Outside of the mansion, the five friends decided to take the Storm siblings' red Chevy to the Great Wall Chinese Restaurant a couple of miles away. Sue and Johnny sat in the front seats, while Mary sat between Reed and Ben in the back. Other than the fact that Mary felt rather claustrophobic with the immense Ben making for a narrow space in the back, and Johnny's singing to Alvin and the Chipmunks' "Witch Doctor" on the radio, which Sue immediately turned off when the restaurant was within sight, the trip was flawless. The five friends entered the restaurant to find there was nobody up front to take them to an available seat. On the desk was a bell to ring for service, which was an action Reed executed after two minutes. From another room approached a little Chinese man who was very hyperactive.

"Oh, oh, oh IT'S YOU! My five most favorite customers! Do all of you want non-smoking, or smoking?"

Before Mary could utter "Non-smoking." Reed let out.

"Smoking please for tonight."

"Yes, I'll see what table I can get for you and your friends right away sir!"

Within half a minute, the Chinese man came back, and led them to a huge table in the corner of the smoking section. Once the five friends sat down, the man blurted out as he handed them their menus.

"Oh and by the way, I'm your server for tonight! So, please have your orders ready within five minutes, ok?"

As soon as he left them, Mary said.

"You want to know something odd yet funny? That man goes on and on about how we're his best customers, but he's never shared with us his name."

"Yeah, not to mention how he has got to be one of the nosiest waiters in the world." Johnny replied.

"Oh yeah..." Mary let out knowing that what her stepfather wanted to share with them was not meant to be heard by ears other than theirs. Then, she said in hopes of cheering everyone up a little.

"Speaking of weird waiters, all of you want to hear about something funny that happened to me and Father a couple of weeks ago? Well, we went up to Sacramento to attend a scientific convention going on there. And afterwards, we went to a French restaurant. If you think the waiter here acts peculiar, the waiter we had at the French restaurant beats him out by a longshot. The whole evening, he acted like Father was a dirty old man, and I was his date. The waiter at one point even dared to ask.

"Are you ready to look at and sign the check Mr. Doe?"

I am amazed with that kind of treatment we received that Father was willing to pay the check, and not even consult the management!"

Suddenly, Johnny interrupted Mary.
"Ha ha ha! Reed, a dirty old man?! Now that's RICH!"

As Johnny said that, Ben joined him in laughter.

"I really don't think you would appreciate the humor of the situation if you happened to be considered the "date" of the "dirty old man"." Mary countered.

"Johnny, would you please get control of yourself? I for one, actually agree with Mary that how the waiter treated her and Reed was rather harsh."

The waiter quickly came back with a pad of paper and a pen.

"Alright friends, are all of you ready to order?"

Everyone placed their orders for what they usually got, and the waiter went back to the kitchen. As soon as the waiter was gone, Reed got out his pipe and tobacco from the pocket of his sportscoat. Then, he proceeded to place a little bit of tobacco within the pipe, light it, and began smoking on it. With the pipe in mouth, Reed said.

"Well, I am sure that all of you besides me and Mary want to know what happened at the Spaceport..."

He paused in hesitance, should he tell them? Reed turned to his stepdaughter, who gave him a look that told him without words.

"Go ahead and tell them, they are eventually going to know."

"I got a note from NASA today, and it said that they can no longer provide any funding for my rocket."

Gasps and "What?!"s erupted from Ben, Sue, and Johnny's mouths.

"I don't get it, all you needed was shielding, and they just couldn't give you a little bit more cash for that?!" Johnny exclaimed.

"Well Johnny, I do not know what is with the government right now. They apparently have better things to put money to use for."

It was quiet at the table for a moment, then Ben spoke up.

"Aw Reed, you shouldn't let the gov'ment get to ya like that! Don't ya have a few bucks ta shell out?"

"You are one of the richest men in Central City, no make that America Reed. I along with Ben would like to think you could spare the couple of thousand necessary for shielding."

Reed tried to appear cool and collected while Sue followed up on what Ben said, but Mary could tell something was making him distressed. Finally, he blurted out.

"Friends, I am not at the point of bankruptcy, but I do not have the amount of money sufficient enough to pay for the rocket's shielding."

Looks of shock graced all four of Reed's friends' faces. Mary said in a tone of appallment.

"Father, what happened to all of our money? How much do we even have?"

"Mary, I decided to go out on a limb, and try my hand at the stock market. Unfortunately, it was not smooth sailing for me in that."

Skeptically, Mary said.

"Father, didn't you give me a lecture not too long ago about how one should really avoid the stock market?"

"Yes, I know I did Mary, in a way, what happened to me with the stock market was the reason I gave you that lecture."

Ben, Sue, and Johnny could do nothing but just watch and listen to what had become a conversation that should have been just between Reed and Mary. Suddenly, Ben turned around to find someone who was oddly remaining near their table.

"AHEM!" Ben let out.

"Oh, oh! Do any of you need drink refills?"

The quintet immediately knew they had been the victims of an eavesdropping, for they did not even have any drinks. The waiter piped up.

"Oh my! Silly me! You don't even have any drinks! Excuse me while I go get them!"

With the waiter gone, Sue said angrily.

"That's IT. We are leaving!"

The minute that was said, everybody quietly agreed, and got up to head outside to the car. When nobody was looking, Reed left a dollar on the table as a tip to the waiter. But when he had his back tuned, Mary snatched up the dollar thinking.

"After what you have done Father, we are going to need every dollar we can get our hands on, and keep!"

Without even turning to see if the waiter had brought their drinks, Mary followed her stepfather and three friends out of the Great Wall Chinese Restaurant.