Florence's Final Journey22
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“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 />
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