Secrets 3: The Road to the Future

As soon as we woke up on Monday morning, Devin and I dressed basically the same way we had the day before, only with different shorts and sweatpants.  We also decided to wear the CSU football jersey that Devin’s parents gave us as Christmas presents, since they were also made from nylon, and mine was number 27 and Devin’s was 82.  As soon as we were ready, we went to meet up with my parents to eat. 

“What are we doing today?” I asked. 

“As I told you last night, we’re starting out on a short and mild rafting trip.”

“Mild?  Does that mean there aren’t any rapids?” Devin followed. 

“There are, because I believe this outing will be over the same rapids that we traveled over on our duckies yesterday.”

“Great, because there was one spot where it was a little trickier, since the rapids were more severe than the others.”

“Yes, there was the one spot where I thought we might overturn, but luckily that didn’t happen.  I chose for us to do this because your mother hasn’t done any rafting before and I thought this would be a good way to get her accustomed to doing these things.”

“So, you’ve rafted before?” 

“Yes!  When I was younger, I went with a group of friends on a rafting trip on the Blue River.  We started just north of Silverthorne, Colorado and the trip lasted about half a day.”

“How long will the trip we’re taking today last?”

“Roughly two hours, like the trip we took on the kayaks.”

“Ok, that should take us up to about lunchtime then, so what are we going to do after we eat?” I wanted to know. 

“I thought we could go check out the Glenwood Caverns after lunch.  After that we’ll have a chance to go back to the motel so we can freshen up and change before we attend a dinner cabaret that I’ve made reservation for us to attend.”

“That sounds interesting, but are we going to do any other rafting while we’re here?”

“Yes, we’re going to stay in this area until Friday and we’ll be taking other rafting trips that will be a little more adventurous than the one we’re taking today.”

“Great, I’m glad to hear that!”

After we finished eating, Dad drove us to where the outfitter was located, and it happened to be the same outfitter from yesterday’s duckie trip.  Once again, we had to be there 45 minutes before the trip was to start so we could be given the life jackets and helmets that we’d be wearing, as well as sitting through some instructions and a safety lecture. 

As soon as the staff checked to make certain everything fit properly, we were offered booties to put on over our shoes.  After those things had been taken care of, we had a chance to meet the two other people who’d be sharing the raft with us.

“Hi, I’m Lonny Fowler and this is my son, Clint.  We were told that we’d be riding with your family on the raft, since it’s designed to hold six people and a tour guide.” 

We all shook hands and introduced ourselves.  Lonny appeared to be in his late 20s or early 30s, with brown hair, brown eyes, and a well-trimmed beard, along with a soothing baritone voice.  His son looked to be nine or ten-years-old, and he was really cute.  He had golden blonde hair, big brown eyes, and an awesome smile that showed off his dazzling white teeth.  We soon discovered that he also had an infectious personality and the four of us liked both of them right away. 

“Is your wife here with you on this trip?” Dad asked. 

“No, my mom died when I was eight,” Clint announced, and his smile seemed to disappear briefly from his face.

“Yes, it’s just Clint and me now,” Lonny added as he wrapped an arm around his son’s shoulders.  

“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that?” Mom quickly responded.  “That must have been very hard on both of you.”

“Yeah, I cried a lot for almost a whole week and I still miss her,” Clint admitted, and now he seemed to be fighting back a hint of sadness and possibly a few tears. 

“Yes, it has been rough on both of us.  In fact, we were going to take this trip the summer after she died, but we just weren’t ready to go on vacation without her yet.”

“Was she involved in an accident of some sort,” my dad followed, “because she must have been quite young at the time.”

“Yes, she was 27 when she was diagnosed with lung cancer.”

“Was she a smoker?”

“No, she never smoked, but it seems that growing up in a household with two smokers was just as dangerous.  At first, we just thought her breathing issues were caused by allergies or possibly she had an asthmatic condition, so I encouraged her to make an appointment with a doctor.  He immediately ordered some tests to see if there were any underlying issues that might explain her condition, and after he examined the results of the tests, he diagnosed her as having lung cancer.  It was a very aggressive type of cancer, and even after she had a couple of operations to remove cancerous sections of her lungs, she still died eight months after the diagnosis was first made.”

“That’s awful!  I hope this trip will help both of you to forget some of the sadness that it must have caused you,” I offered.  I’d said that because I wondered how I would have handled it, if I’d been in Clints place and lost my mom when I was that young.

“Yes, I hope you both have a good time while you’re here,” Devin agreed.

“Thank you.  That means a lot to us,” Lonny replied, and Clint nodded his head in agreement.

“Yeah, it does,” he finally uttered.

We had a chance to chat for a little while longer, and Clint asked us a question.  “I see you’re wearing Colorado State football jerseys, so do you go to college there?”

“Yes, we’ll be seniors (4^th year) there in a few weeks,” Devin told him. 

“I’m trying to get my dad to take me to the Colorado – Colorado State football game this year.  Neither stadium is that far away from where we live, if he’s able to get us tickets.” 

“Where do you live?”

“Colorado Springs, how about you.” 

“Well, I live in Jamesville, which is east of Pueblo…”

“Yeah, I know where that is,” he said excitedly.  “It’s even closer to us than we are to both universities.”

“And Devin’s family lives in a cabin just outside of Westcliffe.” 

“Oh, I don’t know where that is.  Is that even farther away?”

“From where I live it is, but it’s just on the other side of the interstate from where you live.” 

“Oh, ok.”

Our conversation was interrupted when we had to listen to the tour guide tell us about how to use the paddles and what we were expected to do on this trip, along with a brief safety lecture.  After that had been concluded, we were assigned to a staff member that would be riding in our raft with us, because the tour guide would be in a different raft.  That’s because there were 18 of us in total, or enough to fill three rafts, which were already loaded onto the trailer. 

We were then taken to the launch site in two vans, and this time the tour guide and two other staff members rode with us.  When we arrived at the site, the tour guide and the two group leaders had us carry our rafts down to the river.  After we set the rafts down, I told our group leader that I’d like my parents to be placed in the bow of the raft so my mom would get the full experience of what it would be like.  I also explained that we were going on some other rafting trips while we were here, and he agreed that he didn’t have a problem with placing them in the bow. 

After my parents were placed on the inflatable bench at the front of the raft, he then placed Lonny behind my mom and Clint behind my dad.  Devin was then assigned the seat behind Lonny and I sat behind Clint in the stern, and our group leader, Andy, sat in a special seat that was located behind and between Devin’s and my seats.  Andy looked to be in his mid-30s and had a very fit and toned body, so I knew we’d be fine with him in charge. 

The trip started out in the very mild water at the wide section of the river where the kayak tour had begun, and when we reached the spot where the river narrowed, we encountered the mild rapids again.  Shortly after we made it through those rapids, we reached the area where the river narrowed and the rapids were a bit more severe.  As soon as we navigated through those rapids, we reached the bend in the river, followed by those most extreme rapids we’d encountered on the kayaks. 

We were now at the part of the river where my parents nearly got into trouble yesterday.  The water seemed to be flowing much faster here and the waves were much higher than before, and this caused the raft to rise up on one of those waves.  When the midpoint of the raft reached the top of the wave, the weight in the raft suddenly shifted and the bow tilted dramatically as it went down the other side.  When it slammed into the water again, my parents took the full force of the deluge of water that flew up and soaked them, and the rest of us got wet as well. 

Because of the steep angle the raft had been at when it slammed into the water, it caused Clint to lift a few inches off his seat and his weight was shifted onto his feet.  Lonny, Devin, and I were all unable to help Clint at the time, since we were all doing our best to keep the raft from capsizing, so we could only watch as he struggled to keep from getting tossed overboard. 

Startled and now standing only slouched over, Clint was frantically trying to maintain his balance so he didn’t fall on top of my dad’s back.  He appeared to be succeeding, even while maintaining his grip on his paddle with both hands, but then the stern of the raft cleared the wave and dropped down to the same level as the bow.  I was hoping this would give him time to take his seat again and he’d be fine, but that’s when the bow began to rise up on the next wave. 

This sudden shift in the angle of the raft caught Clint unprepared and caused his body to suddenly lurch backward, which caused him to take a couple of baby steps backward.  He seemed to be doing fine until one of those baby steps caused him to trip over the bench he’d previously been sitting on.  When one of his legs came into contact with it, it caused him to fall, and on the way down his butt bounced off the bench and sent him flying in my direction. 

I felt awful that there was nothing I could do to help him, since I was busy plunging my paddle into the waves to keep the raft from flipping over.  I had my feet spread apart at the time to keep my body from sliding sideways on the bench, and Clint’s butt landed on the floor of the raft between my legs as his head smacked into my family jewels. 

“Umph,” I groaned in immediate discomfort. 

Clint was aware that his head had hit something, so as soon as he was able, he tilted his head upward and looked in my direction.  When he realized what had happened, an expression of utter horror appeared on his face. 

“I’m so sorry, Michael.  I didn’t mean to hit you there.  Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m fine and it’s not the first time I’ve been hit there.  It’s not even the hardest I’ve been hit there either, so I’m all right.  Just stay put until things calm down a bit, and then I’ll help you get back onto your bench.” 

Clint remained where he was until we cleared that wave and the next one, and once we were in an area with calmer waters, I helped to lift him up and set him back on his bench again.  His dad looked over at me, smiled, and nodded after Clint was back in his proper place, and he also looked relieved that Clint had made it through that experience without being injured. 

We completed the rest of the trip and it ended without any further drama.  When we returned to the outfitter’s location, we turned in our life jackets and helmets, along with the paddles and rafts.  As soon as we had given those items back, I turned to Devin and spoke. 

“I’m going to go use the toilet, in case my parents want to know where I am.”  He merely nodded as I walked away. 

I was standing at the urinal emptying my bladder when I heard the door open and someone else came inside.  I wasn’t paying much attention, but then I became aware that Clint was standing next to me at the adjacent urinal, but he wasn’t looking straight ahead or up at my face.  His focus was directed toward the urinal I was using and I wasn’t sure if he was admiring my genitalia or trying to see if he’d done any damage when he fell into me.  Eventually, he looked up and his face turned a lovely shade of red when he realized that I knew what he’d been staring at. 

“Are you ok?  I really didn’t mean to hit you there,” he quickly stated, hoping that would explain what he was doing.   

“I know, it was just an accident and no damage was done.” 

After giving me one of his patented smiles, he turned sideways at his urinal so I could get a good look at his penis as well.  He’d obviously unsnapped and unzipped his shorts and pushed them down, along with his underwear when he first got there, so they were a couple of inches lower than usual.  There was nothing blocking my view, so I guess it was his school boy way of saying, ‘Yeah, I saw your penis, so I’m showing you mine, since it’s only fair.’

I turned away fairly quickly so it didn’t appear as if I was staring at it, since he was so young.  However, I couldn’t get the image of what I’d seen out of my mind.  I was surprised that he appeared to be so physically mature, considering his age, since I assumed he was probably just 9 or 10.  In fact, he was definitely well into puberty and no longer had a baby dick.  His penis was a decent size and I’d even noticed that he had a good scattering of light hairs above it.   

When we finished up, we both went over to the sinks to wash our hands, and once again he apologized.  “I’m really sorry about what happened on the raft and I hope I didn’t hurt you.” 

“No, you didn’t, and stop worrying about it.  I’m fine.”  He smiled at me again, and then we dried our hands and exited the men’s room. 

“What did I miss?” I asked when I joined Devin again. 

“Your dad and Lonny are getting along really well and they’ve been talking about what they did yesterday.  Lonny said that he took Clint to an adventure park yesterday, and Pa told him that we’d be going there tomorrow, so Lonny then wanted to know what we had done instead.  That’s when Pa explained that we had taken a tour in the duckies and Lonny wanted to know more about it.  After Pa told him the things he needed to know, Lonny said that he was going to see if he and Clint could book a spot to do that tomorrow.” 

“I’m glad my dad and Lonny are getting along,” I said, and then I listened to what they were saying.  What I didn’t realize at the time was that Clint was still standing beside me, rather than having gone over to stand beside his dad.

“I’d really like to talk to you more about what else you’ve got planned to do while your here,” Lonny stated.  “I’d like to see if we’re going to be doing other things together as well.”

“I wouldn’t mind going over that with you, but I’ve got to find a place for my family to have lunch first, so we can get to our next activity on time.” 

“Would you mind if Clint and I joined you for lunch?” Lonny asked. 

“No, not at all.  You can even follow us there and then we can chat while we’re eating.”

Now that they’d agreed, Lonny called Clint to go with him out to their car, and then they followed us to a restaurant that we’d passed on the way to the outfitters.  After we went inside, Dad asked for a table for six, and Lonny sat next to my dad so they could chat, and Clint made sure he was sitting on the other side of me, as I sat next to Devin. 

“How long are you going to be staying here?” Clint asked after we’d ordered. 

“We’re going to be here for the rest of the week.”

“We are too.  Where are you staying?”

“We have rooms at the Quality Inn?”

“Dang, we’re staying at the Cedar Lodge.”

“That’s ok, as long as it’s a nice place,” I offered.  

“Yeah, it is, but I wish we were staying at the same place you are.”

I wasn’t sure why Clint had said that, but I turned toward Devin to see what he was up to.  We kept our voices down as we were speaking, though, so we didn’t disturb Dad and Lonny’s conversation. 

“I’ve been listening to Pa telling Lonny about what we’re going to do after tomorrow, and I think Lonny’s going to try and see if he can change their activities so they can do those things with us.”

“It looks like Lonny feels that he and Clint would be better off being part of a group, rather than be on their own,” I replied, and then I turned and smiled at Clint.  

“Yeah, that would be lots better,” he confirmed.

As soon as we finished eating, Dad and Lonny had agreed to do the next activity that we had planned together, since reservations weren’t required and Lonny and Clint could do it with us.  This time, however, we followed Lonny there, since he seemed to know the way to where we were going.  It seems that they had been there yesterday when they were at the amusement park, so Lonny led the way.  After we arrived and our dads had parked their vehicles, we all walked to the next location together.

When we arrived there, Lonny made an announcement.  “We have to ride the gondola to the top to get to the fairy cave, and since the gondola holds up to six people, we can all ride together.”

“We were here yesterday to go on the rides,” Clint mentioned as we were on our way to the top of the mountain. 

“You mean there’s a theme park up here?” I asked.  “I didn’t expect it to be up on the mountain.  I thought it would be at the bottom.” 

“Nah, it’s a lot better up here.  You’ll see that I’m right, when you come here tomorrow.”

“I hope so.”

We took the Fairy Cave tour first and our guide quickly explained how the cave got its name.  “The first owner’s children thought the lantern light reflecting off the walls of the caves reminded them of fairies dancing about, so they named this section the Fairy Cave.  During the Victorian era, it was believed that fairies weren’t merely a childish obsession, but fairies were also considered good luck.  That was probably the reason the name stuck, although it may have also been used in order to entice even more people to visit the caves, so the owner would make more money.” 

“Yeah, people may have thought they’d be seeing a bunch of fairies like Tinkerbells flying around,” Clint observed and I tousled his hair in response.     

“I hope none of you are claustrophobic,” our guide added, “because the passageways can get quite narrow and the ceilings can be very low in some places.  Don’t worry, though, because you won’t have to bend over or stoop to get through any of these areas, but you will definitely feel closed in.  The combined effect of those issues might trigger a reaction in those of you that tend to suffer from that phobia, so if you’re worried that it may become a problem, you might want to reconsider going on this tour.”  

He paused briefly at this point to give everyone time to contemplate his warning. 

“There is another area where we’ll have to walk up a total of 19 steps, although there is a spot about halfway up where we can stop for a short breather before moving on.  If any of you feel that climbing the stairs will be a problem or you suffer from claustrophobia, I strongly urge you to reconsider doing this.  If you’ve changed your mind, you can leave now and request a full refund for the tour.”

A couple of people did as he suggested, and then the guide continued.

“As we move through the various areas on the tour, please don’t touch the walls of the cavern or any of the formations, because we wish to protect the living cave environment and not damage anything.  Once we start moving, you’ll have to keep up with me, because the lights will turn off behind us as we move through each section.” 

I think we all got his point, especially Clint, judging from the comment he made.  “Yeah, I wouldn’t want to be left behind down here in the dark or…” but he stopped abruptly when the guide started speaking again. 

“The Fairy Caves first opened in the early 1890s and they were the first caves in the US to have electric lights installed, which happened in April of 1896.  The caves continued operating until they shut down sometime between 1910 and 1915, and they remained closed to the public for the next eighty years.  Eventually, the land was purchased by a new owner in 1961, and during that time the caves were mapped and some of the passages expanded so people could walk through them.  However, the only people allowed inside the caves were those granted special permission from the new owner. 

“The caves didn’t open to the public until after they were sold again, which didn’t happen until the 1990s.  The new owners have tried to maintain the caves, while also making them more accessible to the general public.  There are even places within the caves where they continue to use replica Edison and Marconi-style light bulbs so the caves will appear as they did over 100 years ago.” 

“That sound neat and I can’t wait to see the difference,” Devin stated, and Clint and I nodded in agreement.

The guide then led us on a quarter-mile (.4 km) stroll through narrow and winding passages until he pointed out another feature.  “This area is called ‘the flowstone’ and you’ll probably notice the area appears to be quite shiny, and that’s because of the water flowing over it and it’s what causes the rocks to grow.”

“I didn’t know rocks could grow!” Clint stated as the guide continued speaking. 

“It happens as the minerals carried by the water get deposited and build up on the surface of the rocks and then gradually hardens,” I explained in a whisper. 

“We’re also in the room that is called the ‘eternal towers’,” our guide continued, “because if you look up you’ll see two holes in the ceiling that have lights placed in them now so they’re more noticeable.  But when Charles Darrow was first exploring this area by candlelight, he looked up and thought the holes appeared to go on forever, hence the name ‘eternal towers’.  We’ve now been able to measure them and one extends 55 feet (16.8 m) and the other goes up 44 feet (13.4 m), but seeing we’re 70 feet (21.3 m) underground, neither of them breaks through to the surface.”

We continued going a little farther until we came to an area the guide referred to as ‘lover’s lane’ due to a heart-shaped structure that had formed on the wall there.  I also noticed my dad giving my mom a loving squeeze, which was quite adorable.   After we left that area, we entered a man-made tunnel that had been carved out by Charles Darrow in the late 1890s so it would lead to an area that is referred to as ‘exclamation point’.  This area is now separated by a metal door, which when opened leads out onto a viewing balcony that offers a breathtaking view of both the Glenwood Canyon and the city of Glenwood Springs.

“This was originally the grand finale of the Charles Darrow tour,” our guide explained, “and then the tour would turn around and go back the same way they arrived there.  The new owners wanted to show off the caverns, so in 2013 they created a new tunnel that would lead to sections of the cave that Darrow never had the chance to see, and that’s where we’ll head now.”

It was in this new area where they had recreated the types of lights that Charles Darrow would have used back when the tunnels were first opened to the public.  We also got to see some new attractions, which included the area that the guide referred to as ‘cave’s popcorn’, due to the outgrowths on the rocks.  Those areas had been formed by a combination of heat and pressure as the minerals solidified there to look like the popcorn you might eat, although a slightly different color.  Shortly after we left there, we came to the ‘reflection pool’, which got its name because the water in the pool reflects the formations that are growing above it. 

“It looks like the giant teeth of some monster hanging over the water,” Clint observed. 

“Yes, it does, and the ‘teeth’ are tiny stalactites that have formed from the minerals that are left behind by the water that’s dripping down.”

When the tour ended, my mom looked at my dad and made a comment.  “That was interesting, but it only took us about 40 minutes to complete, so what are we going to do now?”

“I thought we could take a short break and get a drink before we go on the next tour of  King’s Row.”

“Is that tour similar to the one we just took?” 

“Only in that it takes place in a cave, but King’s Row is a newer area that wasn’t discovered until after 1960 and didn’t open to the public until 1999.  We will enter it through an airlock tunnel, and this time we’ll travel over well-lit boardwalks that have handrails, and there will be a lot more stairs involved in this tour as well.” 

“Exactly how many stairs are you talking about?” Mom demanded.

“If I remember correctly, I believe the article said there were 127 stairs in total, with some that go down into the caves while others bring you back up.  It also said there are large platforms where we can stop, rest, and look around, if you need to take a breather.”

“Ok, that doesn’t sound too bad then, at least not as bad as the other trip we took,” and this caused Dad to chuckle. 

“No, it definitely won’t be that bad.  And when we get to King’s Row, you’ll discover that it was given that name because the people who discovered the area thought the various formations there reminded them of chess pieces.”

“That sounds interesting,” I stated.  

“Lonny, are you and Clint ok with doing this as well?”

“Yes, I think Clint enjoyed the first tour, so I’ll go with you to buy our tickets for the new tour.”

I also took this opportunity to ask Clint a question.  “How old are you.”

“I’m eleven, but I turn twelve next month.  My birthday is on the last day of August.”

“My birthday is in August too, and Devin’s birthday is in September.”

“What day?”

“My birthday is August 27^th and Devin’s is September 4^th.”  

“Wow, our birthdays are close enough so we could celebrate them together.”

“Yeah, Devin and I did that once too.”

“Neat.”

When the new tour started, we followed our next guide through the special airtight door to the first area on the tour.  “This section is referred to as ‘the barn’, and it was given this name because it’s the size of an enormous barn – or even larger in fact, because it’s five-stories high and the length of a football field.” 

“This place is huge,” Clint gasped as he looked around. 

He was correct and it was larger than anything you might expect to see underground.  After we’d had a chance to examine that area more closely, we headed toward the staircase that would take us down 150 feet (46 m) to King’s Row.  Clint was walking next to me as we started down the stairs and he was busy talking as we made our way down the first flight of stairs. 

“This is really awesome and there’s so much to see,” he was saying as we were coming to a short landing.  Since he obviously wasn’t paying attention, Clint didn’t realize that he’d have to take a step or two before we reached the next flight of stairs, and this caused him to stumble and he started to fall.  It appeared that he was about to go down the next flight of stairs headfirst and might take Devin and others with him, since they were in front of him at the time.  I reacted as quickly as I could and was able to grab ahold of the back of his shorts before that happened, and then I pulled him back toward me. 

“Clint, I know you’re excited, but you’ve got to pay attention to what you’re doing.  You just about took a header down the next set of stairs.” 

“Thank you for stopping me from getting hurt and I’ll try to do better from now on.”

“I’m glad to hear that, because I don’t want you to spend the next day or two of your vacation in the hospital.”

“Yeah, I don’t want that to happen either.”

We soon reached another landing, but this one was slightly larger, and the guide stopped to tell us about it.  “This is called ‘the wedding platform’.  It got that name because there were two volunteer cavers that met while working here and later decided to get married, and they let it be known that they wanted to hold the ceremony at this spot.  They chose this location for very good reasons, and if you look to my right, you’ll see there are two stalactites that have grown together.  The cavers said it reminded them of how a husband and wife are joined together when they get married, and if you look over the railing before moving on, you’ll notice something else.  There’s a rock below here that has naturally formed in the shape of a heart.”

Our guide took her time moving down the remaining stairs in order to give everyone a chance to check out both of those features before we moved on.  As soon as we’d all reached the bottom of the stairs, we traveled through spacious passageways until we arrived at our next stop. 

“We have reached our final destination on this tour, King’s Row, and it’s the most highly decorated cave in Colorado.  At this location you’ll be able to see stalactites and stalagmites, along with a few columns, which is where the two features have grown together.  I will also point out particular features that have been given names, due to how they appear.” 

Along the way she pointed out various formations that looked like chess pieces, as well as another that resembled Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  There was another feature that appeared similar to Santa Claus, and another that looked like King Kong’s face coming out of the wall.  There was a formation that she referred to as ‘the Oscar’, since it resembled an Oscar statuette, and she said if we used our imagination, we might see many other areas that reminded us of other things.  She also said it didn’t matter if the items they resembled were real or imaginary, such as things out of fairy tales or other stories we might have read, as long as it was how we thought they appeared.

As we were walking back to the gondola, I saw a stack of brochures about the Adventure Park, so I snatched one, folded it, and slipped it into my pocket.  Devin and Clint didn’t notice what I’d done, since they were walking slightly ahead of me at the time and busy chatting about what they thought were the best attractions they’d seen during either cave tour.  I’d just caught up to them again as we boarded the gondola for the ride down to the parking lot. 

During the ride, Clint decided to inform his dad about nearly having an accident.  “You were ahead of us in the second cave when Michael kept me from fallin’ down a bunch of stairs, so you didn’t see it happen.”

“He did?” his father gasped in amazement, as his eyes focused on me. 

“Yeah, I kinda tripped and he grabbed ahold of my shorts to keep me from fallin’ down the next bunch of stairs.”

“Thank you, Michael, for doing my job for me and keeping Clint safe.”

“It wasn’t that big of a deal.  I was just able to stop him before anything happened.”

“Well, I appreciate your help,” he added before he turned to my dad.  “Are you going to go grab a bite to eat now?”

“We are, but we’ve got reservations to go to a dinner cabaret and I’m not sure you would be able to get reservations at this late date.  It is also a little pricey.” 

“Ok, so we won’t see each other tomorrow either, but I hope we’ll catch up to you again the following day.  I’m going to use some of my time tomorrow trying to sign us up to do some of the same things you told me about earlier.” 

“That sounds fine and we hope to see both of you again on Wednesday.”

Then we all got into our vehicles and started to leave the parking lot.  While we were doing that, my dad made a comment.  “We’re going to have to hurry when we get back to the motel, so we’re not late to the cabaret.  Business casual clothes should do for tonight.  Just look nice.”

“We’ll just take 5-minute showers then and we both packed a couple of pairs of dress pants and a couple of polo shirts, just in case we had to dress up.” 

“Ok, that should do nicely.  Your mother and I will also hurry up while we’re getting ready, but it may take us a little longer than it takes the two of you.”

When we were all ready, Dad handed each of us our tickets and then we headed out to get into the SUV.  Dad drove us to the location where this was taking place, and when we entered the facility, we were informed that our tickets were good for two drinks from the bar.  He said the bartenders would punch out ticket when we were served our drinks, and if we required more than two drinks then we would be charged according to the prices listed at the bar. 

After picking up our drinks, we took them to the table to which we’d been assigned and set them down.  Each of the tables were round and had four chairs arranged so the front of the table remained open so we could all see the stage.  The meal was served banquet style, so we went to get our food, and there was a location on either side of the room that was set up for this purpose.  There was also a sufficient selection of different types of food so everyone would find enough to fill them up, while also meeting their dietary needs, including those of vegetarians. 

As soon as we’d filled our plates, we carried them to our table and began to eat.  The food was good and about the same quality as what you might find at a wedding reception that was being served banquet style.  And my dad was happy when he discovered there was also a variety of desserts available at a separate location.

Almost as soon as we finished eating, whether it was the main course or the dessert, a staff member would come by to remove the dishes.  In fact, the staff made sure the tables were completely cleared before the performance started. 

“What is the cabaret portion of this event?” I asked. 

“We’ll be watching a performance of the musical “Million Dollar Quartet.”

“What’s that about?” Devin followed. 

“It is set in the mid-1950s and it’s based on a photograph of four young musicians at an impromptu jam session at the Sun Record Studios in Memphis Tennessee.  The four musicians were Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and Elvis Presley, and a Memphis newspaper wrote a story about the jam session under the title ‘Million Dollar Quartet.  Presley was clearly the ‘star’ of the group, but the other three had already achieved some success as well, but together they clearly represented a potential gold mine in earnings.”

“Sounds neat and I recognize some of those names, so I can’t wait to hear what this is going to be like.”

It turned out that the musical was a lot of fun and the music had the place rockin’.  I’d heard a few of the songs before, but most of them were new to me, and the actors all did a really great job with their performances and made it a very enjoyable evening.  There wasn’t any intermission, which I thought was a little strange, and when the show ended, the crowd rose to its feet in a standing ovation.  Once the clapping died down, we made our way back to the motel to turn in.  It had been a very long and busy day.