Abraham's Son, Chapter 4

EXT. BEHIND DINER ­ AFTERNOON

SARA and co­worker, MARIA, sexy looking Hispanic woman about SARA's age, smoke and talk. 

SARA: I hate guys who think they can just come on to any girl while she's workin'.  I wish they'd leave me alone.  

MARIA: Lighten up.  That guy's a regular.  Doesn't hit on everybody.  It's not like you got a boyfriend or something.  Once in a while you should take a chance.  That's how husbands and wives meet.  

SARA: Who wants a husband?  Look, I saw first hand what my mother had to put up with.  That's not how I see my life. 

MARIA: Okay.  So, most men are dogs.  But, there are some nice guys out there.  I've met a few.  Don't want to spend the rest of my life waiting tables.  One day I'm gonna meet some guy who's gonna take care of me.

SARA: Good luck.  

MARIA: So, you don't want a husband.  What about a boyfriend?  Against them, too? 

SARA: Yeah, I'd like one, but I think it would be better to find one at church. 

MARIA: Good luck.  (pause)  Say, Bonnie and me are goin' out tonight and have some beers and some fun.  Come with us?  

SARA: No thanks.  I got plans. 

MARIA: Yeah, well, maybe next time.  

INT. DINER ­ LATE AFTERNOON

SARA returns to diner and works in dining room.

EXT. STREET IN FRONT OF DINER ­ NIGHT

SARA exits diner and walks towards bus stop.  

EXT. BUS STOP ­ NIGHT

SARA arrives at bus stop and waits for her bus to arrive.  Eventually bus arrives and she boards bus. 

EXT. BUS ­ NIGHT

SARA takes a seat inside bus.  She looks out window as bus goes along. 

EXT. SECOND BUS STOP ­ NIGHT

SARA exits bus at her stop and walks down street.

EXT. IN FRONT OF HER APARTMENT BUILDING ­ NIGHT

SARA enters her apartment building. 

INT. SARA'S APARTMENT ­ NIGHT

SARA enters her small, simply furnished studio apartment.  She unwraps sandwich she brought from work.  She sits in chair, turns on TV and eats her sandwich. 

ROBERT OSBORNE (O.S.): Hi, I'm ROBERT OSBORNE and tonight's classic movie presentation from 1942 is Now, Voyager starring Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains and Gladys George.

Phone rings.  SARA lets it ring many times before finally answering it. 

SARA: Hello? 

DAD (O.S.): Hello, SARA, that you? 

SARA: Yes, DAD, what do ya want? 

DAD (O.S.): What do I want?  I want you to come home.  Your mother's sick with worry.  You realize what you did to her when you left?   Especially 'cause you went off to New York where you know nobody.  Every night she cries herself to sleep.  But, she'll forgive you if you come home. 

SARA: DAD, I'm thirty.  I got a right to my own life.  I can take care of myself, even here.  Got a job, make enough money and I know people.  I even have my very own place where I do whatever I want.  You and mom have to move on. 

DAD (O.S.): And who's protecting you in this place?  No husband yet I presume? 

SARA: Don't need a husband.  I can take care of myself.  It's the 21st Century.  A woman can take care of herself. 

DAD (O.S.): It's not just mom that misses you.  Your brothers and sister as well. 

SARA: Yeah, how are they? 

DAD (O.S.): All fine.  Miss you a lot.  I don't understand.  Everybody thinks Michigan's a great place to live.  What's the matter with you?  Why do you got to be different? 

SARA: 'Cause I am different.  Don't you get it.  Been different my whole life.  I don't fit.  Not an easy thing to live with.  At least here I can breathe.  I can be myself without others looking over my shoulder all the time.  

DAD (O.S.): This is all bullshit you're saying.  We've treated you fine your whole life and this is what we get in return.  Tomorrow, go to church and ask God to forgive you for what you're sayin'.  I hope you do go to church regular. 

SARA: Yeah, I do.  There's a beautiful one a couple a blocks away.  The FATHER's a nice man.  Sometimes we talk after mass, not a confession, but just somebody I can talk to when I need to. 

DAD (O.S.): Nice to know some of what we taught you has gotten into your thick skull. 

SARA: Can you talk nice?  Always with the digs.  How's that supposed to make me feel? 

DAD (O.S.): Come on.  Just a figure of speech. Do I gotta watch every word comes out of my mouth?  Not an easy thing to do.  

SARA: You're not too old to learn new tricks.  Might make some people a little happier.  Like those in your family.  

DAD (O.S.): I do the best I can.  Are you so perfect? 

SARA: No, I'm not.  But we can all get better.  But, I need to be away, at least for a while until I get into a better place.  Tell mom I'm fine.  Maybe one day she can come visit me.  Things are slowly getting better.  I like my job.  It's easy.  Waitressing is waitressing.  Michigan, New York, it's the same.  The managers are okay.  The customers are nice.  Good tipping.  I like having my own place.  Do what I want when I'm here.  Look, Dad, I got to go.  Be good to mom! 

DAD (O.S.): I'm always good to your mother.

SARA: Yeah, sure. 

DAD (O.S.): What's that supposed to...

SARA hangs up the phone and returns to eat her sandwich and watch the movie on TV.

Boxing

Early in my time as a student at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, my political science professor required my fellow students and me to do a report on a controversial topic of public interest of our choosing.  We were to interview someone on each side of the issue.

As a boxing fan, I chose as my topic whether professional boxing should be banned in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  It had been illegal until the late Nineteenth Century.  Should it be again?

I was able to schedule an interview with Herman Taylor, the legendary Philadelphia boxing promoter.  At twenty-five years of age (in 1912), he had started on his sixty-three year career in the sport.  

I met Herman in his office when he was in his late 70s.  There I saw a lot of memorabilia from his long career involving such greats as Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney, Joe Louis, Jersey Joe Walcott, Ezzard Charles and Rocky Marciano.  

Herman was of course angry about such legal attempts to put him out of work and deprive boxers opportunities to make a living, to say nothing of the fan base which supported them both.  To him, boxing was a sport, just like football and baseball.  Each had inherent risks.

When the movie Rocky came out in 1976, the character of boxing promotor Miles Jergens (played by Thayer David) reminded me of a somewhat younger version of Herman Taylor.

On a subsequent day I took a bus from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, the state capital, to interview the legislator who proposed the bill outlawing boxing.  He of course mentioned the physical dangers (punches to the head) to boxers engaged in the so-called sport.  The government needed to step in and protect them from themselves.  Thankfully for Herman and me, his proposed legislation went nowhere.

I finished my report and got a satisfactory grade.  However, my professor did not think my topic was sufficiently controversial nor in the public interest.  I did.    

 

Emiliano Zapata

President Diaz of Mexico:  What is your name?

Response:  Zapata.  Emiliano Zapata.

The above dialogue is from a memorable scene in the 1952 movie (that I saw at the Oswego Theater) Viva Zapata! with Marlon Brando (nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, but won by Gary Cooper for High Noon) in the starring role.  

So who was Emiliano Zapata?  He was born in 1879 in a rural village in the Mexican State of Morelos in an era when peasant communities came under increasing pressure from the small-landowning class who monopolized land and water resources for their sugar-cane production.  The land owning class had the support of dictator Porfirio Díaz (Mexican President 1877-1880 and 1884–1911).

Early on Zapata participated in political movements against Díaz and the landowning hacendados.  When the Mexican Revolution broke out in 1910 he was thus positioned as a central leader of the peasant revolt in Morelos. 

Cooperating with a number of others, Zapata formed the Liberation Army of the South, of which he soon became the undisputed leader. His forces contributed to the fall of Díaz, defeating the Federal Army in the Battle of Cuautla (May 1911).  

When the revolutionary leader Francisco I. Madero became president he disavowed the role of the Zapatistas, denouncing them as simple bandits.  Madero sent the Federal Army to root out the Zapatistas in Morelos.  However, to the contrary, Zapata succeeded in driving Madero's forces out of Morelos.

In 1913 a coup against President Madero led to civil war among various Mexican leaders, including Zapata.  He focused his energies on rebuilding society in Morelos (which he now controlled), instituting the land reforms of his Plan de Ayala. 

Zapata initiated guerrilla warfare against the group led by Venustiano Carranza, who in turn invaded Morelos, employing scorched-earth tactics to oust the Zapatista rebels. Zapata once again re-took Morelos in 1917 and held most of the state against Carranza's troops until 1919.

On April 10, 1919 (103 years ago), Zapata was invited to a meeting by a supporter of Carranza who promised to defect to Zapata's side.  When Zapata arrived for the meeting, he was riddled with bullets by Carranza's men in an assassination.  This was graphically portrayed in a second memorable scene from Viva Zapata!       

The Godfather

The Godfather premiered fifty years ago, on March 15, 1972.  I remember standing in a long line in front of a Broadway movie theater and paying the outrageous price of $5 to get in and see this movie.  But it was well worth it.

The Godfather is considered one of the best movies ever.  It starred Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, John Cazale, Talia Shire and Diane Keaton.  It was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, winning three: Best Picture, Best Actor (Brando) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola).  

My favorite scene from the movie is the first.  Below is the dialogue:

Bonasera (Salvatore Corsitto):  I believe in America.  America has made my fortune.  And I raised my daughter in the American fashion.  I gave her freedom, but I taught her never to dishonor her family.  She found a boyfriend, not an Italian.  She went to the movies with him; she stayed out late.  I didn’t protest.  Two months ago, he took her for a drive, with another boyfriend.  They made her drink whiskey and then they tried to take advantage of her.  She resisted.  She kept her honor.  So, they beat her like an animal.  When I went to the hospital, her nose was broken, her jaw was shattered, held together by wire.  She couldn’t even weep because of the pain.  But I wept.  Why did I weep?  She was the light of my life.  Beautiful girl.  Now she will never be beautiful again.  Sorry.  I went to the police like a good American.  These two boys were brought to trial.  The judge sentenced them to three years in prison, and suspended the sentence.  Suspended the sentence!  They went free that very day.  I stood in the courtroom like a fool, and those two bastards, they smiled at me.  Then I said to my wife, “For justice, we must go to Don Corleone.”

Don Corleone (Brando):  Why did you go to the police?  Why didn’t you come to me first?

Bonasera:  What do you want of me?  Tell me anything, but do what I beg you to do. 

Don Corleone:  What is that?

Bonasera:  I want them dead (in a whisper).

Don Corleone:  That I cannot do. 

Bonasera:  I will give you anything you ask. 

Don Corleone:  We’ve known each other many years, but this is the first time you ever came to me for counsel or for help.  I can’t remember the last time that you invited me to your house for a cup of coffee even though my wife is Godmother to your only child.  But, let’s be frank here.  You never wanted my friendship and you were afraid to be in my debt. 

Bonasera:  I didn’t want to get into trouble. 

Don Corleone:  I understand.  You found paradise in America.  You had a good trade, you made a good living, the police protected you and there were courts of law.  And you didn’t need a friend like me.  But, now you come to me and you say, “Don Corleone, give me justice.” But, you don’t ask with respect, you don’t offer friendship, you don’t even think to call me Godfather.  Instead, you come into my house on the day my daughter’s to be married and you ask me to do murder for money.

 

Bonasera:  I ask you for justice.

Don Corleone:  That is not justice.  Your daughter is still alive.

Bonasera:  Let them suffer then, as she suffers.  How much shall I pay you?

Don Corleone:  Bonasera, Bonasera.  What have I ever done to make you treat me so disrespectfully?  If you’d come to me in friendship, then the scum that ruined your daughter would be suffering this very day.  And if by chance an honest man like yourself should make enemies, then they would become my enemies.  And then they will fear you.

 

Bonasera:  Be my friend...Godfather? 

Don Corleone:  Good!  Some day, and that day may never come, I’ll call upon you to do a service for me.  But, until that day, accept this justice as a gift on my daughter’s wedding day.

 

Bonasera:  Grazi, Godfather. 

Don Corleone:  Prego.  (Bonasera leaves the room.)  (to Tom Hagen, played by Duvall) Give this to...Clemenza.  I want reliable people, people that aren’t gonna be carried away.  We’re not murderers, in spite of what this...undertaker (Bonasera) says.  [end of scene]

Be my friend...Godfather?   

Abraham's Son, Chapter 3

 INT. DINER ­ DAY 

ABRAHAM enters diner and sits on a stool at the counter.

WAITRESS hands him menu which he studies.  Finally, he closes menu and puts it on counter.  WAITRESS approaches. 

WAITRESS: So, what can I get ya? 

ABRAHAM: I'll have the meatloaf with mashed potatoes and coleslaw.  Do you have White Rock Root Beer? 

WAITRESS: Yeah.  Any dessert? 

ABRAHAM: Maybe later. 

Then ABRAHAM eats his meal.  

INT. ABRAHAM'S LIVING ROOM ­ NIGHT 

ABRAHAM sits alone watching TV. 

ROBERT OSBORNE (O.S.): Hi, I'm ROBERT OSBORNE and tonight...

EXT. IN FRONT OF CINEMA ­ DAY 

It's Sunday afternoon and ABRAHAM lines up to buy a ticket to a movie.  

CASHIER: Yes? 

ABRAHAM: A senior ticket for the 2:00 PM show in room three, please. 

CASHIER: That'll be $10.  

ABRAHAM pays and CASHIER gives him ticket.  ABRAHAM enters cinema.

INT. ROOM THREE OF CINEMA ­ DAY 

ABRAHAM sits down and watches movie. 

EXT. IN FRONT OF CINEMA ­ DAY 

ABRAHAM exits cinema and walks to nearby coffee shop and enters. 

INT. COFFEE SHOP ­ DAY 

ABRAHAM enters coffee shop and sits down at table.  WAITRESS approaches. 

WAITRESS: What can I get ya? 

ABRAHAM: Regular coffee, please. 

WAITRESS brings coffee which Abraham slowly drinks. 

INT. ABRAHAM'S OFFICE ­ DAY 

Monday morning, ABRAHAM is on the phone in his office when his subordinate PETER stops by to talk. 

ABRAHAM (talking into phone): Yes, KEN, I got everything I need from Budget this morning.  My team should send the report you want in a couple of days.  (pause) Okay, bye.  PETER, what's going on? 

PETER: Yeah, KAREN and I got the Root Beer forecasts from Sales like you asked.   You'll have our analysis after lunch.  

ABRAHAM: Great! 

PETER: Also, thanks for the tip about my girlfriend.  It was right on the money.  We had a great weekend.  How was yours? 

ABRAHAM does not respond. 

INT. SANCTUARY OF ABRAHAM'S SYNAGOGUE ­ DAY

The following Saturday, ABRAHAM participates in religious services at his synagogue.  At one point he makes eye contact with his cousin SYLVIA.  Her expression is one of disappointment, while his is apologetic.  Services continue.  

INT. DINER ­ DAY 

ABRAHAM sits at counter of diner looking at menu.  When he puts it down, he is immediately approached by SARA CASEY, his waitress, a 30 year-­old ordinary looking woman. 

SARA: What would you like, sir? 

ABRAHAM: The chicken pot pie with the garden salad, balsamic vinaigrette dressing and White Rock Root Beer. 

SARA: Coming right up. 

SARA enters kitchen to relay ABRAHAM's order to chefs.  She returns to her station and approaches second customer. 

SARA: Something else, sir? 

SECOND CUSTOMER: Yeah!  When do you get off work? 

SARA: Can I get you your check, sir? 

SECOND CUSTOMER: How about your phone number.  You're kinda cute. 

SARA: Here's your check.  Please pay the cashier, sir. 

SECOND CUSTOMER: Come on.  I'm a nice guy.  Do us both a favor.  What do you say?

 SARA ignores him and goes to THIRD CUSTOMER.  

SECOND CUSTOMER pays his check and leaves diner. 

THIRD CUSTOMER: I'll have the steak sandwich, medium rare, French fries and a Coke. 

SARA: Coming right up, sir. 

SARA goes into kitchen with THIRD CUSTOMER's order and returns to counter area with ABRAHAM's food.    

SARA: Here you go, sir. 

ABRAHAM: Thanks. 

RESTAURANT MANAGER, young fat man, approaches SARA. 

RESTAURANT MANAGER: SARA, take your break at three and cover tables 9 and 10 in the dining room when you return. 

SARA nods.

Mr. Rogers

Fred Rogers was born into a rich family on March 20, 1928 (94 years ago) in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, not far from Pittsburgh.  He was an only child until he was eleven years-old when his parents adopted his sister. 

Rogers spent much of his childhood alone, playing with puppets. He began to play the piano when he was five years old.

Rogers was shy, introverted, overweight and frequently homebound after suffering bouts of asthma.  He was bullied and taunted as a child for his weight, and called "Fat Freddy".

According to Morgan Neville, director of the 2018 documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor?, Rogers had a "lonely childhood ... I think he made friends with himself as much as he could. He had a ventriloquist dummy, he had [stuffed] animals, and he would create his own worlds in his childhood bedroom".

Rogers attended Latrobe High School, where he overcame his shyness.  He made a couple of friends who found out that (his) core  was okay.  Rogers served as president of the student council, was a member of the National Honor Society and was editor-in-chief of the school yearbook.  

Rogers attended Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire for one year before transferring to Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida.  He graduated magna cum laude in 1951 with a Bachelor of Music.

After graduating from Rollins, he worked at NBC in New York City as floor director of Your Hit Parade, The Kate Smith Hour, and Gabby Hayes's Children's Show, plus as an assistant producer of The Voice of Firestone.

In 1953, Rogers returned to Pittsburgh to work as a program developer at public television station WQED.  He developed puppets, characters, and music for children's programs.

Rogers graduated magna cum laude from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in 1962 with a Bachelor of Divinity.  He was ordained a minister by the Pittsburgh Presbytery of the United Presbyterian Church in 1963.

His mission as an ordained minister was to minister to children and their families through television.  In a CNN interview, Rogers said, "I went into (children's) television because I hated it so, and I thought there's some way of using this fabulous instrument to nurture those who would watch and listen".

I agree with his assessment of children's television at the time.  I spent my youth in front of a TV watching such violent cartoons as Popeye and Mighty Mouse plus inane shows like Howdy Doody.  

Later, Rogers attended the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Child Development, where he began working with child psychologist Margaret McFarland, who became his "key advisor and collaborator" and "child-education guru".  Much of Rogers's "thinking about and appreciation for children was shaped and informed" by McFarland. She was his consultant for most of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood's scripts and songs for 30 years.

Ping Pong

 British manufacturer J. Jaques & Sons, Ltd. trademarked the name "Ping Pong" in 1901.  It was in reference to the game we also know as table tennis, which had apparently been developed in Victorian England.

Ping Pong was an important element in the restoration of diplomatic relations between the United States and China in the 1970s.  First, American and Chinese players competed against each other at the 1971 World Table Tennis Championships in Japan.  Afterward, the U.S. team received an invitation to visit China.  Later that same year, President Richard M. Nixon visited China as well.

Ping Pong became an Olympic sport in 1988 at the games in South Korea.  Chinese men have won six of the last seven Olympic gold medals in singles competition.  Chinese women have won all nine of the Olympic gold medals in singles competition.

Sometime prior to 1956, my family acquired a Ping Pong table my brothers and I played on in the basement of our home at 30 East Oneida Street.  We continued playing Ping Pong when we moved to the west side of Oswego.

I remember playing Ping Pong many times with my older brother Paul (7 years my senior).  He beat me every time.

I asked him to let me win...once.  He declined, saying that some day I would win and that victory would be earned.  I finally did win.

In 1958, I won the Mohawk Unit (two cabins of about 16 boys my age-13) Ping Pong championship at Camp Eagle Cove.  The following year, I was in the finals of the Siwonoy Lodge (about a dozen or more 14 year-olds) championship.  

My opponent and I were tied at two games apiece.  I was winning the fifth and deciding game, 19-16.  My opponent would be serving the next five points.  I needed two out of five to win the title.  One out of five would have created a tie (at 20) and we would have continued playing until someone was ahead by two points.  However, I lost all five of his serves and the championship, 19-21.

In August 1974 I returned to Camp Eagle Cove on a visit.  I found my name on a banner as ping pong champion in 1958.  I wonder where that banner is today.  The camp closed in 1993.

When my son Bret was a teenager, I bought a Ping Pong table for him in our basement at 69-43 Cloverdale Blvd.  At first, I beat my son every time.  Then, after a while, he beat me every time.  I haven't played Ping Pong in years.