Chapter Two
"Well, I don't feel like cooking dinner tonight," said the Doctor.
"Know any good places to eat?" asked John.
"There's that family restaurant on Debna III," said Theta and the Doctor thought for a few seconds.
"Good idea!" said the Doctor. After Adam had helped Chaska and Sokanon put on their converse sneakers, the Doctor led them inside the garage and headed for the TARDIS. Closing the doors, he watched the others walk up the ramp and Theta stood near the console. He started pushing the buttons, pushing levers and flipping switches when he pulled the main lever and the TARDIS hummed around them. Walking to the jump seat, the Doctor sat down as he watched the toddlers sitting on the floor and the boys played with a game David had brought with him while the girls played with their dolls.
"It's odd seeing dolls that don't move on their own," said Adam and Alan nodded. Adam's daughter, River, used to have living dolls called chibis. When Adam and Alan discovered a planet inhabited by chibis, River relocated to the planet with her chibis and she and her family protect the chibis from invaders. After a few minutes, the TARDIS landed as the Doctor walked to the doors then turned, looking at the others.
"Ok, listen up, I know I shouldn't have to say this but I expect you to behave. That means no loud voices, no running around and, most of all, NO food fights!" said the Doctor, his hands on his hips.
"But, Daddy, we won't do that," said Chaska.
"I was talking to your Uncle Alan and Uncle Adam!" Shocked, Alan and Adam frowned as they shuffled toward the doors and snorted at him. The Doctor opened the doors as they saw that the TARDIS had landed near a tree with purple leaves and blue bark and two suns shined in a bright blue sky. Spacecrafts of all shapes, sizes and colors were parked near the docking bays and the sign that read HAPPY STAR in blue letters was on the roof of the domed building. The building was made of chrome and the windows were tinted a blue color. Taking the toddlers' hands, they walked to the building and two smiling attendants stood on either side of the double doors. They were human and were dressed in red spacesuits with yellow trim, boots and helmets.
"Welcome to Happy Star!" said one of the attendants as they opened the doors and the Doctor led the others inside. The walls were painted a soft tan color and cartoon aliens were painted on the walls. The tables were designed to look like little flying saucers and brightly colored plaster planets hung from the ceiling. The waiters and waitresses were moving from one table to the other, serving food and drinks, and cartoons played on the monitors in the small plaster moons over the tables. Aliens, mutants, humans and humanoids sat at the tables or were at the back of the room in the arcade and the Doctor held Namid's hand tightly in his. Suddenly a figure walked to them as he smiled and the toddlers' eyes went wide. He was a feline humanoid with orange and white fur and green eyes. He stood as tall as the Doctor and wore a silver spacesuit, which hugged his muscular body, and silver thigh high boots.
"My, are all of you together?" asked the waiter, his tail swishing back and forth.
"Yes, and we need nine booster seats," said the Doctor and the waiter nodded. He led them to a table that was surrounded by a large flying saucer as he snapped his fingers and several waiters brought over the booster seats. The Doctor placed Namid in the booster seat as he moved it closer to the table then sat down and the waiter handed them the menus.
"Now, my name is Tabbim and I'll be your waiter this eveing. Would you like something to drink while you make up your minds?"
"Yes, we'd like some soft drinks for the little ones and…What do you guys want?"
"I wouldn't mind some ice tea," said Theta.
"Sounds good tae me," said Jamie.
"Make that three," said John.
"Hey, they have banana smoothies!" said Alan.
"Two banana smoothies, please," said Adam.
"Make that three," said the Doctor while Tabbim nodded and wrote on the pad.
"I'll be right back with your drinks," said Tabbim as he walked away and Chaska pouted.
"Daddy, he was a kitty cat," whispered Chaska as he watched Tabbim heading for the drinks area and the Doctor smiled. A waitress with ice blue skin and yellow eyes walked closer as she smiled and had a small cup with crayons and nine coloring mats in her hands.
"Here you go. Something for the little ones while you wait for your meals," said the waitress and the toddlers thanked her. Namid looked down as the waitress looked at her and blinked. "Don't you want to color, Sweetie?"
"I'm blind," said Namid softly and the Doctor saw the pity in the waitress' eyes. She was about to take the play mat away but the Doctor shook his head and she walked away.
"Want me to help you color, Rainbow?" asked the Doctor and Namid smiled. Handing her a blue crayon, they started coloring the planets and he placed his arm around her.
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After Tabbim brought the drinks, the toddlers watched the cartoons on the monitor in the small plaster moon above their table and the Doctor colored with Namid.
"Ooooooooooooooooooo, Adam, look, they have chicken fingers!" said Alan, pointing to the picture on the kid's menu, and Adam's eyes went wide.
"I didnae ken chickens had fingers, Uncle Alan," said Zoe.
"You didn't?! Ok, you see, Zoe Toey, under a chicken's wings are these tiny fingers. When the fingers get long enough, the farmer comes along with a…" Alan yelped after the Doctor reached under the table and kicked his leg. "Oi, I am just trying…"
"…to give them nightmares. What did I say about behaving?!" asked the Doctor then looked at a scared and confused Zoe. "Zoe, chicken fingers are strips of chicken that is dipped in breadcrumbs then fried. They're called "fingers" because they're long and thin fingers."
"Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooh!" said the toddlers together when Tabbim came over and smiled at them.
"So, are you all ready to order?" asked Tabbim.
"Yes, the children will have chicken fingers combo," said the Doctor.
"And what sort of vegetables would they like?"
"Do you have green beans?" asked Christopher and Tabbim nodded. "I want that."
"Me, too!" said David and Chaska and Donald nodded.
"Ok, that's four green beans. Who wants carrots?" asked the Doctor and Zoe, Jackie and Namid raised their hands.
"Can I have beets, Daddy?" asked Sokanon.
"Yes, you can. Cameron, what do you want?" asked the Doctor.
"He'll have carrots," said Theta, looking at Cameron and Cameron pouted. Theta and Frankie were having a hard time getting him to eat vegetables and Cameron sunk down in the booster seat, glaring at Theta.
"Now, I want the double burger with chips and a small salad," said the Doctor and Tabbim nodded.
"Make that two," said Theta.
"I want the chili and nachos," said Alan.
"Why?" asked Adam.
"Because he wants to drop trouser chili afterwards!" said Christopher and the toddlers looked at him with confused faces.
"What's that?" asked Donald.
"It means he's going to poop his pants!" said David and the toddlers laughed.
"Ok, that's enough! Alan, order something else," said the Doctor.
"But we want to see Uncle Alan poop his pants!" said Cameron.
"NO! Alan, pick something else!"
"Ooooooooooooooooo-key, um, I'll have the pasta with meatballs and a salad," said Alan.
"Make that two," said Adam.
"No, make it three," said John.
"I'll have the roast chicken dinner," said Jamie and Tabbim nodded.
"I'll be right back with your salads," said Tabbim as he took the menus and walked away. The Doctor noticed that the water glasses were moving as the top of the table started shaking and Theta looked under the table, seeing Cameron kicking it with his foot.
"Cameron, stop that," said Theta.
"But I didn't want any carrots," said Cameron and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Gee, then I guess you won't be getting ice cream then," said the Doctor and Cameron's eyes went wide.
"We're getting ice cream, Daddy?" asked Sokanon with a big smile on her face.
"Yep, but only if you eat all your veggies," said the Doctor while Tabbim brought over the salads and the Doctor could see Cameron weighing things over in his mind. A few minutes later Tabbim brought over their meals and the Doctor smiled at Cameron, who was eating his carrots.
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Alan, John, Jamie and Adam took the toddlers to the bathroom while Theta and the Doctor sat at the table and Namid was sitting on the Doctor's lap. He gently rocked her when the sound of loud laughter filled the air and they looked toward the doors. Standing near Tabbim was a family of aliens with yellow skin with green warts, green hair on their heads, lower arms and legs, and big green snake eyes. The father and the son wore loincloths around their waists while the mother and the daughter wore white sundresses and all of them were severely overweight.
"Ah, my good cat, good to see you!" shouted the father, smacking Tabbim hard on the back and Tabbim fell to the floor then rolled onto his back.
"Oh, good evening, Lord Xanius," Tabbim said as he stood up then looked over at the Doctor and Theta and shivered.
"Is there a problem?!"
"Um, well, you see, we weren't expecting you this evening and…" said Tabbim and Lord Xanius looked over at the Doctor.
"YOU GAVE SOMEONE OUR TABLE?!" bellowed Lord Xanius and Namid jumped.
"Daddy, who's yelling?" asked Namid and the Doctor kissed her hair.
"It's all right, Rainbow, just someone being rude," said the Doctor and stroked her back. He watched as Lord Xanius stormed over to the table and glared at the Doctor.
"I demand that you leave this table at once!" demanded Lord Xanius and the Doctor blinked.
"And I demand that you keep your voice down! You're scaring my daughter!" said the Doctor as he slid Namid back into the booster seat and stood up.
"This is OUR table and I want you to leave!" shouted Lord Xanius as he slammed his fist on the table and Namid screamed.
"Leave my sister alone!" shouted Chaska as he ran at Lord Xanius and Alan, Jamie, John, Adam and the toddlers followed him. Lord Xanius turned when Chaska kicked him in the leg and Lord Xanius raised his hand back to strike him only to be stopped by the Doctor.
"Don't even think it!" growled the Doctor as they locked eyes and Lord Xanius backed up.
"Are y-you going to let him talk to me like that?!" asked Lord Xanius as he looked at Tabbim and Tabbim smiled.
"Yes, I am," said Tabbim.
"I demand to see the manager!"
"What do you know, that's me!" said Tabbim as the Doctor looked at Theta and he shrugged. "Now, I want you to go back to your family and waddle out of here! You are…BANNED!" Lord Xanius was gob smacked as he turned, walked back to his family and they left the restaurant. The sound of cheering filled the air as Tabbim looked at the Doctor and smiled. "I am so sorry about all this. Your meals are on the house!"
"Thank you," said the Doctor as Tabbim nodded and walked away. A few minutes later he came back with their ice cream and gave Namid one of the souvenir plush alien dolls. It had soft green velvet fur, large, black almond shaped eyes, a large head and a small body, arms and legs and she held it tightly in her arms, smiling at him. "What do you say?"
"Thank you," said Namid.
"You are so welcome," said Tabbim then walked away and Namid reached over, placing the doll on the Doctor's shoulder.
"Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees?!" asked the Doctor, looking at the doll.
"He wants some ice cream, Daddy," said Namid.
"He doesn't have a mouth. Just these two little slits for a nose."
"Mebbe one of them is his mouth," said Donald.
"Wait," said the Doctor as he took the doll and placed its forehead to his. His hearts hurt knowing that Namid couldn't see what he was doing and sent the image into her mind, making her smile. "Yes? Yes. Uh-hunh. I see."
"What did he say?" asked Jackie while he placed the doll on the seat between him and Namid and sighed.
"He said that he would love to have ice cream but it makes him sick."
"You mean like my friend, Micka? His mommy told me he was lactose intolerant," said Christopher.
"Right," said the Doctor and they started eating their ice cream. After they were done, they headed for the door and the Doctor nodded at Tabbim. Smiling, he waved good-bye as they walked outside and the Doctor kept his hand on Namid's back while she held the doll against her chest. She smiled as her cane clicked on the walkway and they went inside the TARDIS. A soft humming sound filled the air as the TARDIS vanished and the purple leaves that were under the TARDIS swirled in the air in tiny circles.
