America 1982-Chapter 468 - 84: Just Look at the First Half

Miami Veterans Affairs Management Center.

This place is responsible for handling all the administrative affairs involving veterans in the Miami area, and manages the various veteran retirement homes, welfare institutes, clinics, and public canteens in the Miami region.

Tommy, with some introductory materials in hand, walked out of the main entrance of the management center with a troubled expression on his face. He got back into his car, then took out his wallet and counted the cash inside. Including his own hundred dollars, there was only five hundred and thirty dollars in total. Seeing Tommy’s gloomy face, Page said beside him,

"Based on the situation in California, if you donate four hundred dollars to the retired police officers’ association, it would be enough to receive an invitation to the association’s quarterly appreciation dinner. If you think the small change looks too shabby, I can go get it exchanged for four hundred-dollar bills for you."

"I know, it’s cheaper here than in California, three hundred dollars would get an invitation letter, but I don’t need the invitation to the quarterly appreciation dinner. Jeff isn’t in any position to speak at the dinner, and besides, four hundred dollars is not enough for the association to give him a chance to campaign," Tommy took a deep breath, expressing his frustration,

"He doesn’t have a patron, no base, nothing, so he can’t strike a deal with the wealthy people at the dinner. He can only try to squeeze money out of a certain group of poor people. Only by turning that group into Jeff’s base and ensuring he has the value that other party candidates would notice or want to collaborate with, will the wealthy possibly consider talking to him. The main thing is, there are already politicians who have thought about vying for this group’s votes. Gerard Richman, the Democratic Party’s third-ranked candidate, his political action committee donated twenty thousand dollars here. Which means, unless we put out more money, at this moment all the officials and employees here won’t pay any attention to us, let alone cheer for Jeff."

"Do you need me to drive?" Page, indifferent to the situation, simply asked Tommy.

Tommy flipped through the introductory brochure about veterans’ welfare institutions: "Yes, we have to do it the hard way, going through those retirement homes one by one to fundraise for Jeff. Miami has a total of twelve veteran retirement homes. We need to collect at least two thousand dollars from each one. Based on an average of 42 residents per location, each old-timer has to give us at least forty-eight dollars, which means we have to package Jeff better. Otherwise, with Jeff’s current foolish demeanor, forget about forty-eight dollars, we wouldn’t be able to raise forty-eight cents."

"Where to?"

Tommy threw the brochures of subsidiaries provided free by the Veterans Affairs department to the back seat:

"Drive, let’s go to the car rental first, then to the clothing store, after that to the video studio, and also find a barber... Right, Martin used to be a barber."

When Tommy finally returned to Jeff’s place after getting everything done, it was past dinner time, but the household hadn’t gone to bed early. On the contrary, Jeff’s living room was a hive of activity.

The four children were eagerly queuing up by the telephone, taking turns urging their classmates and friends to turn on the TV and watch their father’s grand appearance. Their aunt Gina was also lined up behind them, prepared to call back to her rural hometown to brag to the relatives about her brother-in-law becoming an important figure who appeared on television.

For many country folks, being on TV was an unimaginable affair.

Jeff and his wife cuddled on the sofa, enjoying the news footage playing on the TV. Jessica regretted not having Jeff wear the suit they got married in today, thinking it would have made him look more handsome. Meanwhile, Jeff mentioned that the burger shop owner had specially called to say he sent a twenty-dollar check to support his campaign and told Jeff that the next time he’s on TV, he hopes Jeff would continue to hold up their burger joint’s sign.

As for Martin, he was having a serious discussion with Jeff’s two smart friends, Zack and Allen, about who had better acting skills between him and Jeff.

When Tommy entered the room, the whole living room suddenly quieted down, leaving only the voice of the newscaster from the television. After a two-second pause, everyone snapped back to their own tasks, while Jessica got up, offering that she had saved dinner for Tommy.

"Jeff, I rented a car for you, it’s parked outside. Come give it a try." Tommy declined Jessica’s invitation to try the Chinese dinner and gestured to Jeff,

"Also, I could hear you guys hollering inside from outside, anyone would think you’d just won the Nobel Prize in Physics for your thesis on flat earth! Keep it down, it’s just a few local TV news appearances."

Jeff stood up, confused, "You rented a car for me? But we have three cars at home, why rent another one?"

They had three family cars: one was his Ford Tempo sedan, handy for storing all sorts of tools for his plumbing repairs in the trunk; another was the Ford Mercury that Jessica used for grocery shopping and shuttling the kids around; and there was also a Chevrolet six-seater family van, perfect for weekend outings with the whole family of six.

The rest of the gathering had heard Tommy’s remarks, and now they were all walking out the door with Jeff, curious to see what kind of car Tommy had rented for him. When they stepped outside, everyone seemed to turn to stone, frozen in place.

In front of them, there was a battered and beaten 1979 Ford F150 pickup truck, its body sprayed with jungle camouflage, and on the hood was a glaring depiction of the American flag, accompanied by a conspicuous slogan:

"This is America! Say No to Cubans!"

Everyone was stunned into silence by the appearance of the truck. Jeff’s clever friend, Zack, even covered his mouth, letting out a low expletive in shock, "Shit! Tommy, you managed to drive this all the way back in District 18, where 45% of the population is Cuban? No one smashed it?"

"Go ahead and try it out, tomorrow you have to drive this veteran pickup truck to the Veterans’ Retirement Home to give a touching speech and pay your respects to those retired vets," Tommy said to Jeff.

Looking at the dilapidated, old-fashioned pickup that didn’t even look decent, Jeff said, "I don’t really understand, Tommy. Why should I drive this truck? My Ford Tempo looks much better than this one, it’s only three years old, while this truck has been abused in a swamp for at least eight years."

"Ford Tempo? Are you fucking kidding me? Take that kind of car to a place full of veterans?" Tommy looked at Jeff, swore, and then turned to Martin.

"Martin, help translate for Jeff why he can’t take his car there."

Serving as Tommy’s mouthpiece, Martin shrugged and spoke bluntly, "Because those old vets will ask Jeff, ’Hey kid, when you bought your car, did the dealership make you leave your balls there as collateral? Is that why you came home with a car that only a woman would drive?’"

"Good job, you’ve got the translation right. That’s exactly what I mean." Tommy opened the door of the pickup and handed Jeff’s wife a full set of clothes. "This is what Jeff is supposed to wear tomorrow: a camo baseball cap, a camo T-shirt, polo jeans, and boots."

"And one more thing~" Finally, Tommy handed a videotape to Jeff. "Learn how to be a tough guy."

Jeff looked down and saw that it was an old movie from 1978, starring Sylvester Stallone, called ’Fist’.

The film depicts the story of a young worker, full of passion, who leads a strike against the collusion between politicians and capitalists in corruptly exploiting workers, eventually growing up to become the chairman of a truck drivers’ union that colludes with politicians, capitalists, and the mafia.

Before Jeff could figure out why he had to watch this film, Tommy added, "One last thing, only watch the first half. The second half isn’t suitable for you at the moment."