After running two streets in one breath and making sure Henry didn't chase him out, Tom gasped and asked Carmen.
Carmen put her hands on her legs, bent over and gasped for breath, and said without looking back: "You don't want your brother to learn bookkeeping?"
"I think so, but" Tom didn't say the next words, because he knew that Carmen also knew that collecting debts is different from robbery.
Debt collection will only collect the part of the debt that is owed. Even if the debtor has a lot of money, they will not get an extra cent. Even if they go to the police station, they will dare to confront him.
On the other hand, after collecting the arrears, you still need to take some more, and the nature of this is different.
The world is so chaotic now, and every street is guarded by bosses. These bosses who have received protection fees will never sit back and ignore this kind of thing.
"No, but, your brother needs to go to school, we need to eat, and we need a lot of money. In fact, as long as we have enough money, we can bribe those police chiefs and have a street under our jurisdiction, and we no longer have to be little gangsters.
Tom, believe me, sooner or later we just need to lie at home and someone will take the initiative to give us money."
Carmen's eyes were full of longing, and she patted Tom's shoulder gently.
Tom opened his mouth, but finally said nothing, because Carmen was right, his brother needed the money, and the sooner the better.
"Two bottles of soda!"
A woman selling soda drinks passed by the roadside, and Carmen called out to her.
"Ten cents." The woman selling soda drinks was not alone. She also had a six or seven-year-old boy with her. She looked like the boy's mother.
In the envy of the little boy, Carmen took out ten cents from her pocket and said: "Here"
Taking the soda, Carmen took a long sip and let out a sigh of satisfaction.
Looking at the little boy who turned back three times and followed his mother away, Carmen pulled Tom's sleeve and whispered: "That little boy's mother is a soda seller, but I bet he has never drank soda. What do you think?"
Why?"
"Why?" Tom was not smart and did not react for a moment.
Carmen raised the soda bottle and whispered: "Because they have no money. A bottle of soda costs five cents, which is equivalent to two days' wages of a worker and equivalent to 2.5 arm-long pieces of black bread. If he drinks a bottle of soda
, which is equivalent to two and a half days' worth of food. Look, look at these homeless and unemployed people sleeping on the streets and suffering from hunger. They can't even afford two cents a piece of black bread.
"
Don't look at Bill's Tavern, where a beer costs three cents and a pasta costs five cents. It seems like this is people's daily life.
Wrong, and very wrong.
The real situation of ordinary people is that a family of five can eat black bread for two cents a piece, mixed with wild vegetables and make soup for a day. This is the daily life of ordinary people.
Moreover, having brown bread to eat is already considered an easy life in this era.
Unemployed people without jobs, or families with many children, have starved to death on the streets in droves. Every morning, the carts used to clean up garbage can pull out more than a dozen cartloads of people who have starved to death.
Eating well is a very luxurious thing for ordinary people.
Eating well, for the middle class, is a petty bourgeois sentiment that is carried out every three to five days.
As for eating steak every day, drinking red wine, and reading newspapers, these are things that only wealthy men can do.
Silently, Carmen and Tom looked at this miserable world without speaking to each other.
Ten minutes later, Carmen took out three dollars from her pocket, held it tightly, put it in Tom's hand, and whispered: "Go home, it will get better."
Tom nodded heavily, clutched his pocket and left. Life is so unsatisfactory now, there is nothing left to be picky about.
After watching Tom leave, Carmen exhaled and walked towards her home.
Carmen is an orphan. His father died in the factory, so he is determined never to work for a sinister factory owner.
As for his mother, this is an unfortunate story. His mother disappeared with all her property on the third day after his father's death, which made him understand that people can only rely on themselves to survive.
However, Carmen never feels lonely because he still has a sister to accompany him.
Carmen's sister is five years younger than him and he has raised her since she was a child. Although she is only ten years old, she is very sensible.
Buying a small cream cake for two cents from the street, Carmen returned home in good spirits.
"Brother, you are back."
As soon as she opened the door, Carmen saw her sister Ellie, playing with apples on the ground.
In fact, a little gangster like Carmen is not as glamorous as he appears, and he often goes in and out in order to maintain his superficial reputation.
Therefore, Ellie cannot be the eldest lady at home. She has to follow the little sisters from the neighbor's family to pick up garbage at the dock or in wealthy areas.
On some cargo ships docked at the docks, sailors often drop off spoiled and spoiled food, which attracts countless people to grab it.
In the rich areas, there are also rich people who hold banquets and dump the leftover food in the trash can. These two places are treasure troves in the eyes of the poor.
"Ellie, have you gone to the dock?"
Seeing the rotten apple on the ground, Carmen knelt down gently and stroked her sister's hair.
Ellie smiled lightly and replied in the clear and clear voice of a child: "Brother, an apple cargo ship came to the dock today. They threw away many rotten apples. Ellie picked up more than a dozen
Here’s one.”
"Are you going with Anna again?"
Anna is their neighbor, and Ellie can only go out to pick up trash because Anna is there to protect her.
Hearing her brother's question, Ellie nodded repeatedly and narrowed her eyes with a smile: "Sister Anna is doing well."
dong dong dong
Before he could continue asking, there was a knock on the door from outside.
When I opened the door, I saw a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl standing at the door, with a round face, a fat face, and freckles on her face.
"Ana, Ellie and I were just talking about you." Seeing the girl outside the door, Carmen showed a slight smile on her face.
Anna gave Carmen a disgusted look, opened the door and walked in. She pulled Ellie and whispered: "Look what sister brought you."
"What is it?" Ellie held her hands in front of her chest and asked with great longing. As for Carmen beside her, she had long been ignored by the two of them.
Because Ellie knew very well that although their two families lived across from each other and sister Anna liked her very much, her relationship with her brother was very average and even a little inappropriate.
"See for yourself."
Like a magic trick, Anna took out an oil bag wrapped in oil paper and placed it in front of Ellie.
Ellie carefully opened the oil bag and saw that there was a duck leg inside the oil bag. The duck leg was so shiny that it made people salivate at the first sight.
"Where did you pick up such a big duck leg?" Seeing the duck leg, Carmen swallowed and said with pretended disdain.
Anna sat on the ground, like a mountain of meat, and laughed: "Pick it up, pick one up for me and give it a try. I used this mouth to suck it out for a boatswain, and I sucked half a duck."
Children from poor families have the habit of picking up garbage at the pier, but only a few people know that besides picking up garbage, they can also exchange it.
Anna is such a smart person. Even if the economy is in recession and many people are starving to death on the streets, she still relies on this intelligence to become fat and big-eared. In terms of body shape, she is almost as good as a rich girl.
To be fair, Carmen looked down on Anna and thought he was despicable.
But he had to admit that Anna's family had the best food and clothing in the entire slum. What Carmen never understood was why Anna was so popular in the entire slum despite not being beautiful.
Thinking like this, Carmen couldn't help but move her eyes downwards, focusing on Anna's chest, the pair of murder weapons that were bigger than his head.
Maybe, this is the answer.
"Stop reading, hey, why are you still reading? It's not over, isn't it?"
Anna shook her breasts, looked at Carmen with disdain, and said sarcastically: "I won't let you touch it even though I'm looking at it. I've clearly marked the price. You can touch the two-cent cake, but you can only eat the five-cent cake."
One mouthful, you, a poor guy with a silver gun and a wax head, better not think about it."
Carmen touched her nose. Isn't it just a little bigger? She's so crazy.
Although his little girlfriend Bertie is a little on the small side, she is more exquisite and he does not care about such a big one.
Carmen's heart felt hot when she thought of her little girlfriend.
Tomorrow is Sunday. Every Sunday afternoon, Bertie's father takes his brother to church to pray.
When Carmen thought that she would be alone with Bertie tomorrow afternoon, Carmen became a little fanciful.