America 1982-Chapter 565 - 118: Never Forget Your Original Intention

When Tommy walked into Jeff’s house carrying two solid balls he had personally picked out from the sporting goods store, everyone at Jeff’s place was still immersed in the celebration. Eliana Leti’s reputation had suffered greatly due to her involvement in the Cuban terrorist bombing case and the illegal immigrant drowning case. To preserve what little support and bargaining chips she had left, she ultimately announced her withdrawal from the special election in the Eighteenth District.

The Republican National Committee and the Republican Committee of Florida expressed respect for Eliana Leti’s decision, while the Democratic Committee of Florida and Rona Kennedy, a Cuban-American woman who the media had once envisioned competing against Eliana Leti in the final election, both expressed regret over Eliana Leti’s decision to drop out.

Following this, Democrat Jeff Raven, as the sole candidate for the Eighteenth District of Florida, succeeded former Democrat Claude Pepper, becoming a member of the United States Congress representing Florida’s Eighteenth District in the House of Representatives.

On the night of his election, Jeff’s supporters, neighbors, coworkers, and a bunch of fringe sect adherents that seemed to have popped up from nowhere, celebrated through the night. And tomorrow, Jeff would head to Washington to be officially sworn in. This meant he would be residing in Washington, where he would have his own independent office. As a member of the House of Representatives, he would be paid an annual salary of ninety thousand US dollars by the United States Government. Moreover, his office was allowed to employ fourteen full-time staff members, whose salaries Jeff did not have to pay out of his own pocket.

Furthermore, Congress was already studying a pay raise, as members from both houses unanimously believed that ninety thousand a year was insufficient for living in Washington. So, if Jeff, this rookie congressman, was still in office next year, he would get a salary of ninety-seven thousand according to the bill.

The idea that ninety thousand a year was not sufficient to live in Washington—words spoken by the chairman of the Congressional Committee on Financial Expenditure for everyone’s pay raise—was something Jeff, who in the past could hardly earn over twenty thousand even as a plumber at his most successful, and his crew of Florida rednecks, who had managed a middle-class life in Miami with one wife, two dogs, three cars, and four kids, could not fathom at all.

Did every congressman in Washington have four wives, eight dogs, twelve cars, sixteen kids to support?

When Tommy walked in, Jeff, Gina, the healed Jessica, driver Lance, Allen, Zack, Marcus, Martin and members of his campaign team were having a small internal celebration party in the backyard.

"Tommy~" Jeff saw Tommy appear and greeted him happily, "You’re late. You missed the... What’s that?"

Jeff looked puzzled as he saw the solid balls that Tommy was carrying.

Tommy handed the solid balls to him and pointed back at the camera crew that was filming in the distance, "You’re going to Washington tomorrow to deliver your inaugural speech. These are important props for you to spread the truth to the American people. I took a long time to pick these two, one green, and one blue, one that looks full of life, the other more like our Earth."

"I..." Jeff looked at the two solid balls in his hands, then back at Tommy with a mixed expression, "My... My inauguration speech for tomorrow has already been prepared by the team. It’s mainly focused on veterans’ medical benefits and the Cuban illegal immigration problem in our district."

Tommy lit a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and gestured to Allen, who was opening beers for others, "Get me a beer, Allen."

Then he turned to Jeff and said nonchalantly, "So what? Just add a third topic. After you finish talking about those two unimportant matters, with the same sincerity you used to treat the neighborhood kids, pick up the solid ball and wooden board, and tell everyone in Congress about the great truth of the flat Earth."

"But... I mean... the Earth might not be flat, Tommy," Jeff said, once more looking at the solid ball in his hand before looking up at Tommy.

Tommy’s friendly smile slowly faded as he stared straight at Jeff, "What the fuck did you say?" 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"Many times, I was reminded by the team about this, that the flat Earth theory is wrong. They told me the Earth is round with more reasonable experiments. They placed an ant on a sufficiently large globe and even designed ducts over it..." Jeff started to laugh, happy that he could understand the truth for himself.

But Tommy turned his head and glared at Martin’s subordinates, who were drinking and reveling, "Fuck! Martin, Martin!"

Martin was dancing in a corner with Louise to the music. Hearing Tommy’s roar, Martin left Louise, who had rarely graced him with a dance, and walked over quickly, "What’s up, Boss?"

"Who the fuck told you to take it upon yourself to give Jeff a geography lesson? Why is he telling me now that the Earth is fucking round?!" Tommy looked at Martin. "Did I tell you to do that?"

Martin began to explain, "At the previous rallies, Jeff tried to speak about the flat Earth, but speaking out at the time could have affected his votes. So the team advised him not to mention it, and to convince him, they devised a way to prove to Jeff..."

"You can keep him from mentioning the flat Earth! But you can’t fucking destroy him!" Tommy turned his head to Page, "Take Martin outside to sober up."

After Martin was pulled away by Page, Tommy finally took the beer from Allen and looked at Jeff with an advisory tone, "Jeff, you can’t give up on truth just because of others’ interference. Remember why you started, you get it? Why did you decide to run in the election? Because of the Flat Earth belief, yet you plan to skip it entirely in your inauguration speech? Just because of some idiotic pseudo-scientific experiments, you’re even ready to deny all those years of perseverance and betray your own faith? If that’s really the case, I promise you won’t ascend to heaven after you die!"

"Tommy, it doesn’t matter what shape the Earth is. We should be caring about those veterans..." Jeff clearly hadn’t grasped the severity of the situation yet, still trying to explain with a naive smile on his face.

Tommy took a swig of his beer, then poked Jeff’s chest with his finger repeatedly, "No, the Flat Earth is the reason you stepped up to run! It’s also why I helped you! You think I care about those drunken veterans, about how many Cuban stowaways there are in the Eighteenth District? If I did, why wouldn’t I support that black bastard Gerald Richman, or Rona Kennedy? They speak much more impressively than you! Do you think I’m supporting you because of those veterans always causing trouble? Do I look like someone who gives a damn about how many Cuban bastards are in the Eighteenth District? I’m fucking supporting you because of the Flat Earth! I, as your financier, have only one reason to invest in you—that’s for you to pick up a solid sphere and a solid board in your inaugural speech at United States Congress, in front of all Americans, and tell them the Earth is goddamn flat!"

Tommy’s fury even drowned out the booming music. Others realized there was a problem and began to approach Tommy and Jeff. Tommy grabbed Zack, who was walking over, by the collar and glared at Jeff as he asked:

"Zack, answer me, you ate five cans of chickpeas and farted until your rectum almost exploded in a farting contest all to help Jeff with his campaign. Was it because you fucking care about those veterans?"

Zack was about to speak when he saw Tommy turn his head to look at him; that sharp and fierce gaze made Zack jump, and he immediately shook his head, "No!"

"Allen, you fucked the Miami pipeline workers’ union head’s ass to help Jeff catch votes. Was it for the fucking Cubans?"

Allen hesitated, then shook his head, "No, I don’t care about that."

But then he chuckled, "But... it actually felt quite nice. I mean, I could do it for the Cubans if needed."

That comment stunned everyone present, even Tommy, who froze for a few seconds before continuing, "Your kids are tormented by Marcus and Martin to the point they have to go to the Boy Scouts every week. Your neighbor’s dogs got screwed by the male dog Lance stole. Gina flashed her tits to those vets to help you get votes. Are all these great sacrifices just to hear you hypocritically care about veterans and Cubans in Congress? No, all their sacrifices are for your truth! Because they love you! They believe you should be proclaiming the truth! But what about you? You let yourself be brainwashed by their bullshit so easily, believing their twisted lies?"

"But, Tommy, the Earth is..."

Tommy turned to the campaign team members who had gathered around, "Who did that fucking idiotic experiment for Jeff?"

"It was me, sir," a young male raised his hand.

Tommy snatched the solid sphere from Jeff’s hand and tossed it in front of the young man, "Here’s your chance, do the scientific experiment for Jeff again. The Earth is flat, damn it. Now stand on the sphere with both feet. If you can stand stable, I will believe the Earth is round, and as a reward, I’ll have Martin send you the most advanced wheelchair to spend the rest of your life in."

The young man looked down, a bit lost, at the green solid sphere rolling on the concrete floor as Tommy bellowed, "Stand on it!"

He hesitated, stepping carefully onto the sphere, but as soon as he stood up, he immediately lost his balance and fell. Then he said earnestly, "I’m sorry, sir. My previous experiment was faked; the Earth is actually flat."

Tommy pointed at him and asked Jeff, "See? This here is the truth. They fooled you, just like those cunning politicians. You must stick to your own."

"Because if you choose to believe the Earth is round, it would mean betraying Zack’s sacrifice of his butt, betraying Allen’s sacrifice of his dick! Betraying Gina’s tits exposed to the countless veterans!"

Finally, Tommy reached out, clenched his fist, and knocked on Jeff’s chest:

"Now, tell me, are you going to stick to the truth or forget why you started."

"The Earth is flat." Jeff opened and closed his mouth several times before he could force out the words, and then his spirit seemed to be drained in an instant, standing there with a defeated, lifeless expression as if that short statement had taken more out of him than all the speeches he had given during his campaign.

Tommy nodded in satisfaction, "Good, now you have the basic qualities required of a politician."