"Perfect timing. Medium scrambled on whole wheat toast, no butter on pain of death." Why did he make breakfast every morning? It had been a tradition in Alter Mansion for some time. Whenever the King was in residence he cooked the most important meal of the day for his family.
Next the perfunctory kiss on the cheek. It was like a play that would follow the script to the letter, no deviations.
And on cue Jack enters with his usual aplomb. Sarcasm was his weapon of choice in all matters. Much easier to kill two birds with one stone than have to carry two stones.
"A rare full house. Eat!" Was it really so rare to have a full house? Or would it be called a Royal Flush? King, check. Queen, check. Jack, check. What of Michelle? No these thoughts were too complex for so early in the morning.
"No sign of it Ma'am." Thomasina told the Queen. A lost cell phone, but not just any cell phone, The Queen's cell phone.
"They checked the cars?" Queen Rose asks exasperatedly. "And the luggage?"
"Yes the service is asking for an account of the information on there." Thomasina is always so efficient she keeps the family organized. She knows every detail from every second of the King's schedule to where the holes were in whose socks.
"The Queen's cell phone. Its got the emails, birthdays, and bad spelling of every person comprising society in this country." Jack would think the worst of everyone. Michelle was one of the few who saw under the mask he wore. He was not always the cynical party prince.
"I think they're more concerned with national security." Michelle could only imagine the disaster caused by that leak in security. It would be quickly remedied though, a spree of new phones being bought from CrossGen, Uncle William would be pleased at that thought.
"You know I don't like getting involved in politics. So come, lets keep looking before they call in the national guard. Its gotta be somewhere," Queen Rose said on her way out of the kitchen. That wasn't exactly true, while her mother claimed to hate politics Michelle knew better. The Queen only hated politics when it suited her, and wasn't that, in a nutshell, politics?
"Did mom loose her mind and find Thomasina to fix everything or was it the other way? Sort of a chicken egg question?" Today was obviously the day for deep thoughts from the Princess, not that anyone ever expected deep thoughts from her. They expected the pretty princess who smiles and makes appearances.
"The chicken or the egg?" Now King Silas has begun to ruminate, Michelle was used to this.
"I was told to come." Michelle's head whipped up from her breakfast. Her first reaction was to pull her light over robe to cover herself a bit more; she hadn't expected David Shepherd in the kitchen, especially not when she was in her pajamas.
"Chicken egg?" It seemed the King was too absorbed in his ponderings to address Shepherd. "Are we still using that expression? Given the overwhelming evidence in favor of the evolutionary theory I need to make a royal official declaration. The answer is roundly an egg. Not negating god, in whom I trust more than that damned reverend will ever know, just recognizing the change occurs. Thanks said god, and that the egg would have to have been the natural improvement on whatever near chicken mother hatched it, and discovered that her young was delightfully different from herself. Evolution is just one of god's many tools, like me. The only real and lingering question being: how do you like them first come eggs?" Michelle had lost the thread of what he father was saying, but it seemed like he was inviting David Shepherd to breakfast with the family. That wasn't right, was it?
"Is there, uh, something you'd like me to do?" It seemed David Shepherd was just as unsure as Michelle about the meaning of her father's speech.
"He'd like you to sit and eat. My father insists on making breakfast, it makes him feel like his kids are still five." Michelle took it upon herself to interpret it for David, he looked lost again, like he had last night at the prospect of a dance.
"When you were small, and manageable. And I preferred it that way." Michelle mused that her father had probably never said truer words. She was his favorite, as Jack was their mother's.
"I, uh, can't stay long. I have to report back to base this morning." That was a pity, David Shepherd was interesting, and one of the few people who didn't treat her like she was made of glass.
"No you're not. You're not going back to the front. You've been transferred to Shiloh. Military Liaison to the Press Office. The press likes you. Captain Shepherd. Mhmm, Captain, you're an officer now." Michelle was not the only one to be surprised at that news. But she was the one to handle it best.
Jack got up, and shoved his newspaper at David. And David, or was it Captain Shepherd now, just stood there star struck.
"Hell of a time to loose your powers of speech. You're going on air in an hour. There a problem?" For all of his joking speeches on the chicken and the egg or making breakfast for his family Silas was a King. And when he looked at you and spoke to you as a King the power he wore like a cloak was undeniable.
"I'm not sure I can answer that without insulting my King." Still the polite country boy, even if he was a hero and an officer.
"Your King hears insults with alarming regularity." Now Silas took a step down from power he had just wielded. Now he was a mixture of the King of Gilboa and the father who made breakfast for his adult children.
"I just don't think I'm cut out for the city, sir." Poor David, Michelle thought shaking her head. He didn't know that once her father had made up his mind it was made up and nothing would change it.
"Walter, next time you hear Captain Shepherd call me sir, I want you to take out your side arm and shoot him. What, what have you got against our city?" This was a joke Silas made when he liked someone, but it enforced the fact that he was the King and was to be listened to.
"Well I'd probably have an apartment the size of my dog's shed at home. And no one talks about the war here. My company is fighting just a few hours from here and its as if nothing is happening except on T.V. Plus the city sort of smells like trash." Michelle couldn't hold in a laugh at this statement. Country boy, family guy, homegrown soldier, and honest to a fault, his list of positive features continued to grow.
For a moment Michelle watched her father process what David said, he looked like he didn't know what to say. "I'm not going to tell you what to do. But you could do good here. Hope lies in bravery, we need hope. Give us a shot." He'd always had that way of inspiring people.
"Yes sir." To Michelle's eye it looked as if her father had won the allegiance of Captain David Shepherd.
"Walter didn't I tell you to shoot him if he said that? Ah no matter, I have business, as does Captain Shepherd. An hour." The King gave the Captain one last appraising look before leaving the kitchen.
Michelle left her breakfast only partially eaten. She walked over to David who looked shell shocked. "Look at you last night a boy who blew up a tank and this morning a captain. Who could have pegged you as a television personality?" she asked jokingly.
Her words seemed to jolt him out of his stupor. "I've never even had my picture in the paper before the other day. Now I'm going to be on T.V?" he asked nervously. Looking down at her he smiled, and Michelle returned the smile. "Probably the same people who would peg the Princess as someone who wears bunny slippers."
Michelle stood there doing a very credible impression of a fish before hitting him lightly on the arm. David laughed and Michelle's façade of anger melted in to laughter as well.
My longest post to date. I apologize for not posting for a while. I lost my muse and my internet access, although not at the same time or you would have had an update sooner. This is also different from how I wrote the first two chapters. Tell me what you think. And if anyone can find the link in the titles of my chapters they will get a shout out.