who's sick? where's my white on white shirt? the nice one, you know. yes, the one with the permanent stays. cut to: i don't know what i did. i got no idea. if it's my fault, i'm sorry. i'm sorry. i can do no better than that. a full unconditional apology. tilley walks down the steps of the house and goes to his car -- a cadillac. he gets inside, starts the engine and pulls away. nora remains on the porch watching the car . one lonely figure in a neighborhood of hundreds of duplicate houses. cut to: she's gonna drive me to my grave. i'm headed to my grave. the woman's driving me insane. it's not supposed to happen this way. he starts moving his head -- stretching his neck from right to left. it's not even eleven o'clock and my neck is stiffening up. he juts his jaw out. my neck's tight. it's tight. cut to: me? what are you, crazy? you just want to back into the middle of the street like that. a man's just driving along and you back into the middle of the street. what kind of driving is that? what kind of driving? you came out of nowhere. you bolted out of no place. bolted out of nowhere. back away from me, do ya hear me? back away from me. you're a fucking lunatic! he goes for bb, jumps him and they both fall on to the trunk of bb's car. people have started to gather and immediately jump in and pull bb and tilley apart. get this guy! will ya get this guy? backs in front of me, and then kicks my headlight in. and i'm crazy. you lunatic! tilley makes another jump for bb. again, people try pulling them apart. you want to drive a cadillac, learn how to drive. you want to get even with somebody? you picked the wrong person to get even with. nobody backs into traffic, smashes my car and says they want to get even. i'm gonna get even! cut to: florence, eggs and the toast, the way i like it. florence, who doesn't have too much energy, calls back to tilley. come on, give me a couple of more inches. come on, sam, i'm having a terrible morning. you're not going to believe this, some guy just crashed into me. right in the middle of the street. then he attacks me. one of the loonies. yeah, i got his name. the police came. god, i can't believe it. the guy's an idiot. he pulls a piece of paper from his pocket. yeah, here it is. some polish name. babowski. bill babowski . fucking son of a bitch. you know the son of a bitch? he sells aluminum siding? i don't believe it. of all the people that could run into me, it has to be a fucking tin man. how come i don't know him? i don't know the guy. i don't know the guy. i don't know the guy! what do you want me to do, date him? what do i give a shit if he's a good dancer? is it fresh? just asking, florence. i'll tell you one thing, when i get a hold of this guy, i'll break both his legs and then he won't dance the marengay too good. cut to: we haven't even got to discussing terms. there are so many friendly financial arrangements that would hardly be a bite into your weekly salary. well, as i said, you can always reach me. you've got my card, and when the time comes, let's talk. the husband and wife stand to show tilley to the door. hey, give my best to your little son. wonderful kid there. what's his name again, ronnie? randy, right. well, good night. cut to: i thought i had 'em. i was this close. he demonstrates with his fingers. damn! i thought i had 'em. tilley starts the car and pulls out. cut to: nothing again. came up short. let me get a little advance. three hundred, just to carry me for a bit. no problem. just in a little slump here. what do you mean, walking? you think i'm gonna work somewhere else. you've been very good to me. very honorable. wing, i need a bit more than that. i got expenses. yeah, but how much is she gonna make working at the social security office? wing writes out a check and gives it to tilley. come on, wing, can't you do better than this. a man in my position in terms of this firm. i dunno. which scams are they talking about? they got a list? they take your license? cut to: give me eight points i take the knicks over the lakers for 20. it's that fucking lunatic again. he races out of the door of the hotel towards bb's car which pulls away and speeds down the street. several of the tin men run after tilley. he stands in the street watching the car disappear. can you believe this guy? is he sane or what? i don't know the guy! i'll tell you something, if mr. marengay wants to play. we'll play. cut to: please! i'm out there working myself to the bone, trying to make a living. he goes over to the refrigerator and gets himself some orange juice. try macao. what're you doing up so late? i think this place may be a little too large for us. it's got a lot of overhead to it. what do you do. spend your time in the bedroom and the kitchen, that's all. so why do you need a living room and a dining room. he walks over to the back door and looks out. why do ya need a back yard? i'm in a slump. last year i'm number three top seller. year before, right up there. i can't get my momentum going this year. i'm not sure i like the idea of all this overhead breathing down my neck. when you have a place like this, that's a lot of overhead. it doesn't instill confidence in my clients. cadillac means that you're dealing with someone of importance. i thought i had a couple tonight. they just slipped away. slipped away. i'm gonna take a bath -- my neck's been tight since this morning. like what? what would we do together for it to be enjoyable? i don't understand a picnic. we just go some place. we put a thing on the ground, and we eat. why? i don't get it. it's better sitting at home and watching tv. what's fun about it? ants get into the food. there's bees. i don't get it. we have to drive, it takes maybe an hour to get there, then you sit in grass and eat. why is that fun? it doesn't sound like fun to me. you take the stuff you've got here in the house, you take it someplace to eat it. it's just as much fun eating in front of the tv, and we do that together, don't we? no ants and no bees. much more comfortable. scrub my back, will ya, nora. nora picks up the back brush, puts soap on it and starts scrubbing tilley's back. not too hard! don't get me wrong, i'm willing to do anything with you. i'm just a little stymied by a picnic. if you want to go, send me a postcard. nora drops the brush in the tub and walks out of the bathroom. what did i say? okay, mr. marengay. here i come. he reaches into the backseat of the car and takes out a crowbar. i'll show the son of a bitch. he gets out of the car, crosses to bb's cadillac, and smashes in the windshield and all of the windows of the car. he'll get a lot of air. won't be too stuffy in this car when i'm finished. damn it! damn it! i can't believe it. i can't believe i did that. you think i can't add? he goes to rack to re-set. mouse goes over and puts a nickel in the juke box. a record slips into position, and harry belafonte's "banana boat song" begins. mouse, in unison with the record, sings, and is totally caught up in the song. from the irs. i never even remember seeing it. i must have left it with my other bills. i wonder what it is? hum. says here that they haven't received my 1962 taxes. they seem to be saying that they didn't get my check for four thousand dollars. i can't believe they spend all that time and energy to write to me. to single me out. i probably forgot. people forget their taxes all the time. just slipped my mind. i got so many things on my mind. i figured they could wait a few years. it's not like they need my money to build a bomber. you think they're waiting for my money before they dig a new road? are they all sitting there saying, 'well, it's time we went to see that guy on pimlico road. can't run this government without his four thousand dollars.' i figured they'd give me a little leeway. i'm going to pay them. i know i've got a debt. i just need a little leeway. you think i'm gonna let some schmuck know all my business. have some guy pull me over the coals for spending on this and that. i need some privacy. i can just see that schmuck in that little tax shop telling people my business. how much i make. how much i spend. no way! just what i need in my life right now. i'm in a slump and i've got the irs on me. like when something goes wrong, it's like. he throws his arms up in the air in exasperation. cut to: well, what can i say. i'm a modest person. i just do what i can to help. we got 'em! he's very excited. take a look at this, sam. tilley shows him the written contract. written across the front of the contract in big, bold, black letters are the words: "this job is free." sam looks at tilley. this is the best scam i've ever thought of in my whole life. he kisses his hands with wild smacking sounds. he's ecstatic. it's in my blood. i'm brilliant . i'm fucking brilliant. this is such a brilliant scam. i'm beside myself. here it is. you go back in the house and this is what you say. cut to: fantastic, sam! a twenty-seven hundred sale! 'this job is free'! what a beaut! i'm out of the slump! tilley's riding high again . tilley's back! we ought to go and celebrate. let's go to the corral and have a drink. we can turn the paperwork in a little later. gil keeps saying it. i've never seen him. i'm riding high. twenty-seven hundred dollars. 'this job is free'. the man went insane. lost control of himself. his wife and children are out on the street! sometimes i'm brilliant. i'm fucking brilliant. i can't believe it. cut to: scotch straight up? scotch straight up and a rum and coke for me. he looks around the room at the women. looks like there's good action here tonight. you were never one of those atheists, were you? so, what did you do? have some kind of religious experience? you found god at the smorgasbord? sam, people have religious experiences like on a lake or when they go up into the mountains, that kind of thing. sam, you're too much. yeah, yeah. i get the point. so? yeah. i'm not getting the same religious effect that came over you. i don't know why, but i don't feel like running to a church to pray right this second. yeah, yeah. i don't believe it. see the guy over there? he looks in the direction of bb. that's the son of a bitch who crsahed into my car. sam looks over to bb. i'm gonna get him! both bb and tilley weave their way through the crowd to get to one another. in the confusion of all the people, they both go right past one another and then look around for one another. they see that they're in the opposite direction, and end up going towards one another again. moe and sam wander over to their guys. what're you talking about? why would i want to break your windows? i'm a hard-working guy. i don't go around breaking windows. i've got better things to do. push me one more time and i'm gonna have to redefine your face. bb pushes him. tilley starts to go for bb and they scuffle about. moe and sam try to pull the guys apart. oh, no! you're not gonna get near my car. you're not gonna kick in my headlights again. . what am i talking about? i didn't even drive tonight. you wanna duke it? let's go. they both head out the door. the other tin men follow, and others who have been paying attention to this alter- cation, also follow. cut to: back away. give me some elbow room. you're a lucky man. the police showed. yeah, this is tilley. cut to: what are you talking about? cut to: well, that's just fine by me. she's a pain in the ass. an albatross around my neck. you're welcome to her. keep her. and may you both rot in hell! tilley slams the phone down. cut to: i'm a free man! i'm a free man! he grabs nora's shoes and throws them out onto the street. then he goes into the bathroom and piles all of her toiletries in his arms, tosses them into a trash can. takes a suitcase from a shelf in the bedroom, opens it, throws in the trash can. he clears out her underwear drawers and empties them into the suitcase, closes the suitcase and then throws that out of the window. he's out of breath, exhausted and sweating. he goes down- stairs into the kitchen to get himself a drink. he sees a pair of nora's slippers under the kitchen table, he picks them up, opens the back door and tosses them outside. locks the door. he stands there as if a motor is running inside of him. walks out of the kitchen. wing, give me a minute to get a cup of coffee here. tilley passes sam on the way to the coffee machine. sam is looking through the sports page of the newspaper, along with mouse and gil. four in the fourth. twenty bucks. i don't know. it just came to me -- number four in the fourth. 'rider's revenge'. i like that name. i've gotta go and see wing. look, we can be scientific from now to doomsday, but we gotta be gutsy and go for the big one. tilley goes through the door into wing's office. ah! ah! he jumps back, and puts his coffee down on a desk, and wipes his hand on the back of his jacket. what's up, wing? what do ya mean? they wouldn't clear the loan? what's wrong with this world? there are sick people out there! thievin' son of a bitch like that takes up my time. cuts into the amount of hours i have available to deal with other people interested in my wares! there's no fucking sympathy for the working man in this country. wing, it was such a beautiful thing. you shoulda seen how i worked. like a magician. 'this job is free'! it was my best. my best! there's no fucking justice in this world. there ain't no justice. tilley goes to pick up his coffee off the desk. what section? 'home improvement commission. hearings begin today" is this mccarthyism? what are they gonna see? if there are any communists? i keep racking my brain. i gotta find a way to really get even with this guy. it isn't enough to wreck his car. even breaking into his house and messing it up or something, that don't have enough impact. i mean, the man poked my wife! i gotta come up with something ingenious. something ingenious. sam sees a waiter approaching and indicates to tilley to get off the subject. waiter arrives at their table. i think i'll take some meatloaf. no, i think i'll have some fish. no, no. fish doesn't fill you up. meatloaf. he closes the menu. what number is sally's pride? six. six. six. six. i'm thinking one. whose one? then that's it, i'm going with one. sam, i'm not doing too well by checking the stats, so why not. i put my hand to my forehead, i see a one -- mr. motor in the second. twenty bucks. they both look toward the track, the horses race to the finish line. number nine streaks across the finish line. i got it. i got it. he picks up the racing form. three to one. hundred and sixty smackers. hand to the forehead! hand to the forehead! third race, i see a six. i see a three. i don't think the verdict's in on that one yet. tilley stands up and is going through his money and race tickets. wing paid a hundred on number five, he loses, i got hundred and forty. next race i'll lay down the bet. what you taking in this race? you take thrifty's delight -- 20 bucks, i got 20 on mr. motor, wing's got a hundred on night fire. what's the odds on night fire? i don't see night fire winning. fuck it, i'm not gonna even place the bet. i just made a hundred bucks. he's not gonna win. i feel it. hey, wing, we're sitting just off the left of the entrance. i'm gonna lay down your bet right now. see you in a minute. you lost the first race, in case you don't know. cut to: we're taking a thirty-to-one shot. number eight. come on number eight. 'streamers' come on, you sucker! cut to: thirty-to-one. a hundred bucks on you, number eight. there's a guy up here who put a hundred on ya. come on. come on. come on, baby. come on, baby! nooooooo! that was your horse, wing? of course. wing goes to look at form. eight hundred? fordnee lane -- eight hundred. sam is looking at tilley knowing that he's really in a jam. eight hundred. er. hum. er. hey, wing. i tell you, i got a problem. it's the eight hundred on fordnee lane. i haven't got it. i haven't got the winnings. wing, it was the craziest thing. i didn't want to mention it earlier because it was so nuts. it was the craziest thing. i don't know how to even tell you this without being embarrassed for myself. it was an accident. it's like one of those things out of the blue. it's crazy. you can't explain it. it happens. it happens. i don't know how. i don't know how to explain. it's too crazy, i swear to god, wing. you won, wing. you won, it's just that you're not getting any money. it was a fluke. i swear, i don't know how it could have happened. a ten-year-old couldn't have made the mistake i made. i don't know, i swear. if there was some way i could make it up, believe me, i would, because you know where i stand. there's a beat while wing just looks at tilley. you know where i stand, wing. if there was any way, believe me, i'd make it up. i'd give you thirty percent of what you didn't get because it was a fluke. i'm willing to make some kind of retribution. no. i'd split fifty-fifty with you, that's how badly i feel under the circumstances. am i trying to shirk my responsibility? that's not the way i see it. it was a fluke, a crazy thing that happened, but i stand behind my honor on this. put it on my tab. what do you mean, wrong? it was a fluke. it was an accident. i don't know what the hell went wrong. it was a one-in-a-million thing that happened to me when i went to place that bet. i'm trying to do what i can. fuck him! it's on my tab. at least i've got six hundred in my pocket right now. it's like another loan. sam, you got to think about today. today, i got six hundred bucks in my pocket. you know what i'm saying? it's like some guy trying to sell me life insurance. you think i'm gonna take some money out of my pocket to give to some jerk so that somebody can take it when i'm dead? no, sam, you gotta live for today. i'm gonna live as good as i can every day. you know what i'm saying? as sam and tilley walk towards tilley's cadillac, bb and moe are walking to bb's cadillac parked close to tilley's car. they see each other. hey, mr. marengay went to the track! the sarcasm's killing me. i thought you were looking to get even. who's stuck with my wife. you or me? he laughs. decoy is the word! there's a long beat as the two guys eye one another. then, almost in a soft apologetic manner, bb speaks. i win? that guy would never let me win. he must be setting me up. the son of a bitch is setting me up, sam. i couldn't have won. i smell a rat. bb's car pulls away. tilley and sam watch him go. cut to: no way! i didn't eat anything, so why should i pay for mouse. he eats like an animal. no way! he's a pig! he always eats more than anyone else. why should i pay for his food? like an animal! like an animal! what did he have? sam, what did he have? well i don't remember what he had. gil, what did he have? then what did you have? what is this, a quiz show? we don't know what you had. what did you have? very little!! you eat like an animal! it couldn't have been very little. he said he didn't have pancakes. i don't give a shit. french toast? he had more than french toast. i don't give a damn. it's split five ways. was not long ago you never would have seen a woman in here. i know. i was just trying to be congenial. you know, start a conversation off, on a nice kind of light level, you know. so, what's the scoop, nora? makes sense. you want some more coffee? florence, some coffee here. it's for the best. you know, we were kind of fooling ourselves, weren't we? yes, something went wrong. i don't know. florence walks over and pours coffee for tilley and nora, then walks away. so you like this guy? all in all i guess it'll all work out for the best. yeah, can you figure it out? a guy bangs into my car, thinks i did him in, tries to get even with me by stealing my wife, you two people fall in love. can you figure that out? you telling me you didn't know this was the guy? yeah, i told you i ran into another tin man. it's your life. all i know is this guy has a bent weather vane. why can't they get rid of that fucking record? it's not a hit anymore. nobody cares about this song anymore. it's history. mouse continue singing in the background. he's getting on my nerves. the guy eats like an animal, and sings like an asshole. yes, sir. yes, sir! irs? they're not gonna leave me alone! we've got to appear? can't we just ignore it? how do they know we got the letter. what do you think, sam? why is this happening? am i paranoid or something? i mean, why is this happening? the government is after me. the state is after me. mr. marengay . somebody is always after me. what the hell's going on here? i'm just this guy. what's the big deal? they can't get along without me? the government can't operate unless they've got tilley's money. the commission's after my job! this shit's driving me insane! all the lying, thieving, stealing corporations in this world, and the irs takes the time to come for me? there's billions of dollars out there but they've got to come and get tilley's four thousand dollars! turn off the fucking belafonte song now, or i'm gonna break the goddamn machine!! they got no right. you know what i'm saying, sam? they've got no right. tilley takes a drink from a pint of whisky he has open. where's my car? what happened to my car? yeah, it's better. cut to: i knew i could smell a rat! the son of a bitch is coming for me. the son of a bitch never wants to leave me alone! tilley walks over to the night table, opens the drawer and pulls out a revolver. cut to: you want to rob my god damn house? i'm gonna make it easy for you. come and rob tilley. come on. take everything he's got. cut to: you're a sick man! you smash my car, you steal my wife, and now you come to rob me! you're one demented human being. bb tries to focus on tilley. i'm going to call the police and send you to jail. but i'm going to humiliate you first. tilley throws an egg at bb and hits him in the head. bb is groggy and confused and still drunk. what do ya want to break into my house for? this ain't the fucking rockefeller mansion! there ain't thirty-eight television sets here. they ain't saying 'nelson, i think we've had a break-in. count the sets to see how many we've got left.' there ain't tons of jewelry hanging out of drawers. it ain't like i don't know which watch to put on, i got so many. i'm a working man, trying to make an honest living. what fucking morality you got, asshole?!! tilley throws another egg at bb and hits him in the head again. egg yolk drips down bb's face. he tries to get off the floor, but can't. what else do you want from me? huh? what else?! i've got enough problems with the i.r.s. busting my balls and the home improvement commission bullshit to contend with. i don't need aggravation from you. how do ya like your eggs? over easy? side of tomatoes? he throws a tomato. a guy breaks into my house and i'm being charged with assault? it makes no sense. i was defending myself. he was stealing from me. i wanted to humiliate the guy. here i am, out busting my ass all day making a decent living, i come home, and some schmuck is trying to steal from me. if i had some soup i would have thrown soup at him. is there any law you can't throw eggs? what did i do? invite him in so that i could throw eggs at him? he's lucky that he didn't rob me last week, 'cos then my wife was living at home and we had all kinds of things in the fridge. i could have thrown barley soup, pumpkin pie, candied yams. yeah, he got off light. cut to: what am i supposed to say to him? the man has been a pain in the ass since the day he rammed into my car. i appreciate it. but i don't understand how the slate gets wiped clean when he breaks into my house and i'm the one charged. all right. all right. i'm too tired. the slate's clean. the slate's clean. the waitress approaches. couple of eggs over, some hash browns, some toast -- toasted dark. butter on the side, large grapefruit juice and some coffee. the waitress writes his order. on second thought, instead of the eggs over, if i ordered soft boiled eggs do you take them out of the shell or leave them in the shells? we can see that bb is getting a little irritable. i don't like them that way because they get hot in the hand and it's hard to scoop the stuff out. it's not good. and you get little bits of shell in there and it doesn't taste good. if i'm going to order, at least i ought to be content with my food. why do i need a guy telling me what i should or shouldn't eat? it so happens i haven't been to this restaurant before. i don't know how they do their eggs. if they're over easy and they're gooey, i'm not happy with it. and i'm not happy if the soft boiled eggs are left in the shell. hey! i'm ordering here. at least you can have the courtesy to let a man order his breakfast. sam, this guy gets on my nerves. from day one! i knew it then and i know it now. tilley stands up from the table and starts to leave. you want to play that way? this game ain't over, mister. it ain't over. you're ready?! you're ready, that's what you're saying?! you're ready now?! i have to be intimidated. i have to be brought here to be intimidated. get the people with the straitjackets. this man is out of control. tilley and bb pull at one another. i'm not finished with him, sam. you heard me. i'm not finished with you, mister. sam, i can't concentrate on 'bonanza' shit. i've got too much on my brain, what with that asshole and the home improvement commission, i don't want to have to worry about whether little joe got laid last night. let's go and eat something. god, if you're responsible for all the stuff down here, maybe you got a moment's attention for me. between the i.r.s., this home improvement commission and mr. marengay, i got it up to here with this bullshit. to be frank with you, i'm in the toilet here. if you can see your way. listen, i'm praying here. go around. it's out of order. go around. he signals for her to walk around him. the woman looks at him and moves down the line. do what you can, all right? i appreciate it. amen. tilley helps himself to some salad. cut to: what's the name again? doesn't ring a bell. sam, does it ring a bell to you? that's an awful lot for nothing. doesn't sound like good business to me. maybe i'm missing the point here, but if he paid twenty-four hundred, which is the cost of the job, i can't see anything wrong with that. i don't know the guy, but i don't quite get the problem. what's he talking about? the man got the job for twenty-four hundred dollars, and that's what it costs in aluminum siding. um. i don't know. we have no recollection of this particular job, but i don't know if this is deception. look, if you work in a clothing store, some guy tries on a suit, it looks like shit, but you tell him it looks wonderful. the guy's standing there looking like a sack of shit, the salesman says what a great suit and the man buys it. that's deception as far as i can see, but i don't understand the deceptiveness that you say we're responsible for. if i make myself clear. did somebody put a gun to this guy's head and make him spend twenty-four hundred dollars? i don't get the point here. i don't know the specifics of this case, not being privy to all the information, but all i can say is this guy got a fair price for a fair job. another commissioner, bud delaney, takes the microphone. i think you'd have to familiarize me. it sounds right. we wanted to be a little more generous, that's all. but should a referral turn up in the community, we'd be more than happy to give them twenty dollars instead of the hundred and fifty. glad we could be of some service. tilley and sam get up from the table and walk out of the building. cut to: we beat 'em, sam. we beat 'em! what a piece of cake! no problem! they ain't got nothing on us. clean as a whistle. we're clean as a whistle! yeah, must be about that. i'm just getting used to ya, sam. it's a slump. it's a slump, sam. you're not serious about this, are you, sam? you're serious? you wanna get another partner? you don't think i'm gonna pull out of this? so? i know. i know. change in the lineup. okay, maybe it'll help. maybe it'll help. you got any ideas for a new partner? mouse! mouse! he gets on my nerves. he eats too much. here's to some pretty good times, huh? sam smiles. the i.r.s. they need my furniture. they got some living room somewhere in this country that needs to be furnished. the furniture, the whole house. they locked it up. they confiscated it. we had a lot of arguments. nora starts toward him. tilley sits on the steps. i was doing pretty good there for a while. doing pretty good. had my house, had a wife, a cadillac. i still got my cadillac. i'll stay at sam's for a couple of days until i get set up. what're you doing here, anyway? i don't know. i did a pretty good house cleaning number on you. i got to be frank with you, this guy is nuts. he told you it was about eggs? the guy tried to break into my house. he tried to steal things from me. i think you'd be making a big mistake if you married him. i think maybe i should, because i think you're being misled. i think you're confused. i think. nora, listen to me. i know about guys. but this guy is as bad a choice as you could make. bad choice. i'm not giving you a divorce, and that's it. i'm looking out for your welfare. no divorce. nora looks at him, starts to say something, then stands up and walks down the steps of the house toward her car. it's for your own benefit, and you'll thank me for it. nora turns toward tilley and suddenly snaps. what footstool? i don't remember seeing that. it's been there forever? i've never seen it. i don't know what you're talking about. i never put my feet up to watch tv. hand-embroidered footstool? he walks over to his car, gets in and starts the engine. shaking his head in disbelief. cut to: tilley and mouse. it looks weird, doesn't it? looks very weird. i don't care who she marries, but i don't want her marrying you! rational? you're going to be rational? isolate. isolate. i like this kind of talk. what the hell nonsense is that? now let me see here. i've got to isolate that for a moment and think it over. you ought to hear yourself. you know that? you ought to listen to the way you talk. you come in here, you want to take my wife . you want to isolate this situation. you want to be rational. i've got no tolerance for you, mister. you know what i'm saying? you like pool? the other tin men move closer to tilley and bb, crowding in. why don't we play a little game of eight ball? if i lose, i consent to the divorce. if you lose, you give nora up. walk away from her. bb stares at tilley; tilley eyes bb. yes, sir! yes, sir! tilley keeps moving around the table, sinking one ball after the other. he's enthusiastic, excited and confi- dent. he sinks another ball, and another. he sinks every ball, then he eyes the eight ball for the coup de grace. don't i know it. don't i know it! he shoots. the eight ball heads for the pocket and doesn't make it. it hangs up on the felt about two feet from the pocket. tough break. tilley quickly moves and sinks the eight ball. you lose. yeah? outside. bb turns his back on tilley to move toward the door. tilley swings with all his might and hits bb in the back of the head. bb almost falls to the ground. tilley goes to hit him again. bb hits him in the face, knocking him back. tilley falls back. bb starts to move toward him. the tin men move in. stay out of this. this is between the two of us. bb gets to his feet. the two guys eye one another, moving. bb quickly moves with incredible cat-like speed with four hits into the stomach, really fast, and one hit to tilley's head. tilley falls into the rack of pool cues, they all fall to the ground. bb goes to jump on tilley. he slips on one of the pool cues and falls to the ground. hey, wing, isn't that the putz from the commission? points to car driving out of parking lot. what the hell's he doing hanging around here? i nailed his ass the other day, wing. can't lay a finger on me. i was amazing, you should have been there. i was amazing. i was respectful, courteous, but i was slipping and sliding. they couldn't touch me. you're gonna sell me out to the commission? wing, am i hearing this right? is this about the money i owe you? are you just pissed? you want to get even because of the horse race? i told ya it was an accident. you're selling me out? you're gonna let them bury me? jesus christ, wing. jesus christ! i'm not gonna be able to work in this business? wing, this was my chosen field! jesus christ! you'd sell me out for a lousy three thousand dollars? three thousand dollars and i got to go down the toilet? jesus christ, wing, how long the two of us been busting our asses together . jesus christ! we got some history to this relationship for christ sake. masters puts a little squeeze on you, you just sell out. three thousand dollars?! you gotta testify, huh? yeah. nah. i already testified once. i beat 'em before, i'll beat 'em again. you got a high-priced mouthpiece to speak for ya? how so? you gave them evidence? hey, that's good. that's good, yeah. there's activity in the hallway. so. how's nora? yeah. here. take good care of her. cut to: i'm not aware of the section numbers. sometimes you get a little overzealous in the heat of the sales pitch, that's all. bb is watching the proceedings. camera holds on him. as i remember, no sale was made concerning those customers. it was temporary insanity. i don't know. it just came over me . it might have been something i ate. i don't know. it was crazy, i'm the first to admit it was a crazy thing to do. believe me. what are all these numbers here? i'm not familiar with all these section violations. are you sure? maybe the guys want to think this over. gets up from the table and goes to the back of the room to exit the building. he stops at a desk just inside the door where the clerk is sitting. tilley pulls out his wallet, takes out a small document, and throws it down on the desk. he exits the building. cut to: yeah. what about it? who took it? tax man! fucking i.r.s. how low can you get? how low can you get? he walks around in the space as if somehow his car might reappear. he mumbles to himself. they're lowlife. how can people come and take a man's car?. his cadillac? cut to: yeah. you in there? sorry to hear it. this is where my car used to be. i.r.s. fucking bandits! bandits! thieving sons of bitches! bb looks at tilley for a beat. i could use one. some bullshit commission, huh? tell me, where's it written it the constitution that says you can't hustle for money? where's it written? it ain't like i went into an alley and hit a guy over the head with a brick and stole his money. not like i broke into somebody's house and stole his stuff. all i'm doing is selling. where's the crime in that? you're telling me. i don't know what the world's coming to. nickels and dimes. you got a good point there, bb. you're right on the money with that kind of thinking. bb stops the car at a stop sign. something catches bb's eye. through the windshield we see a volkswagen "beetle" going from right to left. new? very hard to find something new to get into. bb puts his foot on the gas and starts to drive. better put on my thinking cap. not easy to think of something new. cut to: yeah. matter of time. beat. you're kidding? maybe i should put in my order now. give me the pot. i'll fill it.