Peter Falk

            On Monday I positioned the chords for “Help camionneur” by Serge Gainsbourg. The only real difference musically between this song and Gainsbourg’s “Le canari est sur le balcon” is in the introduction.

            It was a cooler day than we’d had recently. It was still just warm enough to wear shorts, a tank top and bare feet but not enough to turn the fan on.

            The only cleaning I did in the living room was to pull out the dresser, grab all the big dust balls and then to vacuum the area. I think I must not have cleaned behind there since I had cats because after handling the “dustballs” my hands smelled like cat body odour.

            I had chickpeas with flaxseed oil and garlic powder for lunch.

            I got caught up on my journal.

            I took a bike ride and when I got back I was greeted by a homeless guy that talks to me sometimes. He usually calls me “Commissioner” but this time he addressed me as “Old Timer". I asked how he was and he said he's looking for winter. He asked, "When was the last time you saw winter?" I said, "March”. He told me, "I haven't seen it for eleven years!" He then added, "Terrorist activities!"

            I had one small potato, three tiny potatoes, two drumsticks and some gravy while watching The Untouchables.

            This story was about the underworld bank. The feds are trying to find out where it is and to break it. The feds are following two small time hoods in hopes that they will lead them to the bank. One is Tony Zagano, who borrowed money from the bank set up an insurance business front. The other is Duke Mullen, who borrowed money to organize the theft of $1 million in furs and is waiting for the bank to settle his account. For Tony, with the feds on his tail all the time he can’t pull any jobs and so he can’t pay back his loan. This leads to him being bumped off. Johnny the Enforcer from the bank comes to see Tony’s wife and tells her she has to sell her house to pay off her husband’s loan. She goes to Eliot Ness and he arranges to help her pretend that she’s sold her house, providing her with the money so they can tail her and find out the bank’s location. But the bank is onto the feds, arrange to block the tail and Mrs Zagano is killed. It isn’t mentioned that the feds are responsible for both of these deaths.

            Duke Mullen finally gets his return from the bank but it is only $5000. He decides to rob the underworld bank. His girlfriend Louise happens to be the niece of Milo Sullivan, who is president of the underworld bank. With her help he hopes to walk in and take $500,000 when it isn’t being watched. But Milo decides to work late and Duke is caught when he gets there. He’s being worked over when the feds arrive but for some stupid reason he grabs a gun and starts firing at the cops. He dies in the shootout.

            Duke was played by Peter Falk, who was kind of a handsome guy in 1960 despite his artificial eye. He had cancer at the age of three and his eye was surgically removed. He was his class president in high school. He earned a masters degree in public administration. He became a certified accountant. He volunteered to fight for Israel in 1948. He said it wasn’t because he was passionately for Israel or against Egypt but he just wanted some excitement. The war ended before he could ship out. His daughter Catherine, with whom he was estranged, is a real life private detective.