FOE Family First Chapter 9 Father and Son Night Talk
"If Mom were alive and saw the two of us riding our bikes like gays and attracting the stares of surprise from passers-by, and all this was just because Dad got into trouble again, would she want to buy a gun and shoot Dad?" Tommy Hawke asked loudly to Tony Hawke on the back seat while pedaling his bike hard.
Tony Hawk bit down on a half-smoked cigarette and frowned: "I don't know, but I think if Dad asks me to find a way to get some bail money again, I can only grab the police's gun and shoot myself to see Mom."
Fortunately, the city of Warwick is too small, and the two of them rode to the police station in just over ten minutes. When Tommy was parking his bicycle, Tony had already rushed to the main entrance of the police station.
Tommy Hawke did not rush to follow Tony in. Instead, he first touched the more than four hundred dollars he had just earned in his pocket, calculating how much he would have left after getting his father out.
However, when he walked into the lobby of the police station, he found that the situation was different from before. His father Colin Hawke was not handcuffed in the lobby waiting for interrogation. Instead, he was standing in a detention room with transparent glass without any restrictions on his hands and feet, and was explaining something with a policeman with his back to the door with a serious expression.
"Dad." Tony pushed the door of the detention room open a crack and greeted his father.
Tommy also stepped forward: "Good evening, Dad, thank you for giving your children another wonderful trip to the police station."
The policeman turned around, and Tommy and Tony both breathed a sigh of relief. The other person was an old policeman they were very familiar with, Officer Lenny Cotton.
"Don't worry, boys. I'm innocent." Colin Hawke greeted his two sons with a grin when he saw them.
Lenny, who had wanted to greet the two, immediately retracted his gaze and said seriously, "Colin, if it wasn't for Attorney Joan Crane stopping you and I happened to be passing by on patrol, you would be handcuffed to the bench like yesterday! You were almost suspected of intentional injury!"
"In fact, it was Crane who punched me first," Colin Hawke said disapprovingly.
Lenny Cotton said grimly: "I don't think there's anything wrong with Mr. Crane punching you. Anyone who sees a guy with half his butt exposed trying to seduce his wife would do the same thing!"
"I paid, I was Joan's client."
"She's a lawyer, not a fucking Prostitute! You paid her money, and she can help you solve the legal problems, but it doesn't mean you can seduce her to bed and show her your Dick! Or when Mr. Crane is at home! God, Colin, don't you feel ashamed? Did Colin, who loved Alida so much, go to heaven with Alida? You used to be a good man, Colin. My wife has said many times with envy, how great it would be if I could love Alida as much as you love her, but now you are just a complete bastard. "
"I am charming and I have not violated any law. I was beaten and I am a victim." Colin Hawke did not show any emotional fluctuations in response to Lenny Cotton's angry questioning. He just smiled calmly and said, "Maybe Alida can make me become that good man again. Unfortunately, she is not here. Can you help me bring her back? Lenny?"
That calm smile was filled with deep sadness.
Facing Colin Hawke's question, Lenny Cotton didn't know whether to continue to be angry or to comfort him. In the end, he just turned around and said, "Asshole, you'd better pray that your ass successfully attracts lawyer Joan Crane and make sure she doesn't report you to the police for harassing her. Otherwise, she is a lawyer and there are countless charges to send you to jail."
"Officer Lenny, I'm only concerned about one thing. Do we need to find a way to raise the down payment for bail, and then call the bail bond company and have them send the money over?" Tommy Hawke asked with a sly look on his face.
In the United States, not everyone has the money to pay bail, so bail companies that specialize in providing financial guarantees to criminal suspects have emerged. The suspect only needs to pay 8% or 10% of the total bail, and the rest of the money can be paid to the bail company. After the court trial, the bail returned by the court will be directly transferred to the bail company's account. After deducting 3% or 5% of the total bail, the bail company will return the remaining down payment to the suspect.
This is also the reason why Tony only needed to collect two hundred dollars to get his father Colin out of the police station yesterday.
In America, everything can be done as a business.
"No, kids, not this time. I was patrolling and stopped it in time. Otherwise, poor Mr. Crane would have been sent to the hospital." Lenny Cotton turned around and said to Tommy, "Your father can leave at any time. As long as Attorney Joan Crane doesn't report that she was harassed, the police won't bother him."
"She won't report it. She needs something ..."
"Shut up! Colin! Now, boys, take your bastard dad away. By the way, his car is still outside Cran's house. One of you goes to drive the car back, but don't let him go in person. I'm afraid Mr. Cran can't bear the excitement." Lenny Cotton stopped Colin Hawke from continuing, and then said to Tommy and Tony.
Tony patted Tommy on the shoulder and took the initiative to say: "I'll go drive, you come and take a walk with Dad. Thank you, Officer Lenny, thank you , Dad, give me the car keys."
Tony took the car keys from his father, winked at Tommy, and quickly left the police station.
Colin Hawke smoothed his long golden hair with his hand, then held his head high and walked out of the police station with his son Tommy in his arms.
"The smell of tequila. Tony really treated you to tequila." Only when they were standing on the street did Colin Hawke turn his head to look at Tommy, who was almost the same height as him, and asked with a smile, "How was your day, son?"
Tommy gently pushed away Colin Hawke's arm from his shoulders, shrugged, and looked up at the starry night sky. "It was a great day, and it would have been even better if it hadn't ended early because you showed your butt to the female lawyer."
"Ah, it was just a little misunderstanding. Joan wanted to check the old scar on my crotch left by being hit by a ship's plank to see if it was possible to use those scars to gain some sympathy in front of the judge." Colin Hawke said to Tommy.
Tommy laughed, walked over to his bike and leaned on it. "So if attorney Joan Crane wanted you to sleep with her to pay her consulting fees, you would refuse?"
"Of course, there is no doubt about it... If she wears that old-fashioned suit... it depends on how much consulting fees it can cover." Colin Hawke opened his mouth, changed his words repeatedly, and finally gave an uncertain answer. However, seeing Tommy's half-smile, Colin Hawke said in a positive tone:
"I love your mom, I love all of you, and that will never change."
"I know, of course I know. Have a nice night, Dad. If there's nothing else, I'm going to go back and continue studying." Tommy Hawke patted the seat of his bicycle and said in a nonchalant tone.
Colin Hawke saw Tommy Hawke pushing his bicycle and asked, "Want to go for a walk together? Boy, we haven't talked for a long time. Tony told me that you can make $80 a day, but you still refuse to drop out of high school."
"I started a small business part-time just to avoid being blackmailed by you and dropping out of school. After all, you can always take away all my savings accurately, right?"
"Are you blaming me?"
"Isn't it obvious enough?"
"Why? I have never blamed you, son, why are you dissatisfied with me in your heart?"
"Because I want to withstand the pressure you put on me and correct my life. I want to go to a good enough university and leave this small town. I don't want to be a leatherworker, a mechanic, a fast food clerk, a truck driver, or you and Tony. The best way is to not give up."
"You know, five months ago, I had a thought about you. I didn't want to be your father. You think that if we do whatever it takes to make money to bring Bethia home, it will hinder your studies. You know, in my opinion." Colin Hawke lowered his head and lit a cigarette, then raised his head and looked at Tommy Hawke with complicated eyes:
"Son, you seem to have forgotten that it was because of those damn magazines of yours that Bethea was taken to a foster home, so you owe this family."
Tommy Hawke's body trembled slightly, and finally he spoke slowly: "I will return it to this family."
" No, no need. I will take you back to Bethea. Go study. When you really get the college admission letter, I will prepare a check for you to pay the tuition. We are a family." Colin Hawke smiled at Tommy Hawke calmly, then turned and walked along the road towards home. The street lights under the night sky stretched his shadow on the ground and finally wrapped around Tommy Hawke:
"I always thought you were as grown up as Tony, until you said that just now, I realized that you are still a teenager, son, continue to do whatever you want, and don't worry about it until you really understand the words family and responsibility."
