Cogan's Trade

“Russell’d get to anybody,” Frankie said. “It’s the way he is.”

“Yeah,” Amato said, “but the way I used to be, I wouldn’t’ve cared if he could piss off everybody i

“Well,” Frankie said, “you change your mind or something?”

“I du

“These people,” Amato said, “these’re not the kind of people, that’re around a bank or something, they expect maybe some day a guy or somebody’s go

“Heroes,” Frankie said.

“Heroes,” Amato said. “They’re a different kind of guys, and they’re liable, some of them, you never know when one of them’s go

“You’re not go

“The barbut?” Amato said. “Nah, this’s different. Although I got to say, I still think you could do that thing if you thought about it long enough and you went in there with the right type of guys, knowing what you’re doing. A few guys, some day somebody’s go

“I wa

“There’s still a lot of money in there,” Amato said.

“ ‘So much money they lose it, they lose the dice in it some times,’ ” Frankie said. “ ‘You go in and you get it, they’re never go

“My daughter’s fourteen,” Amato said.

“Jesus,” Frankie said. “It don’t seem that long.”

“Yup,” Amato said. “She’s fourteen years old. And the other day, she left her stuff out on the dresser? I see this light blue cardboard thing. I go in and I look. She’s o

“No shit,” Frankie said.

“I couldn’t fuckin’ believe it,” Amato said. “I said to Co

“I think so too,” Frankie said.

“Yeah,” Amato said. “So, you know what she says to me? She says: ‘How old’s Rosalie when you’re going with her?’ ”

“How old was Rosalie?” Frankie said.

“Eighteen,” Amato said, “which is a hell of a lot different. Only, of course, I couldn’t say that. I always, whenever she asked me, I denied that. And Rosalie wasn’t on no Pill then, either. Every month … Ah, she was a lousy lay anyway.”

“She didn’t look it,” Frankie said.

“She was, though,” Amato said. “Shit, getting into Fort Knox would’ve been easier. More fun, too. I hadda tell her every time, it’s true love, all that shit. I hadda be an asshole, do that. And she, she didn’t do nothing. It was like fuckin’ a stump. I used, she also didn’t do nothing about doing anything. I used to say to her: ‘Rosalie, for Christ sake, will you get something? You don’t want to get pregnant, do you?’ And then she’d start crying. It’s a mortal sin. I don’t know. I didn’t. I used to think, I was an asshole, I used to think I really had something there. Now, now I du

“She was one good-looking broad, though,” Frankie said.

“See the game the other night?” Amato said. “I did. I was home. Co

“I was out,” Frankie said.

“Well,” Amato said, “I seen Rosalie the other night, I seen her down the Artery. Co

“She was a real good-looking girl,” Frankie said.

“Ah,” Amato said, “she got married. That’s what she wanted. That’s the thing she used to worry about, I was humping her. I was worried, why the fuck’s she such a lousy lay. She was worried, how the fuck’s she marry me, I’m married to Co

“Look,” Frankie said, “I don’t mean nothing, all right? I don’t care how pissed off you are. You at least got something.”

“Still come up dry, huh?” Amato said.

“You know what I did?” Frankie said. “I went down the Probation. Like I actually believe all that shit they’re always handing out, there, all that stuff. ‘Here’s something for you. Place in Holbrook needs assemblers. One thirty a week. Four to midnight. Steady work and it’ll keep you out of trouble.’