Chapter 4 Chapter 3

At 10:15 a.m., Norman Bruitt was awakened by the noise of children outside his bedroom and country music blaring from the kitchen radio. He rushed to the door in his underwear and shorts, slammed the door open, and yelled, "Shut up!" Luke and Bobby stared at him in silence.Norman Brueter always had an inexplicable feeling about children.They were dressed in shabby clothes, just like Arnett's East End black children, and it made him feel a pang of pain; but at the same time, he felt a nameless anger in his heart, and he really wanted to rush up and beat them half to death. . "Yes, Daddy," Luke said timidly.He is 9 years old this year.

"Yes, Daddy." Bobby also echoed.He is almost 8 years old this year. Norman stood for a moment, staring at the two children, then slammed the door behind him.He stood there in a daze, seeing the clothes piled up indiscriminately on the soft double bed. Bitches, he thought.I didn't even hang up my clothes. "Lila!" he yelled. No one answered.He wanted to rush out immediately and ask Luke where she had been.After receiving relief supplies until next week, she probably wasn't stupid enough to go to an employment agency. He didn't ask the child.He was tired and had a terrible headache, as if he had drunk too much last night, when he had only had three beers at Harper's.The accident was truly horrific.The woman and child died in the car, and the man died before he could reach the hospital.By the time Harper returned, the state troopers and the funeral home had already arrived.The medical examiner did not provide any explanation for the cause of death.

"It's not cholera, please rest assured, don't make people panic. We will conduct an autopsy soon, and the details will be published in the newspaper soon." Norman dressed slowly, his headache getting worse.The kids had better be quiet, or he might really beat them up. He tucked his shirttail into his trousers and headed into the kitchen.The bright sunlight came in from the east window, so bright that he couldn't keep his eyes open. The radio on the stove was playing: "But baby, can you please tell me, Tell me, do you really love your sweetheart. He is an upright man,

please tell me baby Do you really love your sweetheart. " It's pretty miserable to be in a place like this listening to black rock on country music stations.Distraught, Norman turned off the radio.Seeing the note next to it, he picked it up and narrowed his eyes: Dear Norman: Sally Hawkins said she was looking for someone to babysit her this morning and offered to pay a dollar.I go home for lunch.There's sausage if you're hungry.I love you, my dear. lila Norman put the note back in its place and stood there trying to collect his thoughts.It's fucking hard to think about things when you have a headache.Bring children... 1 yuan.Help Ralph Hawkins' wife.

He slowly brought these three points together in his mind.Lila went out to take Sally Hawkins' three children, earned a pitiful dollar, and dumped Luke and Bobby to him.God is not open, and people are unlucky. Men have to stay at home and hang out with their children, so that women can go out and earn a pitiful dollar, and they can't even afford a gallon of gasoline.What a fucking world. A nameless anger rose in his heart, and his head hurt even more.Opening the refrigerator, it was empty, only a little leftovers, and a small piece of sausage, like the cock of a pygmy dwarf black man. Seeing him, he was so angry that he felt nauseated and lost his appetite.

He went to the stove, turned on the fire, made the coffee, and sat down to wait for it to boil.Just when the coffee was about to be opened, a sticky thing flowed out of his nose, and he quickly took out his handkerchief to wipe it.Probably caught a cold, he thought.Misfortunes never come singly.It did not occur to him that yesterday Campion was also dripping with the sticky stuff. Harper was putting tailpipes on Tony Lemster's car at the gas station, and Vic was lounging in a folding chair, watching him work and drinking a drink. "Isn't that the State Trooper?" Vic said, narrowing his eyes. "Looks like your cousin, Joe Bob."

Harper crawled out from under the car, wiped his hands on a pile of debris, and walked into the office with his nose dragging.Heat and cold are really annoying. Joe Bob Brentwood, who stood 6 feet 5 inches tall, was standing in the back of the patrol car to refuel. "Hey, Joe Bob!" Harper came out of the room. "Harpo, you bastard," said Joe Bob, "you're lucky you're all right today." "Nonsense, Stu Redman saw that guy coming to refuel." "That's fucking luck. Look, Harper, I'm not just here to cheer." "What else is there?"

Joe Bob glanced at Vic at the gas station door. "Is that old thing here last night?" "Who? You mean Vic? Yes, he comes over almost every night." "Is his mouth secure?" "I guess it's all right. The chap is nice. What's up? What's the matter?" "Okay, let's go in and talk. I think the old guy should listen too. If you get a chance, call and tell everyone who's been here." The two walked into the office while talking. "Good morning, sir," Vic said. Joe Bob nodded. "Coffee?" Harpo asked. "No need." His eyes were very serious, "That's right, maybe you shouldn't say this, it's not good to let your boss know. If someone asks, don't say I told you, you know?"

"Who's asking, sir?" Vic asked. "Ministry of Health," Joe Bob answered. "Oh, my God, it's cholera, that's all I was thinking," said Vic. Harper glanced at Vic and then at Joe Bob. "Is this really the case?" "I can't tell." Joe Bob said as he sat down on the chair next to him, raised his thin legs, took out a cigarette from his trouser pocket, and lit it. "Medical Finnegan called Dr. James, and then two called another doctor, I don't know. The three of them hung up on Houston. They went to Braintree City at about 3 o'clock this morning. Small airport outside."

"Who is there?" "Several doctors, 3 people in total. They stayed there until about 8 o'clock, and the body was brought. I guess it was probably doing an autopsy. Then they called the plague center in Atlanta, and the center will send someone in the afternoon. Also I heard that the Ministry of Health is also sending people to check on everyone who came to the gas station last night. I can't say for sure, but it looks like they may be planning to quarantine you." "The Plague Center in Atlanta is a federal agency. If it's cholera, is it necessary to send a plane of people from the federal agency?" Vic asked.

"You ask me, who do I ask?" Joe Bob said. "I just thought you ought to know about it. I heard you were helping." "It's nothing," said Harper slowly. "What did James and the other doctor say?" "They didn't say anything. But they looked frightened. I've never seen a doctor so frightened. It's disgusting." There was a silence.Joe Bob opened a bottle of soda, and the hiss was audible.Harper took a piece of toilet paper from a box beside him, wiped his nose, folded it, and stuffed it into the pocket of his overalls. "Did you find anything out of Campion?" Vic asked. "We are still investigating." Joe Bob said with a serious expression, "From the ID card, he is from San Diego. But several ID cards in the wallet have expired for two or three years. The driver's license has expired, and the Bank of America card is Issued in 1986, also expired. Still has a military ID, so we're in contact with the military. Sheriff thinks Campion hasn't been to San Diego in probably 4 years." "Desert?" Vic asked.He took out a big red handkerchief, cleared his throat, and spat a mouthful of thick phlegm on it. "It's not clear yet. But the validity period of the military license is until 1997. He is wearing civilian clothes, with his wife and children, and has been running here from California." "Okay, I'll get back in touch with the others and pass on what you said," Harper said. "Thank you very much." Joe Bob stood up. "Okay, don't mention me, I don't want to lose my job. You people probably don't ask who got the wind, do you?" "No," said Harper.Vic also echoed from the sidelines. When Joe Bob walked to the door, Harper said very embarrassedly: "It's five yuan for gas, Joe Bob. I didn't want to take your money, but in this case, they..." "No problem." Joe Bob handed over a credit card. "The government pays for it. Give me a list, so I can have an explanation." Harper took two more sniffs as he filled out the form. "Be careful," said Joe Bob, "the heat flu is nasty." "Of course I know that." Suddenly Vic interjected from behind: "Maybe it's not a cold?" The two turned around, only to see the horror on Vic's face. "When I woke up today, I always had a runny nose and a bad cough, like a 60-year-old man," Vic said, "and a headache. I took a few aspirins and it got better, but the nose still It keeps flowing, and maybe we got Campion's infection, and that's what he died for." Harper stared at him for a long time, and was about to say a series of reasons for his rebuttal, but before he could say anything, he sniffed his nose a few more times. Joe Bob looked at them gravely for a moment, then said, "You should know that there might be a reason to close the gas station, today." Harper looked at him, and he had forgotten all the reasons he had thought up, and he couldn't remember any of them.I just remember waking up with a headache and a runny nose.so what?No one knows when they will catch a cold.But before Campion came along, he was all right, and there was nothing wrong with him. The three children of the Hawkins family are 6 years old, 4 years old, and the youngest is 1.5 years old.The two younger ones were sleeping while the eldest, Bert Hawkins, was digging and playing outside.Lila was sitting in the living room watching the TV series "Restless Youth".She figured Sally wouldn't be back until after the show was over.Ralph Hawkins bought a big color TV, and Arnett did well in those two years.Lila is very fond of watching the afternoon TV series.Only at this time did she feel that there were many less worries. She took a puff of cigarette, coughed suddenly, ran into the kitchen, and spit a mouthful of phlegm into the sink.She started coughing when she first woke up and had a itchy throat all day long. She went back to the living room, looked out of the window, and saw Bert Hawkins still playing hard by himself.There are commercials on TV.Lila looked around the room, wishing her home was as luxurious as this one. Just as the TV show started, Cherry woke up, crying and coughing violently. Lila quickly put out the cigarette in her hand and ran into the bedroom. 4-year-old Eva is still soundly asleep.Cherry was lying on the small bed, with a strange blush on his face.The crying didn't seem quite right either. It happened to Lila's own two children, so she wasn't worried.She grabbed the child's calf, lifted her upside down, and patted her on the back with her hands.She couldn't remember if Dr. Spock had mentioned this method, because she hadn't read his book.But the effect was quite good, I saw Cheli suddenly spit out a big mouthful of thick yellow phlegm on the ground. "Is it better?" Lila asked. "Okay," Cherry said.He fell asleep soon after speaking. Lila wiped the dirt off the floor with toilet paper. She seemed to have never seen a child spit out such a large mouthful of phlegm. She sat down, frowning, and continued watching "Restless Youth".I lit a cigarette, sniffed my nose, and started coughing again.