Nick gives him a beer. He drinks some.

Krupp Right now, McCarthy, my best friend, is with sixty strikers who want to stop the finks who are going to try to unload the Mary Luckenbach tonight. Why the hell McCarthy ever became a longshoreman instead of a professor of some kind is something I’ll never know.

Nick Cowboys and Indians, cops and robbers, longshoremen and finks.

Krupp They’re all guys who are trying to be happy; trying to make a living; support a family; bring up children; enjoy sleep. Go to a movie; take a drive on Sunday. They’re all good guys so, out of nowhere, comes trouble. All they want is a chance to get out of debt and relax in front of a radio while Amos and Andy go through their act. What the hell do they always want to make trouble for? I been thinking everything over, Nick, and you know what I think?

Nick No. What?

Krupp I think we’re all crazy. It came to me while I was on my way to Pier 27. All of a sudden it hit me like a ton of bricks. A thing like that never happened to me before. Here we are in this wonderful world, full of all the wonderful things – here we are – all of us, and look at us. Just look at us. We’re crazy. We’re nuts. We’ve got everything, but we always feel lousy and dissatisfied just the same.

Nick Of course we’re crazy. Even so, we’ve got to go on living together. (He waves at the people in his joint.)

Krupp There’s no hope. I don’t suppose it’s right for an officer of the law to feel the way I feel, but, by God, right or not right, that’s how I feel. Why are we all so lousy? This is a good world. It’s wonderful to get up in the morning and go out for a little walk and smell the trees and see the streets and the kids going to school and the clouds in the sky. It’s wonderful just to be able to move around and whistle a song if you feel like it, or maybe try to sing one. This is a nice world. So why do they make all the trouble?

Nick I don’t know. Why?

Krupp We’re crazy, that’s why. We’re no good any more. All the corruption everywhere. The poor kids selling themselves. A couple of years ago they were in grammar school. Everybody trying to get a lot of money in a hurry. Everybody betting the horses. Nobody going quietly for a little walk to the ocean. Nobody taking things easy and not wanting to make some kind of a killing. Nick, I’m going to quit being a cop. Let somebody else keep law and order. The stuff I hear about at headquarters. I’m thirty-seven years old, and I still can’t get used to it. The only trouble is, the wife’ll raise hell.

Nick Ah, the wife.