Author's note: Well, I hardly expected anyone to actually read my story,
much less like it, but apparently ya'll are more on top of things than I
thought. A special thank you goes out to PixieGirl13 for being way ahead of
schedule. I hardly had Chapter One posted before she was on, flattering me
and asking for more. Thank you very much! *hugs* Now, on with the show!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jim was beginning to get worried. It had been two weeks since he had
received the good news and one week since he sent the message to the Benbow
Inn asking his mother, the Dopplers and B.E.N. to meet him at the Academy
Inn so that he could tell them of the glorious event. He had not received
any kind of response, but that was expected; his mother did not have the
money to spare to send him a letter. At first he hadn't worried at all, he
knew she would come, but as the day had drawn nearer he had become more and
more anxious. What if she couldn't make it? What if she couldn't find the
money? 'Oh, shut up!' he told himself, 'the Dopplers are plenty rich enough
to lend her a hand.' He was being stupid, he knew, but his head was so full
of excitement and worry that there was no room left for sanity. He sighed
and sat down on his bed. The dorm room was emptied out of all the other
inhabitant's belongings. He was by himself, and he was in the right mood
for it. There was a soft pitter-patter of rain on the window and the gentle
whistle of the wind coming in through the cracks in the sill. He lay back
on his bed, thinking. There was one week left till the deadline of his
decision, and he had no clue as to what he was going to do. Ah, well,
dwelling on it wasn't going to get him anywhere as long as he was this
unfocused. His friends, Ulan and Odongo, came in the door and plopped down
on the bed next to Jim.
"Hey man, what's up?" inquired Ulan.
"Hey. Not much, I'm just feeling kind of weird about all this." He made a face and sighed.
"We know what you mean. The offer that the Headmaster made at the end of term is anything but a secret. Do you want to talk about it?" Odongo, the more sensitive of the two, offered. The boys were really a boy, a boy with two heads. They had pale blue skin and short, spiky purple hair. Their heads became one body at the base of the neck where they melted into one pair of broad, strong shoulders. Ulan and Odongo had become quite popular with the girls in the nearby village, and were known to disappear on the weekends, only to reappear at school the next day bright and early with a big smile plastered on each of their faces. Jim had befriended the two boys during the first week at the Academy. Two years later, and with many mishaps and demerits under their belts, they were still friends and hung out every day. Jim had told them all about Treasure Planet. They loved the story and had even taken notes in hopes of publishing the story in a second- hand account. After a while they had understood Jim's desire to keep the tales quiet, and had tossed the note cards into the rubbish bin. Jim had thanked them and they had shrugged it off, but the three were bound forever in secrecy.
"No, I don't really, thanks. It's something I need to discuss with my family and I'll make the decision with their input. That's why I invited them to dinner tonight. I really hope they come."
"Okay, bro, that's cool with us. We have to go see old Doc Arnold about our test grades. He thinks we cheated on the finals. Apparently we did too well for us to have acted alone. We told him two heads were better than one, so he awarded us 20 demerits apiece and gave us detention for a week for mouthing off toward a teacher."
"Ouch! That burns! Whaddya gonna do about it?" Jim raised an eyebrow towards the two.
"We are going to spend the week trashing his office from the inside out. You know, start out by switching some files around, then swap the drawers around in the desk until finally he loses his mind and lets us go. Same thing we did with Brenner. You know how that turned out." Ulan gave Jim a smug look. Jim knew exactly what he was talking about. Professor Brenner had given the boys detention and was keeping watch when suddenly he was called out of the room. While he was gone the boys had exchanged the files in his drawers until everything was a big mess. When the professor came back he began to look for something in his drawers and had been unable to locate it. He searched for hours until he went crazy and ran screaming from the building.
"Ah. Don't you think they'll catch on? I mean, every time you get detention another teacher visits the asylum. See the pattern?" The boys shook their heads so violently Jim was sure they would collide.
"Nah. They're too thick." Odongo answered, "In fact we were really excited when Arnold gave us detention. See, this way we can get rid of him before they can figure anything out. You know, knock him off before we're even suspects." Jim nodded to show his understanding. Then he looked at his watch.
"What time are you supposed to be in his classroom for detention?"
"Um, around 'o-six-hundred-hours'. Why what time is it?" Ulan asked with concern, seeing the look on Jim's face.
"About six-thirty." He laughed as the boys jumped off the bed and ran out of the room yelling goodbyes over their shoulders. Then he got up out of bed too. He had to get dressed right now. He was supposed to go to the Inn at seven to meet his mother, the Dopplers and B.E.N. He glanced again at his watch. Now it was closer to six-forty. He sighed and walked to his closet to put on his uniform. He wanted to look nice for his mother. He smiled at his own immaturity and continued dressing.
* * *
Jim was sitting at the scrubbed wooden table, tapping his fingers and checking his watch every minute or so. At last glance it was seven-ten; his mom was late. He was waiting and it was obvious he had been stood up. 'Oh well,' he thought, 'the message must not have reached her.' He stood up and gathered his things when he felt a soft tap on his shoulder. He spun around, and what he saw brought a huge smile to his face. He hugged his mother, Sarah, tightly; after all, he hadn't seen her in a year. When they broke apart he saw standing behind her the Dopplers with their children and of course, the irrepressible B.E.N.
"Hey Jimmy! Long time no see! It's your old buddy B.E.N.! Did ya miss me?? Huh, huh Didja?" the robot jumped around enthusiastically until settling down enough to give Jim a bear hug, which the boy gladly returned. He looked over the little machine's shoulder to see the old Doctor looking around at the many staring people. Jim shrugged off the hug and patted the robot on his rusty head. He gestured toward the table, inviting them all to sit, and after shaking hands with the Captain and Doctor Doppler he joined them.
"Well, Jim my boy, you seem to be doing quite well. Just look at you, all dressed up and looking so proper. I'm so proud." The doctor complimented.
"Dim! Dim! Is Aimee! Missed you!" A small meowing voice cut off the doctor's sentence midway. A chorus of other voices then cut off that voice.
"And Antia! Me too! Missed you too!" Jim reached down to pick up the two young Felines as a third raced to catch up to her sisters.
"Whabout me? Dim give Arina hug?" The third cat cooed.
"Aimee, Anthea, Ariana! I missed all of you. Where's Dallas? Oh there you are. Come here now, don't be shy, it's me, Jim!" The puppy's eyes flew open wide in recognition and he ran in to Jim's open arms.
"Dim! I no see you! How you be?" Jim laughed at the resemblance to his father that appeared in the two-year old's broken speech.
"I be fine Dallas. Now all of you go sit so we can eat. Are you guys hungry?" He winced at the wild response of 'YES!' and the even wilder scampering to their seats so that they could get their dinners. He too returned to his seat and began to scan the menu. Nothing really seemed appetizing. There were several foreign dishes that had intriguing names but a revolting list of ingredients. He looked at the salads and found not a one without some sort of many-legged addition. The chef must be partial to the delicacies of the more... insectoid variety. He looked over and saw similar faces of disgust on all of the guests faces. "Well, maybe we can order a soup."
"Um, I wouldn't do that if I were you," came a voice behind him, "the soups are worse. The only safe dishes are the sandwiches." Jim spun around to face the waitress who had just patiently interrupted their conversation.
"Hello and welcome to the Academy Inn I'm Nicole and I'll be your waitress this evening how may I help you." the girl said all of this rather quickly and all in one breath, and as though she were quite bored with the whole thing. Immediately after she finished her preprogrammed speech, the guests began to ask questions about the contents of each entrée. Jim watched as 'Nicole' rolled her eyes in response to the Doc's endless inquiries about this dish and that. It seemed that the recommendation had been the only form of self the girl was allowed to display. Jim took the opportunity to study her closely. She wore a tattered, white, button down work shirt with small and carefully sewn patches over the numerous holes. The result was somewhat fashionable, in a patchwork quilt kind of way. The blouse was hopelessly stretched in the torso, another obvious sign that the shirt was a hand-me-down. The sleeves were rolled up to conceal small soup stains, but in turn revealed a number of ugly purple bruises on her forearms. It looked as though someone had pounded the girl, and that someone just might have been quite a lot bigger than she. Under the shirt was a long woolen skirt that had apparently had many a previous owner. Under the shabby apron that had been hastily tied on, the fabric was ragged and faded in spots where the color had washed out. There were other areas on the skirt where the weaving had worn thin and the fabric was hanging by one or two threads. The garment was intended to be full length and therefore reach the floor, but sadly fell short by several inches. There had to be at least an inch and a half of bare skin showing between the hem of the skirt and the tops of her ancient leather boots. They were, yet again, evidently not her own. They were laced as tightly as the strings would go, but still had a half an inch between the edges and ankles. They clunked loudly when she walked, and Jim could see that her feet slid around inside. Jim's eyes cautiously found their way back up her slim, seemingly malnourished frame, but there was not far to travel. She was petite, maybe five foot three, and very slightly built. Her long, strawberry blonde hair was pulled back and tied with a length of string at the nape of her neck. It fell to her lower back, almost to her waist, and curled softly the entire length. Her small face was delicate and pale, with a dusting of ginger freckles across her nose. Jim did a double take, however, when his searching eyes reached her left cheekbone. What a shiner! Jim nearly leapt from his chair to shake her hand and congratulate her. In two years at the Academy and all the fights he had seen, never was there such a beautiful ring of purplish-black bruising. He could tell that it was old, and most of the swelling had gone down, but it was still a sight to see. The rest of her features were flawless and attractive, and her smile was actually quite nice. 'Shame it doesn't stay there for long,' Jim thought. Suddenly he caught a glimpse of her eyes. Her eyes were definitely what would have set her apart as beautiful. They were gray, not gray-blue, gray-green, or gray- brown, simply gray, and they seemed to glow with the internal fire of rebellion and mistrust. Jim noticed that Nicole had begun to get impatient with Dr. Doppler's endless questions. She shifted her weight to one foot and began to tap her pen impatiently against the pad she used to jot down orders. The movement caught Jim's eye and he studied the action. He watched the fingers that, while small and thin, were rough and calloused from a lot of hard physical labor. The waitress noticed his watchful eye, and sent him a dirty look that plainly said, "Mind your own business, Buddy!" Jim was caught off guard by the reprimand and averted his eyes with a look like a scolded puppy. Nicole, satisfied that he had been put in his place, resumed her tapping.
* * *
After the waitress had left, a cool and cutting voice interrupted Jim's thoughts.
"Well, Jim, since you've dragged the lot of us halfway across the Etherium, I am rather erm, curious as to what it is you needed to tell us.' Here the captain's voice began to rise in anger, "It had better be good news, if you called us all the way out her to tell us that you have been expelled or worse, after all the strings I had to pull to get you into that Academy, then let me tell you mister...."
"Amelia!" Dr. Doppler clapped a hand over his wife's mouth. Jim just stared. He had never seen the captain rant before, and it caught him off- guard. The captain's face was blotchy and red, and she struggled behind her husband's hand. The good doctor reached over and removed the captain's wine glass from her reach. Jim's face rearranged itself from an expression of shock and alarm to one of amusement and laughter. When Dr. Doppler had released her, the captain sat back in her seat with her arms crossed on her chest, and a pout on her face. Jim and his mother exchanged looks, swallowed their laughter, and turned back to The Dopplers. The small children were shoveling bread into their tiny faces, completely unaware of the ordeal that had just passed.
"Well Captain, there is no need to worry. I have nothing but good news. I am facing a decision and I wanted your opinions. It is very difficult."
"Oh Jim!" his mother giggled. "I can hardly understand you when you speak like that. Why don't you just go back to normal speech for tonight, then you can be prim and proper again tomorrow at school. Now, tell us again, in plain speak."
"Well, okay. The Headmaster would like to know if I would- no, he wants to know if I wanna be first mate on an escort mission to Valdivia. I would serve the yearlong trip and only have to make up 6 months of the missed school. I don't know if I want to, but I thought I would ask you guys." He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, and waited for the answer.
"Who will you be escorting?" His mother whispered excitedly. Her eyes were sparkling with excitement, a look he had not seen on her face for as long as he could remember. It broke his heart.
"The Princess Lorelei of the Kingdom of L'avidité. She has been on a visit to the Embassy at Academia. She is going home, and requested of the A- she asked us to take her home." Ignoring his mother's, B.E.N.'s and Dr. and Captain Doppler's exclamations of joy and pride, he started to think. Was the Academy really having such a huge effect on him? It had never been this hard to speak plainly before. What was wrong with him? He was grateful when the clattering arrival of the waitress- Nicole, wasn't it? –shook him out of his unsettling thoughts. She placed a large sandwich in front of him and proceeded around the table, delivering the dishes to the hungry party. She mixed up Dr. Doppler's order with his mother's and set the kittens crying when she forgot the milk. Their mother dropped her head into her hands as the good Doctor tried to hush them. Jim was less than amused, and B.E.N. just clapped his hands over his hypersensitive metal ears. Surprising them all, the waitress knelt down before the screaming triplets and sang quietly to them.
"I've heard there was a secret chord,
That David played, and it pleased the Lord,
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this,
The fourth, the fifth,
The minor fall, the major lift,
The baffled king composing Hallelujah,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah"
Jim blinked a few times. No, he told himself, she really is kneeling down in the middle of a busy restaurant, singing to three crying kittens. I'm not the crazy one. The kittens mewed in relative calm and returned to their meals, having totally forgotten about the milk. Captain Amelia's jaw gaped open, as did Dr. Doppler's, Sarah's and B.E.N.'s. Jim smiled slightly at the looks on their faces, but the girl took no notice of them. She had an extraordinary singing voice, but Jim didn't really register that as he stared at her in disbelief. The young girl walked away to the table across from them, leaving the family in shocked silence. Dr. Doppler was the first to recover, and cleared his throat loudly, bringing the rest of them back to reality.
"Well, then, um, maybe we should just, erm, eat now. Aren't you hungry? I'm hungry. Aren't you?" He betrayed his own flustering calm with the stutters and stumbles that spiked his sentences. All of the diners reached for their forks, but none of said forks reached any of their mouths. Suddenly, Sarah's eyes brightened, and she reached for her handbag.
"Jim, I have a surprise for you!"
* * *
"Hey man, what's up?" inquired Ulan.
"Hey. Not much, I'm just feeling kind of weird about all this." He made a face and sighed.
"We know what you mean. The offer that the Headmaster made at the end of term is anything but a secret. Do you want to talk about it?" Odongo, the more sensitive of the two, offered. The boys were really a boy, a boy with two heads. They had pale blue skin and short, spiky purple hair. Their heads became one body at the base of the neck where they melted into one pair of broad, strong shoulders. Ulan and Odongo had become quite popular with the girls in the nearby village, and were known to disappear on the weekends, only to reappear at school the next day bright and early with a big smile plastered on each of their faces. Jim had befriended the two boys during the first week at the Academy. Two years later, and with many mishaps and demerits under their belts, they were still friends and hung out every day. Jim had told them all about Treasure Planet. They loved the story and had even taken notes in hopes of publishing the story in a second- hand account. After a while they had understood Jim's desire to keep the tales quiet, and had tossed the note cards into the rubbish bin. Jim had thanked them and they had shrugged it off, but the three were bound forever in secrecy.
"No, I don't really, thanks. It's something I need to discuss with my family and I'll make the decision with their input. That's why I invited them to dinner tonight. I really hope they come."
"Okay, bro, that's cool with us. We have to go see old Doc Arnold about our test grades. He thinks we cheated on the finals. Apparently we did too well for us to have acted alone. We told him two heads were better than one, so he awarded us 20 demerits apiece and gave us detention for a week for mouthing off toward a teacher."
"Ouch! That burns! Whaddya gonna do about it?" Jim raised an eyebrow towards the two.
"We are going to spend the week trashing his office from the inside out. You know, start out by switching some files around, then swap the drawers around in the desk until finally he loses his mind and lets us go. Same thing we did with Brenner. You know how that turned out." Ulan gave Jim a smug look. Jim knew exactly what he was talking about. Professor Brenner had given the boys detention and was keeping watch when suddenly he was called out of the room. While he was gone the boys had exchanged the files in his drawers until everything was a big mess. When the professor came back he began to look for something in his drawers and had been unable to locate it. He searched for hours until he went crazy and ran screaming from the building.
"Ah. Don't you think they'll catch on? I mean, every time you get detention another teacher visits the asylum. See the pattern?" The boys shook their heads so violently Jim was sure they would collide.
"Nah. They're too thick." Odongo answered, "In fact we were really excited when Arnold gave us detention. See, this way we can get rid of him before they can figure anything out. You know, knock him off before we're even suspects." Jim nodded to show his understanding. Then he looked at his watch.
"What time are you supposed to be in his classroom for detention?"
"Um, around 'o-six-hundred-hours'. Why what time is it?" Ulan asked with concern, seeing the look on Jim's face.
"About six-thirty." He laughed as the boys jumped off the bed and ran out of the room yelling goodbyes over their shoulders. Then he got up out of bed too. He had to get dressed right now. He was supposed to go to the Inn at seven to meet his mother, the Dopplers and B.E.N. He glanced again at his watch. Now it was closer to six-forty. He sighed and walked to his closet to put on his uniform. He wanted to look nice for his mother. He smiled at his own immaturity and continued dressing.
* * *
Jim was sitting at the scrubbed wooden table, tapping his fingers and checking his watch every minute or so. At last glance it was seven-ten; his mom was late. He was waiting and it was obvious he had been stood up. 'Oh well,' he thought, 'the message must not have reached her.' He stood up and gathered his things when he felt a soft tap on his shoulder. He spun around, and what he saw brought a huge smile to his face. He hugged his mother, Sarah, tightly; after all, he hadn't seen her in a year. When they broke apart he saw standing behind her the Dopplers with their children and of course, the irrepressible B.E.N.
"Hey Jimmy! Long time no see! It's your old buddy B.E.N.! Did ya miss me?? Huh, huh Didja?" the robot jumped around enthusiastically until settling down enough to give Jim a bear hug, which the boy gladly returned. He looked over the little machine's shoulder to see the old Doctor looking around at the many staring people. Jim shrugged off the hug and patted the robot on his rusty head. He gestured toward the table, inviting them all to sit, and after shaking hands with the Captain and Doctor Doppler he joined them.
"Well, Jim my boy, you seem to be doing quite well. Just look at you, all dressed up and looking so proper. I'm so proud." The doctor complimented.
"Dim! Dim! Is Aimee! Missed you!" A small meowing voice cut off the doctor's sentence midway. A chorus of other voices then cut off that voice.
"And Antia! Me too! Missed you too!" Jim reached down to pick up the two young Felines as a third raced to catch up to her sisters.
"Whabout me? Dim give Arina hug?" The third cat cooed.
"Aimee, Anthea, Ariana! I missed all of you. Where's Dallas? Oh there you are. Come here now, don't be shy, it's me, Jim!" The puppy's eyes flew open wide in recognition and he ran in to Jim's open arms.
"Dim! I no see you! How you be?" Jim laughed at the resemblance to his father that appeared in the two-year old's broken speech.
"I be fine Dallas. Now all of you go sit so we can eat. Are you guys hungry?" He winced at the wild response of 'YES!' and the even wilder scampering to their seats so that they could get their dinners. He too returned to his seat and began to scan the menu. Nothing really seemed appetizing. There were several foreign dishes that had intriguing names but a revolting list of ingredients. He looked at the salads and found not a one without some sort of many-legged addition. The chef must be partial to the delicacies of the more... insectoid variety. He looked over and saw similar faces of disgust on all of the guests faces. "Well, maybe we can order a soup."
"Um, I wouldn't do that if I were you," came a voice behind him, "the soups are worse. The only safe dishes are the sandwiches." Jim spun around to face the waitress who had just patiently interrupted their conversation.
"Hello and welcome to the Academy Inn I'm Nicole and I'll be your waitress this evening how may I help you." the girl said all of this rather quickly and all in one breath, and as though she were quite bored with the whole thing. Immediately after she finished her preprogrammed speech, the guests began to ask questions about the contents of each entrée. Jim watched as 'Nicole' rolled her eyes in response to the Doc's endless inquiries about this dish and that. It seemed that the recommendation had been the only form of self the girl was allowed to display. Jim took the opportunity to study her closely. She wore a tattered, white, button down work shirt with small and carefully sewn patches over the numerous holes. The result was somewhat fashionable, in a patchwork quilt kind of way. The blouse was hopelessly stretched in the torso, another obvious sign that the shirt was a hand-me-down. The sleeves were rolled up to conceal small soup stains, but in turn revealed a number of ugly purple bruises on her forearms. It looked as though someone had pounded the girl, and that someone just might have been quite a lot bigger than she. Under the shirt was a long woolen skirt that had apparently had many a previous owner. Under the shabby apron that had been hastily tied on, the fabric was ragged and faded in spots where the color had washed out. There were other areas on the skirt where the weaving had worn thin and the fabric was hanging by one or two threads. The garment was intended to be full length and therefore reach the floor, but sadly fell short by several inches. There had to be at least an inch and a half of bare skin showing between the hem of the skirt and the tops of her ancient leather boots. They were, yet again, evidently not her own. They were laced as tightly as the strings would go, but still had a half an inch between the edges and ankles. They clunked loudly when she walked, and Jim could see that her feet slid around inside. Jim's eyes cautiously found their way back up her slim, seemingly malnourished frame, but there was not far to travel. She was petite, maybe five foot three, and very slightly built. Her long, strawberry blonde hair was pulled back and tied with a length of string at the nape of her neck. It fell to her lower back, almost to her waist, and curled softly the entire length. Her small face was delicate and pale, with a dusting of ginger freckles across her nose. Jim did a double take, however, when his searching eyes reached her left cheekbone. What a shiner! Jim nearly leapt from his chair to shake her hand and congratulate her. In two years at the Academy and all the fights he had seen, never was there such a beautiful ring of purplish-black bruising. He could tell that it was old, and most of the swelling had gone down, but it was still a sight to see. The rest of her features were flawless and attractive, and her smile was actually quite nice. 'Shame it doesn't stay there for long,' Jim thought. Suddenly he caught a glimpse of her eyes. Her eyes were definitely what would have set her apart as beautiful. They were gray, not gray-blue, gray-green, or gray- brown, simply gray, and they seemed to glow with the internal fire of rebellion and mistrust. Jim noticed that Nicole had begun to get impatient with Dr. Doppler's endless questions. She shifted her weight to one foot and began to tap her pen impatiently against the pad she used to jot down orders. The movement caught Jim's eye and he studied the action. He watched the fingers that, while small and thin, were rough and calloused from a lot of hard physical labor. The waitress noticed his watchful eye, and sent him a dirty look that plainly said, "Mind your own business, Buddy!" Jim was caught off guard by the reprimand and averted his eyes with a look like a scolded puppy. Nicole, satisfied that he had been put in his place, resumed her tapping.
* * *
After the waitress had left, a cool and cutting voice interrupted Jim's thoughts.
"Well, Jim, since you've dragged the lot of us halfway across the Etherium, I am rather erm, curious as to what it is you needed to tell us.' Here the captain's voice began to rise in anger, "It had better be good news, if you called us all the way out her to tell us that you have been expelled or worse, after all the strings I had to pull to get you into that Academy, then let me tell you mister...."
"Amelia!" Dr. Doppler clapped a hand over his wife's mouth. Jim just stared. He had never seen the captain rant before, and it caught him off- guard. The captain's face was blotchy and red, and she struggled behind her husband's hand. The good doctor reached over and removed the captain's wine glass from her reach. Jim's face rearranged itself from an expression of shock and alarm to one of amusement and laughter. When Dr. Doppler had released her, the captain sat back in her seat with her arms crossed on her chest, and a pout on her face. Jim and his mother exchanged looks, swallowed their laughter, and turned back to The Dopplers. The small children were shoveling bread into their tiny faces, completely unaware of the ordeal that had just passed.
"Well Captain, there is no need to worry. I have nothing but good news. I am facing a decision and I wanted your opinions. It is very difficult."
"Oh Jim!" his mother giggled. "I can hardly understand you when you speak like that. Why don't you just go back to normal speech for tonight, then you can be prim and proper again tomorrow at school. Now, tell us again, in plain speak."
"Well, okay. The Headmaster would like to know if I would- no, he wants to know if I wanna be first mate on an escort mission to Valdivia. I would serve the yearlong trip and only have to make up 6 months of the missed school. I don't know if I want to, but I thought I would ask you guys." He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, and waited for the answer.
"Who will you be escorting?" His mother whispered excitedly. Her eyes were sparkling with excitement, a look he had not seen on her face for as long as he could remember. It broke his heart.
"The Princess Lorelei of the Kingdom of L'avidité. She has been on a visit to the Embassy at Academia. She is going home, and requested of the A- she asked us to take her home." Ignoring his mother's, B.E.N.'s and Dr. and Captain Doppler's exclamations of joy and pride, he started to think. Was the Academy really having such a huge effect on him? It had never been this hard to speak plainly before. What was wrong with him? He was grateful when the clattering arrival of the waitress- Nicole, wasn't it? –shook him out of his unsettling thoughts. She placed a large sandwich in front of him and proceeded around the table, delivering the dishes to the hungry party. She mixed up Dr. Doppler's order with his mother's and set the kittens crying when she forgot the milk. Their mother dropped her head into her hands as the good Doctor tried to hush them. Jim was less than amused, and B.E.N. just clapped his hands over his hypersensitive metal ears. Surprising them all, the waitress knelt down before the screaming triplets and sang quietly to them.
"I've heard there was a secret chord,
That David played, and it pleased the Lord,
But you don't really care for music, do you?
It goes like this,
The fourth, the fifth,
The minor fall, the major lift,
The baffled king composing Hallelujah,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Hallelujah, Hallelujah"
Jim blinked a few times. No, he told himself, she really is kneeling down in the middle of a busy restaurant, singing to three crying kittens. I'm not the crazy one. The kittens mewed in relative calm and returned to their meals, having totally forgotten about the milk. Captain Amelia's jaw gaped open, as did Dr. Doppler's, Sarah's and B.E.N.'s. Jim smiled slightly at the looks on their faces, but the girl took no notice of them. She had an extraordinary singing voice, but Jim didn't really register that as he stared at her in disbelief. The young girl walked away to the table across from them, leaving the family in shocked silence. Dr. Doppler was the first to recover, and cleared his throat loudly, bringing the rest of them back to reality.
"Well, then, um, maybe we should just, erm, eat now. Aren't you hungry? I'm hungry. Aren't you?" He betrayed his own flustering calm with the stutters and stumbles that spiked his sentences. All of the diners reached for their forks, but none of said forks reached any of their mouths. Suddenly, Sarah's eyes brightened, and she reached for her handbag.
"Jim, I have a surprise for you!"
* * *
