America's King of Poetry

Chapter 25 The Power of Calm

Flo hesitated, deciding to follow Arthur's orders.

She took off her bib and put it at the front desk, telling her boss she was quitting.The owner of the cafe is also a Mexican. Flo's sudden resignation made him a little annoyed, and he quarreled with Flo at the front desk.Flo still had a week's wages with him that hadn't been settled. Seeing that she didn't work, the boss didn't want to pay her the wages and told her to leave immediately.Flo certainly disagrees, and now that every dollar counts for her, she argues with her boss.

Seeing this, Arthur walked to the front desk, took out the revolver from his pocket, put it on the table with a "snap", and said word by word: "Pay her the wages so that she can leave with me."The boss's expression changed and he didn't speak immediately, but he looked at Arthur's appearance, and found that this guy seemed to be Italian, and he looked a little like Chinese. He immediately became confident, pointed at Arthur and said, "I have paid protection money to Balmond! You don't want to make trouble here, I won't give her a penny, she just walked away like this..."

Before the boss finished speaking, Arthur had already jumped into the front desk with the support of the platform, holding a revolver in his hand, and slapped the boss hard on the cheek with the butt of the gun.The boss screamed, his cheekbones were broken, blood flowed, and he fell to the ground with a clang, taking down several beer bottles and a coffee pot.Arthur kicked his ass a few more times, making him yelp.

Arthur was still very careful with his strikes, hitting places that would hurt but not fatal.He grabbed the boss by the collar again, picked him up, held a gun to his stomach, and said in the same tone as before, "Pay her the wages so that she can leave with me."

A hero does not suffer from immediate losses, and the boss knows that he has encountered a tough problem.Even if he paid protection money to the gang, the gang just promised not to harass him, not to protect him.The police in the United States have no obligation to protect citizens, only to uphold the law, let alone gang organizations?Not a charity.

The boss got up tremblingly, opened the cash drawer on the cash register, took out a few bills and handed them to Arthur.Arthur took the bill and gave it to Flo, and asked her, "Count it up and see if there is any missing." Flo nodded and found that there was an extra twenty dollars, so she returned it to Arthur.Arthur slapped the extra twenty dollars on the boss's face, and said, "I won't ask you for any extra cents, I'll only take what I deserve."

After speaking, Arthur loosened the collar of the boss and looked up at the store. The customers all looked this way carefully. Arthur glanced over, and then all lowered their heads.Don't say that the Chinese are more spectators, and the same is true for Laomei.A tall and strong man with a gun, why do you stand out.

With a jingle, Arthur took Flo out of Cafe 55.Only then did the boss poke his head out from the backstage, with blood dripping from his cheekbones, looking quite terrifying.In fact, it's completely fine to hit here, it will only hurt and not hurt your life.But anger still filled his head, he picked up the phone at the front desk and called his protector.

"Bamond, I'm in a little trouble, someone is making trouble in my store! Come here, I pay you so much money every month, I need you to come over!"

……

Flo followed Arthur out of the coffee shop, and she followed closely beside Arthur. This tall young man gave people a strong sense of security.As a single mother, there is no man in the front of the family except for a brother who is ineffective and a son who has not grown up.Most of the time, Flo bears the burden of humiliation and bears grievances from all directions. In the world of the poor, dignity is always the first to be abandoned.

Arthur walked quickly, and Flo had to speed up to follow behind Arthur. She looked back at Cafe No. 55, and said to Arthur worriedly: "This store is run by Balmond, I think they will come to make trouble."

Arthur didn't speak, and looked at Flo. She was of Mexican origin with honey-colored skin, big eyes, a big mouth, and chestnut hair combed into a ball behind her head.She is in her 30s and [-]s, and she has a handsome body. She is far from a stunner, but she is indeed quite pretty.

Feeling Arthur's gaze, Flo felt a little uncomfortable, but still followed closely and showed Arthur the way.Her family lived in an apartment building in Jackson Heights, and the two of them crossed a light rail line and came to a somewhat dilapidated apartment complex.Jackson Heights is a slum in Queens, and the slums are divided into ordinary poor and the poorest group. They are bounded by the light rail line, and the Flo family lives in the poorest group.

Sewage is gathered by the roadside, brick red and lead gray buildings are densely arranged, and messy pipes and wires pass through the sky above the head.The huge green trash can gave off a stench, and Arthur saw a homeless man lying on the side of the road, holding the cigarette butts he picked up, picking them one by one, leaving those that could still be smoked for storage.Most of the passers-by were in a hurry, and some idlers gathered together and cast unfriendly glances. Most of them were Mexican faces.

In fact, in terms of income alone, Flo used to work as a maid in Tony's house, and the salary was not low. With the part-time job, she could live in a better place by herself.But she had to support two children, send them to school, have a mother who didn't work, and a younger brother who was always fooling around, so she had to live in this kind of place.Before that, she went to work at Tony's every week, where she lived and boarded, and the child was taken care of by her mother. She would come back to look after the child on the rest day.

In the same Long Island area, Jackson Heights and Oyster Bay are two worlds, and this is America.

When the two came to the apartment building, it was still dark in the apartment corridor in broad daylight. The glass on the windows was broken, and they were covered with newspapers and tarpaulins, which blocked the wind and rain, but also blocked the sun.Sewage and garbage can be seen everywhere on the ground, exuding a foul smell.When I came to the door of Flo's house, the ground was much cleaner, and there was a fresh smell of disinfectant. It can be seen that Flo is a very clean person.

Flo took out the key and opened the door. An old woman's voice came from inside, speaking in Spanish, which Arthur could not understand.Flo replied, and then said to Arthur: "It's my mother, I came back a bit early." Then he led Arthur into the door.This is a small apartment with one bedroom and one living room. After entering the door, you can see everything in sight. In the living room, a little boy and a little girl are sitting cross-legged in front of the TV watching cartoons.When they saw their mother came back, they all came forward and hugged Flo.An old Mexican lady came out of the kitchen and saw that Arthur looked wary.

After Flo talked to the old lady, the old lady's face immediately calmed down, and she enthusiastically pulled Arthur into the room, which made Arthur a little embarrassed.He's not here as a guest, but as a member of the gang to "confirm" Flo's family and make sure she doesn't tell the story of that night, or her family's life is at risk.

The old lady didn't know about this. When she heard her daughter say that Arthur was the nephew of Tony, the employer, and he came to visit, she murmured Spanish and served Arthur with tortillas.Flo translated from the side: "My mother said, thank you for the job given by your uncle. She was very sad to hear that she could no longer work there. She said that this family needs people who work."

"I came here to give you a job. My uncle Tony is going to move to another place, and the house will be vacant and sold, so you don't have to go to Oyster Bay." Arthur said, looking at Flo's son and daughter, who are about the same age as the little girl. "You have two children, you should know how to take care of children under the age of 10?"

Flo hummed. Her husband abandoned her years ago. She went to work alone in Phoenix. Then she met a friend who was a maid and came to New York with her.After accumulating a little income, the mother in her hometown took her two children to New York to seek refuge and settle down. Now she is in desperate need of a job.She doesn't have any professional skills, but she is good at housework and taking care of children.

Apart from figuring out the origin of that little girl, Arthur now had to find a reliable person to take care of her life.She lived with Russell for a few days, and it was said that Russell was about to be tortured and insane, and he would not take children at all.Flo is a good choice, she is timid and cautious, and she doesn't talk nonsense.Now that she has seen her family again, she is a "friend" of the "Godfather".

Arthur gave Flo an address and asked her to go there at ten o'clock tomorrow morning, and Russell would tell her the specifics of the job.As for the salary, it is still the same as working as a maid in Tony's house before, but the hours are shorter, the work content is less, and she can go home to accompany her own children every day.

Flo and her mother were grateful for this, and the old lady even cried while hugging Flo. It was too difficult for them poor Mexicans to find a good job here.

Arthur felt that what he had done was almost done, and he was about to leave. He wanted to go back to St. James Cathedral to take a look at the old priest with a haggard face who suddenly disappeared.

"Dong dong dong!" Arthur was about to stand up when there was a sudden knock on the door. Flo looked through the cat's eye and opened the door. A young man with short beards rushed in. His appearance was almost exactly the same as Flo's.

"Carlos, you are so frizzy!" Flo scolded, this is her brother Carlos.

Carlos saw Arthur sitting in the living room, and hurriedly said to Flo: "Sister, did someone call the boss of No. 55 just now? You also quit your job in the store?"

Seeing Flo nodding, Carlos looked anxious. He stomped up to Arthur, pointed to his nose and said, "Is it you? Is it you? Just meddle! Who the hell are you? Who told you to meddle? Do you know how my sister got this job? You offended someone, but you want me and my sister to help you!"

Arthur just looked at him coldly, Flo hurried forward and pulled Carlos away, this guy is really crazy, dare to talk to Arthur like that.

"Sister, do you know that Balmond came to the door and found me, and he will bring someone here soon! What to do? This kid can slip away, what should you do? Mom, what about the child? Balmond will beat me to death!" Carlos even began to cry as he spoke. This bearded man burst into tears when he encountered something wrong.

Flo was much calmer than him, mainly because she saw Arthur sitting there eating tortillas, and she had no intention of leaving, so she felt confident.She patted her brother's face, wiped away his ridiculous tears, and said, "Calm down Carlos, calm down, with Arthur here, he will take care of it."

Carlos looked at Arthur, who was eating the tortilla without saying a word, exuding a calming power all over his body.

"Old mother, this tortilla is really delicious." Arthur praised, and the old lady had a smile on her face, without any anxiety.

She is well-informed, so she won't be as hopeless as her son.

(End of this chapter)