Volume 2: Knocking on Heaven's Door Chapter 79 Recruitment Night
In dormitory E-66, Jason White buttoned his shirt in front of the dressing mirror and asked Tommy to hand him the dark gold tie beside him. At the same time, he asked Tommy, "Are you sure you don't want to change into a formal outfit? My cousin told me that when the freshmen visit those fraternities tonight, if you dress properly and solemnly, they will think you are a mature and reliable person."
As he spoke, he took the tie handed to him by Tommy, but in a hurry, the tie was wrapped around the outside of the shirt collar. Tommy walked over, motioned for him to put his hands down, and then helped Jason adjust the tie with skillful movements: "I advised you, Jason, but you insisted on dressing so formally."
"Yes, this is the most important night for freshmen in college. It determines whether we will be unknown or influential in the next four years." Jason stood obediently in front of the dressing mirror, allowing Tommy to help him adjust his tie, and said in a serious tone.
Tommy stepped back in understanding, watching Jason change into a dark blue double-breasted old-fashioned suit and a bowler hat. He then held a black umbrella in both hands and looked at Tommy expectantly: "How is it, Boss? Does he look like one of those elites?"
"Brother, if you stick a fake beard under your nose, everyone will mistake you for a great man named Charlie Chaplin." Tommy smiled at Jason and said, "Let's go. The teacher has urged us to go down and gather several times."
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 fraternity."
"I fucking respect them, or I wouldn't wear a jacket to hide the penis on the back of my T-shirt." Tommy said , "Not everything your cousin says is true, and sometimes he's just trying to fool you."
The administrator of Hope Apartment accompanied by the freshman guidance teacher urged them several times downstairs before Hope's 40-odd freshmen gathered outside the apartment building reluctantly. Some of them did not forget to spray deodorant or perfume on themselves before going downstairs.
Tonight is the night for freshmen to be recruited. The 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 every means to impress their favorite fraternity members. Even the most indifferent nerds will deliberately find the clothes they think are the coolest.
For example, the bespectacled boy standing next to Tommy at this moment, wearing a white sportswear printed with various numbers and symbols, stood out in the crowd like a crane among chickens, as if he was a patient who escaped .
"OK, everyone. In the next four or five hours tonight, I will take you to Greek Avenue to visit seventeen fraternity houses. I need to remind you that if you have any important letters of recommendation, yes, your family, friend or boss was a member of a fraternity before and he gave you a letter of recommendation, you'd better remember to bring it with you tonight and give it to the person in that fraternity who will talk to you. Tonight is the only time you will enter those buildings without restrictions. After tonight, if you do not receive an invitation from a fraternity and you rashly go to those buildings again, you will be charged with trespassing." The instructor spoke to the freshmen in front of him and warned.
As he finished speaking, most of the freshmen took out one or several letters of recommendation from their pockets, including Jason, who took out two. He held them in his hands and said to Tommy, "If the Order of the Phoenix or the White Robes doesn't accept me, I will have to rely on the letters of recommendation from my uncle and cousin to join the fraternity they joined back then. It's not very famous, and there are very few social activities, but it's better than getting nothing in the end. Speaking of which, my cousin's virginity was ruined by a black girl in that fraternity, and after graduating from college, he became a staunch white supremacist and racist."
"I guess just having sex with a black girl once is not enough to turn a white man into a racist immediately. Most likely, your cousin's sex skills received more direct negative feedback from black girls, which made him feel insulted and unacceptable." Tommy laughed softly.
The group followed the instructor to Greek Avenue. The instructor pointed to the first fraternity house and introduced it, "This is the earliest fraternity organization established at Stanford University, LIS. Those who are interested can go in and take a look. The rest of you can continue walking forward with me."
Although this fraternity called LIS had put a lot of thought into the recruitment night, even the lawn in front of the fraternity house was carefully mowed, and from a distance one could see a small band and various drinks prepared in the living room with the door open, but still no freshmen were willing to go. Seeing that the students were silent, the teacher nodded, turned around and continued to lead the team forward: "Well, it looks like many LIS chapters will close down this year. Next one."
The reason why no one went in to visit was, first, that LIS, as he said, had become the most famous fraternity in the country last year. Members of a LIS branch in Montana used the fraternity house to traffic in drugs. Although the investigation found that it had nothing to do with the headquarters, it obviously dealt a devastating blow to the reputation of all LIS branches in the United States. Everyone was not averse to smoking marijuana or something like that to liven up the fun at fraternity parties, but that didn't mean they wanted to become drug dealers.
Second, you should always walk along Greek Avenue from beginning to end first to know the approximate locations of these fraternities before you can slowly choose. After all, when you go shopping in a mall, you have to walk around the mall before you can slowly choose the goods.
It took nearly half an hour to complete the tour. After the instructor introduced the general situation of the 17 fraternities, he announced that everyone could now disperse. Those who were not interested could go directly back to the dormitory, while those who were interested could visit the fraternity of their choice. He would be waiting nearby and everyone could come to see him at any time if they had any questions.
When he announced , dozens of girls from a distance also rushed over led by their instructors. Each of them dressed up carefully and put on their most beautiful clothes, completely outshining these unkempt boys.
"Tommy, where should we go first?" Jason asked Tommy after the teacher dismissed the group.
Tommy walked directly in the direction of the Order of the Phoenix: "The Order of the Phoenix, my friend is there. No matter where I end up, I will go there first. Give him enough respect."
When the two arrived at the fraternity house of the Order of the Phoenix, although they had taken a quick look from the outside, as soon as they stepped into the hall, Jason couldn't help but swear: "Fuck, this place is so big that it can almost hold the entire state of Mississippi!"
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, where an oversized TV was playing documentaries of the Phoenix Society's honors over the years, interviews with famous alumni, and the other was the communication area, where a dozen fraternity members in suits and ties with phoenix badges on their chests faced every newcomer with a big smile on their faces, and gently answered any questions they had about the fraternity.
Jason's yuppie outfit was 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 one to Jason:
"Hi, how can I help you? Umbrellas can be placed in the umbrella stand at the entrance."
"Did you buy this house? Sir, it's really big. How many rooms does it have?" This was the first question Jason asked after taking the juice.
Tommy, who originally thought that his roommate's look could last for five minutes, knew from Jason's first question that this guy would never have any chance of joining the Order of the Phoenix in his life, so he turned and walked towards the sofa next to him.
Sure enough, as Jason asked the question, the smile on the other party's face became a little weird, and finally he just smiled faintly and responded to Jason: "Sorry, I have no comment, you are welcome to visit at will."
Tonight, the freshmen choose fraternities, and the fraternities also choose the freshmen. Due to time constraints, most freshmen will not get too many opportunities to have in-depth exchanges with fraternity members . If after answering the first question, the other party just lets the other party visit at will and is not prepared to continue the conversation, it means that this freshman is not the one they want.
Jason was dressed so formally that Tommy thought he looked like a yuppie. What is a yuppie? This concept was first published in an American magazine in 1980. It was not a positive word when it first appeared. It was used to describe young middle-class people who were neither poor Americans nor truly wealthy. These people were well educated, had a certain vision, and were full of yearning for the upper class. However, because their own wealth was not enough to support the upper-class life they desired, they tried their best to create an image that looked literary, gentlemanly, fashionable, and close to the upper class within their capacity.
Yuppies are keen on forming associations and setting up all kinds of so-called business network groups with high-end sounding names, but this kind of thing seems completely incredible to Tommy. A group of people even have to use credit cards to pay for that brand-name suit in installments, and this crappy network is actually not much different from a pen pal club. They write letters to each other to exchange ideas, and occasionally exchange some popular items in the upper class but they can't afford them and can only exchange classical music records with like-minded people.
If Tommy were to summarize, today's yuppies in the United States are probably the vain American male pseudo-socialites.
This kind of dress will certainly attract the attention of the fraternity. They will regard you as an upper-class elite young man, but as soon as Jason opened his mouth, they knew they were wrong and that the person in front of them was a country bumpkin who had never seen the world.
"Hello, is Stephen Bean here?" Tommy walked to the sofa and asked a member of the Order of the Phoenix.
The member of the Order of the Phoenix looked at him, then asked, "Who are you?"
"His friend." Tommy smiled back, "Here to congratulate him on his upcoming admission into the Order of the Phoenix."
"How are you? Poor guy, how did those guys from the White Robe Society treat you?" Without waiting for the other party to speak, Stephen walked out from a door that looked like a bathroom and said to Tommy.
"I haven't been there yet. I'm going to come and congratulate you first, and then... fuck... can I go into that bathroom? I mean, can I enjoy that kind of bathroom service if I go in?" Tommy just high-fived and hugged Stephen when he saw another blonde girl in hot clothes walking out of the bathroom. She was adjusting her shoulder straps and lapels with her hands. Tommy couldn't help but change the topic and ask Stephen.
Stephen turned his head to look at the girl, then smiled and said to Tommy, "I don't need to have a so-called attention talk with the chairman and vice chairman. There's nothing else to do, so the chairman simply arranged for me to have a friendly exchange with the new recruits of Betty Club in advance to deepen our impressions of each other."
"I'm going to the White Robe Society 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 recruit you, I still wish you success, brother. By the way, Douglas Hofstadter, a well-known alumnus of the Phoenix Society, will be here later. Are you sure you don't want to meet him? He is a big shot. It is said that he flew here specially from New York. He and his father, Mr. Robert Hofstadter, are both members of the Stanford Phoenix Society. His father won the Nobel Prize in Physics. Originally, the fraternity also invited his father, hoping that they would appear together tonight, but Mr. Robert was not feeling well, so he had 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 society said that it is only a matter of time before he wins the Nobel Prize and surpasses his father." Stephen grinned and spoke.
"Don't tempt me. I know that on the night of the recruitment, each fraternity will have heavyweights showing off their strength." Tommy walked back to Jason, interrupted Jason's conversation with a member of the Order of the Phoenix, put his arm around his shoulder and walked out: "Jason, let's go to another place. Believe me, you have no chance here."
"Why? They had a good impression of me." Jason asked Tommy puzzledly as they 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 very eye-catching and will attract those fraternity members who are investigating to communicate with you. But your first question is to tell them that you are a guy from a small city. Think about it, all fraternities will reject you because of this question. In the end, will you only be able to join the fraternity where your cousin is with a letter of recommendation?"
"Are you saying my cousin has evil intentions?" Jason glared, "Asshole! I hope he will hear that black girl's words in his ears every time he goes to bed with someone else!"
Tommy said, "Maybe it was just a joke, but it's not a good idea to wear something too conspicuous on recruiting night."
The two walked to the fraternity house of the White Robe Society. The living room here was slightly smaller than that of the Phoenix Society, and there was no TV to display past history. However, there was a white veteran in an American military uniform without a rank, who was standing in the living room and talking about the past of the White Robe Society. Many freshmen were fascinated by his talk.
"The SSD members from West Point Military Academy, the U.S. Naval Academy, and some other universities have all served in the military. They joined the military first 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 why SSD is always excellent. They love this country more. I know you are not interested in listening to an old guy like me bragging. OK, let's talk about something serious. First of all, I brought this wine with me." The white veteran took out a metal wine bottle from his pocket, 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 if you join SSD? You will be given priority to apply to join the U.S. Army Reserve Officer Training Corps. Then we can provide scholarships to pay for your college tuition. You can also come to my territory, which is the military base in Santa Barbara, California, every summer vacation to play and try to fire a few rounds of field artillery, fly a helicopter into the sky, etc. The most important thing is that if you join SSD, you will be a member of the U.S. Student Army Training Corps and automatically obtain the rank of private in the army. Although this training corps has no actual station since 1918, it still exists in name. When you graduate from college, those who perform well can be awarded the honorary rank of U.S. Army sergeant by the commander of the military base closest to the university."
"Who is this old man..." Jason subconsciously prepared to ask a member of the White Robe Society next to him, but Tommy quickly pulled him back and took the initiative to say, "Yes, that's him, the commander of the California National Guard, the commander of the 40th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army, an alumnus of Stanford University, a member of the SSD fraternity, Major General Charles Adam Ott, and a heavyweight at the SSD's recruitment night tonight."
Hearing Tommy's words, the White Robe Society member next to him was a little surprised. He handed Tommy and Jason a drink each and took the initiative to ask: "Major General Ott, do you know him?"
"Of course, I know he won the Air Medal, and as an Army soldier, he participated in twenty-five air assault flights." Tommy said to the other party.
The other party looked at Tommy and said, "Indeed, by the way, what sports do you like?"
"I'm good at table tennis, at the state league level. I'm also okay at ice hockey. I occasionally play surfing, mainly to trick girls into wearing swimsuits. As for football, I'm just so-so. You know, this sport is too intense and there are so many experts. It's too difficult to get good results." Tommy drank his drink and spoke to the other party in a chatty tone.
The other man put down the cup in his hand and held out his hand to Tommy: "What's your name? It's 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 smiled and said, "You are the Tommy that Eric mentioned, my friend, I didn't expect you to come so early. On the second floor, go straight to the end and turn left. It's the second room."
"He's my roommate Jason, he's with me, and Eric has met him too." Tommy introduced Jason to the other party.
"Don't worry, I'll show you around, my roommate who's dressed like he's attending a high school prom." The other person patted Jason's shoulder and said, "Come on, rookie, I'll show you the SSD Hall of Fame."
Tommy followed the address the other party gave him, walked up the spiral staircase to the second floor, turned left along the corridor, walked to the second room, knocked on the door, and a voice came from inside: "Come in."
Tommy pushed the door open and walked in. This place looked like a single dormitory. Eric was sitting at his desk operating his computer. He was a little surprised to see Tommy. "You came too early? Tommy Hawke, an A-level follower, usually deliberately delays time and does not follow the instructor to visit. He goes to the meeting alone. I thought you would not show up, or come late, so I was 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 and stretched his neck, then walked to his refrigerator, opened it, took out two cans of beer and threw one to Tommy. "Of course not, but you'd better tell me about your bragging before. You didn't tell me that the summer camp you used to make money actually allowed you to meet some big shots and Stephen Bean. That guy is undoubtedly the financial manager 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 it and smiled.
Eric raised his head and took a sip of beer. "I specially found the recording of your summer camp program and watched it. It turns out that my A-level attention was not wasted. So, do you have any questions about SSD that you need me to answer?"
"No," Tommy said honestly.
"Very good." Eric smiled and 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 to Sparta, which is this house, at 8 o'clock tomorrow night. There will be an SSD new member induction party at that time."
"According to the buy one get one free principle of A-level attention, you know, if you want me to help you organize a party, you need help, so my roommate..." Tommy took the invitation and continued.
As if knowing what Tommy would ask, Eric smiled and said, "Your friend in the Order of the Phoenix has revealed a lot of recruiting secrets to you, Tommy. He even told you about the buy-one-get-one-free A-level attention benefits for rookies in the fraternity? 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."
"Very 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 don't offer a buy one get one free deal, are you going to take off your clothes and sleep with me? Are you a gay?"
"Almost." 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 greet you with this, and then go to the Order of the Phoenix to ask for shelter. But now, I will use this pattern to greet other fraternities on behalf of SSD when I prepare for the rookie competition."
"That's right. We should use this pattern to greet those people."
