Robert had set his alarm clock for 9 AM. Mr. Wayne told the boys that if they were downstairs by 9:30 he'd take them out to breakfast. As soon as Robert's alarm went off, he woke Logan and told him he was going to wake the others and that he should go pee and wash his face and hands, then get dressed.
Robert didn't bother doing the Three Knock Rule when he went into his 'brothers' bedrooms. They'd seen each other's morning flagpole many times so why waste time knocking, thought Robert.
"Wake up, wake up," yelled Robert, as he entered the twins' bedroom. "You have 27 minutes to get cleaned up and downstairs, so get out of bed."
Robert went to Charles' room and walked right in and found Charles and Cooper sleeping in the same bed, but they were just sleeping. Neither of them faced the other and their boxer shorts and t-shirts were not on the floor as Robert's and Eric's were the previous day.
"Wake up you two, wake up!" called out big 'brother' Robert. "You have less than 25 minutes to get cleaned up and downstairs, so Mr. Wayne will take us out to breakfast."
Cooper rolled over to Charles and seeing his friend was awake said, "I'm glad you had us put our shorts and t-shirts on before we got too sleepy. What would your 'brother' say if he saw them on the floor," offered Cooper?
"He'd laugh and tease us some, but only here in my room. He and Eric share a bed when they sleep over, but don't say anything to anyone, OK?" explained Charles. "Come on, let's go pee and if you want we can take a quick shower or just wash our face and get dressed."
Cooper said he'd rather take a quick shower because he felt like stink, so after he peed he went to the showers and turned one on. Charles followed suit. They both regulated the temperature and rinsed, used some soap on their crotch, butt and underarms and then rinsed off real quick.
As the two friends dried off, Cooper said he now felt human again and was glad they did that. The two lads quickly walked to Charles' room, got dressed and were down in the Study with 2 minutes to spare.
"Hey, you two took a shower, didn't you?" asked Kyle.
"How can you tell?" smiled Charles.
Kyle walked over to his 'brother' and smelled him. "Hey you did take a shower. How come?"
"We both smelled like a boy who just woke up, so we rinsed, washed the important parts, dried off and got dressed. Oh, and we peed, too," chuckled Charles.
"Oh,' was all Kyle said. Then to his twin, he said, "That's the kind of stuff 'dad', I think, was saying this morning about doing what is right. I wished I'd taken a quick shower. I feel kinda grungy." Kevin said he agreed with his twin.
Just before the group walked out of the Study the phone rang. When Mr. Wayne answered it he found it was Mr. Ken calling to talk to his 'boys'.
"Good morning, 'boys'," said Mr. Ken. "I thought I'd try to catch you before you went out to breakfast. I'll bet Mr. Wayne took you to drive go-karts again and then over to the miniature golf place before taking you out to DQ," laughed 'dad' Ken.
"Yeah, 'dad', Mr. Wayne did that for us again," started Robert. "We're on our way to eat breakfast, but we don't know where we're going yet. Yesterday we went to IHOP. So, how was the second park compared to the one you went to on Friday?"
"'Son', they are all different setups and different sizes, as you well know, so there really isn't any comparison. They both had a good product to offer last night and if the crowds were any indications the people were happy, too. Boys, I know Mr. Wayne wants to get you to breakfast and back in time for your other friends to arrive. I'll call you tonight since you have school tomorrow. Have a good breakfast," said Mr. Ken as he hung up.
"I wanted to talk to him," whined Charles.
"He said he'll call us tonight. Let's get in the van and let Mr. Wayne tell us where he's taking us," spoke up Robert.
All nine loaded into the van and again Mr. Wayne asked the boys where they wanted to go. This time Grant offered Taco Cabana saying they had great breakfast tacos. Blake suggested Denny's as they had eggs and pancakes and omelets like IHOP has. Logan suggested McDonalds's and everyone booed him. Everyone had a good laugh over that.
"Boys ... do you want a regular breakfast at Denny's or do you want to compare Momma Maria's breakfast tacos' to Taco Cabana? Let's all forget about Mickey D's for breakfast," asked Mr. Wayne.
The boys racked their brains to try to think of other places they could go for breakfast, but in the end, they decided on Denny's.
When they sat down and looked at the menu they were surprised at the differences Denny's menu had from IHOP's. What the boys liked was that Denny's had breakfast sandwiches and the boys started to read what they contained and before they knew it most of the lads were going to order one of the three different Breakfast Sandwiches they offered.
Three lads ordered their Loaded Breakfast Sandwich. It had two strips of bacon, shaved ham, American cheese and an egg cooked to order on a toasted English muffin. It was served with crispy hash browns cooked with diced bacon and shredded Cheddar cheese. Two of the boys added milk and one wanted orange juice.
Three more lads ordered the Moons Over My Hammy sandwich which had ham and scrambled eggs smothered with Swiss and American cheeses on a grilled sourdough roll and served with hash browns. Orange juice was their choice of drink.
The Grand Slamwich with two scrambled eggs, crumbled sausage, bacon, shaved ham and American cheese on potato bread grilled with a maple spice spread and served with hash browns was ordered by two from the group of nine. One wanted milk and one asked for orange juice.
The odd man out was Mr. Wayne. He decided to order the Lumberjack Slam with two new fluffy buttermilk pancakes, a slice of grilled ham, two bacon strips, two sausage links and two sunny side up eggs, plus hash browns and two slices of white toast. He also ordered coffee to help wash it all down.
The large group asked Mr. Wayne if he'd show them some of his skateboard moves after they get back to The Cove. They also asked him to help them with their form and to teach them some new tricks. Mr. Wayne told them he had already promised Sam and Terran that he would, and that he was looking forward to being out there with them all. The lads all smiled at hearing that.
When their food arrived the waitress came back and refilled all their drink selections. The table was very quiet as everyone dug into their food. A few of the boys decided to share so they could taste what the other one had. Kevin and Kyle were two of the boys who'd done just that.
As they finished their meals, the boys began talking about how different that breakfast was from all the others they could remember having. They said the way it was presented and the flavors were awesome and they were glad they stopped there for breakfast.
When the bill came Mr. Wayne took out his Black AmEx card and presented it to the waitress. The waitress took the offered credit card, but went directly to her manager. The manager looked it over and then called American Express to validate the card. The manager learned that the card was indeed good and that they shouldn't upset the owner by saying anything about the card but to just run it like they would any other credit card and leave it at that.
The waitress presented the credit slip for Mr. Wayne to sign and the man gave the waitress a fifty dollar tip for being so good with all the kids. When the group left she went to her manager and thanked her for not asking the man for any identification as he just gave her a $50.00 tip on a $145.00 check. The manager was happy for the woman and walked away with a smile on her face and a lesson learned.
When the van returned to The Cove a few of the lads' friends were waiting at the Main Gate for them. The boys offloaded at the gate while Mr. Wayne drove the van into the estate. Before long just about all the boys who were coming that day showed up and they all walked down to the ramps.
The lads were out at the ramps for about fifteen minutes when Mr. Wayne came out to show the lads his tricks and to help them hone theirs better. The man took Logan's board and went to work on showing the boys how easy it was to do the things he had showed them. After about ten minutes of showing off, Mr. Wayne got the lads to line up and he had them try a few of the tricks he had done for them without being on the ramps.
Once they'd done that and felt comfortable with the new trick, they each tried it on the ramps accompanied with the other things they were already doing. Some lads were able to do the trick Mr. Wayne showed them and others just couldn't get the hang of it, but they continued to try it away from the ramps.
Mr. Wayne spent an hour out on the ramps with the boys before he excused himself and went into the house to do some work. The boys were disappointed the man went inside, but they thanked him for taking the time to show them some new stuff. Mr. Wayne smiled all the way into the house.
After the lads skated on the ramps awhile they decided to go swim. Kyle went inside to ask Wayne if he was going to swim with the boys and hearing he would, Kyle went down to the Locker Room to tell them. Kyle still had his cast on his arm and wasn't swimming, but would watch his friends.
After swimming, the lads cooked some burgers and dogs and sat around talking to Mr. Wayne. They again thanked him for working with them on their board skills and told him they hoped he'd show them more if he was there the next time.
Since it was Sunday, the parents came for their lads around 5 PM. Those boys who rode their bikes headed off just as the parents started to stop by. The Cover lads thanked their friends for coming by and before they knew it they were off to Four Corners Diner for dinner.
The Cover lads liked going to the Diner side of the Four Corner eatery since they didn't have to get dressed up. They had the same good foods as the restaurant side, but without all the fuss.
The boys talked with Mr. Wayne about the wonderful weekend they just had. They told him he made the weekend fun and they essentially forgot about their 'dad' being gone. That brought a laugh to Mr. Wayne's face that the boys couldn't figure out.
When they all finished eating. Mr. Wayne gave the boys the choice of driving the go-karts or playing miniature golf. They all chose the go-karts.
That night as the Cover lads sat around playing Parcheesi with Mr. Wayne, Mr. Ken called to talk to the boys. The game was quickly forgotten as the boys crowded the Study speakerphone. They all just had to tell 'Dad' Ken about their weekend and what Mr. Wayne did for them. They also thanked him for hiring Mr. Wayne to be their chaperone for the weekend.
Mr. Ken told the boys about the two Spook-Tac-U-Lair's he'd been to and was telling them he was looking forward to seeing how that last amusement park handled theirs. He further told them that he'd approved the parks to hold a Christmas Jubilee to see how they can handle that and to do a cost analysis to see if it would at least break even.
The boys then asked him if he thought he could take them all to visit the parks during their Christmas vacation. Mr. Ken reminded them that they had to get ready for The Cove's Christmas party and then the New Year's Eve Party. He said they'd have to look at the school schedule and then see if they could work a day or two in to visit the parks. That put a big smile on their faces.
They hung up when 'dad' Ken told them he needed to get a move on so he could watch the start of the Spook-Tac-U-Lair, so he could see how this park handled theirs. The boys said they missed him and they couldn't wait until he got home. The owner of The Cove told them he wouldn't be home until late tomorrow afternoon and should be home by the time they got back from school.
They went back to playing Parcheesi since Kyle still couldn't swim and his 'brothers' felt bad he missed out on the fun the last two nights. The boys were very competitive in any game but it was according to the throw of the dice and the moves the player made as to who would win. Mr. Wayne won to the chagrin to the Cover boys. They had their snack before heading up to bed.
Mr. Wayne did stop by each of their rooms and thanked them for being such good kids. He didn't hug them but he did pat them on their heads before heading back down to the Study to finish what he was doing over the weekend.
The boys had such a fun-filled and busy weekend that they immediately fell asleep as soon as they laid their heads down on their pillows.
The next morning, the boys all met in the bathroom before getting their showers then heading down to eat breakfast. They all said good morning to Mr. Wayne as they walked in and sat down. Momma Maria had breakfast already and waiting for them and they dug in and purred from the taste.
"Boys," started Mr. Wayne, "If your 'dad' gets home before you are back from school, I won't be here when you get home. I have a few things I didn't get done this weekend and I need to work on them before I head off to my evening job."
"What do you do at night, Mr. Wayne?" asked Kyle.
"Well, some nights I work at a call center and try to sell people the product we are selling that night," replied Mr. Wayne.
"Isn't that kinda boring sitting there all night and talking about the same thing time after time?" asked Kevin.
"I guess when you look at it that way it could be boring, but since I get to talk to a whole bunch of different people all night long it makes it interesting," explained Mr. Wayne.
"What do you try to sell to the people, Mr. Wayne?" asked Charles.
"Hmmm ... some nights we try to sell them the best flashlight in the world. Some nights we try to sell them cruise packages. One night we tried to get them to order treadmills, and another time we tried to sell them an exercise bike and a combination rowing machine. Those are the most difficult to get past their first description," laughed Mr. Wayne.
Robert looked at the time and told his 'brothers' they needed to get a move on and hurry up to the Bus Stop. They all thanked Momma Maria for their breakfast and then thanked Mr. Wayne again for watching over them for the weekend and making it a fun filled one. Then before long, the Cover lads were headed up the slight incline to wait for the school bus.
Mr. Chris got to The Cove about an hour after the boys went to school. He got his first cup of coffee and then searched out Wayne to see how the weekend went.
"I see you survived and are none the worse for wear," laughed Chris Dominions.
"Yes, you thought differently," smiled Wayne Mitchell.
"I figured you'd be all bloodied and limping around," laughed Charis.
"No, nothing that drastic. The boys' are well behaved and their friends are just as good," replied Wayne.
"So, what did you do to keep them occupied?" asked Chris.
"Well, Momma fixed us a great dinner and then we waited for their friends to arrive. I asked them what they wanted to do differently and told them to think outside of the box. Eventually, we went over to the Go-Kart track and drove those and then we played a round of miniature golf. Of course, we just had to finish the night off with a banana split," was how Wayne describe his first night.
Chris laughed at what the man and lads did. He then asked Wayne how the rest of the weekend went. Wayne and Chris sat down and for about a half hour the two talked about the weekend and how well Wayne thought the long weekend turned out.
Chris then got around to asking Wayne about the van. The boy's overseer/chaperone/stand-in/boy manager told the Estate Manager that he enjoyed the well-equipped vehicle. Wayne told Chris it rode and handled well and was comfortable to drive. Chris told Wayne that Mr. Ken was wanting him to purchase one for The Cove as there seemed to be more kids that needed to be driven around than his F-150 could handle. Wayne laughed at that thought and told Chris it would be a good purchase, or maybe as a lease in case Mr. Ken needed something even bigger, later. The two had a good chuckle over that.
Mr. Ken got home about 1 PM that afternoon. After the man got settled, he and Wayne talked about the weekend and how well the lads really did behave. The two men talked about future occasions that Wayne might be needed and Mr. Ken told his 'stand-in' that after Halloween came Thanksgiving, then Christmas and then New Years. Wayne asked him when he might he need him again.
The owner of The Cove told Wayne that they go to Collin's for Thanksgiving and he'd like him to go along. Mr. Ken also told Wayne that the lads want him to take them to visit his amusement parks during their Christmas vacation and he'd need an extra pair of hands and eyes to watch over the lads. He told Wayne that if he went to the parks they would want to talk to him and he couldn't be in two places at once.
Wayne told Mr. Ken that the Foster Parenting classes would begin that first week of November and run through just before Christmas, so he would only be available nights and weekends until then. Mr. Ken told his new 'charge manager' that he could live with that.
"Charge Manager, that's a new one," chuckled Wayne.
"Yeah, I've been trying to come up with a better title than 'stand-in', chaperone, overseer, and boy manager," said Mr. Ken. "That one is a bit easy-going. I also thought about Oversight Manager. That one has a good ring to it and it doesn't' convey anything about the boys. We'll need to come up with something that only we know what it truly means. I don't care what others think. It is the job and the responsibility that will matter."
"I guess you have things to do since I kept you from doing them the last four days. I hope you will accept working for me and helping me with the boys. It will be a full-time job with full benefits and perks, like the Black AmEx Card," laughed Mr. Ken.
"Mr. Ken ... this weekend was what I needed to see how the boys and their friends and I could get along. The first day was definitely a challenge. I wasn't sure when I confronted them about leaving me behind I'd be as calm and collected as I was. But, then I remembered seeing you dealing with the boys and I realized they responded to discussion and direction and so I asked them if they'd have done that if you were there.
"They immediately knew they messed up. After a few moments, I told them that I'd give them that one because they weren't used to being around me without their 'dad' around. After they thought about that for a few moments, Robert apologized and then gave me a hug. The other three soon followed their older 'brother'," finished Wayne.
"You know Wayne, I was glad you didn't overreact. I think the boy's appreciated it that you didn't yell and scream at them as that is what I never do. I've told them that I will never get mad at them, but I may be disappointed with their actions. You did that in your first try. Keeping a level head is what I try to do. These kids have been exposed to so much in their short lives I don't want them to be treated like they don't matter.
"We can talk about this more after you are fully onboard with me and the boys. Then, I'll tell you all about the lads and what hell they've been through, and why I try to be as mild and caring with them as I can be. You going to be OK with that?" finished Mr. Ken.
"Yes ... yes, I can be on the team. I'll call you later in the week," replied Wayne, and then he shook Mr. Ken's hand. Wayne then picked up his overnight bag and headed out to his car.
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