Published: 24 Sep 2026

From the Previous Chapter:

After the adults finished their drinks, Ken walked Kate to her room. They talked some and then they hugged and kissed. Kate then apologized to Ken for asking about the way he handled Julia earlier.

Ken smiled and told her that he can’t let the employees disregard who he is when he is at the park, nor treat his family less than what he expects, as they aren’t day-to-day guests, but were there for usually the day, as they were these past three days.

The couple shared another long hug and a few kisses before they went to bed.

None of the older boys made it down to the lobby for breakfast. Even the four teens, Eric, Billy, Darrin and Matthew slept in as long as they could. All of adults had gotten up, showered, dressed and went down for breakfast. Even Rusty and Jessy were down with the adults having breakfast, although they were yawning as they ate.

It was going on 10:30 when the six boys came down to the lobby pulling their luggage behind them. Luckily the bags had wheels; otherwise, they’d have been dragged along the floor behind their owners.

“Well, look what the cat drug in, Mr. Ken,” announced Mr. Wayne. “I guess they are ready for the last leg of our trip by the looks of them,” now laughed the Estate Master.

“Will we get something to eat on the plane?” asked Phillip.

“Yes, my youngest, the crew will have lunch type foods to serve us as we travel back home. Boys, the trip will take about three hours, which is the same time it took coming east, and we will gain that hour we lost on Tuesday. That means if we get into the air by 12:30 we should be at the Austin-Bergstrom Airport by 2:30, our time. Then there will be the ninety minute, or so, ride to The Cove, getting us back home around four o’clock, or a little later, depending on the traffic.

The vans arrived on time at the hotel and the boys took all the bags out to them. Then the vans and the rental cars filled with the travelers and they arrived at the business airport an hour later. Once they arrived, the boys helped offload the bags onto a TSA cart, and then they all went into the terminal to use the restrooms. The ladies saw what the boys did and they went and used the Woman’s Restroom, as well.

The night before, Mr. Ken and Collin worked out who was flying on which aircraft and after everyone had been cleared by TSA, they loaded the planes. Flying on the G350 Gulfstream, 14-seat aircraft would be Mr. Ken, Kate, Edith, Rusty. Jessy, Dennis, Matthew, Robert and Eric, while the rest, Collin, Wayne, Darrin, Phillip, Billy and Charles would be flying on the 9-passenger Gulfstream G-280 Super Mid corporate jet

The boys took their seats and listened to the required safety briefing. Then once the back of the plane was secure, the pilots completed their take-off checklist and started the engines. They took off closer to 12:40 than 12:30.

After the plane leveled off, the first thing the boys asked the backend crewmember was what did she have for them for lunch. The woman smiled and brought back a small menu that included ham and cheese, tuna, and roast beef sandwiches, all with mayo, lettuce, tomato and cheese for the tuna, chicken and roast beef sandwiches. There were also hamburgers, chicken burgers, hot dogs with mayo, lettuce and tomato for the burgers along with pickles and potato chips for all entrees. The drinks were coffee for the adults and different soft drinks for anyone who wanted those.

After looking over the menu, the boys told the woman what they wanted for lunch including their drink of choice. The woman smiled some and went back to the full galley where she had the flyers lunches and drinks stored and began fixing what they ordered.

The flight attendant fixed the cold sandwiches first, as those were the easiest to prepare. She added small bags of potato chips and a few pickles and then served those who asked for them. She then went and got them their drinks.

The burgers took a little longer to heat, but as soon as those were done, she fixed them as the passenger asked, added the small bags of potato chips and a few pickles and then brought them back to the ones who ordered those. Their soft drinks were brought back next.

The flight attendant told everyone when they were finished, if they were still hungry, to come to her and she would fix them something else. She then went back to her position on the aircraft.

As they flew along, Kate reminded Ken that they still hadn’t set a date for the wedding, that they were supposed to have done over the past weekend. Ken smiled and told her that last weekend was such a blur, when he looks at it, with all the moving pieces that were involved.

Ken then told his fiancée that she now had his undivided attention, unless one of the boys gets sick. It was now Kate’s turn to smile and then she brought out a calendar for them to look over, so they could choose a date that would work for them both.

Edith listened to the couple and watched how they interacted. She was happy that her daughter had pinned Ken down into deciding on a wedding date. She also saw that Ken wasn’t one who shied away from his responsibilities, and that he was easy going when it came to her daughter. The more she watched Ken Thomas, the happier she was that the two were going to be married.

Edith also loved the way that Ken and his ‘boys’ had integrated Rusty and Jessy into their ‘family’. She knew that both of her grandsons looked up to the older boys as their big ‘brothers’, and how they eagerly called upon them to help them to better learn to ride their skateboards. She also saw how Rusty and Jessy were, in their own way, trying to mimic the way their big ‘brothers’ acted.

The older woman also like the way her future son-in-law deferred to Kate on many occasions when decisions about her boys was to be made. Yes, the man will eventually be their step-dad, but Ken wasn’t autocratic when it came to Kate’s boys. It was as if he knew not to step on ‘mothers’ feet, and to let her be a part of any decision making when it came to those two young boys. The woman smiled to herself at what she was thinking.

As Ken and Kate looked over the calendar in order to decide on a wedding date, the front-end flight attendant, came through the airplane looking for both Rusty and Jessy. When she found them, she told them that the pilots wanted to show them around the flight deck. Both boys got great big smiles on their faces, and they couldn’t get out of the seats fast enough to follow the woman.

Kate watched as her boys were walking forward, and she asked Ken if they were going to look over the cockpit and maybe fly the plan. Ken told her that at their age they may get to learn about how the pilots fly the plane, and that they may even get to sit in the co-pilots chair, but he added that he didn’t think they would get to ‘fly’ the plane.

Kate told her fiancé that she’ll just have to wait to find out what her boys got to experience. In the meantime, she brought Ken’s focus back to the calendar, so they could choose the right date for their wedding.

Ken reminded Kate that the weekend before and after spring break wouldn’t work out as they are all scheduled to go to, and he whispered to her, “Disney World”. So, Kate quickly blocked off those two weekends. They both agree that Easter weekend wouldn’t be good either as most of their friends would already have made plans to be with their own families then.

So, in order to choose a workable date, and to have a Spring wedding, they decide to look at the Saturday between them, or the Saturday following Easter. As they discussed the dates, Ken recommended the Saturday after Easter saying that the weather would more than likely be better than the middle of March. Plus, he added, that the weekend between Spring Break and Easter could make things feel too rushed, as there would be a whole week before the wedding that she wouldn’t have time to fix any problems that might occur.

Edith, still listening to the couple discuss wedding dates, spoke up and told her daughter that she agreed with Ken. She told Kate that the Saturday after Easter would be better for all the reasons he’d made, and especially the weather would hopefully be warmer.

The couple looked at one another, smiled and kissed to seal their decision.

Up in the cockpit, Rusty and Jessy were amazed with what they saw. The co-pilot began explaining the major instruments that they use to fly the plane. The co-pilot pointed out all the switches and explained what many of them did, like turning on the Fasten Seat Belt sign.

Then Jessy asked the person if they would be able to fly the plane like their big ‘brothers’ got to do. The co-pilot looked over to the pilot who told him over the headset to let them sit in his seat.

Since Jessy asked first, he was allowed to sit in the co-pilot’s seats. As soon as the youngster sat down, he put his hands on the yoke and the man was quick to ask him not to touch that as the pilot was the person in control right now.

Jessy smiled up at the man and said, “Sorry”. The co-pilot then pointed to some of the instruments and then asked Jessy to tell him what they did. The boy got many of them right but not all, and the man told Jessy that was why he couldn’t fly the plane, because he still needed to know what they all did.

Disappointed, Jessy, got out of the seat and the man let Rusty sit down. The almost ten-year-old knew not to touch the yoke, but he looked around at everything. The co-pilot saw Rusty doing that, and he then asked the boy about the different instruments. Rusty got them all correct, so the man let him place his hands on the yoke. The biggest smile Rusty ever had appeared across his face. He then got to feel the pilot move the yoke some as if he was flying the plane.

After their orientation to the cockpit, or flight deck, the boys were escorted back to their seats. They both stopped to tell their mom what they were allowed to do. Jessy did tell his mother that because he didn’t know what the man explained to him, he wasn’t allowed to fly the plane.

Rusty, on the other hand, told mom that because he remembered what the co-pilot told them he was allowed to place his hands on the yoke and he felt what it was like to fly the plane.

Kate hugged both boys and told them to go tell their big ‘brothers’ what they got to do.

With lunch served and the two younger boys getting to spend some time up at the flight deck, the time of the flight felt like it moved along quite quickly. The older boys slept some as the plane flew to its destination and then before everyone knew it, the flight attendant/back-end crew member, came through and told everyone that they had about 30 minutes before they landed at the Austin-Bergstrom Airport.

The older boys had to wake themselves up to get ready for the landing. They then got Rusty and Jessy to sit next to either Robert or Eric in case there was a problem during landing that they would be responsible to get them away from the plane.

The adults also got themselves ready for the landing that would happen in about thirty minutes.

When the plane landed, the flyers all headed inside to use the restrooms, and to await the arrival of Collin’s plane. With the late takeoff and the delay in Collin’s plane being allow to land due to bad weather in the area, all of the travelers didn’t get back together until close to three o’clock local time.

The group collected their luggage and then loaded into the two limousines. It was just about three o’clock when Dennis was asked to chaperone the limo where the older boys crawled into, leaving Mr. Ken, Kate, Edith, Wayne, Phillip, Rusty and Jessy in the other one.

They stopped at the same restaurant they usually stop at on the way back to The Cove, after a long trip, to the dismay of the older Cover boys. The boys wanted to get home early enough, so that their friends could come over, for at least a little while.

Mr. Ken told everyone that this was just a quick stop for a light snack and dragon draining, to hold them over until they go out to dinner later tonight. Edith laughed when she heard the dragon comment and then wished to herself that she’d known about that years ago when her grandsons were much younger, as she should have used it back then.

The two limos arrived back at The Cove a little after five o’clock and both Chief and Sarge were anxiously waiting for the Covers to exit the limos. As soon as Chief saw Mr. Ken she went directly to him and tried to put her paws up on his waist, but her extra weight from the little puppies growing inside of her wouldn’t allow her to do that. So, Ken bent down in order to give Chief the behind the earn scratches that she loved so much.

Sarge, on the other hand, went directly to Matthew and the resident pup was able to get his paws up on Matthew who hugged him and then had him lay down for a belly rub, which is what he really loved.

The rest of the boys helped get the luggage out of the limos and place them on the Foyer Stoop. Todd was there to welcome them all home and when Mr. Ken asked him how things went Todd told him that he at least didn’t burn the house down.

Mr. Ken grabbed the teenager and hugged him and thanked him for dog sitting Chief and Sarge. He told him that he hoped he was available next week for a few more days, as he was taking the boys and his fiancée to visit the last two parks.

Todd looked at the man and told him, “Ahhh, I was hoping I’d get to go with you next time.” The teen then quickly ran away.

“I’ll get you for that, you rascal,” yelled out a laughing Ken Thomas.

Kate came over to ask Ken what that was all about. Ken told her that Todd was teasing him about him going along with them next week. Kate asked him if he ever took the teenager to visit his parks.

Ken looked at his love and told her that he never had and then added that he never took any of the boy’s friends along either. He told her that he was afraid that if he did that it would lead to him having many more boys along than he could care for, especially when he had eight of his already going along.

Kate hugged Ken and told him she was just curious if he ever had because he looked at Todd almost as if he was one of ‘his’. Ken smiled at the comparison and told her that Todd was a young kid when he hired him to help work on the pot holes in the open field.

Ken continued and told Kate how hard it was for his mother to raise him and when Ryan was going off to college, he decided to hire the teenager to take over the job of Beach Master because he knew how much the extra money would help him and his mother. Kate hugged the man for doing what was the right thing, and then she kissed him.

Mr. Wayne and Mr. Dennis both told their employer that they were going to head on home to unpack and then rest up until Sunday.

Ms. Judy was there to collect her son, Eric. Mr. Ken told her that they would be going out to dinner later and he invited them to come along. Judy thanked him for invitation, but she told him that she and her son needed to get on home and spend some time quality together.

‘Dad’ Ken told the boys to make sure they put their dirty clothes in the hampers and then to come down to the Great Room, where he’d tell them what the rest of the weekend looked like him, at least.

It took the boys about twenty minutes to take their luggage up to their rooms and then separate the clean from the dirty clothes. Then they took the time to text their friends to tell them to come over tomorrow. It was Phillip who brought out his new cell phone and asked his ‘brothers’ to help him activate it, since he had it charging all the while they were gone.

The other five boys started looking for their new cell phone that they got for Christmas, so they could charge it up in order to activate it like their youngest ‘brother’ wanted to do. Billy told his ‘brother’ that he’d help him after Mr. Ken’s meeting. With Billy’s mention of their ‘dad’ wanting to have a meeting, the boys rushed down to the Great Room.

“Thank you, boys, for joining us,” teased ‘dad’ Ken.

“OK, now that we’re all here, let me tell you how I see this weekend. In a little while, we’ll go out to dinner at the Marina Seafood Wharf & Steak House. After that, depending on how late it is we’ll head over to the amusement park and see how it’s doing with its imminent closure slated to begin on the eighth of January.

Hearing that the Four Corners Amusement Park was closing on the eighth of January surprised Kate, so she asked why. Ken told her that they needed to close the park in order for them to finish building the railroad station, installing the train tracks, doing general maintenance on the park’s rides, and to clean the park.

Kate was surprised that there was so much more to do there. Ken then told her that he was able to buy the 8+ acres adjacent to the park and they were hoping to build a new operations building and a five-story parking garage on it.

Hearing that was another surprise to Kate and she wanted to know more about that. This time Ken asked her if he could finish telling everyone about how he saw the weekend and then they go out to dinner. He promised her that he would tell her all about the land purchase at dinner.

Kate smiled knowing that what he was saying was that her questions were delaying their going out to dinner. The woman told her fiancé that she’d ask him at dinner. Everyone asked themselves if the couple were having a little spat right, then.

‘Dad’ Ken told the boys that he saw them having their friends over tomorrow and on Sunday until about three o’clock when they needed to rest up, as the New Year’s Eve Party will go until about one o’clock, which was why they definitely needed to rest up.

Mr. Ken then told everyone that the party will start about six o’clock, but that he didn’t expect the revelers to start arriving until eight at the earliest. He told them that he’s invited a number of high-ranking government people, like the State’s Senators and the Attorney General, but he won’t know who will show until they do.

Kate was going to ask a question, but she decided to wait. The boys saw that she as going to interrupt their ‘dad’ and they all chuckled, which was why the woman probably didn’t ask the question.

‘Dad’ Ken added that they will try to announce the winner of the Christmas Decorating Contest around ten o’clock with the highest-ranking government person being the one to announce the winner and have their picture taken with them.

The man told everyone that the band will play Auld Lang Syne at the stroke of midnight and there would be fireworks out on the lake. He asked the boys to mingle with the high school students that were having their own New Year’s Eve party out in the Garage and for them to keep an eye on both Rusty and Jessy if they decide to check that party out.

And seeing his audience was getting restless, Mr. Ken said that he’ll tell them more when he thinks of it. He then told everyone to get ready to go out to dinner.

When the twelve arrived at the Marina Seafood Wharf & Steak House, Ed Henry, the restaurant’s manager, had the private area set aside for them. Wayne and Dennis were not with the large group, as they had decided to head back to their own homes to unpack and relax before coming back to The Cove on Sunday evening for the New Year’s Eve Party.

Mr. Ken told everyone to order off the menus and that they had their choice of seafood, or steaks, and that either one would be a good choice. The boys all smiled with each one knowing what they wanted for dinner.

Kate had been at this restaurant back when they had their Grand Opening, and she told her mother that since they don’t have a good seafood restaurant near them, she should order something off the seafood menu.

Ed Henry had two waitresses work the private area to make sure the twelve guests had top-level VIP service. The two women knew who Ken Thomas was and they knew that they better not mess this assignment up.

The women took the tables salad and drink orders, and left to get them, while a few at the table were still trying to decide what they wanted to eat.

While they waited for their salads and drinks, Mr. Ken took that time to explain to Kate all about the adjacent property to the Four Corners Amusement Park. He explained why he didn’t own it from the beginning the hoops he had to jump through to get it and why he wanted it.

Kate was surprised at what her fiancé told her. She then had him explain to her why he wanted those extra eight-plus acres. Then upon learning how much he intended to expand the amusement park, she was beginning to comprehend how involved Ken was in running his businesses and that she would, as his wife, definitely need to have a good idea of what he was involved in.

Edith heard what plans her future son-in-law had for what she knew was a small entertainment facility. She suspected that the small park would now become a full-fledged amusement playground that would easily satisfy the local public, and maybe those from farther away. She smiled at how astute Ken was which has led to his many business successes.

‘Dad’ Ken knew the boys at the table also heard his explanation to Kate, so he expressed his desire to them that they not go out and start telling all of their friends what he has planned for the Four Corners Amusement Park. He explained that he didn’t want his and Mr. Ben’s plans to get out before they announced them, themselves.

The boys understood what their ‘dad’ was telling them, so they all agreed not to tell their friends. Even Rusty and Jessy agreed not to tell anyone, which brought a smile to the table.

It was quite late when the group left the Marina restaurant, and when Mr. Ken recommended, that they all go over to the amusement park. Kate felt it was too late for her boys to go over there. But, upon them hearing that, Rusty and Jessy began to complain that they hadn’t been there yet and they were right there.

Edith grabbed her daughter’s arm and with a slight nod, Kate with a smile back to her mother, agreed to allow her young sons to go over to the Four Corners Amusement Park. The older boys were also happy because they knew that if Rusty and Jessy couldn’t go, none of them would get to go.

The large group walked up to the amusement park and Ken knew that he needed to buy some ride tickets. His question at the ticket booth was if the tickets had an expiration date, or if they could be used at any time. The saleslady told him that the tickets didn’t expire, and upon hearing that, the owner of the park bought forty tickets.

“Why’d you buy so many tickets?’ asked Robert.

“Well, son, you see, with the six of you and Rusty and Jessy, I figured that you’ll all want to ride the bigger rides and then the two younger boys might want to ride some of the other kiddie rides,” explained ‘dad’ Ken.

With that explanation out of the way, the older boys took a bunch of tickets and then rushed off to ride the bigger rides. But Rusty and Jessy ran after them saying they wanted to ride, too. Kate told Ken that she better watch which rides her sons get on. So, Kate and Ken, with Edith following along, went in search of Rusty and Jessy.

The boys went directly to the Tilt-A-Whirl and got in line. Rusty and Jessy had joined them. The older boys knew that their younger ‘brothers’ had ridden one before, so they didn’t tell them they couldn’t ride with them.

With nine of them going to ride, as they waited for their turn, they were trying to figure out who would ride with whom. After some discussion, it was decided that Collin would ride with Rusty and Jessy, with Robert, Charles and Billy riding together, and the last three boys, Matthew, Darrin and Phillip, all riding together.

Kate was happy that her boys were riding with Collin. Ken then asked her if she wanted to ride, as well. But Kate said that even if she did, they weren’t even in line. Ken told her that he knew the owner and could get them on with no trouble. Kate laughed knowing that Ken was the owner, and she wondered how he would pull that off. Ken then made a quick call.

By the time the boys were ready to ride, Nelson Sanders, the parks operations manager, arrived at the amusement ride. The two men shook hands and as the boys were getting ready to board the ride, Nelson, opened the exit and escorted the owner and Kate onto the ride.

The boys had tickets and only Mr. Ken and Kate were non-paying riders. The ride operator knew who Mr. Ken was and with his boss, Nelson Sanders escorting them onto the ride, he knew not to say anything.

All of them had fun riding the Tilt-A-Whirl, especially Rusty and Jessy who were riding with Collin. Kate and Ken enjoyed the spinning, too, as they held hands and laughed as a young couple would.

The boys also went on the Scrambler, with Rusty and Jessy again riding with Collin, while the others rode in the trios that they had selected. Again, they all had fun riding.

But when the boys went to ride the Octopus, Kate told her sons they could not ride it. Ken wanted to say something, but he knew better and he, too, called the two younger boys over to them.

“What say that you two ride the Helicopters, while your older ‘brothers’ ride their ride,” suggested Mr. Ken.

Jessy complained that they wanted to ride the bigger rides with their big ‘brothers’. But Mr. Ken told the boy that he wasn’t tall enough yet to ride that. So, he walked them both over to Helicopters and got them on the next ride, as Nelson was watching where they would go to next, and he was there to open the exit for them.

When it came time to ride the Speedway, everyone got in line. And Ken told Kate that this ride was like the Whip that they rode together, but the ride was shaped like sporty cars. Kate agreed to ride just to see how ‘safe’ it was. But this time Nelson put them all on the ride through the exit, which did not please the crowd.

With eleven riders and eight ride cars that held two riders per car, one-person wound-up riding alone. The lone rider was Collin. Kate sat with her fiancé and she loved the ride and that she could also see how her boys were loving it too. Lots of laughs between them all after the ride.

With all of the major rides ridden, Mr. Ken suggest that they try their hand at a few of the Midway Games. But he qualified what he said by telling them that they each could only try two of the games, as it was getting late.

The boys argued between them which games they would play, with only two of the four they could choose from and time running out, they needed to choose soon.

Rusty and Jessy told Mr. Ken that they wanted to do the Ball in the Cup game, for sure, but they had a hard time deciding between the Ballon Blast, or the Ballon Darts.

The older boys heard what their young ‘brothers’ wanted to play, and they all agreed to do the Ball in the cup, as well. Then they told Rusty and Jessy that they would play whichever other game they chose.

The two younger brothers smiled at what they heard and said that they wanted to play the Balloon Blast, first. So, all nine headed over to that game and they waited until there would be nine of fifteen seats vacant before they all sat down.

When the bell rang to begin the game, all of the boys aimed their water pistol at the small opening and tried their best to get as much water in the opening and the first one to the top would win. Twenty second later the bell rang indicating someone won. It was Jessy, who had a great big grin on his face.

Small prize in hand, Jessy led his ‘brothers’ to the Ball in the Cup game, where Mr. Ken shelled out a $100.00 for the boys to play, and he also got a bucket for him and Kate to throw, too.

There were eleven people standing around the four sides of the Ball in the Cup game and they were all trying to get a whiffle ball into a red or blue cup and, of course, the gold cup in order to win the grand prize.

White whiffle balls were being thrown left and right and when one hit someone else’s there was a lot of complaining from the person whose ball was sent off course. Ken and Kate shared their bucket of 25 whiffle balls and smiled as they watched all of the boys throw the whiffle balls.

Kate, though, was focused on her two boys to see how well they were doing. But with eleven people throwing the whiffle balls onto the playing field it was almost chaos happening over the 375 cups the ball could fall into.

The group had 275 whiffle balls with which they could possibly win a prize. A while back, Ken Thomas had Nelson Sanders change the winning odds on that game that they now have seventeen winning cups.

It wasn’t too long when Darrin called out that he had a ball in a blue cup. Logan was working that game and he was observing the whiffle balls and he agreed that Darrin would get a medium prize. Logan then moved the ball out of the cup so others might get a winning ball in it too.

When all 275 whiffle balls had been thrown, the group had won three small and two medium prizes. Rusty, Phillip and Collin had won the small prizes and Darrin and Kate had each won a medium prize. But no one had won the large prize by getting a ball in the gold cup.

It was too late to stop by Mr. Ken’s Kreamy Kone for ice cream when they left the Four Corners Amusement Park, so the large group headed home. There they were eagerly greeted by Chief and Sarge who received some behind the ear scratches and belly rubs before the group headed down to the Great Room for a quick meeting.

There ‘dad’ Ken reminded the boys not to tell anyone about his plans for Four Corners. He told them that he hasn’t gone to settlement on those 8+ acres yet, so none of his plans can be put into any form of motion.

Phillip asked his ‘dad’ what ‘settlement’ meant. Kate quickly told him that it is when someone buys a property, they have to sign a bunch of papers and then hand over a bunch of money and then they take ownership of what they bought.

Kate added that when Ken does all that then he’ll own those 8+ acres next to the amusement park. Ken told the group that he doesn’t go to settlement until the end of January, which he again told the boys not to tell anyone about that.

‘Dad’ Ken then told the boys to go up to their rooms and that he’ll be up there soon. Rusty and Jessy joined their older ‘brothers’, as they ran up the stairs.

The four adults talked about the day and how much fun the end of the day was watching the boys having more fun after three days of riding the rides at three of his parks. Laughter was heard in the Great Room.

Edith then said that she was tired from the flight, that great seafood meal and all the walking around at the amusement park and she was heading up to bed. She walked over to the elevator and took it up to the second floor.

Ken, Kate and Collin walked up the stairs.

Ken walked Kate to her room, while Collin walked down to Billy’s room where he was staying this time around. Ken and Kate hugged and kissed some, as they said good night to one another.

Mr. Ken then started at Billy’s room to start saying good night to the boys. He didn’t stay long, but he did thank Robert, Charles and Matthew for taking such good care of their two younger ‘brothers’, while they were on their trip.

In Darrin’s room, Mr. Ken did stay a little longer. He wanted to know how the teenager liked what he saw at his parks and also what the teenager thought about his parks.

First of all, the teen thanked his foster dad for taking him on such a wonderful trip. The teen told Mr. Ken that he’d never done anything remotely like flying in an airplane, or getting out of the State of Texas. Darrin added that he enjoyed seeing the way other people lived, where they visited and staying in the hotels that they did.

The Cover teen then told Mr. Ken that he loved the amusement parks. He told his foster dad that each one had its own feel to it, but it seemed that they began at the park that wasn’t as good as the following one. Darrin told Mr. Ken if that was how he planned it that it worked for him and he couldn’t wait until he sees the last two parks next week. The two hugged and ‘dad’ Ken went to Phillip’s room.

When the man arrived at the youngest Cover’s room, he heard two guitars playing. He smiled to himself knowing that Phillip was teaching Jessy how to play and the youngster was like a sponge soaking it all up. He also told himself that it sure will be different around The Cove when Phillip finally gets to go home.

“Knock, knock, knock,” announced Mr. Ken as he knocked on the doorframe.

“Oh, hello, Mr. Ken,” replied Jessy.

“Hi, ‘dad’,” called out Phillip.

“You two are sounding real good playing like that. And Jessy, you are picking up playing the guitar very well. Mr. Bindy … he won’t recognize you when he starts giving you lessons, too, next summer,” chuckled Mr. Ken.

“Now you two … get to bed. And don’t forget to drain those dragons,” teased ‘dad’ Ken.

The two boys hugged the man and then they laughed as they headed down to Phillip’s bathroom, while Mr. Ken headed to the stairs to go down to his own retreat.

After getting himself ready for bed, the owner of The Cove sat on the edge of his king-sized bed and looked back at the past week, but in particular the trip they just took. What he loved about the time was that he was spending it with Kate. He told himself that he never felt so good inside than he has these past days with her at his side.

He knew that he had the next two days to relax before the big party of the year, the New Year’s Eve Party. He was anxious for the party to begin, and then when it is over, he’d be taking another long trip with his intended.

Ken Thomas could feel his tiredness from the trip, the long flight and the rest of the day. So, he turned off the lights and then got under the covers and it wasn’t long before he fell asleep.

With the owner of The Cove finally falling asleep, the other residents and their guests had already fallen asleep and everyone slept well that night. The Cove was peaceful and quiet 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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