America 1982-Chapter 396 - 48: Mill Owner Martin

New York, Long Island, Watermill.

"This place is so big it could fit the entire Hope Mountain District inside," Colin stated, standing in front of his Ford pickup, hands on his hips, marveling at the mansion with its gates wide open.

In the passenger seat, Bessie, the Hawk family’s fourteen-year-old daughter, hopped out of the car in her thick winter clothes. She raised the camera that seemed even more expensive than her dad’s truck to her chest and aimed it at the iconic building of Watermill, a windmill built over a hundred years ago. She adjusted the angle and snapped a picture of the scene.

"I was also startled when I first arrived, it’s about fifteen acres," said Tommy, wrapped up like a cotton ball, as he came to stand beside his dad, imitating his crossed-arms pose. "Everything you see now, the sea and that windmill, strictly speaking, belong to Mary Manor."

Living in California for too long made him quite unaccustomed to New York’s winter.

Colin turned his face towards Tommy, disbelieving, "Fifteen acres?"

Then, looking around at the scenery, he continued, "Was I a bit too hasty when I said over the phone that I’d pay the short-term rent this time? You know, the business at the ship dismantling yard isn’t usually that good in winter, and what’s worse, the sperm donation company I used to go to in Warwick just closed down. To tell the truth, even if it hadn’t closed down, I don’t think the money I made from selling my tadpoles would cover the rent here. How much does it cost to stay here for one night?"

"One US dollar," Tommy said confidently, then turned to look at his sister, who was fiddling with her camera and hadn’t come over to greet him right away, "Hey, still mad at me for not making it home for Christmas? To be honest, I helped pay for the camera Odelia gave you, and you see that big house over there? I think you should let Sophia take you inside first. I’ve prepared a special present hidden in one of the eleven bedrooms."

Bessie stood in place as if she hadn’t heard a thing. Tommy sighed and admitted his mistake, "Alright, I’m sorry, my dear sister. It’s my fault I promised to be home for Christmas but didn’t make it. I assure you, it won’t happen again this year."

Hearing Tommy’s admission of guilt, a smile finally surfaced on Bessie’s cool expression, "Last Christmas, even though Odelia and Ashley came to keep Dad and me company, I still felt it was lonely because neither you nor Tony were home. But it’s okay, I forgive you."

"If I were you, I’d go check out the present first," Tommy said with a smile, finally daring to gently pat her head as he heard his sister’s forgiveness.

Seeing Sophia waving from the main entrance of the mansion in the distance, Bessie then ran toward the interior of the estate. She ran quite a distance before turning back to ask Tommy loudly, "I forgot to ask, what’s the present? Tommy?"

"You would absolutely be shocked, Bessie!" Tommy shouted back at her, and only when Bessie continued running forward did he add in a whisper, "To prevent your studies from slipping during the holiday, I asked Mrs. Morgan, your tutor from Rhode Island, to come over. I hope you like this surprise."

After he finished speaking, Tommy turned around, ready to join his dad and walk toward the mansion, only to see his dad pulling out his wallet and counting a stack of bills. Tommy asked with confusion, "What’s wrong? The servants here don’t need tips, Dad."

"There’s about three hundred and twenty bucks here, and I’ll give you another fifty later. You extend the lease on this place for another year." Colin handed the bills to Tommy. "This godforsaken place doesn’t look much different from the countryside in Warwick, but the rent for this big house is really a good deal."

Tommy didn’t take the bills his dad was offering. Instead, he laughed, put his arm around his dad’s shoulder, and walked with him toward the mansion, "I can’t manage that, this is the property of Saint Dominic’s Monastery. We could borrow it for the holidays thanks to Odelia’s good works; she had done some charity for the monastery, and in gratitude, they rented this otherwise vacant property to her for just one US dollar."

"I also frequently participate in charity work for the church. I go to church every week... Why hasn’t the church ever thought of thanking me? The church in Warwick City is too stingy. When I get back, I’m going to call on the folks from Hope Mountain District to protest. We are all God’s children, after all; the church in New York can rent such a big house to the faithful for a vacation for just one US dollar, while the church in Warwick only tells us, ’Congregants, it’s time to renovate the church again, we need to raise funds...’" Upon hearing from Tommy that Odelia got such a big house for only one US dollar, Colin immediately started lambasting the Warwick church.

Tommy wasn’t lying: Mary Manor, built in 1887 and featuring British Baroque style, was indeed church property, and it was indeed rented to Odelia for one US dollar. Odelia even had the right of first refusal. However, what Tommy didn’t tell his dad was how much Odelia had paid for those charitable activities, and that the maintenance and repair costs of the manor during the one US dollar lease period were also borne by Odelia.

Once the two had entered the main building of the manor, Tommy introduced Mr. Page, Martin, and Dorothy to Colin. Colin then looked over at Martin, who was helping Dorothy carry various items, and quietly asked Tommy, "Son, you brought two women, an old white man, and even a black... Black person, and even diapers all the way from Los Angeles to New York, but the only one missing from our family gathering is Odelia."

"Odelia, Ashley will arrive with her parents tomorrow to join us, and then we’ll all go pick up Tony together. I assure you, I didn’t deliberately leave her in Los Angeles. In fact, she’s already in New York; she just doesn’t have the time to come over right now," Tommy quickly explained to Colin that he hadn’t abandoned Odelia in Los Angeles to mess around with other women in New York.

After Tommy assured him that Odelia would definitely show up, Colin then went off toward Martin with a cigarette in his mouth.

Tommy breathed a sigh of relief. In the Hawk family, women held a higher status than men. If Tommy dared to tell his dad today that he didn’t respect Odelia, he firmly believed that his dad would have very likely chastised him severely in public.

Last Christmas, because Tommy had to stay in California to handle some EFF work for Jason, he couldn’t make it home, and with Tony overseas, the Hawk family’s Christmas was spent quietly by Dad with just Bessie.

But Ashley and Odelia didn’t let that happen. Ashley, along with her parents, and Odelia, with her parents, all made it to the Hawk family’s home, and the three families happily spent Christmas 1988 together.

This made Colin appreciate Odelia even more, and in every phone call, he would suggest to his son Tommy not to fool around and to be faithful in love.

However, today, Old Man Colin didn’t spend much time lecturing Tommy, because a black man named Martin had caught his attention, and he now had something more important than instructing Tommy to attend to.

...

In the afternoon, inside the gym of Mary Manor, Martin was fiddling with Mr. Page’s stun gun, occasionally pushing the switch to make the instrument crackle and pop, while Mr. Page was relying on the gym equipment to do weighted squats, one after another.

"Mr. Page, do you ever feel like, the boss’s dad has it out for me?" Martin asked, "I mean, he’s like a taskmaster, always finding jobs for me to do, as if he’s afraid I’ll have a moment to myself."

Martin felt targeted. There were over a dozen servants in the estate, and Tommy had even specifically brought his head butler from Los Angeles, Dorothy. Normally, there would be no need for a driver-cum-bodyguard like him to get involved, but this old guy Colin just kept an eye on him all the time, assigning him all kinds of tasks to do.

For instance, cleaning the car. Colin saw him chatting with Page and came over to tell him to clean that beat-up pickup truck, on the grounds that he was a driver for the Hawk Family, and drivers should clean cars.

But just as he had finished cleaning the car and came back to catch his breath beside Mr. Page, that damned old man would immediately "Biu" pop up in front of him, and without calling him Martin, would say with a stern face, "Mr. Hart, my son doesn’t pay you to stand around here chatting with others."

Martin said he had just finished washing the car, then the guy cocked his head and took him to a location in the manor. When they got there, Martin was stunned—it was a carriage house located in the corner of the manor.

A carriage house, this kind of building had basically been extinct in American urban households since after World War I.

And inside the carriage house of the manor, there were two dilapidated old wooden carriages covered in at least a century’s worth of dust.

"A carriage is also a vehicle, Mr. Driver." Martin mocked in Colin’s tone, complaining to Page, "Can you imagine? He actually got a recliner, set it up in front of the carriage house, and sat there watching me clean those two carriages. Is this something a human being would do? What were you doing when I was cleaning the carriages, Mr. Page? What were you doing~"

Page silently counted, finished his squats, and then, moving his limbs, said, "I got another recliner and sat next to him, drinking beer and chatting, also supervising you as you cleaned."

"That’s just the problem, Mr. Page, both he and you are damn racists!" Martin cursed angrily.

Page wiped his sweat and corrected the mistake in Martin’s words, "No, I definitely am, but Colin definitely isn’t."

"How do you figure he isn’t?" Martin asked with rolling eyes, "Because he wears a black coat?"

"No, actually, when I was observing the environment around the manor, I noticed there was an old-fashioned watermill in addition to the carriage house," Page said earnestly, "I told Colin that after you finished cleaning the cars, you should be put to grind some flour with the millstone, but Colin refused. If he were a racist, he would have agreed with my suggestion."

"But Colin said that if one day he settles here, you could become the mill-master, hiring other black people to work for you."

Martin clenched the stun gun in his hand, "You know what, I’m first going to electrify your golf clubs, then I’ll go electrify the boss’s clubs, and then..."

"Martin~" Sophia walked in from outside at that moment, handing Martin a credit card and a piece of paper filled with a dozen phone numbers, "This is Tommy’s credit card and phone numbers to a dozen upscale clubs or nightclubs in New York, as well as the address of a car rental company on Long Island. You can rent a luxury car you like, or even have them provide a driver, then drive to those clubs, nightclubs, pick one you like the best, and invite your friends in New York to drink there tonight, with all expenses paid for by this credit card."

Martin’s previous unfinished sentence suddenly got stuck in his throat. He took the credit card and phone numbers from Sophia, looked down at them, then looked back at Sophia with a puzzled expression.

Sophia asked Martin, bewildered, "What’s the matter? Do you have other plans?"

"He was about to go electrify Tommy’s golf clubs," Page said, coming over while wiping his sweat.

"Really?" Sophia looked at Martin with newfound respect, "Electrocute him a few extra times for me, warrior. You’re doing what I’ve always wanted to do."

"Crackle crackle~" Martin pressed the stun gun against himself and gave himself a jolt, shuddering involuntarily with the current before speaking up, "I am ashamed of the thought I had just now of intending to harm the boss and his father. From now on, I’m Martin, the loyal mill-master of the Hawk Family."