Volume 4: White Devil Chapter 208: Not a Holiday for One Person
On a winter night in New York, Colin lazily sat on the sofa in the living room, holding a can of light beer that was cheaper than bottled water. He did not turn on the TV, but looked tenderly at Bethia, who was sitting in front of the blazing fireplace, her face turned red by the fire, and was discussing extracurricular reading topics with her tutor, Mrs. Morgan.
Although I had no idea what story Mrs. Morgan and her daughter were talking about, I just felt it was a warm experience.
At the other end of the living room, his son Tommy was whispering something to Sophia. If Sophia was replaced by Ottilia, with Tony and Ashley beside them, Colin would feel that his life was close to perfection, and the rest of his life would only consist of waiting for God to call him to heaven and reunite with his wife Alida in heaven.
After Tommy finished talking to Sophia, he also came over, picked up a can of beer on the coffee table, opened it, sat down next to his father, glanced in Bethea's direction, and then curiously asked his father who was focused:
"What are you looking at?"
"An immoral person." Colin turned his head and looked at Tommy.
Tommy was stunned for a moment, then looked in Bethia's direction, and then he realized that his father was not evaluating him, but saying that Bethia and her tutor were discussing the French novel called "The Immoral Man".
"What do you think of the actions of Michelle, the protagonist of the book, Bethea?" Mrs. Morgan was a strict and old lady who retired as the Dean of a church girls' high school in Providence. She was also a member of the committee of the Rhode Island Education Advocacy Association. If it were not for raising funds for her own association that initiated an initiative to increase the amount of homework for elementary and middle school students, it would have been difficult to hire her as a private tutor if she was not simply paid. At this moment, she pushed the reading glasses on her nose, stared at Bethea and asked.
Although her father was waiting for God's call, Bethea felt that there must be no God in this world.
Because since he was seven years old, he would pray devoutly to God every night before going to bed, praying that Tommy would lose money in his business so that he would at least not be able to afford to hire a tutor for him.
Otherwise, he would pray devoutly to God to protect Mrs. Morgan and all the teachers who oppressed Tommy from any unexpected situations, such as unexpected pregnancy, childbirth, sprained ankle, etc., so that they would not be able to provide her with tutoring on time.
But until now, she is fourteen years old, and those devout prayers have never been answered. On the contrary, they have gradually intensified. As she grows older, she has many more extracurricular courses such as dance, fencing, equestrianism, and tennis. Her classmates can use their weekends to go to big cities to watch live concerts of celebrities, but she can only go to symphony concerts that she cannot appreciate.
Bethia thought that standing by the lake and listening to a group of ducks quacking and swimming around was more interesting than sitting under the stage in a dress and watching a group of people playing all kinds of musical instruments at the same time.
She finally came to New York to enjoy a vacation and family gathering, and then her dear brother Tommy thoughtfully used a special car to pick up her own nightmare, Mrs. Morgan, and brought her to her vacation villa in New York. She walked into the bedroom and before she had time to take off her cotton coat and take a breath, Mrs. Morgan had already asked her if she had finished the homework assigned yesterday.
Why can Tony and Tommy enjoy a carefree childhood? Tony has known Ashley since childhood, and the two have been childhood sweethearts. Tommy also has two best friends of his own, Dennis and Pam.
And in his childhood, he was only accompanied by witches like Mrs. Morgan.
"After reading it, the only thing in my mind was my brother Tommy." Hearing that Mrs. Morgan had cleared her throat slightly, Bethea immediately came to her senses and told Mrs. Morgan the answer.
Mrs. Morgan was stunned for a moment. Tommy and his father, who were drinking beer comfortably on the sofa not far away, also heard Bethea's words and sat up straight subconsciously. His father said to Tommy happily, "See, you are Bethea's idol. She said you are as good as those celebrities in the books."
Tommy licked his lips and whispered to his dad, "I'm not too optimistic about you."
"What do you mean? What does your brother Tommy mean?" Mrs. Morgan was a little surprised by Bethia's first sentence, but it would not be surprising what the students gave, as it depended on the subsequent understanding.
Bethea turned her head to look at Tommy, and then looked at the cover of "The Immoral Man" in her hand: "I think Tommy is very similar to Michelle, an immoral person. Tommy was not like this before. I mean, he would take me to the forest to catch butterflies, or to help me vent my anger, he would chase a dog that scared me and kept teaching it a lesson for two months, until the dog howled and ran away every time it saw me. But I don't know when he betrayed himself. Like Michelle, he put on layer after layer of clothes. He began to love learning, and he talked about God all the time. He had no life, only work. He could even give up reuniting with his family in order to make more money."
"I think she just complained about you a few words at the beginning, and then she wanted to thank you solemnly." Colin heard this and made some necessary additions to what he had just said, a little embarrassed.
But Daddy had obviously guessed wrong again. Bethea kept glancing at Tommy and said more sharply, "Michel knew in his heart that he didn't love his wife Marceline at all, but he still married her because Marceline was gentle, considerate, beautiful and virtuous. The same goes for Tommy. I don't think he loves Otilia that much, or rather, he doesn't love everyone except himself."
"Bethea, I want you to talk about the book..." Mrs. Morgan spoke immediately after hearing Bethea's words, trying to get Bethea to change the topic from her evaluation of her brother Tommy back to the plot of the book.
"It's okay, Mrs. Morgan, please let her finish. I think it's very interesting if this is the feeling that the book gave her." Tommy said to Mrs. Morgan with a smile.
Bethia continued, "Michel married Marceline. He was ill and was well taken care of by Marceline during his honeymoon. But when Marceline miscarried for him, what about him? He fell in love with the joy of being a homosexual and hoped that Marceline's death would free him from the marriage."
"Mrs. Morgan, let me interrupt. I don't know if the school lets children read this kind of book, but it's best not to let my daughter read books about homosexuality." Colin suddenly said.
"This is a Nobel Prize winner..." Mrs. Morgan wanted to explain that this book was a world classic, but Colin was obviously not interested in listening to her explanation:
"I don't care what award Michelle won. Even if he is Einstein, it can't be a reason for him not to care about his wife and instead hope she dies! He is an irresponsible bastard! God will definitely punish him for being a damn homosexual! And, Bethia! I don't allow you to make malicious assumptions about Tommy like this. You have to apologize to her."
"I don't mean any harm, Dad. I didn't say that Tommy is as bad as Michelle. I just think that Tommy, like Michelle, is a pure individualist, or what the book calls an immoral person," Bethia responded to Colin.
Then he looked at Tommy and said, "Am I not cute at all now? So, do you wish that you hadn't let me read so many books and had a happy but ignorant childhood? In that case, Bethia, who is sitting here right now, would only talk to you about how to make herself prettier with makeup or argue about which TV show is better, instead of deeply analyzing her brother by reading a book."
"Mrs. Morgan, what score would you give her for this reading comprehension ?" Tommy asked with a smile while drinking beer and looking at Mrs. Morgan.
"The language is sharp, and after reading it, I conclude that the protagonist is an indulgent individualist. I think it deserves an A." Mrs. Morgan stood up and gave her answer. Then she smiled politely at everyone, said goodbye, went upstairs, and returned to her room to rest.
She was only responsible for Bethia's homework, not for easing the conflicts between the siblings. Moreover, she had long guessed that Bethia would hate Tommy to the core when she saw her on the first day of her holiday in New York.
"Did you hear that? It's just an A. When I was your age..." Tommy stopped talking halfway because he couldn't even get an A when he was fourteen, so he changed the subject and said, "I mean, you need to get an A+."
"If you give me this kind of surprise again, I promise to give a sharper answer next time." Bethea said to Tommy in a provocative tone.
"First, I love Otilia very much, but love is diverse. You need to explore this issue after you fall in love one day. Maybe then it will be easier for you to understand. Second, I am not a pure individualist, because individualists are not suitable for survival in this world. You will feel this problem after studying philosophy in college or working." Tommy held the beer can, thought for two seconds, and then said:
"Third, and most importantly, I am not and will never be gay, and finally, to correct the mistake, Michelle does not like the layers of clothes that his family puts on him. He likes freedom, and I enjoy the freedom that comes with putting on clothes."
"Apologize to Tommy, Bethia, you were really too much!" Colin said to his little daughter seriously with a stern face: "You can't talk to your brother in that tone!"
Bethea came over and stood in front of Tommy, looking at him for a few seconds, and then gently leaned her head on her brother's chest: "I'm sorry, Tommy, did my words make you sad?"
"One thing, after all, you compare me to a homosexual who likes to pretend to be poor." Tommy patted Bethia on the back and said with a smile:
"But after I realized that you could actually get an A+, the sadness immediately disappeared. After all, you were just trying to make me reflect, not that I could only get an A."
Bethea raised her head in shock and stared at Tommy as if she had seen a ghost. Her expression of brotherly love turned into one of disbelief: "Come on! You could even guess this? Mrs. Morgan didn't even notice! But that's not important. What's important is, have you reflected on it?"
"No, until you become the first Harvard or Yale student in the Hawke family, you have to listen to your family and dress obediently, Miss Michelle." Tommy said with a smile.
Bethea had grown up and had actually learned to try to trick herself into feeling guilty about her words and relaxing her demands on her.
It's just that the trick is a little crude and immature, but Tommy is looking forward to seeing his sister use this method to trick the world when she grows up. It will definitely be exciting.
Bethea, whose thoughts were exposed, picked up her extracurricular book in a rage. Without even saying good night to everyone, she went back to her room in a rage. When she went upstairs, she could hear heavy footsteps on the stairs, which showed her anger.
"Can't you reflect on this? After all, I am just like Michelle, forced to accept your arrangement..." At the second floor stairs, Bethia turned around and glared at Tommy: "You are rotten! Tommy!"
Tommy raised his beer towards her and said with a smile, "Thanks for the compliment."
"So...so what Bethia said just now was false. I mean, she said that you don't love Ottilia and that you are selfish?" Colin was a little confused and asked uncertainly.
Tommy nodded as a matter of course: "Of course it's fake. She just wants to deceive me and make me emotionally unstable, and then fall into reflection and guilt, and finally give her a free vacation."
"I was about to prepare a serious family meeting to discuss your conflict with your siblings, but you told me that everything was fake?" Colin said to Tommy with his mouth wide open.
Before Tommy could answer, Sophia finished her call and came over: "Tommy, Martin called and said that although he spent a lot of money on renting a driver and a luxury car, and going to nightclubs, he used his developed business acumen to earn it back from director Spike Lee who was reshooting in New York. He wants to ask if he can use the money..."
"Of course, what he earns belongs to him." Tommy said affirmatively after hearing Sophia's words, but immediately asked suspiciously:
"Martin can still make money. If I hadn't hired him to help me scold Earl, Wolfe and other black people, he would have died tragically on the streets of Los Angeles with his lousy hairdressing skills. Rick told me that he once gave a haircut to Kevin, the host of BT's Black News Today, and after the haircut, Kevin dragged his 200-pound body and chased him up five floors. From this point of view, you know that his boasting that he was a well-known black hairdresser in Miami was absolutely a lie. Maybe he fled to Los Angeles because the hairstyle he designed for a black gang member was so terrible that the other party issued a hunting order."
"But this guy who has no other merits except to curse for you said that he has earned 10,000 yuan in cash, while Spike Lee, a black young director who is obviously highly educated, owes him 60,000 yuan." Sophia said to Tommy in a positive tone:
"And it sounds like Martin is not drunk. After all, if he was drunk, he would rather call Mr. Page than call me or you."
"It's up to him. Have you told him? He will have to live this kind of life every day for the next week. Can his body handle it?" Tommy asked.
Before Sophia could speak, Colin, who was standing next to her, heard Tommy's words and was no longer concerned about the family problems of the siblings trying to trick each other. His mind was filled with images of the black man Martin using Hawke's money to rent luxury cars and live a life of extravagance in nightclubs.
The words that just came out of Tommy's mouth made his blood pressure rise more than any sibling argument ever could.
Colin wanted to wait until Sophia left and no one else was around before asking Tommy, but when he thought about a nigger spending his son's hard-earned money and enjoying a luxury car and a beautiful woman, he couldn't bear it any longer:
"If I hadn't been sure that I hadn't touched other women after marriage, and you had crawled out of your mother's belly, I would have thought that some nigger woman drugged me and forced me to have sex with her to give birth to you. Tommy, you set up a TV station for niggers, you made TV dramas for niggers that would make the neighbors' blood pressure soar, and you even helped nigger women find their husbands... Now, you let that nigger rent a luxury car with a special driver to take him to various nightclubs in New York for entertainment? I brought Bethea to New York and drove myself! What's wrong with this world? Are niggers riding on the heads of white bosses? I'm going to call Warwick and call on everyone to put on white robes again. It's time for the KKK to stand up for this country!"
"I think for Tony's sake, you'd better not mobilize the Warwick KKK neighbors~" Tommy said with a smile when he saw his father going crazy.
Hearing that it was for Tony, Colin immediately calmed down. However, he couldn't understand what Martin's spending time drinking and partying had to do with Tony, so he asked suspiciously:
"What do you mean for Tony? You're not gay, but Tony is? And the man he cheated on Ashley with is the nigger Martin? Where's my capon knife?"
"Do you think Tony's vacation is for him to get off the ship alone and reunite with our family members who have come to New York from other places? In fact, some of his comrades or superiors on the ship who have a good relationship with him also need to get off the ship for vacation. For example, there are four or five black people whose hometowns are in inland states. They all have the status of officers or non-commissioned officers on the ship. Although the families of these black people are ordinary, they will also appear in New York tomorrow to give Tony's black comrades a surprise. Do you think they have the money to pay for such a vacation in a different place? No, so I will pay for it." Tommy looked at Colin and said seriously.
Colin twitched his lips. "You mean, not only did you spend money on the nigger Martin, you also paid for the travel expenses of several nigger relatives, so that they could travel thousands of miles to New York to meet with Tony's nigger soldiers in private. Maybe after returning home, they will give birth to many more nigger children..."
"It's not just travel expenses, but also hotels, tickets for Yankees and Knicks home games, car rentals during the New York holidays and other expenses. So you saw Sophia making phone calls non-stop today, she was arranging these trivial matters. In addition, some nightlife entertainments always require someone to accompany them, and Tony can't entertain them, so I can only find a black employee to experience it in advance, and then go to accompany them as my right-hand man. I think Martin can make Tony's comrades feel closer than a formulaic tour guide. After all, Martin works for me, and they work with Tony." Tommy looked at his father calmly and spoke.
Even if Colin was not very smart, he understood what he heard. He could only sit back and accept the reality: "Did Tony discuss this with you?"
"Tony gave me the list, and I will be responsible for taking care of the vacations for his comrades or superiors on the list." Tommy nodded and said.
Colin felt that his beer suddenly lost its taste: "Is all this for Tony's promotion and wealth?"
"It's a little different." Tommy drank his beer and threw the can towards the trash can:
"Seriously, it should be for Tony to get promoted and Tommy to get rich."
