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Probably, it was temporary There would be dry times too when no work came their way and they’d have to economize and make do That just wasn’t today
A their chips and were shouting to Naoet her to join them at the tables Holden waved at the waiter, who darted over to take his order No ordering froe
“What do you have in a scotch that carain?” Holden asked
“We have several Ganymede distillations,” the waiter said He’d learned the trick of being heard over the racket without straining He sentleavulin we keep aside”
“You mean, like, actual scotch from Scotland?”
“From the island of Islay, to be precise,” the waiter replied “It’s twelve hundred a bottle”
“I want that”
“Yes sir, and four glasses” The waiter tipped his head and headed off to the bar
“We’re going to play blackjack now,” Nao a stack of chips out of his tray and pushing them across the table to her “Want to come?”
The band in the next rooround noise dropped to an almost tolerable level for a few seconds before so Muzak across the casino PA
“Guys, wait a fewnice, and I want to have one last toast before we go our separate ways for the night”
Aht up until the bottle arrived, and then spent several seconds cooing over the label “Yeah, okay, this orth waiting for”
Holden poured out a shot for each of thelass up “To the best ship and crew anyone has ever had the privilege of serving with, and to getting paid”
“To getting paid!” Amos echoed, and then the shots disappeared
“God damn, Cap,” Alex said, then picked up the bottle to look it over “Can we put some of this on the Roci? You can take it out of my salary”
“Seconded,” Naomi said, then took the bottle and poured out four more shots
For a few minutes, the stacks of chips and the lure of the card tables were forgotten Which was all Holden had wanted Just to keep these people together for a few er On every other ship he’d ever served on, hitting port was a chance to get away from the same faces for a few days Not anye to say aanother shot of scotch
“One last hit for the road,” A up the bottle