Chance encounter

The good-hearted Spanish old man had already given Simon a lot of convenience when he checked in. If he left the hotel, it would be difficult for Simon to find a better place to stay in a short time.

After thinking about it, Simon approached Roger Griffin after the shift in the afternoon to discuss whether he could pay a week's salary in advance.

Convenience store owners who have the potential to pick up their skins did not refuse, but said that the salaries of everyone in the store would only be settled once a week. Simon only worked three days this week. If he had to settle in advance, he would only get three days' salary this week.

Simon didn't intend to grind his teeth with Roger Griffin for dozens of dollars, and he readily agreed. Three days' salary was enough to include the remaining in his pocket. As for another time difference next week, Simon also plans to find another temporary part-time job with more flexible settlement.

Then, Simon's altogether made the middle-aged fat man who is not too bad a bit embarrassed, and his conscience rounded up a round for him and paid $100.

Leaving the convenience store, Simon walked more than 20 minutes back to his hotel.

This is a typical "concave" layout motel. It is a white two-story wooden building with more than ten rooms. There are still a few cars parked in the courtyard.

The sunshine in Los Angeles was just right in the afternoon.

Walking into the yard, Simon saw the innkeeper Diago Salcado, who was in his spare time, sitting under the porch with a guitar in his arms, playing and singing.

Simon used to think that the guitar is basically a young man's musical instrument. He played for a while in college, and never touched it again after work. But in the eyes of Westerners whose music is a part of life, there is obviously no such conception.

Finding a chair and sitting down beside the old Spanish man, Simon listened quietly for a while.

The old man is playing an old Elvis song "Blue-Suede-Shoes".

If you don't consider the strong Spanish accent when humming, the old man's guitar level is still barely able to listen.

Simon felt a little surprised when he made this evaluation in his heart.

His own guitar level can only be a simple hand out of "you at the same table" and so on, certainly far from the Spanish old man at this time. Although the old-school tunes of "Blue-Suede-Shoes" do not meet Simon's taste at all, it is undeniable that this song is still very difficult to play.

However, after a little thought, Simon understood.

In the other twelve memories, there is still a top Hollywood soundtrack, and the guitar is an entry-level instrument that is naturally handy. Moreover, there is no shortage of guitar lovers among the other talented Hollywood elites.

The old man sang a song leisurely before turning to Simon, and asked directly in Spanish: "Why come back so early today?"

Simon didn't answer, he just smiled and took out his wallet, took out the 100-dollar bill from it and handed it to the old man. He also replied in Spanish: "Diago, this is my house money last week, and thank you Your care during this time."

The old man nodded, took the money, then glanced at Simon's wallet, teasing with concern, and said, "Without these 100 dollars, you will be hungry soon, right?"

"That's not true," Simon shook his head and smiled: "I found a church nearby. I should be able to get some food stamps."

Hearing Simon's thoughts, the old man laughed and said, "I like you, a young man who is easy to go, but it would be too ungodly to do so. Now, is the guitar good?"

Simon saw that the old man handed the guitar over. He was a little puzzled, but he held it in his arms. He almost subconsciously retuned the strings, and then began to fiddle. It was still the old man's song "Blue-Suede-Shoes". ".

As soon as the tune sounded, the hotelier couldn't help but want to shake his head. The boy obviously knows a little guitar, but he is very jerky.

However, seeing Simon's concentration, the old man did not interrupt.

Then, the Spanish old man witnessed a little miracle that made him a little dumbfounded.

In just ten minutes, Simon's playing changed from jerky to skilled at a jaw-dropping speed. The old man is also at an amateur level in guitar, so it is difficult for him to describe Simon's guitar level in detail.

However, the old man felt very deeply that if Simon's playing level was still behind him ten minutes ago. Then, after only ten minutes, the young man's guitar skills have surpassed his ten streets, and he even entered the room a bit.

When Simon stopped playing, the Spanish old man immediately asked: "My boy, have you learned guitar before?"

Simon nodded. He was also very surprised by his performance just now. He could only explain vaguely to the old man: "I haven't touched it for many years."

The Spanish old man obviously couldn't understand what Simon's concept of "for many years" was, but he finally found a reason for his surprise.

"In this case," the Spanish old man took his guitar back and put it in the next piano case, but then handed it back to Simon, and said: "Give me your backpack and take this to the beach. It's the tourist season now. , I want to play there for a few hours at your level, and the meals for the next few days will be enough."

Simon was just stunned, and he happily handed over the backpack that had been inseparable from him these days, took the piano case and carried it on his shoulders, and smiled at the old man with some precision: "Diago, Gibson borrows all the guitar Give it to me, and use the car. From here to the beach, it's getting dark."

"You little guy," the old man shook his head, and still took out the key and handed it to Simon, but then deliberately said in a rather ridiculous tone: "Don't forget to come on."

Los Angeles, with its long coastline, has many well-known beaches, and one of the most lively is undoubtedly Venice Beach, which is adjacent to Santa Monica Beach.

Venice Beach is more lively in summer.

In addition to countless tourists from all over the world, the pedestrian street of Venice Beach also gathers all kinds of street performers, artists, painters, cyclists, roller skating enthusiasts and other groups, making the entire beach like a lively carnival.

Simon drove more than ten minutes to Venice Beach, spent two dollars to save the car in the paid parking lot, and set off on the famous pedestrian street on the beach with his guitar on his back.

After a while, Simon stopped at an intersection on the side of the street where the traffic was fairly good.

Putting the piano case at his feet, holding the guitar to reconfirm the feel, Simon randomly selected a song "Rocket-man" by Elton John from his memory and began to sing.

With the precipitation of the two lives of humanity, Simon did not feel embarrassed about selling on the street, he felt even more embarrassed if a big man couldn't support himself.

The superb guitar skill that was suddenly inspired unconsciously aroused the attention of passers-by. Although Simon, who is accustomed to focusing, rarely interacts with people around him, there are always tourists in twos and threes around him, listening to the children's songs for a while, putting down some change, and then leaving.

The setting sun began to fall to the sea level unconsciously, and the orange-red light projected from behind Simon, dragging his shadow longer and longer.

From four o'clock to now, for nearly three hours, Simon did not feel tired.

Glancing at the piano box with a thick layer of coins under his eyes, Simon felt that maybe he didn't need to find a second part-time job, so that he could spend his time on other things.

Thinking of this, I was about to finish singing the last song, and then finished work, but a hand above the piano box stretched out from the side.

A very beautiful hand, slender, slender, painted with fiery red nail polish.

It was obviously a woman's hand.

These thoughts flashed through Simon's mind, but in his drooping eyes he found that the beautiful woman's hand didn't seem to put money in the piano case, but instead reached out to the only ten dollar bill.

This is too much.

So Simon raised his right foot and stepped on the hand that wanted to'do evil'.

The owner of the hand didn't seem to anticipate Simon's movement, and Simon didn't expect that hand would not dodge. So, until Simon's right foot fell, there was a somewhat exaggerated female voice beside him.

"Oh, little boy, how can you step on people, it's damned!"

Simon reluctantly pressed the strings, retracted his feet, and turned his head to look aside.

Janet Johnston, who was squatting next to the piano case, was staring at her accusingly, without any conscious of being caught by a thief.

Catherine Bigelow stood beside her friend with a helpless expression and smiled apologetically at Simon.

Simon directly ignored the crazy woman who was still squatting on the ground, and looked at Catherine happily. After meeting with Jonathan Friedman last week, he called Catherine once, but unfortunately no one answered, so he could only leave a message.

I didn't expect to encounter it by accident.

Catherine is still wearing a simple shirt and trousers today, looking very capable.

Simon looked at the woman up and down, and said, "What a coincidence, Catherine, why are you here?"

Although the boy's eyes were not aggressive, Catherine still felt a little unnatural, and slightly avoided Simon's gaze, saying, "Jenny's studio is here. I'm attending a production conference in Beverly in the afternoon. Come back to Malibu with Jenny."

Simon nodded and said, "So, is it "Blood Corpse Night"? How are the preparations?"

"The casting will be over soon. However, there are some problems with the funding of the production company. It may be a few months later to start shooting," Catherine said, and then said: "I saw your message. Also, F Mr. Ridman also called me. He is very optimistic about you, but he is very surprised at your age."

Simon smiled, glanced at his watch, and said to Catherine: "Thank you for this matter. Since we met, will you please have dinner?"

Being ignored by Simon all the time, Janet had some inexplicable bitterness in her heart. When he heard him say this, the woman immediately pointed to the change in the Simon piano box, and said in a joke: "Little boy, you won't use these Will the money invite us to dinner?"