Goldberg Street Read Online Free PDF Page A

my house Sat . . .
    C: He . . . yes. Yes. Saturday.
    D: Monday I get a call. “I have to confess something. I have something important to talk . . . ”
    A: Had you talked be . . .
    D: We'd never been, no. No. He'd never . . . “How are you?” The weather . . . so on. So:
    C: . . . this happened to him, too, four years ago. When he . . .
    D: When he first came to . . .
    A: . . . where did he . . . ?
    D: Up . . .
    C: . . . when he . . .
    D: Upstate.
    C: When he, yes. When he first started with . . . I had to call his father. He came in . . .
    A: This . . .
    D: Yes.
    A: This is four years ago . . .
    D: Yes.
    C: . . . He came in one day. I came in. ( Pause .) He was sitting on the floor. His shirt was off. He was just sitting there. He'd been there all day. And he saw nothing unusu . . .
    D: That's the thing.. .that's the thing.. .that's the point . . . that's what I always say. As . . . wait. As crazy . . . as unhappy as we think we are, the line between psychotic and neurotic is not a thin line. ( Pause .) It's not a thin divider at all. It's like. I think it's like . . . It's like the difference between . . . ( Pause. ) It's, um, it's like the difference between competence and talent. ( Pause .)
    A: What do you think causes . . .
    D: . . . between . . .
    A: What do you think causes it?
    D: Psy . . . ? I . . . I don't know. Genetic . . . Um. ( Pause. ) Diet . . .
    C: An imbalance of some kind . . .
    D: Yes. An imbalance. Yes. That isn't pred . . .
    B: He worked for both of you . . . ?
    D: That isn't predicated . . .
    C: Yes . . .
    D: On some mistaken notion. Do you know what I mean?
    C: That's much deeper . . .
    A: People living in their own dream don't know that they're in a dream. ( Pause .)
    C: Absolutely.
    D: Um. Now: an example: If you were unhappy, you could say so. You'd say, “God, I hate myself.” Or . . .
    A: Mm hmm . . .
    D: “God, I'm fat . . . ”
    A: Mm hmm . . .
    D: He doesn't know that. He is in a dream.
    A: He'd been committed before?
    D: Yes.
    C: When he first worked for us.
    B: Um hm.
    C: Tell them last week.
    D: Last week: last Monday, he called me at work. “I have to talk to you.” Did you see . . . what was that . . . ?
    C: Some German picture . . .
    D: Some German thing. Where the same thing happened . . .
    C: . . . I don't know the name of it . . .
    D: He'd stolen two decks of cards. ( Pause. ) He called me. But I couldn't talk. “I have to talk to you. I have to confess. I've taken your cards.”
    C: . . . he asked me . . .
    D: Yes . . .
    C: I said, “Don't call. You see . . . You're putting him in an . . . ”
    D: It was a cry for help.
    A: Certainly.
    C: “ . . . in an embarrassing . . . ”
    D: I mean the cards were worth, what? Two dollars . . .
    C: In an embarrassing position. Yes. It was a . . .
    D: Well, that's what I told him. That was the . . .
    A: . . . the only way he had . . .
    D: Yes.
    C: I told him to for . . .
    D: He told him to forget it. Then he called me. Then Jim called. I told him . . .
    C: Wait. Tell them about the a . . .
    D: Oh yes. He says “Did you . . . ?”
    C: . . . that German film . . .
    D: “Did you see the . . . ” um . . . um . . . “No, why . . . ?” “Because your ace is missing.” ( Pause. )
    A: That was in some film?
    D: Yes. It signified . . . I don't know . . .
    C: “You're in danger,” he says.
    D: “Jim . . . Jim . . . ”
    C: I said it was just his way of at . . .
    D: Of attracting attention. Certainly . . .
    B: Wait. ( Pause .) He took playing cards? (Pause.)
    D: Yes. ( Pause .)
    B: Why? ( Pause .) Why, do you think? ( Pause. )
    D: I don't know.
    B: Because of the movie. ( Pause .)
    A: What do you mean?
    B: So he could take the ace and say he had a, you know . . . ( Pause. )
    D: A reason to call up.
    B: Yes. ( Pause .)
    D: Hm. Well. You may be right.
    C: When this happened before he was in for six months. When he came out . . .
    D: He did such a marvelous job . . .
    C: This house was spotless. There was nothing you would not eat off of.