Terri paced the deck with the walkie-talkie in her hand. "Kim...they got us on mute.... on mute... Have you tried the cell phone?" she asked for the umpteenth time. “It just keeps coming up outta range, Terri." Kim assured her friend. “So does someone wanna tell me why we went to all the expense to getting these damn things, if they don't fuckin' work" Terri asked in exasperation as she shook the walkie-talkie. “Well they work if they aren't put on mute" Kim pointed out dryly. “Muted again" Terri muttered as she continued to pace the length of the deck. The cool late March breeze blew softly against her face as she looked over the common area in front of the lodge. The designated parking area was empty save for the red utility vehicle parked at the entrance. “Kim are you sure they knew what time to meet us here?" Terri asked her companion sitting at one of the small rustic tables that dotted the length of the deck. "Yes.....we had agreed to meet up here at 3 p.m. We were going to have a meeting….. discuss business.....then go down to the trailer and celebrate the last night of having the park to ourselves before we get invaded" Kim ticked off each element on her hand. She adjusted her hat, pushing it up a little so she could better see the guitar string she had just pegged in on the Ovation. With practiced, deft movements, she wrapped, clipped and tighten the string down before Terri completed her next lap of pacing. Once the new set of strings were in place, Kim began the task of tuning the guitar. She tuned each string until the Ovation produced the full rich sound she sought. When the guitar was in fine musical form, Kim began to softly play some warm-up riffs. "Sounds good,” Terri complemented the musician as she completed her last lap and pulled out a chair across from Kim. "Yeah....not too shabby" Kim grinned at her. "Any requests?" It was then that the purple golf cart finally pulled up in front of the lodge. "Well it’s bout damn time" Terri called down to the two latecomers. "We've been waiting here over an hour" she grumbled. "Now don't be gettin yer knickers all in a twist, Terri" Nell drawled. "Jesse and I were meetin' and greetin' our first official guests for the season." "Already?” Kim asked. “I thought that there was no one coming until tomorrow" “Well," Nell explained as she sat down at the table "These two waifs' had traveled up from Texas to be our guests and we were not about to turn them away until tomorrow, were we Jesse?" "Nope. I don't think they would have made it back to the main road. They are officially registered, welcomed, oriented, and now Petey is settin' up their rig for them." Jesse stated. "O.K.....so how come you didn't answer me on the Walkie?" Terri demanded. “Well we heard you, and when I clicked on to acknowledge you the damn thing went dead," Jesse said as she tossed the device to Terri. "You did remember to recharge 'em last night didn't you babe?" she asked. Terri looked at the battery indicator on the walkie-talkie then looked up sheepishly at the gang. "Mental note....remember to charge radios...before distribution...." which caused the group to bust up laughing. With a shrug of her shoulders, she tossed the DOA'ed radio on top of her coat. "On that note...let's bring this meeting to order" Nell said as she settled herself and her indexed notebook comfortably at the table. "The first order of business is our capital expenditures" Nell began. "In other words, just what is gonna break down and what do you think it's gonna cost us to get it fixed?" “Probably the water pump will be the first thing to let us down. It's a dinosaur and I figure it's gonna set us back bout 60 to 70 grand. I've already got a contractor set to replace it as soon as I get the go ahead. The power generators are in place and have been tested and re-tested. Kim recited without notes. "God, you should hear those babies hum..." Terri said in awe. “A....maz....ing...! It's like listening to the every vibrator in the world clicked on at the same time...!” she laughed wickedly. Nell shook her head smiling as she wrote a few notes and turned her attention to the next item on her list. "Now that we have water and power under control, what is the next possible contingency that we should prepare for?" “There are some minor repairs to be made to the lodge, pool house and ball field. These can be done without hiring outside the park. I have a cost estimate of about 10 thousand. There are some homemade docks on the south side of the park that I think we need to inspect and replace." Terri read from her notes. “Mostly it is just cosmetic work....nothing really major or pressing in nature." She passed around a paper to rest of the group with the repairs neatly identified and outlined with estimated cost projections. Nell marked it with the date and indexed it neatly in her notebook. Jesse's turn was next to report. "I did an inventory analysis of our store's purchases last season, you want to guess what our two biggest seller’s were other than beer and liquor? Batteries and Lube!!!! So we are going to double our stock and add the re- chargeable batteries as well. And this year we have added a small line of toys…. environmentally friendly ones to boot….cause you all know how I am bout going green in as many ways possible…..” and she jabbed Terri in the ribs when she caught her rolling her eyes. Nell chuckled “Most campers might need to borrow a cup of sugar from a neighbor, not our lovin’ sisters; they are looking for C, D and double AA batteries." Jesse quipped, “Yeah, remember the transformer that blew last year at around midnight? All of sudden, these campers open up and the sisters are coming out to see what happened to the power… holding their glow-in-the-dark dildos.” “Yeah,” Terri shook her head as she laughed. “It brought a whole new meaning to lighting the way…..” Click on the River for Chapter 3 © Labinky Park 2008 All Rights Reserved |
Chapter Two
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