Nimue could only watch as the burst of light neared the shore, coming for her wolf.
She might not be able to stop them from leaving with her pendant, but there was one last thing she could do. Slowly getting to her feet, she called out to them, her voice carried by the wings of evil. “It will take me a while, but I will come for you again, Wolf! The pendant will again be mine!”
As the powers of the whirlpool closed over them, both Wals and Wolf heard her one last cry. “Wherever you go, I will find you. Wherever you are in time, I will follow you!”
Disneyland — 1961
“Hey, look! There’s the Jungle ride! Can we go on that, Mother?”
In the shade of the souvenir stand in Adventureland, out of sight of the guests as they passed by, Walt’s ears perked up when he heard the young boy’s question. Surrounded by realistic-looking rubber snakes, shrunken heads and straw purses, he glanced around the concealing pole of the Tropical Imports hut. It was easy to pick out the family in question.
Dressed in a full-skirted floral ensemble, topped by a large-brimmed straw hat, the mother of the family, Louise, pulled her white sunglasses down a ways on her nose to look over at the entrance of the ride in front of them. Her son, his brown hair parted in the middle and a broad spread of freckles across his nose, was about ten years old. Carrying a red felt pennant that said Disneyland in bold white letters, he used its thin, green bamboo pole as a pointer to indicate a round sign up above their heads. The name of the ride under discussion, Jungle Cruise, was printed in red on what looked like a leather drum that extended out from lethal-looking spears and guarded by smiling skulls. The ride’s bamboo-lined queue wound around under a thatched roof similar to the one that shaded the unrecognized Walt. Once the people in the queue were in the welcome shade, the scaffolding of the nearby Treehouse under construction would be unseen. The boy’s father, dressed neatly in a white pressed shirt and black trousers, fanned himself with his dark fedora. He looked around, obviously fascinated with the architecture of Adventureland. Unknowingly, his glance passed over the builder of the Park as he took in all the intricate features of each and every building.
Once Louise recognized the ride, the thick-rimmed sunglasses were pushed back into place, and she gave a practiced pat to her hair to make sure her French twist hairdo hadn’t been mussed by the action. With a small grimace, she shook her head as she replaced her hat. “Mark, dear, we already went on that last time we were here. Don’t you remember? There were just a couple of alligators….”
“Crocodiles.” Her husband, Russell, corrected her with a mild smile as he scrutinized the nearby scaffolding that was artfully concealed with a flowering vine.
“Fine. Crocodiles, a big elephant, a lion eating a zebra—which I think was completely unnecessary, Russell—and some dancing men in grass skirts. We already saw it. I don’t see any reason to go on it again. It’s not like the animals are going to do anything different. Don’t you agree, dear?”
Neither Russell nor Mark knew to which of them the question had been directed, so they both muttered a non-committal, “Mmmmm.”
Entranced by the entire Park, Mark quickly recovered from his disappointment. After a quick look around, he had another eager suggestion. “Then, let’s go on the Pack Mules again! The sign out front said they added a whole bunch of new stuff on that mine train ride!”
The mother scrunched up her nose and gave a loud sniff. “Those mules were so smelly.” Enjoying the day despite her attitude, Louise had an idea. “But, I can shop in those cute Western stores while you two ride, if you want. There was a lovely woolen jacket in one of them. Russell?”
“Hmmm? Oh, sure, dear. I’ll take Mark on the mules if he really wants to go on them.” Russell tried to sound nonchalant, but she could tell he was just about as excited as their son.
“How do we get there from here? I can never find my way around.”
“I know! I know!” Glad he would get to go on another ride, Mark excitedly jumped up and down. When he received his mother’s permission, he held his pennant out in front of him and pointed to their right. “We can go around those buildings over there and into Frontierland. Hey, can we go see that show in the Golden Horseshoe Review again? I want to see if I can get hit by the water pistols again!”
“That’s a good idea, Mark.”
When his dad clapped Mark on the shoulder, Louise gave a knowing smile as they headed off. “You just want to see those Can-Can dancing girls again, Russell.”
Walt didn’t hear the rest of their conversation as they slowly walked toward the wooden stakes that marked the connecting entrance into the Frontierland section of Disneyland. Head down, he was thoughtful as the mother’s words—“we already saw it….no reason to go on it again”—played over and over in his mind. He looked over at the sunny wooden dock where the Irrawaddi Woman with its green and white-striped canopy was unloading another boatload of smiling guests. Would they come back and ride it again? he wondered to himself. A small black notebook was pulled out of his pocket, and he made a couple of notes before he walked off. His earlier frown was now replaced by a wide smile. He had heard the boy’s name and it reminded him of exactly who he needed on this job—Marc. He would get Marc on the Jungle Cruise expansion right away and hopefully it would be ready for the next summer season. Sill smiling, he heard a couple of pistol shots from deep within the ride. With a tug, the brim of his hat was pulled a little lower over his face as he headed out onto Main Street.
Disneyland — 2008
“I’m sorry, Wolf, but the answer is no. We have a bit of an emergency right now.” Lance seemed hesitant to give his partner any more information as they quickly walked through Adventureland, coming in, as they did, from New Orleans Square.
Wolf frowned as he glanced down at his silent walkie-talkie. “I hadn’t heard anything since I got back. What is it?”
Lance gave a quick scan the area to make sure none of the guests were near enough to hear him. “There was a big problem a couple of nights ago. I’m still not sure if it was a backhoe, or what it was…. But someone set something on top of Schweitzer Falls so they could continue some work they had started. Apparently it was too heavy for the old Falls, and,” he stopped to look around one more time, his voice lowered, “the Falls completely collapsed.”
Unimpressed, Wolf merely grunted at the news. “That’s too bad. Is that why you can’t go with me to Columbia again?”
When Wolf didn’t react in the same frantic way he himself had, Lance gave his security partner an unbelieving look. “Yeah, that’s why. This isn’t a good thing, Wolf.”
As they neared the boarded-up entrance to the popular ride, Wolf gave an unconcerned shrug. He couldn’t see why Lance was so upset about Schweitzer Falls. “So, they’ll fix it. They always do when something goes wrong. Good opportunity to replace the old pipes.”
Lance stopped in his tracks, almost causing the guard to run into him. Lance lowered his voice even more. “You don’t understand, Wolf. Walt had hidden another capsule somewhere in the Falls. Another branch of the Hidden Mickey quests that we didn’t know about.”
As he let that sink in with Wolf for a moment, he was rewarded when a look of understanding came into the sharp blue eyes. Nodding now that his partner finally got it, Lance continued. “We were alerted to the problem when Kimberly was in the War Room last night. Sometimes she can’t sleep because of the pregnancy….” He clamped his mouth shut when a get-on-with-it look came over Wolf’s face. “Anyway, one of the green lights on the map of the Park had started to blink yellow, which, as you know, indicated something was wrong. When she called the Park, they were surprised we knew already—even though they don’t really know who ‘we’ are.” He gave a brief smile, still amazed at the intricacy of the system Kimberly’s father—and Walt—had sent into place so long ago. “After rather reluctantly telling us about the collapse, Kimberly immediately put a stop on the work—which they knew we would do—so I could check it out. They
didn’t like it, but there’s nothing they could do about it. You know what’s funny?”
His mind on his upcoming trip, Wolf only half-listened to Lance’s entire explanation. When Lance stopped talking, he realized he was supposed to give some kind of an appropriate response. He merely grunted, knowing that would be enough to satisfy Lance.
“What’s funny,” his partner continued, knowing full well Wolf hadn’t really paid attention, “is that I walked over those Falls when I chased down the second El Lobo hidden in the ride.”
At the mention of the carved, wolf-shaped rock formation, Wolf’s attention snapped back to the problem at hand. He and Lance had found the original El Lobo in the jungles of Columbia when Lance had been on his second Hidden Mickey quest, the one apart from Adam’s and Beth’s. Knowing he had to go back to South America soon, Wolf became more interested. “What about El Lobo?”
“Ha! I knew you weren’t paying attention.” Lance received the same narrowed-eyed glare that had stopped quite a few teenagers from doing something stupid. Unperturbed, he gave a chuckle. “As I said, I had walked over the top of the Falls and, in the darkness, never saw the W E D that had been engraved into a couple of the rocks up on top. You know that was our indicator that we were in the right place….” He broke off when he was given the same get-on-with-it look he had received moments earlier. “My, are we a little testy today, Wolf?”
Lance didn’t think it was possible, but Wolf’s eyes narrowed even further. “Would you care for me to reiterate what I have just gone through and what is now coming up next?”
Lance held up a placating hand. “No, no. I know you have a lot on your mind. I was just teasing. You know, you really don’t have much of a sense of humor. Wals and I were just talking about….” Wisely, he stopped to clear his throat and continued with his former line of thought. “Long story short….”
“Too late for that,” Wolf mumbled as they went around one of the barriers that blocked the exit of the Jungle Cruise.
“Long story short, there’s an undiscovered capsule somewhere in the debris and we need to find it before the backhoes and dump trucks carry everything off. Isn’t that amazing? There’s another piece to another Hidden Mickey quest right here!”
“Amazing. And what do you mean ‘we’? I just came by to see if you wanted to take the pendant back to the jungle with me.”
“You won’t help me?” Lance’s propensity to not get dirty was well known by all his friends. But now his curiosity overcame the necessity to move quickly on the missing capsule. “When are you flying out?”
Wolf looked at Lance with a half-smile. “I’m not flying.”
Lance’s eyes got wide as he finally understood what Wolf planned to do. “Oh. So that also means you aren’t just going to bury the pendant again under the El Lobo here.” As the other man’s head slowly shook side to side, Lance gave a puff of breath. “Right. We already found it so there’s no point in that…. Wow,” he ran a hand through his hair. “This gets confusing. You know where to go? How to get there?”
Wolf gave him a single nod. “I know how to get there. Apparently I’ve done it before.” Frustrated, Wolf looked away for a moment. The words of the local native De Tribu who had met them deep in the jungle played over in his mind: You’ve been here before. The future, he had said. “Yeah, it’s confusing, even for me. But, I know what I have to do to get things back on their right course. In fact, it could be very interesting for you if you came with me. You know, you might get to meet Walt.” It was a last-minute thought to throw that in as an added incentive, to dangle a fascinating possibility of a carrot in front of Lance.
It worked. Lance looked torn. He had always wanted to try that thing Wolf did, but knew Kimberly would kill him if he did. And meet Walt? Wow. After a few minutes of mental deliberations of the pros and cons, he had to finally, reluctantly, realistically shake his head no. “Not this time, buddy, but thanks for thinking of me. Perhaps someday we all can go with you. Maybe after the new baby. Since he met your brother, Peter would love to go back to see the rest of your family.”
“Let me know.” There was nothing else Wolf could say. He, too, knew it would never happen.
“So, are you going to help me look for the capsule?” Ever hopeful, Lance chose to ignore the fact that Wolf had already told him no. They had reached the edge of the silent unloading dock. Three boats were sitting in the slip, waiting for skippers and passengers. Since the water had been drained, it looked odd to see the boats being propped up with wooden beams to keep them centered between the two docks.
Wolf looked down at the mud in the riverbed. The water hadn’t been drained long enough for the bottom to dry. “I really didn’t come in here with you for that reason.”
“Two hands make for quick work.” Lance wasn’t about to give up and have to do it himself. Kimberly had requested a couple of shovels be left on site. There should have been some there anyway, but they wanted to make sure Lance wouldn’t have to improvise with whatever he could find.
Wolf had to smile at Lance’s feeble attempt. Well remembering who was on the business end of the shovel when they had to dig in Columbia, he was sorely tempted to just finish what he needed to do. Instead, he gave a small sigh. “How much time do you have to find it?”
Grinning internally, Lance didn’t let it show on his face. “I only have a little while.” Kimberly had actually shut down the site for two days, but no need to tell Wolf that little tidbit.
“Fine,” was the grumbled acceptance. Wolf jumped down from the end of the dock into the muck. Something unpleasant in Lakota was muttered under his breath as his spotless shoes sunk up to their laces. Without a glance back to see how Lance fared, he headed for the opposite bank where the mud wasn’t so deep.
Lance let himself down a little more gingerly and followed in the hollowed-out footsteps of his partner. As they turned the corner and trudged past Trader Sam and the baby elephant, Little Ellie, Lance started his favorite trivia game again. “So, Wolf, tell me: Who were the first people who actually lived at Disneyland?”
Wolf followed the rail between the mechanical piranhas. They didn’t seem quite as menacing when seen on their wires, stopped in various positions on the rollers. The water buffalo and the huge python didn’t even glance in the men’s direction as they headed for the huge mound of fallen earth, framework and pipes. “You mean Owen and Dolly Pope? Nice couple.”
“Now, how would you know they were nice? They could have been mean as snakes.”
“If you’re talking about the first animal handlers, they were really nice. They had quite a job getting the horses and mules ready for all the sights and sounds they would have to face every day. If you remember, I knew them.” He glanced back and could see Lance was about on his tip-toes in a failing attempt to keep his feet clean.
“Oh, yeah, I keep forgetting how far back your history here goes. Do you know the burro story?”
“Which one? About the miniature burro that Walt loved? He didn’t believe it when they told him it snapped at people until it tried to bite him.”
Slightly deflated that Wolf knew this tiny tidbit of history, Lance gave a grumble. “Yeah, that burro story.”
“I thought you were going to ask me something difficult, like: What ride in Fantasyland was supposed to be a roller coaster?”
Lance gave a quick grin. “You mean the entrance to Storybook Land.”
“Nope, not just the entrance. A full ride.”
Stumped for once, before he could think it through, Lance’s attention was diverted to a bigger problem. Coming to a sudden stop, hands on his hips, he let out a low whistle. “Wow, look at that mess! I’d hate to be the guy who was running that backhoe.”
Not wanting to waste time admiring the destruction, Wolf had already picked up one of the shovels stuck into the riverbank. He waved the shovel at the ripped section of dirt and rock above their heads. “So, where was the marked stone? What part of the Falls?”
“Wha
t? Oh, it was right about in the middle on top.”
Wolf stepped back a few paces into what would have been the path of the oncoming boats. After he took some visual measurements and walked forward again, he got to work with the shovel in what he thought was the most promising area. From the size of the debris pile, the capsule would be well covered within the muck. It might take a while.
Ducking out of the way of the flying dirt, Lance went to Wolf’s other, safer side and finally started to dig. “So, are you going to tell me the answer?” After an hour of shoveling into the never-ending dirt, he finally took a break and stretched his back.
“Answer to what?” Wolf didn’t even pause.
“Which ride was going to be a roller coaster? Gosh, I’m so tired that I can’t even come up with a smart answer.” He leaned on his shovel to wipe the sweat off his face with his sleeve.
“Mr. Toad. Now get back to work or I’m leaving.”
Daylight had already started to fade when Lance’s shovel finally hit something that wasn’t a rock or pipe. They had been at it for hours and were starting to wonder if the capsule had somehow already been removed. This new sound, however, made him think that they finally had found it.
Squatting down in the small cavern they had excavated in the middle of the pile, Lance carefully pulled dirt away from his find. When the familiar gray color of the hard plastic capsule finally revealed itself, he let out a happy yell. “Got it!” He quickly learned that this was unnecessary because Wolf was right behind him, curiously looking over his shoulder. It was a long capsule, almost a foot in length and about six inches in diameter. Holding it up to his ear, Lance gave it a careful shake. There was something that rattled around inside. With a curious “Hmmm,” he held the canister out for Wolf.
With a shake of his head, Wolf refused it. “Give it to Wals. He earned it.” His attention returned to the hole they had created. Lance, he could see, had tossed aside his shovel and looked like he was ready to leave. “Shouldn’t we fill it in?”
Wolf! Happily Ever After? Page 24
