United States or Monaco ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
When your last meal is an eighteen-hour-old memory, and when that memory has only near-coffee and a roll to dwell on, there is something in the sight of January peaches and great strawberries carelessly spilling out of a tipped box, just like they do in the fruit picture on the dining-room wall, that is apt to carve sharp lines in the corners of the face.
Jerkline Jo sipped her near-coffee thoughtfully, and gazed unseeingly at the menu card, a marvel of weird orthography, punctuated with fly specks and splatters of egg yolk. Jo had over ten thousand dollars invested in Paloma Rancho.
He saw me and came over. He stopped a few feet from the table, and said loudly, "Captain, I'd like to know your plans, now that the possibility of continuing is out." I sipped my near-coffee and looked at the rolling farmland. I didn't answer him. If I could get him mad, I could take him at his game. Kramer turned red. He didn't like being ignored. The two at the other table were watching.
I don't want to find you hanging around the wardroom making light chit-chat until you're properly relieved from duty." I went back to my near-coffee and the farmland. A river was in view now, and beyond it distant mountains. Kramer was furious. "Joyce has relieved me, Captain," he said, controlling his voice with an effort.
I walked into the wardroom, drew a cup of near-coffee, and sat down. The screen showed a beach with booming surf. The sound track picked up the crash and hiss of the breakers. Considering the red plague that now covered the scene, I thought it was a poor choice. I dialed for a high view of rolling farmland. Mannion sat at a table across the room with Kirschenbaum.
"First call for breakfast in the dining-car," he said. "We can make it by half-past eight." "If only we could have a cup of good hot coffee first, before we start," said Beth, and she smiled at the vainness of the thought. "We won't get good coffee at the claim," Van assured her dryly. "But near-coffee would lure me out of this." He was rapidly adjusting the blanket and saddle on his horse.
Mannion and Kirschenbaum looked at each other, then finished their near-coffee hurriedly and left. I hoped their version of the incident would help deflate Kramer's standing among the malcontents. I left the wardroom and took the lift up to the bridge and checked with Clay and his survey team. "I think I've spotted a slight perturbation in Delta 3, Captain," Clay said.
Word Of The Day