pjbooks Chapter 22 Everyone Has a Story
Chapter 22 Everyone Has a Story
"Fuck you, Max! When I become a rich woman, I'll definitely make you my maid and make you drink my foot bath water every night, you bitch!"
The girl called Fiona gave her a friendly international gesture, her tone sounding like she was just teasing her.
I propped up the footrest with my feet, took off my backpack, threw it at Jimmy who was lying on the ground, and then placed the paper bag I was holding on the picnic mat.
Then, just like Doraemon's four-dimensional pocket, more than 20 miniature lunch boxes fell out of the paper bag.
Upon opening it, I found that it didn't contain any delicacies, but rather all sorts of kimchi.
"Oh shit," Max couldn't help but complain, "You brought back the garbage that the Koreans left over again. Remember last time? It all ended up benefiting Mr. Sewer."
Fiona, hands on her hips, said irritably, "I work in a Korean restaurant, so tell me, besides these pickles, what else can I bring back for free? And that damn restaurant manager who looks like a Ninja frog is trying to take advantage of me. Just wait, one day I'll grab a gasoline can and some explosives and blow those sons of bitches to smithereens."
"Girl, if you can really implement such a plan, then I'm all for it."
Looking at the state banquet laid out before him, Ma Jieke looked indignant, after all, who would want to be neighbors with a thief?
"Wait, who are you, handsome?" Fiona was surprised to see an unfamiliar face in the camp, especially one that was Asian.
In Skid Row, the proportion of Asian homeless people is relatively small, and it is unlikely that they will mix with white and black people.
"His name is Jack," Jimmy explained patiently. "He's a guy who just arrived in the slums and got into a fight with the Bloods. If you want to make a move, you'd better hurry, since Max already knows him pretty well."
"Really?" Fiona hooked her arm around MaJack's neck. "Boy, where are you from?"
"It's definitely not that peninsula that you can only find on a map with a magnifying glass." Ma Jie smirked, a roguish grin on his face. "nor is it that island with no neighbors at all, the one that was visited by Fatty and the kids in turn."
"Oh, I understand, Aurora."
Aurora? What the hell?! You actually take things from a game seriously?
Western girls are generally very open-minded, and Ma Jieke has already experienced this firsthand. At least from the few he has met, it seems that only Valentina is relatively conservative.
After receiving the SIM card, I immediately registered on Facebook and added the other person as a friend.
While everyone was chatting and joking, I brought up the AR virtual panel, which showed that the verification had been successful.
The profile picture this Mexican girl uses is a selfie, which is a common practice among young people living in America.
Valentina: Who are you?
Jack: It's me, I was at Wendy's yesterday...
Valentina: !!! Jack? I thought you wouldn't contact me at all.
Jack: How could that be? I followed your advice and went to Max for help. She helped me get my driver's license and SIM card.
Valentina: Congratulations, Jack! Where are you now?
I casually snapped a photo of the dinner party and sent it over, along with a smiley face emoji &(^___^)&
Valentina: That's great! You've made friends so quickly. I'm so happy for you.
Jack: I should thank you. I don't know what I would have done without you. Are you free tomorrow? I'd like to treat you to a meal.
Valentina: (^-^) Thank you, Jack, but I have work to do tomorrow, distributing relief meals to the homeless in Skid Row.
Jack: I'm a homeless person too! o(TヘTo)
Valentina: Haha, I almost forgot about that. If you need it, get to St. John's Church in Seventh Street before 1 p.m. tomorrow. Remember, it's distributed at the back door of the church, so don't go to the wrong place.
Jack: Yeah, I'll be there on time.
Great, lunch for tomorrow is sorted out again.
Although I still have over a hundred dollars in my pocket, I can get food by hunting in the jungle, so there's no need to waste money.
Valentina: That's all for now, I need to study. Have fun!
Jack: Goodbye, my angel.
The summer evening breeze caressed their faces as the group drank and chatted, quickly becoming slightly tipsy. Those who couldn't hold their liquor had already returned to their tents to rest.
"Jack, why did you start living on the streets? Can you tell us?"
Jimmy, slurring his words, started putting his arm around people's shoulders, his face red and white in patches, barely better than those weaklings who left early.
"I don't know." Ma Jieke picked up the bottle and took a swig. "I really don't know. Maybe I was called by God."
"Okay, I respect your privacy. After all, Max said that people in the camp must learn to respect each other, Love and Peace."
After saying that, he looked at Ethan, who had blended into the night, and said, "Buddy, tell me your story."
"Oh please, Jimmy, I've told you about my little mess a million times already."
"But Jack hasn't heard of it. I'm asking you on his behalf."
Ma Jieke smiled faintly, raised his bottle, and clinked it against his.
After finishing his drink, the latter began to recount: "I come from Wyoming in the western United States, to a small county called Carbon County. The name sounds a bit strange, but you heard me right, it means carbon in the standard sense. There are a lot of coal seams underground in that place, so the county name is directly translated as carbon. Now you know how remote it is, it doesn't even deserve to have a name."
"According to the census, Carbon County has a population of over 9552, but that's not actually the case. If you plan to live there, then your entire life—and I mean your entire life—will be that of a coal miner. That means you'll spend at least a third of your life in the mines, another third in bed dreaming, and the remaining third staring at the Rocky Mountains."
"Of course, you can save up to buy a pickup truck, take your gear into the mountains to hunt and fish, or sneak into a smoky pub at the foot of the mountain, drink a $1 industrial beer, and get into a fight with some redneck with serious racist tendencies, but that's about all the fun your life will have."
"My dad wants me to take over his job, but I don't want to go coal mining. I'm already dark enough."
"So after we had a big fight, I ran away from home and came to Los Angeles by myself. When I got here, I realized that even though it's a county town, there are ten million people here. Ten million guys, can you believe it? I can't even count how many zeros there are. It's crazy. Nobody ever told me that there are so many people in Los Angeles."