Manhattan Reborn 1978

American West.

San Francisco, California.

The midday sun and cool wind made David and others feel very relaxed after they came out of the cabin to get some air.

Kanes Rothschild, who had learned the arrival time of their flight in advance, appeared alone in front of David and smiled.

"Hi~ Are there any free seats on the plane?"

"Hahaha~"

David smiled and stepped forward to hug him. He turned to look at Lilith and asked, "You said... should we take him with us?"

Lilith deliberately glanced behind Kanes, shrugged helplessly and said: "Look at his pitiful look... take him with you!"

"Ok!"

David hugged Karnes's shoulders tightly to stop his urge to "talk nonsense" and introduced his family to him with a smile.

. . .

After about an hour.

The plane that David and others were traveling on re-entered the runway after being notified by the airport tower after a brief repair.

On the blue sky.

The altitude of the plane slowly entered the stratosphere.

Carnes held a glass of juice, walked around the plane with David with a little curiosity, and smiled.

"This kind of aircraft is almost impossible to see in Europe~"

"Oh why?"

"It's...a little too big!"

"Hehe~"

David pulled Kanes back to the sofa seating area and sat down, watching Lilith arrange for the family to rest in the room, and whispered with a smile.

"New Year!"

"Aren't you going home to have a look?"

Kanes seemed to have been immune to this problem for a long time and joked: "Can't your family be my family?"

"Ha~ that's right!"

David rolled his eyes and spread his hands, saying: You are awesome, I will not argue with you. .

Kanes chuckled, raised his neck to drink the juice, and asked: "I'm already here, what are your plans?"

"Let's talk~"

"Forehead.."

David tilted his head in confusion, making sure that Carnes was not joking, and asked: "Where is the plan?"

Karnes looked sideways at the "dishonest" David and raised his eyebrows: "You left us to Julie and went to London with Lilith... but you let Odis Parker deliberately take advantage of us when we met. Publish that letter?”

"The ring game!"

"you forgot?"

"Oh, this is it."

David turned his head and glanced at the family members who were chatting and joking at the door of several rooms, thought for a while, and smiled.

"Anyway, we still have a lot of flight time, how about you let me tell you two stories?"

"story?"

"Correct!"

Karnes looked down at the empty juice glass and smiled: "I want to drink some wine."

"Hahaha~"

David shook his head, waved his hand and said, "Wait until we have a drink at night, under the moonlight, listening to the sound of the waves!"

"Tsk..."

"Okay~ you say it, I'm listening."

Seeing that he was "ready", David found a comfortable position for himself, paused for a while, stared at the small window of the plane, and asked.

"Do you know... what action do prisoners in prison often make unconsciously?"

"Prisoner? Unconscious?"

"I don't know~" Kanes replied honestly.

"Hehe~"

"While they were serving their sentences in prison, when they were out in the wild, they would always raise their heads to look at the sky above them intentionally or unintentionally."

“It doesn’t matter if it’s sunny or cloudy.”

"No matter whether the sun is still spreading its warm sunshine selflessly or not."

"They'll all look up and take a look!"

"Because in the eyes of prisoners, the vast sky = freedom that has been lost."

David slowly put away the smile on his lips, and continued in a slightly lower voice: "There is a bartender named Old Rhett in my bar."

"He was locked up in Shawshank Prison for decades."

"Freedom and hope, for him, have become things that are far away and out of reach~"

"In his own words, it was completely institutionalized."

"Institutionalized?" Karnes seemed to have barely heard the word, and repeated it in a low voice.

"Yes!"

"When every prisoner first enters prison, he will hate the bars and walls that trap their freedom."

"But as time goes by, they will gradually get used to living within high walls."

"It wasn't until more than ten or decades later that they had to rely on the protection of high walls physically, mentally and spiritually before they had the courage to continue living."

"This is called being institutionalized!"

"One of Old Red's inmates has been imprisoned for 50 years and has been completely tamed by the system."

"So when he was paroled, walked out of the prison door, and looked up at the sky of freedom, he didn't see any hope of integrating into his new life."

"Because his hope, like a flying rainbow-colored bubble, has long been shattered during his long prison life~"

"He has been in prison for decades. He eats on time, sleeps on time, and reports everything in advance. Even when he goes to the toilet, he has to get permission from the prison guard before he can go there. This is not the same as the free world outside the prison."

"Compliance with the system has been engraved into his soul..."

David tapped his knees with his hand, tilted his head to look at Carnes, and said, "What do you think are the differences between them... and those of us in the free world?"

"Aren't there systems around us?"

“Is the freedom that people always shout about really freedom?”

"The hope in my heart is really hope...?"

"Hehe~"

David's series of questions were more like questions to himself.

He shook his head slightly and continued asking again without waiting for Kanes to speak.

"Laura and Lilith, you have met and known them before, right?"

Karnes frowned and nodded slowly: "Yes!"

“Then do you understand Laura’s character?”

"Um...it doesn't count as understanding!"

"Hmm~"

"She is a reckless girl who is not willing to be institutionalized~"

"Lilith is also a poor person who is not completely institutionalized."

"I personally have no intention of evaluating whether their views on love, life, and morality are correct."

"Everyone has the right to choose their own life!"

"But what I do is something that people are happy to accept and happy to see..."

David had a helpless smile on his lips, changed his tone, and said.

"However, when Lilith and I were chatting with Julie yesterday, he mentioned...awe, rules and laws, these words~"

"The rules, I think I can understand a little bit."

"Rules are not unfamiliar to me~"

"As for awe..."

"I just have some awe in my heart, which makes people look timid..."

"If I don't have a trace of awe in my heart, what I will do...even I don't know~"

Kanes raised the corners of his mouth, with a surprised look on his face, and asked: "The things you are doing now... are already outrageous, aren't they?"

"What else do you want to do? What can you do?"

"Hehe~"

David glanced at him contemptuously, as if he were looking at an "ignorant boy", and asked continuously as if he was "possessed by a demon."

“Why is it that people are familiar with the Dutch East India Company, but few people mention the British East India Company?”

"Why did Britain rise after the decline of the Netherlands' national power?"

"Why are people familiar with the story of the Mayflower, but few people know that as early as 1520, a Portuguese slave ship visited Virginia in what is now the United States?"

"Why did large-scale wars with countless casualties break out at the end of the two industrial revolutions?"

"Why did the war that destroyed mankind stimulate leaps and bounds in modern science and technology?"

"ok~"

"Let's put aside these issues that sound very wide-ranging~"

"Why is Edison, a philistine and a black-hearted businessman, praised as a great inventor?"

"But Tesla...is rarely mentioned?"

"Why is Chaplin, who is known around the world as the master of comedy, always depressed?"

"Why is Wall Street called Dracula's Castle? But not the City of London?"

"Why do people do bad things when they know that crimes will be punished by law?"

"Why is it that a mentally challenged person like Forrest Gump was drafted into the army and went to the battlefield in Vietnam?"

"Why are young soldiers like Forrest Gump who went to the battlefield in Vietnam scolded as inhuman bastards when they returned home?"

“Why is cocaine, such a harmful thing, so openly included on the menu of a well-known restaurant?”

“Why do so many people know the dangers of drugs and alcohol but still indulge in them and cannot extricate themselves?”

“Why has Times Square on Fifth Avenue in the center of Manhattan been reduced to a degenerate street filled with streetwalkers?”

"Why is it that on the streets of New York, no one listens to you when you shout for help? When you shout for help, you can get help right away?"

"Why is luck itself a part of strength, but it is always ridiculed and ridiculed by others?"

"Why do selfish people become more selfish? Greedy people become more greedy? Can't lucky people be luckier?"

"Why do I want to be a person who tells the truth and keeps my promises, but I am regarded as a different person by many people? And there are more and more people around me who have suffered misfortune but still have a glimmer of hope."

"Why do Gerald, Little Peter and you trust my investment in gold?"

"Why do you ask me why I have some unspeakable plan behind the word "trap game"?"

"Why are you so serious about hearing and talking about this nonsense at this moment...but you didn't interrupt me rudely?"

"why.."

"Whoa~ Hey! Hey hey!"

Feeling that he couldn't bear to listen, Karnes hit David hard twice and said with a wry smile.

"Are you...sick?"

"Hehe~"

David felt very comfortable and giggled for a while, shook his head and said, "I'm not sick~"

"I was held in!"

"hold back?"

"Correct!"

"I don't tell lies and I won't lie to anyone!"

"But I can choose not to say everything that's on my mind...right?"

"Have you ever heard a sentence?"

"Those who are good at swimming are prone to drowning, and those who play with fire are prone to self-immolation."

"I can't swim, and I'm not interested in playing with fire~"

"The things I have done... that may seem outrageous to you, have actually won me a lot of benefits, and gained me a lot of friendship and trust."

"As I said just now and now, it sounds a little unhinged and a little confusing."

"But these...are the parts of my heart that I want to express most right now!"

"They are all accumulated little by little every time I chat with people... Hmm..."

"Tell me... what should it be called?"

"...I don't know!" Karnes rolled his eyes angrily and curled his lips.

"Hahaha~"

"All right!"

"For now, let's call it: negative emotions suppressed in the heart."

"The negative impact of these questions has made me feel very bad these days~"

"Man, let me tell you this with you as my audience..."

"thank you!"

Karnes was speechless, imitating David's previous gesture and giving him a thumbs up.

"Hahahaha~"

. . .

Just when the two were "chatting".

David's little sister Loisa poked her head out of the room and looked at the two of them curiously.

Kanes saw her accidentally, smiled and waved to her: "Hi~"

"..." Loisa retracted her little head back a little fearfully and ran away.

David turned his head and didn't see Loisa at all. He couldn't help but asked with a smile: "Who is it?"

"That little sister of yours."

"Oh~"

David adjusted his sitting posture, tilted his head and looked at Kanes sideways, and joked: "It's your turn~"

"Can we chat?"

"..certainly!"

Kanes spread his arms and said indifferently.

"You probably know about my family's situation."

"My personal situation...is not a secret~"

"Many people know that my family has an ancestral motto: do not marry with foreigners."

"But this group training is just a stupid statement made in that era when medical science was not yet developed~"

"You don't need me to educate you about the consequences of marrying close relatives, right?"

David nodded in understanding and asked curiously: "Did you run away to escape from your marriage...?"

"Shit!"

Karnes rolled his eyes angrily: "Since my grandfather's generation, there have been people with intellectual disabilities in the family..."

"In my father's generation, this situation has become more and more common..."

"So my father simply ignored the ancestral teachings and married my mother, leaving me and my sister~"

"Oh~ that's right!"

David quickly figured out what Carnes had left to say, and continued what he said.

"But to this day, your family still attaches great importance to the purity of bloodline...?"

"So you and your family have been ostracized within the family?"

"...Almost~"

Kanes shrugged in a low mood and said, "My father and mother unfortunately passed away in a car accident~"

"My sister has been in love with one of our cousins ​​since she was a child. Her biggest wish is to marry him."

"What would you do if you were me?"

"Forehead.."

David suppressed the "bad idea" that was already on his lips and changed his words: "I think... you should find an elder you trust and have a good chat~"

"After all, you are all a family!"

"Haha~" Kanes smiled noncommittally and said nothing.

David thought about it with a wink, and finally suppressed the urge to complain violently in his heart again and tried to persuade him.

"Those inherent traditional views will definitely undergo some subtle changes as the times continue to change rapidly!"

"The problems, confusion or helplessness that are bothering you today may be solved naturally tomorrow~"

"Don't they understand the harm of incest marriage?"

"Your family is not stupid..."

"They are just unwilling to deny some inherent traditions and ancestral precepts with their mouths. They should have already accepted you in their hearts!"

"..." Kanes tilted his head and looked at David with a strange expression and asked.

"Is this the psychology you study?"

"Hehe~"

"This isn't some fucking psychology!"

"This is just an independent thought and correct outlook that an ordinary person with a mature mind should have!"

"Why do you think...that little girl Laura chose to go to Yale University and take philosophy as an elective?"

“Are the philosophy departments at Harvard, Cornell, Columbia, and Princeton University all inferior to Yale?”

"And~"

"Why did she choose philosophy? Why didn't she choose anything else?"

"...??" Kanes didn't understand why David always made sharp turns when chatting. .

David shrugged indifferently, pretending not to see the weirdness and disgust on his face, and said to himself.

"She wanted to have clearer ideas and logic when quarreling with her family, and to express her ideas more accurately and powerfully."

"Philosophy~"

"I think it simply means research: What is the meaning of life? How to live? Why do we die? Where should I go? What is the meaning of the world?"

"And more to explore the truth of the world...just wait~"

"In a sense, the study of philosophy has indeed greatly promoted the development of the human material world and the spiritual world~"

"Problems similar to these will inevitably arise as the times continue to develop!"

"but!"

“Are people not alive when they can’t find the answers to these questions?”

"Don't you...don't want to pursue your ideals? Don't you want to pursue your beloved? Don't you want to move forward towards the hope in your heart?"

“Aren’t the seven deadly sins in the Bible caused by people distorting their innermost desires?”

"Hehe~"

"Any spiritual needs must be based on priority to meet physical needs before there is any meaning in pursuing it."

"The greatest meaning of life for us young people is to accept the love of our relatives calmly and let them clearly feel our love!"

"Family?" Kanes repeated the word with a complicated expression.

Seeing that the "heat" was almost over, David smiled and asked, "Have you never been in contact with your family or relatives?"

"..."

"Look!"

"Whether you admit it or not, accept it or not~"

"In this world, there will always be people who really care about you and love you!"

"Just like what Forrest Gump has always loved...Jenny!"

"If you listen to the complete story between them, you will definitely not have any doubts about life~"

"Be pure, be simple, be focused, be direct, be sincere..."

"is it hard?"

"No!"

"But many people have led themselves into a dead end and are unwilling to look back at their misfortune and luck from another angle~"

"This is why many people today are only defeated by the difficulties and disappointments in front of them, and cowardly choose to escape and sink."

"So~ compared to you, I, a guy who looks timid, is actually a real brave man!"

"I dare to face my own greed, my own desires, my own cowardice and timidity..."

"Isn't this the greatest bravery?"

"Hehe~"

"No matter what you think, I think it is!"

Kanes looked at David with a dull expression. Regarding his "shameless" remarks, he had countless things to say in his heart, but he couldn't find which one to complain about first. .

. . .

not far away.

Loisa, who had just retracted her little head at the door of the room, "quietly" poked her head out again, revealing a pair of big eyes and looking at the two of them.

This time David saw her first, waved to her and said with a smile: "Don't be sneaky, come here~"

"No!"

"Sister won't let me go..."

"Salonia?"

"Where is she? Tell me!"

"I'm going to spank her!"

Loisa showed her shining silver braces, turned to her sister in the room and shouted: "Brother is going to spank you!"

"Hahaha~"

"..." Kanes, who was sitting next to David, held his forehead with his hand and was speechless again.

Salonia in the room wondered if she was "moved" by her sister's "gloating" words~

She stuck her head out and said to David with a blush on her face: "It's Loisa... She's a little hungry~"

"hungry?"

"Then let's eat!"

David smiled and stood up and walked to the two sisters, tapped their foreheads one by one with his hand, and said with a smile: "Eat when you are hungry, sleep when you are sleepy~"

"There aren't that many rules here! Do you understand?"

"Ow~"

Loisa hugged David very happily, looked up and asked with a smile: "Can I have a burger?"

"Of course!"

"Cola?"

"No problem~"

"French fries?"

"Forehead.."

"Are you going to turn into a pig?"

"...Little pig? No way?"

"Hahaha~"

David looked at his sister Loisa who was "acting stupid", pressed her forehead with his hand, and smiled at Salonia, whose face turned even redder.

"Go and call everyone here~ Let's have dinner together!"

"...Hmm!" Salonia bit her lip and nodded slightly.

Kanes, who was watching the three brothers and sisters from a distance, suddenly felt some strange emotions that he had not seen for a long time ~

Family? !