From the Mundy’s Landing Tribune Archives
Community Notes
June 14, 1916
Young and old persons alike anticipate the arrival of summer for refreshing delights no other season can offer. Envision the perfect day: open--air luncheon in a shady picnic grove, donning a bathing costume and splashing away a sultry afternoon at the water’s edge, indulging one’s sweet tooth with a bowl of rich, delicious ice cream or an effervescent root beer, and winding down the evening with the fox--trot in an open--air dance hall, a vaudeville performance, or a ragtime serenade beneath the stars.
One can fulfill all of these desires and more at the new Valley Cove Electric Pleasure Park in Mundy’s Landing. Now open for the season and just in time for next month’s Sestercentennial Extravaganza, the riverfront park is accessible via streetcar to the end of the River West Line and is located adjacent to the 1665 settlement monument.
Amusements include a carousel, a Ferris wheel, and a figure--eight thrill--coaster. Along the boardwalk are an arcade, a shooting gallery, and a food concession pier, including a root beer stand and confectioner’s stall. Strolling the well--lit grounds, parkgoers will find modern bathhouses, picnic -shelters, a roller--skating rink, bandstand, theater, and dance pavilion. Plans for expansion include a baseball diamond, a grandstand, and a swimming pool.
While there have been concerns among the upstanding citizenship of our fair village—-particularly those of a gentle female persuasion—-that the park might draw vagrants and unsavory characters from far afield, management offers utmost assurance that this is a family--friendly endeavor. Undesirables shall be refused admittance. All others are invited to visit at ten cents for the day.
Chapter 16
Ordinarily, Noreen doesn’t leave the office at lunchtime, opting to stay at her desk and eat Greek yogurt or a protein bar, if anything at all. Today, however, she heads home at noon to grab a brief she’d left behind in her haste to clear away the breakfast things and get out the door with the kids.
Luz helps when she’s here, but she’s off on Wednesdays. Kevin wasn’t working, but had reserved an indoor court at the club and was already gone when she got up at six--thirty.
She was hoping he wouldn’t be home now, but sees his Lexus parked in the garage when she raises the electronic door. Terrific. It’s already been a lousy day after a sleepless night on the guest room mattress, and she’s dreading this afternoon’s meeting with one of her more difficult clients.
Having come to terms not just with the separation, but with the likelihood of a divorce, she wishes he’d just get out of her house and her life. But of course he can’t. Unfortunately, neither can she, not even just overnight. She doesn’t have the luxury of an escape chute to the hospital, a rented condo, or wherever the hell it is that he sleeps when he’s not here.
Walking into the kitchen, she finds a mess. An array of chopped fruit sits on a cutting board, rinds and peels litter the sink, and the juicer is filled with a pumpkin--colored sludge that’s spattered on the counter and backsplash.
Goliath’s muddy paw prints are tracked over the floor, and the dog himself apparently toppled his bowl of dry food and is undoubtedly cowering someplace in shame.
She fights the urge to grab a sponge and start cleaning, instead striding through the house to the foot of the stairs.
“Kevin!” she calls.
No answer.
She stomps up the flight and sees that the master bedroom door is closed.
What if he’s in there with someone?
That gives her pause.
Then, realizing her heart wouldn’t be broken and it would be ammunition for the divorce settlement, she embraces the scenario and strides toward the room.
Opening the door, she braces herself to see her husband in the arms of another woman.