America 1982

In the E-66 dormitory, Jason White was buttoning his shirt in front of the dressing mirror, and asked Tommy to help him pass the dark gold tie next to him. At the same time, he asked Tommy: "Are you sure you don't want to change into something serious?" Clothes? I heard from my cousin that when freshmen visit those fraternities tonight, if you dress appropriately and solemnly, it will make them think that you are a mature and reliable person."

As he spoke, he took the tie handed over by Tommy, but in a hurry, he wrapped the tie around the collar of his shirt. Tommy walked over, motioned for the other person to put down his hand, and then helped Jason tidy it up skillfully. Good Tie: "I tried to persuade you, Jason, but you insist on dressing so formally."

"Yes, this is the most important night for college freshmen, which determines whether we will be unknown or famous in the next four years." Jason stood obediently in front of the dressing mirror, letting Tommy adjust his tie for him, and said in a serious tone.

Tommy stepped back in understanding and watched as Jason put on a dark blue double-breasted old-fashioned suit and a dome hat on his head. He then held a black umbrella with both hands, full of hope. Looking at Tommy: "How about it, Boss, do you look like those elites?"

"Brother, if you stick a false beard under your nose, everyone will mistake you for a big shot named Chaplin." Tommy smiled at Jason and said, "Let's go, the teacher has urged you to go down several times. Gathered."

Jason held an umbrella and said to Tommy, who was only wearing a baseball jacket and a printed T-shirt: "You have to respect the brotherhood."

"I fucking respect them, or I wouldn't be wearing a jacket to hide the penis printed on the back of my T-shirt." Tommy said to Jason: "Not everything your cousin said is true. The truth may sometimes be just to trick you."

The administrator of Hope Apartment accompanied the freshmen counselor and urged them downstairs several times before more than 40 freshmen from Hope gathered outside the apartment building. Some people even sprayed deodorant on their bodies when they went downstairs. Something like elixir or perfume.

Tonight is recruitment night. Seventeen fraternities on Stanford Greek Avenue are open unconditionally, allowing freshmen to visit, learn about the history and past of each fraternity, and communicate candidly with fraternity members.

Freshmen who want to join a fraternity will try their best to impress their favorite fraternity members, even if they are indifferent otakus, they will go out of their way to find the clothes they think are the coolest.

For example, the four-eyed boy standing next to Tommy was wearing a white sportswear printed with various numbers and symbols. He stood out in the crowd, like a patient who escaped from a mental hospital wearing a hospital gown.

"OK, guys, for the next four or five hours tonight, I'm going to be taking you to Greek Avenue and visiting seventeen fraternity houses, and I need to remind you that if you have any important letters of recommendation, yes , that is, your family, friend or boss was a member of a certain fraternity before, and he gave you a letter of recommendation. You'd better remember to take it with you tonight, and then give it to the person in the fraternity who will talk to you tonight. This is the only time you have unrestricted access to those buildings. After tonight, if you go to those buildings without receiving an invitation from the fraternity, you will be charged with trespassing." The instructor said to the freshmen in front of him. He opened his mouth and warned.

As he finished speaking, most of the freshmen took out one or more letters of recommendation from their pockets, including Jason, who took out two letters, held them in their hands and said to Tommy: "If the Order of the Phoenix or the White Robes don't have To take me in, I would have to rely on the recommendation letters of my uncle and cousin to join the fraternity they had joined back then. It was not well-known and had very few social activities, but it was better than getting nothing in the end. Speaking of which, my cousin’s The first time, it was destroyed at the hands of the black girl from the fraternity, and then after graduating from college, he became a staunch white supremacist and racist."

"I guess just sleeping with a black girl for the last time is not enough to make a white person immediately become a racist. It is probably that your cousin's sleeping skills received relatively direct negative feedback from a black girl, which made him feel that the other party insulted him. He couldn't take it," Tommy chuckled.

The group of people followed the instructor to Greek Avenue. The instructor pointed to the first fraternity house and introduced: "This is the earliest fraternity organization established at Stanford University, LIS. Those who are interested can go in and visit, and others can follow. I keep walking forward."

Although this fraternity called LIS has put a lot of thought into the recruitment night, almost even the lawn in front of the fraternity house has been carefully trimmed. From a distance, you can see that a small band and various performances have been prepared in the living room with the door open. Drinks were served, but still no freshmen were willing to go. Seeing the silence of the students, the teacher nodded, turned around and continued to lead the team forward: "Well, it seems that many branches of LIS will close down this year, the next one. "

The reason why no one went in to visit, first, was that LIS, as he said, had become the most well-known fraternity in the country last year. Members of a LIS chapter in Montana used the fraternity house to traffic drugs. Although the investigation concluded that It has nothing to do with the General Assembly, but it has obviously caused a devastating blow to the reputation of all LIS chapters in the United States. Everyone is not opposed to smoking some marijuana and other things at fraternity parties to cheer up, but it does not mean that they want to become drug dealers.

Second, you should always walk the Greek Avenue from beginning to end first, and know the general location of these fraternities before choosing slowly. After all, when you go shopping in a mall, you have to walk around in a circle before choosing products slowly.

It took nearly half an hour to complete the journey. After the instructor introduced the general situation of the seventeen fraternities, he announced that everyone can now disperse. Those who are not interested can go back to the dormitory directly. Those who are interested can visit the fraternity of their choice. He will be waiting nearby and you can come see him anytime if you have any questions.

When he announced the disbandment here, dozens of girls from a distance also arrived under the leadership of their instructors. Each one was carefully dressed up and put on their most beautiful clothes, completely outperforming these unkempt boys.

"Tommy, where should we go first?" Jason asked Tommy after the teacher announced the dismissal.

Tommy walked directly in the direction of the Order of the Phoenix: "Order of the Phoenix, my friend is there. No matter where I end up going, the first place I want to go is there. Give him enough respect."

When the two of them arrived at the Brotherhood House of the Order of the Phoenix, although they took a quick look from the outside, when they entered the lobby, Jason couldn't help but cursed: "Damn it, it's so big here that you can almost Down to the whole state of Mississippi!”

There were at least forty or fifty people gathered in the living room on the first floor, but it didn't feel crowded at all. The living room was divided into two areas. One was the screening area. The oversized TV was playing the past honors shot by the Order of the Phoenix. Documentaries, interviews with well-known alumni and other content, one area is the communication area, where more than a dozen fraternity members in suits and leather shoes, wearing Phoenix badges on their chests, face each newcomer with a smile, and gently answer their questions about brothers Any questions that would be asked.

Jason's yuppie outfit had to be said to be very eye-catching. As soon as he entered the hall, at least four members of the Order of the Phoenix looked at him with admiration. One of them came over with two glasses of juice and handed it to him. Jason a cup:

"Hi, how can I help you? Umbrellas can be placed on the umbrella stand at the entrance."

"Did you buy this house? Sir, it's really big. How many rooms does it have?" Jason asked as the first sentence after taking the juice.

Tommy, who originally thought that his roommate's appearance could last for five minutes, knew from Jason's first words that this guy had no chance of joining the Order of the Phoenix in his life, so he turned around and walked towards the sofa next to him.

Sure enough, as Jason asked, the smile on the other person's face became a little weird. In the end, he just responded to Jason with a faint smile: "Sorry, no comment, feel free to visit."

Tonight, the freshmen choose the fraternity, and the fraternity also selects the freshmen. Due to time constraints, most freshmen will not get many opportunities to communicate in depth with the fraternity members. If the first question is answered, the other party will let the other party visit at will. , and are not prepared to continue the conversation, it means that this new student is not the person they want.

Jason was dressed so solemnly at this time that Tommy thought he looked like a yuppie. What is a yuppie? This concept was published by an American magazine in 1980. When it appeared, it was not a complimentary term. It was used to describe those who were both Young middle-class people who are neither American poor nor truly rich are well-educated, have a certain vision, and are full of yearning for the upper class. However, because their wealth is temporarily insufficient to support the upper class life they desire, they strive to live within their capabilities. Underneath, create an image that looks a bit literary, gentlemanly and fashionable, close to the upper class.

Yuppies are keen on forming associations and have established various so-called business network groups with high-end and grand-sounding terms. However, this kind of thing is completely unbelievable to Tommy. A group of people even need to use credit card installments to buy that famous brand suit, but the bullshit network is actually It is not much different from a pen pal group. They write letters to each other to exchange opinions, and occasionally exchange some classical music records that are popular in the upper class but cannot be bought by themselves, so they can only exchange them with friends.

If Tommy were to sum up, the current yuppies in the United States are probably American male pseudo-socialites who are greedy for vanity.

This kind of clothing will certainly attract the attention of the brotherhood. They will regard you as an upper-class elite young man. But as soon as Jason opened his mouth, they knew that they had made a mistake. They were facing a country bumpkin who had never seen the world.

"Hello, is Stephen Penn here?" Tommy walked to the sofa and asked a member of the Order of the Phoenix.

The Order members glanced at him and then asked: "Who are you?"

"His friend." Tommy smiled at the other person and responded: "Come to congratulate him on joining the Order of the Phoenix."

"How are you? Poor guy, how do those guys from the White Robe Club treat you?" Before the other party could speak, Stephen walked out of what looked like a bathroom door and said to Tommy.

"I haven't gone there yet. I'm going to congratulate you first, and then... you damn... can I go in the toilet? I mean can I enjoy that kind of toilet service when I go in?" Tommy just said with Stephen gave high fives and hugged her, and then he saw another beautiful blonde girl in hot clothes walking out of the bathroom. She was adjusting her shoulder straps and skirt with her hands. Tommy couldn't help but change his question to Stephen.

Stephen turned to look at the girl, smiled at Tommy and said: "I don't need to have so-called concern talks with the chairman and vice chairman. There is nothing to do, so the chairman simply arranged for me to have a meeting with the prospective newcomers of Betty Club. Let’s have a friendly exchange in advance to deepen each other’s impressions.”

"I'm going to the White Robe Club now. If I can't handle it, remember to open the toilet to me." Tommy smiled at Stephen: "Congratulations, brother, it's my turn next."

"Come on, although I don't want the White Robe Society to absorb you, I still wish you success, brother. By the way, Douglas Hofstadter, a famous alumnus of the Order of the Phoenix, will come later. Are you sure you don't want to meet him? That's The big shot is said to have flown here specially from New York. He and his father, Mr. Robert Hofstadter, are both members of the Stanford Phoenix Order. His father won the Nobel Prize in Physics. Originally, the brotherhood also invited his father. I hope that the father and son will appear together tonight, but Mr. Robert is not feeling well, so he has to fly here by himself. He just won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature and the American Science Book Award three years ago. The brothers in the meeting said that he won the It’s only a matter of time before the Nobel Prize surpasses his father’s.” Stephen grinned and said.

"Don't tempt me. I know that on recruitment night, each fraternity will have heavyweights appear on stage to show off their respective strengths." Tommy walked back to Jason and interrupted Jason's conversation with an Order member. He put his arm around the other person's shoulders and walked outside: "Jason, let's go. Let's go to another place. Believe me, you have no chance here."

"Why, they have a good impression of me." Jason asked Tommy in confusion as he walked out of the Order of the Phoenix's house.

Tommy sighed: "Your cousin must want you to join his fraternity, so he asked you to wear this outfit tonight. This outfit is indeed eye-catching and attracts the inspecting fraternity members to start a fight with you. Communicate, but tell them the first question you ask is that you are from a small city. Think about it, all the fraternities have rejected you because of this problem, will you end up with your cousin's A letter of recommendation to join his fraternity?”

"Are you saying that my cousin has sinister intentions?" Jason stared: "Asshole! I hope that the words of that black girl ring in his ears every time he goes to bed with someone in the future!"

Tommy said: "Maybe it was just a good-natured joke, but it's not a good thing to be too conspicuous on recruitment night."

The two walked to the fraternity house of the White Robe Society. Compared to the Order of the Phoenix, the living room area was slightly smaller. There was no TV to show the past history. However, there was a white veteran wearing a US military uniform without military rank. Shi Zheng stood in the living room and talked eloquently, telling the past events of the White Robe Club, which attracted many new students.

“SSD members from West Point, the U.S. Naval Academy, and other universities have all served in the military. They first joined the military and then went to college. Therefore, the cohesion, leadership, and sense of responsibility of many SSD chapters far exceed those of other fraternities. This is SSD. The reason why they are always excellent is that they love this country more. I know you are not interested in listening to me, an old guy, bragging. OK, let’s talk about something serious. Let’s first explain that I brought this drink with me.” The white veteran took it from his pocket. He took out a metal wine bottle, unscrewed the cap and took a sip, and then continued to say to the freshmen in front of him:

"Do you know what you can do by joining SSD? Give priority to applying to join the U.S. Army Reserve Officer Training Corps. Then we can provide scholarships to pay for your college tuition. You can also go to my territory, Santa Barbara, California, every summer. Play around at Bala's military base, try to fire a few field artillery rounds, fly into the sky with a helicopter, etc. The most important thing is that by joining SSD, you will become a member of the American Student Army Training Corps and automatically obtain the title of Army Private. Military ranks, although this training regiment no longer has an actual location in 1918, it still exists in name only. Upon graduation from the university, those with outstanding performance can be awarded the honorary rank of U.S. Army Sergeant by the commander of the military base nearest to the university."

"This old man is..." Jason was subconsciously about to ask a question to a member of the White Robe Society next to him. Tommy hurriedly stopped him and took the initiative to say: "Yes, that's him, the commander of the California National Guard, the U.S. Army's 3rd Commander of the 40th Infantry Division, Stanford University alumnus, member of the SSD fraternity, Major General Charles Adam Ott, the highlight of SSD’s recruiting night tonight.”

Hearing Tommy's words, the White Robe Club members next to him were a little surprised. They handed Tommy and Jason a drink each and said proactively: "Major General Otto, do you know him?"

"Of course, I know he won the Air Medal and he flew twenty-five air assault flights as an Army soldier," Tommy said to the other party.

The other party looked at Tommy: "Indeed, by the way, what sports do you like?"

"Table tennis is good, state-level league level, ice hockey is also good. I play surfing occasionally, mainly to trick girls into wearing swimsuits. As for rugby, it's so-so. You know, this sport is too intense. There are so many masters. It's too hard to get results." Difficult." Tommy said in a casual tone while drinking a drink.

The other person put down the cup in his hand and stretched out his hand to Tommy: "What's your name? Nice to meet you. I can show you around."

"Tommy Hawke." Tommy said to the other party.

The other party was obviously stunned for a moment, but then he said with a smile: "You are the Tommy that Eric mentioned. My friend, I didn't expect you to come so early. On the second floor, go straight and turn left at the end, the second room."

"He is my roommate Jason, who is with me, and Eric has also met him." Tommy introduced Jason to the other party.

"Don't worry, I'll take your roommate, who's dressed like he's attending a high school prom, around." The other party patted Jason on the shoulder: "Let's go, rookie, and I'll show you the honor room of SSD."

Tommy followed the address mentioned by the other party, walked up the spiral staircase to the second floor, turned left along the corridor, walked to the second room, knocked on the door, and heard a voice from inside: "Come in."

Tommy pushed the door open and walked in. It looked like a single dormitory. Eric was sitting at his desk operating the computer. He was a little surprised to see Tommy appear: "You came too early? Tommy Huo Gram, an A-level follower, usually deliberately procrastinates, does not go to visit with the instructor, and goes to the meeting alone. I thought you would not show up, or you would come a little later, so you were completing an assignment."

"Then I'll go back and take a nap now, and then come back?" Tommy stood at the door and smiled at the other party.

Eric stopped, stood up, stretched his head and neck, walked to his refrigerator, opened it, took out two cans of beer, and threw one to Tommy: "Of course not, but you'd better talk to me about yourself." What you were bragging about before, you didn’t tell me that the summer camp you used to make money actually allowed you to meet several big shots and Stephen Bean, who will be the undoubted financial manager of the Order of the Phoenix for the next four years."

"That guy was the finance minister when I formed the cabinet." Tommy closed the door, took out a cigarette, lit one and smiled.

Eric raised his head and took a sip of beer: "I specifically found the video of your summer camp program and watched it. It turns out that my A-level attention was not wasted. So, are there any questions about SSD that I need to answer?"

"No." Tommy said frankly.

"Very good." Eric laughed, picked up an invitation on the desk and handed it to Tommy Hawke: "Take it, now you can go back to sleep, and then come tomorrow night at eight o'clock Sparta, that is, this house, will be hosting the SSD’s orientation party.”

"According to the buy-one-get-one-free principle of A-level attention, you know, if you want me to help with the party, you also need help, so my roommate..." Tommy took the invitation and continued.

As if he knew that Tommy would ask this question, Eric smiled and said: "Your friends from the Order of the Phoenix have revealed a lot of inside information about recruiting new recruits to you, Tommy. Even A-level follower buy-one-get-one-free benefits for fraternity rookies are right. Did you tell me? Well, as long as your roommate's son doesn't do anything stupid tonight, and after we get drunk tonight and still remember his name when we wake up the next day, he should also receive an invitation letter."

"Good, you made me give up the idea of ​​taking off my coat, Eric." Tommy also laughed: "Thank you, I won't let you down."

Eric took a sip of beer and looked at Tommy: "So, if I'm not going to buy one and get one free, are you going to take off your clothes and sleep with me? Are you a gay?"

"Absolutely." Tommy took off his baseball jacket, turned around, and showed the pattern on the back of his T-shirt to Eric: "If you refuse, I will use this to greet you, and then go to the Order of the Phoenix to ask for shelter. But now, when I prepare for the freshman competition, I use this pattern to greet other fraternities on behalf of SSD."

"You're right, you should use this pattern to greet those people."

Six thousand words~