America 1982

Sophia bit her juice straw and watched in surprise as Tommy urged his maid Dorothy, who had been with him for several years, to speed up her packing and prepare to take her bodyguard Mr. Page for a vacation.

"You rarely think of the word vacation. What makes you finally think of relaxing and taking some time off?"

"It's nothing, you don't want to know. I underestimated Rick and the black employees who worked hard for the company, such as Martin." Tommy walked up the stairs to Sophia's side, took the juice and took a sip, his tone was affirmative said to Sophia:

"I guess a woman like you will be unable to sleep all night after listening to this."

Sophia showed an expression of "Are you kidding me?", but did not continue to ask. She was about to turn around and leave to go to the study to help Tommy pick out some books to kill time on the plane. After spending several years together day and night, she already knew Tommy well. All habits of m.

"Earl and Rick, they hired a black actor and director named Bill Duke for that "Nigger Boss" movie. Have you heard of it?" Tommy stood in front of the stair railing with juice in his hand, watching as he prepared to leave. Sophia said.

Sophia stopped and thought for a moment, then turned to Tommy in confusion and asked: "Rick wasn't prepared to recruit Spike Lee, Leon Isaac, Benjamin Bassett and other young black men who were not favored by major Hollywood companies. Choose one of the directors? How did it become Bill Duke? He's not one of those young unknowns, don't tell me, you don't know the name, he's the director of the first six episodes of the first season of "Miami Vice" , he himself is also a very good actor, so he is interested in your black drama, why does it make me unable to sleep? I feel that maybe because his salary is too high, you are the one who has no sleep tonight. "

“No, that guy’s price wasn’t high, it was a quarter less than a white director with the same performance, but... he asked for more power during the shoot, you know, I don’t care how much he spent , Anyway, if the overspending is serious, Rick will be the first person I cause trouble for, and Rick himself knows it." Tommy took a sip of juice, put his hands on the guardrail, and looked at the magnificent but empty hall, He spoke.

Then he said to Dorothy, the maid who had followed her all the way to Los Angeles from San Francisco and was packing her luggage in the lobby: "Dorothy, prepare two dozen more underwear for me. That damn place in Georgia, even if I bring a bodyguard, I’m a man again, but I don’t feel safe unless I wear a few pairs of underwear, and I’m worried about being dragged into an alley and brutally murdered.”

"Okay, Mr. Tommy." Dorothy raised her head and smiled at Tommy and agreed.

Tommy laughed when he heard the other person's name: "Either call me Tommy affectionately, or call me Mr. Hawke, Mr. Tommy?"

Dorothy is 37 years old and is from Colombia. Before she worked as a maid in the United States, she was a shop assistant. Her husband is a truck driver and they have a lovely daughter. They are a happy family of three.

However, in 1980, my husband died while transporting for the government troops. The rebels robbed the transport trucks, massacred all the truck drivers employed by the government, and sent threatening letters to the families of the deceased. As a result, some local people lost their husbands. People were also eyeing their home. In the end, Dorothy sold the house ruthlessly. She fled Colombia with her children, went through all kinds of hardships, arrived in the United States, and went to San Francisco to live with a man she had never seen since birth. distant relative.

She first worked in San Francisco cleaning up beach garbage for two years, but after earning wages, she did not spend too much money. Instead, she signed up for a housekeeping course until she met Tommy who hired a maid, and she was recommended to Tommy.

Although Tommy is a jerk most of the time, he is very caring for the poor at the bottom. His residence has a special nanny room where Dorothy can live with her daughter, and there is no need to prepare three meals a day.

This is also the reason why Tommy moved to Los Angeles and Dorothy followed obediently. After all, it was difficult for her to find a job where she could save all her salary and where she didn't need to spend money on food, clothing, housing and transportation.

Her ten-year-old daughter is now studying in a boarding school under Sophia's arrangement.

In her mind, Tommy is the best employer in the world, and she is very happy to witness with her own eyes that this young boy's life is getting better and better, from a small villa in San Francisco to a luxurious villa in Los Angeles.

"Maids in other residences mentioned when chatting in the community garden that they would address their employers in this way, which is both affectionate and respectful." Dorothy folded a piece of clothing and said.

Hearing Tommy's warning to Dorothy, Sophia frowned: "The security in Georgia is very poor?"

"There are a lot of Indians in that damn place now, do you understand? Indian men should have their fucking clubs cut off when they are born. The men in that country are the only ones who can beat black people in my heart. They are not just women. , men, goats, lizards and fucking dead pythons, Jesus went to India to preach, and he was able to leave with a fucking belly." Tommy said to Sophia with a serious face.

Seeing the other person's expression and hearing the exaggerated words coming out of his mouth, Sophia felt that this bastard was maliciously slandering other minorities again. She rolled her eyes at Tommy and changed the topic:

"So, what happened to Rick?"

"They were in a beautiful neighborhood in Los Angeles, and I had Martin and Big Jack's family accompanying him. Martin heard Rick trying to clarify the cost issue with Bill Duke and made an important speech. Martin and Bill Duke, Big Jack Those black people's conversations are the reason why I decided to visit old friends and take a vacation. To avoid them, I can't let any stain on me. If something goes wrong one day, I won't be there. I just need to push out. Just be responsible." Tommy lowered his head and touched his abdomen with his hand, walked a few steps quickly, walked to a mirror, talked about the hem of his clothes, exposed his abdomen and took a closer look, and finally breathed a sigh of relief: "It's okay. It shouldn’t be too embarrassing to have four vaguely visible abs.”

"What did they talk about?" Sophia ignored Tommy's narcissistic behavior and asked.

Tommy returned most of the juice he drank to Sophia, took out a cigarette and lit one: "The pilot episode always has to be eye-catching, and Bill Duke hopes to use a big action scene after the protagonist is released from prison to prove that the protagonist The sword is still young or something, but the salary of actors in Hollywood is horrifyingly high. There are obviously inexhaustible poor black people on the street, but we can’t use them as extras. We have to go to the Screen Actors Guild and ask them to provide us with suitable Otherwise, the Screen Actors Guild will cause trouble for us, saying that BT TV doesn’t respect fucking Hollywood, the Screen Actors Guild, the actors’ rights, etc. In short, we won’t be able to find actors to start working in the future.”

"Isn't this normal? Everyone working in the TV station is aware of the problem." Sophia said to Tommy: "Is there any room for discussion on this issue?"

"But Martin didn't know, so I think Mr. Page's greatest contribution to the TV station was to discover Martin Hart. He gave a suggestion to Rick and Bill, that is, why not let Compton's black people Old friends, please go and register to become actors. Since registration is very easy and each person only needs to pay a few dozen yuan in membership fees, let’s just let everyone register.”

"It's just an idea of ​​this level. Based on my understanding of you, it is definitely not worthy of your praise." After hearing this, Sophie said calmly.

"Of course it's more than that. In fact, Martin has recently been hanging out in the black area of ​​Los Angeles. All the black areas know that a rich black man came from Miami and opened a TV station. After he came up with the idea, Earl and Rick simply registered it in his name. An acting agency promotes a black drama to black people and needs black actors. If you don’t have a job, register as an actor and you may have a chance to become famous. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know how to register. Their company can help. , but in addition to paying the membership fee, there is also a service fee of more than ten yuan. The company does nothing. It only asks for more than 10,000 black people to help register, and only collects hundreds of thousands of money. "

"Martin is going to die soon. If you are not prepared to pay the black people's admission fees to the Screen Actors Guild, he..." Sophia stared at Tommy with wide eyes: "He will be in trouble, right?"

Tommy shook his head: "Of course not. Earl has asked people to hand over the money to the Screen Actors Guild, leaving only a few hundred thousand profits to be divided among a few people. Me, you, Rick, Sean, Earl, we A few of them received checks of maybe 20,000 to 30,000 yuan each, which I just used to pay for my vacation.”

"But even if everyone registers as actors, the actors' union will not necessarily recommend them to our crew? The union will only recommend those supporting actors that they think are more suitable. Like newly registered actors, they have to be ranked slowly according to their seniority, and they will not wait for one or two years. Years later, I might not even be able to get job opportunities as an extra." Sophia didn't care that she suddenly earned an extra twenty or thirty thousand yuan. Instead, she frowned and talked about the problems she discovered.

With such a demand for a large number of extras, it is impossible for the Screen Actors Guild to give opportunities to newcomers who have only paid the membership fee once. Of course, they have to look through the membership information to see if they have paid membership fees for many years in a row, but there is nothing. A veteran member of Chance.

Unless the producer forcibly specifies it, this will easily offend the actors union. Considering the size of BT TV station, if you offend the actor union, the follow-up work will be very difficult.

"Earl and Martin have arranged follow-up manipulations. As long as the Screen Actors Guild is ready to help the extras demand high salaries, Compton's new actors will besiege the white chairman's office, and Earl will also greet the three major associations. It is said that the white executives of the Screen Actors Guild discriminate against black people, do not want black TV stations to start broadcasting, do not want black people to have their own voice channels, etc., do not provide jobs to black actors who are in desperate need of a living, and will only look after those who are willing to pay more money to the union. Black people are stupid." Tommy looked at Sophia:

"So, that's why I'm going on vacation, it's all black people doing it, it has nothing to do with me."

"Earl didn't do anything wrong. In fact, the Screen Actors Guild already has the problems you just mentioned." Sophia said to Tommy: "You don't need to be nervous. I remember that you never worried about offending white people before. On the contrary, , every time he saw a white opponent, he became excited and aggressive."

"Not only this problem, but also other smaller problems. For example, many black gangs in Los Angeles, through Big Jack, are hoping to show favor to Martin, so that their gangs can have the opportunity to appear in such black supremacy dramas. Those low-level black gangs are against Being famous seems to be a kind of fanaticism. The director has been scared to wet his pants for five hours. He just completed the survey and finalized a Crip Gang site that can be used as a filming location. Less than three hours later, the boss of that site was... Kill him and replace him with a boss of the Blood Gang." Tommy said:

"I will not participate in these disgusting things. They are all internal problems of black people. Once a white person gets involved, all black people will bite the poor white person. I will not do that."

"It's crazy..." Sophia said in shock when she heard the gangs' actions.

Tommy patted her shoulder and told her not to worry too much: "It doesn't matter. All these processes were filmed and will be cut into behind-the-scenes records for the release of video tapes. Or if the series is really popular, a standalone film can be released. The documentary is just for everyone to watch. Black people are not only pretentious in TV series. In the real world, they are also lawless. But all this has nothing to do with me. It is all done by Rick and the director. I don’t know anything. I A puppet, a layman who only knows how to pay... and giggle."

"Smirk..." Sophia sighed: "So, you want to go to that place in Georgia full of Indians to think you can sleep peacefully?"

Tommy exhaled the smoke: "I don't want to go, I want to go back to Rhode Island. I heard that Mr. Miller's second daughter is vacationing at Otilia's house. As Otilia's fiancé, I have to take care of her. It’s a pity that I received an invitation from my fiancée who is abroad and has no time to return to China. In other words, all members of the CS gang have received invitations.”

"What invitation?"

"David Shafer, the fat guy from the CS gang, is getting married. All our members are going to attend his wedding, and the male members are going to give him an unforgettable farewell bachelor party." Tommy looked at Sophia: "Are you interested? ? It’s a single party, how about I take you to see the world?”

"Wear more underwear and protect yourself, Tommy." When this bastard invited her to attend a man's bachelor party with him, Sophia glared at him and said.

Tommy held a cigarette in his mouth and grabbed the stair railing with both hands: "If it weren't for me and Dennis, that fat guy would have been the most dazzling character in the CS gang."

"Everything is packed, Tommy, including the underwear you specially ordered." Dorothy closed the suitcase, stood up and said to Tommy.

"Thank you, Dorothy," Tommy said.

Page seemed like a ghost at this time, quietly appearing in the living room, picking up the suitcase and walking out, first to put the suitcase into the car.

"That's it, see you in a week or two." Tommy walked down the stairs and warned Sophia: "Also, remember to remind Martin that although I praised him, if he dares to fucking molest Fanny, Sarah, I will ask Mr. Page to come back specially, cut off his club, and help him install a stun baton! I have other uses for that beautiful black girl, and I don’t allow other men to have any ideas about him, that is Earl No, without my permission, even a male dog in heat has to pretend to be a gentleman in front of her."

"Has Martin received a check for the profit of hundreds of thousands? I mean, if you don't share it with him, I have to remember to keep it a secret from him." Sophia leaned on the stairs and looked at Tommy coming downstairs and asked. .

"Ask the bank to increase his credit limit by 20,000 yuan so that he can add some more clothes to himself. This will be the reward he deserves after helping the company earn more than 100,000 yuan." Tommy held it in his mouth without looking back. Cigarette and walked towards the living room door.

Sophia thought for a while: "If you are really worried about Vanessa, maybe she can move to my place temporarily..."

"No, black people should live in the place I planned for them. If you let me know that black people have been in and out of your residence..." Tommy heard Sophia's words, turned around, stretched out his hand to her and made a shushing gesture. , interrupted her, and said with a half-smile:

"Breast augmentation to please me won't save you, Sophia."

Sophia sighed and did not continue. Tommy held a cigarette in his mouth and walked along the stairs towards the living room, muttering to himself:

"I can care about black people, but I'm not prepared to think of myself as black."