The sound of the mailbox opening and closing told Peter the mailman had just gone by. Putting down the guitar he had been tuning, he got up to see what mail had come. A minute later, he was thumbing through a small pile of letters. Most of it was junk mail, one was a letter from Davy's sister, but it was the first-class letter with the TV station KXIU return address that got his attention. It was simply addressed to The Monkees with their address underneath.
Shrugging, Peter tossed the rest of the mail on the kitchen table as Davy came in through the back door from a walk on the beach.
"Hey, Peter." Davy said as he took a towel lying near the door and wiped the sand from his bare feet.
"Hi, Davy." Peter replied, still staring at the envelope.
"What are you looking at?" Davy asked as he strapped on his sandals.
"Oh this?" Peter asked, "The mail came a minute ago and we got this letter from station KXIU."
"That name sounds familiar." Davy mused as he walked over to Peter. "Anything else?"
"A letter from your sister." Peter replied, handing the letter to him.
"Thanks, mate." Davy smiled as he began to tear into the envelope, then stopped. "Aren't you going to open that letter from KXIU?"
"I don't know." Peter said "What would they want with us?"
Davy thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers.
"Now I remember!" Davy exclaimed, "About two years ago we were booked on their Captain Crocodile Show he did everything he could to ruin us."
"Oh yeah." Peter said, frowning, "He thought we were a threat to him and even sent his Crocodile Corps after us."
"That bloke was crackers." Davy said, shaking his head, "After we exposed him for the fraud he was, Howie Needleman took over."
"And he was little better than Captain Crocodile." Peter finished, then looked thoughtful, "That show was soon cancelled. I wonder what happened to those two."
"Who cares?" Davy said with a wave of his hand, "It's made me leery of performing on TV ever again."
The front door opened and Mike and Micky came into the pad.
"Hi guys, what's up?" Micky asked.
"We got a letter from KXIU." Davy said, opening his letter and walking away.
"From who?" Mike asked.
"I remember that station." Micky said, "We performed, or tried to perform on that crazy Captain Crocodile's show."
"Oh yeah," Mike said with a frown. "What do they want with us?"
"One way to find out." Micky replied, "Open it, Peter."
Peter took a knife and gently slit open the letter. Inside was a folded sheet of paper which Peter took and unfolded. On the top of the paper was the official letterhead of KXIU. Peter began to read the neat typewritten letter:
Dear Sirs, We the management of KXIU sincerely regrets the inconvenience and trouble caused you by our former employee, Captain Crocodile, aka Jack Norman. In order to make amends, the four of you are invited to spend a seven-day, and six-night all-expenses paid vacation at the Ocean View Resort on the island of Boring Boring.
Please call 555-0987 and ask for Judy.
Sincerely,
D. Pinter
President, KXIU
Davy stopped reading his letter and walked over to Peter as he was reading. Now all four Monkees stood looking at each other in total surprise.
"They're giving us a trip to Boring Boring?" Micky asked in the silence.
"Looks that way." Peter said happily, "Well, what do you guys think?"
"I don't know." Mike replied, rubbing his chin. "Why contact us now after almost two years?"
"Perhaps they had legal problems with the Captain before they could deal with us." Davy offered.
"That's possible." Micky said, taking the letter from Peter and looking at it closely, "It's written on KXIU stationary. So it must be legit."
Mike walked over to the phone.
"Let's call them." Mike said, "And find out what this is all about."
"I'll do it." Peter said,
"No, you better let me handle this, Peter." Mike said as he picked up the phone and dialed the number. It took several rings, but finally someone picked up the other end.
"Hello, this is KXIU, may I help you?" A female voice answered.
"May I speak to Judy?" Mike asked. "I need to ask about a..."
"This is Judy." The woman on the other end interrupted, one Mike now recognized: Junior Pinter's secretary, the one the Monkees met when they first met Junior.
"This is Judy, how may I help you?" She asked, a slight annoyance in her voice when Mike didn't reply right away.
"This is Mike Nesmith of the Monkees." Mike replied, stifling a sigh "Remember us?"
"Oh yes, you're calling about your trip to Boring Boring aren't you?" She replied, getting right to the point.
"Yes I am." Mike said, "So you know all about it?" He asked, a little surprised.
"Of course, I'm the one who booked it all for you under Mr. Pinter's orders." Judy replied.
"Why is he giving us this trip, Judy?" Mike asked, still wondering about the whole situation.
"His son Junior is the one who urged his father to do this." The secretary replied, "He wanted to make amends over what happened with the Captain and perhaps persuade you four to appear again on another show in the future."
`No chance of that.' Mike thought to himself, but to Judy he said, "Can I talk to Junior?"
"He and his family are on a cruise around Australia." Judy replied, "He won't be back for several more days." The sound of papers being rustled around could be heard on the other end. "In the meantime, I'm going to send you four your tickets and reservations. You can leave in a few days."
"Oh, that's ok, Judy." Mike said quickly. "We'll come over tomorrow and pick them up."
There was a slight pause on the other end of the line. Finally Junior's secretary spoke again, this time her impatient tone was gone.
"I suppose that will be alright." She said, "Come around ten o'clock."
"We'll be there, Judy." Mike replied, "See you then."
There was no answer as Judy had already hung up the phone.
Judy hung up the phone and looked at the man standing in front of her desk.
"They want to come here to pick up the tickets." She said, a frown on her face.
"That will be no problem." The man said, fingering one end of his mustache, "Junior will still be away and his office empty." He pulled an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to her. "Here is something for your troubles."
Judy opened the envelope and counted the money inside.
"Where's the rest of it?" She asked sharply.
"You'll get the rest once they are satisfied and on their way to Boring Boring." The man replied, putting on his hat. "When they are gone, you'll get what's coming to you." With that, he left Junior's office.