Wolf! Happily Ever After?

by Nancy Temple Rodrigue

  Wolf had swum to where his clothes were hidden and quickly dressed himself, his head pounding from the tumult of the passage. Ignoring Merri’s outburst, he glanced up to survey his charges for himself and saw they were all accounted for. None of them were happy, but they were all in one piece. He, too, was disappointed Rose had reverted into the shape of a swan. It appeared that was to be her lot in this time period, just as it was his lot to turn into a wolf whenever he jumped into the past. My head hurts too much to try and work through that again. As he waded back out to retrieve Rose’s dress and cape, he silently groused why he hadn’t just grabbed them when he was out there in the first place.

  At a loud honk and hiss, all turned to see what was bothering Rose. Flapping her wings, she tried to fly with the departing blue sparkle that was Merriweather. Finally giving up, the dejected swan slowly swam to the small cove and waddled up on the shore next to Wolf. She leaned her head against his chest and gave an almost-human sigh.

  Looking upward, he knew why Rose was agitated and frowned. Wolf called after the departing fairy who headed toward her rooms in the topmost tower of the Castle. “Where are you going, Merri? She needs you.” Then, realizing their vulnerable position, and how far his voice could travel, he clamped shut his mouth. His acute hearing took over as he tried to determine if anyone else was around at that late hour. There should be cleaners and painters and gardeners at work as they readied the Park for the next day’s guests. However, the Castle and the surrounding areas were, thankfully, dark. He could see activity at the other end of Main Street, near the Train Station, but those workers were too far away to either hear or see them.

  At his call, Merri stopped her ascent. Her voice was laced with disdain. “Well, wolf, since you have failed and have brought us back here again, I must get ready for work tomorrow. Apparently I am still to be the Park’s Animal Handler so I can continue to look after my girl…as I have been for way too long.”

  At Wolf’s answering growl to her rebuke, she turned her back with a “Hmph” and continued on her way to her hidden hide-away in the Castle’s turret. She would again be forced to hide her robes and her wand and continue living as a human until such time as they really could go home.

  Wals was holding in his hands the ruined flat velvet cap he had been wearing, the feather long gone in the swirling waters of the vortex. Staring at it, he vaguely wondered how he would explain the mistreatment of his outfit to the Costume Department. He wouldn’t be sorry to lose the tights, though. With a nod, he accepted the pile of Rose’s sodden clothes that Wolf handed him. Using her black cape, he carefully wrapped his sword to get it out of sight lest they run into someone on their way to the lockers. “What now, Wolf? Any ideas? Wolf?”

  Lost in his own thoughts, Wolf stared at the curved arch under the Castle’s walkway. It was almost identical to the one at Camelot, only much, much smaller. “I was so sure it was the right portal.” He hadn’t realized he had muttered out loud. “What?” Wals’ question came through the fog in his mind, and he turned to the problem at hand. “Ideas? Not at the moment. Rose?” He gently lifted the head of the swan so he could see her sad eyes. “Do you know of any other possible passage? I know you had a bad feeling about that archway, but we know now it wasn’t the one that brought you here. Is there anywhere else we can try?”

  Rose looked toward the bridge that led to the Castle. Not once in all the years she had been stuck here had she swum through that passageway. It just felt wrong. She hadn’t gotten that feeling anywhere else in the moat, or in the other parts of Disneyland that she had been able to explore when she could escape the confines of Swan Lake. Unable to speak in this form, she just shook her head no. She would have to rely on her friends to find the way home.

  Wolf just nodded that he understood. He would have to think this one through. Wishing his father was there to talk things over, Wolf gave a silent sigh and looked over toward Frontierland. Within a few minutes walk and a short canoe trip, he could be at the Friendly Village where the Shaman was animatedly telling the seated braves the story of how the flute came to their people. All it would take was one little howl next to the Frontierland River and he could go back to his family in 1817.

  Wals saw where Wolf was gazing, and, after his own adventure back to that time period, he turned a sickly shade of white. “No, man, not now! No! We just got back. Don’t make us go through that again.”

  Wolf gave a small smile. “Who said you were invited? I was just thinking about my family.”

  Once he realized Wolf wasn’t serious, Wals calmed down. Thinking out loud, he began considering the other ramifications of that trip. “Well, Rose would be human again if we went back. Maybe we can stay together in your father’s tent until you figure it all out.”

  Rose looked from one to the other as the men talked. When Wals mentioned actually going back to 1817, her mind was flooded with the memories of the hardships she encountered there in the small settler’s cabin on Tom Sawyer’s Island. The pleasure of turning back into a woman and to again have that wonderful closeness with Wals was overshadowed by all the tribulation she had suffered. With a loud grunt and a swipe at Wals’ leg with her beak, she made it clear she wanted no part of it. Using her head, she pointed at the spires of the Castle above them. It was obvious she wanted the men to work on the problem at hand here so she could finally go home with Merriweather.

  “Okay, okay.” Wals had to jump back from her sharp beak and finally gave in. “We won’t go back to the Village. Anyway, I don’t know if they’re still having problems with the pirates, and don’t relish getting into the middle of another fight.”

  Thinking about his family and his past, Wolf had remained quiet as the two frustrated companions tried to work it out between them. He hadn’t actually said he wasn’t going anywhere….

  One of the peculiarities Wolf had discovered over the years was that everything that happened to Disneyland in the current time affected what happened in the past. Tom Sawyer’s Island in Wolf’s family’s time had been overrun by pirates—just as it had first happened in the Park the year before in 2007. Fort Wilderness in 1817 had been looted and closed and the Calvary soldiers had been pressed into service by the pirates, run off the island, or possibly killed. Living alone in what used to be called the Burning Cabin, Rose had been in terrible danger and it had been up to Wolf to bring her home—or as close to home as he could get her for now…. Wolf had taken the unknowing Wals back in time with him and had been alarmed when the Island immediately drained his friend of his real memories. It finally took Wals’ Disneyland name tag to bring him around.

  The men still didn’t understand why Rose had turned into a swan during the transfer to Wals’ real time period of the twenty-first century, or why the ancient sword Wals had found in a cave on the Island had fit his hand like it had been made for him. Wolf knew the story behind his own transformation and the mysterious wolf that had tracked his mother when she was pregnant with him. The rogue wolf’s bite had proven to be lethal for his mother, but gave Wolf the strange ability to jump into the past through the terrifying portals his howl summoned—and a seemingly long lifespan. Rose, however, was still a mystery. It might not be solved until they could get her home and Merriweather’s friends, Flora and Fauna, would finally be able to use their powers to help the woman.

  “Wolf, we need to find a calendar and find out when we came back. And I really need to change clothes.” Dressed in the soggy ruins of his princely clothes, Wals saw that Wolf was comfortably dressed in his security outfit. “We don’t know for sure what’s going on now in this time. You agree?”

  Given more to action than words, Wolf silently nodded and made his way to the small, hidden gate built into the metal fence that encircled the moat. Wals gave Rose one last hug and promised they would be back to fill her in on whatever they found.

  Exhausted, Rose found her nest hidden amongst the tall reeds. Nestling her head under her wing, she promptly fell asleep, and dreamt of another
fairy castle—one she called Home.

  After the tenth ring, the phone was finally picked up.

  “It’s three o’clock in the morning, Wolf. This had better be good, dire, or important.” Lance tried to keep his eyes open as the grumbling continued. The portable phone was carried into another room so as not to disturb his wife.

  Wolf gave a silent chuckle. Lance hated to be awakened from a sound sleep. “I just wanted to chat.”

  There was an expected silence on the other end of the phone, then Lance let out a grunt. “You’re kidding, right? That sounds like something I would do, not you.”

  “Yes, I am kidding. I just wanted to let you know we were back.”

  “Back from where?” Lance asked, sounding confused.

  Wolf gave a snort. “I guess you didn’t get enough beauty sleep…. Wals and I went through the portal to take Rose home. Remember, Sleeping Beauty?”

  “Wolf, you just had Kimberly shut down Fantasyland two hours ago.”

  Now it was Wolf’s turn to be speechless. “I…I thought the calendar just hadn’t been changed. We were gone at least twenty-four hours.”

  “What happened? Did Rose get safely back to her time?” Lance was fully awake now, his curiosity pushing aside his desire for sleep. He still didn’t fully understand this strange ability of Wolf’s; it was more terrifying to him than anything else, but, he knew it was part of Wolf’s make-up and he had to accept it as something over which neither of them had any control.

  Wolf gave a small growl as he shook his head. Realizing Lance couldn’t see the gesture over the phone, he had to speak. “No. It turned out that portal went to the wrong past. We came out right under Camelot. Though, we did get to meet Merlin. Nice chap. You’d like him. His owl, Archimedes, found us in the forest….”

  “Whoa, whoa, wait a minute! What do you mean Camelot and Merlin?”

  “Merlin? The wizard? What about Merlin?” Kimberly, pulling her robe closed, came into the study where Lance was sitting on the edge of his leather chair.

  “What are you doing up?” Distracted, Lance smiled as he always did when his wife entered a room. Pulling her onto his lap, he gave her a kiss on her cheek. “Did I wake you? I’m sorry. I was trying to be quiet.”

  A shrill whistle could be heard coming from the phone that Lance had forgotten he was holding. “Sorry, Wolf…. It’s Wolf.” He held the phone away as he made an unnecessarily explanation to Kimberly.

  “I know.” She loudly mouthed the words as she grinned at Lance.

  “How would you know that?”

  Kimberly started counting off on her fingers. “One: Who else would be calling at this late hour? Two: Who else would be using that phone? And, three: You just called him by name.”

  “That’s why I married you. Brains and beauty.” He was about to give her another kiss when they heard another shrill whistle and what sounded like the phone being pounded on a hard surface. “Yes?” Lance calmly asked.

  “Does he growl like that a lot?” Kimberly gave a laugh when Lance had to hold the phone away from his ear.

  “Only when he is really pissed.” Lance gave her a wink that he was glad Wolf couldn’t see.

  “What about Merlin?” she prompted when Lance seemed happy enough to leave Wolf hanging there.

  “Oh, yes, what were you saying about Merlin and Camelot? You guys watch a movie instead of doing what you were supposed to do?”

  Wolf contemplated snapping the phone in half, but thought better of it. He would wait until he could do it to Lance’s neck. “No.” It was difficult to talk through his gritted teeth. “We went back in time to the year 589, if the owl was correct. Then, when night had fallen again, Merlin brought us back to Camelot and gave us a covering of invisibility so we could get back to our time. Rose is back in the moat and Wals is probably home in bed by now.”

  “Oh, so it was just another day at the office for you,” Lance commented lightly, trying to figure out if Wolf was actually kidding or was serious. He sounded serious. Wolf wasn’t known for his sense of humor.

  To prevent any more possible damage to the phone, Kimberly took the receiver from Lance. “Wolf, Kimberly here. You…you really went back to the days of King Arthur? That’s so far before your time. Is it really possible?”

  Glad to hear the voice of reason, Wolf gave a relieved sigh. “Yes, that’s what I have been trying to explain to that wooden-headed husband of yours. It...it was quite interesting.” The word ‘interesting’ seemed far too tame for what they had experienced, but it was the best he could do right then.

  Knowing he was telling the truth, Kimberly was stunned. “Wow. That must have been amazing. What was he like? I always thought he was just a…a fictional character, not a living, breathing man….uh, wizard, whatever!”

  “Wals thought that, too, and mentioned it to the owl. Archimedes didn’t think it was too funny.”

  “Archimedes? The owl from the movie? He was there, too?”

  “Movie? What movie?” Listening in, Lance was trying to piece together the conversation from just Kimberly’s side of it. “Ha! I knew they didn’t go through any portal.”

  “Sword in the Stone,” Kimberly said as an aside to Lance, who, losing interest, was now smoothing her messy hair with his fingers. “No, he was actually there with Merlin. How fascinating!”

  Wolf ignored the comment of Lance’s he could clearly hear through the phone—as Lance had intended. “I guess I should add that Nimue wants her pendant back. She could tell it was somewhere near us, but her powers weren’t yet strong enough to determine exactly where.”

  That made Kimberly sit up, her eyes wide with concern. “Oh, Wolf, she’s the one who learned all Merlin’s secrets and then entombed him in a tree, isn’t she? This is terrible! She didn’t get it, did she? That could have severe repercussions with Walt!”

  “What about Walt?” Lance broke in, suddenly concerned.

  “Tell Lance I’ll fill him in later. Is he going to work tomorrow? Or, I guess, later today is more accurate.” Wolf had just glanced at his clock.

  Kimberly, lost in thought over the red heart-shaped diamond pendant that had the mysterious ability to show the one who held it their future, hadn’t heard his question. The pendant had first come into Walt’s possession in the Columbian jungle in 1940 by means of the Guardian Wolf. Stolen in the 1960’s by Tom Bolte when Walt was working closely with her father, the Blond-Haired Man, it had been recovered and put in a secret chamber above Main Street. It was there that she and Lance had found it at the end of their Hidden Mickey quest. It had subsequently disappeared when her uncle Daniel Crain took it and vanished with Wolf into a vortex on Tom Sawyer’s Island. She had thought it was safe with Wolf until she heard this revelation. She well knew who this Nimue was. Kimberly had held the pendant herself and been overwhelmed with the vision that streaked through her mind—parts of which had already come true with Lance. While she had no desire to touch the mysterious gem again, she knew it could not fall into the wrong hands. “We need to talk about this, Wolf.” Still ignoring his unheard question, she suddenly turned serious.

  “I know, Kimberly. We will,” Wolf promised. “I just need to figure out where the correct portal is to get Rose home. Merri is back, by the way, too, and will keep on as the Animal Handler. Where do you have Wals assigned?”

  Kimberly tore her thoughts from the pendant, her mind still going over the vision that was still so real she could reach out and touch it. “Wals? Oh, yes. We had already changed him from Westside Ops into Fantasyland so he could be near Rose and keep an eye on her. Is that still good?”

  The security officer gave a very wolfish grin. “Assign him to the Casey Jr. Circus Train for now.”

  After a moment of amused silence, she had to question the wisdom of this. “Are you sure? Why?”

  “Keeps him humble. Tell Lance, who must be asleep if he’s been silent this long, that I’ll see him on the job in the morning.”

  Kimberly chuckled as she pictured
Wals at his new assignment. He had become quite physically fit working the canoes, and now he would have to sit in the colorful, but small, engine of the train going around Storybook Land over and over again. “Good night, Wolf. I’m glad you’re all right.”

  All she heard was an answering grunt as the phone went dead. She pushed the End Call button and turned her attention to her husband. Far from asleep, he, at that moment, began to nibble on her neck.

  Three days later, the disgusted Wals, dressed in the faded olive green slacks and puffy white shirt uniform of Fantasyland, was slumped in the bright orange engine of the Casey Jr. Circus Train. The blue smokestack puffed white vapor as the train waited in the station. Too tall for the confines of the small engine room, he had to hunch over to see the walls of gauges set in the bright stainless steel facing. The black microphone was up on the side of the tiny cabin, the green stop button below the green speed lever. He hadn’t once rung the shiny gold bell perched on top of the cabin.

  The cheerful young women who also worked the ride were busy assisting the guests into their chosen ride vehicle—whether it was the pink Monkey cage, the orange Wild Animal cage or one of the open air carriages that were also brightly painted and trimmed in gold.

  As the train filled, the ladies reminded the sullen Wals to smile and wave to the Storybook Land canal boats that would be slowly gliding by below them in the waterways. Biting back a retort that probably would have gotten him written up, he checked the gauges and prepared to start the train. The recorded voice of Dumbo’s friend, Timothy the Mouse, cheerfully reminded everyone to stay seated.

  The guests could hear the train cry, “All aboard! Let’s go.”

  Timothy seconded that suggestion. “Here we go!”

  Staring off into space, Wals missed his cue to leave the station as Timothy kept up a steady stream of narration about the homes of Mr. Toad and Cinderella and Snow White. The train started with a neck-jarring jerk as the women happily waved good-bye to Wals.