Dark Ride (41 page)

Chapter 154

“Okay, Clyde, you ready? Let's go find your door,” Jimmy says. He pulls the long black flashlight from his belt.

It appears to Clyde that Officer Dockins has decided to bring along a couple of the Crime Scene cops in their grey suits to accompany them.

Suddenly, the blustering voice of Howard Snodgrass wails, “Why have I heard nothing about this until now?”

The portly man waddles over to the gathering of officers, followed by Officer Quinn, who looks apologetically at Dockins as Howard plows forward.

He is obviously agitated and asks, “Clyde, why am I being questioned about a secret door?”

Clyde feels he has already been subjugated to enough humiliation for one night and decides not to answer.

Dockins says, “Mr. Snodgrass, what are you doing? For Pete's sake, Quinn, can we keep anyone away from Mr. Spahn?” He gives a sigh.

Snodgrass looks at Clyde and, after waiting several seconds for a response, says, “Okay, Clyde, we're gonna play it that way, huh? Mums the word?”

“Mr. Snodgrass, please come with me,” Quinn says and firmly grabs the man by the arm.

Snodgrass holds his ground, though, and says, “Wait just one stinkin' minute, Officer. I have something to say…for the record.”

The portly man stands stiff, straightens his tie, clears his throat, and makes a big to do over his next few words.

“Honestly, Officer, I have no idea what this man is talking about. Secret door—ha!” He pauses, looking at his audience to make sure he has their full attention, before continuing, “Officer, if anyone knows this park, it's me. There's no secret door in this building. I know this park almost as well as I do the back of my hand.”

The absurdity of the last statement makes Clyde grin a little. As far as he knows, Snodgrass has never even been inside the ride. Still, he understands why Snodgrass is upset. If there turns out to be a secret door inside one of the rides that several children could have disappeared into, the Douglas Finch case might get back on the front page of the paper along with news of this current disappearance of teens. Clyde could see the headlines now, wild stories linking the two incidents, blaming the park for doing nothing about the mysterious door. In fact, there were about three
reporters already assembled here ready to write those articles. This could have all sorts of ramifications for Howard Snodgrass and the park's owner, The Newcastle group.
No wonder Howard is on the war path
, Clyde thinks.

Officer Dockins says, “All right, Howard, we get it, enough.” After a moment of consideration, he suggests, “Mr. Snodgrass, since you are the authority on this ride, why don't you accompany us inside. Then we can all find out together if there is truth behind what your employee is relating to us?”

Clyde shoots a look at Snodgrass and thinks,
This will be interesting
.

“Uh, no, that's okay. I don't want to get in your way and all,” Snodgrass replies.

“It was not a question,” Dockins states.

Clyde leads the group into the ride. He is followed by Dockins and the two grey-suited cops from the Crime Scene Unit. Behind them is Howard Snodgrass, and pulling up the rear is Officer Quinn.

The crew, for the most part, remains silent, save for the occasional question.

Inside the Little Red Room, they pass the missing wolf statue.

As they exit this room, Dockins asks, “Clyde, how many times exactly have you seen this mysterious appearing door?”

“Oh, I reckon I've heard the music three or four times. But I've heard the music more than I've seen the door. I have only seen the door this one time.”

In the pit of Clyde's stomach there is already despair.
Will it be there?
he worries, but in his heart, he knows it will not be. He considers how he will be dismissed as a fool and forced to spend more time in front of those pesky doctors.
They'll parade me down to the hospital, run those tests. I'll have to talk to a psychologist twice a week for a year
, he imagines. The entire prospect tires him. But, what scares him is thinking,
Worse yet, they may think for sure that I did something to the kids.
Suddenly, a chattering sound emits from a spot Clyde has just passed.
What is that?
he wonders and turns around.

“What is it, Clyde?” Dockins whispers.

“Do you hear that clattering sound?”

Dockins gives a hushed chuckle and says, “It's Snodgrass. His teeth are chattering. He's scared out of his mind.”

Clyde experiences a temporary feeling of guilty pleasure but lets it go. He knows they are getting close to the room where the door appeared.

By now, they should be able to hear the calliope music if it were playing, and its absence depresses Clyde. This is ironic for a man who had spent so much of his life praying he would never hear that awful pipe organ again.

The group moves into the room where Clyde had left the kids. It is dead quiet. Clyde breaks the silence by saying, “You know where we are now?”

A dull feeling of heartache builds in the old man. He stops and looks around, thinking,
Here we are again in the room where this whole mess started. One stupid mistake…leaving those kids.

Jimmy says, “Clyde, we've been through this room several times. It's really not why we are in here now. Where's the room with your mysterious door?”

“Oh, sorry, lost in thought. It's actually the very next room.”

There's still no music. Clyde thinks,
This is bad.

As Clyde pushes to open the door into the next room, he feels something resist, as if something or someone is coming out of the door. He let's go quickly, not knowing what to expect.

“What's going on, Clyde?” Officer Dockins asks.

Suddenly the door bursts open.

The officers fumble with their belts, reaching for side arms.

Howard Snodgrass makes a pterodactyl-like sound and ducks down behind one of the men in suits.

Clyde looks up in total shock as the four teens spill through the opening.

A total and overpowering sense of relief floods through Clyde, who calls out, “Jack!”

“Oh man, Clyde, have we got a story for you,” Jack says.

All four of them are standing there, looking like they have just stepped out of a blender.

Good grief, what in the world happened to them?
Clyde thinks.

“These are the four kids then, Clyde?” Dockins asks with his radio already nearing his lips.

“Of course they are, Jimmy.”

But where had they been?
Clyde wonders.

The burden of the night had been lifted and during the procession back to the front of the ride, the kids tell outrageous tales to the policemen, who respond with strange looks and occasional, outright “no ways.” Clyde doesn't pay much attention to this conversation, though. He knows he can catch up later. The old man does, however, focus in on one entertaining conversation that Howard Snodgrass is having over his cell phone.

Snodgrass barks, “We found the kids, Pritchard…. No, I'm not sure what the parents will do.” Then, in a muffled voice, he asks, “How much is it gonna cost to keep this outta court?”

Chapter 155

Jack's heart races. They have arrived at the last set of doors before the outside. He wants to run. He wants to burst through the doors. Then a thought occurs to him:
My parents are gonna be hacked.
He decides he will just have to face the music and realizes that he doesn't care, thinking,
At this point, they could ground me for a year and I would still be happy
.

Officer Quinn opens the doors, Scotty immediately blows past Jack and leaps into the outstretched arms of his mom. Suddenly, there is a loud round of applause from the onlookers while reporters hold up cameras, trying to capture whatever celebratory shots they can. The entire scene appears chaotic with the crowd forming a blob around the exit party, ignoring cries of the officers shouting, “Stay back!”

Jack navigates his way through the crowd, seemingly oblivious to the pats on his back and the barrage of questions from reporters. He peers through the crowd for any sign of his parents. He also looks for Blair and ponders,
I never would have thought I would long to see her.

By this point, Amy has joined Scotty with their parents. She, too, gives her mom a giant squeeze around the neck.

“Where have you been?” asks Mrs. Carnahan.

“Are you okay?” Mr. Carnahan asks.

Meanwhile, Mason has found his dad and is already boasting, “You should have seen me in there.”

All of a sudden, Jack feels two arms wrap around him from behind. He recognizes the gentle squeeze and exclaims, “Mom!”

Upon turning around, he sees the tear-stained eyes of his mother, which causes him to start crying, too.

He tells her, “I'm so sorry. I know I shouldn't have—”

“Shhhh, later, Jack. I am just so happy you're safe,” his mom says.

Wallace Braddock places a hand on Jack's shoulder and says, “You really gave us a scare there, kiddo.”

“Dad!” Jack responds. He turns to his father and gives him a giant hug, as well.

Wallace is not used to this kind of attention from his son, and he looks awkward for a second before warmly returning the embrace.

As Jack's cheek rests on his father's chest, he spots Blair and sees that she is tearing up. Jack thinks this might just be the most unbelievable thing he's seen the entire night. He releases his father's embrace and approaches her.

Blair, in spite of her tears, says, “Do you realize how much trouble you've caused me tonight?”

Jack laughs and thinks,
Same old Blair.

The happy reunions continue as the police get control of the crowd. Now, only the families and some of the officers surround the teens.

At this point, Jack looks at Amy. She catches his gaze and winks before going back to embracing her twin sisters, one of whom is holding a large, and rather tattered, stuffed blue bear. Scotty, at the same time, is attempting to tell his dad about everything that happened but going so fast that Houston Carnahan has to tell him to slow down three times.

Several feet away, Mason continues to confidently tell his father about how many times he had to save the others.

Jack thinks the scene is perfect.

Clyde is in the mix, as well. Policemen are giving him handshakes and good-natured pats on the back. In particular, Jimmy Dockins lauds Clyde's efforts to find the missing kids.

The unbelievable stories relating to a mysterious door do not seem to matter much to the officers or the families, who are just grateful to have their children back.

Still, Scotty pulls his mother towards Jack and says, “Look, mom, we have proof. It's not my imagination. Jack got bit by a snake. It nearly killed him, but I made this medicine.”

Hearing this disturbing news, Jack's parents crowd around him.

“You were bit by a snake?” Wallace asks.

Jack moves his shirt to show the bite marks. However, they are nowhere to be seen.

Epilogue

The mayor of Cassidy Falls has been speaking for what seems like an hour.

Standing just behind the mayor on the stage of amphitheater is Clyde, who yanks uncomfortably at his tie. This is the first time he's worn one since his tenth wedding anniversary. A few days ago, Clyde was uncertain about what life had in store for him. As far as he was concerned, the only career he'd known was finished. The park had closed and the rides that could be salvaged were sold, while the others were fodder for the wrecking ball. In their place, the construction of a new mall had begun almost immediately.

For the next couple of mornings after its closure, Clyde continued to wake up, put on his work clothes, and think,
I need to check the bumper cars.
He would even get into his car and start the ignition before remembering that the park had indeed been shut down for good. He considered moving to Virginia to live with his daughter, but then two weeks after the park had closed, he received a phone call telling him to be at the city park at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

Now, standing before what looks to be the entire town of Cassidy Falls, Clyde hears the mayor coming to the conclusion of his long-winded speech, saying, “For all your service to the children of our beloved city, we honor you, Clyde Spahn.”

The mayor hands Clyde a plaque, and as the mayor reads the words on it aloud, Clyde cannot help but allow a small tear to well up in the corner of his right eye.

Thunderous applause fills the nighttime sky.

Shaking his head in disbelief, Clyde is even more stunned as the mayor continues, “Clyde, in addition to this, the city council has decided to offer you a position as the new head of the City Parks and Rec Department.”

Once again the crowd applauds in hearty approval.

Clyde is overwhelmed by the offer, but he knows immediately that he will accept it. Then the mayor launches into a self-serving rambling about how the new Parks and Rec Department would be the envy of the state. Clyde takes this moment to scan the crowd and spies Scotty Carnahan. The boy meets the man's gaze and gives him a smile and a wave. Clyde nods and thinks back to that night.

No one else had believed the four teenagers, for it had all seemed too absurd. The little group's initial story was dismissed as the delusions of four terrified kids. Later, when questioned by the police, they changed their tune and said they had simply got lost in the dark, so their initial musings to the cops were officially recorded as “mutual hallucinations,” which were understood as the effects of being lost in a ride with so many troublesome images. In accounting for why it took so long to find the group, the official explanation was that the kids had gotten lost in a dark part of the ride and apparently continued moving around just out of sight of the various search parties.

Clyde continues looking around, and his eyes make out a person who appears to be Howard Snodgrass.
No
, thinks Clyde,
he wouldn't be here. It's not him.
He allows himself a chuckle when thinking of the man's fate. Howard had been re-assigned to work in the new mall as head of security, a crystal clear demotion. The Newcastle Group obviously frowned on the fact that Titus Chick had left the closing park with a parting gift—one giant lawsuit. Clyde relished the thought of Snodgrass spending the rest of his working life watching closed circuit TVs and running off loitering teens at the new Storybook Hollow Mall where “shopping dreams come to life.”

Just behind the crowd, he spots his other present. The city park had bought the Dutch Swings and Blackbeard's Pirate Ship, and as part of his new job, Clyde would still get his fix of tinkering with these old amusements.

While hoping the mayor would finish any moment now, the old man spots a young couple holding hands and standing halfway back amongst the crowd. Clyde catches Jack's eye and gives him a wink. He whispers something to Amy, and she grins.

The mayor at last concludes his speech, and applause breaks out yet again.

“Congratulations, Clyde, you deserve this,” says the mayor, shaking Clyde's hand.

Someone in the crowd calls out, “Speech!”

However, Clyde just waves uncomfortably and waltzes off to the side of the stage.

He is swarmed by a throng of well-wishers, but as people congratulate him, his only thought is that he wishes Edna could see this, although she would have been just as embarrassed as he is by all the attention.

It takes Clyde a full 30 minutes to navigate through the crowd toward the front of the park. As he makes his way toward his car, a local construction crew catches his eye. They are struggling to place a large black metal archway at the entrance to the park. Clyde feels a small twinge of uncomfortable recognition when he sees what is etched into the cast iron frame:

The Enchanted Forrest.