“ATVs, huh?” Joey said.
“That sounds like hella fun!” Chastity said.
“It really does, Dad,” added Brian.
“And you like to fish, right, Joey?” Jake enquired.
“You know I do,” Joey said.
“There’s a guy who runs a charter boat out of the marina in Morro Bay,” Jake said. “He has a Beechcraft Bonanza and flies it out of the same airport I use so we see each other in the pilot’s lounge a lot. He’s made a similar offer to me on a couple of occasions. Free use of the charter for a day of deep-sea fishing if I would let him publish some pictures of me on his boat for advertisements. So far, I haven’t taken him up on it because I haven’t had the time or a big enough group of people to take out. But this might be the perfect opportunity.”
“Deep sea fishing?” Brian said excitedly. “I’ve always wanted to do that!”
“Me too,” Chastity said. “Dad, we have to do this! I will seriously die if we don’t!”
“Well...” Joey said, visibly wavering now, “I did try some deep-sea fishing when we were up in Alaska. It was one of the best fishing trips I’ve ever been on.”
“Say yes, Dad!” Chastity demanded.
“I really would like to see the ocean, Dad,” Grace put in.
“Me too,” Brian put in.
“Well ... I guess the family has spoken,” Joey said. “All right. We’ll take you up on your offer, Jake. Thank you very much.”
“Our pleasure,” Jake said when the cheers died down behind him.
“I can’t wait to tell all my friends I’m going to California to hang out with my uncle Jake Kingsley!” Chastity said. “They are gonna be hella jealous.”
“Please stop saying ‘hella’, Chase,” Joey said. “I really hate that word.”
“Sorry, Dad,” she said.
They flew on for a few more minutes in silence, the members of the Best family pondering their upcoming trip. Jake, who had been goaded into making the offer by his wife, was surprised to find that he was actually looking forward to hosting them as well. And then Chastity made another observation.
“Look at that canyon down there!” she suddenly exclaimed. “It looks just like a hoo-hoo! And the trees around it look like pubic hair!”
“Chase!” Joey yelled, exasperated. “Will you please keep your vulgar imagination to yourself?”
“I’ll try, Dad,” she promised.
There was no restaurant at South Valley Regional Airport, but a short walk outside the grounds brought them to a local chain eatery where they were given a table for five. The food was quite mediocre to Jake, but the Best clan seemed to enjoy it. Joey insisted upon picking up the tab and Jake finally relented and allowed it. Their waitress was a cute blonde woman in her middle twenties. She did not speak much to them as she took their orders and served them, only engaging in what conversation was necessary to accomplish her job. At least, that was the case until it was time to start clearing the dishes away.
“You know that you’re going to burn in hell for all of eternity, right?” she asked, looking directly at Jake.
While Joey, Brian, Chastity, and Grace all stared at the waitress, their mouths agape at such rudeness from a server, Jake simply shrugged. “At least most of my friends will be there,” he said in a flippant manner.
“That goes without saying,” she returned icily. She then walked away, heading for wherever waitresses went when they had an armful of dirty plates.
“I ... I don’t believe she just said that,” Joey said, his face now turning red.
Jake shrugged again. “It happens,” he said. “Particularly in places like Salt Lake City or Cincinnati. You get used to it. Hopefully, she didn’t spit in my food.”
This suggestion angered Joey even more. “I’m going to have a talk with the manager about her behavior,” he said, starting to push his seat back.
“Don’t worry about it,” Jake said. “It’s just part of the life I choose. Chances are the manager would agree with her anyway.”
“I cannot let that go unanswered,” Joey said.
“Then do what I do,” Jake suggested.
“What’s that?”
“Don’t tip her,” he said. “Put a big old zero in the tip spot on the check. Maybe even draw some devil horns on it.”
“Really?” Joey asked.
“Really,” he said. “My policy is that if you accuse me of satanism, or hand my wife a WEAVE card, or tell me that I’m going to hell when you don’t even really know me, then you don’t get a gratuity. Hits them where they live and maybe that discourages them from such behavior in the future.”
“No tip huh?” Joey said. “That’s seems a little extreme.”
“It’s an extreme world,” Jake said.
Joey did as suggested and they left the restaurant for the walk back to the airport.
“Of course,” Jake said, “it goes without saying that you never eat there again.”
“That makes sense,” Joey agreed.
Thirty minutes later, they were back in the air and heading north to Pocatello. Ten minutes after that, they were at sixteen thousand feet and admiring the scenery once again. Everyone, even Brian, was considerably more relaxed on this flight.
“Tell me something, Joey,” Jake said as they approached the Idaho state line.
“What’s that?”
“How’s the Chinese restaurant scene in Pocatello?”
Joey looked at his brother-in-law strangely. “Chinese restaurants? We have quite a few, actually.”
“Are any of them any good?” Jake asked.
Joey shook his head. “No, not really,” he said. “If you want good Chinese food, you have to go to Boise or SLC.”
Jake nodded. “That what I figured.”
“Why do you ask?”
“Nothing,” Jake said with a chuckle. “I was just remembering a conversation I had once.”
“I see,” Joey said slowly.
“Anyway,” Jake said, “speaking of restaurants. I want to take you and the family out for dinner tonight to thank you for hosting us. What’s the best place in Pocatello?”
“That would be nice,” Joey said. Laura had already briefed Jake that this was the proper repayment for hospitality in her family. “Are you talking Chinese though? Because, like I said, there really aren’t any good...”
“No, not Chinese,” Jake said. “Just the best restaurant in town. Don’t worry about the price. We can afford it.”
“Well ... I guess that would be the Sandpiper,” he said. “We would have to dress up a bit for it.”
“Let’s do it then,” Jake said. “As soon as we land, I’ll book a reservation.”
“All right,” Joey said. “Sounds good.”
They landed just after three o’clock in the afternoon and taxied back to hangar row, where a different pair of rampers parked the Avanti back in its rented spot and received a pair of twenty-dollar bills from Jake. Jake then popped into the airport office and used the yellow pages to look up the Sandpiper. He called and was able to secure a reservation for eight plus an infant for 7:00 PM that evening. They then all piled into Joey’s Bronco for the trip back to the house.
Upon arrival, they found the scene inside pretty much as they had left it. Sarah, Julie, and Laura were sitting in the living room, chatting with each other and drinking iced tea while the television played on low volume. Laura was holding baby Everett in her arms, rocking him gently back and forth, occasionally smiling down at him and talking to him. Laura had been spending as much time with the baby in her arms as she could get away with.
Joey got himself, Jake, and Brian cans of Budweiser and they all sat down to join the conversation. They talked about the flight, the rude waitress, the upcoming trip to California (everyone became immediately excited about it) and their dinner reservations for the night.