Atlanta, Northville neighborhood.

In the small courtyard, Martin dragged out the barbecue grill, the soles of his feet were soft, and he almost fell into the pit, and shouted at the tool room: "Hall, you idiot, what else can you do but Falke Earth?" Can you grow a little? ”

Hall peeked out of the tool room, and was about to say that Lily had done it, when he saw the young lady standing at the door, staring coldly at him.

As the younger brother who has been bullied by his two older sisters for many years, Hall wisely chose to keep his mouth shut.

The main reason is that the young lady has been practicing carving, and her hands are particularly strong, and her fist is pounded on the head, which hurts much more than the eldest sister.

Martin cleaned up the barbecue and shouted, "Idiot, don't stand stupidly, drag the charcoal out to dry." ”

Hall had 10,000 swear words in his heart that he wanted to scold, but he didn't dare to say them, so he could only drag out a large bag of charcoal and put it in a place where the sun could shine directly.

As soon as she finished it, before she could catch her breath, Lily shouted, "Hall, go to the kitchen and cut the meat." ”

Hall hung his head, washed his hands again, and went to work in the kitchen.

Others celebrate Thanksgiving, but he celebrates Good Friday.

Martin set up the barbecue, and Lily came over and said, "I carved a lot of things for the materials you mailed, do you want to go to my room and have a look?" ”

"What?" Martin asked.

Lily tugged at his rolled up sleeves, "Just look at it." ”

Martin followed her into the house and went straight to the second floor.

Lily opened the door and invited, "Come in." ”

Martin entered, and the most conspicuous thing in Lily's room was the workbench, which was wrinkled and erected with countless shelves, and the shelves were densely packed with various carvings.

It is mainly based on horns, stone and wood carvings, with clowns, insects and various handicraft shapes.

Martin even saw a miniature version of the kettle.

Lily took out a beautiful wood-carved box as if offering a treasure, and when she opened it, there were five little people standing in the background of the house.

Martin could tell from his looks that they were Elena, Harris, Lily, Hall, and him.

Lily pushed it in front of Martin, very happy: "This is our family, don't you look like it." ”

Downstairs, at the gate of the yard, a black BMW 7 was parked on the side of the road, and Elena, who had bought a roast turkey, got out of the car and found that there was no one in the yard.

When she entered the house, she saw Hall gritting her teeth and chopping meat, and asked, "What about Lily and Martin?" ”

Hall pointed upwards, pointed to the roof, and said deliberately, "Go upstairs, Lily said there was something good to show Martin." ”

As soon as these words came out, Elena casually put down the packed turkey and rushed upstairs, her boots clacking down the wooden staircase.

"Fake! Two bastards! She cursed to herself, rushed to the second floor, turned the corner, and found Lily's door open, and the heart she was carrying was half lowered.

Elena walked to the door and saw Martin standing in the middle of the house like a model, and Lily sitting at the workbench with a carving knife, making a quick carving out of clay.

Lily heard the sound of hurried footsteps, turned around, and smiled sweetly at her sister: "I'll help Martin make a realistic statue." ”

Elena came to the door, leaned against the door frame with her hands on her chest, and said, "You two idiots, hurry up, I'll get the turkey back." ”

Lily said, "Harris hasn't come back yet, so don't worry." ”

Martin pointed downstairs and shouted, "Hall, the meat is cut and marinated in the sauce I have made." ”

Hall was furious: "In this family, am I the only one who works? It's not fair! ”

Elena shouted, "Hurry up and do your job, don't talk nonsense!" ”

In the kitchen downstairs, the sound of chopping meat rang out.

Elena had no intention of leaving, and waited until Lily finished carving the prototype before calling Martin downstairs together.

The two prepare a Thanksgiving dinner for the evening.

Lily didn't move, patiently refining the carving in her hand.

When the footsteps had completely disappeared from the stairs, she put down her carving knife and pulled out a book of materials with an introduction to the California Institute of the Arts.

As long as she wanted to go, that stupid guy from Martin could help her get a letter of recommendation, and it didn't even matter if her grades or anything mattered.

When I used to live in the Clayton community, it was so hard for Harris to get into college.

Lily's gaze swept over the separate, freshly renovated room, and through the window, at the grassy courtyard, and knew something was different.

She also knows exactly where all this change is coming from.

Outside there was another sound of cars shutting down, and Harris rushed back from college.

Upstairs, Lily continued to carve.

Downstairs, Elena unpacks and further processes the semi-finished turkey.

Harris and Hall were in charge of dressing the meat, and Martin placed skewers on the grill and brushed them with oil and spices.

When it gets dark, meals such as turkey, roast meat, fruit salad and salad are placed on the table.

Martin and Elena sat around the table and enjoyed a sumptuous dinner together.

As always, Elena picked up a knife and fork and cut the turkey for the crowd.

Lily brought over a case of Coke, and everyone had a bottle in front of them.

Harris was the first to open and said to Martin, "Tonight, let's pay homage to the Lord." ”

Elena was the first to pick up and clink glasses with Martin.

Martin clinked glasses with four people next to each other and said, "I wish us better and better." ”

Elena chimed in: "It's getting better and better! ”

The five of them drank Coke, started together, and talked while eating, but they all had a tacit understanding, not talking about Hollywood, not about work, but about the happiness of the past in the Clayton community.

Martin was concerned about the youngest in the family and asked, "How's Hall's grades?" ”

Elena was worried: "Generally, it is more difficult to get into a good university. ”

Martin thought for a moment and said, "Get him a stricter tutor." ”

Hall wanted to cry, put down the knife and fork, drank half a can of Coke in one go, and said sullenly: "Today's Thanksgiving, you can't be kind to me?" ”

Lily clenched her fists: "This is the love of your brother and sister, can't you feel it?" ”

Martin made a joke: "Don't worry, I'll find you a beautiful female tutor." ”

"This one can be!" Hall raised his hands in approval: "Martin, let's say okay, pretty sexy female tutor!" ”

Elena looked at Martin and Hall and said, "Do you want people to go to jail?" ”

Her phone rang, wiped her hands with a napkin, and picked up the phone: "Scott, do you have something?" Today Thanksgiving, if you want to come, I allow it. ”

On the other side, Scott said, "At a dinner party? Knowing that you guys are doing well, that's enough, I'm not going. ”

Elena said, "May God bless you with eternal abundance." ”

Scott laughed and said, "I'm living a rich life now. ”

The two didn't say much and quickly hung up.

Lily immediately asked, "Is that him?" ”

Elena nodded slightly: "Don't worry, he is much better than before and won't come to disturb us." ”

Harris answered, "He's more reliable than Emma. ”

Martin knew that they were talking about Scott, maybe Sophia's training worked, he heard Hart and others talk about it, Scott quit drinking and almost didn't take drugs anymore.

What is this? Some weird power of love?

Lily remembered her mother and said, "I don't know what happened to Emma. ”

Elena reminded: "I said, don't mention her again. She had already died: "First, we don't want to know how she is!" Second, I don't want her to know how we're doing! ”

Lily kept her mouth shut.

Elena solemnly admonished: "If you don't want our lives to be messed up, even if you see Emma, you shouldn't know her." ”

It's not that she's ruthless, it's the last time she learns about Emma's situation, and she's mixed up with a group of old blacks in the South City.

Those old blacks represent endless trouble.

Martin's Northville neighborhood has a responsible community council, a well-established neighborhood defense alliance, frequent APD patrols, and custody of the house and younger siblings in Elena's name, so she doesn't have to worry about those troubles.

Not to mention anything else, when those unfamiliar faces of Lao Hei appear in the community, they will immediately be interrogated by the patrolling APD, and it is not uncommon for them to dare to have redundant actions and be emptied of their magazines.

After dinner, Martin and Elena ask Robert out for a drink at a bar near the neighborhood.

Maybe Thanksgiving, there are not many people in the bar.

The three of them found a random place to sit down and asked for a beer to drink slowly.

Robert was a little fatter than before, and his hair was neatly combed back of his head, making his head look bigger.

He clinked glasses with Martin and Elena and said, "More and more Hollywood crews are coming to Atlanta to shoot, and the company is much bigger than before, and now it's the largest entertainment agency in Atlanta." ”

Martin casually asked, "Does Jerome have any intention of going out?" ”

"He and I don't have any idea of going out for the time being." Robert is not very ambitious: "The head of the regiment said, in Atlanta we are the head of the snake, even if the CAA and WMA come, they will give us some face, and the crews of the six major companies treat us very politely, and if we leave Atlanta, these will be gone." ”

"It's like me, we live freely in Atlanta, and once we leave, we have too many difficulties," Elena said. ”

Robert agreed, so he also admired Martin: "Not everyone is like you, willing to leave their familiar hometown and run so far away. ”

There may be too many things left in Atlanta, Martin took a sip of beer and said, "When I get old and lose the motivation to continue working, I will go back to Atlanta and settle down, which is actually quite good." ”

Elena glanced at Martin, she couldn't guess the other party's thoughts, and she didn't bother to guess.

The happy education she received since she was a child has always influenced Elena, she can't see too far, she doesn't think too far, and she is very satisfied with her current life.

Robert added, "I've got a lot of the first Cult commemorative Coke, if you need it, just call me and I'll be ready to send it to Los Angeles." ”

Martin pointed to the old cloth at the door of the bar, looked at Elena and Robert again, and said, "The sect leader, the great protector, the holy woman, and the high priest, today is also a big gathering of the high-level of the Coke God Cult." ”

Robert was serious: "We're a loose organization these days. ”

Elena answered: "The sect leader's appeal is still very strong. ”

It's also a boost outside of the film industry.

(End of chapter)