"Listen, listen, my name is Harry Caul. Can you hear me? Don't be afraid. I know you don't know who I am, but I know you. There isn't much to say about myself. I...I was very sick when I was a boy, I was paralyzed in my left arm and my left leg. I couldn't walk for six months. One doctor said that I would probably never walk again. My mother...my mother used to lower me into a hot bath. It was therapy. One time the door bell rang, and she went down to answer. I started sliding down. I could feel the water. It started to come into my chin and into my nose. And when I woke up, my body was all greasy from the holy oil she used to put on my body. I remember being disappointed I survived. When I was five, my father took me to a friend of his, and for no reason at all I hit him right in the stomach. with all my strength. He died a year later. He'll kill you if he gets a chance. I'm not afraid of death. I am afraid of murder."