Birth of an actor

Like a black ghost, the extended Lincoln carrying Lance Roderick quietly drove away from the Bradley house.

The housewives living around carefully retracted their heads from the windows and stopped peeping - this community is not counted as a wealthy area of ​​Santa Monica, and most of the residents are middle-class, and the streets and front doors have never appeared With the shadow of the stretched luxury car, the bored and gossip housewives are very curious about the social circle of the Bradley family who just moved in.

That's right, William and his mother, Madeleine Bradley, have just moved to this community for more than half a year. Before that, they lived in a one-bedroom apartment. For a year, William's part-time job in Hollywood Getting on the right track more and more, with her own agent, Madeleine also signed a better-paying contract with the publishing house, and they rented the single-family house in this community.

William drew the curtains to hide the probing gazes of the housewives, stepped back and fell on the bed, with his right hand raised high above the sky, looking at the car keys of the Bugatti Veyron, feeling a little dazed.

Lance Roderick is William's best friend in this life. Now the other party is going to England, at least he will come back after graduating from university. Even if he knows that the communication is still developed, although there is no video call or Internet chat, overseas calls are still available. You can fight if you want, but William still can't help being a little sad.

Those memories that were temporarily forgotten because of being too busy, the days when William just found out that time went back, the beginning of his friendship with Lance, the generation and repair of self-cognitive obstacles, and the memories of starting life as an American teenager again, resurfaced. up:

Born in Beijing, China in 1988. At the age of 30, due to careless maintenance while going skiing in Switzerland, Xue Yizhi, who had a severe cold and high fever, fell into a coma. After waking up, he found himself living in Manhattan, New York, USA. He had a fever due to accidentally falling into a swimming pool. Five-year-old William Bradley in three days, and the time was 1982 AD.

The double interlacing of time and space caused William (Xue Yizhi) to have a self-cognition disorder at that time-for some reason, the memories of both Xue Yizhi and William Bradley stayed in his head well, and Childish memories and mature memories are always fighting in his head. He once secretly stole a tape recorder and read "The Little Prince" with a quilt covering his head in the middle of the night when everyone else was asleep. When the recording was played back, he I was surprised to find that I had completed the narrative of the entire book in both Chinese and English, and the two languages ​​were switched back and forth from time to time, which was like a split nerve.

Because he was terrified and troubled by his state, William closed himself up after he was discharged from the hospital. No matter how coaxed by his family, he just didn't speak, but he often ran into the study to read books or turned on the TV to watch endlessly. The Bradleys thought that He suffered from autism and took him to see a psychiatrist, but at that time, William was already familiar with the world around him through silent observation. In order to avoid revealing his truth, he was extremely uncooperative with the psychiatrist, and nearly a year of invalid treatment After therapy, Edwin and Madeleine Bradley finally come to their senses Maybe social life might change a little bit for son?So they sent William to Calgate, the best private aristocratic boys' school in the United States, and arranged various interest-cultivating studies for him on weekends. It's full.

In the boy scout summer camp in 1985, 8-year-old William Bradley and 8-year-old Lance Roderick became roommates who lived in the same tent. The only heir of the famous Roderick family has heard that Lance Roderick has blond hair and blue eyes, and has an expression of "I'm very upset" for 24 and a half hours in 23 hours a day, just like a realistic version of the little prince.

8-year-old William has participated in the summer camp for the third year, and 8-year-old Lance is only in the first year. It is conceivable that living in the same tent with such a young master who has never put on clothes by himself at home, it should be What an annoying thing, but William insists on relying on his maturity and patience beyond his age to take care of himself and Lance neatly and cleanly every day, and he always wins a few places when participating in competitions as a team .

If the summer camp ended like this that year, William and Lance may still be friends after returning to school, but they probably won't be closer. The social atmosphere in the United States in the 80s was still open, but the social hierarchy was the same as before. Conservative, William's father, Edwin Bradley, is a Wall Street hedge fund manager. Although he is famous, he is still a part-time worker. Lance's father, Taylor Roderick, is a well-known invisible rich man in the United States. The political circle has great influence (it was not included in Forbes because Roderick Industries Group was never listed), and perhaps the two teenagers are equal in their own minds, but in the eyes of their parents and others, William will definitely be regarded as To be the follower of young master Roderick.

At the end of the summer camp, an accident happened, which indirectly changed the lives of all participants—Lance Roderick was kidnapped, and William, who lived in the same tent with him, became The "dessert" that was kidnapped by the way.

William and Lance were locked in a small dark room on a mountain near the summer camp for a day and a night. The kidnappers didn't think that the two eight-year-old boys would cause any trouble. They took off their hoods and beat them in front of the two boys. Calling Tyler Roderick and demanding a ransom of $[-] million to some Swiss account and a plane full of fuel enough to fly them to some island in the Caribbean.

Because Taylor Roderick agreed to pay the ransom on the phone and begged the kidnappers not to hurt his son, Lansman thought he would be saved, but William, who had watched too many crime dramas in his previous life, knew that if the kidnappers dared to stand in front of others If the face of the ticket takes off the hood, reveals its true colors, and talks about the kidnapping plan, then they intend to tear up the ticket in all likelihood.

The night before the agreed payment of the ransom, the kidnappers, who thought that the plan went well and would soon make a fortune, bought wine and got drunk, leaving only one night watchman dozing in the living room, and in the innermost hut Here, it took William a whole day to grind off the rope on his wrist with nail clippers. He untied himself, covered Lance's mouth and whispered all his guesses to Lance, and then the two 8 The two-year-old boy divided the labor and cooperated, climbed out of the narrow window of the hut, and slipped down the mountain as if fleeing for his life.

The kidnappers chose the location of the Tibetans very cleverly. It was an inaccessible mountain forest. After going down the mountain, there was only one road leading to the town. William and Lance were running on the road while trying to stop even a passing vehicle, but there was no one in the middle of the night. The vehicle passed by, but before they were exhausted, they finally found a highway telephone booth. William called 911 for help from the telephone booth, and then guessed that the kidnappers had probably discovered that they were gone by now, so he took Lance to hide in the highway beside the highway In the mountains.

What followed was a whole night of thrilling hiding and being searched. The closer to dawn, the louder the outside noises. The man's rough and loud voice, angry cursing and frantic footsteps merged into one, making people frightened and frightened, but God forbid, the kidnappers had no dogs, and Lance and William were never found.

When the first rays of sunlight jumped out of the horizon, there were a few sporadic gunshots in the distance, and then there was the sound of Jenny Roderick and Madeleine Bradley crying and calling their son's name, and William and Lance held hands. As soon as he started, he appeared in front of everyone covered in mud and leaves. At that moment, even Taylor Roderick couldn't hide the huge surprise on his face.

Afterwards, William found out that the 911 distress message he dialed was sent directly to the FBI. Those gunshots were the FBI and the kidnappers exchanging fire. 7 of the 3 kidnappers died, and the remaining 4 would not be better off in prison. .

The kidnapping of the sole heir of the Roderick family caused a sensation in the entire United States, and even the European media reported it, but no matter how big the disturbance was, it could not get into Roderick's old house and Calgate School. After a short rest—— In fact, everyone was very surprised that William and Lance didn't suffer any injuries after this kidnapping, it was just a little psychological shadow - William and Lance returned to school, except for some who couldn't hide themselves well. Despite the scrutiny from their classmates, their lives went on as before.

No, maybe something has changed.

For example, this test of life and death made William sober up like never before. He realized how precious his new life is, and it must not be wasted. Also, the unbreakable friendship between him and Lance Roderick, It was also officially established from this time.

William and Lance became really good friends. They took the same courses and faced each other day and night. In a short period of time, they formed a brotherly friendship. Lance is the sole heir of the Roderick family and is destined to In the future, he will take over the Roderick Industrial Group. The university he chose for himself is Harvard Business School, and William said in the seventh grade that he will take the Harvard Law School in the future, and he will apply for the Roderick Group after graduation. , as Lance's legal counsel.

If William's family hadn't undergone such drastic changes in the eighth grade, the future of the two of them might really move forward like this——

William's father, Edwin Bradley, a well-known hedge fund manager on Wall Street, in the spring of 1992, suffered a huge loss due to his heavy position shorting a concept stock, causing the fund to lose as much as [-] million U.S. dollars, and was later sued by investors The court demanded compensation. After the lawsuit ended, Edwin Bradley's personal assets had been declared bankrupt, he was dismissed by the fund, and he was listed as persona non grata by Wall Street. Edwin, desperate for a while, chose to commit suicide.

After Edwin's death, the only orphans and widows left in the Bradley family were Madeleine and William, and the living environment suddenly fell from the upper middle class to the impoverished. A painter, after marrying Edwin, because of her husband's rich income, she became a housewife with peace of mind after she became pregnant with William. In fact, she and Edwin have always had the idea of ​​having another child, so over the years, Made Lin has never found a formal job, and in her spare time, besides doing housework and taking care of children, she is painting. Although the government did not confiscate Madeleine's property after Edwin's death, Madeleine didn't have much personal savings at all. After the mother and son were evicted from their residence on the Upper East Side of Manhattan by government liquidators, they couldn't afford to pay for William's school uniform for the next school year at Calgate School, not to mention renting another room in New York.

In desperation, William could only decide to drop out of Calgate after the end of the semester, and then re-study at the school, and then temporarily moved to Brooklyn with Madeleine.

Speaking of which, it was also at that time that Lance's relationship with Taylor Roderick began to deteriorate, because when Edwin Bradley went bankrupt and was involved in lawsuits, Lance had begged Taylor to help the Bradley family, but Taylor Roderick refused to lend a helping hand, and the underage Lance Roderick couldn't mobilize the fund under his name, and he was helpless, and even dared not face William for a while.

"Your father is not at fault, and you are not at fault. We can't hold grudges because others didn't help us generously. So don't blame yourself, my friend." After recovering from the grief of his father's death, William comforted Lan Then they resumed their old friendship, Stanley said.

Three months later, William and Madeleine could no longer live in Brooklyn. First, the community they lived in was too bad. Madeleine worked in a fast food restaurant. Three times in a month, she was raped when she returned home from the night shift. The second is that William has been unable to find a school that he likes and is willing to accept transfer students and provide scholarships. The third is that Madeleine earns too little, and their lives are getting more and more embarrassing day by day.

Not long after, Madeleine finally found a job through a friend, illustrating a periodical novel for a publishing house, but the place of work was in Los Angeles. When she hesitated to mention this to her son, William I expressed support for my mother's decision. Anyway, I want to transfer schools. What is the difference between transferring to other schools in New York and transferring to Los Angeles?

So the mother and son moved from New York to Los Angeles to start life again. The new life in Los Angeles made Madeleine and William very uncomfortable at first. The life on the east coast and west coast of the United States is too different. Los Angeles is sunny and warm all year round, let alone the cultural differences between the two cities. The East Coast is close to Europe and was the first to accept European immigrants, so the culture is deeply influenced by Europe, while New York is more traditional and conservative. Hierarchical thinking, New Yorkers are also used to going out in suits and ties, acting like a real gentleman, but Los Angeles people are more avant-garde and free, they are open and lazy, and they don’t like to wrap themselves tightly when they go out, but I prefer T-shirts, shorts, and flip-flops.

The first year was difficult. Madeleine struggled to adapt to the work of the publishing house. The manuscripts were often returned due to unqualified, and the salary was more than one month. The income was not fixed, and she sometimes sat in front of the window with a glass of wine Weeping loudly, for the sake of his mother’s mental state and to ease the family’s financial situation, William did not immediately find a school for himself. He lied to the outside world that he was an adult (thanks to his very good height at a young age) and had done some illegal work , mostly hiding in a dark corner where there is no sunlight, washing dishes, etc. Later, because of his outstanding appearance, he was discovered by scouts and began to shoot print advertisements for magazines, thus touching the edge of Hollywood.

After a year of absence from school, life began to improve. Madeleine not only adapted to work in the publishing house, but also found a part-time job at a Wal-Mart near her home. William also applied to St. Entrance test for Monica Secondary School.

The tuition fees of private schools in the United States range from [-] to [-] U.S. dollars a year. For example, the annual tuition of the Calgate School that William attended was [-] U.S. dollars, while the Kilometer School does not charge any fees, but as a public high school in Los Angeles The best, Santa Monica Middle School is still difficult to get into. They usually only accept candidates in the school district, but with excellent classroom results (every course is A+), and excellent extracurricular activities (Calgate School The football captain of the junior group), William still managed to transfer.

Now, everything is on the right track. Although William and Madeleine still miss New York from time to time, the world is so beautiful, and Los Angeles also has its own wonderful things, doesn't it?

Thoughts wandered in memories, and William fell asleep unconsciously.

After waking up the next day, William always felt that he had forgotten something very important, but he couldn’t remember what it was for a while, so he went to school while thinking hard, and when he arrived at the school gate, he finally realized that he had forgotten what's up-

"Slap!" Claire, the cheerleader of Santa Monica Middle School, slapped William in front of everyone at the school gate.