Born to Be Bad Page #2

for a long time...

- and I've gotta get it off.

- Well, sure. Go ahead.

- It's about Mickey.

- Yeah?

He's the talk of the neighborhood, Letty.

Smokes, he don't go to school.

He runs around with a lot

of roughnecks that's older than he is.

- And he's always in trouble, and...

- Oh, is that all?

"Is that all"? If you're trying to raise

him to be a first-rate scoundrel...

with a complete lack of ethics and

morals, you're certainly succeeding.

The poor little fella

don't know good from bad.

- And if he finally lands in prison,

he can thank you.

- Anything else?

- Plenty!

- Oh, Fuzzy!

In that first year,

when you worked in my bookstore...

and lived with me, it was different.

You were different.

Mickey was different.

He was a nice little baby,

and you were a nice little girl.

You think I'm a doddering old fool.

A buttinsky, maybe. Well, you're wrong.

I ain't so dumb. I know you can't wear

the clothes you wear...

and do the things you do,

and not pay for it, one way or another.

Now, if you want to ruin

your own life, it's a shame.

I'm sorry, but it's your life,

and you can do what you want with it.

But I'm thinkin' of something else.

I'm thinkin' of Mickey!

You're not bein' fair to him!

You're cheatin'!

You don't deserve a child!

All right. You've made

your little speech. Now I'll make mine.

Everything you've said about

Mickey is absolutely true.

Sure he has no honor,

no sense of ethics.

Furthermore, he doesn't believe

in Santa Claus, and he knows

that storks don't bring babies.

I've told him the truth, Fuzzy.

I've told him everything is a fake.

He knows all the questions

and all the answers.

And when he grows up to be a man,

if anybody puts anything over on him...

it won't be because

I didn't tell him!

"Honor and decency"?

That's a lot of hash.

What did it ever get me?

I was reared right.

People told me everything, except

how to protect myself in the clinches.

Did they ever tell me

what to really expect from life?

Did they ever suggest it might be

a case of survival of the fittest?

Did they ever tell me, if you don't

do you're gonna get done? No!

They told me nothin'!

And what happened?

The first time I met with a real problem

in life, I went down for the count.

You know what happened.

I wound up on your doorstep

in the rain, cold and hungry.

Fifteen years old, with

a baby about to be born.

No husband, no money

and nobody I could go to.

If it hadn't been for you, there

wouldn't be any Mickey, or any me.

Oh, boy. That's what I call

a swell start in life.

Believe me, nothing like that's

gonna happen to my boy...

not if I can prevent it.

He's gonna be so darn smart by the time

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