America's King of Poetry

Chapter 34 Spire

Arthur has been busy until three o'clock in the afternoon before he has time to take a break. The restaurant is not very busy at this point.

He asked Carson for cigarettes, and Carson shook his head numbly, and said, "I'm out of cigarettes, my wife found out the money I paid for cigarettes yesterday. Look how pitiful I am. I can't even get the money to buy a pack of cigarettes."

Carson looked pitiful. He was oppressed by his wife all day long, and he was a middle-aged man who lived a miserable life.Arthur shook his head, left the kitchen and went to the front desk, knocked on the table at the front desk, and said to Schmidt who was doing the accounting: "Manager, give me a cigarette."

Schmidt looked up and saw that this kid had specially instructed Montoro and others to take care of Arthur when he arrived at noon.Tony has not appeared recently, and Montolo replaced Tony as the new boss of the family. Schmidt guessed that something might happen to Tony.He was very happy, so that Tony would not know about his sneaky loan sharking, and Arthur could no longer threaten himself with this matter.After all, Montoro was not Arthur's uncle.

It's just that he is a little confused now, whether Montoro asked himself to take care of Arthur more is being polite and pretending, or he really wants to take care of him by himself.

Schmidt frowned, opened the drawer, took out a pack of camels, and threw one of them to Arthur.After catching it, Arthur put it in his mouth, took out the lighter and lit it, took a comfortable breath, and then exhaled the stale air in his chest.Smoking a cigarette after physical exertion is a simple and effective way to relax.Arthur took another sip before saying to Schmidt: "Shop manager, it's time for you to give me a bonus. Also, the store is not busy now. I want to ask for leave. I have something to do."

Arthur checked the time. It was time to meet Gina at the New York library. They made an appointment to meet at the library at 03:30.Schmidt's frown deepened. This brat asked for leave again. On Good Friday, he asked for leave to keep the kitchen busy.He rubbed his hands together, spread them open, stretched his brows, and said in a earnest tone, "Arthur, you have already been given a vacation this month. If you want a bonus, you'd better not ask for leave. Others, Carson and the others, will have objections. Your absence will increase their burden."

This Schmidt, it is obvious that you have an opinion, but you insist on saying that the big guy has an opinion.Just like some leaders, it is obviously your own idea, but you have to say that this is the idea of ​​​​the big guy.Arthur's face sank. Schmidt was a bit short-sighted. It seemed that Montoro didn't speak clearly to him.

Schmidt saw that Arthur's face was not good, so he gritted his teeth and said, "Arthur, you don't need to mention the matter of using Tony's money. Now you don't know where Tony is going. Let's work with peace of mind. You won't be asked to work overtime today. You don't need to do the cleaning work. You can leave as soon as you get off work, OK?"

Arthur didn't speak, when the waitress Lisa passed by with an empty coffee pot in her hand, going to the coffee machine for more coffee.Arthur stepped forward and snatched the coffee pot from Lisa, and said, "Let me do it." Lisa let go of the coffee pot and gave it to Arthur. Schmidt behind the counter thought that Arthur had given up asking for leave, smiled, lowered his head and continued to count.

Unexpectedly, Arthur came to Schmidt with the coffee pot in his hand and smashed it down on his head!

With a sound of "pong", the coffee pot was smashed to pieces, Schmidt let out a scream, a bloody hole was smashed on his forehead, and he fell down on the counter with a bang.Lisa was so frightened that she stood aside with her mouth wide open, and the few customers in the shop cast horrified glances. Arthur threw away the handle of the only coffee pot left in his hand, clapped his hands, and said to Schmidt at the counter: "You should be glad that this is an empty coffee pot, otherwise you should go for plastic surgery."

After finishing speaking, Arthur went into the dressing room, took off his chef's uniform, put on his own coat, and went out. He rode on the motorcycle and flicked out the cigarette he had just smoked.

"Damn, I seem to be getting more and more violent, but it's really convenient." Arthur thought to himself, started the motorcycle, and drove towards the New York Library.

……

The New York City Public Library is located on the famous Fifth Avenue. It is the largest public library in the United States. It contains more than 1600 million books, periodicals, pictures, manuscripts, etc. It is not only an important data storage and collection place, but also one of the famous attractions in New York.Arthur parked his motorcycle in nearby Bryant Park and trotted all the way to the library gate.

The library was built in 1911 and adopts a Roman-style stone building style. It has three huge arched gates and six towering Roman columns. There are fine reliefs on each of the Roman columns, making it look like a magnificent palace rather than a library.Because of this, the New York City Public Library is known as "the people's palace".

There are two stone lions on both sides of the stone steps in front of the gate. Gina and Arthur made an appointment to meet beside the stone lions.Arthur saw Gina's figure. She was looking around with the awning on her left hand. Today's sun is a little bit scorching.She squinted her eyes and wrinkled her nose, her hair tied back with a rubber band.April is the season of warm spring, and girls like Gina can't wait to put on denim shorts and stand there with her legs straight together, letting the sun and the wind blow.

American girls don't have the concept of sun protection, and they don't use umbrellas when they are exposed to the sun. On the contrary, they all like to tan their skin dark and shiny.Arthur greeted Gina from a distance, and Gina followed the sound to see Arthur, her squinted eyes and wrinkled nose opened, and her whole face seemed to brighten up.She rushed towards Arthur and gave him an unscrupulous hug. Her enthusiasm was like the warm April sun, which made people feel very comfortable.

"Where are your friends? Why are you alone?" Arthur looked around. There were tourists all around, but there seemed to be no Gina's friends.

"The visit is not over yet. It's free time. They're still inside. Let's go in." Gina dragged Arthur's hand up the stairs, walked into the library from the main entrance, and came to Astor Hall.The inside is still a Roman-style vaulted structure. Several tall candlesticks stand in the hall, and nine white candles are lit on each candlestick. Even in the daytime when there is sufficient light, the candles are still lit and emit a scorching light.

"Everyone is watching the documentary in the screening room. It is estimated that there is still half an hour. Do you want to go in and watch it together?"

Gina asked, taking Arthur's hand.She felt a little regretful, and she didn't want her friend to see Arthur, or she didn't want Arthur to see her friend.Especially Jenny, who is on the cheerleading team with her, is a blonde girl who is taller and more beautiful than Gina.She has many suitors at school, and it is said that she often changes boyfriends. Isn't this the same as Arthur before?

Thinking of this, Gina didn't want Arthur to meet her friends more and more. What if they saw each other?

Arthur didn't notice Gina's little thoughts. He didn't come to the library today to meet Gina's friends. He had other things to do.Arthur looked around and said, "Then let them watch the documentary first. I haven't been here yet, so I'll go inside."

Gina nodded, and took Arthur to visit this huge palace-like library.The walls inside are paved with marble, the ceiling has a wooden gold lacquer carved ceiling, and gilded lettering can be seen everywhere, all of which are people and families who have contributed to the library.The two went up to the third floor, which was the largest reading room in the library, the Rose Reading Room, which was as big as a football field.

Entering through the door of the reading room is like entering the hall of Hogwarts College. The desks are neatly arranged and there are bookshelves all around.A circular chandelier hangs above the desk, and huge arched glass windows on both sides provide lighting to the reading room.Many people sat at the desks and were quietly reading, the huge reading room was quiet.

Arthur went to the guide desk to ask a few words, and walked towards a bookshelf in the Rose reading room under the guidance of the front desk.Gina followed behind Arthur. She was really not interested in books. She was more interested in the carved wooden door of the reading room door and the gorgeous colorful murals on the top.

Arthur stopped in front of the bookshelf, carefully searching for the information he wanted to find.Gina felt rather bored, and leaned on Arthur's shoulder and asked softly, "When did you start liking reading?"

Arthur replied: "I don't like reading, but I happen to have some information to look up." As he spoke, he continued to read.

Gina looked up and saw that there were books related to architectural history. I really didn't know what information Arthur was looking for.

After searching for a while, Arthur still couldn't find what he was looking for, while Gina, chewing bubble gum, ran to an empty desk to study the lamp on the table.Arthur put down the thick "History of Religious Architecture" in his hand, sighed, scratched his face, thinking that in the era when the Internet is not popular enough, it is really troublesome to look up information.If you have a smart phone, where do you need to go to the library, turn on the phone and search to find the answer.

As soon as the book in his hand was put back on the shelf, another hand was pulled out, a slender and white hand with a bohemian woven bracelet tied around his wrist.Arthur turned his head and glanced, it was a white woman with a golden ponytail.He looks in his 20s, wears big-rimmed glasses, has freckles on his tall nose, and doesn't wear makeup.Her eyes were green, and she also glanced at Arthur, and their eyes met.

"You don't need this book, do you?" the Caucasian woman asked politely. She was tall, with a visual measurement of 1.7 meters five. Judging from her appearance and blond hair, she should be of Nordic race.

Arthur nodded, the woman took the book, smiled at Arthur, and was about to turn around and leave when Arthur stopped her, "Hey, do you know much about religious buildings?"

The woman turned around, shook the book in her hand, and said: "Hobby, understand a little bit, do you too?"

Arthur said: "Oh no, I don't know much, so I went here to look up some information, but I didn't find what I wanted."

The woman said: "Maybe I can help you, oh, my name is Karen."

The woman stretched out her hand to Arthur, and Arthur shook her hand gently. Her fingers were long and slender, and there was no callus or old skin on her hand.Although she was dressed simply, she could be seen as a pampered person. The bohemian bracelet on her wrist looked ordinary, but Arthur could tell that the small sapphire in the middle of the bracelet was real, not plastic or glass.

"My name is Arthur. I want to know what kind of steeple cathedral is it called? Which churches are like this in New York?"

"Spire, you mean Gothic style churches? This is very common in New York, but American church styles are more mixed, if you want to understand, it may take some time."

"I just want to know the name of a church with a steeple. I saw it in a magazine, but I haven't found anything similar..."

"Is it in New York?"

"Should be in New York, probably an old church in the past that got burned."

"Well...then you should go to the history and local chronicles reading room on the second floor to have a look."

"Oh, can you lead me there? It's the first time I've been here, and I'm a little... a little disoriented, it's too big."

Arthur looked at Karen with his clear black eyes, and they kept looking at each other as they talked, eyeing each other as they talked.Karen rolled her green eyes lightly, agreed to Arthur's proposal, and led Arthur out of the Rose Reading Room to the smaller history and local chronicles reading room on the second floor.

Gina didn't notice that Arthur had slipped down, she was still sitting at the desk listening to music on the Walkman with headphones on, immersed in Madonna's singing.

……

Arthur followed Karen to the history and local chronicles reading room on the second floor, which was much smaller than the Rose Reading Room on the third floor. Rows of bookshelves were densely arranged, and the ceiling was very low. It was more like an ordinary library.There are not many people there, and the American people generally do not have much interest in books such as history and local chronicles.

Karen took Arthur to the bookshelf of New York local chronicles, checked it out, found an atlas and handed it to Arthur, saying: "There is a historical atlas of religious buildings in the New York area on it, see if there is anything you want to find."

Arthur took the atlas and stroked Karen's back with his finger. Karen's body was visibly stiff, but he didn't pull his hand away.Her green eyes rolled slightly, and she gave Arthur a deep look. His face was indeed handsome and charming.Arthur held the picture album and looked through it. After flipping through a few pages, he found what he wanted.

A black-and-white photo, the steeple church on it is the one that Arthur burned in the hallucinatory dream that day!Looking at the brief introduction under the picture, Arthur discovered that this is St. James' Cathedral, but it was before the reconstruction.The current St. James' Cathedral was built later, and the previous one had been burned in a fire.

"It turned out that it was really burned by the fire. It looks like I have to go there again." Arthur muttered to himself, closed the album, and said to Karen: "Thank you, I found what I wanted, thank you very much."

Karen looked at Arthur playfully, and smiled slightly at the corner of her mouth, "Is this your thank you?"

Arthur read the meaning from Karen's eyes. He put the picture album back on the shelf, looked around, leaned forward, and whispered in Karen's ear: "There is no one here, but you'd better keep your voice down."

As he spoke, his hand touched Karen's slender legs in jeans...

(End of this chapter)