BOB JOHNSON RIDES AGAIN! 277

277. CAVITY

277. CAVITY

But of course nobody would travel to a place as beautiful and rewarding as the central coast of California if it meant spending time with Bob Johnson, and Bob’s parents are no exception. (Or maybe they are the exception? Damn these double negatives!) In fact, Travis and Marjoree never miss the annual Keno Player Championship of the Stars, held every February in Pismo Beach in the reserved dining area of Stan’s Day Old Shellfish, a restaurant that has been providing local residents the best in day-old shellfish for several decades now, or at least ever since there was a market for day-old shellfish. (Which, of course there never has been.)

“I’m on a roll!” Travis announces after winning his third Keno card in a row, which had brought his winnings up to a buck thirty-nine. “That’s because I’m in the zone! I just close my eyes and these numbers magically appear in my peripheral vision! Seventeen! Seventy five! One! Two! Sixty three! Quick, honey, let’s play two separate cards this time and bet the whole wad of a buck thirty nine! And I’m sorry for using the word ‘wad’! I can’t help myself! I’m just so excited!

Meanwhile, back at the Madonna Inn, Bob Johnson is sharing his pink champagne cake with his old friend and former Sat Nav, Alicia Keys, and her personality-imbued super car, Kit. “I really love sharing my cake with you guys,” Bob confessed, “since you both lack oral cavities or dentition, and that leaves all the pink champagne cake for me! By the way, Alicia, why do you keep making that humming-clickety-humming-clackety sound in back of your throat? Are you trying to figure something out? It doesn’t have anything to do with providing yourself an oral cavity, does it? If so, I better finish this cake as fast as I can!”