America 1982

"This country is well run by us."

It was rare for Tommy to change out of his T-shirt and beach shorts and put on a formal suit. The golden hair he inherited from his father was also specially styled with hairspray. At this time, he was standing seriously outside the government building, greeting the children. Variety show producer Elton Byrne and his small camera team introduce the state of the country.

Although I thought this country would be small, Elton and the accompanying small film crew were a little surprised to see that the capital, Kingston, was not as big as some of the bustling small towns in the United States.

Moreover, local black people kept appearing suddenly and mysteriously near these people as if they were admiring animals in a zoo, looking at the group of people with big, fearless and curious eyes.

"Have they not seen white people?" a member of the film crew asked Tommy as he looked at the black people looking from a distance.

Tommy shook his head: "No, it's not that they haven't seen white people before, they are curious about your machine. This country does not have its own television station, only a few radio stations to convey news."

"Mr. Director, the sugar cane fields in St. George Parish have been destroyed by wild boars! A large number of wild boars are destroying them at the moment! The parish police station asked us to rush to support!" The voice of a black policeman came from the balcony on the second floor of the police station.

Elton and others looked up and saw Dennis wearing a decent black British police uniform and a wide-brimmed police hat on his head. His left chest was almost covered with medals and ribbons. He held the guardrail with both hands and looked at Looking deeply into the distance.

The most exaggerated thing is that this guy wore an Italian-style police cape in the summer.

Just looking at the look, it's really cool, especially the look with Denis's tense face and leaning on the railing looking into the distance, which looks a bit like the German Gestapo.

But adults like Elton looked a little confused. After a few seconds, a member of the film crew turned around and asked his companions uncertainly: "Were those medals bought from American souvenir shops? I recognized most of them. The Medal of the United States, which is awarded to a Commonwealth police officer, how much whiskey does the Queen have to drink to do something like this?”

"Don't worry, everything is in accordance with the procedure." Dennis turned around and looked at the black policeman who came to deliver the letter: "I have suggested that the country legislate this as soon as possible."

The black policeman was stunned and looked nervously at the director who was already familiar with him. According to the plan, Dennis only needed to tell him his previous plan to drive the wild boar to the US Embassy, ​​but now, the director You got excited and changed your lines yourself?

The black man stared, trembled his thick lips, and repeated uncertainly: "Legislation?"

"Yes, legislation." Dennis patted the other party's shoulder, satisfied with the surprise in his eyes: "Legislate to prohibit wild boars from trespassing into sugar cane fields. After legislation is enacted, we can arrest and bring to justice those wild boars that damage sugar cane fields."

The black policeman didn't react. The camera crew who heard this conversation on the street couldn't help but laugh out loud. They understood that the joke Dennis told was making fun of a weird law in Georgia, USA, which prohibits chickens on the highway. Walk up.

"Did your machine just turn on? That's a good joke." The director of the film crew asked the photographer.

The photographer carrying the machine nodded: "Of course, it's great as a source of fun news."

"But Mr. Chief, there's no need to go to that trouble, just..." The black policeman was sweating from his head. He almost said the line that belonged to Dennis about beating gongs and drums to drive away wild boars, trying to get the plot back on track. .

"This is the American method, and it will definitely not be wrong, believe me." Dennis interrupted the other person and continued.

The staff tried hard to cooperate with Dennis's performance, but in the end they determined that they could not keep up with Dennis's thinking, so they could only ask normal people's questions honestly: "Mr. Director, I want to say that wild boars can't understand English laws. After you legislate How do you want to catch it, maybe you can just catch it the same way now?”

"It makes sense, American chickens don't seem to understand English laws." Dennis said with a smile: "So do you have any good ideas, Cora?"

The black man stared at a pair of big blank eyes and said tentatively: "I don't know, Mr. Director, I have only been working for half a month and have never encountered such a situation. Maybe we can drive the wild boars to the US Embassy, ​​so that the United States can The embassy thought there was an invasion and sent their marines to deal with the invading enemies?"

After he said Dennis' lines, the black policeman lowered his head in shame and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Great method, Cora! You are such a genius!" Dennis laughed happily, but then suddenly changed his face: "This country does not need to rely on other forces! Let me tell you how to deal with the wild boars! Get all the wild boars in the town Gather the hounds and men! Follow me! Use the hounds to fight head-on, while we sneak attack and kill the wild boar!"

The black man subconsciously stood at attention: "Yes, Mr. Director!"

"Driving a wild boar to the U.S. Embassy, ​​which part of your body did you use to come up with this answer? You might as well just drive the wild boar to the Falklands. At that time, not only did you solve the problem of wild boars in your country, but the Queen of England thought you brought the wild boar to replace her. If you join the war, maybe you and the wild boar will be awarded a bunch of medals." Dennis shook his cloak and disappeared from the balcony.

The black policeman lowered his head and seemed to be involved in a problem that could appear on the TV. Chief Dennis seemed to have changed. After a conversation, he became a smart man, and he became a clown driving away wild boars.

"Today's temperature is 28 degrees. Are you sure the child won't suffer from heatstroke?" the photographer asked in a low voice after Dennis disappeared: "The moment the cloak started shaking, I felt that the material was very heavy."

Elton retracted his gaze and said: "Although the uniform made me feel like it was a product of the peace between Britain and Italy, in the end his method was very correct. My hometown is in Missouri, and when farmers there drive or kill wild boars, , indeed they are all used to confronting each other head-on with hounds, while they aim their guns at the side."

"I said that this country is governed by us in an orderly manner." Tommy said from the side: "Now you can enter the government building and visit it."

Elton and the camera crew spent the whole morning in the government building, watching a group of high school students deal with various daily affairs in a matter-of-fact manner. In the afternoon, they went to the beach to visit Prime Minister Madoff, who was on vacation, and asked him carefully After that, I completely believed that the old man in front of me really handed over this town... no, this country to a group of high school students to experience life, and these high school students did indeed do a better job than the previous officials.

When he returned to the conference room, Elton said seriously to Tommy, who had called Steve, the Minister of Finance and Trade, to accompany him to the meeting:

"Tommy, or Mr. Prime Minister Hawke, first of all, I think your summer camp idea is very good. It is more interesting and in-depth than most summer camps. Secondly, I am also willing to help you promote it, but if it is specially made for your summer camp The cost of a single program would be very, very high.”

"You think we can't afford it?" Tommy stared at Elton and asked with a slight frown.

Steve next to him laughed and said to Elton: "I also want to know what kind of price you would describe as very, very high, Mr. Bourne."

"I know two people. One founded this summer camp and is likely to earn hundreds of thousands or more in one summer, which is more than many people earn in ten years. The other is about to inherit an astronomical inheritance. But I always treat you two as adults. You are more mature than your peers. There is no doubt that when I was your age, I only knew how to write love letters to girls and ask them to go to the movies." Elton said with a gentle smile:

"I believe that these two mature and smart people will not waste money, right? After all, adults pay attention to maximizing interests."

Tommy nodded in agreement: "Of course, I've always done that."

Then he glanced at Steve next to him and added: "Us."

"You want to promote the summer camp, and you want us at Nickelodeon to help produce a special program to record everything that happens here. No matter how outstanding your summer camp is, you can only pay the TV station and be promoted as a commodity, as if you are helping yourself. The product is advertised on the TV station. I think it is better to change the way, not to promote the product and advertising, but to cooperate. I will persuade the channel to make a new summer program to record the story of this summer camp. Maybe three, six or even Nine episodes, and we can continue to cooperate even next year, so that both parties will use the money to produce the program, instead of you paying the advertising fees unilaterally."

After Elton finished speaking, Tommy and Stephen looked at each other, and then the two whispered a few words. Finally, Stephen shrugged uninterestedly:

"It sounds like you are going to take our money to produce your program, and how do I know whether the program you produce is in line with our taste? I still think CSLS will pay for it and you will be responsible for the production. This will avoid the program being There were disagreements during the production, and both parties refused to give in. Now it’s much simpler, we pay for it, and you listen to us.”

"If you two can authorize the exclusive television production rights for the summer camp programs to me on behalf of CSLS, you don't have to pay production fees. But after all, it is a summer camp to promote CSLS, so there is no need for us to pay you. We bear the production risks. At the same time, you can also give them the title of co-producer and producer of Nickelodeon on this show. You two, you should understand that this is an honor that many high school students will not be able to grab. In the future, whether you study in college or work after graduation, you will have a shining resume. It is no exaggeration to say that with this resume, if you study film and television in college, you can go to a major TV station and start from a high starting point as an assistant producer. Start a career.”

"You don't care about your career, Mr. Bourne. I'm more concerned about how to resolve differences when disagreements arise." Tommy tried hard to keep his face straight and keep the emotions and anger that a prime minister should have, but he still couldn't control the corners of his mouth. Subtle upward movements.

Elton said confidently: "As for the issue of disagreements, we are just recording and filming how this country is managed by you. We are not involved in your actions, but I hope you will consider it and make the show more exciting, such as arranging your trainees. , do something that can attract viewers to watch. I mean, don’t always look at documents at your desk. It’s better to do something real and practical for this country like the police chief, so that the program looks good. It’s more vivid and makes the summer camp more convincing.”

This time, Tommy and Stephen looked at each other and both laughed. Tommy said, "If that's the case, of course we can cooperate. It's certainly a good thing to save some publicity expenses."

"I'll ask the legal department to draw up a contract, and it will be delivered to your offices soon." Elton also laughed, then stood up and took the initiative to shake hands with the two of them: "Happy cooperation, Mr. Prime Minister, Mr. Finance Minister."

After Elton's people left, Tommy breathed a sigh of relief, unbuttoned his suit jacket, exposed the Walkman on his waist, pressed the play button, and Elton's voice sounded from inside:

"But I hope you will think about making the show more exciting, such as arranging your students to do work that can attract the audience to watch. I mean, don't always look at documents at your desk. It's better to be like that person Like Mr. Police Chief, help this country do something real..."

Stephen handed Tommy a cigarette and asked with a smile: "We are simple and innocent, right?"

"Mr. Elton can tell you the answer, Yes." Tommy took the cigarette: "I can't believe that a man in his forties who is still just a children's program producer is trying to teach us what maximizing profits is. "

Although it's a little late, I finally did not miss the appointment...