Ken rested at his desk in the office of his new home, staring at the screen of his new lap top computer, it was late in the evening. His wife had gone to bed only a few moments before, warming at the thought of her drifting off to sleep without him smuggling up next to her. Sighing, he had decided to stay up and try and do some work, so he kissed her good night promising not to stay up to late.
He was about to write his story, about the three wars against Galactor and Gatchaman's part in it.
He had wanted to publish it under a different name, as if it had been written by an observer rather than the leader of the Science Ninja Team. But his wife who had thought of the idea in the first place, had talked him into putting it under his own name.
He smiled to himself as he decided it would published as "Gatchaman, and the Science Ninja Team", anonymous as their lives had always been- and how they were still trying to keep them. To a degree they were succeeding.
But where should he start?
He wondered as he took a quick look around the room.
And what should he write about?
He was still not even past the first paragraph and writers block too hold of him. There were so many things in his life that he would most likely never write about, they were far too personal.
He flicked over to another document that was sent to him from TIME magazine. They wanted to write stories on each of them.
It was an honour for them to want to profile the team, Ken recognized that.
The magazine editors had been respectful towards them. The reporter had asked them what they wanted to do, it would be the largest cover story over a period of time that the magazine had ever done.
TIME, would do a cover on each of them, and a full profile of the team member. Then in the final issue- a cover with them together in birdstyle and an article about how they operated so effectively as a team.
Ken looked at the questions that the journalist who was writing the story about him had sent through.
One of them was; What was your relationship with your mother like and how did affect you losing her at a young age?
It was a strange question really, most people asked him about his Father Red Impulse but rarely did they want to know about his Mother.
He thought about the topic of Ken the Eagle and women a little more, the first woman to have any influence on his life was his Mother.
There was no doubt about that, he sat back in his chair as his thoughts drifted back to the last time he saw her look truly happy and radiant, it last only for a moment and the effort to make her smile was worth it, he was only 10 years old at the time…
Ken Washio sat at the Kitchen table, studying the book in front of him, this was his first self-appointed mission and he was not going to fail.
At Ten years old, cooking your first meal was a daunting task, even if it was breakfast.
But Ken was determined to create an edible dish for his Mother, she had been in bed, very ill all week and it was his mission to make her smile and get better.
They had moved into Dr. Nambu's mansion about a month ago, due to his Mother's illness which was getting worse, Dr. Nambu had sat with him the previous night and told him that she was terminally ill.
Ken asked him what he meant by that, and the Doctor explained it further to him, she would not be with them for much longer.
Ken didn't believe him- his Mother could not leave him too and he was going to do everything he could to help her get well again. Starting with breakfast.
He thought it was good of Dr. Nambu to look out for her, and he was sure they would be moving back to the house once she was better again, and everything would be as it should then, all they would need was his Father to come home.
He didn't believe he was really dead, they never found his body.
He leaped down from the chair, and carried the book into the spacious kitchen getting out the step box, and began looking through the cupboards and pantry for the right equipment for the mission ahead of him.
He put the cookbook on the bench, and went to the refrigerator and got out the egg carton and butter, and then he looked back with a smile, before he closed the fridge door with a perfect round house kick.
He put the goods on the bench and referred back to the manual on what was needed next.
After a few more punches at unseen opponents on his way to the pots drawer, he began the task of cooking Eggs Benedict."Poach the eggs," he read out loud from the book.
"How do you do that?" he wondered, screwing up his face as he looked in another section of the cooking manual.
"Oh," he thought as he read the instructions." That's how." He filled the saucepan halfway with water in the sink, he then turned on the gas and a blue flame lit up and was dancing before him, he then placed the saucepan on top of it.
He then put in the tablespoon of vinegar, some salt and then put the cracked egg into the now boiling water and pulled down the lever on the toaster. After almost using the whole carton he finally had success. A perfectly poached egg.
Ken began to fight the unseen opponents again, practising the moves that Dr. Nambu had been teaching him over the past year, a full Ninja Carter around the kitchen later, Ken was taking down an unseen enemy when suddenly he could smell something burning...
"The toast, Damn It!" he said. Racing to pop it up before the smoke alarms went off. By then the water in the pot was boiling over and Ken went into damage control. He looked at the toaster's dial and realized he should have checked it. His ship was in trouble and he had save it. Taking command of the appliances he moved swiftly.
"Mental note to self," he said out loud. "Always check the settings before pulling the lever."
He looked at the mess and decided he needed to start from scratch. Searching the supplies he found another carton of eggs.
He set about making the sauce first this time, and then put the egg on, then the toast, so in that order he proceeded," and keep your mind on the mission," he scolded himself out loud as he began the task again.
Half an hour later, with a mess from one end of the kitchen to the other a natural disaster called young Washio had been through it- Ken stopped and smiled at the tray on the bench.
It had toast (still a little well done, but it passed quality control), a poached egg on top and Benedict sauce. He looked at the picture in the cookbook and went to the fridge for some parsley to put on top.
He went through the mental check list again; Main course check, cutlery check, napkin check, Orange Juice check. He looked critically at the tray; something was still missing, to make it special for her.
"I know," he muttered and felt himself brighten as the idea form in his mind. He got some scissors out from the top drawer and ran out into Dr Nambu's prized rose garden. She liked roses so that should warm her heart.
He found the Light Burgundy rose that was starting to open with large velvet petals and a lovely sweet perfume that would bloomed into a beautiful big flower. It was her favourite flower called Mr. Lincoln (that's what the plaque in front of it said), so he knew she would love it on the tray. He cut a long stem and managed to cut his finger on a thorn in the process.
"Yyyoouuchhh!" he cried in surprise at the sudden stinging sensation in his finger. He put the small wound to his lips to try and stop the bleeding.
He then tried to de-thorn the stem as much as he could. He went back in and places it across the top end of the tray, smiled in satisfaction and then picked it up and carefully headed for the main stairway that lead to the upstairs bedrooms...
