[Titanic] Ticket

Old Hockley's operation was to be performed a few days later, and he wanted to postpone it to wait for Catherine, but Carl strongly blocked this decision. They closed the door and chatted for two hours, and finally ended up with the extremely stubborn old guy holding up the vase Angrily asked Carl to "get out" to finish.

"I don't care what the process is like, as long as he agrees." Carl said, they walked in the park near the hospital, and Lester bought two cups of buttered potatoes on the street, but Carl refused this kind of cheap street food.

"You should have said it sooner, so I can save the money for the potatoes and buy another ice cream, they are quite famous for their mango cookies and creamy raspberry flavors." Lester complained as he walked, "What method did you use? ? I persuaded Charlie several times before, but he was determined to wait for Catherine to come back."

"You can take it back and feed it to the two little ghosts, I promise my father will be interested in this." Carl sneered, "That's it, tell him that if he doesn't have the operation, I will never work again until he compromises So far—he can't afford to take that risk knowing that many people are eyeing our oil fields in New Mexico."

Lester bit the spoon and smiled, he smiled a little silly, Karl squeezed his chin and sighed and kissed him, the cream was not very good, it fermented sweetly between his lips and teeth, he bit off the young man's mouth The last piece of potato in the bag: "It tastes alright."

"...Don't say this after I finish eating, I won't go back and buy you a third cup, it's too shameful." Lester wiped his lips with his sleeve, and he changed into a light casual clothes, like He is an ordinary American youth who can be seen everywhere, not like Carl - suit, windbreaker, tie, leather shoes, from top to bottom, he looks like a rich man.

Carl glanced at him. "I was complimenting you, honey."

Lester rolled his eyes and made it sound like it was real.

……

Old Charlie was pushed into the operating room the next morning, and the operation went very smoothly. Just like the serious and rigid Dr. Pince promised, he received all the best and most appropriate care, and the next thing he needed to do was It is waiting to be restored.

When Lester found Carl, he was standing at the stairs in the corridor smoking. The light blue smoke lingered in the whole space. He smoked continuously for several hours. Lester frowned: "The operation was a success. In an hour, Charlie will wake up from the anesthesia."

Carl threw the half-smoked cigar into the trash can, and Lester smelled the tobacco on his body. The aroma was bitter and anxious, like a small tentacle, easily plucking at the heartstrings.

"Do you want to go out for a walk?" Lester scratched his hair, feeling a little at a loss, "Henry and the others will take care of the rest, you don't look so good..."

Karl didn't speak, his eyes fell somewhere in the void, as if he was staring at a ball of thread that couldn't find an exit.

The atmosphere became a bit stiff. To be honest, Lester was not able to adapt to this situation. Just when he thought that Carl would refuse the proposal, the rich man hesitated and said, "I hope you can accompany me to A place, Leicester."

"what?"

Lester raised his head, Carl grabbed his hand, and pushed the door open, the passing nurses were startled by the movement, they rushed to the hospital door like a gust of wind, got into Hockley's private car, Carl gave an address vaguely, and the driver drove off in a certain direction without looking back.

"You should at least tell me the destination." Lester struggled to get up from his windbreaker, and Carl looked at him, his eyes lit up surprisingly, "I was too late. I wanted to tell you that. While he was lying in the operating room During that time I figured out something—”

"What's the matter?" Lester asked.

"It's about death. I rarely think about this kind of philosophical issue, after all, I have nothing to do with it since I was born." Carl said, "But I suddenly realized that no matter how I escaped, it was inevitable of."

"We all know this, so God advises people to enjoy themselves in time." Lester comforted him tolerantly. Carl grabbed his fingers with great strength, but he knew that the other party might be in some kind of whirlpool that he couldn't extricate himself from. Just like what he encountered back then.

Carl took a deep breath: "You're right, so we're on our way there."

They headed north all the way, and arrived at their destination about two hours later. The air became damp and cold, and the sunlight piercing through the clouds dispelled some of the cold air, but Karl seemed rather regretful, and kept mumbling that he should go back to get a piece of paper. coat.

Lester patted his arm absently, absorbed in what he saw.

This is a small lakeside village, painted with bright wall paint, and the roof is inlaid with layers of pebbles. Looking in from the trail at the entrance of the village, there are stalls selling souvenirs on both sides. Girls in light tulle skirts dance on the grass and enthusiastically distribute flyers to passing tourists.

"Where is this?" Lester asked, a little dazed. Many people noticed their existence and swarmed up chirping. He had to raise his volume.

Carl pushed away those overly enthusiastic locals and pulled him to the side: "I haven't been here for more than ten years near Lake Erie, and it has become unremarkable."

"You don't know the way, don't you?" A suppressed excited voice sounded behind them. Karl turned his head suddenly, startling the boy in overalls. He was no more than ten years old and had curly black hair. With short hair, holding a handful of dirty change in his hand, noticing Lester's gaze, he quickly stuffed the money into his breast pocket.

"I can show you the way - one yuan, it's a good deal, and I can't find a cheaper offer nearby." The boy said boldly, "I know every inch of this place, and no matter what you need, I can take it with you." You found it."

"I've seen my target, it stands out from the crowd in this village." Carl said indifferently with his arms folded, the boy's expression suddenly dimmed, "...Oh, I knew it was a church, I thought it was a big pile Business."

"But I don't want to take a detour, can you point us to the nearest one, sir?" Lester said gently, and these words managed to keep the frustrated little boy back, he almost jumped from the spot Getting up, nodding his head quickly, Carl glanced at Lester, the young man spread his hands, and smiled innocently, "I didn't bring change, honey, we left in a hurry, it's not my fault, is it? "

Carl was right. The church is almost the most conspicuous building in this small village. It has a pointed Gothic high ceiling and stained glass. It is small in scale and surrounded by flowing lakes. See the light colored stones laid on the bottom of the pool.

"Today is Maggie's sister's wedding," said the boy, standing by the door and craned his neck to watch. "She married a city guy, and the whole family will leave here for New York in two days."

Lester looked at the young couple standing in front of the priest, and they both smiled brightly, "I was originally chosen as the flower girl, but Maggie's husband was unwilling because he thought I was not qualified for the job." The boy lowered his head and said, tightly pinching the reward that Karl had just paid him. His delicate fingers were covered with wounds, and he seemed to have engaged in some kind of coolie work that did not match his age.

"That's why you chose not to go in?" Lester asked him, "It's unreasonable, after all, you don't have friendship with him, if you want to bless that girl, you should sit among those people."

"What?" The boy raised his head and looked at him full of confusion. Karl was obviously very impatient with this. He pushed the boy and dragged Lester into it unscrupulously. All the guests couldn't help it. Turning back frequently, the groom turned blue with nervousness, obviously he regarded them as troublemakers.

"Who are you?" The priest put down the Bible and stopped praying, and the groom looked at them defensively.

"His relatives, I think we should also be invited." Carl pulled the little boy closer and said shamelessly, "Jamie wanted to see his sister Maggie, so we brought him here. "

"His name isn't Jamie!" cried the groom, flushing.

"...It's not important, his name doesn't matter at all." Carl said without changing his face, "Alan, go up and say congratulations to your sister Maggie, it's best to urge them to hurry up and omit those steps , it’s unbelievable that a marriage can last for several hours.”

"...my name is Gavin!" the boy said angrily. "It's not some bloody Jamie or Ellen!"

But he quickly realized that the situation was in his favour. After all, Carl seemed to have enough confidence. He ran forward quickly under the gaze of most of the guests. Maggie bent down and hugged him, watching You can tell they really have a deep relationship.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" Gavin asked, his hand staining a corner of the white wedding dress, and the groom's brow furrowed enough to kill a fly.

"I'm sorry, Gavin." Maggie kissed him on the cheek, "I have left enough money for you, and I will send it to you every month in the future. You should study hard. If you are admitted to a university in New York , we can-"

"I never promised this!" The groom pulled up the woman who had been intimate with the boy endlessly, with a high-pitched and angry expression, like a thoroughly offended turkey, if there were not more than a dozen pairs of eyes looking at him, There's a good chance he'll slap Maggie hard for losing control of his emotions.

"You promised me! You'll take care of them—otherwise I'd never agree to go back to New York with you!" Maggie screamed, everyone was shocked by the sudden good show, and Carl folded his arms lazily Standing aside, it seems that he has nothing to do at the moment, but everyone remembers the face he provoked.

"Are you crazy? We came all the way here just to destroy other people's marriages?" Lester asked in shock.

"This is a sideshow, I didn't expect it." Carl explained gently, reached out and stroked the young man's back, indicating that he didn't need to question himself because of this, and raised his chin to indicate to the blushing pair in front of the pastor. rough little couple, "his name is Andy Sherry, a manager of a small bank in New York, a notorious homosexual, and his figure often appears in the street tabloids - I heard that those charges are enough to make him sit in prison When he dies, no girl in all New York will marry him."

Lester opened his mouth. He knew Karl's abilities. He was a natural businessman, and he set aside a whole area in his mind to remember all kinds of interpersonal relationships. Obviously, this Mr. Siri was just one of the inconspicuous ones. If it weren't for that special label, Karl couldn't have remembered him so firmly.

"Things are unpredictable, Lester, we saved a girl from being caught in a tiger's mouth." Carl looked at him innocently, Lester was completely defeated by this expression, God knew he couldn't have such kindness, "... …Mr. Hockley, if you laugh like that again, I’m going to beat you up.” Lester said blankly, and Carl cleaned up his expression, with the words “You’re really hard to serve” written all over his face .

The wedding between Maggie and Mr. Ciri was obviously a mess. Carl’s voice was quite loud. The moment the girl heard it, she tore off her veil and slammed it on the groom’s face. The young man’s face was blue, but He knew and saw that Carl was not someone he could provoke—he looked at Maggie hesitantly, hoping to use some lame excuses to save her, the woman hugged Gavin to avoid the pain at the other end of the bench, he tried to chase In the past, the priest threw an entire Bible in his face.

"How dare you—" Ciri rubbed her painful cheeks and yelled at the priest, but his dissatisfaction was quickly swallowed up by the guests who swarmed up, and the angry residents of the village shouted Wearing a tie and a coat, holding up the candlesticks and other decorations in the church, he kept attacking the upper-class gentleman who was said to be from New York.

They angrily told him to get out of here—with his dirty money and reputation, the priest slowly picked up his Bible, walked up to Carl and Lester, and looked at it for a while with his glasses before hesitating "...Mr. Hockley?"

"Do you still remember me?" Carl said in surprise, he rolled up his sleeves a little awkwardly, Lester found that the rich man was a little nervous, this is really rare, after all, you know, he never looks like Insulate from these emotions that belong to the weak side.

"Yes, Mrs. Hockley used to come every year. I remember her, I remember the wedding—every detail. I regret that she fell into the arms of the Heavenly Father so early. She is a genuinely good person." The priest said kindly said, turning to Lester, "So... he's your—"

"My love." Carl squeezed Lester's hand, "The purpose of my coming here is to hope that you can preside over a wedding for us. I know this request is extremely rude, but this has always been my mother's wish."

"...This is what God cannot forgive." The priest said, he lowered his head and stroked the Bible. Lester felt his heart being tightly held in his hands. He didn't know what the reaction was. The resulting, perhaps contagious tension, made his stomach sink and he felt nauseous.

"But since I have already committed a crime that God cannot forgive, I am not afraid to do one more." The priest waved the Bible in his hand with a smile, obviously referring to the incident that just happened. Carl and Lester Looking at each other, I felt more relaxed than ever.

……

It was past six o'clock when everything calmed down, and the light of twilight enveloped the whole church gently, like a quiet and eternal hymn.

Maggie and Gavin brought dinner, and the girl had an astonishingly tough mentality. Apart from the redness around her eyes, she didn't look bad at all.

"How did you meet?" Maggie asked. They sat on a bench in the auditorium and shared a piece of bread. Karl discussed the details of the ceremony with the priest. From Lester's point of view, this matter is far from needing to be so troublesome. They only need to say those three words under the witness of the priest and God-they don't even need to add half a punctuation mark.

"On the Titanic." Lester smeared a bit of blueberry jam. "I think you've heard. It was famous for a while. We belonged to the survivors."

"Yes, of course, who hasn't heard of the 'unsinkable ship'!" Maggie exclaimed softly, "God bless you, disasters always make people's emotions soar."

Lester smiled, agreeing with this statement.

"I'm very grateful—I mean everything that happened this afternoon, if you hadn't exposed Ciri's true colors, I might have been kept in the dark for a long time." Maggie said, her brown eyes were full of gratitude "I didn't know he was such a scumbag, a—forget it, don't mention that, you guys are going to hold a wedding soon, have you made all the preparations?"

"What? I'm married for the first time, and Carl didn't tell me anything about it beforehand—I'm afraid he just did it on the spur of the moment." Lester said innocently with wide-eyed eyes. The girl looked desperate, and stammered with He explained, "Such as rings, bouquets, dresses and so on... You know, they are necessary items, even if the wedding is simple."

Lester seriously considered the possibility of weaving two rings out of blades of grass - the number one option would have been the ring-pull can, but apparently the times had ruined his dream, and he finally realized that this was a sloppy, nonsensical affair. The wedding is likely to be stillborn, and Carl hurried out from the back of the auditorium, his expression like a trapped animal is a good proof of this.

"Lester, I—" He opened his mouth in regret, thinking that he should go to the operating table this afternoon to undergo an additional IQ reconstruction operation. was left at his estate in New York.

"I like it here, Carl." Lester gently pulled him to sit down, and persuaded softly, "I don't think I have lost anything just by walking around here. We can go back to New York and make another one, Invite a few friends, and if old Charlie wants to, he can see it happen as well."

Carl put his head on his shoulder and said despondently, "It's different. My mother and father were married in this church—they were not very popular, and they left New York alone to start a career in Pennsylvania. She died. Ex wished I could come back here, this is probably the best memory of her life besides me and Catherine being born - I want to repeat those, not only for you, but also for her - the best ending .”

Lester was silent, "So I think you need this—" The boy rushed in from outside the auditorium, panting and speaking as completely as possible, Maggie yelled softly and pulled him into her arms, Gavin stretched out With long arms and open palms, there are two simple silver rings quietly placed on the cotton handkerchief, which are shiny because they were cleaned not long ago, without any patterns or decorations, making them look extremely shabby.

"This is a relic left by my parents." Gavin blushed, and looked more and more confident in the eyes of Carl and Lester, "I took it to the store to have it changed, the size may not be suitable... this This is a thank you gift for you, and you can choose—"

"No, thank you very much, Mr. Little, this is the second most generous gift in the world I have received in my life!" Lester embraced him, "You deserve our eternal gratitude."

Carl picked up the pair of rings, with their initials engraved on the inside circle, he was a little impressed by the country boy, his care and consideration are really rare.

Gavin nodded shyly and stiffly, Lester kissed his cheek, he stretched out his hand to touch the hot and smooth skin, and whispered: "...Thank you, I wish you happiness."

……

No matter how long it has been, Leicester will always remember that night.

The moonlight fell vertically and peacefully on the center of the church, like a winding silver veil, and the priest's voice was deep and soft.

"...Mr. Carl Hockley, would you marry Mr. Lester Rowland, live with him according to the teachings of the Bible, be one with her before God, love him, comfort him, respect him, Protect him as you love yourself, be true to him in sickness or in health, rich or poor, till the end of this world?"

"I am willing."

"Mr. Lester Rowland, would you marry Mr. Carl Hockley, live with him according to the teachings of the Bible, be one with her before God, love him, comfort him, respect him, and protect him , as you love yourself, whether he is sick or healthy, rich or poor, and always be true to him till the end of this world?"

"I am willing."

When they exchanged rings, they looked into each other's eyes. Carl's eyes were like the sea water a long time ago, bottomless. He kissed Lester's finger and gently lowered his eyelashes: "Our love is like this silver ring, From time to time I will scrub and maintain it so that it never rusts and never fades."

The priest led their vows to an end with mercy and mercy

Lester and Karl stared at the statue and steadily repeated the words that bound each other and represented responsibility: "...Where you go, I will go there too. Where you stay, I will stay there. Your country It is my kingdom, and your God is my God. According to the authority given to us by the holy scriptures, I declare you as husband and wife. What God has joined together, man must not separate."

Lester stepped forward to kiss Carl's lips, Maggie and Gavin weeping with joy and applause gradually faded away, and time was reversed, as if they were back on the resplendent cruise ship again.

Karl opened the door for him, covered in dazzling brilliance like flowing gold, and the guests all cheered and celebrated their union.It was a dreamlike scene, it was the place where they would never forget, there could not have been a happier moment than that, it was the best part of him that God could have given him.

"I love you, please come and witness."

Lester smiled, the most beautiful, warmest, brightest smile he had ever had in two lifetimes.