Many Moons

Theme Park

I didn't want to go home, for fear of being abducted again, so Mona and I went to Lanny World instead. I filled her in on the events on the day as she drove. I was slightly disappointed to see that the big bag of donuts had been left at the house.

Lanny World belonged to my friend Lanny Lemiuex, who I had known since elementary school. He had gone on to spectacular success at college, almost completing his doctorate in Literature before having a more spectacular collegiate flameout than I had, but we ended up in sort of the same place eventually. I worked on toys for a living, and Lanny had bought a small, run down family fun center in nearby Tarpon Springs that had been for sale a few years earlier.

He had initially thought about refurbishing the two acre facility and making a first class park, but he soon realized that he liked playing mini golf and riding go-karts more than running a business. So he left it closed to the public and rented it out to friends to cover his bills.

I got to play for free because of a huge display I had built for him.

One thing that young people don't appreciate about Florida is that a lot of old people live there. This means that there are no lines at the restaurants or movie theaters after 6pm. It also means that people are always chatting with you in line at the grocery store, or wherever a line has formed, so you always feel important and connected, even though they mostly want to talk about their grandkids or the government or their illnesses.

But the best, and admittedly most morbid, benefit was that old people died fairly frequently, which meant great deals at garage sales.

Lanny had wanted me to build a big toy for his park, back when he was thinking about opening it to the public. I found four low-impact elliptical exercise machines at various garage sales and used them as oversized mechanical levers. Lanny helped me to weld the giant metal hippos, red kick balls were painted white and thrown into the arena, and we placed the whole shebang on a concrete slab. It was fun and you got a lot of exercise.

When we pulled up, Lanny was laying on lawn furniture reading, "The Magician's Nephew" by C.S. Lewis.

We exchanged greetings and he gestured toward two lawn chairs so we sat down.

"You guys want a mojito?"

Without waiting for a response Lanny clapped his hands twice and a pretty girl in her early twenties came out of the house.

"Three more please, Britney." Lanny directed.

The girl smiled and turned on her heels and went back into the house.

Mona was about to ask when Lanny explained, "A bunch of college girls wanted to have a sorority party a few weeks ago but couldn't pay for it, so I let them work off the rental for a week by doing chores, cleaning, stuff like that. It was pretty awesome, actually. I'm thinking of moving entirely to the bartering system."

"So she's your personal house slave?" Mona asked.

"Nah. This was a few weeks ago. A few days ago, when the whole moon thing happened, Britney just sort of drifted by and hasn't left. We're sort of seeing each other now. It's going pretty great."

The girl came out carrying a tray with four drinks. I have always loved mojitos and these were excellent. I complimented Britney.

"Lanny grows his own mint in his herb garden. Plus, I use a mango-flavored rum. Makes it more summery."

"It really does." I smiled. Mona elbowed me in the ribs as Britney turned and sat in one of the lawn chairs.

"Thanks, Sweetie," Lanny said, gently rubbing Britney's arm. "So what brings you guys out this way?"