The TV21 has been the only thing they can talk about for weeks. And Gordon is the first one of the boys Jeff is able to take out.
Jeffs experimental prototype ship has been his most ambitious project to date, and caused him almost as many sleepless nights as Gordon has! He has designed it for both speed and safety, or he wouldn't be getting in it himself let alone letting his boys in.
The nose cone of the plane ends in a sharp silver point, and it has his rank and signature elegantly painted onto the side. "Col Jeff Tracy". He let Gordon choose the main body colour, and the yellow blends nicely into the chequered design and the rear end of the plane is also silver.
Gordon is up at dawn on the morning of his birthday. He has finally been signed off by his therapist even though she has told him to call her if he ever needs anything.
The hotel room he is sharing with Virgil, Scott and John has 2 sets of bunk beds. His big brothers let him have a top bunk and try to claim that was his present!
He climbs out of bed carefully and removes the ladder from the other bed before jumping in the shower.
He is just drying off and getting dressed when there is a crash from the bedroom followed by Scott shouting his name.
"GORDON!"
"Yes Scotty?" he asks innocently, poking his head round the door.
"Did you move the ladder?" He asks, he is trying to sound angry, but he can't miss his brothers laughter as he picks himself up from the floor.
"If I say yes will you be angry?" Gordon asks.
"No, he won't be" Virgil assures him. "Scott knows it was a joke and he has a sense of humour now!"
Damn, Scott thinks.
"Gordon I need you to swear..."
"Fuck" Gordon interrupts causing Virgil and John to both laugh again. And Scott to plant his head in his hands.
"No I meant promise you won't do it again!" Scott continues.
"Okay! Now can we have cake for breakfast? It is my birthday!" Gordon replies easily.
"Let's go and find out" Scott tells him "go get dad up while we get dressed".
"Okay" He replies skipping out the room.
"You're not going to tell dad are you?" Virgil asks Scott.
"Nah, it was pretty amusing, just wish I had thought of it first!" Scott replies "and besides it's his birthday he's allowed to play pranks on his birthday. Unspoken Gordon Tracy rule!"
Jeff is fast asleep when Gordon hammers on his door. Alan is in his room, also fast asleep. There is a large pile of wrapped presents stacked in the corner.
Dragging himself out of bed still in his pyjamas Jeff opens the door. Leaping back as Gordon races into the room.
"Daddy it's my birthday and I want cake for breakfast!" He tells him excitedly. "Come on Allie cake!"
Alan bolts upright rubbing his eyes sleepily. "Gordy. Where's the cake?" He asks confused.
"Downstairs in the hotel dining room" Jeff tells them. "Can you help Alan get dressed while I take a shower Gords?"
"Sure But we can have cake?" He asks.
"There will always be cake Gordon!" He assures him, "what about presents? Don't you want them?" Eyeing up the pile.
"YES!"
"Then help Alan get dressed we will go and get your breakfast cake and then you can have your presents."
It is nearly 30 minutes later before they're all gathered in the dining room. Alan has odd socks on and no shoes but apart from that Gordon did a good job.
"Ah yes, Mr Tracy. Table for 7 I believe? Come this way" Gordon is awed by the sight in front of him.
The table cloth is covered in happy birthday glitter, and there is a large banner above the table spelling out "HAPPY BIRTHDAY GORDON" in large multi coloured letters.
A multi tiered chocolate cake is in the middle of the table, with Happy Birthday Gordon in yellow icing on the top layer, and there is a gift wrapped box on the table waiting for him.
"Did you put that there?" Jeff asks grandma.
"No" she replies confused.
Jeff approaches the gift to check it for a label. Attached to the gift is a tag.
"Dear Gordon,
Happy birthday, a little birdie told me that these were your favourite.
From, the hotel management."
It reads.
Jeff lifts the lid off to reveal a box of celery crunch bars. Smiling to himself he replaces the lid happy that it is not a trap.
After breakfast They all go back to Jeffs room so Gordon can open his presents.
From John he gets the cactus he wanted while he was in the hospital.
"You remembered!" He tells him excitedly.
"Sure did Squid, now what are you going to call him?" John asks his brother. "I recommend old bellend as he's a prick!"
Luckily for John the joke is lost on Gordon! Who just grimaces at him.
"John!" Grandma warns him, even though she wholeheartedly agrees with his opinion of his former principal.
Virgil has gotten him a kit labelled 101 simple practical jokes, which he is thrilled with.
There is a new games console from grandma with games from Scott.
And a giant hairy purple toad plush from Alan. He looks over at his dad confused.
"He picked it out himself Gordo!" He tells him.
"I love it!" He replies, sincerely.
"Good" Alan tells him seriously. "I want it back at bedtime!"
They all start to laugh. Even Alan, who has no idea why they're are laughing at him.
There is only one box left now and it's from his father. Who has deliberately kept this one back until the end.
Ripping the paper off it Gordon can't believe what he is seeing.
"Is this a flight suit?" He asks.
"Yep! Why do you think We are here? This morning you and I are taking a trip on the TV21"
Gordon leaps up from the floor and throws himself into his dads arms. This is the best present he has ever gotten. Although if he was being honest the toad is a close second!
Gordon can't believe for his 8th birthday his dad is taking him for a spin in his faster than the speed of sound plane.
"How long have you been planning this?" He asks.
"Months, with everything you went through last year we wanted to start this year with something that you'll never forget" his dad tells him.
"But not even Scott has been in it yet!" Gordon reminds him.
"I know, but we figured that you needed it more. I don't mind waiting my turn. I'm 17 in April so dad either needs to do the same for me or I'm throwing a tantrum like I'm Alan being put to bed for a nap!" Scott tells him laughing.
The plane is located at Jeffs own small private airport where they landed yesterday on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Gordon can feel his excitement growing as they all drive towards their destination.
Jeff plans for it to be a short ride, over to the east coast and back, stopping off for a tour of his New York office, some lunch and then heading back, which in the tv21 should only take them a few hours.
Gordon gets into the passengers seat behind his dad, who helps make sure he is strapped in properly for take off.
"Ready?" He asks his son, who nods back happily.
"Does it do tricks daddy?" He asks.
"Apart from flying faster than the speed of sound?" Jeff asks him amused.
"Yeah like mid air doughnuts or something"
"No! Well maybe but not today possibly next time!" Jeff tells him. "Ready for launch?"
Gordon nods happily.
"Take off will be steady, and we will build up speed once we have clearance from ground control okay?" His dad wants him to know exactly what to expect. "Just let me know if you need to turn back though. Promise me Gordon"
"I will can we go yet?" He asks impatiently.
Jeff is about to answer when a voice comes over the Radio.
"TV21 this is ground control, you are clear for launch. Have a safe flight"
"We are good!" His dad tells him.
Outside grandma, Scott, Virgil, John and Alan are all waiting, watching in anticipation. Even though Alan is too young to understand what's happening.
They watch as Jeff taxis the plane to the end of the runway and it starts to take off. Suddenly it's gone.
"Wow! That was even faster than I thought it was going to be! I didn't even see it disappear!" Scott says in amazement.
"I know. I can't wait to try it out!" Virgil replies.
"They're going to be gone for a few hours how about we hit the beach" grandma asks them. Being from Kansas they don't really get many opportunities to do so and they all agree. Stopping off at a gift shop to get a bucket and spade for Alan.
*TB*
"Dad?! This is awesome can it go any faster?" Gordon asks him.
"Not over open country, it isn't safe, and besides we will be Landing in a few minutes" His dad tells him.
"But we only just got up here!" Gordon can't believe it has taken them less than 35 minutes to go from coast to coast.
"I know! Amazing isn't it! Now have a think about what you want for lunch while I get us down on the ground". His dad tells him.
Landing is smooth, but Gordon was not prepared for how his legs would feel once they were on solid ground and he wobbles slightly while he gets used to it.
His dad smiles at him and tells him he felt the same way after his maiden flight in the plane.
Jeff takes him on the promised tour of the New York branch of Tracy industries, where everyone has been prepared for their guest and he finds himself showered with small gifts and birthday cards.
Gordon chooses the most expensive restaurant he can find for lunch and his burger and fries costs his dad a small fortune. But he knows that was his fault. He told him anything he wanted!
And he gets T-shirt's made up for all his brothers with the date on and a photo of himself captioned "my brother went to New York in the TV21 and all I got was this lousy T-shirt", he even gets one for Grandma too.
"Hey mom, don't worry, but we are going to be a little longer than we thought we went on a tour of the island by boat after lunch! We will be setting off from here about 8pm, the flight is around 40 minutes and with the 5 hour time difference it should be about 4pm there. What are you guys up to?" Jeff asks, giving her a call to update her.
"I'm on the beach with Alan, the others have hit the arcades! 4 o'clock is fine son, we will meet you back at the airport. She tells him ringing off. Glad that Gordon is having a good time.
After they get off the boat, Jeff takes him for a stroll through Central Park before telling him they really do need to head back now.
"That's okay! Can I fly us home?" He asks.
"Erm let me think about that! Erm no!" His dad replies laughing.
"Okay can you at least carry me back?" He asks hopefully. He's starting to get tired now.
"Sure! Hop on" his dad replies bending down so Gordon can climb on his back. They walk back to airport together. Gordon has his head rested on his dads shoulder.
The flight back is just as smooth and Gordon is a lot steadier on his feet this time as his dad helps him down from the cockpit.
His family are all waiting for his arrival and he runs to them, leaving Jeff to carry his shopping bags.
"That was so cool! Honestly guys you have no idea. One day I am going to fly that thing." He tells them.
"Okay Gordon, settle down, where do you guys want to go for dinner?" Grandma asks as their dad joins them.
"Can we have pizza please?" Gordon asks remembering his manners even though he is now exhausted.
They all happily agree with him as they all starving! And head into the nearest pizza parlour.
Nearly an hour later the boys have early emptied the Ingredients for the make your own ice cream sundae bar and are heading back to the hotel.
To Jeffs surprise Gordon climbs into the bottom bunk and lets Virgil have the top.
"Let me guess. You removed the ladder from the other one last night and Scott fell out of bed and now you're not letting him get the opportunity to get his own back?" Jeff asks.
"Yep! I'm smarter than he is!" Gordon replies grinning at him.
Jeff knows that Gordon is probably right, he's far too clever for his own good!
"Did you have a good birthday squid?" Jeff asks him.
"Mmm best birthday ever dad" he replies and is fast asleep before Jeff has even left the room.
And Jeff knows he finally has his squid back.
