23.02.2018 Views

Florence's Final Journey22

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

“Don't worry. I got this covered. Now, how about the last topic?”<br />

“Oh, surprise or shock, right?”<br />

All of a sudden, the table was surrounded by three young girls, a<br />

young man, the waiter who had seated them and two men with chef<br />

hats. The giggling girls started singing and the male voices joined in.<br />

“Happy Birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear<br />

Florence.” They sang and their out-of-tune rendition was finished in a<br />

flourish as the young man took a knee and held his hand up to Florence.<br />

The group clapped and erupted in laughter at the show off final move.<br />

Another man, he too in a chef hat, showed up rolling a cart.<br />

“I hope this will do, ma'am.” He uncovered a series of silver platters<br />

which revealed crepes covered in hot cherries, pancakes, biscuits and<br />

gravy, thick bacon, roasted potatoes and a big pieces of salmon. Gabby<br />

smiled, flicked on some music and started eating. The dining car was<br />

filled with Robert Cray singing and squeezing magnificent notes out of<br />

his guitar.<br />

“I can be the one ...anytime, he sang.<br />

“How in the world did you pull this all off?”<br />

“Well, you see, I got a really good fare today who gave me a pretty<br />

damn good tip. Amazing what some sweet talking and a few hundreds<br />

can do, ain't it?” he said with his mouth half full.<br />

“This is delicious! What a good la...” She caught herself and tried to<br />

cover the slip by putting a big bite in her mouth.<br />

25

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!