America 1982

Water Mill, Long Island, New York.

"The big one here can fit the entire Mount Hope neighborhood." Colin stood in front of his Ford pickup truck, with his hands on his hips, looking at the manor with the open door in front of him, and sighed in shock.

In the passenger seat, the fourteen-year-old daughter of the Hawke family, Bethea, jumped out of the car wearing a thick winter coat. She raised the camera on her chest with both hands, which looked more expensive than her father's car, and turned the lens Aiming at the iconic building of Water Mill, the windmill built more than a hundred years ago, I adjusted the angle and took a landscape photo.

"I was shocked when I first arrived. It's about fifteen acres. The sea you see now and the windmill technically belong to this Mary Manor." Tommy wrapped himself up He turned into a cotton ball, walked over and stood next to his father, imitated the other man's gesture of putting his hands on his hips, and introduced him.

Living in California for too long made him uncomfortable with the New York winter.

Colin turned his head to look at Tommy and said in disbelief: "Fifteen acres?"

Then he looked around at the scenery: "I said on the phone before that I would pay the short-term rental this time, wasn't it too hasty? You know, in winter, the business of the shipbreaking yard is generally not very good. What's worse, The sperm donation company I used to go to in Warwick has gone bankrupt. Speaking of which, even if it hadn't gone bankrupt, I don't think the money I earned from selling tadpoles would be enough to pay the rent here. How much does it cost to sleep here for one night? "

"One dollar." Tommy said with certainty, and then looked at his sister who was playing with the camera next to him and did not come up to greet him immediately: "Hey, you are still mad at me because I couldn't go home for Christmas. Are you angry? To be honest, I paid for the camera Otilia gave you. Besides, have you seen that big house? I think you should let Sophia accompany you in now. I specially prepared a gift. Tucked away in one of the eleven bedrooms.”

Bethea stood there as if she didn't hear it at all. Tommy sighed and admitted his mistake obediently: "Okay, I'm sorry, my dear sister, I promised to go home for Christmas but couldn't do it. It's my fault. I Make sure nothing like this happens again this year, I promise.”

Hearing Tommy take the initiative to admit his mistake, a smile finally appeared on Bethea's always cold face: "Last Christmas, although Otilia and Ashley came to accompany me and dad, I still felt deserted because you and Tony didn't even come home, but it doesn't matter, I forgive you."

"I'm you, so I'm going to take a look at the gift first." Tommy heard his sister forgive him, and then he dared to reach out and pat her head gently, and said with a smile.

Seeing Sophia standing at the gate of the main building of the manor waving to her in the distance, Bethea ran towards the manor. After running far away, she turned back and asked Tommy loudly: "I forgot to ask, is it? What gift? Tommy?”

"You will definitely be shocked, Bethea!" Tommy shouted back to her, and when Bethea continued to run forward, he added in a low voice: "In order to prevent your studies from slipping due to the holidays, I asked you to Mrs. Morgan, the governess in Rhode Island, has rushed over and hopes you like the surprise."

After finishing speaking, Tommy turned around and was about to accompany his father towards the manor. He saw his father taking out his wallet and counting a bunch of bills. Tommy asked in confusion: "What's wrong? The maid here?" People don’t need to tip, Dad.”

"There are about three hundred and twenty yuan here. I will pay you another fifty yuan later and you can renew the lease of this place for one year." Colin handed the banknote to Tommy: "Although this damn place looks nothing like the countryside of Warwick There’s a difference, but the rent for this big house is still very reasonable.”

Tommy did not accept the banknotes handed over by his father. He smiled and put his arms around the other person's shoulders, and walked towards the manor with him: "I can't handle it. This is a church asset of St. Dominic's Monastery. You can borrow it for vacation. It was thanks to Otilia that she had done some charity activities for the monastery, and in order to thank her for her kindness, the monastery rented this property that had always been vacant to her for one dollar."

"I also often participate in the church's charity activities. I go to church every week... Why hasn't the church ever thought of thanking me? The church in Warwick is too stingy. When I get back, I will call on the neighbors in Mount Hope to demonstrate. It's all God. People, the New York church can rent such a big house to believers for a dollar for vacation, but the Warwick church will only say to us, believers, this church needs to be repaired again, and we need to raise funds..." Colin heard Tommy said that Otilia rented such a big house for one dollar, and immediately began to criticize the church in Warwick.

Tommy did not lie. This Mary Manor, built in the English Baroque style in 1887, is indeed a church asset, and it was indeed leased to Otilia by the church for $1. Otilia even had priority. The right to purchase, but what Tommy did not tell his father was how much Otilia paid for those charity activities, and during the one-dollar lease, Otilia would also bear the cost of repairs and maintenance of the manor. .

After the two entered the main building of the manor, Tommy introduced Peppa Pig, Martin, and Dorothy to Colin. Colin looked at Martin who was helping Dorothy carry various things, and quietly asked Tommy: " Son, you brought two women, an old white man and a black... black man, and even diapers from Los Angeles to New York, but you did not bring back Otilia for our family gathering."

"Otilia, Ashley will come to meet up with their parents tomorrow, and then we will pick up Tony together. I promise that she did not leave her in Los Angeles on purpose. In fact, she is in New York now, but she is not there for the time being. Time comes." Tommy immediately explained to Colin obediently that he had no intention of leaving Otilia in Los Angeles and bringing the other two women to New York to fool around.

After getting the assurance from Tommy that Otilia would definitely appear, Colin walked towards Martin in the distance with a cigarette in his mouth.

Tommy breathed a sigh of relief. In the Hawke family, women have a higher status than men. If he dared to tell his father that he disrespected Otilia today, Tommy would definitely believe that his father could do something to teach him a lesson in public. Come.

Last Christmas, Tommy was unable to go home because he had to stay in California to help Jason handle some EFF work, and Tony was overseas. As a result, the Hawk family had to have Bethea with his father for Christmas, and the two of them Spend time in silence.

But Ashley and Otilia didn't let this happen. Ashley took her parents, and Otilia took her parents and rushed to Hawke's house. The three families spent their time happily. It was Christmas 1988.

This also made Colin recognize Otilia even more. Every time he talked on the phone, he would advise his son Tommy not to fool around and to be loyal to love.

But today, Colin's father did not spend too much time teaching Tommy, because a black man named Martin attracted his attention. He now has more important things than telling Tommy.

…

In the afternoon, in the gym at Mary Manor, Martin played with Mr. Page's electric shock device, pushing the switch from time to time to make the electric shock device make crackling sounds. Mr. Page was relying on the equipment in the gym to do weight-bearing squats. .

"Mr. Page, do you feel that the boss's father is targeting me?" Martin asked: "I mean, he is like an overseer. He can always find something for me to do, lest I be idle."

Martin felt that he was being targeted. There were more than a dozen servants in this manor, and Tommy even brought Dorothy, his housekeeper in Los Angeles. Originally, he didn't need his driver and bodyguard to come forward for anything, but this The old guy named Colin would just stare at himself and arrange various things for him to do.

For example, when cleaning the car, Colin saw him chatting with Page, so he walked over and asked him to help him clean the broken pickup truck. The reason was that he was the driver of the Hawk family, and the driver should help clean the car.

But as soon as he finished cleaning the car and returned to Mr. Page to take a breather, the damn old guy immediately appeared in front of him with a "Biu", and instead of calling himself Martin, he said with a straight face: "Ha Mr. Te, my son didn’t pay you to stand here and brag to others.”

Martin said that he had just finished wiping the car, and then the guy tilted his head and asked him to follow him to a place in the manor. When he arrived at the place, Martin was stunned. It was a carriage house located in the corner of the manor.

Carriage houses, this type of building have basically disappeared from American urban homes after World War I.

In the carriage house of this manor, there are two shabby old wooden carriages that have accumulated dust for at least a hundred years.

"A carriage is also a car, Mr. Driver." Martin imitated Colin's tone depressedly and complained to Page: "Can you imagine? He actually moved a recliner and placed it at the door of the carriage house, sitting on it and watching me wipe it. After finishing those two carriages, is this what the hell a human being can do? What were you doing when I was wiping the carriages? Mr. Page? What were you doing~"

Page counted silently, and after finishing squatting, he moved his limbs and said, "I moved another recliner and sat next to him, drinking beer and chatting, and by the way, I accompanied him to supervise you cleaning the car."

"That's the problem, Mr. Page, he and you are both damn racists!" Martin cursed bitterly.

Page wiped the sweat and corrected the error in Martin's words: "No, I must be, but Colin must not be."

"Where did you get the answer that he didn't answer this? Because he was wearing a black coat?" Martin asked, rolling his eyes.

"No, actually when I observed the surroundings of the manor, I found that in addition to the carriage house, there was an old mill. I said to Colin that after you finish cleaning the car, you should also let you grind some flour, but Colin refused. , if he is a racist, he will definitely agree with my suggestion." Page said seriously:

"But Colin said that if one day he settled here, you could come and be a miller and hire other black people to work for you."

Martin clenched the electric shock device in his hand: "You know, now I'm going to electric shock your club first, and then I'm going to electric shock the boss's club, and then..."

"Martin~" Sophia walked in from outside at this time, holding a credit card and a note filled with more than a dozen phone numbers and handed it to Martin: "This is Tommy's credit card and a dozen high-end stores in New York. The phone number of the club or nightclub, as well as the address of a car rental company in Long Island, you can rent a luxury car of your choice, or you can even ask them to provide the driver, and then drive to those clubs or nightclubs, Pick your favorite one and invite your friends in New York there for drinks tonight, all paid for with this credit card.”

Martin's unfinished words were suddenly stuck in his throat. He took the credit card and phone number handed over by Sophia, lowered his head and looked back at Sophia blankly.

Sophia asked Martin in confusion: "What's wrong? Do you have other plans?"

"He's about to blast Tommy's club." Page walked over wiping sweat and said.

"Really?" Sophia immediately looked at Martin with admiration: "Shock him a few more times for me, warrior, you did what I always wanted to do."

"Crack, crack, crack~" Martin put the electric shock device on himself, and his body shivered involuntarily due to the electric current. Then he said, "I feel ashamed of the idea that I was going to hurt the boss and his father just now. Now let's start." , I am Martin, the loyal miller of the Hawke family."