Chapter 4: Small Business for Wealthy Students

Tommy glanced over, "Aren't you curious about what kind of business I actually do?"

"Not curious, but if you dare let the cops nab you and tell me to go pay your bail, I'll kill you," Tony said with a smirk, "Don't do anything stupid."

Tommy nodded slightly, "Just some quasi-legal quick deals for the rich kids, the police aren't interested."

"Got your driver's license?" Tony didn't continue the previous topic but changed the subject.

"Of course."

"Be careful driving, the clutch on this car is a bit loose and hasn't been adjusted yet," Tony patted Tommy on the shoulder, "I'll walk back to the repair shop, just the right amount of slacking off with a stroll. Go run your little business, see you tonight."

After saying that, Tony turned and walked back the way he came.

"Tony!" Tommy called out.

Tony turned his head to look at Tommy, cigarette in his mouth, and Tommy pursed his lips, "Yesterday, my attitude towards you was a bit... excessive."

"We're family, kid," Tony said with a smile, "Mom always says there's no such word as 'excessive' among family, only 'tolerance'." He then turned and continued walking forward.

Tommy Hawk didn't waste any more time dwelling on the brotherly generosity Tony had shown. He started the car, zoomed onto Jefferson Boulevard, and took Interstate 95 straight to Providence, the capital of Rhode Island, a dozen kilometers away.

Providence, only nineteen kilometers away, was familiar territory for most residents of Warwick. Many lived in Warwick City and commuted by car to work in Providence.

Tommy drove straight to the Johnson Weeden University located in the Harbor District of Providence, parked the car in the parking lot, and pretended to be a freshman planning to enroll in the next academic year, eager to learn more about the school. After chatting with a few college students, Tommy got the information he wanted.

Stepping out of the campus and walking down two streets, he saw an old two-story building. Between two windows on the second floor hung a banner, and the same three Greek letters were spray-painted on the wall: ΔΣΦ.

Generally, a building near a university marked with prominent Greek letters usually indicated a student organization—namely the famous or infamous college fraternities or sororities.

Tommy was set to do business with the North American Fraternity at Johnson Weeden University.

The reason he didn't choose the prestigious Brown University Providence campus, Rhode Island College, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence College, or other universities was, of course, because the chances of the fraternity at Johnson Weeden University frequenting his business were greater.

No need to say more about Brown University, a top-ranked institution and a member of the Ivy League. The students there were elites cultivated from American private high schools, and doing business with those smart kids was troublesome; it was better to keep a respectful distance.

Rhode Island School of Design, Rhode Island College, and Providence College, on the other hand, had too many local students from Rhode Island, which might lead to awkward encounters with former high school seniors.

Only at Johnson Weddon University, with its student population of over three thousand, did the majority hail from international students studying abroad, as well as white high school students from Virginia.

The specific mention of white high school students from Virginia rather than American high school students is because Virginians are referred to as "white trash" in the northeast New England region as well as in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and other states.

Moreover, white Virginians also boast a special title bestowed upon them by none other than Benjamin Franklin, a founding father whose portrait adorns the hundred-dollar bill. He referred to the white people of Virginia as "descendants of English convicts who are as barbaric as Indians, vagabonds."

The white population of this state has been treated as white trash by the northern states for decades, and it's not without reason. Even after World War II had ended and New York Broadway could accommodate black actors on stage, this state was still strictly enforcing laws like the "Racial Integrity Act" and the "Anti-Miscegenation Statutes." This means that if a white person dares to marry a black person in this state, they risk having their possessions confiscated and being forcibly sterilized.

That the white people of this state were willing to spend a fortune revising various laws regarding race and lineage, maintaining racial purity until almost the 1960s, only stopped under pressure from the United States Government.

Now it's 1982, and many comedians still joke about Virginia. If an American is unsure of their ancestry, it's simple: just tan the skin a bit darker, stay in Virginia for three days, and you'll be able to get a report on your ancestry from the state government, detailed enough to detect even one-sixteenth of Indian or black heritage, then scare you by saying if you, a person of color, dare marry a white lady in this state, they will castrate you.

So why would high school students from Virginia choose to study at Johnson Weddon University? The answer is simple: practicality.

In the eyes of Virginia's white trash, public education expenses are all a scam. Even though it's already 1983, nearly 40% of students in Virginia drop out after eighth grade to work on the family farm or in other businesses. While students in other states might not have graduated high school by seventeen, a counterpart in Virginia could already be a parent to two children.

The rest who continue with high school are likely to declare adulthood upon graduation, becoming a skilled worker, a farmhand, or starting up a restaurant, a motel, or a truck stop bar.

In the eyes of white trash or the majority of America's lower-class white people, college is useless, a ploy by the United States Government to saddle them with exorbitant loans. Only fools go to college; it's better to become an apprentice.

However, as more and more people adopt this mindset, Virginia is now filled with restaurants, motels, and truck stop bars, experiencing serious involution. Johnson Weddon University, an institution almost invisible in America, facing closure several times, has found a goldmine in these intensely self-destructive Virginians.

They specifically market their culinary school to white high school graduates from Virginia who are preparing to open restaurants or bars, claiming the school teaches secret recipes that will ensure a booming business far beyond any local competition. Additionally, they emphasize that it only requires three years of study instead of four, saving one year's tuition.

Learning skills they consider useful, saving a year's worth of hefty tuition fees, and also becoming a college student? The white Virginians think such a bargain is worth considering, regardless of whether the certificate is a degree or an associate's degree.

Parents in Virginia who are well-off and don't need their children to immediately join the family business send their kids to this university, which they believe offers a more practical education.

Therefore, the current student population of three thousand at the university is split evenly between students from Europe, South America, and high school students from Virginia.

As for why Tommy Hawk knows so much about this university, it's because the teacher responsible for providing college application guidance at Lincoln High School seriously warned them that, as locals, if they wanted to apply for college, they should never consider this university. They should value their own reputation and stay clear of white trash.

Approaching the fraternity house, he pressed the doorbell and soon a young man whose hair and beard seemed to intertwine nearly completely, wearing a jacket emblazoned with the symbol of the North American fraternity and beach shorts, opened the door, sleepily sizing up Tommy Hawk and spoke with an impatient frown:

"Kid, can't you read the sign outside? Secret society, no entry for non-members."

"Excuse me, sir, does your society require a physician's certificate or prescription drugs? Delivery right to your doorstep, pay on delivery," Tommy Hawk said with a smile on his face.