Marshall's Park, The Complete Series . 01-2014 Read online

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  Cover Designer: Meredith Russell

  Editor: Chris Quinton

  Copyright © 2014 by Lisa Worrall

  All Rights Reserved.

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  Trademarks Acknowledgement

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and

  trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned

  in this work of fiction:

  Sleeping Beauty: The Walt Disney Company

  Guitar Hero: Activision, Nevershot, RedOctane

  Chevy Nova: Chevrolet

  Power Ranger: The Walt Disney Company

  Coca-Cola: Coca-Cola Company

  Band-Aid: Johnson & Johnson

  Little Mermaid: The Walt Disney Company

  Kentucky Bourbon: Kentucky Distillers’ Association

  Drano: S C Johnson & Son Inc

  Freddie Krueger: New Line Cinema

  Room on the Broom: Julia Donaldson

  Barbie: Mattel Inc.

  Hello Kitty: Sanrio Co. Ltd

  Lesbian Vampire Killers: Momentum Pictures (2009)

  Gavin & Stacey: Baby Cow Productions (2007)

  The History Boys: Fox Searchlight Pictures (2006)

  Dad’s Army: British Broadcasting Corporation (1968)

  Mission Impossible: Paramount Pictures (1996)

  Ace Ventura: Morgan Creek Productions (1994)

  Kodak: Eastman Kodak Company

  Cheerios: General Mills

  Speedos: Speedo International

  Mary Poppins: The Walt Disney Company (1964)

  Toy Story: Pixar Animation Studios

  Barbie: Mattel

  The Donna Reed Show: American Broadcasting Company

  The Waltons: Lorimar Productions

  Dr Pepper: Dr Pepper Snapple Group & The Coca Cola Company

  Godzilla: Centropolis Film Productions

  Droopy: Hanna-Barbera

  Cosmo: Hearst Magazines

  Tweetie Pie: Hanna-Barbera

  Speedo: Speedo International

  Shamu: Seaworld

  Skittles: Mars Inc

  M&Ms: M & M Limited

  High School Musical: The Walt Disney Company

  Cheerios: General Mills

  Coco Puffs: Kellogs

  Dunkin’ Donuts: Dunkin’ Donuts

  Google: Google

  Dawn of the Dead: Strike Entertainment

  McDonalds: McDonalds Corporation

  Mini Cooper: BMW

  Pepé le Pew: Warner Bros

  Cinderella: The Walt Disney Company

  Peter Pan: The Walt Disney Company

  Tinkerbell: The Walt Disney Company

  Tylenol: Tylenol®

  Chanel: CHANEL

  Bloomingdales: Macy’s Inc

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Monty Gets Arrested

  Monty’s First Date

  Monty Meets the Ex

  Meeting Monty’s Parents

  Monty Loses His Head

  Moving Monty In

  Monty Meets the Parents

  Monty’s Trick or Treat

  Monty Punches Pocahontas

  Monty Gets Married… Doesn’t He?

  I

  Finn smiled and waved at the children crowded around him in a circle, each clamoring for their chance at a photograph with Monty the Meerkat. He’d get to each of them in turn, of course, it was company policy. No child left the combined zoo and theme park, with their dream of getting up close and personal with the big guy, unfulfilled. He lifted the next little boy high into his arms and waved his paw at the camera. His heart tightened in his chest as the kid wrapped his arms tightly around Finn’s neck, a look of unadulterated joy on his little face. God, he loved his job.

  Not that being one of the resident Monties, the biggest attraction at the animal park, had been his reason for coming to California. He’d come to the city with a dream of his own, like so many others before him. Hollywood beckoned. He was going to be a star—at least that’s what he’d told everyone back home. Fame and fortune would come to him immediately and they’d see his name up in lights. Which they did… sort of. More times than Finn could count on the parades held around the park and the posters dotted around the city—it just wasn’t his own name, per se.

  Finn deposited the ecstatic little boy on the ground and clapped his enormous paws together, then straightened his purple tie. Marshall’s Park had been in operation since the sixties when Albie Marshall decided he was going to give Mr. Disney a run for his money—but with live animals. The park now boasted one of the largest meerkat habitats in America, as well as some of the longest running dolphin and sealion shows in the state. Six years ago, Albie’s son, Michael, had purchased a vacant lot adjoining the park and the fairground part of Marshall’s had been born. Monty still may not be as mainstream as a certain mouse in yellow shorts over at that Theme Park Whose Name Must Not Be Mentioned, but Marshall’s Park was always filled with kids wanting to catch a glimpse of the big guy.

  “Monty, Monty, it’s my turn!” a high-pitc
hed voice shouted from beside him, the owner of the voice pulling on the end of Finn’s over-sized tie.

  Finn held his arms as wide as the costume would allow as if he were surprised by the request and pointed at his chest in the pretense of checking the little boy was talking to him, even looking behind him as though searching for someone else. Monty couldn’t speak, but he made his wishes very clear with gestures and the pressing of different sound mechanisms all over the suit. Finn quickly depressed the button that triggered Monty’s excited squeak and dropped to his knees beside the boy and wrapping him up tight—something you weren’t allowed to do at “that other park”. Although, of course, every parent who paid for their child to have their picture taken with Monty was asked for their permission to give the hug that the children so desperately wanted from their idol. He had to swallow past the lump in his throat when the little guy leaned in and said, “I want to be you when I grow up.” Did he mention he loved his job?

  “That’s it, boys and girls,” one of the park attendants said into the bullhorn. “Monty is going to have some honey and fruit for lunch and then he’ll be ready for some more photographs. Everybody give Monty a big wave goodbye!”

  Finn waved both his paws enthusiastically and bounded away through the curtains covering the stage and took his head off. He groaned as the soft summer breeze lifted his damp hair from his forehead. If there was one single aspect of the job Finn didn’t like, it was that in the summer, the suit was as hot as Hades.

  “Eww, you stink, man!”

  Turning his gaze on the man who had grumbled the disgusted comment, Finn took a couple of steps closer and shook his sweat-dampened hair in his co-worker’s face.

  “Nice, Finn. Real smooth,” Chris complained, wiping a cloth over his face before throwing it in Finn’s. “I’ve got qualifications, I’m going places, I won’t have to put up with your shit forever, you know.”

  “You love me and don’t try to deny it.” Finn chuckled, grabbing the bottle of water from Chris’s hand and chugging half of it in one go. “Man, it’s a hot one out there today. I’m gonna lose ten pounds in this get up.”

  “Keep up with the fluids,” Chris said firmly, taking Monty’s head and putting it on the table next to the water bottles and fruit platter. “How many times do I have to tell you that you’ll dehydrate quicker than a grape in a drought if you don’t drink plenty?”

  Finn rolled his eyes and silently waved the water bottle at Chris before taking another long draw. Chris and he shared Monty with a couple of other guys, on rotation. One of them in the suit and one of them making sure their partner didn’t die of heatstroke. For some strange reason the management had decided it wasn’t a good idea for an almost seven foot Meerkat to keel over in front of small children—something about scarring them for life and lawsuits up to the wazoo.

  Out of the corner of his eye through the picture window on the side of the enclosure behind the stage, he glimpsed a little girl walk by. He didn’t pay any mind though. Why would he? It was a theme park, kids were everywhere. You couldn’t fart without one of the little darlings passing out from the vapors.

  “How long have I got?” he asked Chris, gazing up at the punishing afternoon sun.

  “You got five minutes before you go back on, half an hour of photos then Dumb and Dumber will be taking over for the rest of the day,” Chris replied, referring to the other half of the Monty cohort, Matt and Greg. “What do you keep looking at?”

  “There’s a kid out there,” Finn said, craning his neck to see the little girl walk back in the other direction.

  “Wow,” Chris deadpanned, “here? Shocker.”

  “Shut up,” Finn countered, padding over to the window in his huge Monty feet. By the time he’d crossed the room, there was no sign of her. “Hmm, she’s gone.”

  Chris shrugged. “Probably moved on to the next candy shack. You’re back, put the head on.”

  Rolling his eyes at Chris’s total lack of interest he bent down so his friend could put the head on for him and lifted his Monty paws in a parody of jazz hands as he waited for the attendant to announce him. He playfully smacked Chris on the head, drawing a disgruntled growl from him and then bounded through the curtain to the applause of another excited crowd.

  *

  “You were mediocre as always, Thomas.”

  Finn ignored Matt, who was taking over from him for the rest of the shift and Chris eased the head off. “Thank God,” he replied. “Anything less than mediocre and I’d have been as bargain basement as you.”

  “Asshole.” Matt grinned, jumping on Finn’s back and wrapping an arm around his neck.

  Finn slapped futilely at his friend’s hands as Matt ruffled his hair. He managed to get an elbow in Matt’s stomach and knock him off.

  “You are such a freak,” he complained, as Chris unzipped the top half of the suit and helped him out of it. “You’d better take on a lot of water, dude. It’s as hot as hell in this thing today.” He pushed off the straps holding the bottom half of the suit onto his shoulders and wriggled out of it. Groaning in relief, he stood in front of the fan standing in the corner of the room and spread his arms, letting the cool air wash over him. “God, that feels good.”

  “Prima donna.” Matt chuckled, climbing into his own Monty suit with Greg’s help and Finn smiled. Greg was the strong silent type. Finn had no idea how Greg and Matt had stayed together for so long. They were total opposites, but somehow it seemed to work for them. Not that the relationship stakes were going so well for him; but Greg and Matt gave him hope that there definitely must be someone for everyone.

  A fully dressed Matt bounded through the curtain at the shout of “Here’s Monty!” and Finn crossed to where he’d thrown his bag earlier. Lifting the bag onto the bench, he unzipped it and pulled out his change of clothes. Quickly shucking out of his sticky clothing, Finn grabbed a towel from his bag and padded barefoot across the room to the bathroom. The shower cubicle wasn’t exactly big enough to swing the proverbial cat in, but it served the purpose it was intended for. Finn sighed contentedly as he adjusted the temperature and the lukewarm water cooled his overheated skin.

  After scrubbing himself clean, Finn toweled himself dry then dressed in long shorts and his employee T-shirt. He shoved his dirty clothes and towel into his bag then turned his attention to his hair. Finn ran his fingers through the strands trying to bring some semblance of order to the mop of curls inherited from his father, and gazed out of the window, a frown marring his brow. The little girl he’d spotted earlier was sitting on one of the colorful toadstools dotted along the walkways. This time she was crying, violent sobs wracking her tiny body. He thought she was around five or six, and her brown hair brushed her shoulders. Not that her hair was his main concern, he was more interested in the blood trickling down her leg from the graze on her knee and the tear tracks on her face.

  “Quitting time,” Chris said, throwing his own bag over his shoulder. “You coming?”

  “No,” Finn said quietly. “You go. I’m gonna hang around here for a while. I’ll see you at home later.” He zipped up his bag and followed Chris out of the tent-like room. He took the opposite path to his friend, lifting a hand in farewell. He didn’t know whether to breathe a sigh of relief or concern as he rounded the bend in the path and saw the little girl was still crying on the toadstool. Gazing around, a wave of annoyance swelled in Finn’s chest. Adults walked along the very same path and they bypassed the little girl as though she was invisible. Hell-bent on their own lives, they ignored a little girl obviously in need of help. Thank God his parents had instilled in him that compassion towards others was a strong character trait. Slowing his gait, he walked towards her and pasted a soft smile on his lips.

  “Hi, sweetie,” Finn said, keeping his tone low and conversational. “Is everything okay? Did you lose your mommy?” He sat on the ground and crossed his legs beneath him, his heart aching at the despair on her little face. Pointing at the T-shirt he was wearing, thankful the
clean one he’d grabbed was one of his Marshall’s Park work shirts, he added, “I’m Finn. I work here at the park.” He motioned to her knee, “Did you fall?”

  She nodded, her green eyes filling with tears again as she whispered, “I lost Daddy.”

  “I’m sure he hasn’t gone far,” Finn replied brightly. “I told you my name; would you like to tell me yours?”

  “Kaylee,” she said softly, her bottom lip quivering.

  “Kaylee? No way, that’s my favorite name,” Finn exclaimed and mentally fist-pumped the air when the teeniest of smiles crossed her face. “Where did you see Daddy last?”

  “Waitin’ for cotton candy. I was s’posed to stand still. He’s gonna be mad.” Fresh tears escaped from her beautiful green eyes and dripped off the ends of her lashes, plucking at Finn’s heartstrings.

  Wiping away the tears with his thumb, Finn shook his head, “I don’t think he’s gonna be mad, sweetie. He’s gonna be so happy we found you, he won’t have time to be mad.” He stood up and held out a hand to her. “Why don’t I take you to get your knee fixed up? My friend Katie will be able to fix it for you, then we can start looking for your daddy. Does that sound okay?”

  Finn could see the apprehension in her eyes as she stared at his hand. To her it must have seemed enormous. A stranger with massive hands, who could blame her for being wary? Where the hell is her father? How could he take his eyes off her for even a moment? Doesn’t he know what the world is like? He smiled and gave her his best hangdog look. Thankfully, she slipped her tiny fingers in his.

  “Will she give me a shot?” Kaylee asked, a frown creasing her smooth brow.

  Finn choked back a smile and shook his head as he led her down the path, and onto the main concourse where all the food shacks were situated. “No honey, I think a Band Aid and a lollipop will fix your knee up just fine.”

  II

  Aiden was frantic. He’d been in line for cotton candy and Kaylee had been right there, directly in his line of vision. He’d taken his eyes off her for one minute to hand over the money and when he’d turned around, she’d gone.

  Aiden ran his shaking hands through his hair, his gaze darting everywhere. His heart was beating in his mouth because there was no sign of her dark hair or her bright red Monty Meerkat dress. Okay, Aiden, breathe. You’re no use to her lying in a puddle of your own drool. She’s a smart kid. She’ll ask a grown-up. He froze mid-step and every true-life movie he’d ever seen flickered across the surface of his mind. The thought of the kind of grown-up she could end up asking chilled him to the bone, and a wave of nausea almost knocked him off his feet. Oh, dear God—my baby!