Beach Party Surf Monkey by Chris Grabenstein

Author:Chris Grabenstein
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2017-05-23T04:00:00+00:00

“Hey there, Mrs.—I mean, Ms. Wilkie,” said Veronica Conch as the fiberglass pirate creaked into place behind her. “Oh, hi, Ms. Foxworth, Mr. Carnes. My father and I met you guys over in Tampa when you were looking for a location but didn’t pick ours. Remember? Is everything okay?”

“Is your father available?” asked Ms. Foxworth.

“Nuh-uh. He and the construction engineer just left to go talk to some lawyers because we need to knock down more shabby old motels that nobody wants to stay in anymore. Daddy’s closing another mega-huge deal. Hey, speaking of deals, Ms. Wilkie, are you guys ready to sell your motel to Daddy because he always gets what he wants?”

“No,” I answered. “We’re too busy making a major motion picture!”

“I know. I heard the song about the monkey. Gosh, that sure was loud.”

“Not as loud as your crane!”

“What’s going on over here?” said Grandpa, joining us by the Conch Reef pool. When he saw the giant pirate statue, he nearly dropped his can of Cel-Ray.

He did belch.

“Is that one of mine?” said Grandpa. “Young lady, did you steal that pirate from us?”

Veronica scoffed. “Hardly. Do you think you guys are the only ones on Gulf Boulevard who can attract customers with goofy statuary? This is Pirate Pete and he’s all ours!”

“Veronica,” said Gloria, “I don’t know if you realize this, but Surf Monkey Productions arranged for their entire cast and crew to take their lunch here at your restaurant today.”

“Well, it is the biggest, best, and most bountiful buffet on the beach. Try saying that three times fast.”

Gloria kept going. “That’s one hundred and twenty-six lunches at fifteen dollars apiece, which equals one thousand eight hundred and ninety dollars in revenue for your restaurant. Comparing that with your average daily sales…”

“Wha-hut? How’d you get those numbers?”

“Immaterial. Eighteen hundred and ninety dollars is triple your typical lunch take. Surf Monkey Productions had planned on buying one hundred and twenty-six more lunches tomorrow…if…”

“If what?” asked Veronica, blinking a lot.

“You can keep the noise down over here!” snapped Ms. Foxworth.

“Well, there’s no need to get all snippy about it, ma’am. Golly, you Hollywood people sure are pushy.”

“What Ms. Foxworth is trying to say,” said Gloria, “is we’d sincerely appreciate your cooperation. In return, we won’t be calling Crabby Bill’s Casual Seafood Shack down the block to make alternate lunch arrangements.”

“Oh. I see. This is what they call playing hardball.”

“Correct.”

Veronica nodded.

“Daddy does it all the time. So when, exactly, is your lunch break over?”

“Half an hour,” said Ms. Foxworth.

“No problem. The crane guys should be finished by then.”

“Wonderful.”

“We just need to get it set up for our big promotional event this weekend. Will you be filming this weekend?”

“No.”

“Good. Because we expect to attract quite a crowd. We’re doing our first-ever Pirate Chest Treasure Quest. I’m printing up treasure maps, burying a chest filled with sparkly goodies….”

I couldn’t believe it.

Neither could Grandpa.

“That’s our gig!” he said.

“You mean that used to be your gig,” said Veronica with a big smirk.

Fact: while the Wonderland was busy making movies, Veronica Conch was swooping in and stealing our best ideas.

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