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I had worked at Happytown long enough by now to know what sort of mood Mr. West was in just by the way he walked. Generally, when there was a large crowd of people around, he would put on his friendliest, most pleasant face to greet the crowd. He certainly didn't want to give the impression that he was a cranky old man, even if that was what he really was. But today was different. Today he was making no attempts to hide his agitation. Certainly, in all the time he had owned this park, he had never witnessed a crowd as big as this, all waiting to ride one ride. So with that in mind, I could sort of understand why he was upset. Still, it didn't bode well for me.
“Yikes,” Calvin muttered. “The old windbag doesn't look too pleased does he?”
“No, he does not. We might be in some hot water right now.”
We watched nervously as Mr. West finally reached the front of the crowd. He stared in shock and amazement at the new and improved carousel as it whirled around, much to the delight of those riding on it. For several minutes he didn't seem to know what to make of it as if he was wondering if it had been like this all along. Then, he suddenly whirled around and began to scan the crowd with his beady eyes. When he spotted Calvin and myself perched on crates, his eyes narrowed.
“Oh man, he's on to us!” I whispered, quickly averting my own eyes to avoid making eye contact with my boss.
Even though I wasn't looking directly at him, I could feel his gaze upon me. It was like his eyes were lasers, burning searing holes into my flesh! What was he going to do to me? I was beginning to think that today would be my last at the Happytown theme park, and my dreams of becoming a Roblox theme park designer were over.
But then I witnessed something that surprised me. Several patrons, recognizing Mr. West as the owner of the park, had come over to congratulate him on the carousel!
“It really is a marvel,” gushed one woman. “I've never seen such a genius alteration of such a basic ride.”
“My thoughts exactly,” chimed in another happy customer. “You've made some great improvements here. I'm just curious what more this baby can do!”
This level of praise and adulation was all new to Mr. West, and he seemed clueless as to how to respond. But it was also apparent that he greatly enjoyed it. And most importantly, he seemed to have forgotten all about me and Calvin!
“Well thank you so much,” he replied to the customers. “We at Happytown have always prided ourselves in our pursuit of innovation!”
Mr. West's loud voice carried to my location and I snorted a laugh when I heard his comments, then muffled the rest of my laughter so I could listen as he continued to boast.
“As far as what this ride can do, I think she still has a few tricks up her sleeves. Why don't I go over to the controls and show you what she's really capable of!”
“Oh no,” Calvin gasped. “Surely he isn't planning on trying to mess with the controls of the ride!”
But much to our horror, that was exactly what our boss had in mind!