Topic: celebrating 1000 years of bert

+mordor — 5.9 years ago #56,105

EDDIE
So I got talent. So what beat me?

BERT
Character.

EDDIE
(laughs)
Yeah. Sure, sure.

BERT
You're damned right I'm sure.
Everybody's got talent. I got talent.
You think you can play big-money
straight pool, or poker, for forty
straight hours on nothing but talent?
You think they call Minnesota Fats
the best in the country just 'cause
he's got talent? Nah. Minnesota Fats's
got more character in one finger
than you got in your whole skinny
body.

EDDIE
I got drunk.

BERT
He drank as much whisky as you did.

EDDIE
Maybe he knows how to drink.

BERT
You bet he knows how.
(sips his drink)
You think that's a talent too, huh?
Knowin' how to drink whisky? You
think Minnesota Fats was born knowin'
how to drink?

EDDIE
Okay, okay... What do I do now, lie
down on the floor and, uh, bow from
the ankles? What do I do, go

·mordor (OP) — 5.9 years ago, 2 minutes later[T] [B] #587,833

"the big score"
Eddie's high stakes pool game against Minnesota Fat
how did it all go so wrong?

·mordor (OP) — 5.9 years ago, 1 minute later, 4 minutes after the original post[T] [B] #587,834

EDDIE
(pleased)
Yeah, you already told me that. You
cut that slice down to bite-size and
maybe we can talk.

BERT
No, we don't talk. I don't make bad
bets. Seventy-five, twenty-five.
That's it.

EDDIE
Kiss off.

He starts to go.

BERT
Hey, wait.
(beat)
What are you gonna do about the money?

EDDIE
There are places. I'll scuffle around.

BERT
Word's out on you, Eddie. You walk
in the wrong kind of place and they'll
eat you alive.

EDDIE
Now, when did you adopt me?

BERT
(with a friendly grin)
I don't know when it was.

·mordor (OP) — 5.9 years ago, 6 minutes later, 10 minutes after the original post[T] [B] #587,835

lol wait for the rest of the story but Bert loses absolutely every penny he ever had and gets beat up after this stupid pool hall hustle goes worse than he ever thought possible
he was left on the streets of an unfamiliar city with zero money a black eye and no way to get home or call anyone from home
lol

+Anonymous B — 5.9 years ago, 3 minutes later, 14 minutes after the original post[T] [B] #587,836

@previous (mordor)

tl;dr
Will wait for the movie.

·mordor (OP) — 5.9 years ago, 2 minutes later, 16 minutes after the original post[T] [B] #587,837

Eddie walks past the empty buildings and broken glass toward a small bar called Arthur's Pool Hall

The atmosphere at Arthur's is stifling, oppressive.
A few lonely drinkers sit stooped over their beer bottles at the bar
In the back is a pool table.
As Eddie enters, we see two burly men, cue sticks in hand, watching as a pale, skinny young man lines up his shot.

·mordor (OP) — 5.9 years ago, 2 minutes later, 19 minutes after the original post[T] [B] #587,838

·mordor (OP) — 5.9 years ago, 16 minutes later, 35 minutes after the original post[T] [B] #587,839

> niggers tongue my anus

·mordor (OP) — 5.9 years ago, 1 minute later, 36 minutes after the original post[T] [B] #587,840

> keep your race and nation pure cause that's the Nazi way

·mordor (OP) — 5.9 years ago, 2 minutes later, 38 minutes after the original post[T] [B] #587,841

@587,837 (mordor)
They exchange glances, sizing each other up. Then the young
man puts in his shot.

PLAYER
(throwing money on the table)
You lucky punk. I quit ya.

YOUNG MAN
(to Eddie)
You want in, friend?

EDDIE
How much you playin' for?

YOUNG MAN
A dollar on the five, two on the nine.

EDDIE
Yeah, I'll play you a couple. Just for kicks.

YOUNG MAN
Okay, friend.

Eddie goes over to the rack and takes a cue.

·mordor (OP) — 5.9 years ago, 48 minutes later, 1 hour after the original post[T] [B] #587,842

Eddie finishes up with yet another combination shot.

EDDIE
That's ten. You punk, you two-bit
punk. C'mon, pay up. A hundred bucks.

The young man digs nervously into his jacket for the money.
All eyes are on Eddie. The young man sets down his cue.

EDDIE
You quittin', friend?

YOUNG MAN
Yeah, I'm quittin'.

Sensing what is about to happen, the young man pays up. He
drops the cash on the table and leaves quickly.
Then one of the other men steps forward, a thick-fleshed, obscene-looking man named Turk. His mouth twists into a mock smile.
As Eddie looks about him at the circle of silent men, each one glaring at him, his fury gives way to fear.

TURK
Why, you're a pool shark, boy. A real pool shark.

EDDIE
Well, so's he.

TURK
But you're better than he was. Much better.
(points to bills on the table)
There's your money, boy.

Eddie wipes his mouth with his sleeve and nervously backs
away.

·mordor (OP) — 5.9 years ago, 1 minute later, 1 hour after the original post[T] [B] #587,843

TURK
There's your money, boy.

Eddie tries to back off but there is nowhere to go, so he makes a casual movement toward the table.

EDDIE
Okay.

Suddenly, the men grab Eddie and pin his arms. One man grabs him around the throat.

TURK
(sardonically, to the
men)
Wait a minute! Let's give this boy his money.
(to Eddie)
We always pay what we lose, boy.

Turk takes the bills from the table and stuffs them into Eddie's breast pocket.

TURK
(to Eddie)
We got no use for pool sharks around here.

They drag Eddie into the men's room and shove him up against
the ground-glass partition. We see his cheek pressed against
the glass, and the foggy silhouettes of the others behind
him. Eddie, his mouth open, screams horribly. There is a
pause. He screams again. They let go of his arms and he slumps
to the floor. The bartender turns and goes back to the bar
in the front room.

·mordor (OP) — 5.9 years ago, 3 minutes later, 1 hour after the original post[T] [B] #587,844

fast forward 3 days
> inside Johhny's Place- daytime

Eddie flexes his fingers, then tries out a shot on one of
Johnny's pool tables. He uses the simpler, open hand bridge
to support his cue. Bert enters and watches him play.

BERT
Hello, Eddie.

EDDIE
Hi. How's business?

BERT
Ahh, slow... Why the open hand bridge?
Something wrong with your hand?

EDDIE
(continues to shoot)
Yeah. Had a little accident.
A place called Arthur's.

BERT
Oh. You seem to do all right that way.

EDDIE
I'd say my game is about twenty percent off. Maybe more.

BERT
What happened? Somebody step on your hands?

EDDIE
Yeah. Big creep. Broke my thumbs.

BERT
Man named Turk Baker?

EDDIE
You know everybody, don't you?

BERT
Everybody who can hurt me,
everybody who can help me. It pays.

EDDIE
Maybe you oughta give me lessons

·mordor (OP) — 5.9 years ago, 4 minutes later, 1 hour after the original post[T] [B] #587,845

BERT
Sign up.

EDDIE
Where do I sign?

BERT
The first match I got in mind for you is in Louisville, Kentucky.

·mordor (OP) — 5.9 years ago, 3 minutes later, 1 hour after the original post[T] [B] #587,846

in the morning they leave for Louisville Kentucky
using what little money is left from winning $100 at that pool game because Bert only had $8
this was the week of the Kentucky Derby and a lot of people from out of town would be coming

·mordor (OP) — 5.9 years ago, 6 minutes later, 1 hour after the original post[T] [B] #587,847

still 22 days until they had a chance to challenge Minnesota Fats, the men seemed to be doing well in Louisville
but that was going to change

+Anonymous C — 5.9 years ago, 3 days later, 3 days after the original post[T] [B] #587,886

the bert reich

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