"That's what you do with your part-time four hours a day? If I were the owner of this fishing boat, I wouldn't pay you a penny. Melonie covered her nose with one hand and waved the other to dispel the fishy smell of the small fishing boat.

Tommy Hawk stuck a clip in his nose to plug his nostrils, skillfully checking the various equipment, circuits, generators, coolants, sails, rigging, fishing cranes, water pipes, batteries, spare fuel, backup batteries, and heard Meloni's words: "Mr. Rocco Waldman originally promised to lend me another fishing boat that I cleaned up with my own hands to go out to sea for a ride, but he temporarily reversed himself and drove that clean boat out to sea, this is his other fishing boat, I haven't had time to clean it up, It would have been my job today. ”

"Two cops are looking at you from the docks, Tommy." Melonie looked around and suddenly said, "Do you know what we're going to do?" ”

Tommy glanced up and saw that there were indeed two young patrolmen on bicycles on the dock who stopped to blow the wind, and he withdrew his gaze and continued to straighten the rigging: "Why don't you ask them directly?" ”

"Me? Ask them? Melonie didn't react.

"Good afternoon, officer." Tommy straightened up, waved his hand directly at the two mounted policemen, and shouted loudly in the mocking tone of those fishermen: "How about it, are you interested in coming to the boat for a ride, we are going to smuggle some American goods to Cuba, and bring back two Cuban babes to make a lot of money!" ”

"Earn more, boy, and hopefully I'll see you in Cuba in my lifetime." The policeman on the shore waved his hand and laughed: "Also, before going to sea for smuggling, I suggest that you clean up the rags, I need to remind you that if this ship goes to Cuba, it will be too embarrassing for the Americans, in addition, Cuban women are also aesthetic, they are not blind, not all rotten ships will be boarded." ”

When Melonie told the police that she was going to smuggle, Melonie was so frightened that she didn't put her heart back until the police responded: "Are you crazy, Tommy? In case the police suspect you ......"

"Auntie, if the police believe me, he's crazy." Tommy Hawk stepped into the cockpit, skillfully started the fishing boat, and headed towards the black and blue ocean: "If the smuggler doesn't want to abuse himself, he will never use this old-fashioned fishing boat that needs to be helmed by hand the whole time, it will take us six or seven hours to get the goods, and Dennis's mother, Mrs. Herbs, who weighs nearly two hundred pounds, may have arrived one step faster than us if she had mastered the skill of walking on a bicycle on the sea." ”

"How do smugglers get their goods?"

"For real smugglers, time is money, and their speedboats can get from the port to the processing ship in two to two and a half hours, and then sail back to land in two and a half hours with at least 400 cases of cigarettes, and they can recoup the cost of buying a speedboat in three round-trips, and they can buy a mansion in Boston in three days." After Tommy Hawk adjusted his course, he took out a cigarette and lit one, looking at Melonie next to him:

"Now do you think you're worthy of the title of smuggler? As I've said many times, we're just poor people selling cheap cigarettes, and we don't deserve to be tarnished with the title of smuggler. ”

Melonie was still a little nervous when she first went out to sea, but as Warwick disappeared into the horizon behind her, as Tommy Hawke said, the fishing boats around her could still be described as endless, and the public channel heard all kinds of vulgar jokes or out-of-tune songs from fishermen, far less desolate and lonely than she imagined, which made her gradually relax.

It wasn't until night had fallen, even the ship's searchlights were on, and Tommy Hawke began to join the public channel to constantly report his location, that Meloni, who was already about to suffocate to death, understood why the police did not believe that they were going to Cuba to smuggle, the speed was too slow, maybe Castro was already dead of old age, Cuba had completed the revolution, and their ship could not drift to Cuba.

"Sit down, we're here." Tommy Hawk spoke after ending the call on the radio again.

Melonie, who was dozing off in a cotton coat, looked up and looked around, this time without Tommy Hawk's prompting, she saw a mountain of freighters in front of her, with huge Marlboro cigarette signs printed on the hull, and the ship was brightly lit, and she could see people and machines constantly moving around the ship.

There are many transshipment barges with bright searchlights moored around the freighter, and the freighter continues to send the cargo to the barge, and then the barge assembles it to the ship that comes to pick up the cargo, only to see a few speedboats assemble the goods next to the barge, roar in the dark water and set off white waves, and disappear into the night in the blink of an eye.

Melonie witnessed a speedboat passing not far from her fishing boat, moored to the barge, quickly loaded the cargo, completed the delivery, and then disappeared from her sight.

What shocked her even more was that the other party's speedboat had disappeared, and the fishing boat that Tommy had told the police to smuggle to Cuba was still moving at a turtle speed, and could not get close to the nearest barge.

"I now understand why you say that Mrs. Herbs rides faster than we do, and why the police don't believe us." Melonie was dumbfounded and said, "We don't deserve it. ”

Finally approached a barge, on which several employees wearing Philip Morris uniforms came over with searchlights on their heads and shouted at the fishing boat:

"Man, this is a tobacco processing ship, not a fish transfer ship, it's the second fishing boat tonight, has your fishing company changed careers?"

They thought that Tommy Hawk's fishing boat was docked in the wrong place, and Tommy walked out of the fishing boat wearing a heavy raincoat to protect him from the wind and waves: "Carlo Leon, I called before, and Mr. Will in Miami introduced me. ”

"Carlo Leon?" The first employee on the other side heard Tommy's words, and looked down through the reservation information in his hand through the overhead light: "It says you need two hundred boxes." ”

"It's me." Tommy nodded.

The employee checked the order, looked up at Tommy, and said, "Then you're going to pay me $40,000." ”

Tommy Hawk handed the 40,000 yuan mortgaged by Melonie to the other party, and after the employee counted it, handed it to the companion who was responsible for collecting the money next to him, and gave a few instructions on the walkie-talkie, and soon the two hundred boxes of cigarettes were transferred by the crane on the barge and loaded into the cargo hold of the fishing boat, without manual operation in the whole process, so that Tommy Hawke couldn't help but sigh once again about the intimate service of the capitalist.

"Man, remember to give your boat more power next time you come, and I can fill three speedboats in one of your orders." As Tommy Hawke left, the tobacco company employees on the barge couldn't help but laugh at the dilapidated looking fishing boat.

The fishing boat left the barge, adjusted its course, and began to slowly sail north towards the Gulf of Maine, Melonie excitedly looked at the cigarettes, turned around and walked back to the cockpit, and found that Tommy, who was driving the boat, seemed to have a strange face, as if he was thinking about something:

"What's wrong?" Melonie asked.

Tommy said: "The staff at the processing vessel said that I was the second fishing boat to dock tonight. ”

"So what? Is there anything strange about it? Melonie asked, puzzled.

Tommy poured a mouthful of whiskey into his mouth to ward off the cold: "That is, there is probably another poor ghost who is just as desperate as me." ”