“And good morning to you, Mr. Mayor.”
“What can I do for you, Phil, so early in the morning?”
“Just a question or two, Mr. Mayor, and then you can go back to making your own breakfast. Do you always make your own breakfast?”
What business is that of yours?
“Is that one of your two questions?”
“Maybe it will be three questions. But what about breakfast? ”
“I try, like every other husband, I suppose, to pitch in whenever my wife is tied up.”
“Tied up?”
You flip sonofabitch!
“A figure of speech, Phil.”
“Of course.”
“The questions, Phil?”
If I ever find out who gave this bastard my number…
“Have you seen this morning’s Ledger, Mr. Mayor?”
“I was just about to.”
“After you finished your breakfast, you mean?”
“I thought I’d have a glance at it while I was eating my breakfast.”
“That’s probably a good idea, Mr. Mayor. The Ledger has some pretty startling, even unkind, things to say in an editorial about the police department generally, and you specifically.”
Oh, shit!
“Oh, really?”
“Yes, they do, I’m sorry to tell you. And I-and all the good folks out there listening in Phil’s Philly-would like to get your reaction to them.”
What the hell’s in this goddamn editorial?
“An editorial, you say, Phil?”
“That’s right, Mr. Mayor. They just about called for you to resign, after you fire Police Commissioner Mariani.”
Goddamn it! What the hell is the Ledger onto now?
"Did they say why, Phil? Or are they just still sore that I won the election?”
“No, it’s a little more serious than that, I’m afraid, Mr. Mayor. Now, I don’t want to put you on a spot, Mr. Mayor…”
The hell you don’t! That’s your stock-in-trade, you slimeball!
“… and if you haven’t read the Ledger… So you read the Bulletin first, did you?”
You prick!