Mr. Ken got up before Billy that Thursday morning. He wanted to let the teenager sleep while he got himself ready for the day ahead of them. When the man was finished, he woke Billy up and told him to get his shower, dressed and to meet him down in the lobby for breakfast. Mr. Ken added that their limo would be there around 9 a.m. and they still had to pack, so for him not to take too much time.
Billy liked that he got a nice breakfast that morning. He got to make his own Texas-shaped waffles that he added butter and lots of maple syrup too. He also had a large glass of orange juice and finished up his breakfast with a couple of blueberry muffins. The two Covers then headed up to their room to pack and to be down to meet the limo by 9 a.m.
At The Cove, the boys had finished their Momma breakfast by 9 a.m. and began to plan their day. They did talk about whose day it was to ramrod the barbeque, so they didn't make the mistake Billy and Matthew made the other day when they went out on the lake and Kyle had to lead their team to get the set up done for them.
Mr. Chris and Mr. Wayne talked about the upcoming 4th of July Picnic, when the carnival ride operator would arrive and the fire extinguishers would be delivered, so each food booth would have one and that he had talked with the fireworks contractor.
Mr. Chris also mentioned that the local Fire Chief, with Mr. Ken's invitation, wanted to stop by with his captains, to look over the estate and plan to hold a fire drill with the apparatus staging around the house.
That was the first Mr. Wayne was hearing that, but it sounded like something his employer would want to do, now that his insurance company was looking at how safe he made The Cove for his sons, foster sons and their friends.
The Estate Master asked what timeframe the Fire Chief was looking at and Mr. Chris said right after the 4th's Picnic. Both men put it on their agenda to talk to their boss on Friday, when they all sat down to review the past three days.
The Museum of the American Railroad opened at 10 a.m. and that was Billy's first choice of places to visit that day. They arrived just as the gates opened and were some of the first ones into the museum and onto the exhibit grounds.
Their first stop was TrainTopia, a 2,500-square-foot professionally built G-scale train model railroad layout. Billy loved the rock formations that represented the Four Corners region near New Mexico, the animated Palo Duro Drive-In Theater that actually had a movie playing, a refinery, and a working sawmill.
Included in the layout was a high wooden trestle that spanned the entire upper portions of the layout that had trains running on it. Then there were the tall buildings, streets with cars that had headlights lit, a police car with its red lights flashing, and lots of trains running over bridges, and through tunnels. But, the most impressive feature of the entire layout that Billy enjoyed was that the layout had a custom light show that changed the exhibit from day to night and then back to day.
After viewing the G-gauge train layout, the Covers headed outside, to view the numerous old steam, diesel and electric locomotives. Billy had never seen anything like them up close, so he was totally immersed in seeing them for the first time.
Of the four steam locomotives, the teen was really impressed with the Union Pacific, Big Boy articulated 4-8-8-4 steam locomotive. It was called a 4-8-8-4 because it had a four-wheel leading truck for stability entering curves, two sets of eight driving wheels and a four-wheel trailing truck to support the large firebox that heated the water, to make the steam, that drove the engines.
After the steam engines, the Covers looked over the 16 diesel locomotives, nine of which were from the Santa Fe Railroad. They then looked over the passenger equipment which included sleepers, coaches, loungers, observation and dining cars. Billy wondered what it would have been like to have ridden in them, back in the day.
There was so much to see at the Museum of the American Railroad, like the freight equipment; such as, box cars, tank cars, flat cars, and ice refrigerator cars, along with cabooses, speeders and handcars, road vehicles and depots that the Covers didn't have enough time to look at them all, if they were to visit Billy's next place of interest, Speed Zone.
While Mr. Ken and Billy were gone, Robert and his friends took the personal watercraft out on the lake. Robert told them they needed to be reacquainted with PWCs, so they were ready to really enjoy them when the water got warmer.
When they all finished familiarizing themselves with the WaveRunners and the Jet Ski, Todd gave Conner the rundown on the starting procedures on both types of PWCs, so his friend Conner would be ready to go out on them, as well.
It was close to 3 p.m. when the Covers arrived at Speed Zone and Billy thought he wouldn't have enough time to enjoy everything there. But Mr. Ken told the teenager that they would stay as long as they needed, so that his foster son would have a chance to try all of the racetracks at least twice. Billy smiled big at hearing that.
The Cover teen knew from talking with his 'brothers', who'd already been there, which racetracks to make sure he rode. But after Mr. Ken's announcement he knew he'd get the chance to try them all.
Billy's first race was on the Top Eliminator Dragsters. The teen had never been in a dragster before, let alone driven a stick shift vehicle and here he'd be doing both and competing against five other people.
The Cover practiced shifting before the race started, but when the starting 'Christmas tree' light hit Green the raced started and he had to smash the gas and try to shift his way to the finish line. He came in last. On his third try, he came in third.
"Mr. Ken, that was a blast! I'd never done anything like that before, but what a rush trying to hit the gas and shift my way to the finish line. Now I know why those men and women make so much money doing that," laughed Billy.
Billy's next stop was the Turbo Track. Here he raced wheel-to-wheel with up to 20 other drivers in custom-scale Turbo Cars that had high-torque engines. While out on the racetrack, Billy felt like he was on Mr. Ken's own Go-Kart Track, and he took advantage of the familiarity and raced to the win. Mr. Ken came in a close second.
Billy had heard a lot about the Slick Trax draft-style racing 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.
When it was his turn, Billy was anxious. He saw how easy it was to oversteer on the polished concrete surface and spin out, and he didn't want to do that. He also was racing against his foster dad, and he definitely wanted to beat him, too.
When it was time to race, Billy pulled out too quickly when he punched his gas pedal and spun his wheels. He was so used to racing at Mr. Ken's Go-Kart Track, that he forgot he was doing something entirely different, which was why it happened.
Once the Cover teen got out on the racetrack, it took him about three laps to get used to the steering and the slickness of the polished concrete and then he began to enjoy the experience. The race was for five minutes, and he couldn't believe that the five minutes were up when they called all the drivers in.
"Mr. Ken … that was awesome! We have got to try that again," announced Billy, as he and Mr. Ken walked out of the Slick Trax racetrack.
The two Covers got back in line and waited for their next turn. As they waited, Billy 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 Mr. Ken did, was listen to his foster son's enthusiasm and excitement over his doing something he'd never done in his life.
Mr. Ken knew bringing Bill on this 3-day trip was a perfect reason for doing the one-on-one trips he'd introduced for the boys after Collin started living with him over four years ago. The trip not only gave him a break away from The Cove, it mainly gave the boy an opportunity to do something they may have never done before, and/or go someplace new for them.
On Billy's next try on the Slick Trax race track, the teen did much better, but he still didn't win the race. 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 life. The teen was thoroughly enjoying himself and hoped it would never stop.
The Covers did race on the Top Eliminator Dragsters and the Turbo Track one more time before Billy had to try both courses of Speedway Golf. Billy did comment to Mr. Ken that the courses were a bit mundane as compared to what they had back at Four Corners, but they were nice courses to play and sort of relaxing after doing all that racing.
After finishing their miniature golf games, Mr. Ken and Billy walked over to Johnny Rocket's where they ate dinner. The restaurant was inside the main building that also housed the arcade with over 225 electronic games. As the Covers ate, they talked about their races and relaxed before heading to the airport and their flight back home.
At The Cove, a handful of the boys were brave enough to go out in the cove to swim. Matthew and his friends, who had taken the sailing lessons, had wetsuits they could wear, and they did. There were also a few wetsuits available for other boys to try to get into and wear, and they also did. The rest of the boys braved the still cooler-than-normal cove waters.
The boys mainly wanted to try out the new water toy, Rock It, and find out if Mr. Ken had wasted his money, or not. Of course, the few boys who had tried it told their friends it was a great new toy, and they would love it.
The boys had to try it for themselves and when they did, they became believers. They enjoyed being thrown into the air, coming down and splashing into the water. Of course, the boys who didn't have the wetsuits, didn't stay in the water long, but they stayed in long enough to enjoy Rock It. They all took warm showers when they went inside to change back into their street clothes.
The two travelers didn't return to The Cove until almost midnight. Mr. Wayne and Chief were there, waiting up for them and greeted them as they came to the Foyer Door. Chief greeted Mr. Ken first, then received some behind-the-ear scratches before she went to Billy, who also gave her some well-deserved behind-the-ear scratches.
The three Covers talked some, there in the Foyer, but before long, Billy yawned and headed up to his room to go to bed. Chief went outside to relieve herself before following Billy up to his bedroom.
Mr. Ken told Wayne that if there wasn't something pressing, that he needed to know about right then and there, he'd catch up with him in the morning. Both men then headed to their respective bedrooms.
When the boys woke up that Friday morning, they couldn't wait to get downstairs to see their 'dad'. Matthew was the first one to the Kitchen Nook and as soon as he saw the man, he jumped on him and welcomed him back home.
"I'm glad you're back, 'dad'," said the youngest Cover, as he hugged the man.
The other boys came into the Nook, while Matthew was hugging the man, and they got in line to also welcome their 'dad' back home.
After the five boys welcomed their 'dad' Ken back home, Billy said "Good morning Mr. Ken, and thank you again, for taking me on that awesome trip." The older teen then went over to the man and hugged him.
Momma had breakfast ready for the Covers and served the boys first. She then served Mr. Ken and then Mr. Wayne. As the boys ate, they asked Billy what he did during his trip. The teen gave them an almost minute-by-minute description of everything he'd done. Mr. Ken just inwardly smiled at how Billy told the boys about his special trip.
Breakfast was a drawn-out affair due to Billy's lengthy description of everything he did on his trip and answering the questions the boys asked him. It wasn't until Mr. Chris arrived, that the boys realized the morning was getting away from them and they still needed to get their showers and get dressed for the day.
Momma gave Mr. Chris a hot cup of coffee and two of her sweet rolls to tide him over while the boss finished reading his morning newspaper. The Estate Manager did tell his employer about the things he and Wayne discussed about the upcoming Picnic, the charity food booths, the carnival ride operator, and his projected arrival, the fire extinguishers, fireworks contractor and that the local fire chief did want to bring his people to The Cove and conduct a Fire Drill.
Mr. Ken was pleased that the man was on top of things and told him so. The owner of The Cove told his two employees that he wanted to get cleaned up before they all sat down and talked over those issues and anything else that came up while he was gone. He asked them to give him forty minutes.
The boys continued to talk to Billy about his special trip, while they all took their showers. Charles especially asked him about the rides he rode at Six Flags Over Texas and how he liked Speed Zone. The two teens talked about the rides they both rode and how they liked them. They also talked about which ones they thought their 'dad' should try to add to his amusement parks
Matthew asked him what he did at the Museum of American Railroad. When Matthew heard about the 2,500-square-foot G-scale train model railroad layout being completed, and how it looked, the youngest Cover was disappointed that he might never get to see it. The young Cover did compare what he saw with what Billy saw, though.
Then the Covers had to discuss Speed Zone and what they did there. They each had a different experience, but the one main thing they all agreed with was that their 'dad' needed to add a Slick Trax type of racetrack to Four Corners.
When the three Cover men got together, Mr. Chris started discussing what he'd been doing while Mr. Ken was gone. The Estate Manager told the owner of The Cove that the carnival operator would like to arrive on Friday the second of July to begin setting up, so he had all day Saturday to test the rides.
Mr. Chris said he approved that early arrival as it would allow the church groups to set up their booths that Saturday. Mr. Ken agreed that was the best thing to do.
Mr. Chris also said the extinguisher company would deliver the fire extinguishers either Thursday or Friday and would offload them in the Parking Coral as they did last year. The church groups will have to pick them up and place them at their booths before they can open up on Sunday.
"What about the fireworks contractor, Chris?" asked Mr. Ken.
"Boss, the fireworks contractor said he has the permit for the night of the 4th of July. He told me that the same parameters will apply as they have the past four years. He added he'll begin setting up the barge early that morning and will shoot off a few reports, you know, loud bangs, during the day to test the winds and to focus the people's attention to the fireworks display later that evening," finished Chris Dominions.
"What do you have for me, Wayne?" asked Mr. Ken.
"Nothing as spectacular as Chris there, but there was one item he forgot to mention. It seems the local Fire Chief wants to conduct a fire drill, here at The Cove, after the Picnic. I'm sure Chris has the particulars.
"As for what happened while you were away, the boys used the PWCs a few times and they swam in the cove waters to test the new water toy, Rock it. It seems they like it. They did ask me to remind you that you told them they could have a sleepover before the 4th's Picnic. They said they would like to do it next Tuesday," chuckled Mr. Wayne.
While the Cover men talked about what transpired at The Cove while Mr. Ken and Billy were gone, the Cover boys' friends began arriving for the day. It was Kevin's team's turn to be responsible for the barbeque, so they filled the dispensers and put the sodas on ice, before they went out on the Skate Park to hone their skateboard moves.
Billy and his friends gathered under the Pavilion and talked about what Billy did on his 3-day trip. As Billy talked about his trip, he noticed that Kaden was missing. He asked the others if they knew where Kaden was, but they didn't know.
Brett told Billy that yesterday Kaden got a phone call and left early, and he hadn't seen nor heard from him since. The other freshmen told the Cover they hadn't heard from the missing teen either, but figured he'd show up late as he'd done in the past. They all laughed.
Billy did tell his friends about the Ranger's baseball game, his watching both teams take batting practice and how he got two foul balls and a t-shirt. He told them about their seats being high up on the first base side so they could look down on the plays.
Lonnie asked if it wouldn't have been better being lower and seeing the play develop rather than looking down. Billy said he asked Mr. Ken that same question, but after they watched the game from above, he saw that he could watch the ball go from player to player and see the play develop better than if he was to look through all the players and miss something.
Since none of the other teens had been to a major league baseball game, they couldn't dispute what Billy said and why Mr. Ken wanted to watch the ballgame from way up high. They had to take Billy's word for that and they moved on to other aspects of Billy's trip.
When it came to Billy's take on Six Flags Over Texas, the teens were all ears. They loved Billy's telling of the steel hyper coaster Titan and its 255-foot drop, its two back-to-back 540-degree spirals and the banked turns. They all whistled when the Cover told them the ride was supposed to have been clocked at 85 mph.
Billy then told his friends about the wooden roller coaster Judge Roy Scream that was only about 70 feet high and that even though it was small the airtime it gave him was lots of fun. Then Billy told them about riding the Texas SkyScreamer. He told them that was 400 feet high and had swung him around in a 124-foot circle at about 35 miles per hour. The teens couldn't believe it. Billy told them to Google it and watch the videos.
Billy told his friends how Mr. Ken had him ride the Roaring Rapids, a white-water rafting ride, where he got soaking wet. Then he told them that when he complained that his foster dad only did it to get him wet, he said the man told him he didn't melt. The teens all laughed at Billy and called him a wuss for not wanting to get wet.
Billy told the teens about all of the roller coasters he rode and how much he either liked them or hadn't. He told them that Mr. Freeze was a blast because they were shot out of a building, in reverse, into a "top hat" loop into a 180-degree overbanked turn, a big, glorious arch and a ridiculously fast straight launch up a 236-foot tower, still riding backwards Then they did it all over again, but that time facing forward. Billy told his friends it was one of the best rides there.
There were so many rides that Billy rode that day, that he had a difficult time keeping them all straight. He eventually took out his cell phone and called up the website so he could review it. That way he could tell his friends which ones he did ride and then tell them all about them.
Billy told them about the steel hybrid roller coaster the Texas Giant. He told his friends how he wasn't prepared for the 79-degree first drop, its high banking turns and lots of airtime all before they went through three tunnels before coming back to where they started.
Billy's friends began going to YouTube on their phones and watching the videos so they could see for themselves what the ride was like so they could appreciate what the Cover was telling them. It made the story all that more real for them.
Billy told them all about Catwoman, Batman, the Ride, Justice League, Battle for Metropolis, Pandemonium, Runaway Mountain, The Joker, Conquistador, El Sombrero, Mini Mine Train, and the log flume ride El Aserradero. His friends watched all of the videos and wished they could have been there too.
When Billy finished telling his friends about the first two days of his trip, Kaden still hadn't arrived at the Cove. Billy pulled out his cell phone and called his friend to ask him where he was, but the call went directly to voicemail, so he left a message for Kaden to call him.
All the teens were surprised Kaden hadn't shown by then. There were times the teen came to The Cove late and used the excuse he forgot he had told someone he would meet them or something else came up. But this was the first time he was this late.
Brett had Kaden's home phone number, so he called it, hoping the teen's mom would know where Kaden was. But when the phone rang no one answered it, and there was no answering machine for him to leave a message. All the teenagers were perplexed by Kaden's absence.
Billy continued his story, figuring he could give Kaden the Reader's Digest Version of his trip when he arrived.
Billy then told his friends that Mr. Ken had him choose two from either the Dallas World Aquarium, the Museum of American Railroad or Speed Zone for his third day. The Cover teen told his friends that his foster dad told him to sleep on it and tell him in the morning.
Billy then told the teenager about fixing Texas-shaped waffles for his breakfast and smothering them with butter and maple syrup and washing it down with a large glass of orange juice and then having two blueberry muffins. They all laughed at what the Cover ate.
Billy told them he decided to go to the Museum of the American Railroad first. He said it sounded interesting and when he got there, he was glad he had chosen it. The Cover teen told his friends about the 2500 square foot G-gauge railroad model layout and everything that there was to see.
After describing the professionally built model train layout, Billy told the teens about the locomotives he'd seen but especially the 4-8-8-4 steam locomotive. The Cover told them he couldn't believe how big the Bog Boy engine was and that it was something he'd only ever seen in pictures. He told them seeing it close up was the only way to appreciate its size.
Billy told his friends about all the rolling stock the Museum had out in the train yard for them to look at. He told them he was especially impressed with all the passenger cars, which included, dining, observation and sleeper cars. Billy also told them about the cabooses they walked through and how neat it was to sit up high and be able to look out over the train if that was where you were supposed to be.
Billy then told his friends all about Speed Zone and the special race tracks he drove on there. His friends all laughed as he told them about his trying to shift the gears for the dragster as it went flying down the track to the finish line. The Cover told them he'd never driven a car, let alone shifted a manual transmission, so he had no clue as to what to do. He did tell them he came in third in the third race.
At the Turbo Track he told them how he felt at home on the course. He explained that the track was similar to Mr. Ken's course at Four Corners and when he went out on the track, he felt comfortable, and he came in first with Mr. Ken coming in a close second.
Billy described how the carts were custom-scaled cars with high-torque engines that made lots of noise as you raced. He added that there were 18 other drivers on the track with you, so you had to know what you were doing if you wanted to win, which he did. Billy told his friends that he and Mr. Ken did that race twice, but he only won the one time.
"Guys, the one racetrack that I drove on and I told Mr. Ken I hoped he would build here was called Slick Trax. This track was polished concrete and if you weren't' careful you could spin out quicker than blinking. Go ahead and find a YouTube video for it.
"I was so used to driving the Go-Karts here so, that when the light went Green, I pushed the gas pedal down fast and the wheels spun. I felt so embarrassed. But I did get the wheels to grab and away I went.
"It was so neat to be able to slide around the corners without having to completely turn the wheel. You just had to know when to turn and how much, so you didn't oversteer and then find yourself in a spin. We did that race twice, but I don't think five races would have given me enough practice that I could have even come in third," was how Billy described how he drove the Slick Trax carts.
The Cover's friends did watch the video someone posted of the Slick Trax
racetrack and saw how easy it was to spin out, but also how fun it looked to slide through the turns on the polished concrete. After hearing Billy's tales of what he got to do they were inwardly jealous.
The telling of his trip took longer than Billy expected and before the five older teenagers knew it, Kevin's team was getting the barbeque ready to burn the burgers and dogs. The lifeguards assigned to his team were there helping and Billy was happy to see that their decision to include everyone in the barbeques was a good one.
The three Cover men were invited to eat with the boys and while they ate, many of the boys tried to sit by them in order to talk to them and ask them about the upcoming 4th of July Picnic. Some of the boys wanted to hear about Billy's trip, so they tried to sit by him.
After everyone had their fill and the barbeque was being put away, Mr. Ken got the boys' attention.
"Boys … we've been trying this Cover Team system for almost a week now, so … well, I want to know what you all think about it. Is it involving everyone? Do you feel it is fair to everyone? Is there some tweaking that needs to be done? So, tell me what you think," asked Mr. Ken.
All the boys looked around at one another waiting for someone else to speak up. When no one said anything, Billy stepped forward and asked if everyone had been assigned to a Team and helped with a barbeque. Everyone said they had.
Billy asked if being on a Team interfered with their skating or swimming? No one said it had. He asked if the Lists that were created were helpful, or did they need to be refined. A few of the boys spoke up then and said they felt a few things were out of sequence, but otherwise were helpful to keep them from forgetting to do something.
It was then someone spoke up and said that some items on the shelves were getting low and they needed to be restocked or else they would be eating off the plates without buns.
Robert spoke up and said he gave the List to Momma Maria before lunch, and she should be home soon with the supplies. He told everyone that when she returned, she would need help. It was then Momma drove over to the Pavilion with a car packed with barbeque supplies.
Mr. Ken directed the boys to help unload the vehicle and stock the shelves with the old items in the front so they would be used first. The man saw how much the woman had to buy and knew she needed someone to go with her the next time to help with buying and getting it into either her vehicle or the Sprinter van.
It was while the boys were stocking the shelves that Deputy Sheriff, Lt. Fischer came into The Cove followed by Sheriff's Detectives Lt. Matthias and Sgt. Roberts. The three Sheriff's Deputies drove to the front of the house, went to the Foyer Door and rang the doorbell.
Mr. Ken saw the three men arrive and he, Wayne and Chris hurried down to see what they wanted. The boys also saw the Sheriff's Deputies arrive and started talking amongst themselves as to what could be wrong that the three of them had to come at the same time.
About ten minutes later Billy's and Charles' cell phones rang and they were asked to come to Mr. Ken's Study. Robert started to go with them, but Billy told him his dad told him to tell his 'brothers' not to come down to the house.
Robert, Matthew and the twins were completely perplexed over that turn of events. They wanted to know why their 'brothers' had to talk to Mr. Dan and the detectives. Robert was now afraid for Billy and Charles, but he didn't say anything to the three younger Covers, as he didn't want to alarm them.
The rest of the Covers' friends all wondered why Billy and Charles had to go down to the house and probably speak to the Sheriff's Deputies. They began to talk amongst themselves and when Robert heard them, he told them to stop speculating and that they'd all find out soon enough.
Comments are encouraged and appreciated. Just use the email address listed at the top of the page.