FOE Family First Chapter 10: Beginning to Grow Up Tonight
When Tommy pushed his bike back to his rented apartment, Ashley had already left, leaving Melonie sitting on the sofa in the living room drinking tequila.
Noticing that Tommy was staring at her, Melonie turned her eyes away from the TV and looked at Tommy. "What's the problem?"
"It's nothing, it's just that alcohol will make the redness and swelling on your face that was originally covered up by makeup become more obvious again." Tommy sat on the other end of the sofa, pointed at his face and said, "So, as a minor, can I have a drink now? Considering that these drinks were bought with the money I earned."
Then he took out a cigarette and handed it to Melonie. Melonie took the cigarette and held it to her lips. Tommy lit the lighter and handed it to Melonie to light it.
Melonie took a drag on her cigarette and then looked back at the TV. "Just one."
"Thank you." Tommy poured himself a glass of wine and took a sip. "How's work going?"
Melanie stared at the CBS hit sitcom "Family Ties" playing on TV and responded coldly: "It's so good that I'm deciding to change my job."
Melonie had a typical Italian look, with long black hair, delicate facial features, and a relatively petite figure compared to German or Irish women. At this moment, she was holding the wine glass with an expressionless face, drinking tequila sip by sip.
The beauty is cold and the wine is cool.
"Why did your ex-boyfriend give you trouble?" Tommy observed his aunt's expression and continued to ask carefully.
Melonie turned her head and glanced at Tommy. "That's none of your business."
Then he drank the remaining wine in the glass and walked towards the bedroom.
"Good night, Melonie." Tommy said, looking at her back.
"Bang!" The bedroom door was closed by Melonie from the inside with a bang, as if in response to Tommy Hawke.
Tommy Hawke sat alone in the living room, looking at the messy coffee table, and suddenly smiled bitterly.
It turned out that those adult magazines were brought back home by that bastard from the previous life. No wonder his father, who always talked about his family, did not try to dissuade him when he wanted to move out.
At that moment, Colin Hawke should have been thinking what he had told himself tonight, regretting having a son who had caused Bethea to be taken away and placed in foster care.
But Tommy had no recollection of this, or he was not sure whether those magazines belonged to him, because sometimes when he and Tony's classmates came to visit, they would bring these women's magazines to circulate. But now that he knew the answer, it was like Colin Hawke said, he owed this family, because it was because of him that Bethia went to a foster family.
He has an unshirkable responsibility, so he needs to find a way to make up for his mistake and bring Bethia back.
Of course, another reason is that if he is still preparing to apply to a good university, it is best to handle his family relationships well. Otherwise, when the university calls to investigate his situation, either his father or Tony can easily use this matter to ruin his path to study.
It is both simple and difficult to regain custody of Bethea. The simple part is that you only need to pay money and meet the various tricky conditions proposed by the judge, and Bethea can go home as soon as possible. The difficult part is that meeting those conditions is nothing short of a fantasy for a blue-collar worker like Colin Hawke who lost his job in a large company and turned to odd jobs.
Thinking of this, Tommy got up and went back to the bedroom to get a pen and paper, then began to list the conditions for bringing his sister back home on the coffee table.
First, Bethea needs to have an independent bedroom in her original family that is no less than 15 square meters and has a children's exclusive wardrobe and desk.
Tommy ticked the box, but after a moment's hesitation, he added a suffix of two hundred dollars.
Her home is a detached house with three bedrooms, one for her father, herself and Tony. Before, Bethea had been living in the attic that her father had arranged for her. Although it was less than the mandatory rule of 15 square meters and a bit cramped, it was decorated very warmly. Many families in Warwick would decorate their attics very cutely and let their children live in them alone, but obviously the judge and the Child Protection Agency prohibited Bethea from living in the attic.
If he wanted to take Bethia back, he would need to give his or Tony's bedroom to Bethia. Tommy certainly had no objection to this, but it would cost two hundred dollars to renovate his or Tony's bedroom.
Article 2: The monthly family income must not be less than US$850.
His father's monthly salary as a temporary worker at the shipbreaking yard fluctuates between six hundred and seven hundred US dollars due to different working hours. Combined with Tony's income, it should be enough to reach the target. However, Tony's salary cannot be reflected on the tax return. He is an apprentice and his remuneration is settled in cash. So if he wants to reach this standard , he either has to wait for Tony to complete his apprenticeship and become a regular employee, or he needs a stable monthly income of no less than two hundred US dollars, which should be reflected on the family income tax return.
Tommy added a suffix of two hundred dollars a month to the second line.
Article 3: The family guarantees to provide Bethia with a monthly allowance of no less than US$70 for growth and education expenses, and the observation period is two years.
This one is to record Bethia's expenses every month and keep the bills for the Child Protection Bureau to review and determine whether the expense conditions are met. Tommy is not too worried about this. Seeing his , he is sure that his father must be willing to pay much more than seventy dollars for Bethia.
Check mark.
Article 4. The family guarantees to purchase various commercial child insurances designated by the Child Protection Agency for Bethia.
Tommy wrote a suffix of $1,300 after the fourth line.
Yes, if Bethea wants to return to her original family, then her original family needs to buy various child insurance packages for Bethea at a price of up to $1,300 a year, for at least two years.
The official explanation is that the Child Protection Agency needs to ensure that no problems arise during the two-year observation period when children return to their original families, and comprehensive insurance can minimize this risk.
Another answer is that the underwriting companies of these insurances are the financiers of various political parties, or are simply the businesses of some members of parliament before they entered politics, and they make money in a legitimate way by relying on the names designated by the Child Protection Agency.
That's why it was easy for the Children's Administration to send Bethea to a foster home, but it was so difficult to get her back.
"This is not a problem that a high school student can solve." Tommy Hawke looked at the paper and let out a frustrated sigh.
With only Dad and Tony, there is no chance to bring Bethea home. The same goes for him as a high school student. Not to mention the stable and continuous monthly income of $200, the annual insurance fee of up to $1,300 is already a huge mountain standing between Bethea and them.
On TV, the popular CBS drama had finished airing, and Providence TV switched back to its own nightly news program. The host said to the camera:
"New York City has been raising tobacco taxes for a month. The government is optimistic that the new tobacco tax will increase New York City's tax revenue by $63 million and help citizens quit the bad habit of smoking. However, New York City smokers obviously don't think so. The following is an interview clip..."
Tommy Hawke lit a cigarette and listened to the New York smokers on TV cursing the city government's decision to raise tobacco taxes. Suddenly, a white youth jumped out from the side and shouted at the camera:
"Ed Curry (then Mayor of New York) must not have bought even one pack of cigarettes himself! This bastard costs New Yorkers an extra $300 a year on cigarettes! I would risk my life for $300! He is forcing poor people like us to commit crimes just to buy cigarettes!"
"Turn off the TV and go to bed! Otherwise, I don't know if that guy will take risks for three hundred dollars, but I promise that I will chase you out to the street if you can't sleep because of the noise." The bedroom door opened, and Melanie, who had changed into a rose-red pajamas, said angrily to Tommy Hawke, who was watching the news with a cigarette in his mouth.
Tommy Hawke turned off the TV, put out his cigarette, put away the paper he had written, and bowed slightly to Melonie like a student facing a teacher. "Okay, my dear landlord, teacher and aunt, Miss Melonie, good night, oh~ Can you congratulate me a little bit?"
After saying that, he smiled and walked towards his small bedroom.
"Congratulations? Congratulations for what?" Melonie asked, staring at Tommy Hawke's back with a scrutinizing look.
"Congratulations on entering the fucking adult world starting tonight." Tommy Hawke turned around and smiled at Melanie, then walked into the bedroom and closed the door.
