America: A Prodigy of Stereotypes

“That homeless man was Captain Steve, who had lost his memory. His deep-seated sense of justice led him to stop a crime,” Li Qun said.

“Nice imagination,” Gwen said.

"I believe that only Steve himself can prove that he is Steve; no matter how we reason, it doesn't count."

"Maybe Steve didn't want to be Steve anymore, which is why he lost his memory."

“We should do another holiday assignment,” Peter said. “To do community volunteer work.”

Chapter 10 Knitting a Sweater

Li Qun, Peter, and Gwen filled out and submitted the application forms, attached letters of recommendation from Midtown High School, and underwent a phone interview after a brief background check, successfully becoming community volunteers.

The three were assigned to work at the community canteen, where they will continue to work until the start of the school term.

All they had to do was prepare breakfast and dinner and distribute them to the homeless in the shelter.

Thanks to the high ratings of the television program, donations of supplies and money to the homeless in New York City have been pouring in. Even Mr. Wilson Fiske, a prominent philanthropist in New York City, announced a donation of one million US dollars to help the homeless in the city.

May God bless you.

"Thank you," Peter replied with a smile.

Peter was distributing fruit, Gwen was distributing drinks next to him, and Liqun was giving meals to the homeless.

An Asian young man came to the community canteen, and his family owned a Chinese restaurant. The canteen manager waved his hand and assigned Li Qun and his two companions to be in charge of cooking Chinese food.

A dozen or so community volunteers eat first each day, and only after they finish eating do they start distributing food to the homeless.

Li Qun is busy making fried rice all day long. Fried rice is the only Chinese food he provides to the community canteen. He can't make other complicated large-pot dishes.

"Johnny, the weather's nice today. How's your knitting going?"

Li Qun handed two boxes of fried rice to Steve.

“I’m halfway done. I’ll soon have earned 30 dollars,” Steve Rogers replied.

For homeless individuals like Steve, who only have a mental disability but are otherwise healthy, the shelter assigned him a relatively easy job: making sweaters on a knitting machine. The shelter would buy the sweaters for $30 each, hoping to help homeless people like Steve reintegrate into a normal life.

“Do you remember anything?” Li Qun asked Steve.

"Yes, I think I used to work in a factory. I can quickly become proficient at operating a sweater machine. Once I've saved up some money, I can leave the shelter, rent a single room in an apartment, and find a stable job."

Steve answered Li Qun, becoming more talkative and with a constant smile on his face.

"Have you had any further conflicts with others?" Li Qun asked with concern.

"Nothing."

On his first night at the shelter, Steve threw the three homeless people in his room out into the hallway in the middle of the night.

His three "roommates" were: one wanted to steal his money, one had his eye on his butt, and the other wanted to collect protection money from him.

Steve received a warning, but also a single room.

After working for more than an hour at noon, Li Qun finished distributing the food and returned to the community canteen in the community's truck.

Inside the car, Li Qun, Peter, and Gwen looked at each other.

“This is really tough on people, isn’t it?” Li Qun said.

“This isn’t what I expected,” Peter said.

“But we can only do this kind of work; other jobs require you to be 18 or older,” Gwen said.

“Ms. Martha, we need soy sauce. We don’t have enough for fried rice,” Li Qun said, turning to Martha, the head of the community canteen who was in the same car.

"Okay, Lyon, I'll go to the Asian supermarket to buy it for you later."

"Would you mind cooking something different for us? How about making some fried rice?" Ms. Martha asked Li Qun.

“If you can guarantee the food supply for dinner, I have no problem,” Li Qun replied.

"Great."

Speaking of Martha, the community canteen manager is a really good person, and her name reminds Li Qun of Superman and Batman's mother.

On the day Liqun, Peter, and Gwen reported to the community, Ms. Martha emphasized safety to the three high school students, instructing them to keep their distance from the homeless and to act as temporary guardians during their volunteer work.

Homeless people have various attributes; they can evoke sympathy or, at times, intense hatred.

Some homeless people have already been quietly transferred from shelters to detention centers, and the next step is to send them to prison.

……

……

"Johnny, come here for a second."

Steve got up from his loom and saw a homeless man who had just arrived at the shelter.

“He is Flint, you teach him how to use the loom.”

"it is good."

“Flint, this is Johnny, the best guy we have here,” a staff member at the shelter introduced to Flint Marco.

The two strong "vagrants" were put together. Flint looked Steve over and thought this "Johnny" was a bit silly.

Steve led Flint to sit down at the loom, taught Flint how to put the yarn on the machine, and showed him how to knit beautiful patterns on the sweater.

"Flint, do you have family?" Steve asked, looking bewildered.

“Don’t you have one?” Flint retorted.

“I don’t know, the kind people here are helping me look. I’ve lost my memory.” Steve pointed to his head.

“I have a wife and a daughter, but we are divorced.”

Seeing that Steve was a fool, Flint lowered his guard.

"Why are you homeless?" Steve asked.

“I need money,” Flint replied.

Flint was playing the role of a homeless man who had his wife call the police in order to receive the $100 reward.

“My daughter is sick and she needs to take medicine all the time.”

"It's a rare disease. I've consulted doctors, and there's currently no cure."

"Oh, this is terrible."

Steve reached into his pocket and pulled out all the money he had, handing it to Flint.

“Here’s the money,” Steve said to Flint.

“…You’re a good person.” Flint accepted Steve’s money.

"Flint, you can make money here."

“You can earn 30 yuan for knitting one sweater. The more you knit, the more money you earn,” Steve said earnestly.

"I know."

Flint knew very well that such a money-making opportunity was extremely rare, relying on social attention and public sympathy.

It won't be possible in two months. He needs to make a fortune during this two-month window, at least enough to cover his daughter's medication costs for a year.

“You need to be careful. You can’t knit the sleeves unevenly, or it will be a huge hassle to redo them,” Steve patiently instructed Flint.

Flint looked at Steve, whose eyes were so innocent, and thought it was a miracle that Steve, who wasn't very bright, could teach him how to knit a sweater with a machine.

"There's a movie tonight. Do you like watching movies?" Steve asked.

“I want to continue working tonight as well,” Flint said.

“That’s unlikely. They won’t allow you to knit all the time. You have to rest at night,” Steve said.

“How did you know?” Flint asked.

“Because I’ve tried,” Steve replied.

Chapter 11 This is part of the plan

“Leon, this is Flint.”

"Flint, this is Lyon."

"Flint, would you like some fried rice?"

"Leon, give us four servings of fried rice."

Li Qun handed the fried rice to Steve and Flint, and Steve said thank you.

Li Qun sized up Flint, who was wearing the first sweater he had knitted. The green and white striped sweater made Li Qun quickly recognize Flint Marco.

This is the "Sandman" of the future, the "Sandman" with an immortal body.

"Johnny, was the movie good last night? I recommended it," Li Qun asked Steve.

“King Kong is great, but it’s a bit too old,” Steve replied.

The recommended successful film is the phenomenal 1933 film "King Kong," released during the Great Depression. It was in black and white and was part of Li Qun's plan to awaken Steve's memories.

"Is the Empire State Building still the tallest building in New York?" Steve asked.

“No, it’s the Shimao Center Twin Towers now,” Li Qun replied with a smile.

"Would you like a banana?" Peter asked.

"I choose Apple."

There was an apple on Steve's plate.

“Johnny, there’s only milk left,” Gwen said.

“I’m not a picky eater,” Steve said.

"Give me two servings of milk," Flint said.

"Here you go." Gwen placed two cartons of milk onto Flint's plate.

“This is Flint, he’s a poor man, Gwen,” Steve introduced to Gwen.