The Scene begins in a prison right on the outskirts of Boston. Sammy goes to visit his younger brother, Paulie who is serving a life sentence. Paulie has his hands cuffed together. They are speaking at a metal table during visitation hours. There are 2 security guards standing by the door. Sammy walks in, sits at the metal table, and begins to talk.

Sammy: Hey Paulie, How are you, brother?

Paulie: Hey. I’m doin’ alright.

Sammy: That’s good to hear. How’re they treating you?

Paulie: Not bad. Food is s*** though.

Sammy: Yeah I’m sure it is. I bet you miss mom’s cooking, don’t you?

Paulie: Yeah, (pauses) yeah I do.

Sammy: Well I don’t mean to rub it in, but it tastes even better than it did before!

Paulie: I bet it does. You still see her often?

Sammy: oh you know, here and there. She’s doing a lot better. She’s really kicking cancer’s ass. Didn’t I tell you she would?

Paulie: yeah, yeah you did. Well that’s good. I’m glad she’s doing better.

Sammy: (pauses) Listen Pauilie, I just want you to remember that she would be dead if it weren’t for you. What you did for her… what you did to get that money for her chemo… she’ll never forget that. And neither will I.

Paulie: yeah, ok.

Sammy: alright man, I’ve known you my entire life and I know when something is bothering you. So come on, spit it out. Why are you so down?

Paulie: you mean besides the fact that I’ve spent the past 2 years in this hellhole and I’ll be locked up in here for the rest of my life? I don’t know. I guess I just really miss mom. It’d be nice if she could come visit me every once and a while. Why hasn’t she come, Sammy? Why hasn’t mom come to see me?

Sammy: oh well you know how it is man, she’s… she’s sick bro, she might be getting through the cancer but she’s still real weak, you know? She doesn’t have the strength to travel from our place in L.A all the way here to Boston. I’m sorry man. She says she really misses you though.

Paulie: does she? (lifts his head and looks directly into Sammy’s eyes)

Sammy: yeah, yeah of course she does. You’re her youngest son, man.

Paulie: (looks away, closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath). Hey uhh, you remember our cousin Jerry? The 3 of us used to play when we were kids.

Sammy: yeah I remember Jerry, he got locked up a few months back, didn’t he?

Paulie: yeah. It just so happens that he got transferred here 2 weeks ago. I ran into him during yard time, and uhh, we started talking.

Sammy: (looks shocked and scared, and his voice trembled when he spoke) Oh, did you? What uh… did he… umm… how’s he been?

Paulie: oh Jerry’s great. Yeah he’s doin’ good. He told me a really interesting story though. You wanna hear it?

Sammy: Actually Paulie, I have to go, man. My flight back to LA leaves in a few hours and I don’t want to be late for that so I- (cut off by Paulie)

Paulie: (firmly cuts off Sammy) JERRY told me that mom is dead. Yeah, he told me that the doctors lost her 3 weeks before you asked me to rob that currency exchange to pay for her chemo. He even told me that you made her a funeral, and that when people asked why I wasn’t there you said that I couldn’t find a flight from Boston to L.A in time for the funeral.

Sammy: Paul, you have to let me explain. I- (Gets cut off again)

Paulie: wait! I haven’t even gotten to the best part of the story. So then I asked myself, why would you ask me to rob that currency exchange if you weren’t even paying for mom’s chemo anymore? Jerry gave me the answer to that too. Jerry knows a lot of people in LA, Bloods, Crips… you name it. He knows just about everything that’s going on on the streets, and he told me that he heard from some of his Crip buddies that you owed a lot of drug money to some guys back in LA. He said that he’s positive that you found a way to pay back your drug debt, because if you didn’t then you’d be lying in the grave right next to mom’s with a bullet in your head. That’s what he told me.

Sammy: Paulie, I… I had to empty out my savings account to pay back the debt…if you’re thinking that… that

Paulie: and then I started putting the pieces together. A lot of the things that didn’t make sense finally became clear. Here’s what I think happened. Wait, no, here’s what I KNOW happened. Mom’s tumor got too big. She died. She died right around the time that you got in trouble for the drug money. So you came up with a master plan. You hid mom’s death from me. You knew I had no way of finding out since I was here in Boston. Then you told me that her insurance stopped covering her chemo treatment, and that she needed the money quickly to keep paying for it. Neither of us had the money for it, so you told me to rob a currency exchange. You knew that I’d do whatever it took to help mom. What you didn’t know was that the robbery would go wrong and that I’d end up murdering the innocent woman at the cashier… and that I’d spend the rest of my life in prison. You didn’t think about that when you asked me for the favor? Did you, Sammy? No, you didn’t. Then I wired you the money and you used it to settle your drug debt. The money that I thought was suppose to be for mom’s treatment. Sammy, I gave up my life because you didn’t know when to stop getting high.

Sammy: Paulie, I… I don’t know what to say. You’re right. About everything. I know you won’t ever forgive me for this, but I just want you to know that I love you, little brother. And I’m… I’m sorry.

Paulie: Did you honestly think that I’d never find out? It was only a matter of time. It took 2 years, but the truth came out.

Sammy: Paulie, I was desperate. They were going to kill me unless I paid them the money!

Paulie: Well maybe you should have let them! Better you dead than that poor woman at the currency exchange.

Sammy: you have every right to hate me, Paul, I would understand if you never want me to come back here ever again.

Paulie: actually Sammy, I’m going to make sure that you do come back here again.

Sammy: what are you talking about?

Paulie: it’s time for you to do me a favor. Listen to me very carefully. You’re going to go home, you’re going to take that pistol that I know you still keep in your bottom drawer, and you’re going to shoot someone’s brain’s out with it. Then you’re going to make sure that the police catch you. Then you’ll come back here, and you’ll stay here. And then maybe you’ll understand my situation.

Sammy: Paul, are you… are you serious?

Paulie: and if you don’t, Jerry will contact some Crips on the outside and order them to find you and slice your throat. We’re done here. Thanks for the visit.