Chapter 17: Breakfast

Ken climbed out, and joined his family, and best friends. Stepping up to Mr. White, he held his hand out, and shook his best friend's fathers hand and said, "Mr. White, could I speak to you alone, please?"

Surprised by the request he let Ken's hand go, and replied "Certainly, Ken, why don't we step over to your SUV."

They moved over to the SUV, and Ken turned and faced him. Clearing his throat, he asked, "Sir, I am asking if I could have your permission to date Tammy."

Andy looked at the young man and then answered, "I have no problem with that, but I do have one condition."

Looking over at his daughters, as they talked with their mother, he knew what Ken would say, but still, the young man had to ask him.

Ken nodded his head, "What is that Sir?"

Andy looked back at the young man and spoke his mind to him, "My condition is this. You had better treat her right. If you don't, if you hurt her, I will come down on you like a load of bricks. My daughters are my pride and joy, I know fathers and sons are close; but for a father, their daughters own their hearts. So if you hurt her I will never forgive you."

Ken listened to Tammy's dad intently, "I would never hurt her. I care for her too much. Actually, I have been scared to even ask her out, because I was always afraid she would say no."

Andy smiled at Ken's words and set his hand on Ken's shoulder as he laughed.

"Ken, my lad, that is one thing you never had to worry about with Tammy. She has loved you for years. You also have my blessing, just no running off to a wedding chapel to get married. We want to be there when you do get married."

"I wouldn't do that, Sir. Run off, that is ... As for marriage, we will have to talk about that first. Right now I just want to be with her." Ken looked into Andy's, face and saw something he had never noticed before.

"Sir, are you ok? You look a little pale."

Andy nodded his head at Ken's words, and was a little worried at his question. As he replied, "I am fine, just been working too many nights. Let's go eat, I am famished." They turned and headed back to the group.

Tammy watched Ken and her father talk and she looked over at Jenny, "I wonder what they are talking about? This is very mysterious."

Jenny glanced at Tammy, and turned bright red as she listened in on her brother and Mr. White talk. Then she started snickering at the look on Tammy's face.

Tammy glared at Jenny with confusion, and asked, "What is so funny?"

Jenny started laughing harder. Then she responded to Tammy's question, with, "Not saying, you will find out. You could have listened in, too, if you'd wanted to."

Covering her mouth so she would not be seen laughing, she winked at Tammy.

Tammy looked crossly at Jenny, and said to her, "Come on tell me, or I will ... damn, you listened in, didn't you? I didn't know we could do that?"

Jenny composed herself and nodded her head.

"Here they come, I will explain how, later."

As Ken got closer, she stepped over to Tammy and pushed her into Ken's arms. Then she turned, and stepped into Ted's arms.

Looking up into Ted's eyes, she said to him, "Let's go eat, I am starving."

They all started walking to the main doors of Baldini's Casino. Once inside, they threaded their way to the Triple Crown International Buffet Restaurant. Ken walked up to the hostess and looked at her nametag.

"Hi, Sharon, we would like a table for nine in the back."

Sharon smiled at the handsome man, and then noticed the young woman beside him.

"Certainly, follow me please."

Grabbing nine menus, she led them to the back where the large booths were. Setting the menus down, she said to them, "I will get a chair for the end cap so you can all sit comfortably."

She turned and walked over to a busboy, and whispered to him. The young man nodded his head, went into the back, and came out with another chair.

"Here you go, Sir, one extra chair," said the young man, as he placed the chair at the end cap of the large circular booth.

Ken helped the women slide in and then the men climbed in. Sitting in the chair, he looked at everyone.

"You know, after driving half the night, I am really hungry. I think I will have the buffet."

Everyone agreed with Ken. A raven-haired waitress came up to the table and greeted the party.

"Hello, I'm Willow, and I'm your server today. Would you all like something to drink?"

Everyone ordered coffee except for Lisa, who asked if she could have a glass of orange juice. Ken looked up at Lisa's words.

"Let's add a couple of carafes of orange juice for the table, and enough glasses for all of us. We are also all going to have the buffet, for our meal."

He smiled at Lisa, as she blushed under his watchful eye, and slowly winked at her. Willow wrote down the orders.

"Certainly, Sir, the buffet is over there. I will get your drinks and the carafes of O.J." she said, and walked to the waitress' station for the drinks.

Ken got up and they all left the table and headed for the food. Quickly they piled their selections onto their plates and moved back to the table. When they got back to the table, their drinks were waiting for them, so they sat and started eating. They ate their food for a few minutes, and then Ken looked at Ted's parents.

Setting his fork down, he said, "Mr. and Mrs. White, Lisa, I have something to tell you all, but we need you to be calm and just listen with an open mind. After we eat, I promise I will prove everything I say. Tammy and Jenny, I need you to keep an eye out behind me."

Tammy and Jenny nodded their heads as they ate. Andy, Marie and Lisa set their forks down and looked at Ken, waiting for him to continue with what he was going to say. Andy looked at Ken and saw the seriousness in his eyes.

"Go ahead, Ken. Tell us what's on your mind."

Taking a drink of his orange juice, he set it down and he said, "Ok. Something serious happened on our trip."

He went on to tell them about Amy, the ship, and how he came to be injured. He also told them what was going to happen to the earth in five hundred years. He said how he wanted to build up a huge navy to defend the earth and allow it to blossom back into a Terran Federation. Maria listened with an open mind, as Ken had asked, and a question formed in her mind.

"So you are saying that this ship saved you and this friend of yours, Molly, from certain death?"

Ken looked over at Maria as he sipped his orange juice, and then said, "Yes, Mrs. White. I am."

Maria's heart filled with hope, as she looked at her youngest daughter, and then back to Ken at his words and prayed that her next question would be answered with a 'yes'.

"Ken, could she tell us what's wrong with Lisa?"

Ken glanced over at Lisa who was listening intensely, he then smiled at her, and he answered her, "I am positive that she could."

Marie reached over and gripped Andy's hand as she looked at her husband. "I know it is far fetched; but if it's true, and it can save Lisa, then I am willing to do what ever it takes."

Andy looked at his wife in shock, and said to her, "Maria, you cannot really believe this garbage. I know you love your sci-fi books but this is so far fetched it doesn't even sit right in my stomach."

Wiping his mouth, he sets his napkin down and got up.

"Excuse me for a minute; I need to use the restroom."

Andy walked out of the restaurant and headed for the bathrooms.

Marie started to get up and follow her husband, when a hand touched hers and stopped her in her tracks.

Ken said to her, "Mrs. White, let me handle this."

Ken got up and followed Andy out of the restaurant. Pulling out his wallet, he stopped at one of the cashier booths and pulled a hundred out. Looking at the girl behind the counter he read at her nametag.

"Hi, Joanna, can you give me a hundred in silver."

"Certainly, Sir," Joanna took the bill, and pulled out a tray with one hundred silver dollars and handed them to young man. "Thank you Sir, and good luck too you."

"Thanks, but these are for my friend." Walking away with the tray of coins, he went to the nearest bathroom and went in. "Mr. White, are you in here?"

Andy looked up from the toilet he was sitting on.

"Be out in a minute, Ken."

Andy sat there in pain as he defecated.

Silently he said to himself, 'Damn this pain is killing me. I'll be glad when it is done, but I will miss Marie and the kids. This colon cancer is killing me, but Lisa is more important. She needs the medical care more than I do.'

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a bottle of pills and tapped a couple into his hand. Swallowing them without water, he waited for them to start working. Wiping himself, he saw blood, and shuddered at it. Rolling up some toilet paper, he put it in his underwear so his wife would not see any blood, when she did the laundry. Pulling up his pants, he flushed the toilet and walked out of the stall. He saw Ken with a tray of silver dollars, as he walked over to the sink and washed his hands.

"You're a little young for that."

Ken smiled and said, "This is to prove to you what I said in the restaurant."

Ken handed Andy the tray of coins and noticed that Andy was a little paler than he had been, before.

"Sir, are you ok? You look awfully pale."

Andy prayed the young man would not figure it out and say that he was sick to Tammy and Ted.

"Yeah, I am fine, just indigestion. I shouldn't have eaten that spicy sausage," he said. Looking at the coins in his hands, he continued, "What are these for?"

Ken placed his hand on Andy's shoulder, "Come on, I will show you."

Walking out of the bathroom, Ken looked around at the slot machines, saw his target, and led Andy over to the one-dollar progressive jackpot standing at thirty-five thousand three hundred and ten dollars. "Mr. White, I want you to pick out a one dollar video poker machine."

Andy picked out a machine and sat down, while Ken sat to his right. Ken reached into his suit pocket, opened the com unit, and contacted Carl with his implant.

'Carl, get ready. Mr. White is to my left.'

'Yes, Sir. I am taking over the machine ... now. You may feed in the coins.'

"Go ahead and play, Mr. White. Your first hand will be two pairs: two kings, two aces, and the five of hearts."

"Ok, Ken ... it's your money."

Andy put the required ten coins into the machine and the cards were dealt out to him. The first two were the aces, then a four of clubs, and then the pair of kings came up. He hit the 'save' buttons on the kings and aces, and then hit the 'draw' button. The five of hearts came up, and twenty coins dropped into his machine's coin bin with the typical casino racket.

He looked at Ken for a minute and thought to himself, 'it could be just a coincidence, the cards coming up that way that is.' Reaching up he slowly fed the coins in to the machine.

"Ken, this is why it's called..."

In a low voice, he told Andy, "I know, gambling." With a grin he continued, "Well, now you are going to get a royal flush on the first deal. The sequence will be all hearts."

Andy looked at him, the tenth coin hovering above the slot, he was hesitating to drop the last coin for some reason and looked at Ken, "That is not possible to know."

Ken smiled at Andy as if he knew a secret, and with a secret wink, he told him, "It is, for me. Now drop the coin, so we can get back to breakfast, after you collect your money."

Andy continued to look at Ken as he dropped the coin. Then he heard the machine flip the cards over. Suddenly, the machine went nuts. He looked at the five cards, not believing what he was seeing.

"Oh my God! I can't believe it," he gasped.

He looked back at Ken, and then at the machine. He closed his eyes and opened them again, only to see that the royal flush was still there!

The slot supervisor came up the isle.

Mike Bonnet walked up to the slot with the bells going off, expecting another straight flush. He looked at the machine and saw the Royal Flush flashing on the screen.

"Oh my God! Congratulations, Sir!"

Pulling out his walkie-talkie, he contacted the manager.

"Sir, we have a winner on the ten dollar progressive slots."

He looked up at the amount flashing on the screen.

"I need a cashiers check for thirty-five thousand, three hundred and ten dollars at machine number 1398."

The voice came back over the walkie-talkie, "Roger that, Mike. Suzie is cutting the check, now. I'll bring the paper work. Ask if they want taxes withheld."

Mike looked at the man, and asked, "Sir, do you want the taxes withheld?"

Ken leaned over and spoke, for Andy.

"No. His wife is an accountant, and she will handle all the taxes. His name is Andrew White. You can have that put on the check." Turning to Andy he continued, "Mr. White, he will need your driver's license."