America 1982-Chapter 61 - 17: Summer in Kingston (Part 2)

Tommy Hawk was stopped by a checkpoint before he could reach the Special Forces Command Center, with two cadets and a dozen or so local high school students, all black, blocking the road.

"Guys, I’m the Prime Minister, Tommy Hawk, remember?" Tommy stopped his bike and spoke to the two cadets in front of him.

The cadets turned their heads and yelled towards the nearby school, "President Nipfen! The pauper has brought over a dozen snacks!"

"Hey~~ You can only call me a pauper to my face if you’ve spent over fifty bucks at the food truck, are you sure you meet that condition?" Tommy Hawk looked at the two cadets with dissatisfaction.

One cadet nodded, "Because you sell a beef burger with a cola for two US Dollars, yes, I think everyone here meets the condition now, pauper."

Soon, Kevin Nipfen, dressed in sports gear, jogged over and saw, "Hey pauper, hello."

"Hello, Spandex Kevin," Tommy nodded back at him, eyeing those black high school students and said, "So, under your leadership, the local high school students, like the African Americans, are also part-time robbers in addition to their studies?"

Kevin took a look at his subordinates, "Had no choice, I need to prepare for the National Sports Festival, and that white trash Dennis is holding a National Music Festival. We both need more talent. In summer, ice cream is clearly the best food to woo talent over. I hope you understand, pauper, put the food down."

"These are for Frank from Catherine..." Tommy Hawk began to say.

Kevin slowly approached Tommy, "Put the food down, Mr. Prime Minister, don’t make me end you."

"Glad you remember I’m the Prime Minister, you know I can strip you of your position..." Tommy’s feet dug into the ground, trying to back away on his bike as fast as he could in the direction he came from.

Kevin turned his head, "Kids, let him see how athletes persuade others."

As he spoke, the dozen or so black students and the two cadets started to surround Tommy.

Although the black students did not dare to really strike, the two cadets were quite ready to demonstrate their wrestling techniques using Tommy as a prop.

Tommy reluctantly handed over the food he was carrying, "OK, OK, you win, just wait until I bring the militia to deal with you, damn it, as the Minister of Education, you’re actually robbing your own Prime Minister."

"Your food is too expensive, I had no choice, I hope you can understand that. Dennis’s mom opened a supermarket; that guy has a natural advantage. I just have to think of other ways," Kevin took the food and gestured for his men to clear a path.

Tommy Hawk continued on his bike towards the Special Forces.

The National Sports Festival and the National Music Festival are the two major national events happening lately, started by Kevin and Dennis, respectively. The cadets also showed great interest in these two events, skipping work to join the organizing committees of both sides. To ensure that their own event had more participation, they used various tactics to poach committee members from each other. Since Dennis started preparing for the Music Festival, Mrs. Hebers’s small supermarket has experienced several cases of Dennis pilfering.

Kevin had control over the population of the local elementary and high schools while Dennis, with his status as Chief of Police, commanded over a hundred policemen. At present, they were the two largest crime syndicates in the capital of Kingston.

Stonewall Prison on the outskirts of Kingston acted as the Special Forces Command Center as well as the headquarters for Frank’s militia organization.

This prison was built during the British colonial period, and since Saint Vincent’s independence, its usage has been very low. With the opening of the summer camp, the few remaining inmates had been transferred by Madoff and his team to work off their punishment in the sugarcane fields. Now, most of the inmates locked up here are the unlucky summer camp attendees. Once caught by Frank, they would enjoy a half-hour to two-hour stint behind bars.

"Frank, your ten ice creams and five snack boxes were stolen by Kevin in tights and his crew, and this is a major event in the country." Tommy Hawk tossed his bicycle against the wall and walked into the prison with familiarity, shouting, "I think you should bring your troops with me to quell the rebellion!"

Upon entering the prison, Tommy saw Stephen sitting in a solitary cell, smoking a cigarette while helping Frank pack his suitcase.

"Wow, hello, Mr. Wealthy, this must be your first time in prison, right? What’s the charge? Embezzlement?" Tommy asked, grasping the guardrails, "Where’s Frank?"

Stephen methodically folded each piece of clothing and packed it into the suitcase: "I came here originally to reclaim my subordinate who got locked up for not saluting the Queen when taking photographs, then Frank asked me why after taking out a set of clothes to change into, he can no longer zip up the suitcase. I told him it’s because he’s dumb, only knows how to stuff things in without folding, that’s why he can’t zip it. Then he told me he’d show me what’s dumb, if I don’t fold the clothes properly for him, I won’t be leaving. As for Frank, I heard Pam set up a trap and caught a live wild boar. A lot of the campers, including Frank, have never seen a live boar before, so he took his men to go admire it."

"You can fold clothes? I always thought people like you, with money, would even have a nanny to hold you up in the toilet to stop you from peeing sideways." Tommy, surprised to see Stephen folding clothes neatly, asked.

Stephen replied, "I’ve been to boarding school since I was young, where there were even scarier people than nannies watching to make sure I didn’t pee sideways."

After neatly folding the last piece of clothing and zipping up the suitcase, Stephen looked at his handiwork with satisfaction: "I can’t imagine how someone could graduate from high school without knowing how to fold or wash clothes. His mother must have really loved him."

"Doesn’t your mother fold your clothes? It says in your file that you’re Italian Jewish, and you should know, Italian families are all like that. My mother is Italian, and before she left this world, my brother and I never had to fold our own clothes." Tommy Hawk took out a cigarette and handed one to Stephen through the bars.

Stephen took it and lit up: "Ever since I started school, I’ve been at a boarding school, always taught to do everything on my own."

"You folded all these clothes in the suitcase?" Frank, having finished admiring the wild boar, walked in with a dozen men, ignoring Tommy Hawk and looking at the now-incarcerated Stephen in astonishment.

Stephen nodded and said to Frank, "It’s easy, you can learn too. I can teach you. So, can I be released now?"

"I have a better idea. What’s your position again, Mr. Wealthy?" Frank asked.

Stephen said with a smile, "I am the Finance Minister and Minister of Trade for this country."

Frank turned to Tommy, "Not anymore. You need to find someone else to replace him."

"You’re the warden; you don’t have the authority to dismiss my position," Stephen laughed.

Frank pointed at the suitcase on the floor: "You’re my aide-de-camp now, stay and help me with the housework."

"Frank, Mr. Wealthy is..." Tommy tried to help Stephen persuade Frank, but Frank cut him off with a single sentence:

"Or would you rather replace him? Mr. Prime Minister?"

"It’s fine, let him be your aide-de-camp, Frank. After all, there’s not much money for him to manage in this country." Tommy Hawk, with a cigarette in his mouth, looked at Stephen and said, "You’re dismissed now, Mr. Wealthy; you’re his aide-de-camp. Maybe this will make you realize that in this country, now ruled by warlords, wealth isn’t very useful."