Published: 7 Sep 2023

From The Previous Chapter:

Mr. Ken then knew he had to trust Jason to implement the overall plan and not let himself micromanage Edgewood’s new Operations Manager. He would be there for three days and three days only, and then he would have to leave getting Edgewood ready for Opening Day in Jason Zimms capable hands.

Ken Thomas then told himself to stop thinking that the man he hired to run Edgewood couldn’t do the job. Jason came highly recommended by Joseph Shartz, the operations manager for Fantasy Fun Park, and he did an outstanding job for him in inspecting both Edgewood and Crystal Lake Amusement Parks. And he was doing an outstanding job as administrator at Crystal Lake, and he’d already implemented some worthwhile improvements that he had the other parks mimic.

Ken Thomas slept well that night knowing he had nothing to worry about at Edgewood.

Ken Thomas woke up early that Sunday morning. He wanted to make sure he got to talk to his son, Robert, before he and Wayne drove off to see the teen’s mom. The man did his usual morning ablutions and then dressed in his usual t-shirt, nylon running shorts and Crocs, before going outside to collect his Sunday newspaper.

Mr. Ken had set the coffee maker the night before, so when the owner of The Cove entered the Kitchen Nook, newspaper in hand, he could smell the freshly made coffee and his mouth began to water. He put the newspaper on the table, got his coffee cup, filled it with the hot coffee, fixed it the way he liked it and then went over to the table, sat down, and began separating the paper into its sections as he usually did.

It wasn’t long before Mr. Wayne came into the Kitchen Nook, got himself a cup of that freshly brewed hot coffee and sat down at the table with his boss.

“Mr. Ken … is there anything I need to know when we get to the prison?” directly asked the Estate Master.

“Well, I wouldn’t call it a prison in front of Robert. If you need to call it anything, try to call it a secure residential facility, or at least a confinement, or a detention facility. It is hard enough for Robert knowing his mom is there, let alone reminding him of the harshness of the place where she is residing.

“Besides that, they’ll stop you at the entrance, and they’ll have both of you get out of the car and they’ll search it thoroughly, and I mean they’ll pop the hood and even check the glove compartment. So, I hope you don’t have your gun in the car.

“Also, you won’t be allowed to take your cell phone into the visitor’s center, or even paper money. I hope Chris got you $25.00 in quarters, because that’s all you can use in the facility if you want a soda, or a snack.

“They’ll also have you take your shoes and belts off, and then you’ll go through a metal detector, and then you’ll have to register before you can sit and wait for Robert’s mom to be brought out to you. They only give you an hour, which is something we didn’t know at the start. The guards gave Bill an extra thirty minutes because that was the first visitor Amelia had, and that was because it was her son.

“Oh, and don’t forget to tell Angela that Robert is going to put some money in her Trust Fund Account, and for her to watch for it an tell her that the State does take a handling fee so the amount will be less. It might take a week to ten days. Oh, that reminds me … Chris needs to check on Bill’s transfer to see if it went through,” finished Mr. Ken.

It was then that Robert and Billy came into the Kitchen Nook.

“I heard you talking about my mom. Is there anything wrong?” asked the teenager

“Oh, no, son, there is nothing wrong with your mom that we know of. But I was telling Wayne not to forget to tell Angela that you were going to put money into her Trust Fund, and that it might take seven to ten days. And that I need to have Mr. Chris check to see if Bill’s money ever got to Amelia’s Trust Fund Account,” was dad Ken’s answer to his son.

Robert and Billy heated up some breakfast tacos, while the adults talked about their coming trips. After Wayne told how he envisioned their drive to the residential facility, the teen’s heard ‘dad’ Ken tell Wayne that he and Ben will be extremely busy at Edgewood.

Mr. Ken told the Estate Master that he figured the two men would work into the night with Jason to plan what needs to be done to get the park ready for Opening Day, and for Wayne to tell the boys not to expect him to call them every night.

Mr. Wayne looked at the time and motioned to Robert that they should get a move on. Robert went to use the half-bath to relieve any excess fluid, and to wash his hands. When he came out, he went to his dad and hugged him and wished him a safe flight, and he told him to make Edgewood better than it had ever been before. The man’s son then told his dad to come home safe.

The two hugged some more, just as Charles came into the Kitchen Nook and joined in the hug. The three separated and laughed some. Robert and Wayne headed towards the Foyer Door and soon they would be on their way to visit Robert’s mother, who was serving a prison sentence of 7 to 10 years, with the possibility of parole after 5 years, for her part in her husband’s selling of their son, as a sexual companion to older men.

Matthew and Phillip showed up at the same time. They wondered, with everyone there, if anyone had put some breakfast tacos in the convection oven for them. Learning no one had, the two young Covers opted for cereal with banana cut into it.

While Phillip was eating, he spoke up and told his foster dad, “Mr. Ken … ahh, yesterday, I ahh, I forgot to tell you. Westin … he told me he was going to bring his guitar when he came over today. Do you think we’ll have time to play together?”

Mr. Ken smiled at what he heard. “Well, Phillip … it will be up to Mr. Dennis. But if you work some, with the older boys, then ask them if they need you; then tell Mr. Dennis they told you that they didn’t need you. Then ask him if you can go and practice your guitar with Westin. If he says, OK, then you can. IF he says you can’t then don’t push it, OK?”

“OK, Mr. Ken, I think I understand what you’re saying,” answered the youngest Cover.

“I’ll help him with that, Mr. Ken,” spoke up Billy. “With only two power washers there can’t be too many people working. Maybe Phil and his friends can wipe down the table and bench metal supports, after the Pavilion floor is clean, then maybe they can go play their guitars. I’ll talk it over with Mr. Dennis and see what he says.”

“Thanks, Billy,” offered Phillip, who then went back to eating.

When Matthew and Phillip finished eating their breakfast, the four boys went up and took their showers before heading up to the pavilion to use the Cove Skate Park. They wanted to have some fun before their friends arrived to continue to help cleaning the Pavilion and Cove Skate Park for the Memorial Day Picnic.

Mr. Wayne and Robert were well on their way to visit Robert’s mom. Robert was very quiet along the way. Mr. Wayne tried to engage him in conversation, but he knew the teenager had to be in deep thought about what he was going to talk to his mother about, as he continued to stare out the windshield.

The travelers hadn’t eaten much for breakfast, so Mr. Wayne decided to stop at a fast-food restaurant for a quick burger, fries and a soft drink and to try to get Robert to open up a little as they weren’t too far from their destination.

After they’d gotten their small meal and sat down, Mr. Wayne got the teen’s attention and said, “Robert … I hope you won’t be this quiet when you visit with your mom. I know it’s been about what … two years … since you last saw and talked to her, but … well, I’ll bet she is so happy you decided to visit her that … well, that she has been looking forward to this day for quite some time now.

“So, Robert … when you go in there to visit with your mom, in a little while, please … please be a bit more upbeat, and be the friendly and the jovial Cover we all know you to be. Can you do that for your mother’s sake?” encouraged the Estate Master.

Robert sat there thinking about what the man had just said to him. He knew he was being a stick-in-the-mud the whole trip, so far, and he understood what Mr. Wayne was saying to him, it was that he wasn’t sure if he had forgiven his mom yet.

“Mr. Wayne … you know what my dad, my real dad, that is, and my mom did to me, right?” asked the teenager.

Mr. Wayne said he did.

“Well … I just haven’t … I haven’t come to the point that I’ve forgiven my mom yet. That was … that was what I was thinking about the entire time we were driving up here. I’m sorry … I’m sorry if I was such poor company for you on this drive. I hope I didn’t ruin it for you. I really do appreciate your taking the time to bring me here,” offered the Cover teenager.

“Robert … your dad, Mr. Ken, that is, he told me … that on the day that your mom signed the termination of her parental rights papers … that you told her you didn’t know when you would be able to forgive her. And so, you still haven’t found it in you to forgive her. But that day, Mr. Ken said you two hugged and cried together.

“Young man … try to look at today … as that next step in the forgiveness process. Try to go in there with a positive attitude and a smile. I’ll bet your mom will be just happy to see you. She won’t be concerned if you have forgiven her yet, or not. So, start now and smile.

“Take that frown off your face and think about the reason why you are here. A few weeks back you asked your dad for this and now … and now you’re here, so … so make the best of it. Come on now. Smile!” teased Mr. Wayne.

“Yea, you’re right. I asked to do this … and by me acting like a little kid, and not like a maturing teen, I’m making this hard for both of us. OK, I’m going to go in there with a smile on my face and not think about what she did. I’ll be happy to see her, and we’ll talk about what we’ve both been up to these last two years,” now offered a smiling Robert.

The two Covers finished their meal, got rid of some excess fluids, washed their hands and continued the last few miles to their destination.

The Covers’ friends arrived and they wanted to get started on cleaning the rest of the Pavilion. Billy suggested to Mr. Dennis that as one group power washed the grease from the floor around the grill that the other group could start washing the floor from the other end and then Phillip and his friends could then wipe down the supports and before long the entire Main Pavilion area would be clean.

Mr. Dennis agreed with that plan and the boys quickly went to work. The greasy area around the grill took the longest to clean, but the cleaning compounds Mr. Dennis got for the boys did the job in the end. Then those boys helped finish cleaning the remainder of the Pavilion floor.

Mr. Ken stopped the limo before he drove out the Main Gate and he walked over to the boys and talked to the entire group. He told them he appreciated them cleaning both areas and making them presentable for all of their guests for the Memorial Day Picnic. He told them where he was going and why, and that he’d be back Wednesday night late. Then he left the boys to get back to work.

Phillip and his friends, being the smallest of all the boys, did a good job of bending and wiping all of the metal struts and supports for the tables and benches. Billy acted as their supervisor and had them get clean towels and go back to get clean ones when he saw their dirty towels were leaving streaks on the supports.

Mr. Wayne found that what his boss told him would happen when they arrived at the detention facility, was true. He smiled, while he watched the guards carefully search his car before they told him where to park, and which building to go into to start the registration process.

Mr. Wayne and Robert had to take their shoes and belts off and walk through a metal detector before they could put them back on and then register to have Angela Harrison brought out for a visit.

The two Covers found that the process was daunting with all the information that they had to give, but the guard told them that once they had it done, it wouldn’t be so obtrusive the next time they came. Wayne thanked the guard for telling them that, and continued to fill out the questionnaire.

After Mr. Wayne and Robert had finished with their registration, another guard showed them where they could sit and wait, where the restrooms were and that they could use the snack machines, as long as they had quarters.

It took more than thirty-five minutes before Angela Harrison was brought out to the visiting area, where the guards had already set the Covers up to wait for the woman. When Robert saw his mom walking towards him, he got tears in his eyes.

The teenager stood and with tears still flowing, he said, “Mom,” and the two hugged.

The guard let them hug longer than they were allowed, but she knew that this was Angela’s first visitor, and it was her son, so she sort of looked the other way. But she soon put her hand on Robert’s shoulder and indicated for him to have a seat.

“Robert … look how much you have grown. And you are now a very handsome young man. I am very happy that your Mr. Ken has adopted you, and has given you the life that you deserve. And who is this?” finished Angela.

“Oh, sorry mom. This is Mr. Wayne Mitchell. He works for my dad,” answered Robert. Then the teen saw the confusion in his mom’s face, and then told her his dad was Mr. Ken. Angela smiled at realizing her son calls Mr. Ken, dad.

“Robert … I was so happy when they told me that you wanted to come and visit. I have counted the days until I would get to see and talk to you. So, tell me, Robert … what have you been doing since we last talked, what … two years ago?” asked Angela.

Robert proceeded to tell his mother about the things he’s done for the past two years, including the trips, cruises, his ‘brothers’, the Cove Skate Park and everything in between.

The barbeque was started later than usual that Sunday, because the boys wanted to get that area finished, so they didn’t have to come back next weekend and finish it. And when the cooks began to ‘burn the burgers’ they were warned not to get grease on the floor.

After they had eaten, Phillip asked Billy if he and his friends could go down to the Great Room and ‘practice’ their guitars. The oldest Cover went over to Mr. Dennis and explained to him the discussion they had in the Kitchen Nook that morning, and asked him if the youngest Cover could do what he asked.

Mr. Dennis saw that younger boys did their fair share of the work on the Pavilion, so he went over to Phillip and his friends and told the boys that he had watched what they had done and he thanked them that they eagerly pitched in right away and worked while others skated. He told them they could go down and play their guitars.

The other teens heard what Mr. Dennis told the youngsters and inwardly knew whether or not they had jumped in and worked as hard as the younger boys had. They knew Phillip and his friends earned their time off from cleaning what remained.

Westin grabbed his guitar and the five boys headed down to the house, Phillip used his thumb to open the garage side door, and the five walked into the house and then down to the Great Room.

Phillip and Westin looked at Phillip’s music book, chose a song, and before the two began to play, Phillip started his metronome. Westin asked his friend why he did that, and the Cover said he needed it to help him stay in time with the song.

The two guitarists then began playing, and it took them a few tries to get into the rhythm and when they did their friends heard what they called a good sound.

Bryson took the music book and found a song he knew and asked them to play it. The two guitarists played and then Bryson began to sing. Jeffrey then tried to drum out the beat and the four of them sounded pretty good. When the song was over, Preston told them that with lots of practice they could be a good band. The three boys smiled.

Angela wanted to talk to Robert about the teen’s future before he left. She felt that as he finished his freshman year of high school, he needed to start focusing on what he wanted to study when he went to college. Robert told his mother that he didn’t know yet what he wanted to do when he got older. Angela told him he should sit down with his new dad and talk to him about what he liked to do, so that maybe he could give him some ideas of what he could focus on to study.

Robert didn’t want to talk about that, so he changed the subject. The teen told his mom that he was earning money by cutting the large field at The Cove, and he was going to send some of it to her Trust Fund Account. He added that he wanted her to have some extra money to buy some things she might need to make her stay there much better. He didn’t mention anything about the money he received from the settlement with the airport.

Angela was surprised at what her son just told her. The money would be greatly appreciated, but she didn’t want him to spend it on her, so she told him, “Robert, there is no need for you to do that. I’ll get by.”

“Mom,” began the woman’s son, “I’ll bet that you don’t get all of the things you need from the State and … and … I want to do this. Mr. Chris … he works for my dad and he’ll make sure it gets to your Trust Fund, so you need to watch for it. My dad … he says …he says it might take seven to ten days to show up in your account, so you need to watch for it. OK?” finished a smiling Robert.

“OK, son, I will. And, yes, the State doesn’t give us women all of the good things we would love to have to take care of our … our womanly needs. So, I will greatly appreciate the extra money and, believe me, I will use it wisely,” avowed the teen’s mom.

“Mom … I don’t know when I’ll be able to come back, you know, to visit you again. Dad, he … he has a big picnic scheduled for the Memorial Day weekend, and there will probably be about 300 guests. Then, when school is out, he’s taking all of us boys on a ten-day trip to visit his five amusement parks, including his new one. That is why he isn’t here today. He just bought it at a bankruptcy sale, so he’s flying there to see what it needs in order to get it into shape to open for the year.

“After that we’ll have to get ready for the 4^th of July Carnival that dad puts on and, this year, I think it is going to be two-days long. But I will come back before school starts up again, I promise,” offered a still smiling Robert.

Angela was so happy her son had come to see her. She had thought that after their talk two years ago, before she signed her parental rights away, when her son told her he didn’t know if he could ever forgive her, that her son had totally disowned her. Now she knew he hadn’t and with him saying he would come again; her heart was filled with joy.

Angela talked to Wayne some, to get an idea of what his position was where her son lived. She was surprised to learn that he was also a licensed foster parent, and was approved by Children’s Protective Services to act for Ken Thomas when he was out of town, or unavailable if one of the boys was hurt, or in trouble.

Robert then told his mom about how Billy was attacked at school, while his dad was away, and that Mr. Wayne had to go to the school and take care of the situation. The teen told her how Mr. Wayne got a lawyer for Billy and went to the hearing instead of his dad, since Mr. Wayne had handed all of the specifics for the altercation. Robert then smiled and said that Billy was acquitted and the three teens who attacked him were sent to the alternative school.

When it was time for the Covers to leave, the guard came over to them and told them they had given them a longer visit than normal, because it was their first-time meeting. Robert got up and hugged his mother and he had tears streaming down his face that didn’t go unnoticed by the teen’s mom.

“Robert, take good care of yourself, and don’t forget to talk to your dad about what you want to be when you grow up,” chuckled the mom.

The two hugged one more time and as the guard led Angela Harrison away, they waved to one another and after the two turned away from one another, Mr. Wayne put his arm around Robert’s shoulder and let him cry on it. The man then led the teen outside to their vehicle where Robert thanked him for bringing him to see his mom, and he apologized for crying as he did.

Mr. Wayne went to him and told him that he was happy he could do that, and that he was lucky that he had a mom that he could at least go and see. When Robert asked him what he meant, the Estate Master told him that Mr. Diamond was still trying to find his mother, but he hasn’t been able to as of yet. Robert told the man that if anyone could find her, Mr. Diamond is the one.

It was getting late in the day, and the boys had quit cleaning, and they were just skating, as it was too late to swim. The Assistant Estate Master looked around and saw that all of the new patio furniture was uncovered and that the umbrellas were mostly opened.

The man called out to the boys for some of them to close the umbrellas, tie the wrappers around them and slip on the protective sleeves. He continued and told the others to get the covers from the garage and to cover up all of the patio furniture, in case they got a storm. He qualified himself by telling the boys they wanted all of those new cushions and umbrellas to stay that way, especially for the Memorial Day Picnic.

The boys quickly got into action and before long all of the patio furniture, including the ones bought last year, were all covered up with their protective shells. The umbrellas were also closed and the bottom of the umbrella panels were fastened with the tie wrapper and the sleeves were slipped over and also tied in place.

Phillip and his friends were having fun playing music in the Great Room and had forgotten about the time. Mr. Dennis went down to the house to tell the boys that it was almost five o’clock and he himself was surprised at what he heard as he walked into the house through the Foyer Door and then looked over the glass banister. He knew that Phillip had just started taking guitar lessons, but he was amazed at how well the two boys played together and the beat Jeffrey was doing as well.

“That was very good, fella’s,” Mr. Dennis called down to the boys. “But it is getting on towards five o’clock, so you need to gather up your things, and head to the Main Gate. Your parents will be waiting.”

The five boys put the music stand and book aside and the five of them walked up the stairs and out the Foyer Door, with Chief following closely behind.

When they arrived at the Main Gate, many of the other boys had already left, as they rode their bikes, and other boys were getting in their parents’ cars. Westin’s parents were talking to some other parents, so the boys walked over to them.

“How did your playing guitars together go?” asked Lauren, Westin’s mom.

“It was great, mom! Even Mr. Dennis said so. And as we played, Bryson sang the song we were playing and Jeff, he banged out a beat on the table,” replied the woman’s eleven-year-old son.

The boys said they’d see each other at school in the morning and everyone headed in the proper direction. Mr. Dennis was waiting for Phillip and when the boy came back into the estate, he drove him down to the house and asked him to get cleaned up, as they were meeting Mr. Wayne and Robert for dinner at Four Corners at six o’clock.

When the Covers arrived at the Four Corners combined Restaurant/Diner, Mr. Dennis had them remain in the van. The Assistant Estate Master told the boys he didn’t know which side they were eating on that night, so he wanted to wait for Mr. Wayne and Robert before they walked to the wrong entrance.

About five minutes later, the two traveling Covers drove into the parking lot and the two groups met and talked about where they wanted to eat. The boys told Mr. Wayne that they wanted to eat on the Diner side because they wanted to drive the Go-Karts as they didn’t get to do that last night.

Mr. Wayne told Dennis that’s what Mr. Ken said would happen, and the boys did have school tomorrow, so the Covers ate in the Diner, to give the boys the opportunity to drive the Go-Karts, before they went home. But Mr. Wayne told them there would be no stopping at DQ, or at Mr. Ken’s Kreamy Kone. The boys said they didn’t care, as long as they got to drive the Go-Karts.

During dinner, Billy asked his ‘brother’ how it was to finally see his mom after two years.

Robert thought about what he was going to say, and then he told Billy that it was rough. The teenager told all his ‘brothers’, and Mr. Dennis, that he was concerned, at first, about their meeting, but that Mr. Wayne gave him some good advice, that he followed, and he was glad he did. Robert then told the group about his meeting with his mom and that he planned to visit her again before school started in August.

After dinner, the boys got in line to drive the Go-Karts. Mr. Wayne told Dennis he could go home if he wanted, or he could join the boys out on the course. The man had never driven the karts, so he opted to join the boys.

“Hey, Mr. Dennis is going to race with us,” said Matthew. “This could be fun,” now laughed the pre-teen.

“And no running me off the course. Remember … I know where you live,” the man teased back. The boys looked at one another and then they all laughed at what the man had said.

When it was their turn to race, the Covers took their karts according to how they were in line. Mr. Dennis got the middle kart, as they were the first ones in line, and he was the last Cover to take a seat.

When the race began, the older boys raced out of the starting line and Mr. Dennis wasn’t far behind. Mr. Dennis may not have driven those Go-Karts, but it wasn’t as if he’d never driven go-karts before, when he was younger. He just needed to get accustomed to the course before he would try to make some moves.

The course operator, George, knew who the boys were and when he didn’t see Mr. Thomas there with them, he went over to the man he sometimes would see with the man. He asked Mr. Wayne about the owner of the track, only to find that Mr. Ken was out of town for a few days. The track operator told the Estate Master that Mr. Ken usually had him add a few extra laps and he hoped it would be OK tonight. Mr. Wayne smiled and told him to do whatever was fair.

Mr. Dennis didn’t know how many laps he would get, but he got comfortable with the course and he began working his way to the front. He easily got past Phillip, and then Matthew. He had a more difficult time getting past Charles, but he found Bill and Robert to be very good divers, and they blocked him at every turn.

Billy felt the pressure from Mr. Dennis on his tail trying to pass him, and he was determined not to let that happen. The teenager decided to put the pressure on Robert, instead, to try to make him make a mistake, so Mr. Dennis had to contend with his ‘brother’ and by then he hoped the race would be over.

Mr. Wayne watched what was happening out on the race course. He wished his boss was there right now as the two oldest Cover teens were being given a challenge, they hadn’t had in quite some time and the show was worth the price of admission.

Billy did get Robert to make a mistake on a corner and he passed him, and in doing so, it slowed Mr. Dennis down some that Billy hoped would be enough to let him win. But Mr. Dennis was able to pass Robert on the next turn and Billy found the man on his tail once again.

Billy was now driving all out, but he was also making driving mistakes and he knew it. Mr. Dennis was enjoying the race. He hadn’t that much fun in ages, and Billy was giving him a run for his money.

Billy was relieved when he saw the yellow light come on. It told him they were on their last lap. He wondered if Mr. Dennis knew that. So not taking any chances, the teen continued to drive hard knowing he only had a few more turns and some straightaways to go in order to win. But Mr. Dennis was still hard on his tail and catching up.

When the two racers came up to the Finish Line, Mr. Dennis had caught up to Billy and it looked like there now was going to be a ‘photo’ finish.

“You put on a great race there, Billy,” offered Mr. Dennis, as he shook the race winner’s hand.

“Mr. Dennis, you … I never expected you to be such a good driver. You gave me a run for my money the whole race and you almost made me over drive my kart a few times. And … and I was lucky tonight to have a good kart. Sometimes … well, sometimes you get a so-so kart and it doesn’t have any power at all.

“But I want you to know that I thoroughly enjoyed that you made me drive smarter and harder, tonight, Mr. Dennis. So, thank you for racing with us. I hope you’ll do it again sometime,” honestly offered the oldest Cover teen as he continued to shake the man’s hand.

The other Cover boys heard their conversation and agreed with Billy that Mr. Dennis made the race a whole lot more fun.

Mr. Wayne told the boys to head to the van and he reminded them that there was no stopping for ice cream that night. Then the man heard Matthew say as the boys walked away, “I sure hope Chief understands.” The boys all laughed.

Wayne thanked Dennis for helping them out that weekend and then he reminded him that Billy had a Doctor Doug appointment tomorrow and the boys would start going to the dentist starting tomorrow, as well.

On their charter flight back east, Ken Thomas and Ben Walthers discussed, at length, what they needed to do to get the public’s confidence back in the Edgewood Amusement Park they just acquired. They had already decided they would make the park as fresh and highly regarded as the other four parks, but they had to figure out how they would do that.

The men knew they were hiring multiple amusement inspection and repair companies to look over all of their rides, so they decided they would make the public aware of that fact, as part of their release of information while they were there. They wanted to make sure the public knew how serious they were in ensuring all of the rides in the park were now safe, and they hoped the public knowing that the new owners were ensuring that the rides were safe would change the public’s attitude about the park.

The owner of Three Finger Entertainment (TFE), LLC also told the President of the same company that their new Operations Manager, Jason Zimms, had already walked through the entire park, and he had created a plan he wanted to present to them on how he wanted to systematically renovate Edgewood, as he transforms it to match Crystal Lake, as he was most familiar with that park.

Ben Walthers didn’t know Jason, and/or his abilities. He told Mr. Ken that and added he wasn’t sure the man could do all that just by himself. Mr. Ken told his TFE, LLC President that Jason won’t do it by himself, but that the Operations Manager would be the ‘leader of the band’, sort of, and direct his Edgewood team members what to do, when, where and how.

Mr. Ken told Ben that they needed to be at the park by 7:30 Monday morning to talk with Jason and get his view on the plan he created, and then he wanted to address the park employees, before they walked the park to get their own perspective of what they thought needed to be done.

The men also discussed other issues that involved all of the parks. The main issue Mr. Ken discussed with Ben was that they needed to finalize the plans for the water park at Crystal Lake, find a contractor and to submit the plans to the local authorities for approval, before they start building that fall.

Mr. Ken told his President that he told Arnie from the very beginning that he was thinking of adding something like that at Crystal Lake, and now he wants to announce that. The two men also talked about what rides they needed to purchase to fill in where the Rocket once stood, and when the Para-Drop and Swinger are torn down at Edgewood.

They decided that a Boomerang might be a good fit for where the Rocket once was, and the Wave Swinger, the swing ride many amusement parks now have that can tilt, as the riders go around. Mr. Ken asked if that ride ever went backwards, saying that if it did, that could be a good ‘tease’ point to make to the kids. Both men laughed.

The third ride they needed to replace was the Para-Drop and it needed to be something of height that also gave the rider some thrill of falling. Ben immediately said a tower drop would do that.

Mr. Ken said Crystal Lake has one and that they could get the specifics from Arnie and maybe see if the company has one sitting around. He laughed saying that they are usually custom made, or are mass produced if they are bought for multiple parks. Ben then asked if they wanted to buy them for all of the other parks. Mr. Ken said he wanted to buy steel coasters, as the next big purchase for the parks. Ben whistled knowing the man was talking big bucks.

When the Cover boys returned home that evening, Phillip went to Chief and told her that he was sorry, but they didn’t have any ice cream for her. The resident pet hung her head and walked away. All of the Covers saw that, including Mr. Wayne, and they headed to the Study to talk.

Mr. Wayne reminded them of who had appointments that week. He then told them that their ‘dad’ wouldn’t get to his destination until late, then he and Mr. Walthers had to get their rental cars, check into their hotel and then go out for dinner. So, the Estate Master told them not to expect a phone call from their ‘dad’ tonight.

Just then Charles’ cell phone rang. It was his dad. The teen went out to the MRS Room to take it, so Mr. Wayne told the rest of the boys to go to their rooms, and to be ready to get a phone call, too.

Mr. Wayne waited about ten minutes before he headed up to talk to the boys before they settled down to go to bed. Knowing his employer called Charles first, he started in that teen’s room. The Estate Master then went to Robert’s room, Bill’s, Matthew’s and finally Phillip’s room to talk to them about their day.

While the man was in Phillip’s room he went to Chief and apologized to her for not stopping to get her some ice cream. In his defense, the man told the resident pet that none of them got any ice cream that night, so she wasn’t singled out not to get any. Chief accepted the apology and gave Mr. Wayne a few doggie kisses.

When Mr. Wayne went to his room, his cell phone rang. It was Mr. Ken. The two talked for about ten minutes. Wayne spoke to him about Robert and his visit with Angela and how Robert handled it. He then told his boss about the Go-Kart race and how Dennis and Bill had a nip-and-tuck race at the end. Mr. Ken said he wished he’d been there to watch that.

Remembering about his talk with Adeline, Mr. Ken told Wayne that he and Chris would have to coordinate with her to clean up Mackenzie and Phillip’s apartment. Mr. Ken told his Estate Master to have Chris hire a remediation company to go in there and clean the place and throw away anything Adeline tells them to. He added that he, or Dennis, could go over there, if they had the time, to meet her and see if there was anything else that needed to be done.

When the phone conversation was over, Mr. Ken told Wayne that he expected to be extremely busy the next two nights, so to tell the boys he would not call.

The Cove was quiet that night as the boys were happy that they’d all gotten to talk to their ‘dad’.

The saga of Three Finger Cove continues. Let Chowhound know you are reading his story: Chowhnd at Gmail dot Com

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