The Friends of Eddie Coyle

by George V. Higgins

In Eddie Coyle’s world, no one is out to screw anyone on purpose; it just happens that way. No one wakes up trying to do bad or put a hurt on anyone; they’re just trying to get by, and sometimes getting by means leaving a fair share of accidental wreckage in your wake. But rest assured, it’s nothing personal.

There are no noble gangsters swept up in high tragedy in Higgins’s world and no righteous cops obsessed with justice. There are only guys punching a clock, day in and day out; for some the job is to rob, to kidnap, or, in the case of Dillon, to kill. For others, the job is to arrest or prosecute.

“Is there any end to this shit? Does anything ever change in this racket?” The other character responds, “Of course it changes. . . . Some of us die, the rest of us get older, new guys come along, old guys disappear. It changes every day.”

It is harder to refuse to give a man a quarter after you have listened to him for a while, and noticed him. Not impossible, but harder.

“We understood you could get us some machine guns,” Andrea said in a soft voice. “Look,” Jackie Brown said, “you want to burn your fucking bra, all right. What the fuck do you want with a machine gun?”

This life’s hard, but it’s harder if you’re stupid. Now

“Remind me to get you transferred to Topeka,” Waters said. “You got any other bright ideas?”

‘Hey, people want to buy the stuff. You think I care what turns a guy on? That’s his business. He wants to buy something, who the hell am I to say he can’t? Huh? I happen to like something else, that’s my business, I never see one of the people that buy these things coming around and saying I can’t do what I like, so where’s the problem?’

He handed Dillon a business envelope, a fairly fat envelope. “Okay?” he said. “Okay what?” Dillon said. “Okay?” the kid said. “Just okay.” “If it’s okay,” Dillon said, “it won’t bother you. If it isn’t okay, it won’t. Get lost.”

Some of us die, the rest of us get older, new guys come along, old guys disappear. It changes every day.”