The private tutor

At six thirty that evening, Mrs. Jones drove up to the little church and waved to Lin Rui, who stood at the entrance. "Leon, get in. I'm in a hurry."

"Is it urgent?" Lin Rui asked in surprise.

"You're not in a hurry, but I am." Mrs. Jones stepped on the gas, and the Toyota Corolla, which had passed through countless owners, merged into the city's rush-hour traffic.

"I work two jobs, as a warehouse supervisor at a supermarket during the day and a hospital caregiver at night. It's only with the extra overtime pay at night that I can support our family of six.

"My husband works at the docks, but he was injured recently and is stuck at home. All he can do every day is numb himself with painkillers and alcohol.

"Now I'm hiring you to tutor my child, too. That makes money even tighter, so I have to work more overtime to make up for it."

The middle-aged black woman was in too much of a hurry to spend much time airing her troubles. She drove Lin Rui to her front door, dropped him off, and shouted up at a second-floor window.

"Toby, Toby, get out here! The tutor I found you is here. For God's sake, bring home a few Bs on your next exams. Stop embarrassing me every time I go to a parent-teacher meeting."

A chubby face appeared at the second-floor window, gave a couple of lazy replies, and disappeared again.

"All right, that's my son Toby. I'll be eternally grateful if you can help him with his studies.

"I hope he can get into high school, even the worst one. As long as he's in school, I can worry a little less. If he starts running with street gangs, it's all over."

After those hasty instructions, Mrs. Jones checked the time and had no choice but to hurry away.

Before long, a tall, burly black boy came out the door. Looking both resentful and resigned, he sized Lin Rui up and said, "You? You think you can tutor me?"

Lin Rui was over 1.8 meters tall himself, yet he had to tilt his head back to see this mountain of flesh's face. He couldn't help asking, "How old are you?"

"Fifteen. What about it?" the black boy replied.

Over 1.9 meters tall at fifteen-truly heaven-defying. But the boy gave off an air of "congenital idiocy" from head to toe. He didn't look very bright.

Lin Rui sighed and offered a "suggestion."

"If you don't want tutoring, I can't be bothered to make the effort either. You can do whatever you want in your room. I'll hang around the living room for two hours, then take your mother's money and leave."

The black boy immediately shouted angrily, "No, you can't do that. My mother works really hard. She works two jobs every day and often stays out all night.

"To pay your hourly rate, she has to work even more overtime. You can't take the money and do nothing."

"You think I'm getting paid too much?" Lin Rui offered a second "suggestion." "Would you feel better if I gave you half?"

The black boy grew even angrier. "You're trying to buy me off with money my mother earned? You're despicable. I'll call my mother and tell her to fire you right now."

Lin Rui chuckled. "All right, you don't look completely beyond saving. So... you're willing to learn, right?"

The black boy immediately lost his fire, muttering things like "I have a learning disability," "The teachers at school discriminate against me," and "If my grades are too good, my classmates will bully me and shut me out"...

"Shut up, Toby. Stop making excuses for your laziness."

"I know perfectly well what schools in the United States are like. With your size, who could bully you?" Lin Rui walked into the black boy's home. "Take me to your room. From now on, you do as I say."

Mrs. Jones lived in a small two-and-a-half-story house. It looked fairly presentable outside, but the interior was a mess.

As the woman of the house, Mrs. Jones had to leave at six thirty every morning and really had no time for housework. The living room floor was filthy, food waste piled up in the kitchen, and the sink was full of dirty dishes.

Toby's room was on the second floor, but the blaring heavy metal from his bedroom could be heard from downstairs.

When the door opened, the room was dim, with its windows shut tight. A heavy stench of sweat hung inside, mixed with the smell of photinia blossoms.

Piles of dirty clothes covered the floor, magazines featuring naked women lay scattered everywhere, and a large, sweat-stained depression marked the bed.

Drink bottles and pizza boxes covered the desk by the window. A CRT monitor glowed with explicit erotic images.

Lin Rui stayed in the doorway without going inside. He glanced at Toby and ordered, "This is no place to study. Turn off that damned stereo, open the windows to air the place out, and give your room a thorough cleaning."

Toby kept grumbling, extremely reluctant.

Lin Rui had to raise his voice and shout, "Listen, I'm not here for twenty dollars an hour. I'm here to do charity work.

"When I first arrived in New York, Pastor Essen Borg took me in. To repay the old pastor's kindness, I agreed to pass some goodwill along by coming here to tutor you.

"What kind of place is New York? It's a damned hell, and you're nothing but a bedbug in it.

"Your family is already on the brink of collapse. Any little mishap could bankrupt you completely.

"For me, a job paying twenty dollars an hour isn't hard to find. For you, I'm your last lifeline.

"If you want to stay in hell forever, I'll turn around and leave right now without a moment's hesitation. Tell me, what do you choose?"

The barrage of shouting was deafening enough to wake the deaf.

Toby was only fifteen, after all. Lin Rui's shouting left him rooted to the spot.

Just then, a cough came from the second-floor hallway. A haggard, unshaven white man emerged from another bedroom and asked in surprise, "What happened?"

Lin Rui turned around and asked in a slightly gentler tone, "Mr. Jones?"

"That's me." The white man nodded.

"I'm the private tutor your wife hired. I'm giving your son a talking-to. I hope you don't mind too much," Lin Rui replied.

The white man paused briefly, then grinned. "Mind? I don't mind at all. Give him all the talking-to you like."

As he spoke, the white man limped downstairs, went to the kitchen on the first floor, opened the refrigerator, and took out a beer. He sat on the living room sofa and began watching television.

Seeing that no one would back him up, Toby could only obediently go into his room, turn off the noisy heavy metal, and open the windows.

Once he had done that, he turned back to Lin Rui, clearly waiting for his next instructions.

"Don't you know how to clean?" Lin Rui stared into Toby's eyes.

"My mother usually does the cleaning." Toby shrugged innocently.

"Your mother isn't here now. Are you planning to stand around until she comes home exhausted and cleans up after you?" Lin Rui continued.

Toby really was the sort who only moved when pushed. He had to be scolded a few times before he knew how to get to work.

Lin Rui told him to clear the desk, make the bed, and throw the dirty clothes into the washing machine in the basement. Did he need precise instructions every single time before he knew what to do?

Tidying just one room took over an hour.

Lin Rui had shouted until his throat was practically smoking. He had to take a break to go downstairs and rest on the living room sofa.

Mr. Jones had stayed out of it the whole time. Only the number of empty beer bottles beside him had grown. Seeing Lin Rui come downstairs, he casually grabbed a beer and handed it over. "Thank you. You're doing a good job disciplining him."

Lin Rui took the beer and asked, "Do you never teach your children how to take care of themselves?"

Mr. Jones shook his head with a bitter smile. "I'm busy, really busy. My wife's busy too. We basically have no time to discipline the kids, so we can only leave them to grow up on their own.

"I'm home now because something heavy fell on my back and foot not long ago.

"I lost my job, and my health insurance won't cover the medical bills. All I can do is take some painkillers at home and hope the injuries heal on their own.

"I've taken responsibility for looking after this family. When my wife got pregnant, I didn't run off. But I don't know how things ended up like this. I'm confused too."

Mr. Jones had a helpless numbness about him. He just sat on the sofa, staring blankly at the television screen, doing no more than occasionally raising his beer bottle to clink it against Lin Rui's.

After a great deal of effort, Toby finally finished tidying his bedroom. He came up to Lin Rui with a sullen face. "I've cleaned my room. Can we start tutoring now?"

"There's no tutoring today, and I won't charge you. I'm just here to correct your living habits. You've cleaned your bedroom, but that's not enough. Go clean the kitchen, and mop the floor too."

Like a foreman, Lin Rui ordered Toby to do this and that. Fortunately, the black boy was reasonably obedient and willing to follow instructions.

After eight that night, a car pulled up outside the front door.

A hot black girl in a midriff-baring top came in, greeted Mr. Jones on the sofa, gave Lin Rui a curious glance, and went straight upstairs.

But less than half a minute later, she came racing back downstairs, shouting in astonishment, "What happened to the house? Where did Toby's room go?"

Wearing an apron, his hands covered in suds, Toby looked at the black girl as though he had seen his savior. "Cynthia, please put in a good word for me.

"Mom found me a private tutor, and he's been ordering me around, making me do all this work. I'm exhausted, but he won't let me rest.

"I feel like my blood sugar's already dropped too low. I'm so hungry. I need a break. I want to lie down."

The hot black girl was even more surprised. She went into the kitchen and discovered that her younger brother had washed all the filthy dishes and bagged up the food waste that had already begun to stink, throwing it into the trash can outside.

Now this fellow who never lifted a finger had brought out a bucket and was getting ready to mop.

"God, it's like an angel has descended to save us." The hot black girl strode into the living room and stared at Lin Rui. "You're the private tutor?"

"I'm actually here to help with his studies, and correct Toby's living habits while I'm at it," Lin Rui replied.

"Wonderful." The hot black girl climbed straight onto Lin Rui's lap, straddling him, cupped his face, and kissed him. "Great job. Please, please keep it up."

Beside them, Toby looked utterly hopeless. "Isn't anyone going to speak up for me?"