Chapter Two: Good Omens
Early morning, the old-school digital alarm clock on the nightstand was struggling to belt out a peppy tune as it ticked past 6:59.
But, probably 'cause the battery was dying, the alarm sounded all messed up, like some old priest mumbling prayers instead of a wake-up call.
Tommy cracked his eyes open, slapped the alarm off, and jumped outta bed. He shuffled over to the clothes rack, grabbed a T-shirt, gave it a sniff, and figured it could survive another day, so he threw it on.
Landlady Melonie was already up and out, hustling to make some cash. She was a sub teacher still hunting for a steady gig, and today she was off to a school 25 miles away to fill in.
On the coffee table in the living room, there was a cup of warm espresso and a croissant, next to half a pack of Marlboros Melonie had left for him.
Tommy hit the bathroom for a quick wash, then plopped down on the sofa, lit a cigarette, and got lost in his thoughts.
He couldn't quite wrap his head around it, but he was a 27-year-old Chinese international student named Hawk, studying at Boston University's business school in 2022. Two months ago, he got zapped back to 1982 America and turned into a 17-year-old high school kid named Tommy Hawk.
Hawk remembered that day he was shopping near Boston's Chinatown with his girlfriend when they ran into two robbers holding up a convenience store. Cops showed up, bullets flew, and while the cops and robbers were fine, Hawk caught a stray bullet.
Next thing he knew, he was no longer Hawk the Chinese student but Tommy the American high schooler.
Now, he had all the memories and feelings of both lives and had to deal with a harsh reality.
That reality? His current life was broke and desperate.
Tommy was living in the tiniest state in the U.S., Rhode Island, specifically in Warwick, Kent County. Warwick, with its 80,000 people, was the second-largest city in the state but felt more like a small town compared to his hometown in China.
Tommy could bike around the whole city in an hour and still have time to pedal the 10 miles to the state capital, Providence, for a visit.
And his timing for this time-travel gig sucked. His family had just gone from doing okay to a total mess 'cause his dad lost his job.
So, no cushy blue-collar life for him. Instead, he was stuck in the rough life of America's lower class.
Tommy's dad, Colin Hawk, who had German roots, used to work at a General Motors parts factory in Rhode Island. Five months ago, he got laid off when GM cut production lines. Now, he was doing odd jobs at a small shipbreaking yard and dock to scrape by.
Tommy's mom, Alida, who had Italian roots, died in a car accident in 1981. A young couple, high on weed and driving a stolen car, hit her while she was getting the mail. They were broke, so Tommy's family got no compensation or apology. The couple got charged with hit-and-run and manslaughter. By state law, they should've been locked up for four years, but since they were Irish and 70% of Rhode Island's population was Irish, the jury, thinking about race and votes, gave them just six months in jail and three years probation. As for the $5,000 compensation, everyone knew they couldn't pay it.
Tommy's older brother, Tony Lion, was a year older than him. He should've been named Tony Hawk, but Italy passed a law in 1980 letting kids take their mom's last name. Even though their mom was a third-gen Italian immigrant born in the U.S. and had never been to Italy, the women's rights movement was big in the northern U.S. states. To support the Italian law and the women's rights movement, their parents changed Tony's name from Tony Hawk to Tony Lion. Tony was your typical small-town guy. After their dad lost his job, he dropped outta high school to be the man of the house and make some money. Now, he was an apprentice at a repair shop, pulling in $80 a week. His apprenticeship was almost done, and he might start earning more soon.
Tommy also had a little sister, Bethia Hawk, who just turned seven. Earlier this year, Child Protection swooped in and put her in foster care over some alleged family abuse. The deal was, after their dad lost his job, he was too busy hustling odd jobs, and Bethia showed up to school in dirty clothes for a few days. Her teacher noticed and decided to check out their home. They found some "Penthouse" mags lying around within Bethia's reach. The Rhode Island Child Protection Agency, eager to flex the new "Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act," jumped at the chance. Now, Bethia was living it up with a middle-class family in Providence. Her life was comfy, but Tommy's dad was obsessed with getting her back. Problem was, even if Bethia and the foster fam were cool with it, the law wasn't. They needed a big enough bedroom, a minimum monthly income of $850, and at least $70 a month for her growth and education. Only then would the court even consider it.
If Colin, Tommy's dad, hadn't lost his job, he could've easily met those conditions. But with Japanese cars taking over the U.S. market, domestic car factories were slashing production lines, turning many blue-collar workers who used to make $200-$300 a week into the lower class. Colin used to pull in $275 a week at Ford's factory. Now, at the shipbreaking yard, he was making less than $4 an hour, working eight hours a day, five days a week, bringing home about $170 a week. Shipbreaking was back-breaking work, leaving him too wiped out to take on other gigs. And $170 a week barely covered the family's bills, car loans, insurance, and daily expenses. They were living off credit cards to avoid starving but couldn't save a dime.
When Tommy time-traveled, Colin and Tony were trying to convince him to drop out and get a job to quickly meet the income requirements to bring Bethia home. To them, graduating high school was no different from dropping out, and college was a pipe dream for their family.
But the time-traveled Tommy knew college was his only shot at changing his fate. If he didn't go to college, he'd end up like Colin, working in a factory in Rhode Island or apprenticing at a leather shop or repair shop, spending his life in a small northeastern U.S. city, marrying a girl from a similar background, raising kids, and supporting a family until he kicked the bucket.
If he wanted to break out of this cycle and climb the social ladder, his only chance was to get into a good university. Only then might he have a shot at experiencing a different America.
Because his home was often used by Tony for parties to make some extra cash, the time-traveled Tommy, focused on getting into college, couldn't stand the chaos. He decided to move out and rent a bedroom in an old English-style apartment in Warwick's port area to study hard. Landlady Melonie, a distant cousin of his mom, was touched by Tommy's dedication to his studies and rented him the small bedroom in her apartment for $30 a week.
In the past month since he moved out, he'd been hitting the books hard, studying AP courses and prepping for the SAT while working part-time for four hours a day. Unfortunately, because of his family's situation, Tommy hadn't saved a penny.
To focus on his studies, he first needed to solve the money problem. Tommy finished his cigarette, picked up the bitter espresso, sipped it slowly, then put away the cigarettes on the table, stood up, and walked out the door.
In the hallway, a guy in a suit and hat, carrying a briefcase in one hand and today's newspaper in the other, walked by, reading as he went.
The front page of his "Boston Globe" had a photo of President Ronald Reagan with a bold headline:
"President Reagan: Against the Soviet Union, we need to break all the rules by any means necessary!"
"What a great start. I finally have a reason to convince myself to make some money. If anyone's to blame, blame our president. He's the one who told me we need to break all the rules," Tommy glanced at the newspaper cover in the guy's hand, smacked his lips, and muttered:
"By any means necessary."