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

it. But I wouldn’t be surprised. Them guys don’t always know what they’re doing.See, the big problem with her, is, she’s got, she’s always had this real bad problem with bugs, you know? Bees and hornets and stuff. She’s allergic to them.”
    â€œSwells all up and everything?” Mitch said. “When I was a kid I used to do that.”
    â€œWorse’n that,” Cogan said, “she could actually die. She’s got, she never leaves the house, she hasn’t got a needle with her, adrenalin, I got one in the glove box in the car, I got one in the truck. They told her, you get stung, you get stung above the neck, you got five minutes to get that shot. Twenny minutes below the neck. They told me: ‘Hit her the shot. Don’t try to get her to the hospital. You won’t have time. Her heart’ll stop.’ ”
    â€œJesus,” Mitch said, “that’s a tough thing.”
    â€œShe’s a tough girl,” Cogan said. “She’s lived like that most of her life. ‘There’re bees in the world,’ she says. 1 can’t stay inside all my life. What if a bee comes inside?’ She told me, she got stung a couple years ago, we’re having dinner, this place right on the water and I guess they’re hiving underneath it or something and, she don’t wear no perfume, of course, and I generally got more brains but somebody gave me some of that Brut and I had it on, and one of the bees comes out and I guess he was probably looking for me. So he lands on her neck and the waiter sees it and, he’s gonna be helpful, he tries to brush it away. I didn’t see what he was doing, he was already doing it. Well, he missed, and the way he did it, he drove the stinger right in and she
screams
. And she goes for her bag and she starts to turn blue. Well, I had the one I carry, and I practically knock the tables over, getting around to her, and she can’t get no breath, you know? So I give her the shot and she’s all right. ‘Feels just like everybody took all the air out of the world,’ she says.
    â€œAnd every so often,” Cogan said, “she puts up with all of this, she knows what can happen to her, we got to go down and see her old lady, and Carol’s got two sisters, all right? And they each got about a million kids and Carol’s good with them. And her mother hasn’t got no sense. She gets this look on her face. She don’t have to
say
anything. Just sits there. And she knows what Carol’s got, of course, but she looks at her and my wife’s tough. ‘Ma,’ she’ll say, ‘
Aunt
Carol’ll have to be the limit, is all. You can’t always do the things you’d like to do.’ ”
    â€œYou can’t never do the things you’d like to do,” Mitch said. “Never. Every time you do, you get inna shit. Look at Dillon.”
    The waiter, having served the interns and technicians twice, brought the drinks to Cogan and Mitch.
    â€œFirst of the day,” Mitch said. “Except for the ones I had on the plane, anyway.” He drank. “Buck and a half for a stinking drink,” he said. “They oughta be ashamed of themselves. Fuckin’ bandits. No, look at Dillon. There’s a guy. I never seen the guy do too much of anything. He’d take a drink, he liked a big meal now and then, I guess he used to get a broad when he needed one. I dunno, I never saw him, but I assume he did.”
    â€œHe used to go and see his wife some times,” Cogan said.
    â€œShe was a beauty,” Mitch said. He finished the drink. He signaled the waiter. “He told me once, he caught her going through his pockets. I told him: I’d kill a broad I caught doing that.’ And you know what he told me? ‘No,’ he says, ‘I always like to know, anybody that’s around me, how far he’s willing to go. Now, about her, I know.’ I dunno, I think Dillon’s had a pretty lousy time. The only time I ever saw him doing anything, have any fun, was that time he was down inFlorida, there. Too bad for the guy. Did the same thing all his life, I dunno. I wouldn’t’ve done it.”
    â€œYou still in the union?” Cogan said.
    â€œNah,” Mitch said. “I hadda give that up. There’s too many, you know what they’re doing now? It’s the fuckin’ PRs, mostly. You hear about it and everybody