The Beginning (6 page)

We all went to lunch together, including Jerome. He was very interested in what happened at the meeting and what plans we had. In general, we had decided to shut the park down for about two months. Our experts were going to bring in teams to help fix up their respective areas of the park. In addition, we were going to build a parking garage. Not everything would be done in two months, but by opening day, the majority of it would be ready. The rest would be ready just enough to entice guests to want to come back when the different attractions opened.

After lunch Jerome returned with us to the hotel. Frankie went to the front desk and booked all the extra rooms we would need for the people coming down to help us out. The hotel’s owner was so excited to finally have her hotel filled. In fact, she had to call a friend of hers who owned a neighboring hotel to get all of the rooms that we would need.

She looked so happy that I was happy for her. But, I was still just a little concerned that these hotels were not up to the standards these people were used to. However, on the plus side maybe one of them would open a better hotel here. I didn’t want to run the small businesses out of business, but I did want to attract a higher end visitor. Surely there was room for both.

Pete brought the contract over personally. He was rather proud of himself and the way he handled George. I’d known Pete for years, I was proud of him too. Frankie and I signed the contract and Pete went down to make it official, whatever that meant.

Frankie, Jerome, and I sat together at a table in Frankie’s room and tried to plan exactly what to do next. We decided to call a mandatory meeting of all of the park’s employees. Everyone from the girl in the ticket booth to the head of HR must attend.

We also decided that everyone would go through the hiring process again. We would conduct interviews, get fingerprints, and do background checks on each and every employee. In addition, we wanted to make sure everyone had the job that made them the happiest. When Frankie and I were at the park that first day, it was obvious that most of the employees did not like their jobs nor were they motivated in any way to do a good job. When I questioned how we were going to do this, Frankie just looked at me and smiled.

“Of course, Honey, you called in another favor. Some famous HR firm is going to come in and do all of this for us?” I said smiling at him.

“Um, what?” Jerome said.

“Frankie is a financial genius. He’s made some connections in his career,” I said.

“Jerome,” Frankie said smiling, “finance is to me what engineering is to you.”

Jerome smiled, “something you’ve been dreaming about since you were a kid?”

“Exactly. By the way, you and I will talk more later, but you’re going to finish your degree and get your license so you can be the head of engineering for us.”

“I’m sorry, sir, I don’t understand?”

I thought I did. Frankie and I had discussed Jerome and how great it would be for him to finish his degree.

“You know the park, you love the park, and you know the rides. There is no one better to be in charge of the rides than you,” Frankie said.

Jerome smiled. “Thank you, but I can’t afford to finish school for a while. And I will not take charity. I must earn what I get.”

Frankie held his hands up, “it’s not charity. We will be starting a tuition program, and I think a scholarship program for deserving employees. You will be the first recipient. So, no pressure, but you are the one all the others will have to live up to.”

“I will be a role model for the other employees?” Jerome asked.

“Yes, you will,” I said.

“Ok, I can do that,” Jerome said smiling.

***

The next several days were full of meetings. Meetings with all of the experts. We met in groups, we met one on one. We met at scheduled times. We met when someone called and asked to meet. I had never attended so many meetings in my life.

We had meetings with the current staff. We held the mandatory meeting and interviewed and performed background checks on all of them. Most of them were rehired and kept on. Some went to new positions and some went to their old ones. Some were promoted and some were demoted. Then they all had the choice of helping with the renovation or not working and being called back when we reopened. Most chose to help. They were put on duties like cleaning, painting, and sweeping.

Somewhere in all of these meetings, something occurred to me. “Frankie,” I said, “we only have about three security guards. We’re going to need to increase security, especially with all of the construction we’ll have going on.”

“I already took care of it,” he said.

“So we’ve hired more guards?”

“HR is on it right now. In addition, the local police have agreed to help. Chief Campion and I had a meeting, and he is so excited to see the park get going again that he offered all the help he can. Which, in this small town is not a lot.”

“Did you say his name was Campion?” I asked.

“Yeah, Marlowe Charlie Campion. Apparently his parents were big mystery buffs.”

“Apparently. But, he can’t be in charge of security here. Is HR hiring for that?”

“We’re searching nationwide, but for now, I’ve called in another favor. He’ll be here tonight.”

“Who, another famous person I should know?” I smiled at him.

“No, he’s not famous, but you know him.”

A feeling of dread came over me. “Your Dad!”

“Mom, don’t get mad. He knows his stuff and he volunteered to help.”

“Yeah, but…wow. Why didn’t you at least discuss it with me first?” I didn’t know what to say. It’s not that I had any bad feelings toward Frank, but this was my world and I was very uncomfortable with him entering it. Or taking over like he always does.

“There’s more,” Frankie said.

I just looked at him. More? What like Frank was going to move here permanently? Like he already married Minerva and she was coming too? Like he was going to shoot me and put me out of my misery? “What?” I said out loud.

“Minerva is coming too. They are staying in separate rooms. When she heard that Michael LaGivens was here she was excited and wanted to meet him. I thought you’d be ok with it since your divorce was amicable.”

“Yes, yes it was. I hold nothing against your father. I even like Minerva, we became friends. But, it’s going to be weird. What if they show affection in front of me? I don’t know how I’ll react. What if your father refers to this as one of my little projects? I may just have to kill him if he does.”

“Dad and I talked. He’s going to be on his best behavior.”

I rolled my eyes at that. Frank didn’t know what best behavior meant to other people.

“He knows his stuff, Mom. He’s taken every training class he could, he reads books on police procedures and he has years of experience.”

“That’s true.”

“And he’s doing it for free. Using his vacation time.”

“Yeah, cause God knows he couldn’t use it to take a vacation with me.”

“Mom!”

“I’m sorry, but I asked him to and he said no. But you’re right. I will tuck away any resentment I may have and focus on Adventure Universe. After all the park is the only thing that matters right now.”

“It’s Adventure Planet.”

“No, I think Adventure Universe makes more sense. If all of the areas are planets themselves and they revolve around a sun, then it’s a universe. Right?”

Frankie was silent for a moment. “Wow. That is pretty smart, Mom. I like it. I’ll call Pete and have him look in to changing it legally.”

“Besides, it’s a really cool title. We need to rename the planets too. I mean the names are descriptive, but way, way too simple.”

“Ok, any ideas?”

“I’m still working on it. I’ll let you know if I come up with something.”

“Cool. So what’s next on the agenda?”

Together we looked at the list of tasks we had listed on a legal pad. So far the group of experts had started on things such as revamping the restaurants; building offices to replace the existing sheds and trailers in the rear of the park in the employee only area; saving rides whenever possible as well as designing and constructing some new ones; redesigning all of the landscaping to fit the theme of each area; redesigning not only the restaurants but their menus as well; adding an employee cafeteria that served the same food we sold in the park; adding employee break areas to each “planet”; and building Broadway quality theaters for our new shows.

We still had plenty to do such as: order uniforms for all of the employees; start the construction on the parking garage; hire more people; get new costumes for our costumed characters; order things like machines to make name tags and ID’s for all of the employees, and so on and so on.

We also needed to design shows to entertain people and give them a chance to sit down. We had some high caliber music people working on that. I called in a few favors for this one. However, this was going to be my secret.

“Tomorrow”, Frankie said, “we start construction on the parking garage.”

“And if I recall correctly, the local press will be here for the ceremonial first shovel of dirt.”

“Yes. You and I will need to be there to have our pictures taken.”

“Ok,” I sighed. I hated having my picture taken. I never looked good in pictures. “Good thing I put my stuff in storage and got my clothes out, at least I can dress nice.”

“Yeah, that reminds me, you need to find a place to live around here. Preferably with a room for me.”

“Oh, didn’t I tell you, I ‘m thinking of buying Adolph’s house? I even have a real estate agent. There isn’t much for sale here and what is for sale are mostly fixer uppers, repos, and condemned. His house was the nicest. And he wants to leave so I know he’s motivated to sell.”

He looked at me in shock. “What? No, you didn’t tell me.”

“Yeah, I really like the house Adolph’s family had.”

“Is he selling if for a dollar?” Frankie laughed.

“No, unfortunately he wants real money for this one. His family must have had a lot of money at one time. The house is huge and could probably be used as a bed and breakfast or a small hotel.”

“How big is it?”

“Each floor has four bedrooms.”

“How many floors are there?”

“Three, with bedrooms. One without.”

“Whoa!” His mouth flew open. “How much is it?”

“I’ve got it covered.”

“You do?”

“Yes, son. I have money you know nothing about.”

He gave me a questioning look. “You have money I don’t know about?”

“Yes, you don’t know everything about me.”

“I guess not.”

              “The house has a servant’s quarters that is a small house itself,” I said changing the subject. “I figured you might want to stay there. At least for the time being.”

I wanted Frankie to stay here in Florida, but I didn’t want to push him in to making a decision.

“Maybe,” he said.

“Oh, and the land touches the land the park is on. I want to build a private entrance connecting the two. You and I could walk to work.”

“That’s good considering I don’t own a car and you hate to drive. But, can you really afford this?”

“Yep. It’s a little run down and it’s nowhere near what it could be. Looks like he treated it much the same as he did the park.”

“So you can fix it up just like you did in Pennsylvania.”

“Just like. Except it’s a much bigger project.  It’s livable, but he hasn’t kept up with it and even though he’s tried to sell it before no one has been interested.”

“Except you.”

“Except me. I can spot a deal when I see one. Besides, there are really not a lot of people looking to move to this part of Florida. At least, not yet,” I smiled at Frankie.

“Not until we give them a reason to want to come here,” he said.

“Exactly.”

We both smiled. We were excited. About the park. About the house. About life in general. I was so happy. I felt like nothing could stop me now. I couldn’t wait to get to the ground breaking ceremony for the parking garage tomorrow morning.

We were going to build the garage to the right of the gravel lot where Frankie and I parked the first time we visited the park. We had decided to leave the gravel lot as is for now until we could get a garage built across from it for the guests. The area we were going to use was a wooded area that had been neglected by everyone. Some local teenagers used it as a party area, so that was our only real concern. Frankie arranged to have the local police drive past it frequently the night before the ceremony to ensure that no one would get hurt in the morning.

The morning of the ceremony I put on a nice dress and some flat shoes. I really hated flats. I preferred heels or boots when I’m dressed up, but boots seemed a little silly in Florida and there was nothing practical about walking around in heels in the dirt and mud. And I had a purse, Frankie would be so happy.

I started down to the lobby to meet Frankie. Down the hall from my room I heard a door close. Since by now I knew most of the people staying at the hotel I looked up and said good morning. To my surprise, it was Minerva who had closed the door. She looked up at me and smiled.

I couldn’t help but smile back. I really liked her. Minerva was older than I was. She was shorter than me by a couple of inches and what you might call plump. She had short dark hair and deep brown eyes. And she was my friend. I practically ran over and hugged her.

“How you doin’, hon?” she asked.

I stopped hugging her and looked at her. “Busy.” I smiled. “Very busy. How about you?”

“I’m good. I’ve missed you. You’re not mad at me are you? I promise I did nothing wrong with Frank. I wouldn’t do that to you or any other women.”

“I know. The two of you have better morals that that. And you know, I thought I’d be mad when I saw you, but I’m not. I’m very happy to see you. I think I even missed you.”

“I’m glad to hear it, I’m happy to see you too. But I tell you what; I expected it to be hot. But damn is it humid,” she said.

“Yeah. Not sure I’m used to it yet.”

“And what are those little creatures that run around the ground here? They’re so creepy.”

I had to think for a moment. What little creatures? The armadillos? Then it hit me, she meant the little tiny lizards we have here. They run in size from about an inch or less to three inches or longer. And she’s right they’re everywhere.

“The lizards? I love those little guys. They’re so cute,” I said.

“I think they’re gross,” she said.

“I really love when they puff out that pouch thing under their chin. I can’t decide if they are trying to scare me away or attract me.”

“No, still gross,” she said. She punctuated this with a full body shiver. I just laughed.

Just then, Minerva looked toward the other end of the hallway. I looked too. Frank was just closing and locking his door. I felt very relieved that I did not get angry when I saw him. He looked up, saw the two of us and froze.

“It’s ok,” I yelled to him.

He smiled and walked over to us. I gave him a quick hug. I had forgotten how tall he was. That’s where Frankie had gotten his height. Frank was 6’ 2”. Frankie was 6’ even. I was 5’6”.  Poor Angela was only 5’4”, much closer to Minerva’s height.

The three of us took the elevator down and met Frankie in the lobby. Frankie looked at me questioningly. “It’s ok,” I told him.

He smiled broadly. “I’m glad. Let’s go the driver is waiting.”

“Driver? You spent money on a driver?” Frank said.

“Yes, Dad, an occasions like this we use the service. Otherwise we use Mom’s car.”

“Well, use Mom’s car. Minerva and I drove here, we’ll use my truck.”

“No, Frank,” I said. “It’s all about appearances today. We use the driving service.”

He looked at me and was going to argue, I could tell, but then he stopped himself. We knew each other too well. He knew when I meant business and he knew this was one of those times. He threw his hands up in surrender and we all got in the limo.

When we pulled up to the park I was in complete surprise. It looked like the entire town turned out. There was no room in the gravel parking lot and people were parking in the grass and along the path the led to the parking. Jerome walked up and greeted us. His wife, Marcella, and the kids were there. Marcella was beautiful. The children were too. You could tell that was a happy family who loved each other. During the introductions to the children Nigel, our PR guy, came over to us and let us know it was time for the ground breaking ceremony. Frankie and I said our goodbyes, I handed my purse to Minerva, and we walked over to take our places.

First the mayor gave a little speech. Little for a politician that is. Then Frankie stepped up to the microphone. This took me by surprise because he usually shunned the lime light. However, my son spoke eloquently about what this theme park meant to he and I. He assured the community that we would do our best to get it open in time for the schools to begin their summer vacations and that there are still jobs available and where to go to apply for them. He ended by thanking the community for their support.

Then Frankie, the mayor, and I took our places for the ceremonial shoveling of the dirt. There seemed to be some confusion. Jerome came over to see if he could help. There should have been three golden shovels there ready for the ceremony. There were three shovels, but only two were gold. Frankie allowed the mayor and me to have the gold ones. He took the other one.

I heard Jerome saying, “I know I put three shovels there last night.”

I looked over at him and said, “it’s ok.”

“I know I painted three shovels.” He looked confused and shook his head, but he joined his family again.

We posed with our shovels. We stuck them in to the dirt and smiled for the camera. Then we threw shovels full of dirt in front of us for more pictures. When the ceremony was over, there was a table set up with lots of refreshments prepared by a caterer we had hired. Frankie and I were standing talking with Frank and Minerva when the reporter and photographer from the paper walked over to us.

“Mr. Summer, Mrs. Summer, I apologize, but could I ask you to pose with the shovels one more time? I’d like to get a picture of the two of you. You know, the new owners of Adventure Planet,” the reporter said.

              We complied and walked back over to where the shovels were. Frankie and I each picked up a golden shovel and placed them in the dirt where we had been before.

“Can you move to your left? The sun has shifted and you’re in shadow now,” the photographer said.

Frankie and I complied again and repeated the digging in the dirt that we had done earlier. On the final shot the photographer had us place our shovels in the dirt and then press down on them with one foot. It felt like my shovel hit something, but then the shovel broke through. I figured it was a root from one of the trees. Frankie and I lifted our shovels up and threw the dirt toward the photographer. Something flew off my shovel at the photographer. He jumped back so he didn’t get hit by whatever it was.

The four of us walked over and looked at it. When I saw it, I just froze. This had to be some sort of a joke. It was a hand. A hand with a very large diamond ring on it.

“Frankie.” Was all I could say.

“Yeah.” Was all he said.

“Oh my, God. What a story,” the reporter said.

The photographer pulled himself out of his shock and took a picture of the hand. Frankie grabbed the photographers hand to make him stop and led him back to where we had been digging. The reporter and I followed. We looked at the ground. The area where my shovel hit the dirt was wet where it hadn’t been before.

Frankie instructed the photographer to take pictures of everything that happened. He told the reporter to take notes in case the police needed them. From what I could see she was already doing that. Then Frankie knelt down in the dirt and dug a little around the areas where I was shoveling. He uncovered an arm. It led to a chest. It appeared to be a well dressed woman with bleach blonde hair. Frankie stopped digging and stood up.

He pulled out his cell phone and called the police. I just stood there. I felt like I was going to faint. Or at least throw up. I just wanted to sit down, but I knew better. I tried to pull it together.

Frank walked over to us. “Misty, is everything ok? You don’t look so good.”

I looked up at my ex-husband and then pointed to the now severed hand. Then I pointed to the body that Frankie started to unbury. That’s when Frank changed to police chief mode.

He cleared everyone away from the area except for Frankie and I. He got Minerva to work on the crowd and keep them away from the scene. He got Jerome to help guard the area and keep the crowd from gawking at it. Everybody was warned to keep the reporter and photographer back. Luckily the crowd had thinned after the ceremony. It was only April, but it was a very humid day and people weren’t all that happy about staying out in the humidity if they didn’t have to.

Frankie led me over to one of the folding chairs and let me sit down. Marcella brought over a bottle of water for me.

“Here you are, ma’am,” she said. “Are you OK?”

I just looked at her and nodded. “Thank you,” I managed to whisper.

I had heard stories from Frank. He had investigated a couple of murders in his career. One turned out to be domestic violence and the other was a bunch of drunken teenagers who got carried away with their firearms. He never saw something like this and I never heard about anything like this. Except, in the murder mysteries I’d read. Nothing in any of those books was exactly like this, though. This was way too real.

I heard Jerome talking to Marcella. He wanted her to take the kids home before they saw something they shouldn’t. She wanted to stay and help, besides they came here together, she wondered how Jerome was going to get home. That’s when I spoke up.

“We’ll get him home. Please don’t let your kids have this memory.”

Marcella looked at me and nodded. She understood that I was speaking from one mother to another.

“Yes, ma’am,” she said.

“And stop calling me ma’am. My name is Misty.”

“Yes, Misty. Thank you.” She gave me half a smile and turned to gather her children.

“Jerome,” I said, “you know you don’t have to stay. You can go with them.”

“No, ma’am…M-Misty,” he corrected himself before I could, “I would like to stay and help if I can.”

“Wonderful. Would you go back to helping Frank over there, please? He can’t keep the people away on his own.”

“Ok,” and with that he was gone.

I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. I was glad for a few moments to myself.

Then the reported came over to me. The photographer was with her. I reminded myself to be nice to the reporter. After all, she was just doing her job. I had seen her before. She had been taken on tours of the park. She usually looked bored. Not today.

“Mrs. Summer, may I ask you a few questions,” she asked.

“I’m sorry, what was your name?”

“Sandy Thomas, from the Neuspech News.”

Oh, so there really was such a thing.

“Sandy, I’m sorry, as I’m sure you can tell, I’m in a great deal of shock. I would love to answer your questions later, when I’ve had a chance to calm down and my migraine has gone away.” I didn’t have a migraine, but she didn’t need to know that. “In the mean time you can talk to Nigel over there. He’ll be more than happy to help you.”

She made a deep sigh, but she and the photographer headed over to Nigel. I felt sorry for the man, but this was his job, let him handle it.

When they walked away, I started to think. I could not believe what happened. I should have known. Everything was going too well. It was too easy. There were no kinks thrown in to the works. But then, why should there be? I was starting to get angry. Things were going extremely well. I loved my new position as co-owner of a theme park. I was making decisions. I was attending meetings with some heavy duty movers and shakers and being treated as an equal. Damn it, I was feeling like I was finally where I belonged. And now it was all in jeopardy. It wasn’t fair.

My train of thought was broken by the sound of a siren. A siren? Yeah, there was just one. Were they not taking us seriously? Did the police think this was a joke? I looked up and saw the police car pull to a stop. Then a second car, not a police car pulled up beside it. Two uniformed officers stepped out of the police car. Out of the other car stepped a man in need of a shave and a comb who was wearing blue jeans and a faded t-shirt.  Did we have a gawker?

Frankie walked over to the police officers. So did the gawker. I saw the four of them talking and Frankie shaking hands with all of them. Then Frankie pointed over to me. The gawker walked in my direction followed by Frankie.

“Mrs. Summer?” the gawker said.

“Yeees,” I said not trusting this man.

“Mom,” Frankie said.

              “I’d like to ask you a few questions,” the gawker continued.

“About what?” I said with some attitude.

“Mom,” Frankie said again. I could hear the tension in his voice.

That’s when the man lifted his t-shirt slightly and revealed the badge that was clipped to his jeans.