Ice Box Episode 7.06 “Looking For Trouble” (04/21/2009)

Early the next morning, Edward Crawford and Bradley Fulton have a discussion about the future Winter Festival that is going to take place in Kane. Edward has contacted the mayor and asked him to provide any help he can. He also filed forms to request a street to be closed during the Winter Festival. Everything seems in its place, ready to go except one major aspect.

“Edward, we have all the events we’re going to do, where we’re going to do them, and what time. Have you any idea on who is going to participate?” Bradley asks him.

Edward leans back in his office desk chair and smiles, “I’m glad you asked that question. Here are some of my ideas. First, we could have local citizens make up their own teams. It doesn’t matter who is involved as long as they do what they need to do. The more teams the better. The town hasn’t done this in ages, so I’m not expecting a great turn out.”

Bradley likes the idea, but wishes to hear about his other ideas, “What about your other ideas?”

“Well, I want to put up some prize money to go along with the events. Except I want the money to go to a charity of some kind. Not just give out money to random people. What if we marketed this towards the Relay for Life teams, local organizations and such? I think it would help the town out a lot,” Edward explains his second idea.

“That’s not a bad idea. It’d be good for your publicity. We just have to make sure everything goes off without a hitch,” Bradley comments.

“I don’t want to just include Kane, though. I want to expand this into a multitude of towns competing. Kind of like the Winter Olympics, except localized. That way all the surrounding towns have a chance of getting something out of the deal. We’ll charge an entrance fee as well. That money will go towards next year’s Winter Festival, if we decide this is all worth it,” Edward adds, “We can use that as spending money for supplies or something.”

Bradley nods his head in approval. A worried looks comes over his face, however. “This isn’t getting too big for us, is it?”

“I hope not. I want this to succeed. It has to once we get everything organized and the town sees how exciting this is going to be. We don’t have much time either; the weather is going to be getting better. I never thought that would be a bad thing,” Edward says.

Myles Montgomery and Irwin Armstrong listen near their computer to Edward and Bradley talking about the Winter Festival earlier this morning. The night before these two thought the discussion between Edward and Bradley was unimportant; after listening to them talk this morning they’ve changed their minds.

“This is interesting now. Wouldn’t you agree?” Irwin asks Myles.

Myles’ eyes glazed over in happiness. He appears as if he is in utopia. Myles thinks of warmer weather melting snow instantly. While the snow melts he holds a bucket full of rock salt. He throws it effortlessly and carelessly. Soon the snow is completely gone and flowers bloom around him.

“Myles?” Irwin calls him back to reality. Irwin waves a hand in front of his eyes. There is no response so Irwin taps a few times on his arm. “Earth to Myles, is anyone there?” he continues.

Myles snaps out of his vivid daydream, “Damn you, it was just getting good!”

Irwin is clueless as to what he is talking about, “Were you having a sexual fantasy or something?”

“No, I was thinking of sunny days and flowers blooming. The perfect ending to this Winter Festival as they call it,” Myles explains.

“I should have thought that’s what you were dreaming about. That’s good, because we’ll need to stay on top of our game. Gather any information we can about this and use it to our advantage. Edward won’t know what hit him,” Irwin comments.

“So, how do you think we should take care of this?” Myles asks for Irwin’s input.

“I think we should take some time to figure this out. It’s not like they’re having it tomorrow. Let’s just keep our eyes and ears on. What information we’re lacking, I’m sure the Kane Republican will have. Your mother’s the editor, so we shouldn’t have any problem whatsoever.” An evil grin shows on Irwin’s face.

Myles lets out a chuckle, “This is going to be like melting a snow cone in Phoenix.”

By early afternoon the Kane Republican is published. On the front page the headline reads, “A Winter Wonderland In Process”. Inside the article it states the Kane Police Department is working on getting a team together and hopes to do well.

Elizabeth Blair, the police chief, was interviewed for the article. She gives some details about what the festival is and if anyone is interested to contact Edward Crawford. She hopes a lot of people will help out and lend their support. “This is going to be the biggest event of the decade for Kane!” she is quoted as saying.

The article seems positive. With a great message about community involvement, there is a great chance of getting involvement from other towns in the area such as Bradford, Warren, Mt. Jewett, Ludlow, St. Marys, Ridgway, and DuBois which are all in the region. Others are expected to get involved.

Oliver Diffendale and Jamie Crawford have just finished their gym class and are in the locker room changing.

Jamie looks at Oliver with worry. “Oliver, you don’t look like your happy-go-lucky self. What’s going on?” he asks his high school friend.

Oliver pulls his shirt over his head and then replies, “It’s nothing you need to worry about.”

Jamie becomes concerned, ignoring Oliver’s statement. “It has to be something. Just talk to me and get it off your chest. If I can’t help, at least you can relieve some of the stress by talking to me. What’s it going to hurt?”

“I don’t need anyone making fun of me or my family because of it, so I don’t want to say anything,” Oliver states.

“We’re best friends, why would I make fun of you? This is obviously something serious,” Jamie tells him.

Oliver grabs his book bag and locks his locker. “In this town gossip spreads like wildfire. I’ll tell you later when we’re alone,” he tries to appease Jamie.

“Okay,” Jamie says as he locks his locker and grabs his book bag. The two then head back into the gym before the bell rings. While in the gym there is no one around them, and they go to a far corner to talk.

“Tell me what’s going on,” Jamie begs Oliver to tell him what is bothering him.

“Fine, it’s about my brother,” Oliver explains before Jamie cuts him off.

“Your brother? Did something happen to him? Is he okay?” Jamie begins to worry.

“He’s fine, I think. I’m just worried because he’s been spending a lot of time out in the woods trying to find his Big Foot. Last night he was out until 10:30. If he doesn’t get sick from being out in the cold all those hours, he’s going to get hurt somehow. I keep running the ‘what ifs’ through my head. I worry about my brother,” he continues. Jamie sympathizes with his best friend and shares his worry now.

Startling both of them from their private conversation is Jared Huntingdon, “Are you kidding me? That’s hilarious. Wait until the rest of the basketball team hears about this!” He runs off excitedly.

“Great,” Oliver says sarcastically, “That’s the best thing that happened all day. Now the whole school will think my brother’s an idiot, and I’m gay for worrying about him.”

Jamie knows how much of a pain Jared can be and tries to quell his friend’s fears, “Who cares what everyone thinks. The thing is, is that I think you’re an awesome brother to care about him. You’re mature and Jared’s… well, he’s a moron. Don’t worry about them; you just focus on your brother.”

Oliver shrugs, “Maybe you’re right, but I still don’t feel like having to deal with this right now. It’s so stupid. Maybe I’ll talk to my brother and sort everything out. If that doesn’t work, I’ll talk to my parents. Thank you, Jamie for listening and whatnot. It means a lot to me.”

“That’s what friends are for. They’re there for listening about how messed up their family is. It’s no biggie,” Jamie says.

Derek Bedford waits outside of the bathroom to surprise Bradley Fulton with his plans for the evening. He holds a list of things he was able to find out about such as a romantic dinner, bowling, and various papers that show local houses and apartments to rent. He begins to think about how he should tell Bradley. He hides the house and apartment papers under the pillow on the bed and then runs back to the bathroom. Finally, Bradley comes out.

“Oh my, you’re so fresh and so clean clean,” Derek says to Bradley.

Bradley smiles and then goes to his clothes, “I suppose I should ask you what I should wear tonight since you have picked our entertainment for the evening.”

Derek is proud of himself for the evening they are about to have, in fact he feels like he outdid himself, “To me, it doesn’t matter what you wear, as long as your with me.”

“You’re such a sap,” Bradley sarcastically remarks, “But I love you anyway. Honestly, what should I wear?”

“Something warm would be nice,” Derek answers, “We’re not doing anything too fancy, so blue jeans if you want.”

Bradley’s cell phone vibrates on the nightstand and nearly falls over. He quickly runs over to it before it falls. He opens it up to reveal a text message from Edward. He reads it to himself, “I hate to do this last minute, but I forgot to tell you earlier. There is a borough council meeting at 7. Please be there, they are voting on the Winter Festival. SORRY!”

Bradley thinks to himself, “Shit, Derek’s going to go off the deep end when he hears about this. Maybe I can postpone tonight’s events an hour or two.” He calls out to Derek, “Hey Derek, I have some bad news.”

“It’s fine, just go,” comes the reply from the bathroom.

Bradley tries to explain the situation to Derek, “I forgot about a meeting I had scheduled and it should only last an hour or two. Do you think you’d be able to wait that long until we do your things you had planned?”

Inside Derek’s mind a nuclear explosion has just gone off, but he doesn’t show any emotion. “It’s Edward isn’t it? He just texted you, I heard the phone vibrate on the nightstand. Whatever you have to do is fine. Just hurry back as soon as possible, okay.”

Mrs. Susan Crawford sits in front of the television waiting for the winning lottery numbers at seven o’clock to come on. She hasn’t played any numbers in such a long time, but she has fun seeing if her lucky numbers come up regardless. She still has five minutes until they come on so she grabs her telephone and pats Shelby on the head. “Let’s give Edward a call, Shelby,” she says to the black lab.

She listens, waiting for Edward to pick up on the other line. Finally he does so, “Hello, mom.”

“Hey Edward, it’s good to hear your voice. I haven’t seen you in a while and I guess that’s my fault. I just thought since you were in that depression that you didn’t want to see me,” she says.

“I kind of snapped out of the depression a little while ago actually,” he tries to make her feel better, “It was only a few days ago actually, or it seems that way anyway.”

“Well that’s good. I was just thinking about you while I was waiting for the lottery numbers to come up. What have you been up to?” she asks.

“Actually, have you been reading the paper?” he inquisitively asks her.

“I have, why?” she asks curiously.

“The article about the Winter Festival, well, I’m putting that together in the near future. It’s kind of like a rushed project, but I’m hoping it goes well,” he tells her.

“That’s interesting,” she says half interested, “I have something we need to talk about later, perhaps tomorrow if you’re not too busy.”

“Mom, I’m never too busy for you or family. Is everything okay?” he becomes worried about his mother.

“For right now everything is fine. I just need to talk to you.”

“Ok, well I have to get into the council meeting before it’s too late. I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” he tells her.

“That’s good, I’ll let you go. I have to get these numbers anyway. Love you and see you tomorrow,” she says before hanging up the phone.

At the borough council meeting Bradley meets with Edward and the two find seats. The mayor then calls the meeting to order. He notices Edward and Bradley sitting amongst the crowd. After two small orders of old business, the mayor opens the floor for new business. After a few seconds of silence he speaks again, “I would like to bring to the attention of the council a young man and his manager who would like to speak to us.” He raises his right hand and motions for them to come forward.

Edward and Bradley talk to the council about the Winter Festival, “My name is Edward Crawford and I am in the process of putting together a Winter Festival for the town to enjoy. The last Winter Festival we had was back in the 1960s. I’m hoping that bringing back the event will help our local economy.”

Bradley takes his turn to speak, “We’re hoping to involve other local communities to attract more people. This festival will last a few days possibly and those people will want to eat, sleep, and have some fun. We only have one small request on top of closing down a part of Route 321 also known as Hacker Street. We need snow. Actually, we need dump trucks to carry the snow. We need your permission to use borough trucks to carry snow to make our winter wonderland a success.”

A few questions are asked after Bradley and Edward are finished speaking. Finally it is time for a vote. The vote count is unanimous in favor of the Winter Festival.

Suddenly an EMT’s pager goes off, “We need an ambulance at the end of Kinzua Road, we have a possible bear attack.”