America 1982-Chapter 248 - 83: The Belated Gift_2
"Where are the brothers from the Naval Academy?" Tony asked, ignoring Dennis and the four rookies from West Point who were competing to see who could hold their liquor better, and continued to address the crowd.
Three SSD members from the Naval Academy stood up: "We can help you out too, Tommy, so do you need us to teach another idiot a lesson?"
"No!" Tommy said with a smile, wrapping his arm around Tony’s shoulder, and introduced him to the three, "This is Tony, my full sibling. Due to family reasons, he’s starting school a year later, so he won’t attend the Naval Academy until next year. Even though he’s a rookie, he is my brother, and you can trust him. Hand over any troubles to him; he’s an almighty god, trust me. After all, I’ve known him long enough, and he’s never let me down."
"Pleased to meet you all," Tony said, smiling after shaking hands with the three.
"You can handle any trouble, Tony? Tommy is a legend in our SSD, and I’m very curious to see how capable you are, since he’s spoken so highly of you. Welcome to the Academy next year; we’ll hold a little welcoming ceremony for you," said the rookie leader, drinking with Tony and asking with a smile.
Tony nodded, "I just hope it’s not a welcoming ceremony that involves incontinence."
"Of course not. The Naval Academy prefers to strip rookies naked and tie them to the mast of a training ship," the other replied with a laugh.
"It’s a shame, because of a physical condition, I couldn’t attend a military academy. I love this country, and I’m willing to dedicate everything to it. But it’s not so bad, at least now there are you guys, the mixed bag of brothers from SSD protecting the country for me. Seeing you all makes me feel like I am with you. If I can’t stand on the battlefield, then let me stand behind all of you, ready to lend a hand with whatever I can, whether at school or in the army, whenever you run into trouble, just call me," Tommy said, holding his glass and addressing everyone:
"While I may not be able to join you on the battlefield, maybe I can prepare a little gift for your parents on Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, or accompany them to the hospital when they’re not feeling well. Just leave what you can’t do to me, and I’ll get it done. We’re brothers, here to help each other; that’s what SSD is all about."
"To SSD!" a Fraternity member shouted, raising his glass high.
The rest raised their glasses in chorus: "To SSD!"
Indeed, this is what SSD is all about.
"Here’s to you guys having smooth sailing in the military, cheers, officers!" Tommy Hawk said, raising his glass with a beaming smile to the young faces around him.
...
After the charity dinner, Tommy Hawk took off his suit, changed back into jeans and T-shirt, and returned to Stanford University to continue his studies.
Most of the time, friends who wanted to find him only needed to look in three places, the classroom, the library, and his residence.
A year later, after finishing her studies at Stanford Law School, Sophia said her heartfelt goodbyes to her classmates. Then she saw Mr. Page open the rear door of the blue Cadillac registered in her name:
"Miss O’Connor, I’m here to pick you up."
"Thank you, Mr. Page, but where to?" Sophia asked curiously, puzzled by the usually expressionless old man.
With no change in expression, Page replied, "To the place Mr. Hawk hopes you will go. He has arranged a job for you."
"He didn’t even ask me if I wanted to continue working for him after graduation," Sophia sighed, looking at Page with a wry smile.
With a calm tone, Page inquired, "So, should I call him to have him ask you?"
"No, of course he doesn’t need to ask me," Sophia turned her head for one last look at the campus, then got into the car.
The car started and carried Sophia away from the Stanford University campus, marking the end of her campus life.
...
"GoodGirl, I just knew you could do it," Tommy said as he took out two cans of Coke from the fridge, popped open one for Susan, and handed it to her with a smile.
Susan, who had recently completed her credits at Davenport Community College and received her transfer acceptance letter from Stanford University, meaning she would be part of the freshman class at Stanford.
"What major do you plan on studying?" Tommy asked, sitting opposite Susan, his gaze soft and inquiring.
Susan felt that Tommy looked more mature, but to her, the biggest change in Tommy was his demeanor, an indescribable transformation.
"Any suggestions?" Sophie asked after taking a sip of her Coke, smiling.
Tommy shook his head, "No, you should pick the major you want to study. Nobody else can help with that."
"Political Science. I want to study Political Science; I’ve read a lot of books related to the subject before," Sophie gave her answer.
"That’s a good major," Tommy said in response to Sophie, nodding gently, then after pondering for a moment, he slowly added:
"For a woman, that major is like taking a shortcut. I like dealing with shortcuts that make life easier, and it’s normal for you to choose it too. You’ve been influenced by me deeply, but being successful in shortcuts requires an important precondition..."
"The matching ability," Susan interjected before Tommy could finish, speaking up on her own.
Tommy looked at Susan Curtis sitting before him. Two years at community college had cleansed her of any rough edges, and now she sat there in a red baseball jacket, a white T-shirt with red trim, light blue printed jeans, and white sneakers, barefoot; indistinguishable from any other university student, sitting freely and vibrant, exuding a casual, lively Californian summer fashion vibe.
