America 1982

Diamond Veterans' Home for the Elderly, in the hallway outside the activity hall.

Martin helped Jeff put on the baseball cap, and then used a soft brush to brush Jeff's cheek a few times. After making sure that the face looked tough and hard, he looked at his work with satisfaction:

"It seems like the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs should ask you to be the official spokesperson for American veterans. That's tough."

Jeff stood in front of him. His strong body stretched out the camouflage T-shirt that was one size smaller than Tommy had bought on purpose until it almost split. His whole person was full of aggression and a fierce aura that kept strangers away.

"Martin, are you sure... is this manuscript suitable for talking to the elderly? There are more swear words in it than I have said in more than 30 years." Jeff moved his arms that were tightened by the cuffs and whispered to Martin. said.

Martin shouted: "Shut up! Jeff, don't question me! What you have to do later is to emotionally read the speech in your hand to the dozens of World War II veterans, which contains more swear words than any nigger block." , don’t live up to it, because that’s…that’s what I stayed up late last night and wrote.”

The boss, Tommy, who worked so hard to write the speech, was finally willing to give himself the title of author. Martin did not expect why Tommy would make this decision, but he felt that it was not a bad thing. After all, he was the campaign manager and always needed Come up with some bluffs to prove that he doesn't just go to Costco and steal Trojans.

"I have read it many times, but I am still moved every time. The emotions in this manuscript are almost overflowing. It is so touching. So Martin, your father actually died on the battlefield, right? If I hadn't personally Having experienced it, I will never..." Jeff talked about the speech Martin prepared for him, with an expression of admiration on his face.

"I've explained it so many times that my father didn't join the army and died on the battlefield, but because he was driving..." Martin stared at Jeff unhappily, interrupting the other's compliment.

Jeff has been praising him since he watched it for the first time, so Martin can no longer get pleasure. He now needs the shock of other listeners after listening to it to satisfy his vanity.

Jeff looked at Martin sincerely: "What happened to him while he was driving?"

"Do you have to be so curious?" Martin glared at Jeff with disgust: "Can't you give me some privacy?"

"We are friends. Zach, Allen, and I can talk about anything. Allen also told Zach and me his most important secret. He once wanted to find out what oral sex felt like and which one felt better. Excellent, so I went to the Florida Zoo, secretly put something on the golf club and let the goats, giraffes, zebras, etc. lick it..."

"Stop it! Stop it!" Martin stared: "Brother, living with the three of you for three days is more eye-opening than living in a nigger community for thirty years! Shit... go to the zoo and enjoy free oral sex. Son? How on earth did Florida produce you three smart people!"

"If this secret is not enough to exchange your father's experience, I can also tell you my most important secret, I..."

"I can't listen anymore, I don't want to hear it, I'm a fucking shameful nigger!" Martin stopped Jeff from continuing, and he helplessly lowered his voice and said, "OK, I'm telling you, you have to keep it a secret."

"Of course." Jeff assured with a serious face.

Martin hesitated and lowered his voice: "He once got high while driving and masturbated while driving. He was stopped by the police. The other party was a female mounted policeman. I was busy with one hand and lowered the window with the other hand. He was right next to the club. At the critical moment, I saw the face of the female police officer leaning towards me... So my father gave the policewoman something else on his face besides his driver's license, and then he was accused of molesting a police officer in public, humiliating a police officer, and assaulting a police officer. Police officer, X harassed a police officer and many other charges and went to jail for vacation.”

"I...wow, I...I want to say, actually sometimes when I am stressed, I will deliberately stay in the car until late at night, and occasionally do that kind of thing, but it seems...it seems impossible to squirt that far ." Jeff asked suspiciously, his eyes widening.

"That's a racial talent. Otherwise, how do you think that bastard gave me a dozen half-brothers and sisters?" Martin said, "Continue reading the speech and stop talking to me about my father, okay?"

After a while, Tommy and the person in charge of the Diamond Veterans Home for the Elderly pushed open the door of the activity hall and walked out. The person in charge was a middle-aged man in his forties. Under Tommy's introduction, he and Jay The husband shook hands and smiled perfunctorily: "For the sake of donating some food to this hospital, you have about thirty minutes, Mr. Raven."

Jeff looked at Tommy, who nodded to him: "Go ahead, just read the script to the veterans generously, there is no need to write it off."

"I will." Jeff nodded seriously, took a few deep breaths, waited for Martin to check his makeup again, then took the speech in hand, turned around and pushed open the door of the event hall and strode towards the podium. Go.

“Politicians have come to places like this to seek support before, but almost every one of them can deliver speeches off-script. Unfortunately, even if they are so eloquent that they can completely off-script, they can hardly raise any money, because the veterans here do not understand politics and do not understand politics. It’s useless if you don’t care about politics.” The person in charge said with a smile to Tommy.

He was not optimistic about politicians coming here to raise money. No one had come before, but the effect was very poor. In his opinion, Jeff Lavine, who came this time, was even worse than those politicians. He even had to find a script to read his speech. It's like waiting to stand on the stage, helpless and being ridiculed and humiliated by veterans who don't understand politeness at all.

Tommy leaned against the door frame, looking at Jeff who stood firm on the podium, and said with a smile: "Of course the veterans don't understand politics, otherwise they would have rebelled and captured the White House, instead of waiting until Jeff showed up today. .”

The activity hall of the nursing home is usually a free space for veterans, where they can chat, do simple exercises, watch TV, listen to the radio, etc. But now, the seats under the rostrum are full, with about forty or fifty people. Veterans who had experienced World War II were sitting in the audience. Most of them were gray-haired and old. Nearly half of their bodies were disabled and needed wheelchairs or other tools. Several caregivers were standing against the wall, observing the bodies of the elderly. situation and signaled the veterans to remain quiet.

But the veterans obviously did not give the caregivers face, and were not prepared to respect Jeff who was standing on the stage at this time. They shouted and cursed in the audience:

"Hey! Taking money again and letting us waste an hour or two sitting here listening to a politician's bullshit? Expect us to vote for him, or donate money for him to use to find prostitutes to sleep with?"

"Oh, go to hell! I would rather donate my damn money to Germany to support their resurrection than to these damn politicians!"

"***If we are still alive, we can at least let Americans know what we have done for this world! Now everyone treats us as trash!"

"Go home, kid! Don't expect us to listen to your nonsense!"

Jeff stood on the stage, observing these angry veterans who were forced to sacrifice their usual free time to listen to his fundraising speech because of his appearance.

Frankly speaking, he was a little nervous. Although Martin had practiced with him several times, when it really started, looking at the distrustful, mocking, disdainful and distrustful audience, Jeff still felt a little uncomfortable. Well, After Martin said, if you feel nervous, just take a deep breath. Jeff tried hard to recall Stallone's fearless performance in the movie. He kept taking deep breaths to let his nervousness slowly fade away. Finally, amidst the laughter, scolding and ridicule of everyone, he spread out and read I have given many speeches and read the first sentence above into the microphone:

"Private First Class Jeff Lavin, Florida National Guard, U.S. Army, I've met you all."

As these words were spoken, the veterans below slowly stopped humiliating them. Although their expressions were still bad, at least the hall became quiet.

In every previous election, many politicians would come to seek support from veterans like them. Those politicians who came to canvass often also had military service experience, but every time those bastards introduced themselves, they mentioned various military officer positions. They thought that mentioning their positions in the army would make these old guys feel close to each other. In fact, as long as the other party reveals their unit number and position, everyone will know that they have never been on the battlefield at all, but are just gilding the rear of the army.

Have you ever seen any military officer who, after retiring, had to live in such a terrible nursing home and wait to die? All here are ordinary soldiers who are aging.

He came here to show off his military rank and official position, thinking that these veterans who had broken their legs for the country would stand up and salute him, and say "sir", okay?

So those people often end up doing the opposite.

But now the young, big white man in front of him introduces himself as just a first class soldier in the U.S. Army. He is exactly the same as most of the old people here when they served. This sentence shows that this guy named Jeff Lavin is not from one of those military schools. The son of a high-ranking official is just an ordinary person.

This also makes the veterans want to hear what this private has to say. They have ridiculed politicians with military ranks such as captains and colonels, but they have never met a guy who retired with the rank of more than a private to come here to give a speech to raise funds.

“The military didn’t teach me how to give speeches, so my campaign manager helped me find many speeches that politicians had used in fundraising before for me to copy. Seeing the thick stack of manuscripts opened my eyes. Those bitches who have never fought in a war are really good at blowjobs. Now I understand why I was so obsessed on the battlefield in Vietnam and participated in Operation Bushmaster. He must have been sucked once by those politicians. Go Your fucking politicians only know how to be weaklings hiding in the background.”

These rude words made many veterans laugh out loud. It is normal for soldiers to scold politicians. Which soldier during the service has not scolded those politicians who are afraid of death and only know how to chatter in the rear and dare not take a step forward on the battlefield?

Jeff stared at the speech scripts and continued: "After I read those speeches, I didn't plagiarize. It's not because I think I'm more talented, but because I'm a fucking private who graduated from high school and can't understand that bullshit. , what is social group differentiation, what is open diplomacy, open diplomacy, my understanding is that the three dogs in my family were messing around on the street in full view of the public, and finally ejaculated outside! Call open-air warfare a philosophy, Fuck you politicians.”

The veterans once again cheered and burst into vulgar laughter. With just a few words, the veterans present believed that this superior soldier was not a fake. Since leaving the army, except for veterans with the same status, few others would talk to them. Tell such vulgar and pure jokes.

"I decided to write my own speech, so don't worry about it being too long. I will never say, 'I'm going to keep it short so that you can give everyone here time to fill out a check to support me.' That kind of nonsense that countless politicians think is humorous, I I know all the politicians start their speeches with this joke, but I just don’t know what’s so funny about it?”

"And those guys don't talk short, they talk for an hour or two at a time. Damn it, for an hour or two, why don't he go home and lick his wife? If he can lick his wife for two hours , I guarantee that his wife will definitely love him more, but if you talk nonsense for an hour or two, it is impossible for people here to fall in love with him."

"The summary of the one- or two-hour speech is nothing more than telling a long story at the beginning, then talking about my dreams and great ambitions, and finally saying God bless America."

"Actually, it can be summed up in one sentence, give me your banknotes and votes, and I will go to Washington! A politician wearing a high-end suit worth thousands of dollars and a diamond watch worth tens of thousands of dollars, fooling around with a lot of bottles of whiskey A poor guy who can't even afford it paid for him a ticket to Washington. Damn it, I'd rather buy a ticket myself and go to your house, *your wife who stayed alone in the empty house because you went to Washington."

"Actually, this is a bit biased. I have received information that it is unlikely that you can get it by just paying for the ticket. But if you are willing to donate 500,000 to those politicians, you will definitely be able to rape their wives. If you add 200,000 more, you can still get it at the same time. *His wife’s sister, I saw some people become excited and calm. Sirs, if you really donate 500,000 to that politician for them, I guarantee that it will be the most terrifying experience in your life.”

The audience burst into laughter again, and even whistles and applause.

However, the person in charge of the nursing home who was listening to Jeff's speech at the corridor door frowned at this moment. He looked at Tommy, who had communicated with him and donated some food in exchange for Jeff's half-hour speech:

"Are you sure he's here to give a fund-raising speech? Not to hold a vulgar talk show tour? Those words are really ugly."

"A good speech is so humorous that it can make everyone laugh." Tommy said seriously: "You want these veterans to sit in the audience and listen to Jeff's "Meditations" for two hours? Believe me, that stuff is awesome. In ten minutes at least half of the veterans will want to find a gun and blow Jeff's head off."

"So, you think a good speech is to tell explicit and vulgar jokes to the audience below, and donate 500,000 yuan to rape the wives of politicians?" The person in charge said to Tommy dissatisfied: "I really should have said that before agreeing. Take a look at the manuscript you prepared."

Tommy took out a cigarette and lit it, then said: "This is not a joke. I have a friend named Stephen. He told me personally that he and his family's foundation donate about five million to the Democratic Party every year to support Various Democratic members of Congress call this money prostitution. He is not yet thirty years old and has already slept with the beautiful young wives or girlfriends of seventeen congressmen who wanted him to make additional donations. He once gave money to a certain person in California. The state congressman made an additional donation of 200,000 yuan, and the congressman’s wife and sister, in order to show their gratitude, stayed with him all night to talk about democracy and freedom.”

"You're kidding! This is impossible!" The person in charge said firmly, but the expression on his face was full of eagerness to try.

While Tommy and the person in charge were having an in-depth discussion on the topic of giving money to a parliamentary candidate to have the right to sleep with his wife, Jeff was speaking louder on the podium:

"I want to say, fuck you long story short, fuck your great ambitions, God bless America! This is bullshit! I don't understand these self-righteous politicians, are they too high? They think they are What kind of people are you talking to?"

"No one knows how to cut a long story short than the group of people in front of me! Because their careers will always only consist of one sentence, 'Yes Sir!'"

"No one understands great ambition better than the group of people in front of me! Because their careers are the best interpretation of great ambition!"

"Fuck you, do you need those politicians to tell us this kind of thing? I would rather shoot myself in the head than listen to those ducks croaking in my ears!"

"When the country needed us soldiers, the newspapers called us the most powerful cornerstone of the country. After we brought peace, the newspapers called us scrapped national tools: numb, indifferent, leaving only death and waiting. Drunkard of death, poisonous insect...fuck you!"

"It is these veterans who are called drunkards, poisonous insects, and waiting for death. Decades ago, they prevented those who can now humiliate them at will from being stuffed into the incinerator. The veterans guarded the world with their blood and lives. Peace! Let the displaced refugees from various countries come here to live here. Because of the veterans, they were not fucking killed by Nazism or Stalin or even Churchill. Then, the descendants of those survivors are now beginning to humiliate the great guardian of this country. He is a fucking drunkard, a poisonous insect, an executioner, a murderer, a fucking safety hazard to society, and a stumbling block on the road to fucking peace!”

"Fuck you! Without these veterans, their corpses would have rotted into ashes long ago. They wouldn't even be qualified to be a stumbling block for homeless people!"

All the veterans in the audience shouted out with these words. In the hearts of these scarred veterans, they were the ones who changed the world and brought peace. However, the reality is that today they are humiliated and ridiculed. Even when I go out to buy a bottle of wine, I have to be interrogated by the police, as if I am not a wounded soldier fighting for the United States, but a Soviet soldier trapped in the United States. I have no respect, no status, and nothing but scars all over my body.

"The cowards of survivors who have enjoyed peace talk freely in front of you, bragging that they have seen the world and have insight into the international situation. Each of them seems to know everything, change the world, and make this country a better place. But what about us? , in their mouths, they are idiots who don’t know anything except the cheapest brand of beer and the cheapest drug.”

"Fuck you! You bastards! We have seen the world. We once went to Italy, withstood artillery fire and super strong storms, and forcibly landed in Sicily! We once went to France, and in order to cover the Allies, we drove a destroyer regardless of the risk of sinking. Rush to Omaha Beach! We went to Asia, and in order to defeat Japan, we flew planes to turn Tokyo into a sea of ​​fire!"

"The world we have seen is countless times better than those idiots talking about it right now! We brought peace! Then what? What did we gain?"

"A tattered body full of scars! A ridiculously low pension! A group of tool people abandoned by society and the times!"

Jeff's eyes were already red. He choked and continued: "I... tell you what I gained, and I also gained medical benefits with the highest surgical mortality rate! If you don't understand, I can explain it more clearly. Just...fuck you! I can’t speak any more!”

“Just when you perform an operation in an ordinary hospital, only one out of a hundred people may die unexpectedly on the operating table, but when you perform an operation in a hospital affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs, four and a half of a hundred veterans will not be able to walk off the operating table alive! F*ck!”

"Why is this happening? Because doctors with higher surgical skills and more advanced medical tools require more money. The politicians in Washington are unwilling to allocate funds for our obsolete tools. They feel that now you are walking on the street. The old guy who can scare children into tears is still alive, it’s all their gift!”

"Fuck you!"

"We are ugly, with our hands blown off, our legs amputated, and our faces scarred more scarily than Freddy's! Are we ugly? Of course! But our souls are so damn pure!"

"And every one of those politicians looks personable, but in fact, the poop excreted by the dirtiest sewer rats in Miami is not as dirty as their souls!"

"You ugly veterans, should you die? Fuck you! I will keep you alive!"

As Jeff finished speaking, all the disabled people who were not paralyzed in wheelchairs stood up and shouted excitedly in response to Jeff's words!

Sure enough, only the real low-level soldiers understand what veterans like themselves are going through! This young man named Jeff LaVine is one of their own! That's it! They have obviously served their country loyally, but now the U.S. Congress refuses to allocate funds to improve their medical environment!

"I am a fool. If not a fool, who the hell would be willing to join the army to defend this country? Of course I am a fool, and so are you." Jeff slowly exhaled and looked at the excited veterans in the audience with a serious expression. After the veterans cheered, roared, etc. to vent their anger, they continued:

"Jeff, you're a fool, you can't go to the election. The neighbors will say it, the newspapers will say it, my rivals will say it, they laugh at me, Jeff the fool knows nothing, he's going to vote It's a joke. Go home. The United States doesn't need you to step up now. You'd better go home and continue repairing those damn dirty pipes! You are a fool. A fool doesn't understand politics, the situation, or economics. I don’t understand change, I don’t understand electioneering…”

"Fuck you! Fools really don't know anything, but they know how to love this country!" Jeff suddenly yelled hard until his voice broke!

The person in charge saw that the forty or fifty old men in the audience seemed to be caught up in some kind of fanaticism. They didn't care about chatting with Tommy, and quickly walked in to greet his caregivers to calm down some of the old men who seemed to be too excited, lest they lose their emotions. The ups and downs were too great, the heart was overwhelmed, and he died suddenly on the spot.

This is a scene that has never happened before in this nursing home. How can a retired soldier have such a strong inciting power? Make these veterans look as if they can get up and return to the battlefield at any time?

When the person in charge didn't understand why the veterans were so excited, Jeff looked at Martin behind the crowd. Martin kept making relaxation movements to him, indicating that he would slow down his tone. Jeff obediently lowered his volume and followed the instructions from the previous drill. State, said calmly: "This is what my father said. He is also a fool, a fool named Harley Raven, who serves in the 2nd Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division of the U.S. Army, nicknamed Can Opener, because As long as he is present, he can make his comrades grin happily, like cans being opened one by one."

"He was one of the first participants in the Vietnam War. It was actually his second time joining the army. When he first joined the army at the age of 18, he failed in the test because his IQ was not enough. The army said we don't need fools. You answer Go home, and then he would go home obediently, marry a wife and have children. It was not until the outbreak of the Vietnam War that the conscripts came again and told him, who had become an excellent carpenter, that the country now needs you, a fool, to join the army."

"My father didn't refuse. I was still a little kid at the time, but I will always remember my mother crying and asking him, those bastards who so viciously humiliated my father when he first joined the army, saying he was a fool and unworthy of joining the army, why is he still here now? Going to serve! Why?"

"My dad told her that he might actually be a fool, and that he wasn't serving for those assholes who drafted him, he was serving for this country, and this country needs fools to step up."

"It's a pity that he didn't last until the end of the war and died in Vietnam...I..." Jeff choked up again when he said this, and he paused.

Among the veterans in the audience, a black veteran sitting in a wheelchair with a urine bag next to him shouted loudly: "Child, those who die in battle are heroes! Look at us, the ones who are alive are just garbage! You should be happy! You You should be happy! Your father is a hero and he doesn’t have to see this damn situation!”

"Thank you, thank you, let me... let me finish reading this speech... My father... missed many important moments in my life, the first time I read an adult magazine, the first time I masturbated, my first time The first time I wrote a letter to the girl I loved, the first hair on my bird, the first time I fell in love, the birth of my first son, the birth of my first daughter..." Jeff paused. After a while, he continued to speak:

"He was also absent from the first important decision in my life. That year, when I became an adult, there was a fork in my life for the first time. There were two paths, one was to join the army and serve, and the other was to continue studying. , I don’t know which way is the right way in life, because I’m a fool.”

"In the end, I made the same choice as my father. I know that he chose the path of joining the army and ended up dying on the battlefield, but I don't regret continuing to move forward along the path he chose, because I and I He also loves this beautiful country."

"Now, he will continue to be absent from the second important decision in my life. My life path has once again forked. There are two paths. One is to participate in the election, go to Washington to kill those politicians, and fight for the veterans who deserve it. Rights, better medical care, higher benefits, and more positive attention.”

"The other way is to withdraw from the election and go home, continue to be a silent fool, crawling in various dirty pipes and keeping company with rats every day, turning a blind eye to the unfair experience of those veterans, staying silent, and living like a mute For the rest of my life.”

There was no need for Jeff to say anything else. The veterans at the scene, led by several veterans, shouted neatly in unison: "Run for election! Jeff! Let us live! Run for election! Jeff! Let us live! Run for election!" Choose! Jeff! Let’s live!”

Martin turned to look at Tommy, who was leaning against the door frame and dozing off with a cigarette in his mouth. Then he looked at the photographer who was so shocked that his jaw seemed to be dislocated. He asked the photographer incredulously: "A collection of swear words can win the votes of voters." Support? If that’s the case, why don’t the candidates hire us niggas to write their speeches during the presidential election?”

"Words are really contagious. If I didn't know that Jeff is a fool who doesn't understand anything, I would be ready to spend money to support him." The photographer came back to his senses and said to Martin.

After all the veterans were finally calmed down again, Jeff looked at everyone and said:

"When I first made a choice, I imagined how great it would be if my father was still around, so that he could give his son the right advice on the choice of life path. Unfortunately, he is not here, so I just Be able to make your own decisions.”

"But this time, I don't want to make the decision myself."

"I would like to ask those of you who have fought for the country like my father to give me some advice on behalf of my father who has died on the battlefield, so that I can feel what it is like to have the care of my father who is absent in my life."

"I hope you will tell me which path I should take. No matter which answer you finally tell me, I will happily accept it, because..."

"You are my fathers, you are patriots who love this country more than me."

"Finally, according to the speech management, I want to say at the end, God bless America...fuck you! I don't want to say this, because I believe that if America is really blessed, it must have nothing to do with God, and It’s you! You, the true patriots, protect this great country!”

After finishing speaking, Jeff threw away the pile of speech manuscripts with force. The manuscripts scattered and fell in the air. Jeff walked down the podium with red eyes and hugged the veterans.

The scene was really touching. The several emotional outpourings during the speech could not be Jeff's disguise. Martin thought in his heart: "Boss, I..."

"Go up and put the manuscript away, hurry up, today I'm going to give this speech five fucking times in five nursing homes." Tommy lazily opened his eyes and said to Martin: "Jeff can get lost. I think I really want to treat those old guys as my father, but as the campaign manager, you have to know what we are here to do, make money."

This is 8,000 words. The word count was updated the day before yesterday and yesterday. I haven’t coded tonight’s words. I just designed the speech draft... Otherwise, I should be able to write 12,000 words~ I will continue to code 8,000 words today~