Chapter 6 Little Italy
On the streets of Chicago in the evening, Josie stood in a mess in the wind.
Only a few hours after I got home, the car I just bought was stolen.
This is something he has never experienced before.
Mainly in the safest country of Xia in the previous life, he had never encountered such a thing as a car being stolen, and even rarely heard of it.
But the United States is different. In New York City alone, the number of car thefts will reach more than 2,000 from January to March 2022...
This will be the case in 2022. One can imagine how rampant car theft would be in the United States in the earlier 1940s.
So Josie, who was defenseless after buying the car, was caught in a trick.
Then find out that your car has been stolen, what should you do next?
Call the police?
Josie looked at the patrolman on the roadside in the distance and shook his head.
Stop making trouble, car theft cases in the United States, even after 60 years, the detection rate is not high, let alone this era?
Besides, the corruption of the American police in this era is very severe. They have no money and no power. Don't expect them to do anything at all.
Finally, there is a very important issue, that is, the car that Josie bought at noon did not have time to register at all...
So no matter how upset Josie is, she can only be unlucky.
If you don’t have a car, let’s walk!
Originally, Josie wanted to drive to see what "fun" places in Chicago are at night, but now he can only eat something nearby and go back to sleep.
Without a car, Josie would definitely not wander around at night in America in this era, even with a gun.
Soon, it was the next day.
Packed up, went out again, did not walk, but booked a taxi in advance, and then came to the grocery store yesterday again.
Entered the door, but found that the person standing behind the counter was not old Hawke, but a young girl in her twenties.
"Good morning, what do you need?" Seeing Josie coming in, the young girl asked enthusiastically.
"Is old Hawk not here?" Josie didn't say what he wanted, but asked instead.
After all, Old Hawke is the owner of the shop. It is impossible for the girl in front of me to be the owner of collecting gold.
"Are you looking for my grandfather? Wait a minute, he's working in the back, I'll call him." The girl didn't care about Josie's attitude, she turned around and entered the store. She is the granddaughter of Old Hawke, who often Come to help, she is not uncommon to see mysterious guests like Josie, and she has long been familiar with them.
Soon old Hawk came out, and he was very surprised to see Josie again.
"Meet young again, or gold?"
"Yes, the price here is quite fair, so I decided to exchange some more, but I don't know if you can eat it." Josie nodded and said.
"Hehe, young man, I know what you are worried about, but don't underestimate Old Hawke. This store has been here for dozens of years. Although it looks small, there are many valuable things here. Look Have you arrived? Although they are all second-hand goods, the little gold you exchanged yesterday is not enough to exchange for any watch in this cabinet." Old Hawke said with a smile, pointing to a watch cabinet beside him.
Old Hawk didn't say anything, Josie really didn't pay attention, but after looking at the watch cabinet carefully, he knew that what Old Hawk said was true.
There are not many watches in the watch cabinet, only seven or eight watches, but each one is well preserved.
Patek Philippe, Rolex, Breguet...Although it is the 1940s, the value of these famous watches is at least thousands of dollars now-of course, the premise is that these are genuine.
But even if only half of it is true, its value will exceed the gold held by Josie.
Regarding this, Josie can only sigh in his heart that he has no experience.
"120 ounces, the purity should be about the same!" Now that Old Hawke was so confident, Josie no longer hesitated, just like yesterday, he took out a small pocket and put it on the counter.
12 gold nuggets, with a total weight of more than 3.4 kilograms, which sounds like a lot.
But in terms of volume, it’s really not much, after all, the quality of gold is there.
A 10-ounce gold nugget is not as big as a Snickers bar.
So although Josie was taken out of the system, it did not arouse suspicion.
"The things are good. I want them all. How about yesterday's price?" Picking up a gold nugget and weighing it, Old Hawke said with a smile.
"Yes!" The price given by the other party is indeed more reasonable, and Josie naturally has no objections.
Soon, the 120 ounces of gold were exchanged for 4,800 US dollars.
Getting the money, Josie couldn't help feeling a little excited.
Putting a thick stack of banknotes into his pocket—actually, they were put directly into the system warehouse, Josie said goodbye to Old Hawk, and walked out of the grocery store.
Turning two street corners, making sure that no one is paying attention and tracking, and then I want to call a taxi, and I plan to go to the car dealership to buy another car.
After all, as the third largest city in the United States, Chicago has a large area.
The public transportation in the United States is very bad, and it is still very inconvenient without a car.
As for the matter of stealing the car, Josie has also thought about it. When parking, he looks for a place where there is no one, and then puts it directly into the system warehouse. How can it still be lost?
It’s just that taxis are not so easy to call. He was lucky yesterday and waited for one, but today he waited for more than ten minutes, but he still didn’t get an empty taxi.
But just as he was getting impatient, a Ford car sped past him.
Although the appearance of cars in this era is similar, Josie still recognized the one he just drove past at a glance, the one he just bought yesterday and was stolen.
Because there was a very obvious scratch on the rear of this car when I bought it, which is exactly the same as the one in front of me.
Immediately, his brain became hot, and he chased after him.
Although the speed of cars in this era has already exceeded 70 yards per hour, because it is in an urban area, and Roosevelt ordered a ban on high-speed driving during the war, even the highway, the maximum speed cannot exceed 35 miles per hour.
So the speed of the opponent is not fast, that is, in the early twenty yards.
Relying on his youth, Josie held his breath and managed to keep up with her in a short time.
But as the car turned a corner ahead, Josie stopped.
Because the front is not a place of kindness, but Little Italy, which has already arrived in the immigrant area, and Chinatown is two streets away.
But unfortunately, unlike Little Italy and Chinatown in major cities in the United States in later generations, which are famous tourist destinations and bustling markets, Little Italy and Chinatown in this era are still synonymous with slums. How much better is the neighborhood.
In the original memory, his parents also warned him not to get close to Little Italy and Chinatown.
So now Josie is quite hesitant.
(end of this chapter)