When he got to the last page, he quickly glanced at the bottom, where printed in big bold letters read 'Balance Due: $514.06'. His face turned as bright as a tomato, while he irately yelled "Audrey what's with this bill?" Scott's voice was so loud, that it's surprising that the neighbors hadn't heard him and called the police. Audrey, sensing another tongue lashing from her husband, suspended the search for the brush and came running into the kitchen.
"What bill are you talking about?"
"I am talking about this Highway 407 bill," Scott said, waving the papers in the air. "You told me that it was going to be $125.00, which on top of last month's bill of $90.00 I thought was bad enough, but this bill is for over $500.00! Audrey, what were you doing, joyriding down the most expensive highway in Ontario?"
"If you must know Scott, Highway 407 is the fastest way for me to get to and from the bank. You remember the bank don't you, it's the place where I work," she remarked back snidely.
"Audrey, don't you snap back at me like that," Scott replied. "I wish that you didn't have to get a job just as bad as anyone, but look at our bank statement," he said, showing her the other letter that he had opened. "We have no money! That is appalling considering that I'm the CEO of a major theme park and you have a job as a bank teller. Together we bring in over $250,000 a year plus a small bonus at the end of the year. Perhaps if you hadn't have stepped down as a central teller we'd be in a little better financial situation, but as it is, we are simply going to have to cut back...and that will start with the route you take to get to work. So what if you have to wait a few minutes in traffic or at some stoplights, the fact of the matter is that we cannot afford $500.00 a month bills, not with Katie's piano lessons, soccer practice, and your shopping sprees."
"You leave Katie out of this," Audrey shouted as she began to cry. She paused for a moment, wiped the tears from her eyes, and said "Scott, we can talk about this later, we're going to be late getting to the park. Go on now and change your shirt." She then quickly left the kitchen to resume the search for her brush.
"What's wrong with my shirt?" he asked inquisitively.
"Scott, I don't know about you, but normal people don't wear a dress shirt and tie to ride the attractions at an amusement park. Go put on a t-shirt or something," she shouted back from the other room.
As Scott went to change his shirt, he couldn't help but think about what the financial situation at Canada's AdventureLand was doing to his marriage. The arguments like the one that had just happened were becoming a regular occurrence at his house. Whether it was over money, work, dinner or spending quality time with Katie, he and Audrey were on each other's nerves at least once a day.
It wasn't always like this though. Ten years before, when Scott was offered to become CEO of Canada's largest theme park, located just to the north of Toronto, he and his wife couldn't be happier. They would finally have the financial freedom to do the things that they had always wanted to do without the worries of how they were going to afford it. For Scott, that meant buying a bigger house, and expensive cars, while for Audrey, it meant leaving her job at the machine shop that her father worked for. Things were looking up for the family, until the recession hit that is, and people stopped going to theme parks in the numbers that they had before.
It was at about this time that arguments started. It only became worse as Scott began spending more time at the office trying to find out why money was mysteriously disappearing from the theme park's bank accounts. At first, Scott thought that it was simply a cash flow problem, one that Elliot Ravenwood, CFO of the theme park promised he would look into, but as the months passed, and the problem failed to resolve itself, Scott began to suspect that someone was stealing money. Keeping his suspicions to himself, he began a more detailed investigation of the financial statements and accounting practices of the company. His probe involved bringing in more people to do the technical work, though he still had to work many late nights. The lack of a good night's sleep quickly began to take its toll. Scott's disposition changed, he became angrier as the days turned to weeks, and the weeks to months, with few clues surfacing as to who the thief was.
To further exacerbate the problem, Scott's close attention to the park's fiscal problems, meant that he was neglecting to take care of his own family's financial situation. Broiled in the worst recession in decades, 2009-10 had not been a good year for the family. Scott had lost thousands of dollars in the stock market because he failed to recognize soon enough the decline in value of certain foreign companies. Couple that with a rise in food and gas prices, a high mortgage payment, yearly property tax increases and a wife and daughter who loved to shop, Scott was continually worried that the family was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. Now Scott loved and cared for his family deeply, even his wife, and the last thing he wanted to do was to have to cut the luxuries that the entire family enjoyed, but something had to change and fast in order to keep them financially solvent.
Today though was a day that Scott was supposed to forget all of his problems and pretend that nothing was the matter. Today was the day that he was to put on a smile and show the world that even he, a boring CEO to the core, could have a little fun amongst the common people. Today was the day that the park was to open a new state of the art rollercoaster, "The Colossus", and he was going to be its inaugural rider.
Having now found a new shirt, one that he hoped his wife would approve of, Scott slumped slowly downstairs to find his wife, with her hair finally brushed, standing next to Katie at front door.
"Ready to test your new ride daddy?" Katie asked excitedly.
"As ready as I'm going to be darling," Scott replied, knowing full well that he hated riding rollercoasters.
"Good then honey," Audrey remarked with a grin, "I've got my keys, so let's get a move on. After all, wouldn't want to be late for your big day."
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