It was 0430 hours when I walked down the steps heading towards the dining section of the lodge. This time I choose the seat at the counter and asked for double scotch coffee.
"There's quite a number of Irish community back here in New Orleans, but I guessed they moved to Rhode Island to join the other Griffins. You know what I mean and the Irish were the ones who invented whiskey. Here's your double shot, missus... Enjoy your early morning fix. Hehehehe."
The waitress handed me my double shot scotch coffee and it was a foaming hug of coffee... Not the usual kind where they served you in dainty cups. No siree... This is the one favoured by all... A clear mug of frothy hot milky coffee with a double shot of whisky... Yeehaw... You could knock horseback alive with a few mugs of these.
Coffee and cigarettes go hand in hand as the waitresses handed me a pack of Virginia Slims. I don't quite accustomed to smoking thin sticks of cigarettes that seems like twigs to me. But after a while, I was intoxicated with its fresh blackberry menthol taste.
"Is this a new line of flavours for Virginia's? I used to smoke Luckies but I changed it back to Salem. I loved Pine, its tip could be regulated on how mentholated it would be for your own preference."
"Yeah...Pine was non-existent now. It appeared in the late 80s and disappeared in the mid-90s. It made a comeback with the regulated tip in late 2010 but its kind of sunk below the surface after that. I didn't know you were a Pine smoker."
"Hahahaha... We ladies are the same, I was once smoking the luxurious YSL slims but it was pricey and a few more bucks could buy you a nice bottle of wine."
"Yup...smoking sure is one way of burning a hole not only in our lungs but a hole noticeable through our pockets. Hahahahaha."
"By the way, if I need to check out, would there be any send-off service or do I hail a taxi on my own from here?"
"Awww... I thought you'd stay for a few more days. I hope the men earlier didn't scare you off one bit. They were looking for a spy and I argued how a spy looked like, does it have an extra head? Or extra arms and legs and wings on it back? It's so ridiculous living so close to that government person a few blocks away."
"A spy that looks as big as a fly. Roadkill along the road has them. Hahahaha. Why do they suddenly suspect a spy in this neighbourhood? I thought a spy would be someone sophisticated, like in the movies?"
"Well... Let me tell you a secret. These people don't like civilians like us living too close to them. If possible, they wanted to wipe out residents and businesses away in a 2km radius. They were involved with deep secrets with the government like Area 51 kind of X-Files thingy. I don't know much but seeing those armed men, and their sniffling, drooling dogs... Business has been pretty bad nowadays and they made it worse."
"It is better for them to move in the mountains rather than us to move since they came uninvited and build up than piece of lands as though they were some sort of prospectus from the wild west."
"Yeah... I do hate those pesky type of neighbours around. I wished to one day live in a quiet little town, no hassle, no bustling of heavy traffic and green fields all around just like in Georgia. I was there and a group of friends wanted to travel here but in the end, cancelled on the last minute. Too bad I didn't get the chance to fish since I had brought my rod and tackle box with me."
"Awwww... That's a pretty shame of you not fishing here. You could fish at the launch though if you'd like. There's some perch and other small game out back."
"Naaahh... I'd give it a miss though. By the way, you're..."
"I'm a Griffin too. Gretchen Griffin at your service... Hehehehe. Looking at your double scotch makes me wanna get hit too in the early morning. The excitement earlier had roused me from my peaceful sleep and I won't be able to snooze afterwards. Heard there's a party coming over at night to join the ones that headed to fish at the Isle earlier."
"Oh, in that case, let me make a few arrangements for my flight outback to New York City. And Mr Griffin would be sending me off, right?"
"Sure, I'd let Daddy knows your leaving. Everything has been paid for and we just do a little check out process before you leave and make sure you didn't leave anything behind. But hey, it's 0530 hours now, would you like me to whip you a nice New Orleans breakfast?"
"I would love to Gretchen, thank you so much for your hospitality."
I took my phone out and send an SMS to Leonard that I'm checking out and be expecting to leave by 1 pm. A few moments later a reply was received and short acknowledgement was mentioned, "A700 1300h OK."
I checked my sent SMS to HaiLoong but was still unread. Oh well, he seems rather busy that he can't answer any other calls and so on. He usually would answer 24 hours later but I can't be disturbing his work too. We made a strict rule of not disrupting our work when we are out in separate missions such as this.
I was wondering if I could also have several pads to land and several bids to use so to make my track harder to trace. I'd better get to the airport and grab some papers and see if there any pads I could land for a few nights rotational. With the 50k that Leonard had promised me and a 75k bonus for hitting out the Weres drug lab the other week would make a tidy start.
In this world, even in laid back Georgia County, money would still be considered as easy come and easy go. I've got about close to 400k saved up in my savings account by merely working for a year or so now.
Better not take things too carefree, cowgirl.
I took a swig at my double scotch Cofee and ordered another one and moved to the seat near the entrance as I took out my Salems and slowly sucked in it, exhaling the smoke into the empty diner.
As usual, Beast and Spotty were crouching on the ground with their paws over their sensitive snouts as I smoked and halfway stomped it out underfoot. No point making my Cats grumpy and lose their sense of smell in the long run.
My hearty New Orleans breakfast has arrived and it was a huge plate meant for 2 People. There was a top grilled triple cheeseburger with oozing cheese and lots of salad, tomatoes, pickles and thumb thickness patties. A steak knife was driven through it to steady the mountain of cheeseburgers. Next, I had a double layer egg omelette lined with lots of shrimps inside and garnished with onions and chilli, a few flapjacks and Belgian waffles with strawberry, raspberry, apple and lemon jams on each of its quarters. Hahahaha... I let a small whoop when it came on a large tray served by Gretchen...
"Its a few extras for your long haul back to the Big Apple." 3 mini wraps contained apple, pineapple and banana sort of pies were served too. "Oh my God... I really don't know where to start as I picked my steak knife and ate the burger like it was Barbequed meat on a stick.
Beast and Spotty were both moving about happily as they too were fed the same way as I chose to eat. Nom... Nom... Nom...