America 1982-Chapter 482 - 90: I’ve been at home all along
(Over four hundred words from the previous Chapter were deleted, mainly detailing events after the outbreak of the American Civil War when fleeing black people discovered that the Southern Baptist missionaries’ teachings in the South for two hundred years were entirely different from those in the North, as well as Nick’s description of Jim Jones’ likeness to Tommy Ray, and Martin’s summarizing speeches, etc.~~ What a mess, I woke up to find it turned into an abridged version, and no way to recover or even to keep a copy for myself, as it was written with the help of a writing assistant, no manuscripts were left, or rather, the manuscripts had all been deleted... I don’t know why writing about some true historical anecdotes that actually happened in America would also get deleted...)
In Bay County, Florida, Garden City.
Honestly, Nick came today to meet with Gary Duny on what could be considered a pilgrimage, especially since the image Tommy described a few nights ago was so legendary. Nick didn’t want to get into religious disputes, he simply wanted to see for himself one of the world’s top Bible interpreters, a believer in God who had been collectively exiled by mainstream denominations, and to see what kind of impression he would make.
Unfortunately, after Tommy talked about it that night, there was no more on the subject. Instead, he spent the next few days making numerous secretive phone calls while reading books and attending church services nearby, only declaring five days later that he was going to meet Gary Duny. Unable to contain his excitement any longer, Nick personally took up the camera, hoping to follow Tommy and get as close a look as possible at this seemingly legendary figure.
Following the address left on the promotional brochures, Nick, along with two assistants carrying spare batteries, accompanied Tommy from the bustling metropolis of Miami. They first flew to Panama City, the county seat of Bay County, and then drove to their final destination, Garden Town.
Garden Town, also known as Garden City, had a pleasant name and the town environment was fairly nice too, with lush greenery and clean streets, but there was scarcely any vehicle or pedestrian traffic to be seen.
The airport shuttle drove them to the parking lot outside the Garden City town hall building as arranged. In the parking lot, a middle-aged white man with a weathered face but a kind smile leaned against a large pickup truck, watching Tommy leap out of the shuttle and tentatively approached to ask,
"Tommy Hawk?"
"Yes, it’s me. Are you Mr. Hanks, Dr. Duny’s assistant?" Tommy asked with a smile, extending his hand to clasp hands with the middle-aged man.
The man named Hanks looked over at Nick and his two assistants coming down from the shuttle with their filming equipment. Tommy introduced them, "This is Jeff Raven’s campaign documentary filming crew, from an old Democratic Party donor in California. Besides donations, it’s an extra gift prepared for Jeff... you know, Jeff couldn’t come here personally, but he wanted to capture all this on camera, he really, really admires Dr. Duny." 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮
Nick, hearing Tommy spin a yarn so fluently, had a bad feeling. That son of a gun had told him, Martin, and Page with all seriousness the other night how awe-inspired he was by Gary Duny’s "Return of Christ" church, and yet he started with a lie.
How could they possibly be Jeff’s campaign documentary filming crew? Was Stephen Binns out of his mind to send a team all the way from California to help a guy who believed in the flat earth theory film a campaign documentary? And Nick was certain, Jeff had never even heard of Gary Duny’s name before.
"Anyway, welcome to Garden City," said the middle-aged white man named Hanks, nodding to Nick and his companions.
Nick, shouldering the camera, looked at the large pickup beside Hanks and asked, "So, do we have to get back on the road?"
"Get back on the road? To where?" Hanks asked, puzzled.
Nick pointed at the pickup truck. "To the church, to meet Mr. Gary Duny. I thought this pickup was here to pick us up."
"He’s inside the city hall building. Yes, this city hall building has been purchased by our ’Return of Christ’ congregation, making it convenient for everyone to worship, and the price was so cheap it was practically a giveaway," Hanks turned and gestured towards the three-story building a stone’s throw away:
"Garden City was dissolved five years ago. The police department, the town government, the firefighters...all were disbanded. This is an unincorporated area in the official sense, now merely a human gathering place unfit to appear on the American map. Everything here is now under the jurisdiction of the Bay County government."
Although it was common for America to dissolve certain incorporated towns, Nick was still somewhat incredulous, because such dissolutions typically occurred in major metropolitan areas for the sake of better management. This kind of remote, small town rarely dissolved since the county government was too far away for convenient administration.
Turning the camera, he surveyed the orderly surroundings. "Such a beautiful place? Why dissolve it?"
"No one knows... It was like a trick, that year we voted in two new members for the Garden City government. Then that year, the committee with five members voted 3:2 to pass a resolution to dissolve Garden City. The people here were baffled, unsure what happened. They went to the Bay County government wanting to revoke the resolution, but the county government said, ’The federal and state governments have already approved your request.’ But when did we ever make such a request? Then the county government said, ’The five committee members who passed the resolution were all elected by us. Since we chose them, we effectively gave them the power to exercise our rights and responsibilities, to make the right decisions for us.’ Speaking of those two shitty committee members, after the dissolution, they moved their whole family to Miami. Good riddance. Otherwise, I guarantee the thirty-plus civil servants who lost their jobs would have slaughtered them," Hanks said with a shake of his head, his voice tinged with regret as he led them toward the building:
