"Georgie has been gone for three days now. I wonder how his purchase of game machines is going."
During the Cooper family dinner, Meemaw Connie unconsciously started chatting about Georgie.
Yes, three days ago, Mike ultimately failed to persuade Georgie. Under the pressure of marriage and having a baby, Georgie decided to gamble.
And a hundred-thousand-dollar big business was a very big deal for the Cooper family.
Therefore, for the past few days, everyone's attention had largely been on the departed Georgie.
"Not even a phone call, being all mysterious..." Mentioning her unreliable eldest son, Mary frowned: "I don't know why, but I've had a bad feeling these past few days."
As the saying goes, mother and son are connected at heart. Georgie leaving three days ago without any news naturally made Mary, his mother, very worried.
"Don't worry, Georgie has grown up. I believe he can be responsible for his own actions."
As the head of the family, George Sr. had quite a bit of confidence in his eldest son.
Fledglings have to grow up sooner or later.
Georgie was about to start a family, and the baby was coming soon. Under these circumstances, George Sr. was very happy to see him being able to stand on his own.
Just as everyone was chatting about Georgie, the home phone in the living room rang.
"It must be Georgie calling; I'll get it..."
Mary, with her heart hanging in suspense, walked quickly out of the dining room.
A few minutes later, when she returned, she looked as if her spirit had been drained.
"What's wrong, Mary? Is there a problem with Georgie?" Seeing her daughter's appearance, Meemaw Connie also had a bad premonition.
"It's Georgie... the call was from the police station. They said Georgie was arrested..." Mary said with a dazed expression.
You know, for ordinary people, going to jail is not a good thing.
"What... Georgie was arrested..."
The bad news brought by Mary changed the expressions of Meemaw Connie and the others drastically. Mandy clutched her belly, as if the fetal energy was disturbed.
"Everyone calm down!"
At the critical moment, it had to be Meemaw Connie.
"Mandy, don't get excited. With us here, Georgie will be fine..." After soothing Mandy, Meemaw Connie looked at her daughter and asked seriously: "Speak clearly, what exactly happened to Georgie?"
"I didn't hear too clearly either, only remember the other party mentioned smuggling, contraband, seizing, or something..." The distracted Mary complained: "I knew nothing good would happen with Georgie."
"This..." Not knowing exactly what Georgie had done, Meemaw Connie had no idea for a moment.
"Don't worry, everyone~"
Seeing the scene becoming chaotic again, Mike comforted everyone and said: "I'll call Robin and ask what exactly happened."
Having some guesses about Georgie's matter, he decided to check with Robin.
Robin, who worked at the Department of Transportation, was the guarantor for Georgie's arcade. Now that Georgie was in trouble, she should have been notified too.
"I was just about to call you guys..." After the call connected, Robin's tone wasn't good.
Obviously, as a guarantor, she was also implicated now that Georgie was in trouble.
However, considering the relationship between Pastor Jeff and the Cooper family, Robin still explained in detail what Georgie had done.
Finally, she reminded Mike to notify the Cooper family to go to the police station to bail him out.
"Did you find out what happened to Georgie?" As soon as Mike hung up the phone, Meemaw Connie asked.
"I found out..." Mike didn't keep them in suspense and explained what Georgie had done.
It turned out Georgie used a connection in Mexico to buy game machines.
Unfortunately, on his way back transporting the game machines, he was caught by border police.
Fortunately, what Georgie smuggled wasn't dangerous goods, which gave him the chance to be transferred to the local police station.
However, because the nature of Georgie's behavior was bad, the local police, under pressure, followed the clues and subsequently seized his arcade.
Now he was detained at the local police station, waiting for the final penalty.
"So, Georgie is quite capable." Knowing exactly what Georgie did, Meemaw Connie relaxed instead.
With rich life experience, Meemaw Connie knew that although Georgie's offense seemed complicated, the actual penalty wouldn't be too severe.
However, George and Mary, as law-abiding people, felt the sky was falling after hearing their son's thrilling experience.
"Mary, you stay home to take care of Mandy and the children. George, Mike, and I will go to the police station to check..." Before long, Meemaw Connie made the most reasonable arrangement.
...
In the detention room of the police station, one side was piled with a large number of unopened game machines, and on the other side was a dejected Georgie.
"Do you admit to smuggling game machines and running a gambling arcade?" The middle-aged police officer holding a stack of documents interrogated Georgie according to procedure.
That stack of documents recorded all of Georgie's evidence of guilt.
"I admit it." Georgie admitted defeat decisively.
Having not suffered violence, apart from being in low spirits, his overall state was actually not bad.
"Good that you admit it~" Seeing Georgie willing to cooperate, the middle-aged police officer didn't make things difficult for him and directly announced the penalty result: "Given the bad nature of your offense, as a warning, you will be fined five thousand dollars or sentenced to three months in prison. Choose for yourself."
"I choose to pay the fine, but is five thousand dollars too much?" With his girlfriend pregnant at home, Georgie naturally wouldn't choose jail.
But having just made a big move, he had exhausted all his and Mandy's savings in one go.
So, Georgie couldn't produce five thousand dollars now. Thus, with a flash of inspiration, he thought of playing the emotional card: "My girlfriend is about to give birth. To take care of her and the baby in her belly, I need a lot of money. So..."
Georgie's meaning was obvious: crying poor to make the other party lenient and pay less fine.
"Truly touching~" Sure enough, the middle-aged police officer was attracted by Georgie's story, but he wasn't lenient: "According to regulations, five thousand dollars is already your minimum fine. Of course, you can also choose jail."
Seeing the police officer change his face instantly, Georgie finally became distressed.
Just then, the door of the detention room was pushed open, and Meemaw Connie, George Sr., and Mike walked in accompanied by the receptionist.
"Why are you here?" Having just done something wrong, Georgie felt a bit ashamed to face the three.
"If not for the police station calling, we wouldn't know what good deeds you've done recently." Meemaw Connie scolded Georgie, then went to the middle-aged police officer to understand the situation.
Knowing that Georgie could leave after paying bail, Meemaw Connie decisively took out five thousand dollars and gave it to the police.
"Let's go, Georgie. Time to go home." Meemaw Connie maintained her cool persona.
"Thank you, I'll find a way to pay you back." Finally, the matter ended, and Georgie, walking out, promised.
"No rush for that; you'd better think about how to explain to Mary and Mandy when we get back!" Meemaw Connie, who had made some money in the stock market, didn't care much about five thousand dollars.
At this time, she even had the leisure to "watch the fun."
You know, Georgie not only "failed" in starting a business this time but also lost all his and Mandy's savings.
With the career gone, how to support the girlfriend and the child in her belly?
One can imagine that Georgie's unwise move this time would inevitably make Mary, as a mother, furious.