America 1982-Chapter 395 - 47: Tony’s Vacation
"The day before yesterday, I went to Washington for an industry meeting. After the dinner, I made a special trip to the VOX headquarters to see Wolfe, to congratulate him on VOX’s overnight fame, and to eat one of his burgers—it was the least I could do to help him lose weight," Earl said as he hugged his arms and leaned against the door frame of Tommy’s office, addressing Tommy who sat on the couch with a murderous look, furiously intimidating Martin.
At Earl’s words, Tommy didn’t even lift his head; he kept focusing on the mini-game console in his hands. Meanwhile, his bodyguard, mouthpiece, hairstylist, and counterfeit African American big shot, Martin, was holding another unit, the two evidently embroiled in an intense gaming battle.
"Martin, I order you as the boss, you must lose to me!" Tommy focused intensely on pressing the buttons, eyes fixed on the screen’s crude and simple pixelated soccer ball and players, grumbling, "Unless you want Mr. Page to fry you with an electric surge through the controller!"
Normally the mention of Page’s name would have had Martin acquiescing right away, but today, Martin paid no heed to Tommy’s words. With a focused expression and practiced moves, he controlled his team, scoring another goal, making the score 5:0.
Only after one game ended did Martin let go of the controller, turning to Tommy with a relieved expression and saying, "Losing one goal to you means paying you twenty-five bucks, but winning one gets me fifty. So, boss, I’d rather take the two hundred and fifty bucks and then have Mr. Page electrocute my controller—that’s big money."
"It’s all because you interrupted my strategic thinking, Earl. I guarantee this year’s salary will be docked two thousand five hundred bucks," Tommy, dropping the gaming console, seriously said to Earl with an innocent face:
"And, what you just said about meeting Wolfe—then what? Did he send some harsh words your way?"
Earl shook his head, "I deliberately mentioned that you wanted to transfer him out of VOX, thinking he might pick up the phone and curse you out in front of me. But guess what he said to me? He said a burger was enough to fill his belly... wait a minute, wasn’t it two hundred and fifty bucks?"
"Aren’t you a lawyer? Don’t you understand that your interruption robbed me of a game that I could have won with six beautiful goals, shocked the world, and ultimately snatched victory from Martin? Don’t I deserve some **damn** compensation for emotional distress?" Tommy said, pulling out his wallet from his jacket pocket and reluctantly handing the bills over to Martin, acknowledging the bet.
Martin kissed the bills with joy, beaming, "I love you, Franklin! I won’t interrupt your extortion of the lawyer, boss—I’ll wait for Mr. Page outside. If you feel like another round for fun, just let me know."
"Get out, Martin. And ask Sophia how much longer Mr. Page will be till Dorothy arrives, and when we can set off," Tommy slouched on the couch, saying lazily.
Once Martin left with his triumphant, cheerful steps, Tommy then said to Earl, "Wolfe is a good guy; he has never turned me down, and he is undeniably smart, knows what he’s good at."
"Where are you headed? I didn’t come to chit-chat and waste work hours. I’m here to inform you that the California Association for the Advancement of Colored People wishes to invite you, a white man who helped many African American single mothers with your homemade show last year, to attend their award ceremony next week. I guess they’ll even pin a Silver Palm Leaf on you in acknowledgment of your help to the people of color," Earl, perplexed as Tommy prepared to leave, then disclosed the real reason for his visit.
"Didn’t you and your rich wife also receive some sort of spirit award from that association? Please, just accept it on my behalf, Earl. A white man like me showing up there isn’t as approachable as you, and you need the recognition more than I do, right?" Tommy tilted his head up, smiling at Earl:
"Sophia, Page, Martin, Dorothy, and I are going to New York to join the fleet week event of the fleet my brother is in, happening in a few days. My father and sister will be there too; we haven’t seen each other for a long time, and it will probably take a week or two before we return."
Fleet Week is a tradition of the United States Navy. When active-duty warships deployed overseas return to the U.S. for maintenance or resupply and stop at major coastal cities, it’s generally called fleet week there. For about a week, the crew can go ashore in the city to rest, visit, and enjoy the American cuisine they’ve missed. Local Americans can also visit the ships during designated times, led by naval officers.
Typically, on the first or last day, there are military demonstrations, such as aerial acrobatics from carrier-based aircraft or ceremonial cannon salutes from the ships.
The most important aspect is that if the crew’s family members happen to be nearby, they can come over for a long-awaited reunion with their loved ones.
After graduating from the Naval Academy, Tony reported to the headquarters of the United States Third Fleet at Ford Island, Hawaii. Following a six-month-long fundamental assessment and training, he was finally assigned to the USS Nimitz, the eleventh aircraft carrier strike group of the Third Fleet, where he currently serves as an ensign officer in charge of aircraft dispatch.
Actually, the USS Nimitz should not have returned to a domestic shipyard for repairs so quickly at normal speed; it hadn’t been long since its last maintenance. The aircraft carrier had been docked in South Korea for some time, primarily because South Korea was concerned that North Korea would sabotage the Seoul Olympics they were hosting, so they requested that the United States provide escort services for the Olympics, and thus the USS Nimitz was sent to South Korea.
After the mission in South Korea, the USS Nimitz moved near the Mediterranean to provide shelter for Kuwaiti oil tankers, but just over two months into the protection detail, the Kennedy replaced it and sent it back home for repairs. Actually, there was no need for the Kennedy to replace the Nimitz in the Mediterranean, but during its mission, a major accident occurred on the Nimitz.
Tommy, of course, knew what accident had occurred on the USS Nimitz, not just because his brother was on board, but also because VOX reporters who were always on board under the guise of filming documentaries for the Navy knew about it too. However, that major incident couldn’t be leaked by VOX; it had to be announced by the Pentagon Navy Department, if Tommy still wanted to maintain his friendship with his SSD brothers in the Navy.
The accident was that, while the USS Nimitz was escorting Kuwaiti oil tankers in the Mediterranean, the weapons maintenance department made a mistake during the inspection of the shipboard guns and opened fire with live ammunition.
In Tony’s words, accidentally firing during inspection wasn’t a big deal; he had also made the mistake of stepping on the accelerator without disengaging the gear while fixing his car. However, even if he forgot to shift out of gear, he would remember to check that there was nobody in front of the car.
But Tony’s comrades on the aircraft carrier obviously didn’t have his sense of alertness. The machine gun didn’t fire into the sky or the sea, but rather at an A-6 Intruder aircraft parked on their own carrier, treating it as a target for a firepower test. The powerful gunfire directly blew up the $55 million aircraft, causing a fire and instantly sending two soldiers who happened to be inspecting the plane nearby to heaven...
What was worse, the explosion led to a larger fire that also destroyed six other aircraft parked nearby.
This was why Tommy’s VOX didn’t broadcast the news immediately and also why the Kennedy had to replace the Nimitz for repairs back home.
A news network founded by SSD brothers reporting a scandal of the Navy, which has many SSD members? Unless Tommy wanted to completely sever ties with the SSD and lose his connections within the Navy because of this news story.
Besides, personally experiencing the entire accident from beginning to end also completely dispelled the lingering inferiority complex in Tony’s heart. He had always believed that he, a man who didn’t even complete high school, was not worthy of becoming a Navy lieutenant. But now, he felt if he were a fool, more than half of the people on the Nimitz were even worse than fools. At least any high school student in Warwick City would understand not to point a loaded gun at anyone, to avoid accidental discharge.
It’s no wonder Tony was shocked; Tommy was also startled when he knew about it. If it weren’t for the certainty that Dennis and Pam were not on the ship, Tommy almost thought these two hot-headed buddies, seeing the Soviet Union about to collapse, decided to blow up a plane in celebration.
The accident of the USS Nimitz not only caused it to miss the opportunity to shoot down Libyan fighter jets and receive commendation, but also it had to wait for the outcome of an investigation. It was said that when the entire crew of the Kennedy received Navy commendation for downing Libyan fighter jets, the captain’s first words in his internal speech were not thanking God, but sincerely thanking the Nimitz that was willing to face discipline and let their comrades receive the honors instead.
The only benefit was that Tony got a week’s vacation in New York.
"I still want to take some time to talk to you seriously about the issues with the BT television network cooperation," Er said to Tommy. "We now have one hundred and sixty-seven partner stations. Even though we have raised the standards for partnership, we still constantly have stations requesting to collaborate with us, including many from Canada. The problem is, BT’s advertising revenue hasn’t increased significantly. You know what I mean? Some stations are treating us like fools, taking money that should belong to BT."
Tommy still shook his head, "Er, whether it’s about the standards or the method of cooperation, you and Sean, Rick, and the others decide. I’m less experienced in this area than you. As for you feeling that someone is taking us for fools, go ahead and investigate, and if it’s true, take them to court. But I still maintain my stance; I’ll not put up money to buy TV stations and do the whole flagship station thing."
Just then, Sophia walked to the door, tapped gently on the doorframe with her finger, smiled at Er, and then turned to Tommy, "Tommy, it’s time to leave."
After saying that, Sophia quickly left. Tommy got up from the sofa and walked outside, patting Er on the chest as he passed by, speaking with a smile, "Er, I know you’ve always thought I’m exploiting blacks to snatch the gains I want, but I’m just a bit greedy, definitely not a bad guy. So please, don’t be so eager to snatch it away from me. I can assure you, my friend, I’ll definitely sell the BT television network to real blacks. God is my witness."
Even after Tommy and others had vanished down the corridor, Er remained standing seriously in place, because he hadn’t yet figured out why Tommy hadn’t turned against him and had instead given him a very sincere promise.
