Devin, still not quite understanding that Wendy has left him forever, heads for Heaven’s Bay and takes his room at Mrs. Shoplaw’s rooming house. The upstairs rooms have been taken by Tom Kennedy and Erin Cook. Erin has been hired as a Hollywood Girl—girls who go around the park taking pictures of the coneys (an old-fashioned word for bunny rabbits) as the park staff call the visitors, and selling them the pictures if they want them.

Devin and Tom are both “Happy Helpers”: general (and sometimes literal) “dogsbodies” who do a little of everything from running the rides and shies to cleaning up. The three of them agree that they will try to be on the same work crew, and all three of them wind up on Team Beagle. At the orientation lecture, 200 summer employees are greeted by Bradley Easterbrook, the owner of the park, who tells them he hopes this will be the best summer of their lives and the scale by which they measure every job in the future. They are being given a priceless gift; Joyland is a respite from the broken world. This summer, Devin and his compatriots will have the opportunity to sell happiness.