America 1982-Chapter 413 - 54: Close as Father and Son
Odelia languidly sat up in bed and discovered that Tommy, who had gotten up before her, had conscientiously turned off the alarm clock again. He had also drawn back a section of the heavy curtains, allowing the sunlight to gently wake her at the tail end of the morning.
The sky outside was as clear as a piece of sapphire. Dressed in her pajamas, she walked to the quaint window, pulled the curtains wide open, and saw Tommy with his sleeves rolled up, standing shoulder to shoulder with Ashley’s father, Hurl, both looking stern as they argued with their old man. Interestingly, her own father Julian, alongside Tommy’s brother Tony, stood behind Colin Senior, with the scene clearly divided into two camps.
Out of curiosity, Odelia slipped on a thick coat and stepped out onto the bedroom balcony to hear what they were arguing about. Only when she came out did she realize she wasn’t the only one drawn to the commotion; on every bedroom balcony, there was a woman who loved gossipping, leaning on the railing and sizing up the men below.
The distance was too far though, and standing on the balcony, she couldn’t hear their argument clearly. But soon, Odelia gleaned the ins and outs of the story from her mother and Ashley.
Yesterday, the three old men had gone to a bar for drinks. Whatever happened, in the end, with the help of her father Julian, they managed to seal a big business deal for Colin Senior.
However, Tommy and Mr. Hurl clearly opposed the deal. After getting up in the morning, the two sides started arguing about it, with a three-on-two situation that persisted from the breakfast table to the yard where they were now.
"Mr. Farrell, if the Hoboken deal was really profitable, why wouldn’t you invest yourself instead of encouraging my dad—who entirely relies on a calculator for basic arithmetic—to put his money in?" Tommy said to his father-in-law, Mr. Farrell. "I asked you to pass the trouble to the poor folks in Rhode Island, not to dump it on my dear old dad, who might have been poor once but now has a smart son, no, two smart sons."
"Thanks for the compliment, Tommy, but I won’t betray my past allegiance to support you," Tony rebutted with a smile upon hearing Tommy’s words.
Colin frowned disapprovingly at Tommy and glared, "Hey! Kid, let me remind you—"
"Remind me of what?" Seeing Colin’s stern face, Tommy stepped back half a step behind Mr. Hurl.
Colin corrected Tommy with utter seriousness, "Thirty, I only use a calculator when the total exceeds thirty."
The other four present paused at Colin’s defense, puzzled as to why it was so important to him to make a distinction between adding up numbers over ten and over thirty—as if to prove the old man was somewhat smarter?
Julian explained, "I’ve clarified many times. According to what you said Tommy, I’d tell those men that my factory had to consider protests from Black people, blah blah blah, and that my son-in-law Tommy supports providing jobs to Black people, given he’s with BT Black Television Network... Before I could finish explaining to everyone, Colin interrupted, telling those drunken hooligans who almost beat me up that, hey, I’ve got a better solution. I have a ship breaking yard in Rhode Island that I’ve always wanted to expand, but there’s no suitable dock or land there. He’s willing to invest and own a part of the Hoboken shipyard’s shares and have the scrapped ships delivered here to be beached and dismantled, and even let them help with the demolition."
Hurl looked seriously at Farrell and Colin, "Dragging those rotten fishing boats from Rhode Island to the New Jersey shores of Hoboken to demolish them? The money earned from the shipyard might not even cover the towing costs. I didn’t go to school, but I can understand this deal isn’t worthwhile, Colin."
"If I don’t interrupt Julian, he’d tell those guys that my son provides television for the Negroes, gives them jobs, and even his Negro bodyguards can drive luxury cars and live the high life at nightclubs. How can I face them? When I first arrived, I even boasted that I was a third-generation KKK member, and now my son is slaving away for Negroes?" Colin Senior argued righteously, "Allocating part of Hoboken’s ship dismantling orders of training ships from the ship breaking yard will allow those people to keep working, and I can continue to profit."
Tony also nodded in agreement, "I think you’re making a big fuss over nothing, Tommy. Besides, the dismantling contracts for the training ships of the Rhode Island Naval Preparatory Academy—I think it would be faster to drag the ships to Hoboken for demolition. Old man and the others are only willing to dismantle three to four ships a year, it’s too inefficient. Mr. Farell also said he’s willing to provide a reasonably priced tugboat."
"Have you ever seen a government contractor willing to finish their work faster? Those long-term dismantling orders for the decommissioned training ships that I helped secure are old man and Mr. Wilson’s retirement contracts, get it? They are meant to be completed slowly. There’s plenty of training ships, we just need to dismantle them slowly, no need to hurry and drag them to our own shipyard. They can stay docked at the academy, and we take apart one ship in the off-season, and earn some money. But now, two to three hundred workers could finish old man and their decade of work in three months." Tommy didn’t bother with his dad but seriously explained to Tony:
"Moreover, old man doesn’t have that much money. I bet it’s Mr. Farell who offered to lend old man some. So this is Mr. Farell’s problem."
Julian Farell didn’t deny it but generously stated that if they made money, the interest could be calculated at the lowest rate, and if they didn’t make money, there was no need to pay back the interest.
Seeing his father-in-law’s face, ready to charge even his own relatives interest on earning money, Tommy took a deep breath and stepped forward towards Julian, lowering his voice,
"Don’t push me, Mr. Farell; you’d better assume the investment costs my father has agreed to right now. Maybe mentioning a certain place will increase the likelihood of your agreement, say, Manhattan’s Alamo."
"I also happen to know a place name, Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco." As Tommy’s father-in-law, Julian also stepped forward half a step, whispering into Tommy’s ear.
Tommy quickly added at a rapid pace, "Vienna, Austria."
"Four Seasons Hotel, Washington." Julian countered, unwilling to show weakness.
"Miami Blue Beach."
"Four Seasons Hotel, Miami."
Tommy sighed, and they each took a step back. Therefore, the idea that nuclear binding can maintain world peace must be correct.
"Shall we continue, kid?" Julian smiled at Tommy and winked as he asked.
Now he wasn’t worried that Tommy would bear to part with his daughter. Over the years, Tommy had invested more in his own daughter’s efforts and skewed resources than even he as her father had. Although the guy had once feigned being a good man for three years, Julian hadn’t given up. As a son-in-law holding information about his private meetings with several mistresses, how could he not have some equivalent dirt in his hands, lest he be blackmailed by this little bastard?
Peace must come from equivalent strength. If the other party could hire Pinkerton detectives, he wasn’t a poor ghost without money; hiring another team from Pinkerton was the answer.
"You’re pushing me, Mr. Farrell. I’ve entrusted the accounting audit of my VOX TV network to a very competent finance manager from KPMG, Ms. Sherry Reynolds is in charge. If you insist, I’ll get her to help my old man manage the finances of the shipbreaking yard," Tommy said, worried that his father-in-law was bluffing, thus he decisively raised the stakes, showing that he not only knew the process but even the woman’s name and identity.
Equally calm and collected, Julian shot back at Tommy, "Last year, the legal advisor of the Seaway Ship Industry was replaced by a lady named Delia Case. I think she’s also excellent. If you’re trying to scare me, I’ll have her discuss the issue of your threatening me with you."
The unscrupulous father-in-law and son-in-law stared at each other unyieldingly for a few seconds before both glanced guiltily towards the balcony where the Farrell women were, and then they embraced each other. While encircling Tommy’s neck tightly with his arms, Farrell said affectionately, "I still love you, Tommy. We’re family. Don’t let money corrode our kinship. I’ll pay for it."
"I hold you in the same respect. I’m sorry, I can’t believe I just talked to you with such disrespect a moment ago. I’ll look for a buyer to see if we can get a good price for the shipyard’s land. I can’t let you bear the loss." Tommy encircled his arms around his father-in-law’s lower back and tried to squeeze him in a death grip, yet his tone was full of guilt.
"Sell it?" Colin suddenly asked, hearing the words coming out of his son’s mouth.
"To actually hand over the order to them? Of course, it’s using the pretext of the Navy’s training ship dismantling order to hold their appetite, and the excuse of an investment inspection to conduct a detailed investigation. To see if there’s anything left to squeeze out of their worthless shipyard. If there is, then buy it at a bargain price, sell it off, declare bankruptcy, and let those who humiliated me yesterday continue to be unemployed," Farrell said, still holding Tommy tightly as if wanting to show everyone his affection for his son-in-law through the embrace. Letting go of Tommy, he turned to Colin to address his confusion.
As Julian finished his vampire-like speech, the situation shifted once again. Mr. Hurl immediately defected to Colin and Tony’s side, while Tommy and Julian, who just moments ago couldn’t wait to send each other off, stood firmly together.
Colin stared at Julian, questioning in disbelief, "Those people were so happy when they heard the results yesterday, they almost fell to their knees licking our eggs, treating you and me like gods sent to save them. Remember the bartender? He waived all our charges. And that barmaid? She couldn’t wait to beg you to pinch her more as thanks for providing work for her husband among those men. And now you say you want to continue to make them unemployed."
"What I’m saying is, three months of kindness is still kindness. A lick and a pinch which can make them happy for three months isn’t too short a time," Tommy said before adding:
"Or maybe I’ll have Mr. Page send last night’s expenses back to the bartender."
Julian patted Tommy approvingly, "Well said. Who remembers the drunken words from last night?"
Colin, seeing the antics of the two, turned away and left abruptly. Mr. Hurl appraised the despicable father-in-law and son-in-law, "Even the animals out in Warwick’s countryside have more sentiment than you two..."
"Did you want to say something?" Tony looked at Tommy speechlessly, then quickly followed his old man and patted him comfortingly on the back.
Colin sighed, "Yeah, I thank God I had two sons. Son, I have an idea. How about you change your surname back to Hawk, and let Tommy take the Farrell name?"
