nightcrawler in los angeles

Chapter 15

The second Sunday in May is Mother's Day in the United States.

Back in Los Angeles County, when Tao Xi breathed the familiar smell of the sewer in his home again, Tao Xi felt a strong sense of security in his heart.

It's just that the scent of carnations flying everywhere on the streets of Los Angeles made Tao Xi's neck and face a little itchy. When he and Marco cleaned up the "home", Tao Xi always scratched from time to time!
"Tausi, do you think it's really okay if we don't visit Hill?"

"Tao Xi, why do you think that woman wants to sleep with you every time?"

"Tao Xi, you said that woman wants to come to Los Angeles with you, why don't you want to?"

"Tausi, why didn't Uncle Kushner send us away?"

"Taucy, did you really win the fourth prize in the lottery?"

"Tausy, you."

Marco, who came back from Compton with Tao Xi, seemed to be a different person. Marco, who was originally a crutch, suddenly became a chatterbox.

Since the two returned to the sewer, Marco has been chattering in Tao Xi's ear~
But Tao Xi turned a deaf ear to it. He first turned on the radio and put it on the dilapidated table, waiting for the sound. While lowering his head, he straightened the messy bed of the two of them. After all, there was no one there for nearly a month, and he was discovered and occupied here in the sewer. It's a matter of course, maybe the two of them will fight with the guys who live in their residence at night~
"Okay! Marco, let him pass the past! It was just an accident, and Uncle Kushner explained it to us, so let's just pretend it didn't happen?" Tao Xi slammed the quilt in his hand "Den" fiercely towards Marco, and a thick cloud of dust flew around Tao Xi's "home"~
Marco coughed violently for a long time and complained with red eyes: "This guy must be a bedbug lying on the ground!"

Tao Xi glared at Marco, who started to pick and choose. He didn't wait for him to explain, so he grabbed his arm and explained to Marco while walking in the direction of Nelson's hot dog shop: "Let's go! I Take you to see our long-term meal tickets!"

"Long-term meal ticket?"

"Yes! But we can't go too far. Each person can only eat one hot dog. It's not a vegetarian hot dog, it's the kind with meat!"

When Tao Xi finished these words, his Adam's apple twitched unconsciously, but Tao Xi remained absolutely calm in the face of absolute hunger. Going around again~
It's just that this time when Tao Xi came again, before he could get close, Marco who was standing behind him screamed in a low voice as if he had been stepped on: "Fxxk! Are those damn guys on the ground draining sewage again? Yes! Haven't they been punished enough?"

"Again? Did they discharge sewage to us before?"

When Marco heard Tao Xi's words, he scolded in disbelief: "Oh my God! Have you forgotten that a large part of my pneumonia at that time was due to those damn capitalists secretly discharging sewage into the sewer, which caused me to often I got pneumonia from breathing in that gas!"

Tao Xi suddenly realized when he heard Marco's words, but Tao Xi quickly added: "According to normal logic, I should remember, why don't I have any impression?"

When Marco heard Tao Xi's words, he was instantly unhappy, and Marco muttered dissatisfiedly: "Look, look, you said you didn't know anymore, and you came back with a bruised nose and a swollen face every day during that time , you slept longer than Hill went out to help us find food!"

Tao Xi blushed when he heard Marco's blatant accusation against him.

Tausi threw Marko far behind his ass to hide his own embarrassment, but unfortunately the echo of the sewer can amplify the small sound continuously~
Finally, when Marco said his mouth was dry, Nelson's hot dog shop finally arrived.

"Oh! My God! It turned out to be a newsstand!" Marco's slightly hoarse voice startled Nelson, who was developing a new hot dog!
The mustard in Nelson's hand flicked and directly squeezed Marco, but Taoxi skillfully lay in Nelson's small newsstand and flipped through the new magazines and newspapers around~
Nelson looked down and saw Tao Xi, and immediately said to Tao Xi with an expression that he hadn't seen for a long time: "Today, Nilta told me that you might come back to eat hot dogs when he was leaving work! Wait for me for a while, you can try it." My newly developed hot dog~”

"Oh! Did you just leave the mustard spray on me?"

"I don't like you very much, you are a guy who makes me have some superiors. If you didn't come with Tao Xi, I might use my rifle to teach you how to respect your elders!"

Nelson and Marco are like a pair of enemies and started arguing as soon as they met~
But Tao Xi heard Nelson's words and thought about it: "Is the street very uneven recently?"

"Oh! There are a lot of Mexicans recently. If it weren't for the American-Australian community and the community police, I think my newly bought rifle would have already started his first journey~"

Tao Xi didn't continue talking after hearing this sentence, but closed his eyes and began to think about a series of things that happened around him recently~
The increase of Mexicans on the street and the conflict between the blood gang and the Mexican gang seem to have nothing to do with it on the surface, but recently he has read a lot of newspapers that Jin Xizhen bought for him in Kushner’s farm~
You must know that in this era, apart from TV news, the most important source of news is the newspaper. Tao Xi has also selected a few key words from it after a lot of screening and comparison!
[Continuous civil wars in South America] [The wave of veterans who lost the Vietnam War broke out] [The unemployment rate soared]

Although Tao Xi's education level is not very high, Tao Xi still can't help but think of the words that the part-time reporter Malone who claimed to be [Nightcrawler] said in Tao Xi's mind: "I have a hunch that the United States and Australia recently Big things are going to happen in the community!"

Thinking of this sentence, Tao Xi immediately sat up and turned to ask Marko who was mocking Nelson: "Where did you put the video camera that I bought for $300?"

"My God!"

"I thought you had forgotten about him!"

"That's $300, what are you going to do with that big guy?"

"Are you going to take me to Hollywood to film and become a big star?"

Tao Xi pushed Marco who was close to his face, laughed and scolded: "Just be here! Don't delay me from eating hot dogs!"

"This is the new hot dog nutritional meal that I have developed recently! Try it, I plan to stagger the prices of my hot dogs appropriately, so that customers who are different every day can have more choices."

With his mouth full, Tao Xi gave Nelson a thumbs up and praised: "Good!"

Because he was too worried about the safety of his family's property, Marco, who was full, went back to his hometown on his own.

Instead, Tao Xi looked at all kinds of news in the newsstand with a serious face and immersed himself in it. The sun in the sky made people feel very comfortable. Tao Xi, who hadn’t read a few copies of the newspaper, fell asleep under the sun’s rays~
After the nearby noises became louder, Tao Xi just wanted to get up when he saw a coat of American-Australian paper work uniforms on his body.

Originally standing alone next to Nelson, who was selling hot dogs in a newsstand, a figure stood again~
"Are you up? Nelson has a talent for researching hot dogs, and the business is very good." Nilta explained to Taoxi who was yawning helplessly.

Tao Xi sat up, straightened her body, stretched her waist, and stood up.

I didn’t know this, but I was startled when I stopped. There was a long line of people queuing up to buy hot dogs at the entrance of the newsstand. I don’t know when there was half a box of odd dollar bills in the empty cardboard box.

When Tao Xi saw the half box of money, his eyes were straightened, and even his Adam's apple swallowed uncontrollably.

Nilta took off the disposable gloves on his hand and showed off to Tao Xi proudly: "Did you see? Originally, I didn't suggest that Nelson waste money on buying this disposable gloves, but Nelson used his He insisted on convincing me because this disposable glove increased our income by $40 a day, and he is learning from KFC to make set meals recently! I think he is very talented in this line of work.”

Tao Xi also glanced at Nelson with admiration, and walked out of the newsstand with Nilta.

"I've discussed this store with Nelson. Every year we will set aside part of the money for you. Without you, we wouldn't be here now."

When Nilta said this, it was very different from the last time. Although Tao Xi couldn't tell the reason, Tao Xi saw that Nilta took out the cigarette from his pocket this time~
"I don't need it, this is the condition~"

Nilta didn't plan to chat with Tao Xi with this sentence, but Nilta said to himself: "You are famous! Tao Xi, now all the gangs know that Bolton has a godson outside Shined in the gang fight not long ago!"

Tao Xi felt a little numb when he heard Nilta's words, but Tao Xi couldn't explain it.

"How about the thing I asked you to investigate?"

"The situation of the American-Australian Paper Industry is very bad. This is the second time that the American-Australian Paper Industry has negotiated with the union to reduce the wages of workers. Recently, the American-Australian Paper Industry seems to be desperate to win the order from the Los Angeles Times. , the general manager hasn't seen anyone for several days, and he smells like alcohol once or twice, so I think they didn't plan for the purification equipment you mentioned, and they don't seem to have put this matter on the table. on their itinerary."

When Tao Xi heard this, his eyebrows raised habitually~
But Nilta did not end his speech but continued: "Recently, the US-Australia Paper Industry has hired a lot of guaranteed workers like me, but most of them are Mexicans and Hispanics. There have been several minor frictions in the factory."

Tao Xi was not surprised to hear the term "protecting workers", which is actually considered a kind of black labor in the United States~
It’s just that this type of people has a higher status than Tao Xi, because they may have a one-month or three-month labor visa. Go to a lot of jobs part-time.

Because "guaranteed workers" only care about your food, housing and a small amount of living expenses, you can do other work after the work that belongs to you on the assembly line is completed.

"The current union president is a minority discriminator who doesn't treat everyone the same."

"He will also pull sideways. Now many security workers are already dissatisfied with the union chairman of the US-Australia Paper Industry. I think if you want to do something, you have to speed up."

Tao Xi nodded in approval when he heard Nilta's words, because the current Los Angeles County seems to be in a state of stormy weather in every aspect!
If he wants to do something, he must act now.

Before leaving, Nelson thoughtfully prepared two hot dogs for Tao Xi: "Let your damn brother stop picking on me tomorrow, although I want to make money, the meat I use is just a little bit more fat! "

Tao Xi nodded with a smile and left, but Nelson behind him muttered in a low voice: "Ghost knows why his nose is so zero, he can even smell good or bad in the oil I use to fry meat."

The weather on the second day was not very good~
The huge dark cloud in the sky has been lingering over Los Angeles County. Marco, who just woke up, sniffed his nose and complained with discomfort: "It may be raining recently, and this is what I don't like the most." It's weather."

Tao Xi, who had already dressed, lowered his head and fiddled with the brand new camera in his hand~
A second-hand transaction invoice was stapled to the box of the camera, but Tao Xi still saw something tricky from the production date of the camera.

Nov. 1983, 12

How can a video camera that has just been released on the market change hands in such a short period of time?
It must be that Uncle Kushner, after hearing that he only wanted $300 for a video camera, did something to keep Taosi's life clean.

Tao Xi, who discovered this scene, was not unhappy, but accepted it happily.

Tao Xi even enjoys the love and care of those elders who are very fierce outside~
"Okay, I'm going to prison No. 86 first, you can stay here and have a good rest, I think we will be busy every night in the future!"

As soon as Marco heard Tao Xi's words, he immediately regained his spirits. Marco tried to use the strength of his waist to make him fly into the air, but Marco who failed still replied excitedly: "I have already I'm ready to fight with you!"

Seeing Marco's answer, Tausi happily walked towards the dark place of the sewer with the camera on his shoulder, which didn't look very big, but Marco put his legs together and held his face with one hand. I'm so excited I don't know what to think~
(End of this chapter)