Read American Buffalo for Free Online Page B

Shop. 11:15 that evening. The shop is darkened. DON is alone. He is holding the telephone to his ear.
    DON : Great. Great great great great great.
    Pause.
    (Cocksucking fuckhead . . .)
    Pause.
    This is greatness.
    DON hangs up phone. BOB appears in the door to the shop.
    What are you doing here?
    BOB : I came here.
    DON : For what?
    BOB : I got to talk to you.
    DON : Why?
    BOB : Business.
    DON : Yeah?
    BOB : I need some money.
    DON : What for?
    BOB : Nothing. I can pay for it.
    DON : For what?
    BOB : This guy. I found a coin.
    DON : A coin?
    BOB : A buffalo-head.
    DON : Nickel?
    BOB : Yeah. You want it?
    Pause.
    DON : What are you doing here, Bob?
    BOB : I need money.
    DON picks up phone and dials. He lets it ring as he talks to BOB.
    You want it?
    DON : What?
    BOB : My buffalo.
    DON : Lemme look at it.
    Pause.
    I got to look at it to know do I want it.
    BOB : You don’t know if you want it?
    DON : I probably want it . . . what I’m saying, if it’s worth anything.
    BOB : It’s a buffalo, it’s worth something.
    DON : The question is but what. It’s just like everything else, Bob. Like every other fucking thing. (Pause. He hangs up phone.) Were you at The Riv?
    BOB : Before.
    DON : Is Fletch over there?
    BOB : No.
    DON : Teach?
    BOB : NO . Ruth and Gracie was there for a minute.
    DON : What the fuck does that mean?
    Pause.
    BOB : Nothing.
    Pause.
    Only they were there.
    Pause.
    I didn’t mean anything . . . my nickel . . . I can tell you what it is.
    Pause.
    I can tell you what it is.
    DON : What? What date it is? That don’t mean shit.
    BOB : No?
    DON : Come on , Bobby? What’s important in a coin . . .
    BOB : . . . yeah?
    DON : What condition it’s in . . .
    BOB : (Great.)
    DON : . . . if you can (I don’t know . . .) count the hair on the Indian, something. You got to look it up.
    BOB : In the book?
    DON : Yes.
    BOB : Okay. And then you know.
    DON : Well, no. What I’m saying, the book is like you use it like an indicator (I mean, right off with silver prices . . . so on . . .) (He hangs up phone.) Shit.
    BOB : What?
    DON : What do you want for the coin?
    BOB : What it’s worth only.
    DON : Okay, we’ll look it up.
    BOB : But you still don’t know.
    DON : But you got an idea, Bob. You got an idea you can deviate from.
    Pause.
    BOB : The other guy went ninety bucks.
    DON : He was a fuckin’ sucker, Bob.
    Pause.
    Am I a sucker? (Bob, I’m busy here. You see?)
    BOB : Some coins are worth that.
    DON : Oddities, Bob. Freak oddities of nature. What are wetalking about here? The silver? The silver’s maybe three times face. You want fifteen cents for it?
    BOB : No.
    DON : So, okay. So what do you want for it?
    BOB : What it’s worth.
    DON : Let me see it.
    BOB : Why?
    DON : To look in the goddamn . . . Forget it. Forget it. Don’t let me see it.
    BOB : But the book don’t mean shit.
    DON : The book gives us ideas, Bob. The book gives us a basis for comparison.
    Look, we’re human beings. We can talk, we can negotiate, we can this . . . you need money? What do you need?
    Pause.
    BOB : I came here . . .
    Pause.
    DON : What do you need, Bob?
    Pause.
    BOB : How come you’re in here so late?
    DON : We’re gonna play cards.
    BOB : Who?
    DON : Teach and me and Fletcher.
    TEACH enters the store.
    What time is it?
    TEACH : Fuck is he doing here?
    DON : What fucking time is it?
    TEACH : Where’s Fletcher?
    Pause.
    Where’s Fletcher?
    BOB : Hi, Teach.
    TEACH (to DON ): What is he doing here?
    BOB : I came in.
    DON : Do you know what time it is?
    TEACH : What? I’m late?
    DON : Damn right you’re late.
    TEACH : I’m fucked up since my watch broke.
    DON : Your watch broke?
    TEACH : I just told you that.
    DON : When did your watch break?
    TEACH : The fuck do I know?
    DON : Well, you look at it. You want to know your watch broke, all you got to do is look at it.
    Pause.
    TEACH : I don’t have it.
    DON : Why not?
    TEACH : I took it off when it broke. (What do you want here?)
    DON : You’re going around without a