. I took what there was. I haven’t had none of that stuff since I was out.”
    â€œHow about him?” Amato said.
    â€œ
Gee
, Squirrel,” Russell said, “
I
wouldn’t take nothing. I, ah, I probably had a couple quarts of Ripple and some grass, and I might’ve had one or two dime bags once or twice, but I just snort them, you know? It’s not like I was using something. I go to Cub Scouts, you know? And they pat you down, there, they start teaching you how to tie them knots and everything.”
    â€œSmack,” Amato said to Frankie. Frankie shrugged. “I ask you to find a guy for me and I got this thing, and all I got to do is do it and we get some very nice money. All I got to do is find two guys that can do a fairly simple thing without fucking it up, and this is the best you can do for me. A fuckin’ junkie. And I’m supposed to just let you guys go in there and you’re gonna go in and once and for all you’re gonna fuck it up, a job that’s never gonna come around again in a million years. I don’t want to have a whole lot of
fun
with this thing, you know, because I hadda go out and get a guy that looked all right when I got him and then he goes in and he’s on the fuckin’ nod or something. I want the goddamned money. That’s