A sequel to my 2018 story "The Recluse of 4B and the Waitresses". Part 9, Florida.
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One month later Howard, Bernadette, Sheldon and Sally were temporarily deafened when the shockwave hit as the Venus rocket took off. Howard had tears in his eyes as his camera set off on its long journey to the second planet. After the smoke had cleared and their ears had stopped ringing the four of them went off to the NASA post-launch lunch.
Sheldon "Thank you for that Howard, that was very impressive."
Bernadette "These space rockets contain wonderful pieces of engineering."
Howard "I wonder what it must be like to be on board one of those things when they take off?"
Sally "That was fun, can they set off another rocket for us after lunch?"
Sheldon "Are you glad to be home in Florida, when were you last here?"
Sally "I was here for my cousins wedding three years ago, it was the only time Simon ever came away with me for a weekend."
Howard "This will be my first chance to see my Florida relatives since my mother's funeral."
Sally "Where do your relatives live Howard?"
Howard "They live in Miami."
Sally "Mine live in Orlando."
After lunch friendly hugs were exchanged as the two couples separated.
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90 minutes later in Orlando, Sally and Sheldon arrived at the home of Sally's Aunt and Uncle.
As they got ready to knock on the door Sally took Sheldon by the hand and said "are you ready for this Dr. Cooper?"
One minute later "Aunt Maria, Uncle James, cousin Brian, Uncle Carlos, Aunt Isabel, cousin Mary, cousin Michael, cousin George..."
six hours later as they returned to their hotel "I hope that wasn't too overwhelming Dr. Cooper?"
"You have a lot of relatives Dr. Garcia! I am glad you were there to protect me, I was close to freaking out with all those people around."
"Glad I could help?"
"I need to take you to Texas some time Dr. Garcia."
"I look forward to it Dr. Cooper."