He said y'all would be paying my fee rather than his ownself...
I'm doing like one of them marriage counselors. Charge by the hour to tell some fool he need to bring some flowers home, then charge another hour telling the bitch she oughta suck some cock every little once in a while. You know, keep a marriage strong like that. [Omar arrives] Speaking of cocksuckers... [to Omar] Don't believe we met. Proposition Joe. You ever steal from me, I'll kill your whole family. A'ight, you're both here on my guarantee, so respect that shit and say what you feel. I'm up out of here.
[Joe leaves. Stringer and Omar circle around the fountain]
I got a man who say he gonna give you your life back, yo.
OmarWho? Barksdale?
My man say, "Tell that motherfucker that if he can find a way not to dip in our pockets, we gonna call this shit even."
Omar
Y'all aced Bailey, and what you did to my boy? So y'all think after what you did to Brandon, we supposed to find some even on this, huh?
Yo, I don't know shit about shit, alright? I'm just the messenger.
Omar
Whatever, man.
You know there's dead on both sides, right? There's gonna be a whole lot more if this beef keep up, but the truth be told? There be more soldiers on one half than the other, y'know what I'm sayin'?
Omar
Hey, look here, son - you tell Barksdale that he's been paid back for what he did to my peoples. As for his product, well... man's gotta earn a living, y'know?
I don't know nobody called Barksdale, B. The man I'm talking about can't have his shit taken like that. That won't do.
Omar
A'ight. Tell him to throw me some cash, then, and we'll see: about five or ten thousand. Y'know what I mean, for my retirement, homes.
Fine, if you can keep quiet about it.
Omar
Send my money through Joe, man.
You go through Joe, you're not gonna see two thousand of that. Why don't you tell my man where you at?
Omar
Nah, nah, nah, we gonna figure something else out, you heard? I'll be in touch, homes.
Omar
Look, Dante, what's it gonna take for you to be convinced, man? I don't bed no babies. [pauses] Huh?
[Omar and Dante start making out]
DDante
You gonna have to do better than that.
Omar
Oh, indeed.
[At Bird's trial]
IIlene
And what is your occupation?
Omar
Occupation?
IIlene
What exactly do you do for a living, Mr. Little?
Omar
I rip and run.
Omar
I robs drug dealers.
IIlene
And exactly how long has this been your occupation, Mr. Little?
Omar
Well, I don't know exactly. I venture to say maybe 'bout eight or nine years.
IIlene
Mr. Little, how does a man rob drug dealers for eight or nine years and live to tell about it?
Omar
Day at a time, I suppose.
You are amoral, are you not? You are feeding off the violence and the despair of the drug trade. You're stealing from those who themselves are stealing the lifeblood from our city. You are a parasite who leeches off--
Omar
Just like you, man.
--the culture of drugs... Excuse me, what?
Omar
I got the shotgun. You got the briefcase. It's all in the game, though, right?
Omar
That wasn't no attempted murder.
Then what was it, Mr. Little?
Omar
I shot the boy Mike-Mike in his hind parts, that all. [jury members laugh] Fixed it up so he couldn't sit right. [Judge Phelan chuckles]
Why'd you shoot Mike-Mike in his, um... hind parts, Mr. Little?
Omar
Let's say we had a disagreement.
Omar
Well, you see, Mike-Mike thought he should keep that cocaine he was slingin' and the money he was makin' from slingin' it. I thought otherwise.
Omar
Shoot, the way y'all looking at things, ain't no victim to even speak on.
Bullshit, boy. No victim? I just came from Tosha's people, remember? All this death, you don't think it ripples out? You don't even know what the fuck I'm talking about. I was a few years ahead of you at Edmondson, but I know you remember the neighborhood, how it was. We had some bad boys, for real. Wasn't about guns so much as knowing what to do with your hands. Those boys could really rack. My father had me on the straight, but like any young man, I wanted to be hard too, so I'd turn up at all the house parties where the tough boys hung. Shit, they knew I wasn't one of them. Them hard cases would come up to me and say, "Go home, schoolboy, you don't belong here." Didn't realize at the time what they were doing for me. As rough as that neighborhood could be, we had us a community. Nobody, no victim, who didn't matter. And now all we got is bodies, and predatory motherfuckers like you. And out where that girl fell, I saw kids acting like Omar, calling you by name, glorifying your ass. Makes me sick, motherfucker, how far we done fell.
[Omar and Brother Mouzone have trapped Stringer]
I ain't strapped. I ain't involved, yo. I ain't involved in none of that gangster bullshit.
[Both gunmen are silent, Stringer is breathing hard from running]
What y'all niggers want, man? Huh? Money?
[Silence]
IS THAT IT? Cause if it is, I can be a better friend to y'all alive.
Omar
You still don't get it, do you? This ain't about your money, bro. Your boy gave you up. That's right. And we ain't had to torture his ass neither!
[Stringer is silent, realizing both men have come for retribution]
[ruefully] Well it seem like... I can't say nuttin' to change y'all minds.
[long silence]
Well, get on with it, motherfu...
[Omar and Mouzone shoot him to death]
Omar
How you still alive yo'?
DDonnie
They needed to send a message. (motions to Big Guy) Tell him.
BGBig Guy
They said 'Tell Omar he put his hand in the wrong pocket'.
DDonnie
And you need to know, Marlo's dogs didn't let Butchie go easy.
Omar
Oh, I'm gon' work them. Sweet Jesus, I'm gon' work them.
Omar
Nah this one on me, yo'.
DDonnie
But you don't know them people.
(Donnie tosses Omar a shotgun)
The Wire · 323 quotes
