Goldberg Street (6 page)

Yes But So What

Two men.

A:
She lost a tack I said, “Well take your shoes off . . . ” Hey? “ . . . you'll find it in one second.”

B:
. . . bitch

A:
. . . man, all day long . . .

B:
What did she need it for?

A:
The fuck
I
know, when I come home . . .

B:
. . .
hunh
. . .

A:
. . . sit around all day . . .

B:
. . . and then her
father
died . . .

A:
It's not her father, man . . .

B:
. . . no?

A:
It's not.

B:
Who, I mean, it was, was it, who was it?
A:
It was her father's
brother . . .

B:
. . .
what
is that . . . ? Her . . .

A:
No.

B:
How come? It's not her,
what . . . ?

A:
Her
uncle.

B:
Yeah.

A:
It's
not
that, he was
step,
something . . . she
called
him, she told you her
father
died?

B:
I think I heard that wrong.

A:
She
called
him Uncle. Uncle
Charlie
some like that . . .

B:
Her
uncle . . .

A:
What excuse is that . . . ? “Who broke the plate . . . ?” “The
girl
broke it.”

B:
What plate . . . ?

A:
Some . . . I don't know . . . ”Ask the
girl
,” hey,
fuck
, I'm gone out to ask the girl, “Yes meester,” all that shit . . .

B:
What is she?

A:
Some, I don't know . . . from
Colombia,
somewhere . . .

B:
What was the plate?

A:
The plate? That my grandmother . . .
you've
seen it.

B:
A blue . . .

A:
No.

B:
On the wall?

A:
Up on the wall. Yeah.
Hanging
there . . .

B:
Uh-huh.

A:
I come in, on the wall, “What
is
that . . . ?"
Knick
knacks . . .

“Where's the plate . . . ?” “The girl broke it,” hey, I don't give a fuck. Don't laze
around
all day. Don't with your T.V. show, then lay this copping, copping, this, uh, copping
out
on me.
Tell
me. That's what I would ask. “Well, I dropped the
tack
. . . ” Well
find
it. Huh? Unless what does this
indicate
when I come home?
I
don't know . . . something.
Huh
?

B:
Yeah.

A:
What?

B:
I don't know.

A:
Some, some, she's dissatisfied.
Something
. Some
deep
. . . but . . . . Or let me try
this
on you: Broad in the bar:

B:
Which one?

A:
The looked-like-some . . . amateur
dyke
alright? The no-tits ten year old, the
broad
alright?

B:
You like that
young . . .

A:
. . . she wasn't that young, what I'm saying what she
looked:
Some broads, I've
thought
this, I've
suspected
this, you tell me I'm insane, I'm lookin’ this broad in the bar . . .

B:
. . . the
willow
broad . . .

A:
Yes. What do you . . . ?

B:
I don't mean “willow.” What do I mean?

A:
I don't know.

B:
That
color . . .

A:
I don't know . . .

B:
that . . .

A:
What does it look like?

B:
Like
yellow.

A:
I don't know. That she had
on
?

B:
Yeah.

A:
That she had
on
, or like in her
hair
?

B:
That she had on. I
told
you . . .

A:
On her
shirt . . .
?

B:
Yeah.

A:
The broad with the yellow
shirt.

B:
Yeah.

A:
In the
bar.

B:
Yeah.

A:
She looked like a
dyke.

B:
The young dyke . . .

A:
Yeah.

B:
Yes.

A:
What about her?

B:
That's the
one.

A:
Yeah. (
Pause.
) Yeah. (
Pause.
) Hey. That's
her
problem. (
Pause.
) No, that's
her
problem. D’ I tell you when I went home I saw a traffic accident?

B:
No.

A:
Yes. I did.

B:
Where?

A:
Eighteenth Street.

B:
When?

A:
Last night.

B:
When we left the bar?

A:
Yes.

B:
What happened?

A:
Some fucker got knocked down.

B:
Was he dead?

A:
No. (
Pause
.)

B:
No? (
Pause
.)

A:
He was moving.

B:
He was?

A:
Yeah. (
Pause.
) They had a lot of cars. (
Pause.
) Um. They had an ambulance. (
Pause.
) You ever think that will happen to you?

B:
No. (
Pause
.)

A:
I do sometimes. (
Pause.
) What I'm saying that the
thoughts
that you have. (
Pause.
)

B:
Huh.

A:
Do you know what I mean? (
Pause.
) That the
thoughts
you have will, um, they'll, that that they come
back
to you. (
Pause.
)

B:
. . . uh . . .

A:
That if you're
looking
at this poor man's got his
legs
chopped off with
glee,
some fuckin’ thing, “How
happy
that I am . . . !” “that I'm alive,” so on, or “that poor sucker with no legs . . . ,” that will come back to you. To
haunt
you. Time in, um, where was it . . . Newton, there was this, I knew this girl, she said that if you
do
a thing, you come
back
—I don't know if she believed that you
come
back, but if you
did—
you come back in the afterlife, you
are
that thing you scorned.

B:
Like what?

A:
Some sucker that you scorn. (
Pause.
) Like you make fun of a man, a
beggar.
(
Pause.
)

B:
Huh . . .

A:
I
don't know. I think that thoughts transmit themselves.
(
Pause.
)
I
don't know. But I think they do. They could . . . we never know the, look at
medicine,
one year, “Do this . . . ” The next year, “We have this
discovery,
don't do
this
go do
that
.” Or, “All the shit that your
grandparents
did is right, we just found out. Because the blah blah blah and
science.
” (
Pause.
) But they were stupid anyway . . .

B:
They could transmit themselves.

A:
Thoughts
?

B:
Yes.

A:
I know that. Tell that to me when I come home, because I'm thinking of this
broad,
alright . . . The . . .

B:
Yeah.

A:
The
dyke
broad . . .

B:
. . . with the ass . . .

A:
That's right, and I come . . . not, not
even
when I come,
before
I have come in the door, alright? With, if I, I don't know that I
did,
but
if . . . if I
did, if I had let's, let's say if I'm coming in with
hostility
because of, that would be. If I had a
desire,
alright, and I come home, and
she's
. . . I'm saying: “I wish I was going home with
this
broad.
That
would make me happy. I swear to God that it would. (
Pause.
) It would be a simple answer to a lot of things and hurt no one.” I come in the door, and I think, “What's
stopping
me?” the fact I'm going home to someone . . .

B:
. . . someone
else . . .

A:
My wife yes, and she's on the ladder with the lamp.

I don't mean the lamp. With the
plate . . .
I don't mean the plate. Having
dropped
the plate. “The girl, your
plate
is smashed.” What smashed the plate? (
Pause.
) My
hostility.
I'm not sayin that it did. I'm not sayin it did
not
. . . . But what I am
saying
is
I don't know.
(
Pause.
) That . . . (
Pause.
) That . . . (
Pause
.) That . . . I think that
many
of us, alright,
much
of the time, I may be, I, I may be, maybe I'm full, maybe, what the hell, we all have the right to be wrong. Maybe,
I'm, uh, maybe . . .

B:
If we . . .

A:
. . . hold on:

B:
. . . if we . . .

A:
Hold on:

B:
If we weren't . . .

A:
Yeah, yeah, yeah . . . if we
weren't
wrong . . .

B:
. . . if . . .

A:
If we
weren't
wrong . . .

B:
The sci . . .

A:
Yes. The scientific things. Yes.

B:
All the, yes.

A:
That's what I'm saying . . .

B:
The . . .

A:
. . . the . . .

B:
The in
ven
tions.

A:
the in
ven
tions. Yes.

B:
That . . .

A:
Yes
.

B:
That were dis . . .

A:
Yes. I'm saying, alright. Yes . . . Maybe I'm
wrong . . .

B:
. . . all that were discovered by . . .

A:
Well, then that fucking proves my
point,
so shut . . .

B:
That, um . . .

A:
Alright. Alright, that's what I'm saying. (
Pause.
) Maybe I'm,
here,
in
this,
maybe I'm
wrong.
(
Pause.
) Maybe I am. That's what I'm saying.

B:
They discovered them by chance.

A:
I know they did.

B:
Through being wrong.

A:
Well, not through being wrong exactly, no, but other people
thought
they were. (
Pause.
) Is that what you meant? (
Pause.
)

B:
Yes.

A:
(
Pause
.) They
themselves
were wrong. Do you know why?

B:
Because they didn't take the time to . . .

A:
Ab . . .

B:
To . . .

A:
Absolu . . .

B:
I don't mean “time . . . ”

A:
No, I know what you mean.

B:
“care”

A:
The
care
to . . .

B:
Yes.

A:
. . . That they didn't
trust
themselves.

B:
They didn't
trust
themselves.

A:
That's absolutely right.

B:
To
see . . .

A:
To see the things before their nose. Or, wait a second here, to trust an
inner . . .

B:
Mmm.

A:
To an
inner
truth . . .

B:
. . . that they had seen . . .

A:
Eh?

B:
Yes

A:
An
inner
truth. (
Pause.
)

B:
Yes.

A:
Or a
“feeling.”
(
Pause.
) What
are
feelings . . . ?
We
don't know what they are . . .