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can’t get away from ‘em, you have to deal with ‘em. You want to quiz me on some coins? You want to show some coins to me? List prices . . . the blue book . . . ?
    DON : You want to see the book?
    TEACH : Sure.
    DON (hands large coin-book to TEACH ): I just picked it up last week.
    TEACH : Uh-hum.
    DON : All the values aren’t current . . .
    TEACH : Uh-huh . . .
    DON : Silver . . .
    TEACH (looking at book) : Uh-huh . . .
    DON : What’s rarity . . .
    TEACH : Well, that’s got to be fairly steady, huh?
    DON : I’m saying against what isn’t.
    TEACH : Oh.
    DON : But the book gives you a general idea.
    TEACH : You’ve been looking at it?
    DON : Yeah.
    TEACH : You got to have a feeling for your subject.
    DON : The book can give you that.
    TEACH : This is what I’m saying to you. One thing. Makes all the difference in the world.
    DON : What?
    TEACH : Knowing what the fuck you’re talking about. And it’s so rare, Don. So rare.
    What do you think a 1929 S Lincoln-head penny with the wheat on the back is worth?
    DON starts to speak.
    Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! We got to know what condition we’re talking about.
    DON (Pause): Okay. What condition?
    TEACH : Any of ‘em. You tell me.
    DON : Well, pick one.
    TEACH : Okay, Fm going to pick an easy one. Excellent condition 1929 S.
    DON : It’s worth . . . about thirty-six dollars.
    TEACH : No.
    DON : (More?)
    TEACH : Well, guess.
    DON : Just tell me is it more or less.
    TEACH : What do you think?
    DON : More.
    TEACH : No.
    DON : Okay, it’s worth, I gotta say . . . eighteen-sixty.
    TEACH : No.
    DON : Then I give up.
    TEACH : Twenty fucking cents.
    DON : You’re fulla shit.
    TEACH : My mother’s grave.
    DON : Give me that fucking book. (Business.) Go beat that.
    TEACH : This is what I’m saying, Don, you got to know what you’re talking about.
    DON : You wanna take the book?
    TEACH : Naaa, fuck the book. What am I going to do, leaf through the book for hours on end? The important thing is to have the idea . . .
    DON : Yeah.
    TEACH : What was the other one?
    DON : What other one?
    TEACH : He stole off you.
    DON : What do you mean what was it?
    TEACH : The date, so on.
    DON : HOW the fuck do I know?
    TEACH (Pause) : When you looked it up.
    DON : How are you getting in the house?
    TEACH : The house?
    DON : Yeah.
    TEACH : Aah, you go in through a window they left open, something.
    DON : Yeah.
    TEACH : There’s always something.
    DON : Yeah. What else, if not the window.
    TEACH : How the fuck do I know?
    Pause.
    If not the window, something else.
    DON : What?
    TEACH : We’ll see when we get there.
    DON : Okay, all I’m asking, what it might be.
    TEACH : Hey, you didn’t warn us we were going to have a quiz . . .
    DON : It’s just a question.
    TEACH : I know it.
    Pause.
    DON : What is the answer?
    TEACH : We’re seeing when we get there.
    DON : Oh. You can’t answer me, Teach?
    TEACH : You have your job, I have my job, Don. I am not here to smother you in theory. Think about it.
    DON : I am thinking about it. I’d like you to answer my question.
    TEACH : Don’t push me, Don. Don’t front off with me here. I am not other people.
    DON : And just what does that mean?
    TEACH : Just that nobody’s perfect.
    DON : They aren’t.
    TEACH : No.
    Pause.
    DON : I’m going to have Fletch come with us.
    TEACH : Fletch.
    DON : Yes.
    TEACH : You’re having him come with us.
    DON : Yes.
    TEACH : Now you’re kidding me.
    DON : No.
    TEACH : No ? Then why do you say this?
    DON : With Fletch.
    TEACH : Yes.
    DON : I want some depth.
    TEACH : You want depth on the team.
    DON : Yes, I do.
    TEACH : So you bring in Fletch.
    DON : Yes.
    TEACH : ‘Cause I don’t play your games with you.
    DON : We just might need him.
    TEACH : We won’t.
    DON : We might, Teach.
    TEACH : We don’t need him, Don. We do not need this guy.
    DON picks up phone.
    What? Are you calling him?
    DON nods.
    DON : It’s busy. (Hangs up.)
    TEACH : He’s probably talking on the phone.
    DON : Yeah. He probably is.
    TEACH