America's King of Poetry

Chapter 53 Candlelight

December 1983, Christmas, Christmas Eve.

The night is dense, even a little viscous, and the darkness is mixed with light from unknown directions, making the darkness not so dark, and the night not so night.

It would be fine if it was pure night, the kind of darkness that can't be seen, hard like deep space, swallowing all the light, leaving no gaps to come out.In this way, Arthur's ugly face can be hidden in the dark, so that Dorothy will not see it, and she will laugh at him for being unmanly, mean, and crybaby.Of course, Arthur didn't think that if it was really that dark, he wouldn't be able to find his way home.

He escaped from the Christmas party at his uncle's villa, which was originally his home. It was sold out after his father's death and was bought back by Tony.The villa is named Luciano again, but it does not belong to Arthur Luciano.Mom didn't come, and as a Chinese, she was never popular. Until a long time later, Arthur didn't know why his father, Luther, fell in love with his mother and was willing to pay such a high price to marry and have children with a Chinese.It's uncanny in Italian gangs, maybe love is uncanny.

Arthur couldn't resist the temptation of Christmas presents, he came anyway, and the party was a blast, a blast.There are fine wines, cakes, turkeys, Christmas trees, all kinds of gifts, and all kinds of objects.Arthur was dazzled. Many good memories about Christmas were stored in his childhood memories. After his father passed away, everything became gray and ruined, even Christmas lost its color.

At the party, he fell in love with a set of toys, a model of the cosmic giant Seaman, his favorite cartoon, and he would watch it every day after school.This set of cartoons is being broadcast on TV, and all the boys in the class are watching, and they like to shout together after class, "Give me strength, I am Seaman!" If anyone has a model of Seaman, he will be envied by many boys in school.Arthur couldn't take his eyes off the see-through model box under the Christmas tree in the living room.

But when he was about to take this toy as a gift—Berbertoni promised him that he could pick one for Christmas—another child also took a fancy to the model.Little Fat Callett, Dior's son.The two quarreled under the Christmas tree. 12-year-old Arthur hadn't developed yet, thin and small like a hemp stick.Compared with him, Carret is like a heavyweight boxer, he can't compete with Carret.

There is always something different between a gang family reunion and a normal family Christmas party.Dio and Tony saw the two children fighting for toys not only did not stop, but also cleared a small space under the Christmas tree for the two children to wrestle to compete for Seaman.The thin Arthur is no match for Callett. The fat pig easily pushed Arthur to the ground. He rode on Arthur and showed off his might with a model of Seaman in his hand.Arthur's face was against the warm floor, and he struggled to get up, but he was too weak and Callett was too heavy.

The living room was filled with the laughter of the grown-ups for a while, a kind of joyful atmosphere rippling on Christmas night, and this kind of joy was based on Arthur's pain.

Callett finally got up from Arthur's body. Arthur's shoulders and arms hurt terribly, but his spirit and heart hurt even more.His fragile self-esteem was trampled and humiliated severely on the ground. Every beam of light in the living room, every lamp, was mocking him, leaving him nowhere to escape.He looked out the window, the dark night, he just wanted to go into the darkness for shelter.At this time, it would be great if there was a sudden power failure, or an earthquake, or a fire.

But it was a normal Christmas Eve, no power outages, earthquakes, or fires.Everyone's attention was quickly diverted from the children's fight, and Tony stepped forward to pat his nephew on the head as a comfort.After a short period of fun, adults re-engage in other entertainment, unaware that some events can have a life-long impact on children.Who didn't come here like this, the environment they grew up in was even harsher and worse, and they had to go to the streets to grab food early, and it was no big deal for children to fight.

While the adults were not paying attention, Arthur left the villa, passed by the sparkling swimming pool and four-flowered trees, came out from the gate, and walked along the dark road towards New York.Maybe someone noticed him, but no one stopped him, let him go, didn't care about him.

Except Dorothy.

She came out after Arthur. She wore a powder blue coat and walked around Arthur with her hands behind her back, blocking his way from time to time.Arthur lowered his head not to look at her, walked around her, and continued to walk forward.Dorothy followed him all the time, lowering her head to approach Arthur from time to time, looking at his face with the faint light, "Are you crying? You are crying? Haha, why didn't you beat that guy? It's useless... You're a boy, boys can't cry, you should hit him, hit him hard, hit him on the nose!...You little cheapskate, why don't you talk to me?"

Dorothy was very noisy, she always twittered like this, she was very much loved by her father Tony, and she always sat proudly on his father's lap like a princess.But she has only one brother, Arthur, and the relationship between the two is good or bad.Arthur sometimes hated her and her sharp mouth; sometimes he liked her, for example, when he left the villa, she was the only one who chased him out.Of course, if she was doing it to laugh at himself, Arthur wouldn't want to like her.

The two of them walked for an unknown distance, and they could no longer hear the laughter coming from the villa, and there was no light around them, only the moon hanging in the sky to illuminate the road ahead.Arthur walked more and more slowly, he just walked out in a moment of anger, he didn't know the way home.What's more, it is tens of kilometers from here to Manhattan, and I have to go through Brooklyn. I am afraid that I will not be able to get home until dawn.

In the sky, a cloud covered the moon, and the moonlight disappeared. Cold and darkness enveloped the siblings.Dorothy was not as noisy as before, she pulled Arthur and said: "Arthur, let's go back, I will let Dad buy you a new King Seaman."

Arthur was shaken, but he was still angry. His little self-esteem made him refuse to turn back, but he continued to move forward?It was dark ahead, and the road was no longer visible, except for the faint shadows of some trees.Is it a tree?He seemed to see a little light on those slightly swaying things, a yellow light spot, wobbling towards this side.Is it a car?It should be a car.Or fireflies?No, it's winter, why are there fireflies?

Dorothy also saw the light and asked Arthur what it was. Arthur said it might be a car, and Dorothy said that the headlights of the car were not like this.Besides, on Christmas Eve, whoever is driving on the road at this time, let's go back.Dorothy pulled Arthur back, and the two walked back. Dorothy looked back from time to time, but saw the light spots approaching rapidly, and there were not just one, but a row!Their speed was so fast that they were about to catch up to the two of them.

"Lie down, lie down! Close your eyes!" Dorothy took Arthur, and suddenly made him lie down.So Arthur followed Dorothy and lay on the ground. The cold ground in winter was completely different from the warm floor in the villa.But Arthur would rather lie on the cold ground than be pressed on the warm floor.Dorothy was lying beside him, with her arms around him, and he could smell the faint milky scent of his sister, the scent of a girl.Arthur blushed for no reason, he felt his face was burning, but fortunately the darkness concealed everything.

At this time, he felt that someone was passing by, and there were whispers in his ears. He didn't know where they came from, as if they came from a dark abyss, or from a distant sky.He lay on the ground, couldn't help but secretly opened his eyes, looked up, and saw candles floating in the air, arranged in an orderly row, moving forward slowly and quickly.He took a closer look at a candle, and there seemed to be a human face hidden in the circle of light!

The human face also noticed Arthur, squinting down and glaring at him.Arthur quickly closed his eyes, and buried his head tightly in Dorothy's arms, everything seemed like a dream.

Waking up from this dream will take place 10 years later.

(End of this chapter)