Published: 22 Jan 2026

From the Previous Chapter:

Terran continued and told the new foster how that one Christmas that Mr. Ken surprised his ‘boys’ with the drawing of the Cove Skate Park, as one of their Christmas presents and how the build went with the storm coming through and almost destroying the deep pools.

The boys talked. Well, Darrin asked questions and Terran answered, as best he could, but he reminded his Cover friend that being a brother of a friend of a Cover didn’t get him invited there until the twins arrived, and he then, himself, became a friend of a Cover.

Darrin learned much more about The Cove and his ‘brothers’ that night, and for that he was thankful that he had invited the right boy to spend the night. It was going on one o’clock when the two boys finally decided to turn off the lights and go to sleep.

Wayne Mitchell got up early enough that Sunday morning to use his en suite, and get dressed and to go outside and retrieve the Sunday morning newspaper and then come back inside and place the already thawing breakfast tacos in the convection oven. This time he set the oven timer for forty-five minutes.

The man then poured his first cup of coffee from the automatic coffee maker and then went to sit where Mr. Ken usually sat and began the ritual of taking the paper out of the protective sleeve. And then finding Section A, World News, and setting aside the remaining portion of the thick bundle of papers and advertisements, he began to read.

It was close to nine o’clock when Matthew and Max came into the Kitchen Nook. The Cover immediately went about his job of fixing Sarge’s first meal by first cleaning the two bowls and then filling one with fresh kibble and the other with water and ice cubes.

Max watched on as his friend did all that. He didn’t have a pet dog, so he was interested in what it took to take care of Sarge in case he could ever convince his mom to get him a pet. He’d already seen that Sarge had his own carrier ‘home’ in Matthews’ room where he slept

Max also learned that the pup could already open the door when he needed to go outside to do his business, and come back and close the door using the cord Matthew had attached to the door knob for him to use. The guest was amazed at how good Matthew was at training Sally yesterday, and he could see why his friend was going to train young puppies and small dogs as his ‘job’ until he went on to college.

When Matthew finished with taking care of Sarge’s needs, he asked Mr. Wayne if the breakfast tacos were finished yet. The man told the soon-to-be teen to check the timer on the convection oven as he had set it for forty-five minutes this time and that they should be almost heated.

The Cover went over to the oven and as he approached it the timer went off. So, the boy opened the door and took out nine tacos. He placed them on three separate plates and passed one plate to Mr. Wayne, one plate to Max and then placed one plate where he was going to sit.

Matthew and Max then went to the refrigerator to find what they wanted to drink, either vanilla, chocolate, or regular milk, or possibly orange juice. They both picked vanilla milk, which Matthew began to shake vigorously to get it nice and frothy before pouring into their glasses. The two friends then sat down and began eating their breakfast tacos of egg, bacon and cheese.

Ken Thomas got up early that Sunday, as he had the previous day, and got ready for the day before going over to get the still sleeping Phillip up. He roused the young Cover and told him, as he had the day before, to just get up, to use the bathroom and to just get dressed and to come on down to get something to eat before coming back up to the room to get his shower.

Mr. Ken also called out to the boy for him not to forget his room key before he leaves the room. And, as yesterday, the young boy was happy that his ‘dad’ had left the room before he got out of the bed with his morning condition.

Soon, Phillip got out of bed and used the bathroom. He finished his business and then quickly dressed and this time he remembered to put the key card in his pants pocket before going down to the breakfast bar.

The young Cover did the same thing as he did the previous day as soon as he entered the breakfast area. He set about getting his waffle started and then he got a carton of milk, a glass of orange juice and two donuts and took them over to the table where his foster dad was seated. He then went back and got a plate, a fork and a napkin and waited for the waffle iron to finish its cycle.

When, the cycle was over, Phillip took the hot waffle out of the device, covered it with syrup and then headed over to the table where Mr. Ken was seated, so he could eat it there. The boy quickly devoured it and went back to make another, telling his ‘dad’ that he was still hungry from all the walking he’d done yesterday. All Mr. Ken did was smile and go back to reading the newspaper.

As soon as his foster son had finished his second waffle, ‘dad’ Ken told the boy that after he’d showered and dressed, he needed to pack everything, as he reminded the boy that they were headed home later tonight, so they would not be coming back to the hotel.

Phillip thanked him for the reminder and then headed up to their room to shower and get dressed for the day, and then to pack everything he’d brought with him.

Mr. Ken came into the room while Phillip was packing and he went about packing everything he’d brought along with him. The two then checked the entire room to make sure they hadn’t left anything. Mr. Ken told the boy that the limo driver would be there at 10:45 to take them to their first stop, the Museum of the American Railroad, and they needed to be downstairs before then.

Mr. Wayne, Matthew, Max, Chief and Sarge met Bruce Price and his pup, Spencer, just inside the Main Gate at ten o’clock that morning. Mr. Price was anxious to see if Matthew could train his other dog as well as he had Sally.

Of course, when the man let Spencer out of his carrier, the three dogs had to greet one another and before long they knew that they were related and began to romp around. Matthew quickly called out to the three, “Chief, Sarge, Spencer, ‘SIT!’” All three dogs sat where they were.

Bruce Price smiled, as he had yesterday, after Matthew had told Sally to ‘Sit’, and then he told the puppy master that he’d be back around four o’clock and then he got into his truck and left The Cove.

Matthew and Max told Mr. Wayne that they’d see him later and they took the three dogs below the Pavilion and began working with Spencer to see what he already knew. And just as he had with Sally, and the three previous pups, the puppy master used Sarge to help him introduce Spencer to some new habits, or behaviors, he wanted the puppy to learn today. Chief just sat back and watched.

Matthew started Spencer out with the ‘Stay’ and ‘Come’ commands. For some reason it took then pup longer than his sisterto grasp those two ideas. Even with Sarge helping, Spencer took much longer to finally understand what he was supposed to do.

Moving along, the puppy master introduced shaking hands and then kisses to Spencer. Max helped here, as he had yesterday, and Spencer didn’t have any trouble following those two commands. Matthew then went back to test the pup on ‘Stay’ and ‘Come’ in order to reinforce them.

The two friends and the two pups had worked at training for over two hours, so Matthew let the two pups go up to the Pavilion for a cold drink and some rest. By then the other Cover friends had arrived and the puppy master again asked them not to interfere with the puppies.

Phillip couldn’t wait until he arrived at the Museum of the American Railroad. He’d heard so much about it from Billy, and he’d seen some of it on YouTube videos that he couldn’t wait until he got to see it, himself, in person.

The first thing the young Cover wanted to see was the G-scale model train layout. When he walked in, he couldn’t believe the size of the room it was situated in, with the layout taking up almost an area of about 38-feet wide and 50-feet long.

And when he walked through the middle of the layout, he could see all of the key points that Billy had mentioned to him, and a whole lot more. What caught his attention the most were the trains that ran across the upper reaches of the layout. From there he noticed the detail in the buildings, and how the street lights lit up, as did the stop lights and the car lights. He saw the Palo Duro Drive In Theater that had movie posters and an actual movie showing.

There was so much to see of Train Topia that the boy would have stayed there all day if ‘dad’ Ken had let him. But the man had to remind his foster son after two hours that there was much more to see outside with the life-sized locomotives, diesel engines and rolling stock.

So, the two Covers headed out side to where they could join a guided tour of the train yard. Out there they got to see the huge Union Pacific #4018: Big Boy 4-8-8-4 which was built to haul freight over the Wasatch Range between Ogden, Utah, and Green River, Wyoming.

They also got to see numerous Santa Fe diesel engines, as well as Union and Southern Pacific diesel engines. On top of those, they got to see passenger equipment such as sleepers, loungers’ coaches, and diners. There were freight cars, cabooses, speeders and handcars along with loads of ancillary pieces of railroad equipment. All-in-all the two Covers spent a good five hours at the Museum and could have spent more if they didn’t have one more stop on their agenda for the day.

Darrin and his friends talked about what he and Terran did after they left the previous day. Terran told them that Mr. Wayne took them to the Four Corners Diner for dinner and then afterwards they all went to the Go-Kart Track to drive the karts.

The boys all wanted to know if either of them won the race. Terran laughed and told them that he, Darrin, Matthew and Max all stayed in the back of the pack, as the older Cover ‘brothers’ raced like it was for all the marbles, or bragging rights.

Darrin added that Charles won the race and then afterwards they went to Mr. Ken’s Kreamy Kone and got Chief and Sarge medium cups of vanilla ice cream and then Max and Terran were selected to give it to the resident pets.

Terran continued the story. He told their friends that there must have been something nefarious going on because Matthew told both Chief and Sarge to ‘Sit’ before he and Max gave them the cold concoction. Darrin laughed and said that if he hadn’t the two resident pets would have jumped up on them wanting to get at the ice cream.

“Oh, so they would all have had a good laugh, if Matthew hadn’t spoiled it for them, huh?” asked Terran.

All Darrin said was, “Yep!” That made the boys laugh.

The boys then asked if they all went swimming last night. Terran spoke up and told them that they did and that it was loads of fun. The guest explained that they started out just swimming but before long Billy started dunking him and Max and then they had some horsey games.

Terran told the group that they got out the diving items that Kyle had got one Christmas and they had a game to see who could get the most with just one breath. Darrin’s friend and overnight guest mentioned a few other things that they did, including jumping off the rock ledge to see who could make the biggest splash.

Terran then mentioned that Mr. Wayne rang some sort of bell, after eleven o’clock, to tell them it was time to get out of the water and go to bed. He continued and told everyone there that all they did was change into their boxers and shirts and then put the wet things into the dryer. After that, he added, that all they went up to the Kitchen Nook to see what was there to snack on and all they got was something to drink.

The next question Darrin and Terran got was what did they do after they went to bed. Terran told their friends that all they did was talk about him and Sam helping build the original ramps.

Terran then explained that he told Darrin about Kevin and Kyle coming to The Cove, how Kyle broke his arm and then how it was that Matthew came to The Cove. The overnight guest told the group that he essentially described what he saw and knew about everything Cover up until Darrin came to live at The Cove.

During that Saturday and Sunday, the band known as Pavilion practiced all of the wedding reception songs, as well as the Holiday songs Mr. Ken had asked them to learn in order for them to audition to work at his Four Corners Amusement Park.

Marshall Gray, the new drummer just added so the band could have an extra one if they wanted to play at the Four Corners Amusement Park, was sitting in during the majority of the practices so he could get used to the way the band played all of the songs.

Twelve-year-old Bryce Harris, who plays the bass guitar, and is essentially the band’s leader when Phillip is away, led the band through its paces those two days. He and Jeffrey Jenkins, the main drummer, helped Marshall with learning the songs beats and changes. Bryce also had the band practice the extra songs that Phillip had chosen to play at the reception to surprise the wedded couple.

The boys gave it their all, but they could tell that something, or someone, was missing as they practiced. But they all knew that Phillip would be there tomorrow, Monday, to practice with them and they all couldn’t wait until he returned. They all knew that he was the catalyst, the organizer, the founder of their band, that made Pavilion what it was.

Darrin got to work the grill that Sunday, while his friends helped Matthew’s friends set up the serving line. Darrin also put some burger and hot dog buns on the open hot grill to toast them. He didn’t use any of the burger grease; he just wanted to see how they came out by letting them rest on the grill.

When it came time to eat, the cooks had the Cover place the hot dogs on the grill to heat them. Everyone knew that it took practically no time for those to heat through-and-through and to get a little color on the outside.

By then the burgers were already in the warming tray and ready to be taken over to the serving line. Darrin then quickly put more burger and hot dog buns on the grill to toast to see how everybody like them that way.

Someone went and rang the dinner bell and that brought Matthew and Max to the Pavilion, along with Spencer and Sarge. Matthew had to again warn the boys not to feed the dogs anything from the table, as the greasy foods were not good for them. He also added that Spencer was in training and he didn’t know what Mr. Price would say if he knew that someone fed his dog table scraps.

Sarge and Spencer got treats from Matthew and Max and were then told to go lay down and rest, which they did after they took a drink of the cold ice water.

As to how the experiment of the toasted buns went, some boys liked that the hot dog buns were toasted, but some said they preferred them soft and chewy. The hamburger buns got the same mixed results. That was because the boys put so much mayo, ketchup, mustard, onions, lettuce, cheese and bacon on the burger that they could hardly tell that the bun was toasted or not.

As they were eating, Billy went over to his ‘brother’ Darrin and told him that at least he tried to give everyone something different to try with their burgers and hot dogs. He encouraged the teen not to feel bad or upset that some of the boys didn’t like what he did, but to feel good that at least he tried, when no one else had even thought to do that. The older ‘brother’ added that over time he’d bet that they’d see a few of them will start toasting their buns. The two ‘brothers’ had a good laugh over that.

The youngest Cover was, again, anxious to get to their next stop on their agenda, Speed Zone. He’d heard so much about the place that he couldn’t wait to get out on the Slick Trax and speed around, as he slip-slided the kart around the track.

When the Covers arrived, they walked into the huge building that housed a huge wide variety of arcade games and where ‘dad’ Ken would buy them their access to the different go-kart rides outside. Phillip couldn’t wait until he got outside and rode the different types of go-kart rides, they offered.

Once they got onto the outside grounds, the first ride that Phillip wanted to try was called Top Eliminator Dragster. ‘Dad’ Ken told the boy that he needed to understand how to shift the gears in order to ever have a chance at getting a good score. Phillip didn’t care as all he wanted was the opportunity to say that he’d ridden that particular ride.

‘Dad’ Ken understood what the boy was saying. Since his older ‘brothers’ had done it, he needed to have bragging rights, as well. So, the two walked over to the ride and got in line. Here they didn’t have a Platinum Flash Pass or a Fastest Pass. They had to stand in line with the rest of the people and wait their turn.

While they waited, ‘dad’ Ken tried to explain to his foster son what it meant to shift the gears in order to get down the track faster. But the man knew that until Phillip actually got in the dragster and did what needed to be done, he would never totally understand.

Phillip finally got his turn and when he sat in the dragster, he saw that he had a gear shifter that he had to manually change the gears as his ‘dad’ was trying to tell him about. And that he’d have to do it fast enough to gain the speed to get him down the track fast.

Unfortunately, Phillip didn’t know what he was doing and he came in last each time. But he had fun the first, second and third time he went down the track.

The Covers then headed over to the Turbo Track. Here Phillip would race against up to 20 other drivers in custom-scale Turbo Cars that had high-torque engines. While out on the race track, the young Cover felt like he’d been there before, as the race track was very similar to his ‘dad’s’ track back at Four Corners. Phillip did his best driving on what he considered the now familiar race course, but he didn’t win and neither did his ‘dad’.

After they ate, Matthew and Max went back to working with Spencer on a few more new habits. The puppy Master used Sarge to demonstrate how to ‘Play Dead’ for Spencer and then had the pup try to mimic that behavior. It took a while but the pup got it down.

Matthew then worked on ‘Rollover’ and ‘Crawl’ with Spencer. Again, the almost teen used Sarge to demonstrate what he wanted the pup to do and before long Spencer caught on the idea and he would rollover to whichever side he was indicated to roll to.

When it came to crawling, Spencer seemed to like doing that as he always had a big smile on his face as he made his way to either Matthew or Max.

After he had introduced Spencer to all of the behaviors that he wanted the pup to learn, he asked his friend, Max, to take the pup aside and to test him to see if he could do everything without him being there. Matthew wanted to make sure that Spencer would accept the commands from a supposed stranger.

Max walked Spencer pretty far away from Matthew and Sarge,and put Spencer through all of the behaviors that the puppy master had taught the pup. The boy didn’t go through them in any order either. He wanted to check that Spencer understood each and every command.

The first command Max started with was ‘Stay’. Max walked away from the pup and that’s where the pup remained. Upon the command ‘Come’, Spencer came right to a smiling Max. And that’s the way it went with the other commands of ‘Shake’, ‘Kiss’, Play Dead’, ‘Roll Over’, ‘Sit’, ‘Crawl’ and for ‘Fetch’ Max threw the ball and even though Spencer went and got the ball, he didn’t want to give it back right away.

The two friends, Sarge and Spencer, too, then went up to the Cove Skate Park. Matthew was curious to see if Spencer could do what his sister, Sally, did yesterday. So, he brought out his skateboard and put it down. He showed the pup how to put his forepaws on the board and push with his hind feet and then jump up on it and ride.

Sarge watched what Matthew was showing Spencer and when the pup-in-training didn’t do it right away, Sarge ran over and did it without any coaching. Matthew laughed that his resident pup could now do it, while yesterday he was a klutz.

All the boys who were skating watched Sarge skating and they too laughed, but they were also amazed that the young pup was doing it. What they wanted to know was if the pup could go up one of the obstacles and come down without coming off the skateboard.

Matthew told them that he just started doing that much and not to expect so much out of Sarge so quickly. The Cover asked them to give Sarge some time to get his balance to see if he wants to go any further and do more.

By now, Bruce Price had arrived and had seen Sarge on the skateboard and wondered if his Spencer would be able to do what Sally did yesterday. He asked Matthew if his pup could ride the skateboard, and the puppy master honestly told the man that they had just started trying that when Sarge got on the board.

Matthew then took Spencer out on the skate park and showed him again what he was wanting him to learn. Spencer did get all four feet on the board, but he only for a few seconds before jumping off.

“Mr. Price … I think Spencer … I think he could eventually do it if given enough time to work with him on it. Sally … she seemed to be a natural. Spencer … you saw that he can do it. I think he just needs time and encouragement,” offered Matthew.

Mr. Price then put Spencer through some commands, as he had with Sally yesterday and he was pleased that his male pup was trained as good as his female was yesterday. The man then turned and pulled out his wallet and handed Mathew two one-hundred-dollar bills and told him to keep the change.

“Matthew … I want you to know that I had doubts about you training my two young pups here. But you showed me that you were up to the challenge and then some. I hope when Chief has her next litter and the pups are old enough to be trained, you will be available to train the ones I get from that litter, too. Deal?” asked Bruce Price, as he held out his hand to shake Matthew’s.

Phillip had heard a lot about the Slick Trax race track that Speed Zone had from his ‘brothers’, and he wanted to try that one next. He watched the other drivers while waiting in line and saw how they slid around the turns and didn’t lose their momentum, as they raced one another to the finish. He also watched as they also over steered their race car and saw how easy it was to spin out.

When it was his turn, Phillip was anxious. He’d seen how easy it was to over steer on the polished concrete surface and spin out, and he knew that he didn’t want to do that. He also was sort of racing against his foster dad, and he definitely wanted to try to beat him, too.

When it was time to race, Phillip pulled out too quickly, as he punched his gas pedal and spun his wheels. He forgot about the polished surface and the wheels just spun underneath the go-kart. He had to let off the gas in order for the kart to gain grip, then he now had to catch up to his ‘dad’ who was now amongst a bunch of other drivers. Driving this go-kart on the polished surface was totally different that driving the go-karts back home, the young boy thought.

It took Phillip a number of laps to get used to the steering and the slickness of the polished concrete until he began to enjoy the experience. The race was for only five minutes and he couldn’t believe that the five minutes were already up when they called all the drivers in.

“‘Dad’ … that was awesome! I have got to try that again. Can I?” announced the young Cover, as he and Mr. Ken walked out of the Slick Trax race track.

The two Covers got back in line and waited for their next turn. As they waited, Phillip had to tell his foster dad all about his driving, how he spun his wheels at first and almost spun out on his first lap. All ‘dad’ Ken did, was listen to his foster son’s enthusiasm and excitement over his doing something he’d never done in his life.

With Mr. Ken hearing and seeing the boy’s enthusiasm and excitement, it only reinforced his decision to bring all the boys on their own 3-day trip. It was something he had introduced to the boys after Collin started living with him over five plus years ago. The trips not only gave him a break away from The Cove and his businesses, it mainly gave each boy an opportunity to do something they may have never done before, and/or go someplace new for them.

On Phillip’s next try on the Slick Trax race track, the eleven-year-old did much better, but he still didn’t win the race, or even come close. He really didn’t care, though. All he cared about was he was away from his old life, and was experiencing something new and exciting in his new Cover life. The youngster was thoroughly enjoying himself and hoped it would never end.

The Covers took on the Turbo Track one more time before they decided to try both courses of Speedway Golf. Phillip was never good at miniature golf and had hoped that these simple courses would let him get better scores as compared to his ‘dad’s’ Miniature Golf Course at Four Corners, before they tore it down.

After finishing their miniature golf games, ‘dad’ Ken and Phillip walked over to Johnny Rocket’s where they ate dinner. The restaurant was inside the main building that also housed the arcade with over 200 electronic games. As the Covers ate, they talked about their races and relaxed before they would head to the airport and their late flight back home.

Mr. Wayne was there when Mr. Price paid Matthew and made the deal to train his new pups from Chief’s next litter. The boys who were there skating, and not swimming, saw the man hand the Cover two one-hundred-dollar bills, and they were shocked that Matthew actually was training puppies at The Cove and getting paid for it. They talked amongst themselves that the talk of the Cover starting up some sort of puppy training at The Cove was really true.

But of all the people there, Max was the happiest. He got to do something that weekend that he never figured he’d ever get to do, and that was to help with the training of two puppies. He couldn’t wait until his mom came later to pick him up and he got to tell her about what he did, along with Matthew, while helping train Sally and Spencer.

It was well after four o’clock, so Matthew and Max decided not to swim. What the Cover wanted to do was to see if Sarge was still interested in skating and to see how much and how well he could do. So, the Cover presented the skateboard to Sarge, and the two went about going a bit faster across the flat portion of the skate park. Matthew wanted Sarge to get used to that at first. He felt that he didn’t want to introduce any of the hill like obstacles just yet.

Darrin and his friends were swimming in the indoor pool when someone came in and told them, and everyone else, about Matthew getting paid $200.00 to train the two puppies for the last two days. Some of Matthew’s friends, who were swimming, knew that their Cover friend had been paid to train other puppies before, so it wasn’t big news to them. But they were happy that Matthew was doing something that none of them could do.

Darrin was also happy for his ‘brother’. He told his friends that his ‘brother’ didn’t have anything that he gravitated to like many people do, like football, basketball, or soccer, and that training puppies and small dogs was what he was planning to do, as his job, until he went off to college.

Darrin then stood back and thought about what he and his brother, Dawson, had been doing those last few weeks before he was killed in the house fire that also took his parents. He thought how innocently it started with them setting fire to that first vacant building, using some kind of device that they had devised from plans they found on the internet. They weren’t sure that it would work, but they tried it anyway. And low and behold a couple of hours later, the building went up in flames and they were nowhere near when it happened.

The teen Cover was just about to think about the fire right after that one, when he was jarred out of his daydreaming by Martin, who wanted him to play one of the lifeguard games with them as they needed one more man.

After all of the boys left for the day, except the guests for the night, Eric, Cooper and Jamie, Mr. Wayne took them all out for dinner. But tonight, instead of stopping at the Four Corners Diner, he took them to a place they hadn’t been to in quite some time, Mr. Gatti’s

Darrin had never been there and he was surprised that he could have all the pizza, soda, salad, pasta, etc. that he wanted and then afterwards the Estate Master gave them all a game card to go to the back of the building and play different arcade games.

All the boys had a fun time that night, not only eating different kinds of pizza combinations and drinking way too much soda, but also playing the arcade games in the back. Darrin was having the most fun, as he’d never experienced anything like that before, as his parents rarely took him and Dawson out to anything remotely like that.

After the boys had spent the value of their game cards and added up the number of tickets they’d won they proceeded to the redemption counter and got silly prizes to take back to The Cove, or home the following day.

The group stopped at DQ that night, on the way home, and bought Chief and Sarge each a medium dish of soft-serve vanilla ice cream. Upon entering the Kitchen Nook, Cooper and Jamie were selected to present the dishes to the resident pets, but this time Matthew didn’t tell the dogs to ‘Sit’, as he had the previous night for Max.

Cooper and Jamie had to hold the dishes up high above their heads to keep the dogs from getting to them. Mr. Wayne then took pity on the teens and told Chief and Sarge to ‘Sit!’.

The Cover boys had a good laugh at the expense of their friends, who also chuckled after they’d put the dishes of ice cream down on the floor for Chief and Sarge to start eating and chase all around on the floor until every drop of the cold concoction was gone.

‘Dad’ Ken and Phillip met the limo driver outside the Speed Zone building just before seven o’clock that Sunday evening. It took a little over an hour for them to reach the airport and then they, and their bags, had to go through security. Their charter flight arrived about thirty minutes later and after the flight crew loaded the plane and checked the weather, the Covers were on their way well before nine o’clock.

The travelers arrived at the Austin-Bergstrom Airport just before ten o’clock and their transportation was waiting for them. The Covers used the facilities in the building before getting into the limo for the ninety minutes, or so, ride back to The Cove.

The Covers and their guests, Eric, Cooper and Jamie, went swimming that Sunday night, just as Matthew and Darrin had done with their guests, Max and Terran. It was another fun night in the indoor pool for the Covers and their friends. It had been a long time since the Cover boys had done that and now here it was two nights in a row that they’d done that and it brought back memories to the boys.

As they swam, the Covers talked about the fun they used to have back when they were younger and swam more often in the pool. They almost got to talking too much and revealed that they used to skinny dip, too, in the pool.

They did mention that when Caroline lived there, for a whole three days, that when they were swimming that she came and swam in only her bra and panties. Robert told everyone how upset his dad was at the time and that it wasn’t too long after that before she was gone from the house.

But Mathew spoke up and added that it wasn’t the only reason why she was sent away. But before he could tell that she had been caught in bed with someone’s pants down, Robert shook his head at his younger ‘brother’ for him not to tell that story.

The guests, and Darrin, wanted to know what else the girl had done that got her sent away. So, the boys made up some stories that the guests believed not wanting to wash their ‘dirty’ laundry’ for others to know about.

And just like the previous day the boys played some games and they jumped off the rock ledge and they had fun, but before long it was past eleven o’clock and Mr. Wayne rang the bell and they all knew it was time to get out and get dressed, well, changed into what they were going to sleep in that night.

After putting the wet swimsuits and towels in the dryer, the boys all headed to the Kitchen Nook to see what was there that they could eat and drink. Tonight, though, there were some of Momma’s sweet cakes in the refrigerator.

“Hey, where did these come from?” asked Matthew.

“They came from the freezer, young man,” announced Mr. Wayne. “Momma Maria … she always keeps them there for us to have during the day.”

“Then why didn’t we have them last night?” now asked Darrin.

“That’s because I didn’t know you guys were going to raid the refer,” replied the Estate Master.

The boys quickly took out the sweet cakes, along with some chocolate and vanilla milk, and began making a mess. Billy spoke up and said that they’ll clean it up before they go to bed.

The eight boys then sat at the Nook’s table and enjoyed their ‘midnight snack’, as if it were a ‘sleepover night’. They talked about anything and everything that came to their minds. It was a care free night, with one more day of the three-day weekend yet to go and they were in no hurry.

Suddenly, Chief and Sarge alighted to something going on outside. And quick as that they both went running and barking towards the Foyer Door.

Mr. Wayne knew what it was, but the boys were at a loss. So, they, all in their boxers and shirts, followed the resident pets to the Foyer.

As the door opened, Chief and Sarge’s tails were wagging furiously and then in walked Phillip and soon thereafter came ‘dad’ Ken.

“Dad, dad, your home,” called out Robert, who rushed to his dad to hug him.

“What, nobody is glad to see me?” asked Phillip.

Billy went over to his younger ‘brother’ and hugged him, too, and welcomed him home.

All the Cover boys welcomed ‘dad’ Ken and Phillip home, as did the night’s guests, Eric, Cooper and Jamie, and the Estate Master, Wayne Mitchell.

“I see you didn’t burn the place down,” ‘dad’ Ken said, tongue-in-cheek. “At least it’s insured,” he added with a chuckle.

The eleven people all headed to the Kitchen Nook where Phillip got himself a glass of vanilla milk and a small sweet cake and the group made some small talk about what was happening around The Cove and how was the trip.

But soon Robert announced that he and Eric needed to get to bed, as they had an early morning, since they would be cutting and trimming the field in the morning. Then Charles agreed that it was late and that he and Cooper were going to head up to their room.

But Billy called out and told them that they had to help clean up the Nook before anyone went to bed. Quickly, the Covers put everything away, wiped down the mess they made and put away the dirty dishes. When Billy was satisfied, he told everyone that they could now go to bed.

Mr. Ken and Wayne talked for just a few minutes, but before long the owner of The Cove told his employee, and friend, that he was relatively tired and that he needed his bed and that he’d see him in the morning.

Mr. Wayne told the man to have a good night’s rest and that he’d catch up with him in the morning. The Estate Master then went out to the Kitchen Nook and took out enough breakfast tacos for everyone to have in the morning. Then he went to bed himself. The Cove now had all of its residents back home and before long they, and their guests, were sound asleep.

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

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