Volume 2: Knocking on Heaven's Door Chapter 46: Perfect Place
When Tommy Hawke finished registering the amount of equipment that needed to be prepared, he found that Pam had not returned to school yet.
Although Dennis had confirmed that the security in St. Vincent was indeed good when he went to inquire about the hotel price, because the blacks here did not gather and wander the streets like American blacks, and their clothes were clean and tidy, and every time they spoke to Dennis, they would use extremely polite honorifics, more like gentlemen than Dennis, a white man.
The two walked along the only main road in the small town, enjoying the scenery and looking for Pam to take pictures of the scenery. After walking for only five minutes, Tommy Hawke saw Pam and a white girl with long reddish-brown hair standing in front of a low stone wall overlooking the sea. They tilted their heads towards each other and posed. An elderly black man who was obviously passing by on a bicycle and was stopped by Pam to ask for help was holding a camera and aiming the lens at the two of them to take pictures.
"Click!" The black man pressed the shutter, then put down the camera and smiled at the two of them, "Very good, do you want to change your pose and take another photo?"
Pam's face was red with excitement. He looked at the girl opposite with a questioning look: "Carly? Can we take another picture?"
The girl showed a friendly smile: "Of course."
"I'll teach you. We can pose like this... This pose for taking photos with friends is very popular in the United States." Pam seemed more excited than if she had taken Adderall, and she was posing in front of the girl in a panic.
The black man held the camera and kept reminding Pam and the girl to adjust their poses so that the photo would look better.
Tommy and Dennis looked at each other, and Dennis pursed his lips. "You know what? I never thought that Pam could meet a cute white girl in two hours in a country where 85% of the population is black."
"Yeah, I didn't expect that the girls in our high school would not be so easy to cooperate with a guy like Pam who can't please girls and pose for photos together." Tommy nodded.
The black man took another photo of Pam and the girl, then carefully handed the camera back to Pam and reminded her, "There is only one photo studio here that can develop photos. Go forward along this road for about three minutes and you will see a corner. There is a sign at the corner in English."
After the girl said goodbye to Pam with a series of cheerful and clear laughter, Tommy and Dennis came over. Pam looked at the direction where the girl disappeared reluctantly and looked away. Seeing that the two were a little embarrassed, she explained, "It's not what you see now, guys. I'm going to look for the staff of this government building and want to go in and take some photos that can increase the persuasiveness."
The black man who was about to push his bicycle away turned back after hearing Pam's words: "You want to go into the government building to take pictures?"
"Yes, sir, we are from the United States and hope to hold a summer camp for comprehensive exchanges with your country's high schools. However, it is not clear whether the government building and the Governor's Office are open to the public." Tommy said to the black man.
The black man blinked and looked at the three people. "So, Principal Susan Ryan called me to come to the school and said that several American youth student leaders are coming? It should be you? How about this, I go in and make a call and ask her to come to the Governor's office and sit down and talk?"
"Sir, are you... the Governor?" Tommy saw the other party's behavior, looked at each other with Dennis and Pam, and then asked uncertainly.
Is this old black man pushing a bicycle the Governor? This country is a member of the Commonwealth, and the head of state is naturally the Queen of England, but the Queen will not govern here herself, so the Governor appointed by her is the nominal leader of the country.
But no matter how small the country is, the governor is the head of state and is unlikely to push a bicycle to help tourists take photos.
"No, of course not. His Excellency the Governor is working in the Governor's Office on the second floor." The black man gave a negative answer.
Dennis asked tentatively, "So you're the postman here, sir? The postmen back home all deliver mail on a bike like this."
The black man smiled at the three people without much aura: "It's more troublesome than the postman's job. I am the Prime Minister of this country, Maduf Compton."
If the Governor is only the nominal head of state of this country, then this elderly black man in his fifties is the real power figure in this country.
Dennis looked at the black man who claimed to be the prime minister, then at Tommy Hawke next to him. After switching his eyes several times, he whispered, "Tommy, I think it's more credible for you to put on a stern face and say you are the head of this country than for this smiling black man with a big belly. I can't imagine Ronald Reagan riding a bicycle around Washington, taking pictures of young men and women and correcting their postures, and finally telling bystanders that he is the President of the United States."
"Is it better to imagine me as a black mayor of a small town in the United States?" St. Vincent's Prime Minister Maduf Compton laughed happily. "I know that the United States is very big and has a vast territory. This country may be smaller than many American cities, so you don't have to think of me as the head of state, just think of me as the mayor. Welcome to our town, young student leaders from the United States."
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"Ms. Ryan and Ms. Farrell stayed in a double room, and the three of us stayed in a double room? It only costs ten dollars a night, Tommy. Ten dollars, and you won't even book an extra room, and now Pam is lying on me like a koala!" Dennis lay on his own single bed, and said desperately, "He even put his hand on mine... and that damn hand was doing some other actions that I don't want to describe."
Pam was wearing a set of pajamas with a Popeye pattern on them. She was lying on her side with her legs on Dennis and her hands on Dennis, sleeping soundly.
"The round-trip airfare has taken up nearly half of our expenses. The remaining half of the funds needs to be used to produce brochures, rent venues for consultation sessions, etc. Before we really make money, please be patient, Dennis." Tommy Hawke put his hands behind his head, looked at the ceiling, and smiled and changed the subject: "Have you noticed that this place seems to be a perfect match for our imagination? The black people here are very friendly, and the head of state is also approachable. It is simply a perfect place. I have a hunch that we can make money."
"That's true. To be honest, when the governor of this country took a photo with me while making the rock sign, he was no longer as dignified as the janitor at Lincoln High School in my mind, because I asked the janitor to make that sign before, but he refused. What a jerk. I like the governor and prime minister here. At least they are very friendly. They are already the head of state and can be approachable. However, the janitors in our school have a stinky face all day long and are as arrogant as those French emperors who are about to be guillotined." Dennis pushed Pam away and replied,
"Also, the Governor General and Prime Minister of this country called me Dennis Herbers, a youth student leader from Lincoln High School in Warwick, Rhode Island, USA... I felt a little embarrassed when I heard this title myself, but they were very serious. Seeing their serious expressions, for a moment I really thought I was one of those elite American high school students, not the bottom-level white trash."
"Carly..." Pam was awakened by Dennis's actions and said in a daze, "Carly is the girl in the photo with Pam. She is the daughter of a white engineer from the American Burton Sugar Company's sugar factory in the country and one of the students of the only high school in the country."
"Come to think of it, I seem to understand why this country is so friendly to us from the United States. Strictly speaking, it was the United States that helped them break away from British colonial rule and invested in sugar factories and other industries to increase employment." Tommy thought for a moment and said, "They still feel grateful to the United States. That should be the case."
"I am now an honorary citizen of this country. An American white trash was received in another nigger...black country as an American youth student leader, and then became an honorary citizen awarded by the Governor and the Prime Minister. You know, it means I can live here as long as I want." Dennis talked about the title of Honorary Citizen of St. Vincent awarded to four people by the Governor at the simple welcome dinner.
Tommy Hawke's face was not sleepy, but excited. "Dennis, the United States and here are visa-free. You can live here for a long time even if you are not an honorary citizen. What attracted me was not the title of honorary citizen, but the idea that Governor Allen Lewis and Prime Minister Maduf Compton mentioned casually when they were chatting with us. He said that a simulated government experience could be arranged in the summer camp, allowing American high school students participating in the summer camp to accept the Governor's appointment letter and try to maintain the daily work of a country. This is definitely a genius and enlightened idea. Although this town is small, it is a real country. It is a real experience of how a national institution operates. This is what student leaders should do. "We should do this one thing, and I guarantee that many high school students will not be able to refuse it. In the future, there will be American high school students willing to come here to attend the summer summit every year. The Prime Minister and the Governor are definitely not ordinary colonial blacks. They are blacks who have received higher education in the UK. Otherwise, they would not have thought of this to increase the attractiveness of this country. They know how to do business. As long as this project is launched, I am willing to give them half of the summer camp income, because I can raise the price. No top university summer camp can provide this kind of business. They can't let high school students walk into the White House and handle the daily life of the country like a president, but our summer summit can!"
"You know, Tommy, I don't care about other issues. I just want to say that if I really simulate government affairs, I hope I can serve as the chief justice of this country and help this country to make a law as soon as possible." Dennis was silent for a moment and spoke.
Tommy asked, "What laws? I don't think they are necessary because this place is simply impeccable. It is the perfect place to hold the Summer Summit."
Dennis growled angrily, "I think it's necessary to add a law that prohibits two men from sleeping in a single bed in this country ! Pam, take your hand away, it's fucking swollen, I swear to God..."
