"Gina is not my daughter."

Carter Gustavo sat there quietly and told Arthur the ending at the beginning of the story.

Only the most savvy storytellers dare to reveal the ending at the beginning, but still have the confidence to attract readers.

And the first thing that attracted Arthur was Carter Gustavo.

He was wearing the shabby white undershirt with two holes in his waist. The undershirt was tucked into the elastic-band sweatpants at the bottom, and the white lacquer thread on the seam of the pants had fallen off and mottled.

He has thick fuzz on his forearms, and he has large feet and hands, thick ankles and thick knuckles, proving his status as a laborer. But at the same time, he had neatly combed his hair, his cheeks cleanly shaved, and his chin was a little blue. He has neat white teeth, he should not smoke normally, and there is a faint fragrance in his home.

Arthur could smell that it was the scent of honeysuckle flowers, and it was Gina who told her that she liked to spray honeysuckle perfume at home and make it clean. This is different from other girls of the same age, and it seems that she inherited good habits from her father Carter.

No, Carter said that Gina was not his daughter.

"I was born in 1950 in Brooklyn, adopted by a convent, and I was an orphan. I don't know who my parents were, I was brought up in a convent by nuns, I went to school in a convent, and then in 1970, when I was 20 years old, I left the convent and joined the army to go to Vietnam. I met a friend in Vietnam......"

When Carter spoke of the Vietnam War, Arthur's heart sank, and he thought of Russell. Carter spoke of one of his friends, and Arthur immediately asked, "What's your friend's name?" ”

“…… I can't tell you that he was my comrade-in-arms and that I saved him on the battlefield. ”

"Is he still alive?"

"Yes, he's alive."

Carter said that his friend was still alive, so it should not be Russell, but someone else.

Carter continued: "When the war ended in 1973 and I retired from the military and returned to New York, I couldn't go back to the convent, I needed to go to work to support myself. I worked as a stevedore on the dock, the same job as I do now, I was the best stevedore in Brooklyn, and the distribution and placement of containers at the terminal was not an easy task. At the age of 24, I met my first wife, not Gina's mother, Grace, but another woman. We lived for a year, had no children, and then got divorced. When I was 26 years old, a friend I had met in Vietnam came to me and asked me to do something, and I was paid a very high salary, so I quit my job at the dock and followed him all over the United States. I did a very special job, and because of this work, I met Grace, who was 16 years old, and as I remember, it was 1977. When I met her, she was pregnant, and she was carrying Gina. That's when I fell in love with Grace, and with the help of a friend, I left with Grace and went back to live in New York. Grace gave birth to Gina, she was a beautiful girl, but she wasn't my daughter. Sometimes I love her, and sometimes I hate her. Of course, Grace is different, she has always hated Gina. ”

Carter recounts the past in simple, plain language, in which he hides many, many details. For example, what kind of work did his friends introduce him to do, and why did he meet 16-year-old Grace? Also, Grace and Carter left together, where did they leave? And, Who is Gina's father? Carter didn't even make it clear.

When Arthur continued to ask, Carter shook his head and said, "I've said a lot, and there are some things that I don't want to know." I have been looking for her since Gina left, and I know that she lives with you, the child of the Luciano family. I know your father, Luthor Luciano, and the Luciano family had some business dealings with us back then, but of course, I didn't have that job for long. Grace was too young when she was with me, and her head was full of unrealistic fantasies. I loved her and hated her at the same time, we loved each other passionately and hated each other deeply, except for Gina, we never had children because she didn't want to have children. ”

Arthur could see that beneath Carter Gustavo's seemingly ordinary exterior was a strong emotion. This emotion should come from the life he has experienced. He used to live with ascetic hermits and lived a life of detachment from the world. But one day when he grew up, a certain coincidence, a strong primitive impulse made him break free from the shackles, join the army and go to Vietnam, with the ambition to make a contribution, to that sultry, humid, cruel, iron and blood tropical hell.

There, the anguish and lust of the soldiers, who had nowhere to vent, turned into bullets, poisonous gases, and explosions, which were sprayed at the Vietnamese enemy hidden in the vast rainforest, and they continued to cause and suffer death. Carter Gustavo must have gone mad there, from the knees of the calm and peaceful gods, to the territory of Satan, how could he not make people crazy.

He finally left Vietnam alive and returned to the United States, only to find that everything was different. He was not a war hero, but an executioner of slaughter, the monastery was no longer his home, and he had to live on the docks where coolies were sold. He's the best container handler, but he also has to hang out with the rude dock workers. Her first wife may have been the same, a good-looking but uneducated, simple-minded hostess who spotted Carter, a maverick and unusual temperament, in a group of smokers and drinkers, and they made a private agreement for life in Motel's room on an after-drinking night.

But not suitable is not suitable after all, the life of firewood, rice, oil and salt soon wore out the enthusiasm at the beginning, endless quarrels and financial constraints broke the relationship, and the hastily started marriage ended hastily. When Carter felt that his life was lost, a friend on the battlefield extended an olive branch, and he offered Carter a well-paid, but somewhat special job. Carter hesitated and agreed to the job.

He might not have accepted such a job in the past, but the war and the failed marriage changed him, he needed money, he needed recognition. He took the job, and then met Grace, a beautiful, effeminate, angelic woman. At that moment, Carter must have begun to look inside himself, he began to flog his soul, and he wondered what it was that had brought him down to a girl like Grace.

Once a man falls in love, he will be blind and arrogant, thinking that all suffering is caused by himself, and he has the responsibility to shoulder and eliminate all this. After learning that Grace was pregnant, Carter not only did not dislike it, but felt that it was his chance to save Grace. He found his friend, exchanged the love of saving his life, and Grace for his own freedom, and left there.

And when his daughter was born, looking at the face that was not like himself, Carter realized that some things can be borne without saying that they can be undertaken. His heart was dominated by the purity and nobility left behind by his time in the monastery, and the destruction and death imprinted by the war, sometimes loving, sometimes hating, sometimes passionate, sometimes indifferent. Until all the good things related to love have been burned out by time, Grace left, and he found another hostess like his first wife, simple-minded and vulgar, but he was able to have children with him and live forever.

So, he became what he is now, a middle-aged man who is rustically dressed and has a bad figure, but he exudes a calm and elegant atmosphere. He can argue with his wife for two hours for $10 and speak foul language, or he can say something that only experienced people can say for a beautiful high school girl. He maintained the little dignity of his meagre life, and did not forget to insert a beautiful daffodil in a dilapidated ceramic vase.

Arthur looked at Carter Gustavo and made up in his mind everything he might have been through. Because this kind of life is what Arthur has experienced, and no one understands the feelings better than him.

"Gina is with you, I'm relieved. I'm not a ruthless person, but I can't give Gina happiness, and I'm limited in my abilities. So, Gina is entrusted to you, Arthur. Carter looked at Arthur and spoke to him in the most sincere tone.

Arthur nodded, but he didn't come here to take custody of Gina, he said, "If you really want Gina to be happy, then you should stay away from Gina's friends." That's right, I'm talking about Jenny, you shouldn't be messing around with her, Gina knows, she's sad. ”

There was a hint of surprise on Carter's face, he scratched his head, and said with a wry smile: "I was careless, but I have never had a relationship with Jenny, not once." I just had tea with her, chatted, watched the movie twice, and that's it. I met Jenny while watching the school team play, and I was like... It feels like I've found the urge to be young. Do you know? I've been impotent for years, and it's impossible for me to be with her. ”

Seeing that Carter told himself his unspeakable man's secret, Arthur had to believe it, he wanted to ask Carter "Why don't you take Viagra", but after thinking about it, Viagra had not yet been invented in 1994. It's another big business opportunity, recorded in a small book, and maybe you can make a fortune with this in the future.

After figuring out the situation, Arthur took out the four playing cards from his pocket and showed them to Carter, but Carter couldn't see a word. Hell, it turns out that he has no connection to playing cards. So where did that feeling come from, is it fake? Have a problem with your sixth sense?

Arthur scratched his ears and asked Carter again what kind of work he was doing, but Carter just wouldn't say, and the angry Arthur almost pulled out a gun and put it at his head to force him. But thinking about it, this is also his nominal father-in-law, and he can't be so strong. He pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Do you recognize Old Larry?" Larry Hargrove? ”

Carter's face froze, he hesitated for a moment, and said expectantly, "Yes... Yes, know, know him. ”

Speaking of which, Arthur knew a little bit in his heart what kind of work Carter had done back then.

At this moment, his pager rang, and he took it out to see that it was a message from an unfamiliar number, with only one word, "Anna".