American Entertainment 1982

  Chapter 10 Start growing up tonight

  By the time Tommy pushed his bicycle back to the rented apartment, Ashley had already left, leaving only Melonie sitting on the sofa in the living room drinking tequila.

  Noticing that Tommy was staring at her, Melonie looked 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 you used to cover up with cosmetics become more obvious again." Tommy sat on the other end of the sofa, pointed to his face and said, "So, I, a minor, now Can I have a drink? Since the wine was bought with the money I earned."

   Then he took out the 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 puff of the cigarette, then looked back at the TV: "It's just a cup."

   "Thank you." Tommy poured himself a glass of wine and took a sip: "How is work?"

   Melonie stared at the popular CBS sitcom "Family Bonds" that was playing on the TV, and responded coldly: "It's so good that I'm making up my mind to change jobs."

Melonie has a typical Italian appearance, with long black hair and delicate facial features. Compared with German or Irish women, her figure is relatively petite. At the moment, she is holding a glass of wine expressionlessly, drinking Tequila.

  The beauties are glamorous and the wine is cold.

   "Why did your ex-boyfriend bother you?" Tommy carefully observed his aunt's face and continued to ask.

  Melonie turned her head and glanced at Tommy: "That has nothing to do with you."

   Then he drank the remaining wine in the glass and walked towards the bedroom.

   "Good night, Melonie." Tommy said, looking at the other person's back.

   "Bang!" Melonie slammed the bedroom door shut from the inside, like a response to Tommy Hawke.

  Tommy Hawk sat alone in the living room, looking at the messy coffee table, suddenly smiled wryly.

   It turned out that the old **** brought back several adult magazines. No wonder the father, who talked about family all the year round, did not dissuade him at all when he wanted to move out.

  In that moment, what Colin Hawke was thinking was what he was telling himself tonight, regretting having his own son who got Bethea taken away for foster care.

It's just that Tommy has no impression of this at all, or he is not sure whether those magazines belong to him, because occasionally when he and Tony's classmates come to visit, they will also bring this kind of women's magazines to circulate, but since he knows the answer at this moment, then Like Colin Hawke said, he owes the family that Bethea went to foster care because of him.

  He has an unshirkable responsibility, so he needs to find a way to make up for his mistakes and bring Bethea back.

Of course, another reason is that if he is still planning to enter a good university, he'd better handle his family relationship well, otherwise, when the university calls to investigate his situation, whether it's Dad or Tony, he can use this matter to relax. Ruin his way to school.

Regaining Bethea's custody is very simple, but also very difficult. The simple thing is that you only need to take out the money and meet the various tricky conditions put forward by the judge, and then Bethea can go home immediately. The difficulty is that you want to satisfy Those conditions are tantamount to fantasy for a blue-collar worker like Colin Hawke who has been unemployed in a large company and turned to odd jobs.

  Thinking of this, Tommy got up and went back to the bedroom to take out a pen and paper, and then began to list the conditions for bringing his sister back home on the coffee table.

  Article 1, Bethea needs to have a separate bedroom in the original family that is not less than fifteen square meters and has a children’s exclusive wardrobe and desk.

  Tommy checked it, but hesitated, and added the suffix of two hundred dollars.

My home is a detached house with three bedrooms, which belong to my father, myself and Tony. Bethea has been living in the attic that my father arranged for her before. Although it is less than 15 square meters, it is a bit cramped, but It was decorated very warmly. Many families in Warwick would decorate the attic very cutely and let their children live in it alone. However, it was obvious that Bethea could not live in the attic with the judge and the Child Protection Bureau.

  If you want to bring Bethea back, you need to give up your own or Tony's bedroom to Bethea. Of course Tommy has no objection to this, but it will cost two hundred dollars to redecorate his or Tony's bedroom.

  Article 2, the monthly household income should not be less than 850 US dollars.

The monthly salary of temporary workers in my father's shipbreaking yard fluctuates between 600 and 700 US dollars because of the different working hours, plus Tony's income, it should be enough, but Tony's salary cannot be reflected in the tax return , He is an apprentice, and his remuneration is settled in cash, so if he wants to meet this standard, he must either wait for Tony to become a full-time apprentice, or need a stable monthly income of no less than two hundred dollars, which is reflected in the family income tax return.

  Tommy added a suffix of two hundred dollars per month to the second line.

  Article 3, the family guarantees that Bethea will be provided with no less than 70 US dollars for growth and education every month, and the observation period is two years.

This one is to record Bethea's expenses every month and keep the bills for the people of the Child Protection Bureau to check to determine whether the expenditure requirements are met. Tommy is not too worried about this. Seeing his father today In order to deduct the consulting fee, he can be sure that his father will pay far more than seventy dollars for Bethea in front of the other husband's excellent job of seducing a female lawyer.

   Pair the hook.

  Article 4, the family guarantees to purchase various children's commercial insurance designated by the Children's Protection Bureau for Bethea.

  Tommy wrote a suffix of one thousand three hundred dollars after the fourth article.

  Yes, if Bethea wants to return to her original family, then the original family needs to purchase various child combination insurance for Bethea that costs up to 1,300 US dollars a year, with a minimum of two years.

  The official explanation is that the Child Protection Bureau needs to ensure that the child returns to the original family during the two-year observation period to avoid any problems as much as possible. Comprehensive insurance can minimize this risk.

  Another answer is that the underwriting companies of these insurances are funders of various political parties, or simply the business of some congressmen before entering politics.

   This is why it was easy for Bethea to be sent to foster care by the Children's Administration, but so hard to bring her back.

   "This is simply not a problem that a high school student can solve." Tommy Hawk looked at the paper and let out a depressed breath.

Only relying on Dad and Tony, there is no chance to bring Bethea home, and it is the same with him as a high school student. Not to mention the stable and continuous monthly income of 200 US dollars, but the annual income of 1,300 US dollars The insurance cost was already a mountain between Bethea and them.

   On the TV, the popular CBS series has been broadcast, and Providence TV has switched back to its own nightly news program. The host is facing the camera and said:

"New York City has been increasing tobacco tax measures for one month. The government is optimistic that the new tobacco tax can increase taxes for New York City by 63 million U.S. dollars and help citizens quit smoking. However, New York City Smokers apparently don’t think so, here’s a snippet from the interview…”

  Tommy Hawk 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 Kirk (the mayor of New York at the time) must not have bought a pack of cigarettes himself! This **** is costing New Yorkers an extra three hundred dollars a year for cigarettes! I would risk it for three hundred dollars! He This is forcing us poor people to commit crimes to buy cigarettes!"

"Turn off the TV and go to bed! Otherwise, I don't know if that guy will risk it for three hundred dollars, but I promise, I will chase you out on the street because I can't sleep because of the noise." The bedroom door opened, Melonie, who had already changed into a set of pink pajamas, said to Tommy Hawke, who was watching the news with a cigarette in his mouth, with an angry face.

  Tommy Hawke turned off the TV, stubbed out the cigarette butt, put away the piece of 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 speaking, he smiled and walked towards his small bedroom.

   "Congratulations? Congratulations for what?" Melonie asked, staring at Tommy Hawke's back.

   "Congratulations on stepping into the **** adult world starting tonight." Tommy Hawke turned and smiled at Melonie, then walked into the bedroom and closed the door.

  (end of this chapter)