"These are the biscuits I baked. Ronald said that you should work out and gain muscle soon so you can play Superwoman, so you won't be afraid of getting fat." Aunt Karen handed over a box of biscuits she baked after dinner.
, tied with a red ribbon and given to Helen Slater.
"Thank you, Karen." Helen took the biscuits, thanked her, and put the small box away.
"More, Aunt Karen bakes delicious cookies." Ronald grabbed another handful of cookies, wrapped them in paper and put them in Helen's pocket.
"It's okay, Helen. The cookies my mother bakes are not high in calories, unlike other people's cookies which are full of sugar and butter. Diane also eats them often and won't get fat," said Donna.
"I'll take Helen back to her father's house first." Ronald stood up and put on his coat. Winter in New York is colder than in Los Angeles.
"Stop driving and call a taxi." Seeing that Ronald had drunk a lot of red wine, the aunt got up and called a yellow taxi.
Helen put on a scarf and kissed Karen and Donna goodbye.
"This small box is very nice, but I can't eat more." Helen put the small box into her bag in the car, then took a piece of loose biscuit from her pocket and carefully bit into half of it.
"It doesn't matter. Anyway, if you go to London to work out, you have to eat a lot of high-protein, high-starch foods." Ronald advised Helen to eat a few more pieces.
"You don't know, it's very troublesome to control your figure as an actor. Now I gain weight no matter what I eat." Helen pinched the flesh on her face in distress.
"I think you're even a little thin, even by anamorphic standards."
"Hahaha...you are so bad."
Nowadays, most medium-sized movies in Hollywood are all in 1.85:1 widescreen, while blockbusters often use 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. That kind of lens stretches the actors more horizontally, and there are a lot of weird distortions.
.A very thin person will appear fat on the anamorphic screen.
Ronald deliberately said that Helen wasn't fat enough for the Transformers movie and asked her to eat healthier.
"Your aunt's baked biscuits are quite delicious, and the box she made is also very beautiful." Helen finally ate another biscuit and was very satisfied.
"She originally wanted to give the cookies to you as a Christmas gift, but she knew you were Jewish, so she simply wrapped them."
"Well, then I'll take this as a Christmas gift. When I was a kid, I went to a mixed school on Long Island. My classmates all had Christmas gifts, but I didn't. I was always envious."
"Okay, I'll give you a double Christmas gift to make up for what you didn't receive before." Ronald said, taking out a small box and handing it to Helen.
"So beautiful." Helen opened the box and saw a pair of sparkling earrings. She took out her makeup box, put them on and looked at them for a while in the mirror.
"Ronnie, thank you." Helen hugged Ronald's shoulders, feeling very happy in her heart.
"Helen, you are so beautiful today." Ronald hugged Helen and kissed her on the lips.
The two kissed quickly, and Helen was afraid that the driver in front of her would see it, so she gently pushed Ronald away.
"I said beauty, are you an actor? I know many people and can introduce you to them. The most important thing in this circle is relationships."
Maybe he heard what Ronald said about movie scenes before, and Helen said that actors need to go on a diet. The South Asian taxi driver suddenly interrupted and started talking to Helen.
"Huh?" Ronald was surprised. He didn't expect the driver with a curry accent to feel so good.
"She is already an actress, you don't need to worry." Ronald put his arm around Helen's shoulders and kissed Helen again, declaring his sovereignty.
"Then you must be a bad actor. What movies and TV series have you acted in? Let me hear about a couple of them."
"..."
"Can't you tell? From the first glance, you are an unsuccessful actor. Let me tell you, the most important thing for an actor is relationships. Without relationships, you can't play any role. With relationships, you can also play the protagonist."
Ronald frowned and was a little impatient. This driver was so indifferent and even flirted with his girlfriend Helen in front of him.
Helen pulled Ronald's arm to signal him not to get angry over boring people.
"Why don't you go on a date with me at Christmas? I know many big shots in the entertainment industry, and I will introduce you to play the heroine of a TV series."
"Hey, are you blind? I am his boyfriend, you want to compete with me?" Ronald patted the seat in front of him, and then squeezed his fingers.
"There is no need to resort to violence, my friend. Mahatma Gandhi taught us that violence is not good, either for individuals or for nations."
The driver, who spoke with a curry accent, immediately changed the subject, "I just think your girlfriend can play the heroine. I really know many people in the industry."
"Who do you know?" Helen interrupted when she saw this, so that Ronald would not continue to be angry.
"George Hamilton, do you know him? The star of the TV series 'Roots'. The last time he was filming in New York, the crew was short of drivers and hired me as a temporary driver. Let me tell you, he is a very good person. I
Please beg him, your girlfriend will definitely have a chance to become a TV actress."
"Pfft..." Ronald couldn't help laughing and said for a long time that he was a delusional person. That's right, not all New York taxi drivers are like Diane Lane's father, who is in the entertainment industry.
"Do you really know Hamilton, the star of 'Roots'? Then you are awesome." Helen also suppressed a laugh and patted Ronald's hand.
"That's it, let me tell you, this TV series is very profound..." The driver boasted to himself.
Ronald was reminded of this TV series, which tells the story of a black man who was brought from Africa to North America by slave traders. He and his descendants have always wanted to find their roots. When it was released, it triggered a wave of ratings and discussions.
"Don't know where my roots are?" Ronald thought to himself.
The car finally arrived at a high-end apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Ronald and Helen got off the car. Ronald deliberately gave the driver only the minimum tip, but the South Asian driver happily thanked him and left.
"Hahaha..." Helen couldn't help laughing. She had been holding it in the car for a long time.
In the lobby of the apartment, a figure was waiting for his daughter's arrival. Hearing Helen's voice, he walked out of the lobby.
"Mr. Slater." Ronald handed Helen's hand to her father.
"Helen is going to London soon. Please stay with her when you have time." Gerald Slater saw the earrings Helen was wearing, nodded to Ronald, and said a few words.
"Bye!" Helen kissed Ronald, said goodbye to her boyfriend, and entered her father's house.
…
"Aunt, what ethnic group am I from? What countries did my father's and mother's families immigrate from?" When he returned home, Ronald asked Aunt Karen.
"Why do you care about this?" Aunt Karen was a little surprised. She had just sent Donna to go to bed, and she had finished cleaning the room and was drinking black tea leisurely.
"I was surprised when Helen told me she was Jewish. I had never thought of her as Jewish. She didn't look like a typical Jew.
Then, I met a South Asian driver on the road, so I became interested in my origins."
"I don't know much about your father's family history, except that he was born near New Haven, Connecticut, in New England.
Your mother and I are both natives of New York. It is said that our ancestors can be traced back to the English immigrants in the 18th century. However, since your grandfather's father began to move to Staten Island, he lost contact with his original relatives."
"What? It turns out we're not from Staten Island?"
Aunt Karen shook her head, "No, your grandpa's family was originally from Manhattan. When he passed away, my sister, your mother, went to the family in Manhattan to find relatives, but she no longer recognized the Parker family there.
of people.”
"Oh, why did grandpa move to Staten Island back then?"
"I don't know about that. Your mother seems to know the reason, but she doesn't want to tell me. It must be something unpleasant." Aunt Karen didn't know.
"Your maternal grandmother's family are natives of Staten Island. Their family is descended from German and Irish descent. It seems that there are also some ancestors from the country. This is the case in America. People from various countries in the Old World merge into new nations in the New World.
.
In America, people should be judged by their excellence, not by their race. New York State Governor Mario Cuomo, who is about to take office, is of Italian descent, while New York Mayor Koch is of Jewish descent.
A person's birth does not represent their final evaluation, Ronnie my dear."
Ronald nodded. Aunt Karen was quite open-minded on these matters. I guess it would be fine even if she brought a black man back, not to mention that her girlfriend was Jewish.
Considering the relatively conservative atmosphere on Staten Island, this may have something to do with my grandpa’s family education.
"Grandpa Parker and his family are all so open-minded about race?"
"Yeah, we Parkers are Quakers. You know that Quakers were the first to support racial equality. From the beginning, Pennsylvania was named after a nobleman's surname. They were Quakers and advocated peace and equality.
It's all in Donna's high school history textbook."
Aunt Karen got up and gave Ronald a cup of tea, "I have to go to bed early, don't make it too late."
Ronald kissed his aunt on the cheek and sat on the sofa in the living room, thinking about what was on his mind.
He still couldn't help but want to understand where his roots were.
My mother is a mixed-race Quaker. I don’t know what race my father is, where he comes from in this life, and who he was in his previous life. Why are there such a wonderful connection between the two?
"If I have the opportunity in the future, I will go to the New England region in the north to see what life is like there with my father."