Chapter 31 Section 25

After Kay Adams got her college degree, she found a job as an elementary school teacher in her hometown.For the first six months after Michael's disappearance, she called his mother every week to find out how he was doing.Mrs. Corleone was always friendly and always ended by saying, "You're a very, very nice girl. You'd better forget about Michael and find another good husband. Kay didn't say much to her." Angry, instead thinking that the mother was out of concern for this young girl in a helpless situation." After she finished teaching her first semester, she decided to go to New York to buy some decent clothes, and to see some girls and old classmates in college.She also wants to find a more interesting job in New York.For almost two years, she read and taught all day, refused to meet men, refused to go out, and even after she decided not to call the town of Long Beach, she still stayed behind closed doors all day.She knew in her heart that she couldn't go on like this.Her mood became more and more irritable and depressed.But, on the other hand, she always believed that Michael would write to her, and he would communicate with her in some way.She was wronged that he had not been in touch with her; on the other hand, he was so distrustful of her that it hurt her.

She took the train that left early in the morning, and checked into the hotel she booked at around four o'clock in the afternoon.Although her friends are girls, they all have jobs. She doesn't want to disturb them by their jobs, and plans to visit them at night.After a tiring train journey, she just doesn't want to go shopping.She was alone in the hotel room, and the memory of her sleeping with Michael in the hotel room with their arms around each other was vivid, which made her feel desolate.This feeling of desolation gave her the idea of ​​calling Michael's mother in the suburban town of Long Beach.

A gruff, manly voice answered the phone.The voice, to her ears, was a typical New York accent.Kay asked Mrs. Corleone to answer the phone.The phone was off for a few minutes, and Kai heard a foreign voice asking who she was. Kai was a little embarrassed. "I'm Kay Adams, Mrs. Corleone, don't you remember me?" she asked. "Of course I do, of course I do, I remember you," said Mrs. Corleone. "What's the matter with you, haven't you called for a long time? Are you married?" "Oh no," said Kay, "I've been busy." She was surprised that the mother was visibly upset that she hadn't called for so long. "Did you hear from Michael? Is he all right?"

There was a moment's silence when Mrs. Corleone's voice came, this time loud and powerful. "Michael's home. Didn't he call you? Didn't he visit you?" Shocked and humiliated, she was so uncomfortable that she wanted to cry.Kai felt paralyzed.She broke down in tears and asked, "He, has he been home for a long time?" Corleone replied emphatically, "Six months." "Oh, I see," Kay said. Yes, she really got it.Michael's mother also thought he had treated her so cheaply.Thinking of this, waves of heat surged in her heart, and then she felt anger.Angry with Michael, angry with his mother.Italians don't even know the common courtesy of maintaining the appearance of friendship even when love is broken.Even if he doesn't sleep with her anymore, even if he doesn't marry her anymore, she still cares about him as a friend.Doesn't Michael understand this?Those poor unsophisticated Italian girls, after losing their virginity and then being abandoned, want to kill themselves or make a scene.Did he think she was such a worthless Italian girl?Although the more she thought about it, the more angry she became, she still tried to stay calm.

"I get it, thank you very much," she said. "I'm glad to hear that Michael is home again and he's safe and sound. I just wanted to know and I won't be calling you again." Mrs. Corleone's voice on the phone was urgent, as if Kay had been talking so long that she hadn't heard a thing. "You want to see Michael, you come out to the country now, and surprise him. You hire a taxi, and I'll have someone waiting for you at the gate, so I can pay for the taxi for you. You might as well tell Taxi driver, he gets double pay by the hour. Otherwise, he wouldn't want to drive this far to Long Beach. But you don't pay, my husband's men are waiting at the gate to replace you. You pay."

"Mrs. Corleone, I can't go here," said Kay dryly. "If Michael was interested, he would have come to see me at home. Obviously he doesn't want to restore our friendship. Mrs. Corleone's voice came over the phone, very brisk. "You're a very nice girl. You have good legs, but you don't have enough brains." As she spoke, she giggled. "You came to see me, not Michael.I have something to say to you, come right away, don't pay for the taxi, I'll wait for you. ' Mrs Corleone hung up the phone. Kay could have called back and said she wasn't going, but she always felt that she had to see Michael and talk to him.Even if it's a polite conversation.If he's at home now, openly at home, it means he doesn't have any entanglements anymore and he can go about his life normally.She jumped out of bed and was about to go to see him.She had taken great pains to adorn herself and was well dressed.When she was about to set off, she looked in the mirror and gazed at herself.Did she look prettier than when Michael disappeared?Or, would he find her old and unattractive?Her figure had grown more feminine: her hips were rounder, her breasts fuller.It is said that the Italians like this body shape.Michael always said, however, that he liked how slender she was.In fact, none of this mattered at all, and Michael obviously didn't want to have any relationship with her anymore.If he had intended to maintain a relationship, he would have said hello to her long ago during his six months at home.

Sure enough, the taxi she hired first expressed that she was unwilling to take her to Long Beach Town, and then she smiled and said that she would pay double the mileage fee before agreeing.It took nearly an hour for the taxi to arrive.The landscape of the Boulevard in Long Beach has changed considerably since her last visit.Iron railings were built around, and iron gates were installed at the entrance.A man in knickerbockers and a white top over a red shirt opened the gate, came out, stuck his head through the window into the car, looked at the odometer, and gave the taxi driver some money.Kai saw that the driver got the money not only did not argue, but was also very happy.She got out of the car, walked across the avenue, and entered the central building.

Mrs. Corleone opened the door for Kay herself.Hugging her warmly as soon as they met was something Kay hadn't expected.Then, the old lady looked Kai up and down with admiring eyes. "You, pretty girl," she said firmly, "my son is stupid." With that, she pulled Kay through the door and led her into the kitchen.In the kitchen there was already food on an oval platter and a pot of coffee on the stove. "Michael will be back soon," she said, "and he'll be very happy with you. They sat down.The old lady insisted on asking Kai to eat, and at the same time asked this and that with great interest.She is happy that Kai has become a primary school teacher. She came to New York to see her schoolmates and old friends. She is only twenty-four years old now.The old lady kept nodding, as if everything was in line with her private specifications.Kay was a little restless, she only asked and answered questions, and didn't say anything else at all.

He is back.She saw him first from the kitchen window.A car stopped in front of the door. Two people got out of the car first, and then Michael.He was standing straight and talking to one of them.She could see his profile, the left side of his face clearly: the left side of his face was cracked and sunken, like a doll's plastic face had been accidentally kicked.It's a bit strange to say, the deformed face, in her mind, did not damage his unrestrained demeanor, but it touched her heart, and she shed tears.When she saw him turn around to enter the house, she took out a white handkerchief and covered her mouth and nose.

She heard the door open and his footsteps coming from the hall into the kitchen.When he came in, he saw her with his mother.He looked unmoved, and then smiled a little, his cracked left cheek twitching so hard he couldn't laugh.Kai only said: "Hi, hello." He said it extremely coldly, but he left the seat involuntarily, threw himself into his arms, and put his face on his shoulder.He kissed her tearful face, hugged her, and waited until she had cried enough, then led her out, got into the car, waved the bodyguard to leave, let her sit next to him, and drove the car away. drove away.The tears washed away the powder on her face, so she simply wiped off the powder that had not been washed away by tears with a handkerchief.

"That's the opposite of what I meant," said Kay, "but no one told me they beat you like that," Michael laughed out loud, and touched the bruised left cheek with his hand. "Did you mean my face? Well, nothing. Just a bit of sinus discomfort. Now that I'm back, I might have to get my face done. Past circumstances don't allow me to write to you or otherwise Contact," Michael said, "that's the first thing you have to understand." "I'll understand," she said. "I've got a place downtown," Michael said. "We'll just go there, okay? Or just go to a restaurant and have a drink, okay?" "I'm not hungry," Kay said. They drove straight to New York in a car, and the two sides were silent for a long time. "Have you got your degree yet?" Michael asked afterward. "Got it," said Kay, "I teach elementary school in my home town. Did they find the real criminal who killed the police? Is it because they found the real criminal that you got home safely?" Michael was silent for a while. "Yes, the real killer has been found," he said. "It's been in all the papers in New York, and I dare you not to read anything of the sort?" She felt relieved that he denied being a murderer.With this sense of relief, she burst out laughing. "In our hometown, the only subscription to the New York Times," she said, "I guess this kind of news may be published in an inconspicuous place on the eighty-ninth page. If I had read such a news, I would have read it more." Call your mother early." She was silent for a while.Then say: It's strange, your mother's tone of voice is very strange.From the tone of her voice, I almost believe you are the murderer.She told me, while I was having coffee with her, before you came home, that the insane man had confessed his crimes. " Michael said: "Maybe my mother really believed that I killed that man." "Your own mother believed it?" Kay asked. Michael grinned. "Mums are like the police, they believe the worst." Michael parked the car in a garage whose owner seemed to know him.He led Kay to a rather old brownstone house.The house, which is in the midst of houses that have been in disrepair, also looks very harmonious.Michael used the key to unlock the front door, and they went inside, where he found it was furnished as luxuriously and comfortably as a millionaire's town house.Michael took her upstairs to a flat that consisted of a very spacious living room, a large kitchen, and a bedroom separated by a door.In the corner of the living room there is a special wine counter.Michael mixed two glasses of wine.The two of them were sitting together on a sofa, and Michael said quietly, "We might as well go to the bedroom." After Kai took a big sip of wine, he smiled at him. "Good," she said. Afterwards, Kay felt that Michael was rougher and more straightforward than before, not as gentle as before. "You should have written to me, you should have trusted me," she said, leaning her body against his. "I will abide by the traditional silence of the New England states. You know, New Englanders are tight-lipped." Michael smiled softly in the dark. "I never expected you to wait for me," he said. "Especially after what happened, I never expected you to wait for me." Kai quickly said, "I never believed that it was you who killed those two people. But sometimes your mother seems to think it was you, and I was also affected. However, I never believed it in my heart. I am too Got you." She heard Michael sigh. "Whether it's me or not, it doesn't really matter," he said. "You must have this understanding." His cold tone baffled her.She said, "Then tell me right away, is it you?" Michael sat on the pillow.There was a sudden flash of light in the darkness, and he lit a cigarette and smoked it.If I ask you to marry me, must I answer this question of yours before you can answer my request? " Kay said, "Whatever it is, I love you. Whatever it is, if you love me too, then you don't have to be afraid to tell me the truth. Then you don't have to worry that I'll tell the police ...that's the way it is, don't you think? You're such a robber, aren't you? But, honestly, I don't care about it. All I'm worried about is that you obviously don't love me. You go home and don't even call Call me." Michael was smoking his cigarette, and some hot ashes fell on Kay's naked back.She flinched from the burn, and joked with a pun: "Stop torturing me, I won't tell." Michael didn't laugh at the quip.He continued speaking in a slightly absent-minded tone. "You know, when I come home from my country, I'm not so happy to see my family, my father, my mother, my sister Connie, and Tom. It's good to be home, but I don't really care. But today I was only happy when I came home at night and saw you in the kitchen. Is this what you call love?" "It's pretty close to what I call love," Kay said. Having said that, the two of them hugged each other again.This time, Michael was a little softer.Afterwards, he went out of the bedroom and poured wine.He went back to the bedroom and sat down in the armchair facing the bed. "We both have to seriously consider," he said, "what do you think about you marrying me?" Kai smiled at him and beckoned him to bed at the same time.Michael smiled back. "Take it seriously," he said, "I won't tell you anything that happened in the past. Right now, I'm working for my dad. I'm training to take on the family's olive oil business. But, you know, I The family has enemies. My father has enemies. If you marry me, you may become a young widow. This possibility exists, but it is not certain. Anyway, this may happen at any time. I will not I will tell you what is going on every day. I am not going to tell you about any problems in my business, as they say, you will only be my wife, but not my life partner, not an equal partner .” Kai sat on the bed.She turned on the big lamp on the bedside table and lit a cigarette.She leaned back in her chair and said calmly: "You are actually telling me that you are a robber. Isn't that what you mean? You are responsible for the people, you are responsible for the crimes related to the murder. That part of your life, I can't even ask a little bit about it. I can't even think about it. It's like in a horror movie, The big bad guy asks beautiful girls to marry him like that." Michael smiled and turned so that the cracked left side of his cheek was facing Kay. She said ruefully, "Oh, Michael, I'm not going to pay attention to that stupid thing. I swear I will." "I see," Michael said with a smile, "I'd like to keep the cracked left cheek, but if it doesn't get cured, it's just a runny nose." "You said just now to be serious," Kay continued. "If I get married, what kind of life should I live? Like your mother, like an Italian housewife who only lives around children and pots and stoves? If it happens What should I do if there is an accident? I guess, in the end, you will go to jail one day. " "No, it's impossible to go to prison," Michael said. "It's possible to be killed; to go to prison, impossible!" At this confident statement, Kay smiled, a laugh that contained an amusing mixture of pride and pride-induced happiness. "Why do you say that? I want to know your actual situation." Michael is sighing. "That's the kind of thing I can't tell you." Kai was silent for a long time. "All these years, you have been hardened and never even called me. Why do you want me to marry you now? Did I satisfy you that much in the bridal chamber?" Michael nodded solemnly. "Certainly," he said, "but do you think that's why I've married you without any trouble at present? Note that I don't want your answer at present. Meet, you can talk to your parents about this issue first. I heard that your father is a very independent person, so you should listen to his opinion first!" "You haven't answered 'why,' why did you marry me?" Kay said. Michael took out a white handkerchief from the drawer of the bedside table, and pressed it to his nose.First he blew his nose on the handkerchief: then he wiped it again. "You have the best reasons for not marrying me," he said. "How do you live with someone who blows his nose a lot?" Kai said impatiently, "Don't ramble, be serious. I asked a question and you haven't answered it yet!" Michael held the handkerchief in his hand. "Well," he said, "it's no exception. You're the only person I love and care about. The reason I haven't called you is because I don't think you're interested in me at all since all this has happened .Of course, I could have been chasing you and coaxing you, but I don't want to. Now I believe in you, and I have something on my mind that I hope you won't even tell your father. If everything goes Well, in about five years, the Corleone family can be fully legalized. Some very delicate issues have to be dealt with before it is possible. At that time, you can become a rich widow. Today, I What on earth do I want to marry you for? Well, just because I want to marry you and start a family. I also want kids, and it’s time for me to have kids. I don’t want my kids. Influenced by me as I was influenced by my father. I don't mean that my father intends to influence me. He doesn't want to influence me at all. He doesn't even want me to be involved in family affairs. He wants me to be a professor , to be a doctor. However, the situation was so bad that I had to step up and fight to defend my family. The reason I felt I had to fight was because I loved and admired my father. He was the man in my heart Most respectable person. He was a good husband, a good father, and a great friend to those who have had misfortune in their lives. He may have another side, but to me as his son, That so-called other side is of no concern. Anyway, I don't want our kids to live like that. I want our kids to be influenced by you. I want them to grow up to be pure American kids. There is a real pure Americanness, the whole structure of body and mind is American. Maybe they or their children will enter politics." Saying that, Michael smiled. "Maybe one of them could be President of the United States. Damn, why not? Once upon a time at Dartmouth College, in history class, we did a little research on the family backgrounds of the Presidents of the United States and found that their father It's a blessing not to be hanged with my grandfather. But I'm going to arrange for my children to be doctors, musicians or teachers. They definitely don't have to get involved in the family business in the future. When they do, they can be doctors or something, Then I'm going to retire anyway. Then you and I will join the ranks of the country club and live the good and simple life of well-to-do Americans. What do you think of this plan?" "Great," Kay said, "but you seem to be missing the widow part." "The possibility of being a widow is not that great. I bring this up in order to describe the situation more comprehensively." After that, Michael wiped his nose with a handkerchief a few times. "I don't believe that you are such a person, I don't believe that you are not such a person." Kai's face showed a puzzled look, "I just don't understand all this, how could it be like this, I don't understand either." "Well, I'm not going to explain any further," Michael said. "You have to know that you don't need to think about this kind of thing at all. It has nothing to do with you. When we get married, it has nothing to do with our common life." Kai shook his head. "Why did you marry me? Why did you act like you loved me? You never said the word 'love' to me, but you just said you loved your father. You never said love Me, if you don't trust me to the point where you can't tell me what's important in your life, then why did you marry me? How can you get a wife you don't trust? Your father Just trust your mother. That, I know." "Yes," Michael said, "but just because he trusts her doesn't mean he tells her everything. You know, he has reason to trust her, not just because they're married, she's His wife, but because she bore him four children when it was not so safe to have children; when he was shot, she nursed him and defended him. She believed in him, for forty years, and always He is her number one loyal object. After you have done all this, then maybe I can tell you something that you actually don't want to hear." "Do we have to live on the Avenue, too?" Kay asked. Michael nodded and said, "The two of us will occupy a separate building, and the house won't be that bad. My parents won't interfere with our private life, but until all the conditions are met, I still have to live in the boulevard." "Because it's dangerous for you to live off the boulevard," said Kay. For the first time since she'd known Michael, she'd seen him angry.It was a cold, chilling rage, an rage that didn't show itself through fist-thumping or howling.This kind of anger is a kind of cold air like death, which emanates from him.Kay felt that if she decided not to marry him, it would be this coldness that would drive her to make such a decision. "The problem is the crap that's being promoted in the movies and in the papers," Michael said. "You've formed a false stereotype about my father and the whole Corleone family. I want to explain one last time, and this is really the last Explanation: My father was a very practical man, he tried his best to support his wife and children, he wanted to provide convenience for the three friends he might need someday; he did not accept the rules and regulations of this society, because these rules and regulations tied His hands and feet forced a man of such force and character to live a life that was not for him. What you have to understand is that he is the same as the president, the prime minister, the justice of the Supreme Court and the governor of the state. It is the same with such a great man, he refuses to live according to the rules and regulations written down by others. However, because society itself cannot really protect those members of society who are incapable, he first makes himself a certain power, and then enters this society, At the same time, he operates according to a set of ethical principles which he considers vastly superior to the legal structure of society." Kai eyed him suspiciously. "But that's ridiculous, too," she said. "What if everyone thinks that way? How is society going to survive? Then we're all going back to cave dwellings. Michael, you don't Don't believe what you're saying, do you?" Michael grinned at her. "What I'm telling you is just my father's principles. What I want you to understand is that whoever he was, he wasn't irresponsible. Or at least he wasn't irresponsible in the society he created. Yeah. He's not as bad as you think, he's not a thug with a machine gun shooting random things. He's a very responsible guy, but in a slightly unique way." "Then what do you believe?" Kay asked calmly. Michael shrugged. "I trust my family," he said. "I believe in the family you and we have made. I don't believe that society can protect us. I have no intention of placing my fate in the hands of high-ranking officials whose only skill is to coax a group of people into giving They vote. But that's just my attitude at the moment. My father is too late. What he did in the past can never be done again today without taking a lot of risk. We like it or we don't like it, Cowley The Ang family will have to join that smoky society in the future. However, when the Corleone family joins the society, I hope that I will join after I have full strength. I hope that my children will not be able to join us before they start to share the overall fate of human society. We can try our best to train them into people who can gain a firm foothold in society.” "But you volunteered to defend your country and you became a fighting hero," Kay said. "What happened to change your mind?" Michael said: "Society has really screwed us over. But maybe I'm just a good old-fashioned conservative. I care about myself, me personally. Successive governments really haven't done much for the people, and that's the result of the problem." Not the problem itself. All I can say is: I can't help my dad, I can't help my father. And you have to make a decision now about being on my side." she smiled. "I think marriage is a bad idea." Kai slapped the bed. "I don't know what marriage is, but I've been without a man for two years. I won't let you go so easily, come here." When they got into bed together, the lights went out, and she whispered to him, "Do you believe I haven't slept with a man since you left?" "I trust you," Michael said. "Then, where are you?" She said in a softer voice. "I've slept with other women," Michael said. He felt her stiffen suddenly. "But not in the last six months." This is also true.Kay was the first woman he slept with since the death of Apollonia.