I used to feel the tracks
sucking me
down under the wheels.
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.
Everybody pleaded
with me to take it.
So that's what happened.
I didn't want to be a butcher.
There's nothing wrong
with being a butcher.
Why, it's not
an elegant profession.
It's in a lower social scale.
People look down on butchers.
I-I don't
the point is, mr. Otari
wants to sell his shop
because... why,
it's a nice little shop.
I handle his books for him,
so I know he has a 35 markup,
which is not unreasonable.
Takes home net maybe 100,
150 bucks a week.
Of course, you gotta worry
about the supermarkets.
There's 2 in the neighborhood
now and an a&p coming in.
Marty, it's my feeling
that you really want
to buy this shop.
Well, that's true.
I do.
But it means I got to
take a loan of $8,000.
That's a big note to carry.
Marty, I've known you
for 3 hours,
but I know
you're a good butcher.
You're an intelligent,
decent, sensitive man,
and, well, I have
a feeling about you.
Like, well, like
sometimes one of my kids
comes in to see me about
something or other,
and some of these kids
in my classes,
they have so much warmth
and so much capacity.
Well, that's the feeling
I have about you.
If you were
one of my students,
I'd say, "go ahead and
buy the butcher shop."
"You're a good butcher."
There's lots of things
I could do with this shop.
I could organize
my own supermarket,
get a bunch of neighborhood
merchants together.
That's what a lot
of them are doing.
What do you think?
I think anything
you want to do
you'll do well.
I'm catholic.
Are you catholic?
Yes, I am.
Look, I only got
about 3 bucks on me now,
but I only live
about 8 blocks away.
Why don't we walk
back to my house?
I'll get some dough,
and we'll step out.
I should get home.
It's only 11:45.
The clock's right up there.
I really should get home.
I told my father...
well, I suppose a
little while longer.
Do you suppose there's
someplace around here
I could put on some makeup?
Hey, mac-you got a
ladies' room around here?
In the back.
So she told me,
at the risk of her life.
She was always
a little thin in the hips.
The doctor said if she
had any more babies,
she'd risk her life.
When she told me,
she already had 6.
She was always
going to the hospital
or coming from it.
She was hatching them
out like eggs.
Her husband's
a skinny fellow.
I saw her.
She was big as a barrel.
Hey, Lou. You seen Marty?
No.
I ain't seen him
all night.
Where is everybody?
Didn't you tell me
having another would kill you?
And her husband's
a little bit of a man.
Last tuesday she
gave birth to her baby
a fine, healthy boy.
9 pounds.
So the doctor was wrong.
Oh, no. She died
there in the hospital.
Oh, that's a sad story.
And her husband's
that little fellow,
works in peter reeves?
That's the one
oh, that's a sad story.
It would mean moving
out to port chester.
It's silly to think
of commuting.
I'd have to take
the subway to 125th,
then the bus
to the railroad,
then take the new
haven out to port chester.
Then I have a 20-minute
bus ride out of port chester.
Somebody suggested
that I buy a car,
but I'm terrified
of cars.
I'm always afraid
I'll kill someone.
Of course, it is
a fine opportunity for me.
I could never hope to be
the head of a department
in the new york city system,
especially in science.
Of course, I'm not sure i
want to be a department head.
It's mostly executive
and administrative work.
On the other hand-
well, anyway,
I told you about my father.
And, well, he depends
on me a great deal.
Let me tell you, Clara
I think you're
kidding yourself.
I used to thin
k about leaving home
that's what I would say
- "my mother needs me."
But when you really
come down to it,
that ain't it at all.
We're afraid
to go