This section is still unedited.
That evening, Alphie goes over to the Ciderpond District Center.
He enters the building and enters a lobby with large front windows.
The building is empty except for the janitor taking care of the trash and the lights are mostly out.
A woman with brown hair and a face resembling a turtle walks through the front doors and goes over to a seat facing the windows and waits.
A little bit later, a man with greyish brown hair and a mustache enters the building.
Alphie sees the man and knows that he looks familiar, but in a not so pleasant way.
“You go to St. Andrews” says the turtle lady.
“Oh yeah. I thought I had seen you before. Petey Spankenhoover” says the man.
“I’m Darla Pinewood” says the woman.
“Of course! Dudley’s dad” says Alphie.
A little later, an old lady with short brown hair and a wart under her nose walks into the lobby.
“Hello Viola” says Darla.
“Why Darla. What a nice surprise” says the old lady with a mid-Atlantic accent.
“So are you part of the cause?” asks Petey.
“Of course. I can’t stand by and watch teenager refusing to take their student careers seriously. Or let them act like fools around parents just trying to bring their small children out for a nice outing” says Viola in a self righteous tone.
Then a weenie looking man with black hair, glasses and suspenders walks into the building.
“Hello Cecil” says Viola.
“Hi Viola. Is this the place?” asks Cecil.
“Oh indeed it is. But we are still waiting on Cornelia, Marlen and Dick” says Viola.
A little bit later, Mrs. Miller arrives.
“Who are you?” asks Cecil.
“Oh. I’m Cornelia. And who are you?” asks Mrs. Miller sarcastically.
“Cecil Canoli. But I don’t think I’ve seen you around before”.
“Well what do you do?” asks Mrs. Miller.
“I teach 9th Grade earth science at Ciderpond High”.
“Well of course I wouldn’t know you. My kids are too young for high school” says Mrs. Miller.
A plump balding man with brown hair and glasses walks through the door.
“Hello Marlen” says Viola.
“Oh Viola. Thanks for your invitation” says the plump man.
He speaks with Viola and they spend a few minutes more waiting.
Petey starts shaking his leg and get an annoyed look on his face.
“What is taking so long” Petey quietly snaps.
“Oh I have some good guesses” says Viola in a scandalous tone.
A little bit later, a sweaty man with his tie loose and shirt slightly unbuttoned and untucked walks into the building a bit tipsy.
“About time. But you weren’t operating a vehicle” says Viola.
“Yeah. I’m here. But no. Ms. Andy, I took a cab. Happy?”
“Well, not really. I’ll have to give you a ride home” says Viola.
“No. I’ll go with someone else. I’ve heard enough from you” says Dick.
“As it is, I live closest to you. And I hate to inconvenience another. So I’m taking you home, whether you like it or not”.
“You’re not my teacher. You might be able to boss sixth graders around. But it won’t work on me” says Dick.
“Lets go down to the room” says Mrs. Miller.
The attendees walk through the hall with Dick getting assistance by Viola.
They go into a room with chairs and a desk full of little debbies snacks and huggies drinks.
Alphie follows them into the room.
“And these are the people who want to ban kids from Seewoulden?” says Alphie.
Cecil starts unwrapping a few oatmeal cream pies and swiss rolls and hands them to Dick.
“I’ll get you some water” says Cecil.
He leaves Dick who starts quickly eating his two snacks.
Cecil goes through a supply closet and takes out a large souvenir cup with a plastic baseball lid.
He goes over to a water dispenser with a blue gallon bottle on top and fills the souvenir cup.
He brings the water over to Dick who has nearly conked out.
Cecil goes over to the front of the desk, while the rest are getting their snacks.
“Are we all ready?” asks Cecil.
“Yes” they say.
“I would like Petey to give us reports”.
Petey walks up to the front and takes the stage.
“So Mr. Spankenhoover. How did your campaign go?”
“Sadly, I have not had much luck. Due to some domestic behavior problems” says Petey.
“If you can’t control your son. Then don’t take him out” says Viola as she chomps on zebra cakes.
“It’s not my decision. Darlene insists I bring him”.
Petey gets seated and flashes Viola a dirty look.
Cecil continues the meeting.
Meanwhile, Alphie does some searches through the room.
He comes across a drawer near the water dispenser and looks through.
He finds a letter saying:
Dear Marlen
This is your friend Antistete. Thank you so much for assisting in my efforts to ban teenagers for Seewoulden. Letting them have revelry in a park will teach them nothing. They need to grow up and start taking their life seriously. It will teach them absolutely nothing about life if they think they can just play all day. The only business any teenager has at that park is operating the rides, cooking food, collecting tickets or lifeguarding. And I have been trying to reach out with the owner, and have him make sure that he keeps the teens from taking free food, rides or trips down the slides. Though I have yet to locate him.
Plus another thing with these kids these days is they care more about pleasure and fun than they do about their responsibilities. With their hedonistic attitudes and poor work ethics, they will be the very downfall of society. And as you have correctly done, you have gotten your daughter into a leadership program. This is exactly what girls need to learn. Not useless activities like cheerleading, sports or playing with dolls. They need to get used to their roles and stop depending on others. The world won’t give them a free lunch. And neither will I.
Alphie goes back to listening to the meeting.
Dick says “I want to take my wife, son and daughter on a nice outing to Seewoulden. And how am I supposed to do that when some creepo could be looking at my wife”.
“Ha” grunts Viola.
“Interesting points Dick” says Cecil unconvinced.
Darla raises her hand.
“Yes, Darla” says Cecil.
“We all know that many teenagers will also end up in summer school. And therefore would not be getting a lot of business to begin with. But it would not be fair for students not in summer school to be able to be out having fun when their classmates are in school?”
Viola who is in the middle of drinking her huggie nearly spits out her drink and starts coughing.
“Are you okay?” asks Cecil.
Viola clears her throat.
“Oh of course. But I cannot possibly get on board with Darla’s ideas”.
“And what is wrong with my ideas?” asks Darla.
“Well, did it not occur to you that maybe other kids shouldn’t be punished just because some kids slacked off all year”.
“But don’t you want to keep teens out of Seewoulden?”
“Of course. But not out of some need to boost the self esteem of students who spent their whole year slacking off” says Viola with indignatioin.
Alphie has heard enough and he leaves the meeting
He goes through the halls and departs the building.
He apparates back to headquarters and goes through the front doors.
He goes up to Maelendil’s office and knocks on the door.
“Come in” says Maelendil.
Alphie enters the office.
Maelendil is sitting at his desk.
“It’s a bit late. Did rounds go over?” asks Maelendil.
“Yeah. I found out Dudley’s dad is part of some group to ban teenagers from Seewoulden”.
“Well this is quite terrible. How did you find this group?”
Alphie tells Maelendil about his visit to Bumbleberry and listening in on the meeting.
He shows Maelendil the letter he confiscated from Antistete.
“Antistete?” says Maelendil.
“Do you know who Antistete is?”
“That I do not. But I’ll be handing this to the Odinean Temple tomorrow”.
“What are we going to do with the park? If this Antistete has her way, the park could undergo major financial loss and possibly close down”.
“We’ll check it out on Sunday after Church” says Maelendil.
“What are we going to church for?” asks Alphie.
“You said that Petey goes to St. Andrews. And this could give us some leads about what Petey is up to, and will give us some ways of keeping him from intruding into the father and son group”.
“But what can we do with Seewoulden?”
“Indeed that’s easy. Seewoulden is close to St. Andrews. And Alphie can build a wall around the park”.
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