America 1982-Chapter 104 - 20: Overthinking is Harmful

"I still remember when the actress playing Snow White said goodbye to me and told me not to be sad, promising that a new Snow White would come to keep me company and cheer me up the next day," Renee Moore said from the passenger seat, sharing her childhood experiences with Tommy:

"But when I went back the next day, it wasn’t her. I was upset for a long time because her family demanded that she stop working. They were quite unreasonable, right? Eventually, she went back to her rural home in Walnut Creek. That’s why, Tommy, I think these things you do with me can help many women. It’s a kind gesture."

Renee Moore was a local from California, living in the Orange County of the metropolitan Los Angeles area, in the City of Anaheim, which is the location of the first Disneyland in the United States, just twenty-eight kilometers from the city of Los Angeles.

Unlike the savage Tommy Hawk, who at fifteen still believed Spider-Man was real, Renee had known since she was a child that fairy tales were all lies because she spent almost every day at Disneyland, watching Snow White and Sleeping Beauties being let go by the park for aging. As a visitor, from elementary school to high school, she witnessed the turnover of three Sleeping Beauties and one Snow White.

Driving his ’63 Barracuda, Tommy gripped the steering wheel: "Are you sure you want me to go with you to meet your father? From my experience in Warwick, when a father finds out his daughter has been taken by a ruffian, his first choice is to grab a gun and teach him a lesson, making him understand the meaning of keeping a distance from his daughter."

Renee’s father, Benjamin Moore, was a senior exhibition designer for a large display company in Los Angeles, primarily responsible for planning and designing various exhibitions. He happened to be in charge of an exhibition in Silicon Valley and was inspecting the venue, so he hoped to have a meal with his precious daughter while he was there.

"My parents are very open-minded, Tommy. They know about you, and when I had my first date with a boy at sixteen, they thoughtfully prepared precautions and even checked the boy’s car. They don’t oppose my dating. My father told me that experiencing love in adolescence is a beautiful thing and if one waits too long to date, they’ll miss out on the most beautiful and innocent years of life." Renee smiled reassuringly at Tommy.

Relieved by Renee’s words, Tommy let out a sigh of relief. In the tough town of Warwick City, even a childhood sweetheart couple like his brother and Ashley would end up with Ashley’s father, Mr. Hurl, chasing Tony with a castration knife down two streets after finding out Tony had slept with his daughter, nearly getting castrated himself.

Benjamin Moore was a genial forty-six-year-old gentleman with deliberately white-dyed hair, sharply tailored suits, meticulously groomed beard, and an old-fashioned pipe in hand, giving him the appearance of a charming middle-aged man, someone who could feature in fashion magazines, exuding an air of artistic allure.

This was Tommy’s first impression of Benjamin.

After Renee embraced her father, she introduced Tommy: "Tommy Hawk, my boyfriend from university. And Tommy, this is my most open-minded and greatest father."

"Mr. Moore." Tommy shook his hand courteously and greeted him.

Just as Renee said, Benjamin was quite open-minded. After a firm handshake with Tommy, he gave Tommy a serious look and told his daughter, "Not bad at all, just as you described him over the phone: sunny, kind, and a simple big boy."

When the three of them entered the French restaurant that Benjamin had booked and were walking with the waiter to their seats, Benjamin suddenly said, "Oh, Renee, you go ahead and order first. I want Tommy to accompany me to buy a few computer magazines. My exhibition this time is related to computers, and since I have to return to Los Angeles after dinner, it’s best to buy them before eating so I can read them on the plane."

"Okay, come back quickly," Renee replied without much thought, agreeing to her father’s request.

But an uneasy feeling immediately surged within Tommy Hawk, reminiscent of the tension just before Tony was chased down the street by Mr. Hurl with an ax.

"Accompany me to the nearest newsstand; I need your professional advice, Tommy," Benjamin said, leading the way out of the restaurant. He didn’t forget to turn his head and smile at Tommy Hawk, but his eyes were sharp.

Tommy followed the man out the door in frustration, muttering under his breath, "So threatening or beating up your daughter’s date behind her back is what they call enlightened."

When they reached the corner of the street outside the restaurant and were sure Renee couldn’t see them, Benjamin finally turned around, grabbed Tommy by the collar and hissed, "Bastard! What have you done to my daughter!"

"Calm down, Mr. Moore, we only did what normal dates do," Tommy said with raised hands, in his most sincere tone, "A hug, a kiss... Okay, actually, we went all the way, but I don’t think in college..."

"Of course I know you did those normal date things! I want to know about the abnormal stuff! You’re planning to trick my daughter into pimping for you, aren’t you?" Benjamin glared at Tommy and growled softly.

Tommy was completely dumbfounded and it took him a moment to regain his senses: "Me, have Renee do what now? Mr. Moore, are you perhaps misunderstanding something about me?"

"You advertised in magazines like ’Seeking Pleasure’ under the guise of training women, no legitimate business advertises in that crap. Renee also told me you had her join a campus gender equality organization, so, you’re using the name of equality to recruit call girls and have Renee manage them," Benjamin said to Tommy: "Don’t play innocent with me, I can see right through you, Tommy Hawk. I will report your issue to the school and have you sent back to where you belong."

Tommy lowered his hands and rubbed his face vigorously: "Mr. Moore, I did indeed advertise in those magazines, but I am planning to teach those women how to use computers so they can find decent employment, not to run a brothel or an escort service."

Benjamin couldn’t care less about Tommy’s explanation: "Don’t give me that nonsense, I won’t believe you. I’m not my poor and naive daughter, no matter how you disguise it, it can’t change the fact that you’re a pimp."

"If I were planning to be a pimp, then Stanford University is fucking supporting me with startup funds to open a brothel! They vetted me more thoroughly than you could in private, Mr. Moore!" Tommy wrenched his collar from Benjamin’s grasp, too exasperated to maintain respect for this suspicious man, and said with a sarcastic tone, "A Stanford student turning into a pimp, Shit! You might as well say I’m going into a lower-class gigolo business, that would at least insult me even more!"

"Are you sure?" When Tommy said he had received startup funding support from Stanford University, Benjamin was stunned; just like Tommy said, the university’s scrutiny was more thorough than his private sleuthing.

Seeing that the other party had calmed down a bit, Tommy nodded, "Of course, Renee is not an idiot. She has the ability to distinguish right from wrong, OK? She’s no longer the naive and simple little girl you think she is. To be honest, I learned my kissing skills from her! There must be some misunderstanding."

"But this is what Renee told us."

"Renee told you that I was planning to open a brothel?"

"No, she said over the phone that you advertised in ’Seeking Pleasure’ saying you help women get jobs. I didn’t believe it, because it’s like me telling people I love the artistic work of exhibit designing, when what I really love is the high salary it pays. So you must be planning to make money by tricking women," Benjamin said to Tommy:

"And then I heard something else from her mother, she secretly told her mom that she bought a dozen ** lingerie, so both her mother and I were shocked, wondering if our daughter is studying at Stanford University or engaging in some illegal profession?"

"I can explain, it’s two separate things, Mr. Moore, I..." Tommy, hearing Benjamin’s words, realized Renee had mentioned two separate incidents that had combined in her father’s mind into a grand drama. He himself had been cast as the ambitious pimp about to deceive and exploit his daughter to build an empire of call girls, which was why he looked ready to send Tommy to prison.

Before Tommy could finish, however, Renee came rushing out of the restaurant toward them. Ignoring her confusion as to why they hadn’t gone to buy the magazines, she held up the pager Tommy had put in her purse and said to him, "Tommy! Jason wants you to call back as soon as you see the message!"