Fourth of July on Monster Mountain

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Fourth of July on Monster Mountain - book excerpt

Chapter 1: THE INVITATION

“How’d you like to spend the Fourth of July at a dinosaur water slide park?”

I paused my video game and turned to see what my dad was talking about. He’d interrupted my sister’s reading time by slapping a pamphlet down on her lap.

Jenny dog-eared a page before setting her book on the side table. She picked up the pamphlet and opened it. Immediately her eyes grew wide with excitement, and she beamed a smile.

“Really?” she gasped and gawked up at Dad.

“Well,” Dad said, offering a bemused grin while shrugging a shoulder, “I thought I’d ask before securing plane tickets.”

“This isn’t funny if you’re joking, Dad,” Jenny answered. She sounded cautious, and I didn’t necessarily blame her. Dad is known as the family prankster and even teases us from time to time—playfully of course.

“Let me check it out,” I said.

Not able to wait for a response, I dropped my game controller and ran to my sister’s side. I leaned over to see what was displayed inside of the pamphlet Jenny had opened wide for all to view. I chuckled with a thrill I could feel racing through my entire body.

I agreed with my sister. “Yeah, Dad, this better not be one of your jokes, because if it is, then it’s plain mean.”

“No joke, sport,” Dad confirmed. “I thought I’d run it by you guys first and see if you’re up to it.”

See if we were up to it?

Had Dad lost his marbles? Of course, we were up to it. What kid wouldn’t be up to spending a holiday weekend at one of the largest outdoor water parks in the country?

“Is this—?” Jenny started to ask, holding the unfolded pamphlet up higher.

“Uncle Victor’s new water park,” Dad stated before Jenny could finish. “The pamphlet came in the mail today along with a letter from Uncle Victor. He invited the entire family to spend the Fourth of July there for free, which also happens to be the water park’s grand opening.”

“So awesome!” Jenny exclaimed. She was back to gawking at the pamphlet, but then seemed to have another idea. “Is Uncle Victor inviting our cousins too?”

“Rebecca and little Ricky,” I chirped in, as if Dad wouldn’t know who my sister was talking about.

“He already did invite them,” Dad said. “I called Uncle Matt, and they’ve already got their tickets to fly the family from Texas to Montana.”

My cousins lived in Texas, and oh man, I was thrilled Uncle Victor had invited their whole family. The water park would be fun no matter what, but we only saw our cousins once or twice a year. Each time, it wasa blast, and it was always exciting.

“We are going, aren’t we, Dad?” Jenny asked one more time to be positive.

“Your mom and I discussed it, and we think it’d be a nice family vacation. If you guys are certain you can handle Dinosaur AdventuresWater Park…”

“We can!” my sister and I called out in unison.

“It’s a done deal then,” Dad said. He chuckled and shook his head as if both of his kids were nutso.

You know what? Maybe we were acting a little crazy at that moment, because we love water parks, and according to the pamphlet, Uncle Victor’s wasn’t simply a water park; it was a dinosaur water park!

The pamphlet said there was a giant wave pool called Plio’s Pooland that lurking in the pool’s depths was a Pliosaurus—one of the world’s largest swimming reptiles ever. The water slides had names like Neck to Tail, Racing Raptors,Flight of the Pterodactyl,and even one called T. Rex’s Revenge,which claimed a Tyrannosaurus Rex chased after you once you went down the slide.

“I almost forgot,” Dad said, turning back to us. He tossedus an envelope. “Uncle Victor specifically addressed that letter to the two of you, so it must be filled with top-secret information.”

Chapter 2: THANK YOU FOR BEING CIVILIZED

Sure enough, both of our names—Jake and Jenny—had been scrawled on the front of the letter followed by our home address.

I’m not going to even try to try to play it cool; it was pretty neat seeing my name on the envelope. I hardly ever received any mail, and honestly, my parents usually grumbled about most of their mail being bills and junk mail. Uncle Victor had taken the time to write an actual letter to Jenny and me, and that made us happy. As weird and eccentric as Uncle Victor always was, I missed him when I didn't get to see him often.

Not wasting any time, Jenny and I ran to the table in the next room. Before Jenny could open it, I tried ripping it from her hands.

“Stop!” Jenny whined. She snapped the letter farther away while staring daggers at me. “Dad gave the letter to me.”

“He didn’t give it to you,” I complained, and ignored my sister’s demand to stop. “He threw it, and it happened to flutter into your hands. Besides, the letter is addressed to me too.”

Hastily I reached for the letter again, and this time grabbed the corner of it.

I pulled.

My sister pulled back.

I yanked and twisted.

My sister yanked and twisted even harder.

R - r - r - r - r - i - i - i - i - i - p!

“See what you did!” Jenny yelled. She held half of the letter still in her possession.

“It’s your fault!” I accused Jenny. I flapped the other half that I held in her face “All you had to do was let me open the letter. Now we can’t even read it.”

“Both of you stop,” Mom said, popping her face into view from the entryway to our kitchen.

“But, Mom—” both Jenny and I started to gripe.

Mom cut us off. “Don’t but Mom me.”

I don’t know why, but this made both of us snicker under our breaths. Jenny and I shared a glance; and, that simply, our tiff was over.

Still, Mom went on with her lecture.

“If the two of you can’t get along, we’ll have to call the whole trip off. Now, I don’t give a rat’s patoot who started the argument; both of you need to apologize.”

All I wanted to do was tape Uncle Victor’s letter back together so we could read it. I apologized first. Besides, I can admit when I’m wrong. This time I was probably at fault.

I mumbled an apology, and my sister did too. We were both already smirking at each other with the knowledge the argument was already done.

“Thank you, heathens, for being civilized for once,” Mom said. “I trust there won’t be any more arguing?”

“There won’t! We promise!” Jenny and I said together, and then we were both laughing at how childish we’d behaved. My sister and I are twins, and sometimes people think it’s really weird how we seem to sometimes share the same thoughts. It isn’t weird to us, but hey, if people don’t understand the bond my sister and I share that’s not our problem.

Letting my sister open the letter the rest of the way—both halves—I dug a roll of tape out of a drawer. We pieced the letter together and carefully taped it.

Jenny set the letter down on the table and smoothed it out with a palm.

“Dearest Nephew Jake and Niece Jenny…” my sister began reading. “Let me start off by saying how much I’ve missed the two of you since our last visit together—I trust you remember vacationing to Monster Island last Halloween. Of course, you remember! Who could forget such a fun and exciting weekend?”

Jenny paused and we exchanged an—oh sheesh—look with one another.

“You can’t deny it was fun,” I said, shrugging a shoulder.

“Fun?” Jenny said. She raised her eyebrows and continued, “You’re not the one that transformed into a lizard.”

She had a point there. While my sister had turned into a lizard princess—it still gives me the chuckles when I think of that—and my cousins had turned into a vampire and a werewolf, I had remained unchanged during our time on Monster Island.

“True,” I said, thinking it best to agree with Jenny for the moment. “But you certainly can’t deny the trip was exciting.”

“You’re right,” Jenny answered. Her eyes went back to the letter and she continued reading. “Well, good news! I have another fun…”

Chapter 3: THE LETTER

…vacation planned because I’m thrilled to announce that construction on Dinosaur Adventures Water Park is complete. The entire water park is built into the side of Monster Mountain out in Montana. I’m inviting you and your parents to come and celebrate the grand opening on Independence Day! What better way to celebrate our great nation’s birthday than swimming, riding water slides, and learning about dinosaurs?

That’s right, I said dinosaurs! Dinosaurs are the theme I’ve focused on for my water park. Not only that, but I also have a few displays of fully formed dinosaur skeletons, like a Tyrannosaurus Rex and a Triceratops.

Without a doubt, you are wondering if I’ve invited your cousins Rebecca and little Ricky. In short—the answer is yes. They will be attending the grand opening along with your Uncle Matt and Aunt Marcy. We’ll have the whole family together for the Fourth of July.

Not only your cousins, but also Miss Penny will be there. She has graduated college, and I offered her the assistant management position at the new water park. She has been devoted to her education while also being a dedicated worker for me over the years. I’m quite positive she will do great things in her new position.

I look forward to seeing the two of you. It warms my heart when I think of the wonderful adventure you all shared on my Monster Island, and now new adventures await you on Monster Mountain.

Your oddest relative,

Uncle Victor

P.S. I trust you’ve not spoken of the few minor mishaps experienced on Monster Island. That could lead to bad press for me, and also I don’t want to lose your parents’ trust.

P.P.S. Miss you guys, and you better show up on Independence Day…or else!

Chapter 4: RIDING NECK TO TAIL

The dinosaur’s head jerked abruptly, and I about jumped out of my swimsuit!

Whoosh!

My cousins disappeared in the blink of an eye, both screaming fit to bust. Then the Brachiosaurus head smoothly leveled out, and I was staring at the waterpark worker responsible for making sure everyone rode Neck to Tail properly.

Make no doubt about it, Dinosaur Adventures Water Parkwas the place to be that Fourth of July.

Dinosaur Adventures—my dad had talked about that name nonstop on the flightfrom Michigan to Montana, as if the name alonewould make my Uncle Victor the big bucks. Come on, let’s be honest though, naming a brand or a kid’s play area is important, but we’re talking about a dinosaur-themed water park.

I don’t think it would have mattered one iota if Uncle Victor had settled on the boring name The Water Place. The park was going to make him money hand over fist during the summer months. Still, on the plane ride out to Montana, Dad had continuously leaned over the center aisle and droned on and on to my sister and me about that name. I don’t think he would’ve stopped except Mom, smiling politely, had finally tapped his leg. She’d agreed it was a nice name, but the kids were probably more excited about the actual wave pool and the water slides.

Mom had been correct, and now here we were, standing at the very top of Neck to Tail,our first water slide of the day.