Chapter 14 Chapter Thirteen

Oddly enough, Millie owes Toby Temple his stardom.Before their marriage, Toby was just an up-and-coming comedian not hard to find.After they got married, a new ingredient was added: hatred.Toby was forced to marry the girl he despised. He was so angry that he wanted to strangle her to death with his own hands. Although Toby didn't realize it, Millie was a wonderful and devoted wife.She adored him and did everything in her power to please him.She kept the Benedict Valley home clean and beautiful.However, the harder Millie tried to please Toby, the more Toby hated her.He often picks on her in every possible way, but keeps her at a respectful distance.But he was careful not to say or do anything that would turn her off and make her go to El Caruso.What Toby will never forget is the pain he felt when the iron rod wrapped in rubber hit his arm.And that look on Caruso's face when he says "If you hurt Millie...".

Since Toby was unable to take offense at his wife, he turned his anger on the audience.If someone knocked on a plate, got up to go to the bathroom, or dared to whisper to each other while Toby was on stage, then that person must have been the target of Toby's rude language at that moment.Toby would shock the man with his naive magic to the end, and the audience would appreciate it as a result.Even when he taunts a hapless victim, people tend to laugh until they cry.His innocent face combined with his playful voice make him an irresistible actor.In short, his ability to sarcasm with the most vulgar words, and yet avoid reproach, has indeed become Toby Temple's distinctive feature.None of his victims had ever thought that Toby meant anything.If Toby was just a promising young comedian, now he's the talk of the showbiz.

When Clifton Lawrence returns from Europe, he is surprised that Toby is married to a showgirl.Obviously this is inappropriate.But when he asked about Toby, Toby looked him in the eye and said, "How can I tell you, Cliff? I met Millie and fell in love with her, and that's what happened." Doesn't seem to be entirely true.Something in it puzzled the agent. One day Clifton said to Toby in his office: "You're really getting popular, and I've got you a four-week gig at the Reu Hotel. Two thousand dollars a week." "How's that tour going?" "Forget it. Las Vegas will pay ten times that. Everyone wants to see you."

"Cancel Las Vegas contract, I'll go on tour." Clifton looked at Toby in surprise. "But Las Vegas—" "I'd love to go on tour." There was a tone in Toby's voice that Clifton Lawrence had never heard.It wasn't arrogance, it wasn't petulance; it was something other than both.A deep, depressed anger. The frightening thing is that when such a tone is uttered from such a mouth, it seems more kind and full of childishness than before. Since then, Toby has always been on tour.It was the only way he could escape his prison.He played in nightclubs, in theaters, and in town halls.When those contracts expired, he pestered Clifton Lawrence to secure him college contracts.Anywhere, as long as you can avoid Millie.

There are so many opportunities to sleep with hot, alluring women.Every town is the same.Before or after Toby's performance, women chased him to his dressing room and waited for him, some even stood on the porch of his hotel. Toby doesn't sleep with any of them.He remembered what Al Caruso said to him: "You are indeed a donkey who is easy to attract women...I will not hurt you...you are my friend, as long as you treat Millie well..." He couldn't help but shudder. Toby rejects all women. "I love my wife very much," he would say sheepishly.They all believed him, and respected him more.Word spread.It was exactly what he wanted, and he was about to spread the word: Toby Temple really didn't like to mess around, he was a real family man.

But those lovely, married-age girls always followed him.The more Toby rejected them, the more they pursued him.In fact, Toby also longed for a woman so much that he was often in the pain of his own carnality.Sometimes he finds it difficult to work.Whenever this time, he thinks of those beautiful girls who are willing to sleep with him.He cursed fate and was extremely angry with fate. Although Toby was sexually unsatisfied, the desire was always stuffed in his stomach, but whenever he came home from the tour and saw Millie, it would disappear in no time.And Millie was always waiting for him, warm and lovely, ready to be pushed around by him.But she was his enemy--Toby thought--and the more she treated him that way, the more he despised her.He forces himself to sleep with her.However, what he satisfied was none other than Al Caruso.As long as Toby was with Millie, a kind of brutality and cruelty would drive her into breathless agony.He pretended to think it was her cheerful voice.He's getting more and more ferocious until finally... he's not making love, he's doing hate.

In June 1950, the Korean War broke out.President Truman ordered U.S. troops to move into the southern part of the Korean peninsula.Regardless of what the rest of the world felt about it, the Korean War was a great thing for Toby. In early December, "Drama Daily" published a report: Bob Hope is ready to do a Christmas condolence performance for the US military stationed in Seoul.Half a minute after Toby read the report, he called Clifton Lawrence to discuss the matter. "You let me take part in this sympathy show, Cliff." "Why? You're thirty. Believe me, my dear boy, those shows are no joke. I—"

"I don't care if he's joking," Toby yelled over the phone. "Those soldiers are out there risking their lives. At least I can make them laugh a few times, and that's fine." There was a side of Toby that Clifton had never known before.He was touched, and he was very happy. "Okay. If your feelings are strong, I'll see what I can do," Clifton promised him. An hour later, he called Toby back. "I've talked to Bob, and he's glad to have you. But if you're going to change your mind—" "Don't change your mind," Toby said and hung up the phone.

For a long time Clifton Lawrence sat there thinking of Toby.He was so proud of Toby.Toby was a wonderful man, and Clifton Lawrence could not have been happier to represent him and to be able to assist Toby in his great career. Toby performed in Busan, Daegu, and Jeonju, and found comfort in the laughter of the soldiers. Millie was forgotten in his heart day by day. Christmas passed, and Toby didn't come home.He went to Guam again, and the young people there liked him very much.Then he went to Tokyo to visit the wounded and sick living in the military hospital.But in the end, he had to go home.

It's April.Millie met Toby at the airport when he came home from a ten-week tour of the Midwest.Her first words were: "Honey - I'm having a baby!" He looked at her in a daze.She misunderstood his feelings and thought it was a sign of happiness. "How wonderful!" she exclaimed. "Look, our baby will keep me company if you're away from home. I'm looking forward to having a boy so you can take him to softball. And ..." Toby didn't hear the silly things she muttered behind her.Her words seemed to come from far away.Toby had thought that one day he would find a way to escape.They had only been married for two years, but it looked like hundreds of years had passed.Now it's happening again.Millie would never let him go.

Never will. Children are born around Christmas.Toby has already made arrangements to go to Guam with a performance team.He had no idea whether Al Caruso would agree to his going out before Millie went into labor.There is only one way.Toby called Las Vegas. He immediately heard Caruso's happy and familiar voice: "Hey, young man, I'm glad to hear your voice." "Glad to hear from you, Al." "I heard you're going to be a dad. You must be very excited." "Excited isn't enough of a word," he said matter-of-factly.He brought a note of cautious concern to his voice. "That's why I'm calling you now, Al. The baby is due around Christmas, but—" He had to be cautious, "I don't know what to do. I want to stay in the house when the baby is born." Home, with Millie. But, they want me to go back to Korea and Guam to visit the troops." The other party did not speak for a long time. "That's a problem." "I don't want to let our soldiers down, but I don't want to let Millie down either." "Yes." There was another half-day pause.Then: "I'll tell you what I think, boy. We're good Americans, aren't we? Those soldiers are out there fighting for us, aren't we?" Toby felt a sudden relaxation all over his body. "Of course. But I don't want to go—" "Millie is fine," Caruso said. "Women always have babies. You go to Korea." Six weeks later, on Christmas Eve, when Toby left the stage to thunderous applause at the U.S. military base in Busan, he was handed a telegram: Millie had died giving birth to a stillborn baby.Toby is free.