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THEY KNEW WHAT THEY WANTED

Father McKee

Oh, are you?

Joe

Yeah, I wouldn’t have no harm come to Tony, not for anything in the world, see? An’ I been agitatin’ against this weddin’ a lot longer’n you have an’ I know what it’s all about, see? I’m here goin’ on five months, now, an’ that’s longer’n I ever stayed any one place.

Father McKee

Is it?

Joe

Excep’ once in jail, it is. An’ I been lookin’ after Tony all the time since I come here. I come in to bum a meal an’ I stayed five months. Five months I been workin’ for Tony an’ lookin’ after him and he’s treated me dam’ good an’ that’s God’s truth. I wouldn’t have worked that long for him if he hadn’t treated me dam’ good, either. I ain’t none too strong for stayin’ put, you know. I like to move an’ now I’m goin’ to move. I’m what the papers call a “unskilled migratory” an’ I got to migrate, see? Tony wants me to go an’ I want to go. But, what I want to know is: who’s goin’ to look after Tony when I’m gone?

Father McKee

Ain’t that his wife’s place?