America 1982-Chapter 95 - 13

The SSD Fraternity house was in full swing, with every member, except the new pledges, convened in the great meeting room, their eyes glued to the screen on the television.

It showed footage of the pledges from last night’s party. The president, Charles, spoke up, "Name the first pledge that left an impression on you."

Eric said with a smile, "Tommy Hawk—he was the life of the party last night."

"Jason White!" another voice chimed in, offering a different name to Eric’s surprise. Most of the room nodded in agreement, finding Jason White more memorable.

Eric, somewhat puzzled, pointed at the TV, which was showing Tommy Hawk performing magic tricks for a group of girls, eliciting their beaming smiles: "That guy left with two BDP girls before midnight—it’s clear he was the star recruit of the night."

"You can’t just go by the footage. In reality, Jason White made a bigger impression on me," said the house manager, looking at Eric with conviction. "I bet he’ll pass our tests and become our brother."

"What did he do?" Eric asked him.

The house manager shared his observations with Eric: "That guy took a few drunk pledges to the front gate of the Phoenix Society, pissed on their door, and when they came out to punch him, it didn’t stop him from peeing. In fact, they got sprayed instead. Under his lead, those pledges turned the Phoenix Society into their personal restroom, and that kind of leadership and performance is hard to overlook."

"Brilliant move!" Eric said, thoroughly convinced after hearing the story.

Charles wrote down Jason White’s name on the nearby whiteboard, then continued to ask, "Second name."

This time, the majority of the veterans mentioned Tommy Hawk. A pledge that could take home two girls on his first party was already outdoing many of the veterans’ performances during their own rookie times.

Charles added Tommy Hawk’s name and then went on, "Third..."

As the process repeated, and no more pledge names were called out, the blackboard was left with nine names. Charles looked over the nine names on the whiteboard and then turned to face the thirty-odd brothers, declaring,

"Get ready. Figure out their finishing times, then bring these nine maggots over. The SSD’s hell week is starting."

"Yeah!" The group roared in approval, rising from their seats and dashing out of the meeting room.

...

In the library, Tommy Hawk skillfully completed the borrowing records on the Apple2 at the work station, then booted up his own Osborne 1, ran the pre-installed SuperCalc spreadsheet software, and placed a stopwatch on the desk. After starting the timer, he rapidly began entering data in the same way as recorded.

Maya Gibbons was initially inspecting the aging of the books on the shelves, but the loud clacking from the work station drew her over. Seeing Tommy entering data on his portable computer, she asked with some curiosity, "Tommy, what are you doing?"

"Nothing much, just using a spreadsheet software from a different system to do the same task, to see which is more efficient," Tommy replied, eyes fixed on the Osborne 1’s screen as he responded to Maya.

Maya walked over to Tommy, eyeing the small screen’s continuously changing tables and numbers, "What’s the purpose of doing this?"

"Testing. Besides SuperCalc, there’s Lotus 1-2-3, CalcStar, and a few other spreadsheet programs. So far, the most efficient one is Lotus 1-2-3 on an IBM PC. It’s the slowest in the same tasks, but that’s only if you remember the cumbersome combination of shortcut keys. Next is Microsoft’s Multiplan, which is slightly easier to operate than the former, but the versions update too fast, and each update is like starting over, forcing users to relearn how to use the software. The slowest is VisiCalc on the Apple 2, which is the computer here in the library." After completing the same amount of work, Tommy pressed the stopwatch’s stop button and then spoke to Maya,

Maya Gibbons was somewhat surprised by Tommy’s explanation. She had always thought that this student was only working part-time in the library temporarily, planning to leave as soon as he found a better job. She didn’t expect him to work here on time every day, always quiet and friendly, most of the time spending his time reading computer-related books at his seat.

"And the purpose? To write some software testing articles for computer magazines and earn a fee?" Maya gently touched the portable computer that Tommy had brought with her and asked with a smile. But then, after asking, she thought it unlikely that he was earning fees, as the computer in front of her cost $1795, and the number of students with personal computers in the whole school was still limited. However, she had heard that Tommy had bought five different personal computers in one go.

Tommy took a sip of water from his cup, eyes on the computer, and said to Maya, "No, it’s my personal testing of these programs. Besides completing the homework assigned by teachers, I always need something to do. Right now, I’m exploring how to make my small programs capable of opening Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet documents."

"You don’t seem much like those students keen on software development," Maya said with a laugh, after hearing Tommy’s explanation.

Tommy honestly told Maya, "I’m indeed not keen on software development. I just feel that these programs could be more convenient, so I copy and optimize them. But the workload is quite large, much of it still in the brainstorming phase in my head."

"Sounds good, keep it up," Maya complimented Tommy, then left the workstation.

As the time for Tommy to finish his shift was approaching, the girl who was supposed to take his place had already arrived. Tommy packed up his computer, made his last cup of coffee, opened a magazine, and prepared to spend his final five minutes of this part-time job.

At that moment, two white men dressed as ninjas briskly walked into the library from outside. The girl taking over Tommy’s workstation watched in surprise as the two ninjas approached and thought they were coming to kidnap her. Just as she was about to scream, one of the ninjas made a ’shh’ gesture to her, then walked toward Tommy, who was bending down drinking coffee and reading the magazine.

"Friend~" one ninja began to speak to Tommy.

Tommy subconsciously looked up, and a knit cap was placed over his head, covering his eyes. Then, proficiently, the two men taped his mouth shut, one of the strong ninjas lifted Tommy on his shoulder and rushed out of the library. One of the ninjas came back, picked up Tommy’s computer, and gave the girl an apologetic smile,

"Sorry, forgot to take his computer."

Then, slipping away surreptitiously and swiftly, the entire episode took no more than thirty seconds.

"What happened?" Maya, noticing the girl staring at the library’s main entrance, came over and asked.

Regaining her gaze, the girl looked at Maya, "Two ninjas just kidnapped Tommy. Should we call the police?"

"Haven’t you applied for any sororities or such organizations?" Maya asked, laughing after hearing the girl’s description.

The girl shook her head, "No."

"Then you’re missing out on a lot of fun experiences," Maya replied with a smile to the girl. "This is part of the fraternity or sorority pledge period, no need to call the police. We just need to wish Tommy luck."