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

and start telling them things, and I don’t want to do that, all right?’ So the guy comes out and he puts it around and China’s all right again with everybody. See, that’s what I mean. China’s a smart bastard, knows how to protect his ass. Markie, well, he knew a lot about broads, but I guess he didn’t know nothing about protecting his ass.”
    â€œKind of hard to cover your ass,” Frankie said, “youdon’t even know some guy’s after you for dipping your wick. Kind of hard.”
    â€œYeah,” Cogan said, “but there’s other things it could’ve been, it could’ve happened. Now Markie, Markie ran a game. And it got knocked over. You know that?”
    â€œI think I heard something about it,” Frankie said.
    â€œYeah,” Cogan said. He drank his beer. To the bartender he said: “Lemme have another one.” To Frankie he said: “Want another one?”
    â€œI think I’m set,” Frankie said.
    â€œRight,” Cogan said. He accepted the fresh mug and drank from it. “Good,” he said, wiping his mouth. “Nothin’ like a cold beer, I always say. Well, now, Trattman always ran that game, right? He had a game running ever since anybody can remember. And he had a game, went over before. He got robbed before. And you know something?” Cogan said. “It was actually Markie, had it knocked over.”
    â€œMaybe he did it again,” Frankie said.
    â€œThere’s a lot of silly shits that’re running around, saying that,” Cogan said. “I actually heard some of that talk myself. And it pissed me off. Because, Markie wasn’t no particular friend of mine, you understand, I bet I didn’t talk to him more’n once, twice, in my whole life. So, he gets himself in some kind of trouble, it’s not up to me, go around and straighten him out. Who am I? Just a guy he knows. Why’s he gonna listen to me? But since then, I thought, I should’ve. I really should’ve. Because there wasn’t nothing to that talk and shit. Markie wouldn’t do that again. He was way too smart for that. But see, that’s what I mean. He hadda
know
, he hadda know the kind of talk that was going around, and he should’ve been smart enough, he heard some of it, like China, you know? Do somethingabout it. So some silly shit don’t decide he’s gonna make himself all kinds of friends, all he’s gotta do is whack Trattman out. It’s a crazy fuckin’ world.
    â€œSee, Frankie,” Cogan said, turning slightly toward him, “I think that’s what China and them think, your friends, that’re worried about you. They think, well, they dunno how much you grown up, since you got out, even. They think you need somebody around, knows about things, advise you.”
    â€œYeah,” Frankie said.
    â€œTeach you how to cover your ass,” Cogan said. “See, like I was saying, it’s not what you been doing so much’s it is what guys think you been doing, and that’s what you got to look out for, and when it happens, well, you got to be prepared to do something.”
    â€œYeah,” Frankie said.
    â€œSo,” Cogan said in a lower voice, “where’s he gonna be, tomorrow night?”
    â€œWho?” Frankie said.
    â€œJohnny Amato,” Cogan said. “Tomorrow night. Where’s he gonna be?”
    â€œI dunno,” Frankie said.
    â€œFrank,” Cogan said, “you got to keep in mind what I told you. Your friends’re worried about you. You wanna finally get laid right, it’s your friends, they wanna see you get the chance, you know what I mean? And it’s your friends, wanna know where Squirrel’s gonna be.”
    â€œThis’s the first time I seen you,” Frankie said.
    â€œNew friends’re best,” Cogan said. “Your other one, there, you can’t depend on him, you know? Look at what he got you in before. All that time. You could’ve been out getting a decent piece of ass, ’stead of pounding sand up yours and everything.”
    â€œI don’t know who the fuck you are,” Frankie said.
    â€œVery few guys do,” Cogan said. “Oh, China, maybe, and, oh yeah: Dillon. Dillon knows me. You’re, you strike me as a pretty intelligent guy. Want me to call Dillon for you, and you can talk to him, see who I am? There’s not much to find out, I can