Survive as a World War II Soldier - Chapter 84



Only Noblemtl

#084

“You little black bastard. I won’t let you off easy.”

Jimmy, who was working in a store on 125th Street in Manhattan, shouted when he saw a black shoplifter.

Then he strode over to me and grabbed the thief by the collar.

“Hey. Let go of this.”

“This kid. Eww.”

Jimmy let out a scream when the thief bit his hand while struggling to escape his grasp.

And at that moment the thief ran out to escape,

puck.

“Hey kid. Did you think you could run away?”

Before I knew it, I was caught in the clutches of another employee who had approached me.

“Did you catch it?”

“You. Blood···.”

“Fuck. You died today.”

Jimmy, who was approaching the thief his colleague had caught, became even more angry when he saw the wound on his hand.

My forearm, which I thought was bleeding and stinging, was now flaking with flesh.

The moment I saw the wound, I felt an intense pain that made the stinging sensation I had felt before pale in comparison.

And that pain gave him the justification for his next action.

“I guess I should go to the hospital?”

Jimmy waved his hand at his colleague who was asking with a worried expression and approached the caught thief with a fierce expression.

“I don’t know. Let’s just beat that kid up.”

“Help me?”

“Then you weren’t planning on helping me?”

Jimmy and his colleagues laughed sinisterly and cleared their throats when they saw the black kid crouching down in fear.

And then he began to punish the scoundrel who had dared not only steal but also make a black man bleed on a white man’s body.

But what they didn’t know was that there was someone watching the scene from outside.

“Hey, someone here might die. Please help.”

When she saw several adults surrounding and beating a child, she screamed and called for people.

“What, what is it?”

“what’s the matter?”

“Who died?”

Her desperate screams caused passersby to flock to the area.

And soon, the street turned into chaos as the store manager called the police and an ambulance arrived after hearing that there were injured people.

“What’s your little one’s name?”

“It’s Rivera.”

“Where do you live?”

The officer who identified Rivera clicked his tongue at the sight of his bruised face from how many times he had been beaten.

“Tsk tsk. You really made a fool of the kid. By the way, you stole, right?”

“···”

“Aren’t you going to answer?”

“I couldn’t. That means I’m not a thief yet.”

Jimmy screamed at Rivera’s words.

“This kid.”

“Oh, you should go out and get some treatment. Okay? We’ll talk to the manager.”

Jimmy was taken to an ambulance by his colleagues to receive first aid, and the officer called the manager.

“What are you going to do?”

“Nothing was stolen, and it seems like they’ve been sufficiently punished for their misdeeds, so let’s just quietly sort things out.”

The manager also looked at Rivera, who was bruised and had a cracked lip, and shook his head in response.

“Well, that’s fine.”

At the manager’s words, the officer gave Rivera a stern look and said:

“You know you’re lucky, kid. You get it?”

“Tch, okay. Can I go?”

“Uh, uh. Hey, go through the back door.”

The manager shouted as he held back Rivera who was trying to jump out.

The policeman nodded to the manager’s words, thinking that it would be complicated because there was a crowd gathered in front, and that Rivera’s appearance was so fierce that it might cause another conflict.

“Okay. Go over there. And be careful going forward.”

“joy.”

The officer said to the manager as he watched Rivera leave with a defiant look on his face and a snort.

“We’ll disperse the crowd in front. But business today is….”

“I can’t do it. I guess I’ll have to close early. What?”

The officer nodded to the manager, who answered with a sigh, and then shouted for the crowd to disperse along with his colleagues.

“Okay, everyone, you’re done sightseeing, so let’s go.”

“What on earth is going on?”

“huh?”

“Oh, go away. Is this your first time seeing a thief?”

So the crowd dispersed and the matter seemed to be concluded.

However, the next day.

“White guys beat a black boy to death.”

“That day, the hearse carrying the body came in front of the store.”

“Oh, yeah, I saw that too. The permanent car.”

The problem was a hearse that happened to be parked near the store at that time.

Rumors began to circulate that a black shoplifting boy had been beaten to death by store employees.

In particular, the problem was that although there were many people who witnessed the hearse, no one saw the black boy who was being hit walk away alive.

Ultimately, this is

“Black people are people too.”

“Is stealing a crime worthy of death?”

“Save the poor boy.”

“Save me! Save me!”

“Punish the murderer! Punish him!”

What started as a few people gathering in front of a store to protest soon turned violent.

Clang.

Someone threw a stone and the glass of the store broke, and soon…

“Take it, take it.”

“There’s something useful over there too···.”

In an instant, the protesters turned into a mob, and arson and looting began.

“Are you really dead?”

When the police chief asked the question, the police officers who had been dispatched to the store at the time were startled and waved their hands.

“No. If that were the case, it would have been a murder case. Even if he was a black man, would they have just let it go?”

“Yes, I got caught stealing and got beaten up a bit···.”

“Honestly, it was worth it. Stealing was stealing, but biting a clerk was….”

The chief clicked his tongue at the story that he had been wounded to the point of tearing flesh.

“Tsk. Then why did they say he died?”

“We are also doing well···.”

The chief sighed at the sight of the officers scratching their heads, saying they didn’t know.

“Then come find that kid. Just bring him here and show him that he’s alive, and it’ll be over.”

“That, that···.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he looked embarrassed and trailed off.

“I said you’re not dead!”

“Yes. I’m sure he’s not dead, but I don’t know where he is.”

“what?”

When I went to the address I wrote down yesterday when I went out, that guy wasn’t there.

“I can’t tell if the name or address is real.”

“Ha, that’s what you’re talking about.”

The chief felt a tingle in the back of his neck.

“Damn it. If the market finds out···.”

“What if I know?”

“Oh, my lord.”

##

When New York City Mayor Guardia heard news of the riots, the first thing that came to his mind was none other than the Mafia.

From the moment of his inauguration, Guardia declared war on crime and went to great lengths to eradicate the mafia.

“These kids. Luciano and the mafia guys are finally starting to leave. Ha.”

But the face of the secretary who delivered the news to his cry was strange.

“No, that’s not it. I’m a black person…”

“What? Why them?”

Guardia was dumbfounded when he heard the whole story.

“So there’s a false rumor that a kid who isn’t even dead is dead?”

“Yes. So the police are planning to find that little boy called Liberangi and show him the thing.”

“Really? Let’s go to the police chief first.”

If the riots were not suppressed early, it would be a huge headache.

Even now, isn’t it because the initial response was not done properly when the protesters first gathered that it turned into a riot?

And then we arrived at the police station.

The news I heard there was shocking.

“So you don’t know the kid’s whereabouts? Do you think those kids will believe that?”

Although he was furious at the police chief and others, Guardia’s true feelings were a little different.

‘This is the chance to make proper reforms.’

The biggest obstacles in the war against the mafia were none other than the corrupt police.

The police, accustomed to receiving various bribes from the mafia, were lukewarm toward his war on crime.

But isn’t it obvious to anyone that this incident was the police’s fault?

It was a riot that was going to happen anyway.

It wasn’t that difficult to suppress them there. At best, they were throwing rocks and looting stores.

If they were white people, it would be a problem, but what’s the big deal if a few black guys die?

Guardia thought that it might not be a bad idea to just clear everything out of New York City this time.

“Are the armed police ready?”

“Oh, yes. Just give the order and we’ll be ready to go right away···.”

“Good. That is···.”

However, Guardia’s good idea never got a chance to be implemented in the real world.

“Oh, my lord.”

The person who ran in with an urgent expression blurted out something unexpected.

“The governor is here.”

“what?”

##

It was thanks to Mary that I was in New York and not Albany when the Harlem riots broke out.

With our long-awaited trip to Europe canceled and me running for governor of New York, Mary was left with quite a bit of loneliness.

Anna, suffering from morning sickness, was in no condition to care for Mary.

Mrs. Pinky, Anna’s mother, who would normally have taken care of Mary in Anna’s stead, had also been in poor health recently.

Eventually, Mary was taken away from us and left in the care of her maternal grandparents.

So that means you’ve become a White House resident.

“So Miss Mary will be staying here from today?”

“Now that it has come to that, I ask that you take good care of it.”

“sure.”

When the White House staff first heard the news of Mary’s arrival, their eyes sparkled with joy.

“Oh my god, how can you be so cute?”

“She looks like a doll.”

“Oh my. You’re so cute.”

But, after smiling and welcoming Mary, who was cute and lovely,

“Whoa. What is this?”

“It’s decorated.”

“Hey, where did you get this?”

“This is support. It’s not for eating. Give it to me.”

“Caesar. Twist. Twist.”

Why don’t you pick up a dead rat from somewhere and bring it to the kitchen to be roasted?

“Hey, hey. Slow down. Ugh. Hurry up. More, more.”

Sitting on Grandpa Roosevelt’s lap in a wheelchair, he yelled at him for being slow.

“Where are you, Miss?”

“Mary. Mary.”

“Where are you, baby? Baby.”

“No, you said it was a secret service. How can you not find one child!”

He was so good at hide-and-seek that even the Secret Service, the presidential security detail, was left speechless.

Mary, who had become notorious as the White House’s bad boy, stayed at the White House for only a few months, except for a brief visit to Albany at the end of the year and the beginning of the year to attend my inauguration.

And last month, with Anna’s delivery, Mary finally left the White House and returned to us.

We stopped in New York on our way to pick up Mary from Washington, D.C. We stopped at a cafe called Russ & Daughters.

“Eat bread with holes in it and you’ll be sick. Bread with holes in it.”

“Bread with holes in it? Something like this?”

“Oh. That. You’re a Habuji fan. Mary always does magic, don’t you know?”

“okay.”

We decided to stay one night in New York after Mary said she wanted to eat the bagels she had eaten on her last trip.

“Go again today.”

“You ate it yesterday, are you going to eat it again today?”

“Yeah. Mary Joa. It’s delicious. I’ll buy it for you.”

It was admirable to see him taking care of his younger sibling whom he had not even met yet.

I was with Mary at a cafe on the lower side of Manhattan when I heard news of the riots in Harlem, north of Manhattan.

“What? Riot?”

“Yes. It seems like the city is considering suppressing it with force.”

“this.”

Donovan’s report made me want to run north right away.

but,

“dad?”

The problem was Mary, sitting on my lap, innocently eating a bagel.

Donovan seemed to think similarly.

“There’s also the lady, so wouldn’t it be better to leave it to the mayor of New York?”

But the more I heard about the riot, the more I felt that it shouldn’t have happened.

If it were a riot by poor white people, they would suppress it by force, but they would do so after looking at the situation.

“Didn’t you say that most of them were black?”

“yes.”

“Wouldn’t the police be more aggressive then?”

“That’s it···.”

Donovan’s response that it was only natural made me realize once again that it was the 20th century.

I was well aware that problems such as black-white conflict and racial discrimination were eternal homework that would not be solved even in the 21st century. However,

‘I don’t have the conscience to just live by the emotions of this era.’

“Whether black, white or yellow, aren’t we all citizens of the United States, residents of New York, and citizens of New York?”

“but···.”

Donovan looked worriedly at Mary, who was still unwrapping her bagel without knowing anything.

“They’re different from the Bonus Army. It might be dangerous to go back to the hotel like this.”

It was not that it was not, but I could feel that the entire island of Manhattan was in an uproar.

As the protesters turned into rioters, it would have been no problem for the riots that started in a small area to spread in an instant.

In particular, the huge Hoover Village located in Central Park in the heart of Manhattan was like a bomb.

“So we need to go faster and get it sorted out quickly.”

If the police make a mistake while forcibly suppressing the rioters…

“The whole Hoover Valley could turn into a mob. If that happens, the whole of New York City will be involved. Then, will the hotel we’re staying in be safe?”

“That, that···.”

“And does this MacArthur seem like a man who can’t even protect his daughter? And then there’s you, Wild Bill.”

“Ha. Okay, I understand.”

And as soon as I finished speaking, Mary, who had already finished a large bagel, shouted with excitement.

“Let’s go! Let’s go!”

We burst out laughing at the sight of Mary shouting, “Let’s go” without even knowing what was going on.

“My daughter looks so bold like me. Let’s go.”

“Yes. This Wild Bill doesn’t know about the governor, but our Miss Mary will protect him with her life.

“Okay. Let’s go.”

So I held Mary in my arms and ran toward northern Manhattan, where the riots were taking place.

war on crime