A charity dinner hosted by SSD Stanford University Chapter was held at the Langham Garden Hotel in San Francisco.

Former Chief of Naval Operations Thomas Hayward didn't expect to get so much attention after his retirement and become the focus of attention.

Almost everyone in a suit would politely stop over and have a few words with them, and then casually ask about the partnership between the Guardian Foundation and the Veterans Association and SSD, which he mentioned in his remarks, such as using technology to improve the lives of veterans.

Thomas swore to God that it was the SSD Stanford Chapter that donated 100,000 yuan to his foundation, so he was willing to come to the charity dinner to help stand on the platform, and of course the speech was also provided by the SSD, he just took a general look at it, and there was no problem, so he just read it.

As for how to use technology to improve the living conditions of veterans? How does he know? Maybe it's to transform them all into mechanical skeletons and return those people to the battlefield?

In the end, he had to ask these people to ask the organizer SSD for more details about the technology part of his speech.

When a group of business representatives from various companies in Silicon Valley asked Tommy Hawke, the head of the SSD organizer, Tommy Hawke stood in front of these people with dignity, chatting from the opportunity of this cooperation, and finally talked about the details of the technology order, that is, they learned that many World War II veterans are already old and even suffering from Alzheimer's disease, so the Veterans Association, the Guardian Foundation and SSD are ready to find technology companies to cooperate with to develop a portable electronic product, such as an electronic bracelet or necklace, Prevent those poor veterans from getting lost......

Tommy Hawk said the demand without blinking, and the serious expression made the people present absolutely unexpected, this portable product that prevents getting lost was purely made up by him casually to trick them into buying tickets.

There are even a few business representatives of Silicon Valley hardware companies who are seriously thinking about whether this kind of hardware product can be realized.

That night, these nerds who were eager to get orders showed up and raised a total of $310,000 for the Veterans Association, and although they did not become the top of the SSD's charity dinner list for all years, they managed to break into the top 10 and rank eighth on the all-time fundraising list.

This caused Charles, the former chairman who first learned the news, to call from Yale University and scold Tommy Hawke for not speaking of brotherhood and running for Actor to help him, but after he left office, he came up with the gimmick to help the SSD Stanford chapter not enjoy the glory as chairman.

In addition to the officials of the headquarters, representatives of 17 university chapters attended the charity dinner, but except for a few major military academies, other chapters in California came to help cheer up.

After the charity dinner, the presidents of these chapters had a meal and chatted with Ian, Ted, Donald Rumsfeld, Thomas Hayward, Pete Wilson, Dick Cheney and others in a relatively private private club, and the main topics were around prescription drug discount programs for pharmaceutical companies and military personnel, topics that Tommy didn't care about anyway.

Having dinner with these bigwigs is of course the privilege of the SSD chapter chairmen, and those SSD rookies who have been brought in for a long time naturally do not have this opportunity, but they are not for nothing, Tommy took Jason, Tony and Dennis, and brought a dozen rookies from several military academies to another night club for a drink.

These rookies in military academies are no strangers to Tommy and Jason in front of them, after all, these two guys appeared on the cover of the Brotherhood's internal magazine, achieved financial freedom at a young age, and many SSD brothers enshrined the two as the business idols of the new generation of SSD.

And Tommy also showed all the virtues that a good SSD brother should have, bold, generous, and talkative, and after a few glasses of wine, he became friends with these dozen midshipmen.

When Tommy stood up again and raised his glass, everyone looked at him, and Tommy pointed to Tony and Dennis, who were obviously a little alienated because they were not members of the SSD, and said to the dozen or so people in front of him, "Do you know why they are here?" Who is from West Point, stand up, stand up! ”

The four West Point SSD members stood up and looked at Tommy with some confusion, Tommy pointed at Dennis: "That guy is called Dennis, and the first thing you will do when you turn from a rookie to an old bird is to clean him up, because then he will report to West Point as a freshman, you know what I mean?" He'll be reporting with my SSD internal testimonial, so you're going to figure it out for me right now how to get this guy out of the rookie assessment period until he's incontinent. ”

"Really?" The four rookies shook hands with Dennis, and the leader smiled: "Hello, Dennis, we will take good care of you according to Tommy's instructions." ”

After Dennis shook hands with the four of them, he grabbed himself with that hand: "Wow, I can already feel your enthusiasm. ”

The SSD members of the other academies burst into laughter, and the four West Point military academy stared at Dennis and raised their middle fingers: "I remember you, Dennis, you will definitely appear on the SSD, and I promise, not only your people will feel our enthusiasm at that time." ”

"Would you like a few drinks?" Dennis picked up a whiskey and said to the four, "Maybe I can show you how much I drink here before I go to report, it's not easy to make me incontinent, but I promise that if you get drunk before me, my bird will help you poop more smoothly in the future." ”

"Brothers of the Naval Academy, where?" Tommy ignored Dennis' competition with the four rookies, and continued to look at the crowd and asked.

The three SSD members of the Naval Academy stood up: "We can help you too, Tommy, so you need our help to teach another fool a lesson*?" ”

“No！” Tommy smiled and put his arm around Tony's shoulders and introduced to the three of them: "Tony, my half-brother and half-brother, because of family reasons, he studied a year late, so he will go to the Naval Academy next year, although he is a rookie, he is my brother, you can trust him, leave any trouble to him to help you solve it, he is an omnipotent God, believe me, after all, I have known him for long enough, and he has not let me down every time." ”

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Tony shook hands with the three of them and said with a smile on his face.

"Can any trouble be solved? Tony? Tommy is a legend of our SSD, and I'm curious to get him to praise just how powerful you are, and we'll give you a little welcome ceremony for next year. The rookie asked with a smile after a drink with Tony.

Tony nodded, "Hopefully it's not the kind of incontinence welcome ceremony." ”

"Of course not, the Naval Academy prefers to strip rookies naked to the masts of training ships." The other party said with a smile.

"I'm sorry, because of physical reasons, I can't enroll in a military academy, I love this country, I'm willing to give everything to this country, but it's not bad, at least now there are you, you SSD bastard brothers protect this country for me, when I see you, I feel like I'm with you, if I can't stand on the battlefield, then let me stand behind you and do what I can, in school, in the army If you encounter any trouble, you can call me to talk." Tommy took his glass and said to the crowd:

"Maybe I can't go to the battlefield with you, but I may be able to prepare a small gift for your parents on Mother's Day, Father's Day, for everyone who is busy guarding America, or when they are not feeling well, I can also accompany them to the hospital, in short, leave what you can't do on your own, I'll help you do it, we are brothers, help each other, that's the meaning of SSD's existence."

"To the SSD!" A member of the Brotherhood raised his glass and shouted.

The rest of the people also raised their glasses and echoed: "To SSD!" ”

That's right, that's what SSDs are all about.

"I wish you all the best in the army, cheers, sir!" Tommy Hawke raised his glass and wished these young faces with a big smile.

……

After the charity dinner, Tommy Hawke took off his suit, changed back into jeans and a t-shirt, and returned to Stanford University to begin his studies.

Most of the time, friends only need to go to three places to find him, the classroom, the library and the residence.

A year later, Sophia finished her entire graduate program at Stanford Law School, and after saying goodbye to her classmates, she saw Mr. Page open the back door of his blue Cadillac:

"Miss O'Connor, I'll pick you up."

"Thank you Paipa, but, where to go?" Sophia looked curiously at the expressionless old man most of the time, and asked puzzled.

Page said expressionlessly, "Go where Mr. Hawke wants you to go, and he will arrange a job for you." ”

"He didn't even ask me if I would like to continue working for him after graduation." Sophia sighed, looked at Paige and smiled bitterly.

Page asked in a calm tone, "So, do you need me to call him and ask him to ask you this question?" ”

"No, of course he doesn't need to ask me." Sophia turned her head to take one last look at the campus, then turned to get into the car.

The car started and took Sophia out of the Stanford campus, and her campus life was over.

……

"GoodGirl, I knew you could do it." Tommy took out two cans of Coke from the refrigerator, opened one for Susan himself, and handed it to the other with a smile.

Susan in front of her, who recently completed her credits at Davenport Community College and received a transcription letter from Stanford University, which means that she will become a member of Stanford's freshmen.

"What are you going to study?" Tommy asked, sitting across from Susan, with a warm gaze.

Tommy in front of him looks more mature, but Susan feels that Tommy's biggest change is his temperament, which is a change that cannot be explained.

"Any suggestions?" Sophie asked with a sip of Coke and a smile.

Tommy shook his head: "No, you have to choose the major you want to study, and no one else can help you with that." ”

"Political science, I want to study political science, I have read a lot of books on related majors before." Sophie gave her own answer.

"Nice professional." Tommy nodded lightly when he heard Sophie's answer, and then thought for more than ten seconds before he said slowly:

"This profession is a trick for women, I like to do tricks, let life take shortcuts, it's normal for you to choose this way, you are too deeply influenced by me, but a trick succeeds requires an important premise......"

"The ability to match it." Susan didn't wait for Tommy to finish, and took the initiative to speak.

Tommy set his eyes on Susan Curtis in front of her, two years of community college experience, washed away the dust on her body, and now she, a red baseball jacket, a T-shirt with red piping on a white background, light blue printed jeans, and a pair of white casual shoes on her bare feet, are no different from those college students, and the whole person sits here, just like the summer in California, giving people a free-spirited and energetic fashion sense.

was rushed to answer by the other party, Tommy was not unhappy, but just asked with a smile: "The last time I saw you, you still had the gorgeous and fashionable temperament of studying on the Upper East Side of New York." ”

"Last time, it was because I was going to help Mark go to New York to meet someone, so that dress, as you said, was another face of a person." Susan looked down at her dress: "Now I'm going to be a freshman, so I naturally want to look younger and more energetic." ”

Tommy slowly lit a cigarette, looked into the distance and whispered his own suggestion: "I think you might as well start an internship in political science while you are studying at Stanford University, for example, establish a fraternity organization, a fraternity organization that both men and women can join, and there is only one hard standard for joining this organization, and the other party must be ...... The first generation of Stanford college students in the family, if you can play with these first-generation college students and make them identify with you, I want to wait for you to graduate, and you can work in a lot of high-paying jobs related to political science. ”

"Brotherhood?" Susan was stunned for a moment: "Something I didn't expect. ”

Tommy looked at Susan: "I'll give you the cost of the first year's expenses, but from the second year onwards, you and your organization will have to support themselves, and if you want to get my donation, you have to give what attracts me, which is the first lesson in political science, resource exchange." ”

"I guess, you helped me figure out the name of it?" Susan shrugged her shoulders and smiled at this guy who was obviously younger than herself, but who always made herself habitually dependent on when she talked.

Tommy opened his mouth and said: "The O-N-E in the Greek letters, together it is the English word ONE, this is its name, and the name of all the members of this brotherhood, the first generation, what do you think of this name?" ”

"If you like it, the name doesn't matter, I'll try to set it up." Susan said to Tommy, "If you want me to do that." ”

"What reward do you want? I mean, you got the transcription notice, and it deserves the extra reward. Tommy laughed and asked Susan.

Susan exhaled and thought seriously for a long time before she said to Tommy, "Give me a hug, Tommy, a hug." ”

……

Warwick, Rhode Island.

Colin Hawke opened the envelopes with the Stanford emblem and read the contents:

"Tommy Hawke, it has been confirmed that you have a GPA of 3.5 or above, and we are honored to award you the Stanford Academic Honor Rope."

"Tommy Hawke, thank you for your breakthrough performance on behalf of the Stanford University table tennis team, finishing third in the California League, and we are honored to award you the Stanford Distinguished Achievement Honor Rope."

"Tommy Hawke, I would like to thank you for your participation in the development of software engineering standards and the standardization of information technology in the Department of Computer Science of Stanford University, and we are honored to award you the commemorative honor rope for participating in important projects at Stanford."

"Tommy Hawke, former President of SSD, it is my honor to present you with the SSD Graduation Honor Cord on behalf of all SSD brothers before your graduation ceremony."

Tommy looked at his father from the side, "These honors give me the courage to invite you to my graduation ceremony, Dad, these are enough to prove that I have not wasted my time." ”

"Of course you haven't wasted your time, but it's not important enough, and it seems to me that you deserve the most praise ......," Colin Hawk said, carefully putting away the letters, and said to Tommy:

"The most commendable thing for you is that you found a girlfriend in college, Otilia is a good girl, in your years of college, every time she comes back for vacation, she will come to greet me and Becia, I need to tell you one thing solemnly, the rules of the Hawke family for such things as breakups, if Otilia finds a better man and proposes to break up with you, I will comfort you, son, and encourage you to chase her back, but if you are ready to let her down because you can't control yourself, or if you meet another woman, I don't know what will happen to her father, Mr. Farrell, but the advice I give you is the same as that for your brother Tony, that the Hawke man, if he dares to disappoint the woman who has done so much to him, I will castrate him myself, and send your thing to your girlfriend as a souvenir. ”

"Remember what I said, I prepared a gift for you? It took a bit of time to prepare, but it was finally ready before I graduated, and at this point, it was waiting for you in California. Tommy looked at his father as if he remembered something else.

Colin stared into Tommy's eyes: "If it's a gift like a California girl, I guess your mother won't like this gift in heaven, I repeat, you can't live up to the people who are good to you, Otilia is rushing back from abroad, and she specially called me to tell me before, let the tailor arrange to come to the door, help me tailor the clothes, and prepare the clothes for your graduation ceremony, you can't live up to this kind of woman." ”

"What are you thinking, Daddy? A son helps his father pimp? Am I so unbearable in your mind? Hearing his father's words, Tommy said dissatisfied.

"Tony said on the phone that you taught him how to take his college friends to nightclubs and flirt with dancers and stuff like that, and thanks to you, Ashley, who moved to Maryland to rent a house to accompany him, now beats him three times a week." Colin took a sip of his beer:

"His description of you made me think you were studying how to pimp at Stanford University in California, and of course, it doesn't matter what you study, it's important to have four years of college life that you think are happy."

Tommy looked at his dad speechlessly: "Tony said to you, I studied pimp at Stanford?" ”

Colin burped: "No, he said it more directly, he said that you are the bustard, and he is the cowherd who dresses up and helps you attract customers." ”

……

In the summer of 1987, Stanford University Stadium, the 96th commencement ceremony of Stanford University.

For the graduates, this is the last and most important highlight of their college career, and of course, the highlight also belongs to the graduates' parents, even the raunchy Colin Hawke, who has put on a well-made suit, a well-trimmed beard, and carefully combed hair.

Like other parents of graduates, he walked down the red-carpeted aisle toward the stadium with a bouquet of flowers pinned to his chest.

Behind Colin was Otilia, who had flown back from Europe on purpose, and even among so many parents, she was still dazzling, making many men focus their eyes on her, and she was holding Bessia's hand and introducing Bessia to what would happen at the graduation ceremony.

Finally, wearing a Naval Academy's summer white Navy Cadet Officer uniform, holding Ashley's vice president of the U.S. Naval Academy's SSD chapter, Tony Leon.

When all the parents were seated, the graduates dressed in neat degree gowns and bachelor's hats, led by the instructors, slowly walked into the venue to the rhythm of the Stanford March, and at that moment, all the parents clapped their hands for the children.

Once the graduates were also seated, the commencement ceremony officially began, beginning with all the graduates singing the school song one last time, and then President Donald Kennedy giving the final in-school address to the graduates.

Then the student representative spoke, and seeing that it was not her brother who spoke, but a black girl, Bethea was very upset: "Tommy is terrible, he didn't speak for the graduates!" If I graduate, I have to speak as a student representative and dress up to attract everyone's attention. ”

Then former U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher spoke as a prominent Stanford alumnus and special guest.

When this is all over, the principal reads out the names of each graduate one by one, invites them to the stage, presents their graduation certificates, and then helps the students to pluck the tassels, and then the students can give a short confession.

Tommy Hawke was actually the last to take the stage, the principal handed him his diploma, and after the tassel, Tommy took the microphone and looked at the audience:

"Dad, I know you were there, remember when I said I prepared a gift for you? It's ready, and on your last day at Stanford, I'd like to have Mr. Chancellor help you unwrap this gift. ”

"Mr. Colin Hawke, this is your gift and Stanford's gift, Tommy Hawke donated three million dollars to Stanford University in your name to build a library, he hopes that this library will be named Colin and Alida Library, your and your wife's names will always be engraved in Stanford University, every Stanford student will remember your dedication, thank you for your support to Stanford University, at this moment, I can invite you to the stage, And on behalf of the School Board, do you hand in hand a certificate of honor? ”

The volunteers on the scene guided Colin Hawke to the rostrum for the first time, Colin was already a little overwhelmed when he heard the news, and under the reminder of Otilia and Tony and Ashley, he followed the volunteers to the rostrum, he looked at his son next to him, and then looked at all the people who gave him warm applause, and received the honorary certificate from the principal with a blank face.

It's just that when the principal asked him to speak, he looked at Tommy a little overwhelmed, and Tommy smiled at him encouragingly: "You can say anything, Dad, anything, even if it's foul language." ”

"I'm not just talking foul." Hearing his son's ridicule, Colin relaxed and looked at everyone in the audience:

"If his mom was here, he would be proud of him, thank you Stanford...... Let more people in this world remember his mother's name, and thank you, son, you are our pride. ”

Colin Hawke took a final deep breath, tried to calm himself, looked at the headmaster, and said earnestly in a pleading tone:

"Alida and Colin, I mean, can you put my wife's name before mine, that's my only request."

Before he could continue, all the parents couldn't help but exclaim at this time, and gave the warmest applause to Colin's decision, even Otilia and Ashley had red eyes and covered their mouths because of Colin's words.

Daddy's decision was unexpected by Tommy, and he looked at the daddy beside him: "I really hope that my mother will also sit in the audience and hear your touching love words, Daddy." ”

"She can hear me." Colin hugged his son hard: "Thank you for the gift you gave us, thank you for remembering your mom, happy graduation, son." ”

(End of chapter)