THE CHANGE - CHAPTER EIGHT

PART THREE - LATE BREAKFAST BREAK / STUPID PLUTO JOKES

PART THREE

LATE BREAKFAST BREAK

MONDAY, DECEMBER 22ND

ECHO COVE INSTITUTE OF INQUIRY

EIGHT

“Damn,” said Dr. Emily James, at the end of Martha’s story.

“Yeah, it’s a lot,” Martha agreed, as Dr. Coco whistled through her teeth. “And we haven’t even gotten to the crazy shit yet! Didn’t you guys say something about breakfast?”

It was 10:45. They’d been at it for hours. “Oh my lord!” Dr. Coco exclaimed. “I apologize sincerely!”

Because the Institute was private, not public – and because the work they did was secretive in the extreme – there were no corporate franchises on tap in the food court. Instead, they’d tapped a handful of the best food carts in the Pacific Northwest, and recruited their owners/chefs to set up shop in Echo Cove.

Each was entrusted to both a) serve delicious food, and b) not become a security hazard. As such, they had a dozen small high-quality kitchens in-house, led by people the Institute trusted with their lives. Which meant the people were really cool, and the food was really fantastic.

Ten minutes later, they had gone through all the menu options, shown Martha the ropes. Martha ordered a Oaxacan chicken mole omelet with rice and beans on the side, just because it sounded incredible, and why the hell not. The doctors both ordered breakfast sashimi, because it’s never too early for breakfast sashimi.

Only then, while they were waiting for delivery – because they’d be eating in, not dining out – did the conversation go back to where they’d left off.

“So then what happened?” Dr. Coco asked. “After Charlie left the lounge car?”