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From the feature:
It took nine years. More than half of Mikey Mills’ life.
First, he scribbled handwritten letters on ripped-out notebook paper. With the clumsy cursive of a boy growing into his hands, he pleaded for them to release her.
He made desperate phone calls, too. Not sure who to ask for when the line picked up. Only knowing even as an 8-year-old, she was his charge, this Queen of Kings Island.
And he had to try. He had to talk to anyone who would listen.
Soon enough, Mills traded his notebook paper for a laptop. He furiously typed emails to Kings Island employees requesting to see her. Just to see her. To help her get better so she could come out of storage and rejoin the carousel riders. That’s all.
It took nine years for her to return to her throne. Nine years for him to be able to meet the rare and remarkable Wurlitzer 157 band organ that reigns at the Mason amusement park’s carousel.
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