Chapter Twenty-Seven: An Inedible Dinner
When we reached the estate, we were greeted by Branson who took our coats and informed us that dinner would be ready in an hour. Mole, Vinny, and the others were shown to the rooms they were staying in by a couple of the maids while I stayed behind to talk to Branson.
"Did Olivia behave?"
"About as much as you did as I child." He responded vaguely.
"Do I want to know?"
"I think it would be best if she told you herself." He responded, before handing me a stack of open letters, "You might want to have your business partners address the letters to Christina Whitmore instead of Miss Whitmore when they send mail here. Miss Olivia takes them, I managed to lift these ones off her hands."
"Thank you, Branson." I told him, "I'll have a discussion with her."
As I headed to my room, I read through the letters. Luckily, they were only updates on Peter from Will, which ranged from him imploring me to come back to him stating he had things handled for now. I set down the letters on my dresser and went to go find Olivia.
Like mother like daughter, the place I had found her was the first place I had looked: the library. She had Turn of the Screw open, ignoring the world as it passed around her.
"You know for how many things you have to read in here, I don't know why you'd choose to read my mail." I told her, "Or why you'd think it's okay to tell your father and grandfather that you could go on missions when you know I don't let you go unless there isn't another option."
"Am I in trouble?" She asked, setting down her book.
"No more than you usually are." I responded, "You shouldn't be reading my mail, the people who write to me are typically writing to me in confidence to help them."
"What does that mean?" She asked.
"It means they want to keep their letters to be a secret." I answered, "Which is why when their addressed to me, I should be the only one that opens them."
She mumbled a reluctant okay before Branson came to call us for dinner. I thanked him and told him we'd be in the dining room soon.
"A warning, Miss Christina." Branson said, "Your acquaintance, Mr. Farnsworth, has decided to prepare this evening's meal."
I grimaced and thanked him.
"What's that look for?" Olivia asked.
"Just thinking of the thought of dinner." I replied, she raised an eyebrow. "C'mon, let's go join the others. I'll make you something to eat later, don't touch whatever is put in front of you at the table."
"What?" She asked confused.
"C'mon." I outstretched my hand to her, she took it and we headed out of the library.
When we reached the dining room, everyone was already sitting down waiting for Cookie to come around with whatever concoction he had prepared for this evening. Cookie came out a few moments later with a bowl in one arm and a ladle in another, filling each bowl with brown slop.
"Please tell me that's not the same stuff you fed us on the way to Atlantis." Audrey spoke up pushing away her bowl.
"Bet your sweet eyes, it is." Cookie confirmed as he filled Vinny's bowl and came around to Packard's, "Now I told you, it would keep and keep and keep and now it's yours to eat and eat and eat."
"Cookie, that's five years old, if not older." I told him as he came around to me and Olivia. I covered each of our bowls with my hands so he would not fill them, "It's not edible."
He ignored me and went to fill Milo and Kida's bowls. Kida walked away shortly after and Milo followed after her. After a few awkward moments, Audrey spoke up, asking Vinny if he planned on going back to the flower shop now that the mystery with the kraken was solved. He went on to talk about what happened to the shop, which had been next to a Chinese laundry. Right before they left to retrieve Milo and Kida from Atlantis, he had went to check on the flower shop and there had been a gas leak in the shop due to the Chinese laundry.
"What are the chances of another gas leak in a Chinese Laundry?" He finished off the story, "So, that's my last flower shop, but I'm thinking about buying the laundry." Cookie then came back around and set another couple of bowls in front of him and Audrey, which they in turn gave to the lava dog. After a while, I let Olivia go back to the library, telling her I'd get her later for dinner, and we all broke out into our own conversations.
"Tia, are you and Olivia going back home?" Mole asked.
"Olivia and I will stay here through the holidays." I responded, and then looked over to Mole, "You going back down?"
He shrugged, "I'll probably go back in couple of days to check on William."
"That'd be good." I nodded, "With one of us there, he'd probably send less updates."
"You received those too?"
I rolled by eyes, "When you go down there, if you could have a talk with him about the constant unneeded updates, that'd be helpful. We're only supposed to be hearing things when there's an emergency."
"I'll talk to him." Mole responded.
"Excuse me." Packard spoke up. Mole and I looked at her. She repeated the phrase to get the others' attention. She then pulled her microphone to her and then rephrased her comment, "May I have your attention, please?" She pushed the microphone away, "That's better. That was Dr. Sweet, there's trouble in the southwest."
"Well, it looks like Will will have to wait." I told Mole, "Enjoy the southwest."
"You're not going?" Milo asked in surprise.
"No, I try not to go on trips back to back." I responded, "If I did, I'd have to either bring Olivia with me or barely see her. It's kind of a no win scenario when I do that, so I try to pick and choose the trips I go on. If I go on one, then I won't go on one or two after that. I've been trying to do a bit more clerical work and only going on expeditions when I'm either asked to go or when I'm needed. I'll probably go down to make sure everything is okay at home and then come back."
"I think I'll skip out on this trip too." Vinny commented. Confused, I tilted my head to look at him. However, he didn't say anything more. Milo then told Packard to reach back out to Sweet and let him know that Audrey, Mole, him, and Kida were heading down and would be there within the next few weeks.