Published: 4 Dec 2025

From the Previous Chapter:

The man got himself ready for bed and then sat down on the side of his king-sized bed and contemplated what was ahead of him in the coming weeks. There was the Family Day, the three-day trip with Phillip, the IAAPA trip to Florida, Kate and family arriving for Thanksgiving, Jules and Eleanor’s wedding and reception, Phillip’s band members auditioning to work at Four Corners, the buying of Christmas presents for the boys and then there were the buying of the gag gifts, and then what to buy the staff for Christmas.

After thinking of all the things that were on his plate in the coming months, Ken’s head began to hurt. So, the man turned off his lights, climbed into his comfortable bed and before long he was asleep and, so was the entire Cove household.

The Covers awoke to a dreary and somewhat cold Saturday. This was typical at this time of year because, as the seasons changed, the cold fronts came through and the warm weather would turn cool too cold for a day, or two, with overcast skies. This for sure was going to be a coat and hat day.

When Mr. Ken went out to retrieve his morning newspaper, he didn’t have his coat on and when he came back inside, he decided to turn the heat up some in the house, so it would be warmer for everyone, as they came down for breakfast.

And even before he poured his first cup of hot coffee and sat down to read his newspaper, the man put twenty-one breakfast tacos in the convection oven to begin heating. He also put on a kettle of water to heat up just in case the boys might want to make some hot chocolate to drink with their breakfast tacos.

Then, and only then, did Ken Thomas, dad and foster dad, pour his first cup of hot coffee and then sit down to slip the newspaper out of its protective sleeve and begin separating it into sections, as was his habit, before he began reading.

That was the minor headline that was atop, and to the right on the masthead, to catch the reader’s eye. It surely caught Mr. Ken’s. So, he immediately went to the Local Section and looked at the front page for the article.

That was the articles headline when Mr. Ken arrived at the Local Section of the newspaper. The owner of The Cove then proceeded to read the article.

After reading the article, Mr. Ken was satisfied that the reporter gave a fair accounting of what happened on Friday. He now had to make a note on his calendar to ensure he watched for what sentence Nicholas Crown actually gets.

By then the man’s coffee had gotten warm, so he got up to throw that away and get a fresh cup of hot coffee and to go back to reading his newspaper. He also checked on the progress of the breakfast tacos and figured they’d be done, or just about finished heating, when the boys finally appeared.

Phillip was the first of the Cover boys to arrive in the Kitchen Nook. He had his guitar lesson at nine o’clock, and he was looking for something to eat before Mr. Bindy arrived in about ten minutes.

‘Dad’ Ken told the eleven-year-old to check the convection oven to see if any of the breakfast taco were warm enough for him and, if they were, to go ahead and take no more than three for his breakfast. The young Cover did just that and he took his three tacos, got himself a glass of orange juice and then sat down to eat.

“Phillip … you know your drummer problem … it may have a solution,” began ‘dad’ Ken.

Hearing that statement got the young band leader’s attention, so he asked for more information.

“Marshall, Marshall Gray, Darrin’s friend Martin’s younger brother, who supposedly also plays drums. Well, you could always ask him over to sit in with you guys and … and you can see how well he plays. He may not know the songs, but I bet it probably wouldn’t take him long to learn the beat and catch on,” offered the boy’s foster dad.

Phillip sat there pondering what his ‘dad’ had to say, while he ate his breakfast tacos. The two then talked about the possibility and Phillip’s concern was what the other band members would think. ‘Dad’ Ken told the band leader that he should just tell them that he invited the boy over to see how well he plays. And then he should further explain to his band members that if he can learn their songs then they could possibly have a second drummer, if they do get to play at Four Corners.

The young Cover liked that his ‘dad’ gave him something to consider, but before he could talk to his foster dad any more about that idea, his knew the guitar instructor was going to arrive soon, so the boy needed to get washed up and ready for Mr. Bindy.

Not too long after Phillip went down to the Great Room, and had begun his guitar lesson, the other Cover boys began filtering into the Kitchen Nook. And one-by-one they each took three breakfast tacos out of the convection oven and then got something to drink to help wash them down with. Darrin was the only one to ask about the reason for the hot water on the stove. And once he heard what it was for, he asked where the hot chocolate packets where.

As Darrin made his hot chocolate, Charles smelled the wonderful aroma of the warm chocolate, so he decided to make some for himself. It wasn’t too long after that that Matthew followed suit. The only complaint the three boys had were that there weren’t any small marshmallows to put in the hot brew. The two older teens and Mr. Ken all smiled at that small protest.

When the guitar lesson was over, Phillip went to Darrin and asked him for Martin’s home phone number. He explained that he wanted to invite Marshall over to The Cove to see how well he played the drums, and to see if he could possibly be the band’s standby drummer.

Once he had the phone number, Phillip called Marshall to ask him over to The Cove. But the boy had to talk to his mom to see if it was OK. But Mrs. Gray wanted to talk to Mr. Ken about this new invitation to possibly play with the band called Pavilion. Phillip then gave the woman the phone number that rang at Mr. Ken’s desk in the Study.

It didn’t take long for Mr. Ken to explain to Marcie Gray the reason for Phillip’s invitation for her son, Marshall, to sit in with his band. Mrs. Gray was happy that a second son of hers was going to be invited to The Cove and that he could possibly also have a place as a band member playing at Four Corners during the Holidays.

All of the Cover boys were up at the Pavilion, well before twelve noon, as they waited for their friends to arrive. They all took advantage of the absence of people out on the Cove Skate Park and practiced their own skateboard tricks. But in Phillip’s case, the young Cover was getting lessons from his older ‘brother’ Billy on how to better ride his skateboard, and to do some simple tricks with it.

Some of the boy’s friends did arrive before noon and some a few minutes afterwards, but before long all of the Cover’s friends were at the Cove. But as they looked around, they all noticed a new face in the mix.

“Hey, why is Marshall here?” asked Bryson Walshton.

Phillip called his band together and they all walked over to the garage to talk.

“Guys,” began the Cover, “I invited Marshall here today. We all know that Jeff’s parents … that they aren’t going to allow him to work very much at Four Corners, if we even get to work there at all. So, this morning my ‘dad’, Mr. Ken, he suggested to me that I invite Marshall over to see how well he plays the drums.

“Listen guys … we all know that we need a second drummer, especially if we want to work at Four Corners. So, we need to give Marshall a chance. Now, he won’t know our song list, but I bet that he can pick up the beat after a few run throughs, if he is a good drummer.

“So, what do you say? You want to give him a chance? Let him listen to a song and then sit down and see if he can pick up the beat. And remember … I will not be here next weekend at all. So, you will all have to come over here and practice the wedding reception songs and the Christmas songs, as well. So, let’s go ahead and get started,” finished up Phillip.

As Phillp’s band got their instruments ready and then began playing their reception and Christmas songs with Marshall Gray listening to the beat, Darrin and his friends were all talking about the fire that happened Halloween night not too far from The Cove.

The teen boys all wondered what happened to the structure after the fire was put out and what the house looked like now. Some suggested that they walk over there and see for themselves. That kind of talk was foreign to most of the boys, as once they entered The Cove they never left until it was time to leave for the night.

Darrin had never heard of such a thing, and being the new kid on the block he didn’t know what was the norm for The Cove. But he still wondered why they couldn’t go over to where the fire was and take a look.

But Darrin also had a good head on his shoulders, and not wanting to get into trouble, he went over to his older ‘brother’, Billy, and asked him what he thought of him and his friends walking over to where the fire was and taking a look at what the fire had done to the house.

Billy had been at The Cove for more than two and a half years by then and he didn’t see anything wrong with his ‘brother’ walking down to where he had identified that a house was on fire. The older teen also didn’t know of any time when any of the boys ever left The Cove once they had arrived, other than when he and Phillip were involved in that accident the previous summer and he told his younger ‘brother’ that, as well.

Billy then called Robert over and he asked him the question. The teenager was perplexed by the request and he told Darrin the same thing that Billy had told him, which was that he never knew of anyone leaving The Cove and then coming back, other than when Billy and Phillip had their accident. Both older teens added that there really never was a reason to leave, with so many things to do there.

Darrin thanked his ‘brothers’ for their council and then he told them that he and his friends were going to walk over to where the house burned down, and that they would back in about forty minutes, or so. The teen then gathered his friends and they then began walking towards the Main Gate.

After he got ready for his day, Ken Thomas remembered his discussion with Phillip about the need for a sound system, speakers and all-weather drums at Four Corners. So, he was in his Study talking with Ben Walthers, his President of TFE and Nelson Sanders, his operations manager over at the Four Corners Amusement Park, when he saw a group of boys leaving The Cove.

The owner of The Cove didn’t end his conference call with the men because he felt what he was discussing with them was an important one that needed to be debated and decided, so he ignored the boys leaving The Cove, for now.

Mr. Ken asked the two men what the other parks had done to support live band performances and after learning what his other amusement park have done, he asked what it would take them to get it done for Four Corners. Mr. Ben sort of hemmed and hawed and danced around the issue, but Nelson Sanders told the owner that all it took was money and resolve and an electrical contractor to get it done correctly.

Ken Thomas told the men to do it and to have it ready for the Holiday Season, beginning Thanksgiving week, whether or not Phillip’s band members were hired. Nelson indicated that he would get right on seeing what the local stores had available for immediate installation. Mr. Ken then mentioned what Collin bought for Phillip, and from where, to give the man a starting place.

Darrin and his friends walked for about ten minutes before they arrived at the burned-out shell of a house. They immediately saw that there were signs posted all over the structure that read:

The boys weren’t interested in going inside the structure, but they sure were interested in seeing how badly the fire destroyed the contents. The teens walked around the building and looked inside, where there was an opening, and they saw how virtually everything was burned to a crisp. There was essentially nothing of value left in the house worth salvaging.

The teenagers talked about how it was Darrin who noticed that there was something on fire that Halloween night, and so the Cover recalled the events of that fateful night. He told them about telling Mr. Gene and Mr. George how he smelled something like it was burning and, after some coaxing, the men decided to have all of the Halloweener’s start looking.

Darrin continued and told how he walked up on a porch of a house that was For Sale and smelled a strong order of smoke. The Cover told how he called the men over and when they checked the house over, they determined it was on fire and then they each called either the fire department or the Sheriff’s office.

The Cover’s friends knew that he’d been questioned by the fire marshal and they wanted him to tell them what the man wanted to know. The Cover told them that all the man asked of him was to tell him exactly what he just told them. The boys were disappointed that they didn’t hear anything juicy about the fire they hadn’t already heard before.

Phillip and his band played one of the wedding reception songs, and then Marshall sat down at Jeffrey’s drums and then played the same song with the band. The band called Pavilion did that ten times to give the new potential drummer an introduction to what he would need to know if he were to join up with them.

Marshall was able to work through each of the songs, and even though he didn’t put any flare into his drumming, the band members felt that he did an acceptable job after only hearing the songs one time.

The band then went through the ten Christmas songs they all needed to know for the pending audition that was to happen right after the reception either that Saturday night, or sometime on Sunday. Marshall was up for the task and he did just as well with them as he’d done with all of the previous ten songs.

Phillip then told the guys that they needed to practice the songs, as much as they could, during the week as tomorrow was a Family Day and none of them were allowed to come over. The young Cover also reminded them that he would be gone the entire following weekend, but the good thing was that they would be allowed to come to The Cove to practice the entire weekend.

All of that was news to Marshall and he asked if anyone had extra music sheets that he could practice with. Phillip told the new potential drummer that he’d give him his, as he wasn’t going to be there to use them, anyway.

Bryce then asked the band if they were ready to practice the additional songs that Phillip says he wanted to surprise the new couple with. Another surprise for Marshall, but he took it in stride as the band played the seven songs that they had been casually playing.

Ken Thomas went up to the Pavilion after his conference call with his amusement park people. He watched and listened as the band played one song and then let Marshall sit in and play the drums for the same song to see how well the lad could catch on to the beat to the song. Mr. Ken felt the boy did an acceptable job.

When the band took a break, the owner of The Cove called the members of the band over to talk to them.

“Boys … I just got off the phone with my President of Three Finger Entertainment and Nelson Sanders, the operations manager of my Four Corners Amusement Park in regards to a sound system and speakers, as well as an all-weather set of drums at Four Corners.

“I’ll have you know that they are going to make sure that Four Corners … that it will have them for this Holiday Season. Now … I want you all to make sure that when it comes to your audition that you knock their socks off, so you can all get to work there this Holiday season.

“I’m sure Phillip has told you that, even though he will be gone next weekend, you can all come over and practice for the wedding reception, as well as practice the Holiday songs I want you to know. Marshall … you have your work cut out for you, but from what I heard, you did a pretty good job.

“Tomorrow is our Family Day, so you’ll all have to practice at home. But you all know the music; you just need to keep it fresh in your minds. Good work fellows!” applauded Mr. Ken.

Darrin and his friends came back to The Cove, while the band was taking a break, and Mr. Ken was talking to them. It was also time for the boys to get the barbeque started and Billy was looking for them to help with the cleaning of the lettuce and tomatoes and the cutting of the onions and tomatoes, as well as setting up the serving line.

Mr. Ken was going to talk to Darrin about why he and his friends walked out of The Cove, but he realized he could do that at any time, so he didn’t make a fuss over it right then and let the boys go right ahead and help with getting the barbeque started for the day.

Today’s barbeque wasn’t any different than any other. But what was special about this one was that Marshall Gray was there as Phillip’s guest and he got to see what it was like to be at one of the much talked about Cove barbeques.

Marshall’s older brother, Martin, Darrin’s friend, got to experience a sleep over, but he, too, had never experienced the barbeque, and this would be his first experience, as well.

The brothers talked about what they were seeing and Martin told his younger brother what it was like to help prepare the lettuce, tomatoes and onions as well as fill up the ice, ketchup and mustard dispensers and put out what was needed for the serving line.

Then when it came time to eat, Marshall was sent through the line first, as he was Phillip’s guest. The eleven-year-old couldn’t believe that he had cheese and bacon he could add to his burger and that there were chips and pickles also available, for him to have, to enhance his first barbeque meal at The Cove.

Martin and Jody were the same way when they went through the serving line. They had heard about the barbeques at The Cove and now they were getting the same experience as Marshall was. The two teens laughed and nudged one another as they saw what they could add to their own burgers.

To say that the barbeque was a hit that Saturday would be an understatement. And to also say that Marshall was warmly accepted by the band members was another easy observation.

When he finished eating, Marshall went over to Mr. Ken and thanked him for not only suggesting his being given an opportunity to try out for the band, as their second drummer, but for also letting him have one of the best experiences others had wished for, which was being invited to eat at the famous Cove barbeques.

Mr. Ken smiled at hearing the barbeques being called ‘famous’ and he accepted the thanks from the boy and then told him to practice hard to show the band members that he can be relied on.

Martin saw that his younger brother went over to thank Mr. Ken for inviting him to play with the band and for the barbeque, so the teen knew that he needed to also thank the man, as well, for allowing him the same opportunity to be there at The Cove. So, he and Jody went over to the owner of the Cove to thank Mr. Ken for giving them that same wonderful experience.

After they finished eating and everything had been put away, the band went back to practicing the songs they needed to know and so Marshall could get used to the songs and learn the beat, while many of the others went swimming.

That was when Darrin’s foster dad, Mr. Ken, decided to sit down and talk to him, while his friends went swimming. So, he took him aside.

“Darrin, you can catch up with you buddies in a bit, but I want to talk to you about something. Let’s go into my Study and sit down and talk,” announced the foster dad to the teen, as the boy was getting ready to head on down to the house to go swimming with his friends.

Then, once in the Study, Mr. Ken said to the foster teen, “Darrin … I noticed that you and your friends walked out of The Cove earlier. Can you tell me what you boys were going to do?”

Darrin didn’t know why he was brought into the Study for, but when he heard the question, he was somewhat relieved. So, he quickly answered. “Oh, that, well, Mr. Ken … I ahh … the guys, my friends … they were curious about the house the burned down. And they wanted to see it.

“I talked with Billy and Robert, and they both told me that nobody usually left The Cove once they arrived, except when Billy and Phillip were in that accident last summer. But they also told me that there never was a reason, with so many things to do there.

“But I didn’t see why we couldn’t go and look at the house that burned down, and see what it looked like now. The guys were interested and so was I. And once we got there, we looked at how badly the fire destroyed everything inside.

“My friends, once we got there … they then asked me about how I knew about the fire and I told them everything that I told the fire marshal. Mr. Ken … it was … I never saw a building after it had burned down before, so this was like … it was something interesting to see. Did I … did I do something wrong by going there, Mr. Ken?” now asked the teen.

Mr. Ken was surprised by the question, but he wasn’t mad that the teen had left The Cove. He was just surprised that he had, as he was the first boy that he ever knew had done something like that, ever. But he knew he needed to answer the foster teen.

“No, Darrin, not really. It just surprised me, that’s all. You see … I’ve never known any of the boys to ever leave and I was curious as to why you and your friends decided to. And now that I know why you did; I think it was a pretty good reason. I guess that if I was the one who had found a house on fire; I’d probably want to go back and see what was the final result, too” honestly replied the foster dad.

The two then talked a little about what Darrin had seen before the man let his foster son catch up with his friends.

At six o’clock the Cover’s friends had to leave. The boys walked them up to the Main Gate and reminded them that they couldn’t come over tomorrow, as it was a Family Day for them and that they would be gone all day.

Marshall thanked Phillip for inviting him over and allowing him to sit in with the band. Marcie Gray asked her son how the day went and the boy told her all about how the band played a song and then let him sit in as they played through it again. The boy told his mother how they did that for all ten songs that they had to know for the wedding reception on the eighteenth.

The eleven-year-old continued and told her that they had an additional seven songs they were practicing to surprise the new couple with and then there were ten Holiday songs they were learning, so they could hopefully work at Four Corners during the Holiday Season. Marcie could tell by the way her son was so exuberant in his telling, that the day went extremely well for him. The boy’s mother was extremely happy for her son.

But Marshall wasn’t finished telling his mom about his day. The youngster resumed his story telling and described the barbeque and that he had lettuce, tomato, cheese and bacon to add to his burger, as well as chips and pickles and that there were two soda machines filled with free sodas and flavored waters he could have.

The boy’s older brother, Martin, was right there and he verified everything his sibling had said. Marcie was so happy that two of her sons were now friends of boys who lived at the estate known as The Cove.

Jeffrey Jenkins’ parents, Donald and Frances, were there and they heard some of the story and so they asked the boy what instrument he played. And when they heard that Marshall played the drums, they were happy to hear that. Frances Jenkins revealed to Marcie that they didn’t want their son, Jeffrey, who also played the drums, to be playing all the time at Four Corners, if the boys succeeded in garnering jobs at the Four Corners Amusement Park for the Holiday Season.

Frances Jenkins added that she was happy that Mr. Ken had his ‘son’ Phillip find a second drummer for the band. But Marcie spoke up and told her that it was Phillip who called her son, Marshall, and asked him if he was interested in trying out as the second drummer. But in the end the two moms agreed it was a Win-Win for both of them and the boys.

The Covers had to decide where they wanted to go out for dinner that Saturday night. The boys all voiced their own recommendations from going to a fast-food restaurant, to the all-you-can-eat pizza place to somewhere they hadn’t ever gone to, or hadn’t gone there for a long time.

Charles then asked if there was a Cracker Barrel in the area. Hearing the restaurant’s name, Billy agreed that it would be a nice place to go out to eat. ‘Dad’ Ken checked the world wide web and seeing that there was one, he told the boys that it was about a forty-minute plus drive away. So, he asked if they wanted to go that far away. The boys all agreed.

Along the way, Charles and Billy told their ‘brothers’ what they remembered about the restaurant and the menu. The boys all like the idea of having so many different menu items they could order.

At the restaurant, since it was now after seven, they had to wait for a table that seated seven. The wait wasn’t too long, but it did give the Covers an opportunity to browse through the country store to see what sorts of things it did offer the shopper.

Once seated, the waitress handed each of them a menu, which they quickly looked through. And just they as had with the IHOP menu, when they first started going there, they just couldn’t decide what they wanted to eat, because there were so many wonderful selections from chicken, to turkey, to beef to combinations of the two or all three.

‘Dad’ Ken quickly chose the Classics Sampler that came with meatloaf, homestyle chicken and chicken n’ dumplings and was served with 2 sides and biscuits. He ordered corn and green beans as his sides. He then told the boys to hurry up and choose something.

Matthew ordered the marinated and grilled chicken tenders that came with hand-rolled buttermilk biscuits and a BBQ dipping sauce. And for his two sides he asked for the Cole slaw and the mac & cheese.

Charles chose the chicken fried chicken which came topped with gravy and buttermilk biscuits. He ordered, for his sides, the plain mashed potatoes, corn and green beans.

Country fried steak topped with gravy sounded good to Billy, so that was what he ordered. It also came with buttermilk biscuits and he, too, added the plain mashed potatoes, corn and green beans.

Phillip wanted to try the sugar-cured ham, which also came with buttermilk biscuits. For his sides he asked for a serving of the mac & cheese and Cole Slaw.

Darrin asked if he could have the turkey n’ dressing with gravy, but he wanted the corn muffins instead of the buttermilk biscuits. For his sides he chose green beans, Cole slaw and a dish of the mac & cheese.

Two boneless chicken breasts breaded and deep fried was what Robert finally selected. It, too, came with buttermilk biscuits and the teenager choose mashed potatoes with brown gravy, corn and broccoli as his sides.

Along with their dinner orders, Mr. Ken asked for decaf coffee, while different boys got either Cokes, Sprites, Wild berry Tea, which was a blend of iced tea with flavors of juicy wild berries and/or Stewart’s root beer.

The boys talked about what was going to happen tomorrow with them going to the shooting range. Darrin had the most questions, as he had never shot a gun before. Billy answered most of his ‘brother’s’ questions by telling him how he felt when the Goldersons took him to his first time ever shooting a gun.

That telling brought about a lot more questions from Billy’s other ‘brothers’ about his life with the Goldersons and that help fill the evening’s dinner time, as they ate their wonderful meals.

Phillip also told Darrin about his first time shooting a gun and then how his mother reacted when she learned that Mr. Ken let him do that. Another story was told during dinner and the Covers had a fun and story filled dinner that Saturday night.

It was late when the Covers returned to The Cove. But they did stop by DQ for a Sundae for each of them to end a nice evening out. They also picked up a medium dish of vanilla ice cream for each of the resident pets.

Both Chief and Sarge went at their cold concoction with gusto, when they were told by Matthew they could have it. The Covers watched, laughing, as the pets chased the cups all around the Kitchen Nook, as they lapped up the cold concoction until there was nothing left in it.

‘Dad’ Ken dispensed with the nightly meeting and told the boys to go up to their rooms to relax before going to bed. He told them that he’d be up there in a few minutes, after he checked for any phone messages.

‘Dad’ Ken, knowing that they had a late night and they would all be up early to go out to breakfast in the morning, didn’t spend much time in any of the boy’s rooms. He did ask the boys to dress in nice after school clothes tomorrow and to be showered, dressed and down in the Nook by 9:30, and ready to go.

In Phillip’s room, ‘dad’ Ken asked him how the band reacted to him inviting Marshall over. Phillip told his foster dad that after he explained to them that they needed a second drummer, because Jeff’s parents weren’t going to let him play all that much at Four Corners if they get the job, that they then all understood the need to give Marshall a chance to try out.

Phillip then thanked his ‘dad’ for recommending that he do that because without Marshall they would have to rely on Easton’s keyboard to fill in the drum beat, and he didn’t know if it was up to the task. He two shared a hug before Mr. Ken moved on to Darrin’s room.

In his foster son’s room, Mr. Ken asked the teen if he was looking forward to tomorrow. Darrin’s smile told him all he needed to know. The two then said goodnight to each other and then they shared a hug. Then, before Mr. Ken left the room, the man reminded the teen to make sure he drained his dragon before he went to bed. Another smile emanated from the teen and the man walked out and down the hallway towards the stairs.

Down in his retreat, Ken Thomas sat on the edge of his king-sized bed and thought through what was before him, as far as how busy he will be through the Holidays. He always looked forward to this time of year, but he also knew that it came with loads of busy time for him, and his ‘family’.

Knowing that he just needed to take each objective, one at a time, and not try to do, or even start, the next one until the first one was complete would help him keep himself on an even keel and focused. The man then turned off the lights and before long he was fast asleep.

The Cove household would be safe and sound throughout the night.

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

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