'm gettin' old. I'm
gonna be 35 years old November 8th. 35!
Wow! Time goes on, boy!
Yeah. 19... June 1937.
My old man died December 1937.
Two o'clock in the mornin', he died.
Bell rings. I knew somethin' was wrong
because my room is on the ground floor.
I had to get outta bed to answer the door,
and there was Mr Stern.
He had a house down about a block away
from us. He moved out, though.
My old man played cards with him and
some other guys. He was a Jewish fella.
So he said "Is your mother home?"
So I knew there was somethin' wrong.
I was only 18, exactly 18 years old
just a month before.
So I said "Is something wrong, Mr Stern?"
I was in my pyjamas.
So he said "Marty, your father died."
My father died right in the middle
of playin' cards, at the table.
He had a heart attack.
He had low blood pressure.
He used to faint a lot, you know.
Boy... Boy, am I talkin'!
Excuse me.
I never talked so much in all my life.
Usually everybody tells me their troubles.
Well, I'm gonna shut up now
and let you get a word in.
Yeah, 17 years ago.
What I been doin' with myself
all that time?
Well, there I go again!
I must be drivin' you crazy.
Most of the time I'm with a girl
I... I can't find a word to say.
I'm gonna shut up and let you get a word
in, because usually I'm not like this.
Usually I...
There I go again! I can't stop talkin'.
I'm on a jag, for Pete's sakes!
You'd think I was loaded.
Well, anyway, like... like I started to say...
Ahi!
I can't stop my mouth. Isn't this stupid?
You got a real nice face, you know.
Really, a nice face.
Thank you.
- Hey, Mac. Anything good inside?
- A bunch of dogs.
Hey, Marty.
Marty, you in here?
So I'm in a kneeling position,
and if you ever tried shootin' a BAR in a
kneeling position, you know what I mean.
I can't hold a steady position.
I'm waverin' back and forth.
So the guy next to me,
he's shootin' from a prone position,
and he's cross-eyed, like I told you.
So just then...
So just then I hear five shots go off
from the guy next to me.
My target goes down. A minute later
the flag comes up. I got five bull's-eyes!
That's how I got the reputation of being
the best shot in the whole battalion!
So when I got out of the army,
Clara, I was lost.
I didn't know what I wanted to do.
I was 25 years old.
What was I gonna do?
Go back to my old job, 40 cents an hour?
I thought maybe I'd go to college
under the GI Bill of Rights.
But my brother Freddie wanted to get
married and I had three unmarried sisters.
In an Italian house, that's a terrible thing.
So I just went to pieces.
I used to walk the streets
till three, four o'clock in the mornin'.
My poor mother...
used to be so worried about me.
God forgive me what
I'm gonna say now, but...
I used to think of doin' away with myself.
I used to stand on the subway and,
God forgive me what I'm gonna say, I...
I used to feel the tracks
suckin' me down under the wheels.
Yes, I know.
I'm Catholic, you know. Even
to think about suicide is a terrible sin.
Yes, I know.
So then Mr Otari, he offered me this job
in his butcher shop and...
Everybody pleaded with me to take it.
So that's what happened.
I didn't wanna be a butcher.
There's nothing wrong
with being a butcher.
Well, it's not an elegant profession.
It's in the lower social scale.
People look down on butchers.
I don't.
Well, the point is Mr Otari
wants to sell his shop now because...
It's a nice little shop. I handle his books
which is not unreasonable.
Takes home net
maybe $100, $150 a week.
Point is, of course, you gotta
worry about the supermarkets.
There's two in the neighbourhood and an
A&P comin' in, at least that's the rumour.
Marty, it's my feeling that
you really want to buy this shop.
Well, that's true. I do.
But it means I gotta take a loan
out in a bank of $8,000.
That's a big note to carry.
Marty, I've known you for three hours,
but I know you're a good butcher.
You're an