America 1982.

Chapter 73 Knocking on Heaven's Door
"Are you sure this thing can be driven to Stanford, California? That's nearly 2 kilometers, across the entire United States." Tommy stood in front of the Chevrolet Corvette C sports car, the body of which was covered with all kinds of graffiti and the original color could no longer be seen. He asked Tony, who was doing a final check on the front of the car, with a somewhat uncertain tone.

Tony lowered the hood and looked at Tommy: "You can trust my skills. Mr. Anderson said I have mastered them."

"I'm not questioning you, I'm questioning this car. It's a Stingray manufactured in 63, and it's older than both of us. I did dream of driving across the United States alone, but I never thought of driving a car like this." Tommy walked around the car twice and said hesitantly.

This car was a gift prepared by his family for him to go to college. According to Tony and his father, a man should drive a high-powered sports car across the United States to complete his registration at the university of his dreams.

The idea is wild, but the problem is that this car was just an empty shell a month ago, and most of the parts were slowly pieced together by Tony after he dismantled them from other cars of the same model.

Dad helped Tommy put his bag into the trunk, put an old-fashioned shotgun in it, and warned Tommy: "Don't play with it unless you are in trouble. If you are questioned by the police, just say it is my gun and you forgot to take it off. If you meet an asshole, pick it up and pull the trigger two feet above the guy's head. Believe me, 80% of the assholes will wet their pants and leave with their heads in their hands."

"What about the remaining 20 percent?" Tommy asked.

"Not only will you wet your pants, but your back door will also be lost." Dad said in a firm tone: "Every time you arrive in a city, remember to call home and let us know where you are."

"I will." Tommy patted the car body and turned to look at his family.

Bethea rushed over and hugged Tommy: "Tommy, I will miss you."

"I will too. I will come back to see you during the holidays and buy you a gift from California." Tommy picked up Bethea and said with a smile, "Didn't you always say that you would wait for me to buy you a gift from California? Then I have to get to California first."

At this time, Tony, Dad, Melanie, and Ashley also gathered around, ready to hug Tommy and say goodbye. The neighbors nearby also slowly walked over, ready to say goodbye to the first young man in the block who dared to go to California.

A lot has changed in the Hawke family this year. With the money Tommy earned, Dad brought back Bethea and opened a small shipbreaking yard. Shipbreaking is actually physical labor, and the biggest investment cost is the cost of purchasing scrapped ships. Dad worked odd jobs in the shipbreaking yard before he lost his job and was familiar with this industry. The way to make money is nothing more than completely dismantling old ships that seem to have no repair value, and reselling the hull plates, steel, machinery, cables, etc. to scrap dealers, and then selling other spare parts such as radios and light bulbs on the second-hand market. Anyway, as the boss, Dad can barely recover to the income level before he lost his job.

Tony has also graduated from the auto repair shop, but he does not plan to continue working there. Now that Bethea has returned home and his father has a stable job, he no longer needs to rush to bring money home, so he wants to find a job at the Thompson Raceway Modified Car Shop in Connecticut and try to learn how to repair modified racing cars.

As for Aunt Melonie, now she is a teacher at Sinclair Elementary School. She hugged Tommy reluctantly and said, "Remember to call us and tell us if you are happy in California. If you are not happy, remember to come home. Your family will always be waiting here."

"I will, Auntie," Tommy said, patting Melonie's back soothingly.

Ashley smiled and said to Tommy, "There must be a lot of beautiful girls in California. Let them see the charm of handsome guys from the East Coast."

"Don't worry. Although Tony asked me to take some pictures of California girls and send them to him, I refused. You can always trust me, Ashley." Tommy hugged Ashley and said.

"F*ckYou! Tommy." Tony raised his middle finger.

Dad took out a piece of paper and said to Tommy, "Son, before I say goodbye to you, I want to read this piece of paper. The people on it have given you gifts."

Then, Dad opened the paper and read: "Maureen, two dozen beers and a box of Trojans, Green, a dozen beers and two boxes of Trojans, Hull, two boxes of milk and two boxes of Trojans, Big Fez, ten gallons of gasoline and two boxes of Trojans, Rogers... What the hell is Rogers? Only two tires? No Trojans? Doesn't he know that stuff is consumed faster than food for college students? If I become a grandfather before I'm fifty, it's all Rogers' fault!"

"Tony said the car needed two newer tires." Wilson added, "So I went... I mean Rogers gave Tommy two tires, and without his knowledge, he might have forgotten to prepare the Trojan."

"Anyway, you heard me. There are enough Trojans in the trunk for you to use for four years, so don't do anything stupid. I don't want you to become a father before you have thought it through, but I also don't want you to go to college for four years and not even get a girl to bed. You know what I mean, right?" After the dad finished reading, he put the paper away, walked up to Tommy and warned him.

Tommy shrugged: "I'll try to save it, Dad." "Very good, I'm... very happy, Tommy, your mother is very happy too. The first college student in the Hawke family is going to California, which is a place your dad, your grandfather, and your grandfather's grandfather have never been to. You are like the pioneer of this family, go conquer the West, son!" Colin Hawke said, hugging his son's shoulders tightly.

Tommy also hugged his father: "I will."

There was a roar in the distance, and then a new black and red Dodge muscle car appeared on the side of the road. Dennis and Pam stuck their heads out of the car window and looked at Tommy.

This new car was bought by Dennis with his earned money. Now it is the coolest car among the young people in Warwick City, and countless girls are willing to sit in the passenger seat of this car.

"I heard that you are going to hit the road today, heading to California." Dennis, wearing a pair of sunglasses, said to Tommy, "Pam and I are going to accompany you on the last stretch of road in Rhode Island, buddy."

Tommy looked at his father, brother, sister, aunt, and others, then tilted his head towards Dennis and Pam: "Get ready to follow my car and smell the exhaust."

After saying that, Tommy turned around and got into the car, started the car, and the Stingray roared and rushed forward.

Dennis roared and stepped on the accelerator, and the Dodge quickly caught up with Tommy's Stingray, and the two cars were driving side by side on the road.

Just as Dennis said, after driving out of the Rhode Island section, Dennis and Pam rolled down the car windows and looked at Tommy, and Tommy turned his head and smiled at them.

"Have a happy college life! Idiot!" Dennis and Pam raised their middle fingers and yelled at Tommy, then slowly slowed down the car.

Tommy held the steering wheel, looked at his companion disappearing in the rearview mirror, and gently turned on the car stereo.

Dennis's recording of "Knocking on Heaven's Door" then sounded in the car: "Come wipe those tears away for me, I won't cry anymore, the sun is setting in the west, I feel myself knocking on Heaven's door..."

In the sunshine, the singing accompanied Tommy as he drove towards California.

(Volume 2: Knocking on Heaven's Door)
Words at the end of the volume: This was probably the most uncomfortable period of my life. I was a loser, and my family was a loser. I had wanted to use the second volume to write an absurd comedy, but the sudden high fever completely affected my state, and it went directly from absurd to fucked up, and the impact was lasting. How should I put it? I felt like my brain was broken since the fever started, and I didn’t know what to write every day when I sat in front of the computer.

The outline was right there. Normally, I could have finished writing it by expanding it according to the outline. However, I couldn't even do such a simple thing while I was sick. I don't know if my brain was burned out.

Even my wife advised me to take a break and wait until my body recovers before continuing, but I said no, I don't want to stop writing now, I just want to keep updating, and after I finish a book, if the quality is poor, I can slowly fix it after I finish it, but I know my situation. If I stop once, I will probably never stop. I have to force myself to finish a book, starting with the first one. I don't know how many words this book will have, maybe over a million, maybe two million, but no matter what, it should at least be a complete story.

I'll leave the second volume like this. I'll revise it when I feel more relaxed, but I don't have the energy to touch this style in the short term.

The third volume is about college life and the protagonist’s entrepreneurial story. It is the first time I have written about a campus life and the first time I have written about a serious entrepreneurial venture. Today, when I was chatting with my wife, she was shocked. She thought that a person with a junior high school education who couldn’t even get into a Chinese university was actually writing about American college life. This was even more difficult than Pu Songling’s writing of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio.

Thank you all for your tolerance towards me during this period. I will try my best to adjust my mindset and write a new story.

Welcome to Volume 3: My Days in a College Fraternity.

(End of this chapter)