America 1982

On a winter night in New York, Colin held a can of light beer in his hand, which was cheaper than bottled water, and sat lazily on the sofa in the living room. He did not turn on the TV, but looked gently at the people gathered around him. In front of the roaring fireplace, Bethea, whose face was illuminated red by the fire, was discussing extracurricular reading with her tutor, Mrs. Morgan.

Although I couldn't understand the story that Mrs. Morgan and her daughter were talking about, it just felt warm.

His son Tommy was at the other end of the living room, talking to Sophia in a low voice. If Sophia were replaced by Otilia, and Tony and Ashley were added next to him, Colin would feel that his life was close to perfection, and the rest of his life would be nothing more than Otilia. What remains is to wait for God to inspire him to ascend to heaven and reunite with his wife Alida in the kingdom of heaven.

After Tommy and Sophia finished talking, he also came over, picked up a can of beer on the coffee table, opened it, sat down next to his father, glanced in the direction of Bethea, and then curiously asked his father, who was looking intently. :

"looking at what?"

"A person who violates morals." Colin turned his head and looked at Tommy and said.

Tommy was stunned for a moment, and then glanced in Bethea's direction. Then he realized that his father was not judging him, but that Bethea and her tutor were discussing a book called "The Immoral Person". ” French novel will be discussed.

"What do you think of the various behaviors of the protagonist Michelle in the book, Bethea?" Mrs. Morgan is a prim and strict old woman who retired as the dean of a parochial girls' high school in Providence, Rhode Island. If the committee member of the Educational Advocacy Association were not simply offering remuneration to raise money for her own association, which launched the initiative to increase homework for primary and secondary school students, it would be difficult for her to hire her as a private tutor. At this moment, she pushed up her reading glasses on the bridge of her nose. asked, staring at Bethea.

Although her father is waiting for God's inspiration, Bethea feels that God must not exist in this world.

Because since I was seven years old, before going to bed every night, I would pray devoutly to God, praying that Tommy would lose money in business and at least not be able to afford to hire a tutor for me.

Otherwise, she would pray sincerely to God to bless Mrs. Morgan and all the teachers who oppressed Tommy on her behalf. Various emergencies would occur, such as unexpected pregnancy and childbirth, sprained ankles, etc. In short, they would not be able to provide her with tutoring on time.

But until now she is fourteen years old, those devout prayers have never come true. On the contrary, they have gradually increased. As she grows older, she has taken many extracurricular courses such as dancing, fencing, equestrian, and tennis. My classmates can use their weekends to go to big cities to watch live concerts of celebrities, but I can only go to listen to symphony concerts that I can't appreciate.

Bethea felt that standing by the lake with a group of ducks quacking and swimming around was more interesting than sitting under the stage in a dress and watching a group of people playing various musical instruments.

After finally coming to New York to enjoy a vacation and family gathering, her dear brother Tommy thoughtfully helped her take her own nightmare, Mrs. Morgan, to her vacation villa in New York in a special car. She walked into the bedroom before she could take off her clothes. As Mian Yi took a breath, Mrs. Morgan had already asked her if the homework assigned yesterday had been completed.

Why can Tony and Tommy enjoy a carefree childhood? Tony has known Ashley since he was a child, and they are childhood sweethearts. Tommy also has two best friends of his own, Dennis and Pam.

In my childhood, I was only accompanied by witches like Mrs. Morgan.

"After reading this, I only have my brother Tommy in my mind." Hearing that Mrs. Morgan had cleared her voice slightly, Bethea immediately came back to her senses and told Mrs. Morgan the answer.

Mrs. Morgan was stunned for a moment. Tommy and his father, who were comfortably drinking beer on the sofa not far away, also heard Bethea's words and subconsciously sat upright. The father even happily said to Tommy: "See No, you are Bethea’s idol, and she says you are as good as the famous people in the book.”

Tommy licked his lips and whispered to his father: "I'm not very optimistic about you."

"What do you mean? What does your brother Tommy mean?" Mrs. Morgan was a little surprised by Bethea's first sentence, but it was not surprising whatever answer the student gave. It depends on the subsequent understanding.

Bethea turned her face and glanced at Tommy, and then looked at the cover of "The Immoral Person" in her hand: "I think Tommy is very similar to Michelle, a transgressor. Tommy was not what he is now." By this, I mean he would take me to the forest to catch butterflies, or to help me vent my anger, he would chase a dog that scared me into crying for two months until the dog started to howl every time he saw me. Escaped, but I don’t know when he started betraying himself. Like Michelle, he had extra layers of clothes on his body. He began to love learning and spoke about God. He had no life, only work. He even It’s okay to give up being with your family to make more money.”

"I think she just complained about you for a few words at the beginning, and will soon thank you solemnly." When Colin heard this, he felt a little embarrassed and made some necessary supplements to what he had just said.

But Dad obviously guessed wrong again. Bethea glanced at Tommy from time to time and said more sharply: "Michelle knew in his heart that he didn't love his wife Marceline at all, but he still married her. Because Marceline is gentle, considerate, beautiful and virtuous, and Tommy is the same, I don’t think he loves Otilia that much, or that he doesn’t love everyone except himself.”

"Bethia, I want you to talk about the book..." Mrs. Morgan heard Bethea's words and immediately spoke, hoping to get Bethea to change the topic from her evaluation of his brother Tommy back to the book. plot.

"It's okay, Mrs. Morgan, please let her finish. I think it's interesting, if this is what the book made her think." Tommy said to Mrs. Morgan with a smile.

Bethea continued: "Michelle married Marceline. He was sick and received great care from Marceline during their honeymoon. But when Marceline miscarried for him, what about him? He fell in love with her. The joy of being gay and hoping that Marceline’s death would free him from his marriage.”

"Mrs. Morgan, let me interrupt. I don't know if schools allow children to read books like this, but it's best not to let my daughter read books about homosexuality." Colin suddenly said.

"This is the Nobel Prize winner..." Mrs. Morgan wanted to explain that this book was a world famous book, but Colin was obviously not interested in hearing her explanation:

"I don't care what award Michelle wins. He is Einstein, and that cannot be the reason why he doesn't care about his wife and instead wants her to die! He is an irresponsible bastard! God will definitely punish him for being a damn homosexual! And, Bethea! I won’t allow you to maliciously speculate about Tommy like this, and you have to apologize to her.”

"I have no ill intentions, Dad, and I didn't say that Tommy and Michelle were as bad as each other. It's just that I think Tommy, like Michelle, is a pure individualist, which is what the book calls a traitor. ." Bethea responded to Colin.

Then he looked at Tommy: "Am I not cute at all now? So, do you hope in your heart that you didn't let me read so many books back then and gave me a happy but ignorant childhood? In that case, Bethea, who is sitting here now, will only talk to you about how to make herself more beautiful, or argue about which TV series is better? Instead of deeply analyzing her brother by reading a book. "

"Mrs. Morgan, what score can you give her for this kind of reading comprehension?" Tommy drank a beer, looked at Mrs. Morgan and asked with a smile.

"The words are very sharp, and after reading it, I concluded that the protagonist is an individualist with indulgent thoughts. I think it deserves an A." Mrs. Morgan stood up and gave her answer, then politely greeted everyone He smiled, said goodbye, went upstairs, and went back to his room to rest.

She was only responsible for Bethea's homework and was not responsible for easing the conflicts between the siblings. Moreover, she had already guessed that Bethea would hate Tommy so much that she would gnash her teeth when she saw her on the first day of her vacation in New York.

"Did you hear that? It was just an A. When I was your age..." Tommy stopped mid-sentence, because when he was fourteen, he couldn't get an A at all, so he changed his words and said, "I mean, you Need to get an A+.”

"If you give me this kind of surprise again, I promise to give a sharper answer next time." Bethea said to Tommy in a provocative tone.

"First, I love Otilia very much, but there are diversity in love. You need to expand this issue after you fall in love one day. Maybe it will be easier for you to understand then. Second, I am not a pure individualist. Because this world is not suitable for individualists to survive, you need to study philosophy in college or have some experience with this issue after working." Tommy held the beer can, thought for two seconds, and then said:

"Third, and most importantly, I am not and will never be gay, and finally, to correct my mistakes, Michelle doesn't like the layers of clothes that his family puts on him. He likes to be free, and I, more Enjoy the freedom that comes with getting dressed.”

"Apologise to Tommy, Bethea, you just went too far!" Colin said seriously to his little daughter with a straight face: "You can't speak to your brother in that tone!"

Bethea came over and stood in front of Tommy, looked at Tommy for a few seconds, and then gently leaned her head on her brother's chest: "I'm sorry, Tommy, did my words make you sad?"

"A little, after all, you compare me with a gay who likes to pretend to be poor." Tommy patted Bethea on the back and said with a smile:

"But after I knew that you could actually get an A+, the sadness disappeared immediately. After all, you were just trying to make me reflect, and you didn't really only get an A."

Bethea raised her head in shock and stared at Tommy as if she had seen a ghost. Her expression changed from the loving brother and sister expression before to one in disbelief: "Come on! Can you guess this? Mrs. Morgan didn't even notice it! But that's not important. , the important thing is, have you reflected on it?”

"No, until you become the first Harvard or Yale college student in the Hawk family, you can only listen to your family and dress well, Miss Michelle." Tommy said with a smile.

As Bethea grew up, she actually learned to try to trick herself, making herself feel guilty for reflecting on her words and relaxing her demands on her.

It's just that the tricks are clumsy and immature, but Tommy is looking forward to it. It will be wonderful when his sister grows up and uses this method to manipulate the world.

After being exposed, Bethea angrily picked up her extracurricular reading book, and went back to her room angrily without even saying good night to everyone. When she went upstairs, there were heavy footsteps on the stairs, which represented her anger.

"Can't you reflect on it? After all, I'm just like Michelle, forced to accept your arrangement..." At the top of the stairs on the second floor, Bethea turned back and glared at Tommy: "You suck! Tommy!"

Tommy raised his beer towards her and said with a smile, "Thanks for the compliment."

"So...so what Bethia said just now was false, I mean she said you don't love Otilia, you are selfish and so on?" Colin asked in an uncertain tone, a little confused.

Tommy nodded matter-of-factly: "Of course it's a lie. She just wanted to deceive me, and then make me emotionally fluctuate, and then fall into reflection and guilt, and finally give her a free holiday."

"When I almost planned a very serious family meeting to discuss the conflict between your siblings, you told me that everything was false?" Colin opened his mouth and said to Tommy.

Before Tommy could answer, Sophia had already finished the phone call and came over: "Tommy, Martin called and said that he... although renting a driver, a luxury car, and going to nightclubs cost you a lot of money, he With his strong business acumen, he made money from director Spike Lee who was reshooting scenes in New York. He wanted to ask if he could use the money..."

"Of course, whatever he earns belongs to him." Tommy said with certainty after hearing Sophia's words, but immediately asked suspiciously:

"Martin can still make fucking money. If I hadn't hired him to help me scold black people like Earl and Wolfe, he would have died miserably on the streets in Los Angeles relying on his poor barbering skills," Rick said to me. , he gave Kevin, the host of BT's "Black News Today", a haircut. After the haircut, Kevin dragged his body of more than 200 pounds and chased him five floors. From this point of view, you can tell that he is When I boasted that I was a well-known black hairstylist in Miami, it was definitely a lie. Maybe it was because I designed a terrible hairstyle for a black gang member and was issued a fatwa to kill him, so I fled to Los Angeles."

"But this guy who has no other merits except scolding for you said that he currently earns 10,000 yuan in cash, while Spike Lee, a young black director who is obviously highly educated, owes him 60,000 yuan." Sophia said to Tommy in a tone of voice. He said with certainty:

"And it sounds like Martin is not drunk. After all, if he was drunk, he would rather call Mr. Page than call me or you."

"It's up to him. Have you told him? He will have to live this kind of life every day for the next week. Will his body be able to bear it?" Tommy asked.

Before Sophia could speak, Colin next to him heard Tommy's words and could no longer think about the family problems of brother and sister cheating on each other. His mind was filled with images of black Martin using the Hawker family's money to rent luxury cars and live in nightclubs.

The words that came out of Tommy's mouth just now made his blood pressure rise more than the quarrel between brother and sister.

Colin originally wanted to wait until Sophia left and no one else was present before asking Tommy, but when he thought about a nigger spending his son's hard-earned money and enjoying beautiful cars and beauties, he couldn't bear it anymore. :

"If I hadn't made sure that I didn't touch other women after getting married, and you crawled out of your mother's belly, I would have thought that I was forced into bed by some nigger woman with drugs and gave birth to you. Tommy, why don't you give birth to me?" Niggers run TV stations, you make TV series for them that make the neighbors watch their blood pressure, you even help nigger women find their husbands... Now, you let that nigger rent a luxury car, and... Is there a chauffeur who takes him to the major nightclubs in New York? When I brought Bethea to New York, I drove myself! What happened to the world? A nigger is riding on the head of a white boss? I need to make a fucking phone call Go back to Warwick and call on everyone to put on their white robes again. It’s time for the Ku Klux Klan to stand up for this country!”

"I think you'd better not use the Warwick KKK neighbors for Tony's sake~" Tommy said with a smile when he saw his father going crazy.

When Colin heard that it was for Tony, he immediately calmed down. However, he couldn't figure out what Martin's going to have fun with Tony had to do with it, so he asked suspiciously:

"What do you mean it's for Tony? You're not gay, but Tony is gay? And the man he cheated on without Ashley's knowledge was nigger Martin? Where is my capon knife?"

"Do you think Tony's vacation is for him to disembark alone and reunite with our families who have come to New York from other places? In fact, there are some comrades or superiors who have a good relationship with him on the ship who also need to disembark for vacation. For example, four of them Five black people whose hometowns are in inland states have the status of officers or non-commissioned officers on the ship. Although the families of these black people are from ordinary families, they will also appear in New York tomorrow to surprise Tony's black comrades. Do you think they themselves Do you have the money to pay for this kind of off-site vacation? No, so I will bear the cost." Tommy looked at Colin and said seriously.

Colin shook his lips: "You mean, you not only paid money for nigger Martin, but also paid for the travel expenses of several nigger relatives, so that they could travel thousands of miles to New York and meet Tony's nigger soldiers. Private meeting, maybe after returning home, a lot of little black guys will be born for this reason..."

"Not only travel expenses, but also expenses such as hotels, Yankees and Knicks home game tickets, car rental fees during the holidays in New York, etc. So you see Sophia calling constantly today to make arrangements. These trivial matters, in addition to some nightlife entertainment, always require someone to accompany them. It is impossible for Tony to entertain them, so I can only find a black employee to experience it in advance, and then as my right-hand man, I can accompany them for entertainment. I think Martin can make Tony's comrades feel closer to each other than a formulaic tour guide. After all, Martin works for me and they work with Tony." Tommy looked at his father calmly and said.

No matter how bad his mind was, Colin had already understood it at this time and could only sit back and accept the reality: "Tony and you have discussed this?"

"Tony gave me the list, and I was responsible for contracting the holidays for his comrades or superiors on the list." Tommy nodded and said.

Colin felt that the beer had suddenly lost its taste: "Is this all for Tony's promotion and fortune?"

"There's a slight difference." Tommy drained his beer and threw the can in the direction of the trash can:

"Seriously, it should be for Tony to get promoted and Tommy to get rich."