America 1982

At eight o'clock in the morning, Tommy, who had taken a shower after his morning run, came down from his suite at the Four Seasons Hotel to enjoy breakfast in the restaurant. Without any surprise, he saw Stephen sitting at a dining table, opposite two beautiful Cuban women with honey-colored skin. , think about it, if a rich man comes to Miami to visit, how could he miss the Cuban girls who are as sweet as flowing honey.

Chatting up and hunting down beautiful Cuban girls has almost become a must-have activity for wealthy foreign men from the United States when traveling to the Miami, Florida area.

However, Tommy observed the two women's dressing up and felt that Stephen might not be able to succeed. This bastard's method of picking up girls was simple and crude, but it was only effective for women who like money.

Stephen was dressed in a British-style dress. He was eating breakfast in a gentle manner while telling the two women his views on life: "I have been thinking about philosophical issues about life. Do you know, girls, our life?" , you can only have this moment now. The past experiences are like the growth rings hidden in the trunk of the oak tree. They are hidden in the memories of our brains. There are only some scattered fragments left. You can only piece it together in your brain. , but never think about the real recurrence of yesterday, just like when we chop down an old oak tree, we don’t want to know what it has experienced in the past, we can only look at the circles of growth rings and fantasize.”

After saying this, he put a small piece of local honey bread into his mouth, and then saw Tommy walking in his direction. The two women were still thinking about this profound question and did not pay attention. Before Tommy came over, Stephen gave Tommy a look that said, "Get away, don't affect my charm."

The waiter also rushed over with a menu and asked Tommy politely: "Sir, is there one?"

At this time, the two women next to Stephen also turned to look at Tommy. Stephen's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. Tommy finally chose to sit at the dining table two tables away from Stephen and said to the waiter The student nodded: "Yes, alone."

"I think what you said makes sense." A young girl withdrew her gaze and responded affirmatively to Stephen first. She nodded seriously and said to Stephen appreciatively: "Yesterday can never be repeated."

"And the future is also nothingness." Stephen received the girl's affirmation and raised his voice slightly: "Think about it, the future is unknown. Maybe you want to be a poet in the future, and I want to be a philosopher in the future, but this is just us Beautiful fantasy, God knows whether it can come true. Every moment, accidents happen, which will change our fantasy. What if a tsunami breaks out in Florida today, and we happen to be sitting in this seaside hotel restaurant at this moment, no matter how wonderful it is. The future is just a bubble, only worthy of being the eulogy from the priest's mouth when we are buried. There is no chance to realize it. Accidents can happen at any time, so we must live in the present, enjoy ourselves in time, and don't waste every moment now. Seconds, two people. I heard from the waiter at the hotel that there is a four-person beach volleyball team game on the beach today. We just need to find another lucky man to set off as a team. The winner will get the best sea view at the Four Seasons Hotel. The right to use the suite for a whole night, of course, it doesn’t matter if we are the runner-up, I guarantee we will still get the winner’s prize…”

Tommy listened to Stephen's chattering in his ears and finished ordering the food. Sure enough, as he expected, when he finished ordering the food, the two girls rejected Stephen without much hesitation, then got up and left, heading towards the lobby.

"What exactly is the problem? This scheme is everywhere in Los Angeles. When I sat in front of them and started chatting with them, it was going well, but why did they leave?" Stephen came over with his coffee and dinner plate. , sat across from Tommy and said unhappily.

Tommy waited for the waiter to bring him coffee. He slowly added sugar cubes and stirred them. Seeing Stephen still staring at him with questioning eyes, he said regretfully: "If I remember correctly, what did you say about life just now?" If you are carpe diem, you should have plagiarized me. Although I am not the original author. I forgot which books I borrowed from, but it does not prevent me from questioning you now. You plagiarized my lines for picking up girls, and then you came to question me confidently when you failed. What's wrong with me?"

"What else?" Stephen said as he put the bread in his mouth: "Don't you know, Bert specifically wrote down your words in his notebook. If he didn't think there were too many words, he would have wanted to have them tattooed on his chest. Until now. , he doesn’t even believe that you, a poor guy from the White Robe Club, didn’t spend a damn penny and relied on a bunch of sweet talk to actually let his literature department, who originally wanted to participate in the annual American Lover pageant of the Order of the Phoenix, My beautiful girlfriend broke up with him and turned into a carpe diem stamp collecting queen. Your idiots from the White Robe Society all had in-depth exchanges with her and even sent us a fucking photo. It was completely ruined. It robbed him of his hopes of competing for the American Lover Championship with that woman.”

Stephen took a leave of absence at Stanford before he could become the boss of the Stanford branch of the Order of the Phoenix. Unlike Tommy, who spent four full years at Stanford and completed his promotion within the fraternity, Stephen actually listened to his brother Bell at the same time. After Te graduated, when he talked about Tommy's methods of attacking the Order of the Phoenix, he was a little glad that he dropped out of school early, otherwise this bastard would never let him go.

Bert couldn't meet Tommy, even if everyone had graduated and had Stephen as his best friend. In Bert's words, when he saw Tommy, he had the urge to kill Tommy with a gun. , just because they were in the same class as him, the Order of the Phoenix was always outclassed by the White Robe Society. At that time, Tommy clearly had a beautiful girlfriend named Otilia, but he still wanted to chat up the girlfriend he specially pursued, even if Tommy Mi succeeded in striking up a conversation and went to bed with her, and Bert was not even that angry. No, this idiot gave the girl from the literature department a bunch of bullshit theories about life and carpe diem, and then the girl became so wild that she was even more promiscuous than the girl from the blonde club. The sluts still want to open up, but they are the first to take advantage of Tommy's bastards from the White Robe Club.

When everyone in the White Robe Club of SSD awarded the outgoing president Tommy Hawke a memorial rope of honor and solemnly bid farewell to the outgoing president of the White Robe Club to bid farewell to college life, the old and new brothers of the Phoenix Order pinned him to the floor. , drew a swastika consisting of JJ on his forehead, and asked him to attend the graduation ceremony with that symbol on his head, just to thank the Order of the Phoenix for achieving Stanford's second place in the rankings for two consecutive years under the leadership of Bert Feinstein. Achievements of the Brotherhood.

But Belt must admit that later he used Tommy's trick to win over beauties majoring in philosophy or literature. He later passed this trick to Stephen. Stephen also used it several times in Los Angeles with excellent results. Unexpectedly, in Miami actually missed.

"First, the two girls could tell by looking at their clothes that they were locals. They just came to the hotel to wait for their friends and pick them up for activities together. One of the girls was wearing a Patek Philippe 1951 classic minute repeater women's watch on her wrist. I I gave Sophia a piece as a birthday gift before, and it cost about 27,000 yuan. Do you think a girl with a down payment for a sports car on her wrist would be tempted by staying in a sea-view suite for one night?" Tommy picked up the coffee and drank it. After a breath, he said in a relaxed tone:

"Second, you're too impatient. When I started chatting up girls at Stanford, I didn't just have breakfast once. In order to mess up Belt's plan, I spent two weeks creating a chance encounter with his girlfriend, and I didn't have a romantic relationship. Talk about love, just talk about life, let her accept the bullshit theory of carpe diem in life, if you want to brainwash a person, you have to do it slowly and subtly, instead of like you, talking about life sanctimoniously one second, and wishing for them the next second The two of us will strip naked and go to the beach with you to make waves."

"You don't suit this outfit. Did you notice the celebrity magazine in the girl's hand when she left? The girl was wearing the same clothes as the cover actress. You should just say, girls, I am a well-known producer in Hollywood. I have had in-depth cooperation with many actresses, especially the cover actress. Then I made a call to your director and pretended to be surprised that I was on vacation in Miami. As a result, I met two people who were very suitable for that new movie. Girls in the movie, please ask the company to send them a formal letter inviting them for an interview, with all air tickets and accommodation included. Then ask the girls for their addresses and phone numbers and tell the director. A thoughtful reminder to pay attention to privacy. You can leave a public address, and then hang up. , just say a few more polite words, leave your business card, introduce a few words about the new movie, and leave. Your men will take care of the rest. I guarantee that the two girls will definitely not be able to contain their curiosity tonight and come to talk to you about the script and drink. Two cups, blow the wind, blow off your wealth, when everyone is tipsy, you remind them again, have you seen the handwritten Arabic numeral 20 on your business card? That is the benchmark for your understanding of film art. Confirm whether they have enough artistic depth. Believe me, the more artistic or glamorous a woman looks, the more open she will be to men unexpectedly after having a few more drinks.”

"Do you often get girls drunk? You sound very experienced." Stephen asked doubtfully after hearing what Tommy said about chatting up girls.

Tommy shook his head: "No, it was Otilia. Once her friend's winery sent her some red wine, which tasted very good, and then Otilia drank a few more glasses."

"What happens next?" Stephen asked.

Tommy smacked his lips in recollection: "After that... I felt as if a juice succubus possessed her. At noon the next day, I lay in bed and called my personal trainer to ask for three days off."

"Remember to ask Otilia to call her friend and send some red wine of the same style to my house." After Stephen heard the gossip, he turned his face and said in a disapproving voice: "So, you don't go to the fucking variety show, just sit here. What to do? Go get to work, don’t forget you signed a performance contract! Unless you’re going to tell some more stories that interest me.”

"I'm waiting for Paige." Tommy said while eating breakfast: "Without him, the subsequent plot will lack a climax."

Stephen thought about the name Page and asked, "That old man's bodyguard of yours? What did he do for you?"

Tommy swallowed the food in his mouth and said righteously: "It's not to help me, it's for justice."

…

Putnam County, Florida, the county seat is Patraca.

This is a city smaller than Warwick, Rhode Island, with only 8,000 people in the entire city. At the same time, it is also the city with the lowest income level in Florida. If the large American consortium Koch Company had not built its paper mill here, Providing jobs for nearly two thousand citizens, this place might have been bankrupted many years ago.

Page chewed on his pipe and drove a 60% new family car along the highway into this small town. He held the steering wheel with one hand and looked around blankly. At the same time, he asked the other end of the phone: "Are you sure they are... Live here? I don’t have much time. If I can’t find anyone, I only have enough time left to deal with you.”

After getting a positive answer, Page parked the car in a parking lot of a living area in the North District. He first took out an honorary police chief's badge and pinned it on his waist. Then he opened the door and got out of the car, following the instructions provided on the phone. Address, he walked towards an old and dilapidated house with a lawn that had not been mowed for a long time. He stood in front of the door and rang the doorbell twice. He found that the doorbell was broken. He knocked on the door panel:

"Hello?"

Ten seconds later, an old but alert voice sounded inside: "Who is outside?"

"Honorary Sergeant of the Long Beach Police Department, Paige Lott, I would like to come and talk to you about the murders of Brian Parker and Ginny Parker." Paige responded skillfully in a policeman's tone.

After hearing these words, the room became quiet. A few seconds later, the door opened, and an old man with white hair and a hunched back looked at Page: "Excuse me, is there any news about my son's case? "

Without waiting for Page to answer, he seemed to be afraid that his hope would be shattered. He turned his head and shouted louder and louder: "Rachel, Rachel! It's the police. Brian and their cases have finally made progress!"

Soon, an equally old woman appeared tremblingly in the living room. Her cloudy eyes looked at Page outside the door with disbelief and shock.

"I'm sorry that there has been no progress in the case against the Miami City Council regarding the murders of Brian and Ginny Parker by felons who were on vacation." Page's voice was extinguished without any emotion. The little spark of hope in the eyes of the old couple.

The old couple had a son named Brian Parker, who died two years ago at the age of thirty-one. During his lifetime, he worked as an umbrella salesman in Miami and had a gentle wife named Ginny Parker. Died two years ago, at the age of twenty-six, in a home invasion committed by a criminal who had previously been sentenced to life in prison for killing children, but because Rosario-Kennedy was in Miami at the time The pilot furlough program for felons implemented by Congress allowed this guy who should have been on the electric chair long ago to enjoy America's humanitarian spirit towards criminals.

He got a chance to get out of prison and do some activities. Unfortunately, Brian and his wife met him, became his target, and were brutally murdered. Fortunately, their son happened to be in summer vacation at the time and was sent to Patraka. I went to my grandparents' house for vacation and escaped the disaster.

Although the criminal was returned to prison with two additional life sentences and the trial vacation plan was quickly cancelled, there was no way for Mr. and Mrs. Bryan to survive.

The grief-stricken couple, who lived in Patkara, took the Miami Council to court. Unfortunately, nothing happened after submitting the complaint. The state court's response was always on the schedule, and they did not have the money to hire a powerful attorney. Lawyers went to help them advance this case. It’s not like they haven’t tried it. They found some big lawyers and said that if they get compensation, most of the money can be used to pay for legal fees and the rest can be donated. They don’t want any money. They just want someone to pay for the death of their son and his family.

But no lawyers were interested. Some lawyers told them that the winning rate of this lawsuit was too low. After all, the city government had countless reasons to stall. For example, the city councilors who sponsored the bill were all elected by the people of Miami. If they sued the city council, The city councilors will say that they are asking for help for the people. This is the decision of all Miami people. If the state court rules that the city council loses the case, no one knows whether those council members will be punished, but those council members can definitely incite public opinion and make all people If you attack a state judge, that judge will never be able to make a living in Florida again.

Hearing that Page was not here to convey the progress of the state court, the old man's expression changed. He looked up and down at the police badge on Page's waist and his numb face: "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to inform you." Page took a sip of tobacco from his pipe and said calmly, "If you want to sue a member of the House of Representatives, you may have to send the complaint to the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington in person, but I I think you should have no travel expenses to go to Washington."

"Are you here to laugh at us? What do you mean?" The old woman walked to her husband's side and held each other's shoulders. The couple supported each other and used each other's bodies to gain the strength to support themselves.

"Mrs. Parker, you don't seem to have any obvious characteristics, but if my information is correct, you should have some Jewish blood in your body." Page took off the pipe from his mouth and looked at the old woman and said.

The old woman stared at Page and said impatiently: "Is the United States also going to massacre the Jews? Are you going to take me to a concentration camp?"

"No, on the contrary, can you invite me in, pour me a cup of coffee, and listen to me slowly?" Page gestured to the coffee pot in the living room with his pipe and said to the two of them: "Or, I'll leave now , you continue to stand in this small town, helplessly watching your son’s murderer take a plane to Washington, D.C., to be promoted to the House of Representatives."