WEBVTT

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(soft, somber music)

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(narrator):Johnny passed then sex shop on St. Laurent Street.

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Then he passed the old
Pentecostal church

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and crossed himself.

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He wasn\'t bothered by then warnings begging him to repent,

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even though he was lookingn to kill his best friend, Pinky,

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that very night.

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Johnny really
was a gorgeous thief.

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Tonight, he was wearing
a black fedora

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n over his dirty blond hair,

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and his blue eyes peeked out
from underneath.

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He had survived his fathern trying to kill him three times.

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Once, he had held him
under the water

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in his bubble bath
for a whole minute.

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Another time, he had thrown
Johnny off the balcony,

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and he landed in a pile of snow
in just his underwear.

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Once, his father sent him
to talk to a stranger

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wearing a trench coatn with nothing on underneath.

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As a result, Johnny
didn\'t fear death at all

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and he had no morals,

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which gave him the wickedest
smile on the strip.

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(neons buzzing)

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It was as though
each homicide attempt

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had only made him
more beautiful.

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(fast piano music)

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As soon as Johnny
caught sight of Mia,

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n he felt a weird kind of relief.

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He\'d secretly been hoping

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to run into her all night,
all week in fact.

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All of a sudden,

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he felt like he could stop
holding his breath.

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(fence clanging)

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He exhaled, and the smoke
from his cigarette

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n looked like nylon stockings

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being pulled off
a pair of skinny legs.

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He was convinced Mia
looked like a character

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from a Dostoyevsky novel,neven though he\'d never read one,

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because she was dressed
in a flimsy black dress

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and was wearing
a black sheepskin hat

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the way old men did.

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Because her skin was pale and as thin as rolling paper.

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Because she had
these skinny legs

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and walked crooked
like a day-old pony.

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- Don\'t do anything bad
to Pinky.

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He\'s the only really good person
we know anymore.

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I know you love him, I do.

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- I think I can handle it.

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(rhythmic music)

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(narrator):Johnny
had been wanting

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to take Mia out all weekn to the Portuguese Ballroom.

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The ballroom\'s piano
had that warped,

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hollow sound
old, old pianos had,

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the ones that had crossed
over the Atlantic

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nin big boats full of immigrants.

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(creaking)

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But he knew thatnbefore he could get to all that,

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n he had to take care of Pinky.

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(tinkling)

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He gave Mia the key
to his apartment

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Nand told her to wait up for him.

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(somber music)

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(neons buzzing)

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(tinkling)
(mixed chatter)

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(meowing)

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Pinky had been launderingn money for Johnny for years

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and was good at it, too.

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He deposited moneyninto children\'s savings accounts

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all over the city; then government never looked there.

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(police siren wailing)

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(tires screeching)
Problem was...

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(car door opening, closing)n ...Pinky also wrote poetry.

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(handcuffing)

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It was something he\'d startedn doing in juvenile detention

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to while away the hours
in solitary confinement.

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But he was more
than just a poet.

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He had the worst case
of graphomania

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nthe juvie shrinks had ever seen.

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He had to write all the time.n So all the screws had to do

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to get him to cough up dirt
on Johnny

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was keep him in his cell
for a few hours

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n without a notebook or pen.

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After 14 hours, he gave up
the whole operation

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for a pencil stub

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and a pad of Strawberry
Shortcake stationery.

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(soft music)

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When Pinky walked into thenCleopatra strip club that night,

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he had bench-headn from sleeping in the park.

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He was wearing a prettynposh suit that his social worker

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had bought himn for his court date next month,

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but he\'d been wearing itn every day since he got it.

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Johnny watched from acrossn the room and almost smiled,

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almost forgotnthat they weren\'t still friends.

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There was no one
quite like Pinky,

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and he would miss him.

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He knocked back his drink,n which was like Liquid Paper

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erasing whatever love
he might\'ve had left.

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He tried to think of Mia waiting for him back at his place,

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all warm and real.

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He thought of what
she was gonna look like

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with no clothes on and her big eyes looking at him.

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He knew exactly what kind of girl she was.

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The kind of girl who told you
she loved you on the first date.

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(pencil dropping, rolling)

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(stool squeaking)
(soft music)

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Subtitling: CNST, Montreal