Deadline at Dawn Page #2

Half pound of corned beef. No fat.

Half pound of corned beef. Hold the fat.

Quick. Hold the butter. Make it snappy.

Well, is your system balanced yet?

I'm losing respect for myself

and that's the truth.

I don't have any confidence in myself,

not for anything.

I lost out with a certain girl

of whom I cared a good deal.

Because you lacked confidence?

Yes. People say I'm too slow.

They said that...

- Did she give you that bracelet? The girl?

- No, my father did.

That's where the trouble started.

I come home on a pass

and he isn't home.

He took a body to Altoona, Pennsylvania.

A what?

My father's a mortician.

I thought that only happened in jokes.

No. Somebody's father

has to be a mortician, don't he?

My father's got one

of the largest stocks of caskets...

...in Dutchess and Putnam County.

That's where I'm from,

near Poughkeepsie.

My father's a very honest man.

My stepmother don't like it,

but that's how my father is.

Three or four haircuts ago,

that's the last time I seen him.

Gee, here we are both getting blue

this hour of the night.

I'm not blue.

I'm tired.

Oh, I hope you'll excuse me.

The time didn't occur to me.

Non compos mentis.

Oh, that's all right.

I'm beat out. It's this balmy weather.

What's that?

That, colonel, is a ton of law.

A police car.

You see, son...

...it's all right to live in a cocoon like this

if you expect to be a butterfly someday.

Otherwise...

Are you unhappy too, Miss Goffe?

Yes. I was too ambitious.

I better had stayed home

and taken the commercial course.

Now, say good night.

Drop in at The Jungle again.

That's very nice of you, Miss Goffe.

But my pass is up

and I'm leaving on the 6:00 bus.

- I'm very proud to wear this uniform.

- Why not?

And that's what worries me.

I'm sure they'll nab me

before I get to Norfolk.

- Norfolk?

- Norfolk, Virginia where the naval station is.

Is that where you're taking

a 6:
00 bus to?

Right into the terminal on the northeast

corner of Tazewell and Monticello?

I was born in Norfolk.

- You were?

- Yes, I was.

I was. I was.

What's your problem, son?

If you do something for me, I'll help you.

See my mother in Norfolk.

Tell her you saw me. She'll appreciate it.

All she's got down there is a porch

and an old hound dog.

You saw me in a show. Tell her,

in a good leading part, dancing and singing.

Say I looked happy.

I said I'll be home for a visit soon.

But that wouldn't be telling the truth,

would it?

Oh, sure, of course. Why not?

A stickler for the truth.

You'd like to go there

and tell her I'm a dance-hall girl.

That I'm ashamed to go home,

I'm sick with pride and depression.

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