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

said.
    â€œSo the next day I get up,” Mitch said. “I also get up, but I hadda twelve-thirty plane so it’s just a quickie. Just a quickie with Sunny’s about nine times better’n a whole fuckin’ date with another broad. And then I go down and I get some steam, and I come back up and I got to give her the rest of the money. See, you give them half when you get there and then when you’re through, down there, you give them the rest. So I say, I tell her, I really appreciate it, I know what this means, all that time right out in one chunk and all. And she tells me, see, she’s out of circulation and everything, she tells me: ‘It’s all right,’ there isn’t any problem, and I give her the money and everything, and she’s leaving, and, well, she’s gonna stay with Sammy the next two weeks and he’s hitting her four for it. That cocksucker.”
    â€œLook,” Cogan said, “this after, I’m supposed to meet a kid, all right? I think I got a guy that can take you around and all.”
    â€œI can’t go out,” Mitch said.
    â€œI didn’t mean fuckin’ around,” Cogan said. “You come up here to do something. For that. I was gonna talk to him and then if I’m satisfied, he can do something without having his brother hold his hand all the time, I was gonna bring him up here and talk about it with you.”
    â€œIt’s all right with me,” Mitch said.
    â€œWell,” Cogan said, “I’m glad to hear that. Only, it’s not all right with me. Because you’re not gonna be able, be able to make it tonight, and I don’t want this kid thinking about things too long, he’s liable to go tell his brother.”
    â€œAw right,” Mitch said, “where the fuck is he? Get him up here and we’ll set the guy up.”
    â€œYou,” Cogan said, “I’ll tell you what you’re gonna do, right? You’re goin’ to bed.”
    â€œI’m not tired,” Mitch said.
    â€œYou sure as hell look tired to me,” Cogan said. “You go to fuckin’ bed. And, it’s two-thirty now, you shit. I’m gonna call you at seven-thirty and I better wake you up, because if I don’t, I’m gonna drop a dime on a couple cops I know and they’ll take you back where you’re supposed to be.”
    â€œYeah,” Mitch said.
    â€œNo ass,” Cogan said, “no more booze, no nothing. You get yourself a shower and go to bed and I’ll wake you up and tell you where you gotta be, right?”
    â€œI don’t take orders from shits like you,” Mitch said.

T HE DRIVER TURNED OFF the ignition of the silver Toronado and waited for Cogan to cross the trolley tracks behind Cronin’s in Cambridge. When Cogan got in, the driver said: “You know, I hate to be a burden to anybody, but life’d be a whole lot easier for me if you could bring yourself to use a telephone now and then to talk about things. They’ve got pay phones now, anybody can use them. I bet I can even give you two or three numbers in Providence alone that’re pay phones, and if you wanted to call me up and talk to me about something, all you’d have to do is call me up and say which one. This running back and forth every time somebody gets a runny nose’s raising hell with me. My wife’s sick and one of the kids’s sick and my practice’s going to hell, and that isn’t even enough for you, one of the last good Saturdays we’re likely to see in a long time I think, and I had to give up nine holes to come up here and talk to you. That’s all I seem to do, lately, cancel appointments and drive up here to talk to you.”
    â€œYou oughta talk to the man, Albert,” Cogan said. “Sounds to me like you’re the kind of man, deserves a raise. Tell him to get in touch with me. I’ll put in a good word for you.”
    â€œYou’re all heart,” the driver said. “Okay, I’m here. Let’s have the latest bad news. What’s messed up now?”
    â€œWell,” Cogan said, “we seem to have a little problem.”
    â€œWe’re not supposed to have any more little problems,” the driver said, “no little problems at all. I’ve talked to him and we’ve done everything you asked. Noproblems at all, big or little. Tell me one thing you asked for, that we didn’t go along