Volume 1: First Arrival Chapter 011 Grand Performance
Souphouse?
Not surprising.
In New York, unemployed people can receive $600 in relief each month; some charities regularly distribute simple food to the homeless and vagrants, and in addition, they can live in shelters in the winter.
Of course, beds are tight.
After the spring, when the weather warms and flowers bloom, they return to wandering the streets again.
The food in the soup kitchen has always been very important to the homeless. They even discuss which soup kitchens have more diverse food, which soup kitchens only give out dry food, and which soup kitchens prepare hot meals on site.
Street survival also has its own rules and strategies.
To Kirk, this information was extremely valuable, but to the homeless man in front of him, it had no value. In his opinion, this was news that everyone on the street knew.
"A senator performing at a soup kitchen, with reporters and TV stations coming to take pictures, is a circus."
"It's like they're on 'American Idol' where some people make it and some don't, and one or two have to wear these stupid different colored ribbons to get the handouts."
"I ended up waiting in line for 35 minutes and he gave me a sandwich, a box of juice and a bag of Oreos."
"God, that's not even a hot meal!"
"That gentleman looked as if he was afraid we would spill our onion soup and bread on him, and by God I was not going to waste my precious food on that fool."
Chirping and chattering.
Kirk didn't even need to ask, the homeless man in front of him couldn't wait to complain -
In an election year, there is indeed chaos.
Kirk did not interrupt the tramp's complaints and played the role of an excellent listener. Those trivial information often concealed subtle clues.
It was not until the homeless man's complaints came to a temporary halt that Kirk followed up with an appropriate question, "But why did you come all the way to the soup kitchen in Harlem?"
Harlem, located in the north of Manhattan, spans the entire island; moreover, it is a typical black community with even worse public security than Brooklyn and Queens, and has always been the area with the highest crime rate in New York.
At the same time, it is still considered by countless black people as their "roots". There are many historical reasons behind this. Street basketball, rap, graffiti and other street cultures also originated from here. It is still the most densely populated area for blacks in New York.
At one time, black people fled Harlem; but now, young and wealthy black people have begun to return to Harlem to invest and settle down.
The homeless man in front of me is a white man.
"cash."
The tramp twirled his fingertips.
"When everything is over, you can get cash by presenting your ribbon. Twenty for black people and fifty for white people. I didn't ask much, but the prices for Latinos and Asians seem to be different, too."
"Otherwise, I wouldn't be stupid enough to suffer."
"Wait, the ribbons are different colors, and it seems the rewards are also different. I can't remember clearly."
In recent years, Harlem has been trying to get rid of its negative image of poverty, chaos and crime, trying to attract more middle-class people to the community.
At the same time, in order to attract more commercial investment, they are also reversing people's stereotypical black impression of Harlem, sending a positive and youthful signal. Whites, Latinos, Asians, etc. have also moved in, and this community is becoming more and more vibrant and diverse.
These topics are especially hot during an election year.
There must be a bigger picture behind a senator's "performance".
Kirk raised his chin slightly, "This activity wasn't just held yesterday, right?"
"Of course not. It's been going on for a few months. It started in Brooklyn, then Queens, then Harlem, and I heard Manhattan is next."
really!
The timeline is unfolding before our eyes. Perhaps the suspect is a member of the senator's team?
If this is true, then Steve's behavior can be reasonably explained -
Imagine that the senator team is linked to a serial murder case and is also involved in racial disputes. This is definitely a super bombshell.
Once the situation is laid out, it will be difficult to accurately predict the subsequent impact on this year's election situation. There are too many possibilities. Not to mention Steve, even the NYPD, the New York Times, and others may need to choose their positions carefully.
Kirk quickly pulled out his phone and clicked on the photo. "Have you seen any of these people at other soup kitchen events before?"
This time, the homeless man did not take the phone. Instead, he muttered in a low voice, "This is the third question." At the same time, he was fumbling around but couldn't figure out what was going on. The subtext was obvious.
With a rub, two more pictures of George Washington appeared before my eyes.
The homeless man was about to take it, but Kirk dodged it with a flick of his wrist and handed the phone over.
The homeless man took the phone very actively and swiped through the pictures one by one, "No, no, no..."
After scanning them all, the homeless man still couldn't recognize any face.
He said with some regret, "Man, these are black people, our territory is slightly different from theirs."
"Yes, we don't have much choice. When necessary, we can become neighbors, but our daily life circles are different and we are not familiar with each other at all."
"We only passed each other briefly when we met occasionally. I don't remember it. Sorry, I don't remember anything."
Sad, but not surprising.
Despite this, Kirk held out the two bills again.
The homeless man took two bills and smiled widely, almost drooling. "So, do you have any questions? I will do my best to answer them."
"Why did you end up on the streets?"
This question immediately made the homeless man's smile freeze at the corners of his mouth, and his eyes widened, "Hey, man, don't hit people in the face, okay?"
Kirk's mouth curled up slightly and he raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, but there was a mischievous gleam in his eyes.
Then, without saying anything else, Kirk stood up, turned around and started walking.
After walking just two steps, Kirk came back and asked, "Excuse me, where is the southwest exit of Church Street and Buckley Street?"
"There." The homeless man pointed in the direction reflexively without realizing it.
But a little too late, the tramp complained loudly and shouted at Kirk's back, "This is the fourth question, the fourth one!"
Kirk's footsteps had already walked away.
The homeless man had a depressed look on his face. He was about to protest a few more times when he suddenly remembered the location of the exit. Combined with the question just now, his expression changed slightly and became a little uncertain.
In the end, he lowered his voice again, but still unwillingly, and muttered pitifully, "These guys are all liars."
On the other side, Kirk followed the crowd and left along the street. After turning a corner, the towering Freedom Tower - the new World Trade Center - appeared before his eyes.
Even if you want to miss it, it's difficult.
But the problem is that the NYPD police headquarters is still another 800 meters away on foot.
Looking up and around, Kirk truly felt the steel jungle of New York that blocked out the sky and the hustle and bustle of traffic that could easily swallow up an individual.
Kirk began to miss his car.
Or to be more precise, it should be the car navigation.
He took out his cell phone from his pocket, a Nokia brick that could still communicate smoothly after a hundred years. He thought that maybe now was the best time to replace it with a smartphone.
Wait, what series of fruit machines are available now?
