The Bridge to Never Land

by Dave Barry

  She sat on the sofa, eyes closed, smiling, lost in memories.

  She opened her eyes. She’d heard a sound outside, from the front of the house, a sound like rushing wind.

  She rose and turned toward the door. There was a window to the right; on the sill sat a large black bird.

  Odd, she thought. In all the years she’d lived here, she’d never seen a bird like that. She walked toward the door, and stopped again; through the window she could see more of the birds. Many more.

  What on earth? she thought. She decided to go outside and have a look.

  CHAPTER 27

  ONE AT A TIME

  RAY HOLLISTER WORKED SECURITY in the Downtown Disney parking lot, but what he wanted to be—what he dreamed of being—was a real law-enforcement professional.

  When he saw the old green Volvo, he nearly wet his pants. He’d memorized the license plate that morning when he saw the police flyer posted on the break-room bulletin board. Besides a description of the car, the flyer had photos of two teenagers and their suspected kidnapper, who was wanted by the FBI.

  And the car was right there, right in front of Ray. In Downtown Disney!

  His heart was beating so hard he nearly dropped his radio when he unclipped it from his belt to call in his discovery. Minutes later, a dozen police cars converged on the Volvo, sirens whooping. The police hustled Ray to the break room, where they asked him a bunch of questions, most of them about whether he’d seen the kids or the kidnapper. Ray was sorry he hadn’t; he felt he was disappointing them. But his spirits rose when a man and woman in business clothes came into the break room and identified themselves as agents Hector Gomez and Wanda Blight of the FBI.

  The FBI!

  They questioned Ray briefly, but quickly lost interest when he said he hadn’t seen the occupants of the car. The agents then went to the surveillance room, where Ray’s boss, Earl Specter, was pulling up video shot by the various security cameras around Downtown Disney. Ray, eager to watch the pros at work, followed the agents.

  Specter quickly found video showing the Volvo entering the lot and parking.

  “Here we go,” he said.

  On the screen, a male driver got out of the car, then a teenage girl and boy.

  “That’s them,” said Gomez. He pointed to the time stamp in the corner of the screen. “So this was…what? Twenty minutes ago?”

  “Right,” said Specter. “This was shot twenty-two minutes ago.”

  Specter switched to another camera. The trio on the screen crossed the parking lot and joined other visitors on the sidewalk.

  “Doesn’t exactly look like they’re being held against their will,” Agent Gomez said.

  “Can’t trust that,” said Agent Blight. “You never know what kind of psychological damage results from captivity. Those kids could be zombies.”

  “They don’t look like zombies, is all I’m saying.”

  “They do look awfully cooperative, if you ask me,” said Ray, from behind them.

  “I didn’t ask you,” snapped Gomez and Blight in unison.

  Specter worked the controls, picking up video from a series of cameras that showed the fugitive trio moving across the Downtown Disney Marketplace then out to the bus-stop area. They walked down a row of buses, then boarded one, which pulled out thirty seconds later.

  “Where does that bus go?” said Blight.

  “To the parks,” said Specter.

  “They’re going to Disneyland?” said Gomez.

  “It’s actually Disney World,” said Ray. “Disneyland is the one in—”

  “Shut up,” snapped Gomez and Blight.

  “Technically,” said Specter, “the bus goes to the Transportation and Ticket Center. From there you get transportation to the parks.”

  “Show me the cameras from the Transportation and Ticket Center,” said Gomez.

  “Can’t do that from here,” said Specter.

  “I need to find that bus,” said Gomez. “Now.”

  Ray, who’d been listening to his radio, said, “Excuse me?”

  “Shut up,” snapped Gomez and Blight.

  “But this is about the bus,” said Ray.

  Gomez whirled to face him. “What about the bus?” he said.

  Ray pointed to his radio and said, “There’s an accident, a traffic jam, on the on-ramp between Bonnet Creek Parkway and Epcot Center Drive. It’s backed everything up. A bunch of buses have been delayed. If you take Bonnet Creek north to Vista and go west on Vista, you can avoid it.”

  “Come on,” said Gomez, heading for the door. Blight was right behind.

  “You want me to ride along?” said Ray. “I know all the—”

  “No,” snapped Gomez and Blight, exiting.

  Ray shook his head. He was beginning to have doubts about a career in law enforcement. It seemed to make people awfully irritable.

  Armstrong was still patrolling the Orange Blossom Trail when the police scanner crackled and the dispatcher broadcast that federal officers needed backup at Disney’s Transportation and Ticket Center.

  Armstrong hung an illegal U-turn and stomped the gas pedal down. He couldn’t imagine why the runaways would go to Disney World. It seemed stupid; once inside a theme park, they could easily be trapped.

  And Armstrong planned to be the trapper.

  The Disney bus apparently had a nuclear-powered air conditioner; the interior was the temperature of a meat locker, and it seemed to grow steadily colder as it inched forward in the traffic jam. The passengers, including Aidan, Sarah, and J.D., were shivering. Those who had brought sweatshirts put them on.

  The good news was that, by looking over the tops of the cars ahead, they could see that the accident was finally clearing and traffic was beginning to move. A few minutes later they approached the Transportation and Ticket Center, passing an ocean of parked cars. Finally, they reached the bus stop, where the driver apologized for the delay and told them to have a Magical Day.

  The passengers quickly exited the frigid bus, happy, for the moment, to feel the humid Florida heat. Aidan, Sarah, and J.D. stood on the sidewalk as a river of tourists flowed past them.

  “Is it just me,” said Aidan, “or do these people look really large to you?”

  “They’re the size of buffalo,” said Sarah. “And those are the children.”

  “That’s good,” said J.D., “because we need something to hide behind.”

  “Hide from who?” said Aidan.

  J.D. pointed. Walking toward the buses, their eyes scanning the crowd, was a group of security guards. With them were several uniformed police officers and a man and woman in business suits—clearly not tourists.

  “What do we do?” said Sarah.

  “We can’t stay here,” said Aidan.

  “We need to get into the Magic Kingdom,” said J.D. “There’s way more people there. Much easier for us to disappear.”

  “The monorail?” said Aidan.

  J.D. squinted into the distance. “Bad idea. There’s a long line. We’d be sitting ducks waiting there.”

  Sarah pointed to a sign by the parking area. “How about the ferryboat?”

  “Bingo,” said J.D. “There’s basically no line.”

  “But how do we get past them?” said Aidan, pointing to the oncoming security guards.

  “We split up,” said J.D. “They’re looking for three of us, so we go one at a time. Put on your sunglasses, get with a group of people, and keep your head down. We meet on the ferryboat. I’ll go first. If they catch me, try another way.”

  Agent Blight spotted Sarah first. The girl was alone, moving through the thick crowds away from the ticket center and away from the monorail. Even stranger, she was making no apparent attempt to make herself known to anyone around her, no attempt to be rescued.

  “I’ve got a twenty on the girl,” she told Gomez, who spun around sharply. Blight pointed across the bus area. “You can’t see her now, but it’s her. Moving away from us.”

  “Go!” said Gome
z, waving the security people forward. Blight was already running through the mob, jumping up every so often to try to catch sight of Sarah.

  What are you doing, Sarah Cooper? she wondered. Where are you going? And where are the other two?

  Head down, J.D. worked through the crowd. He knew better than to look back toward the security people; the back of a head was far more difficult to identify than a face. He made no attempt to track Sarah or Aidan. For now they were all on their own.

  The thought struck him suddenly: Maybe I should turn myself in. His life had become a disaster since the kids had shown up at his office. As intriguing as the Einstein bridge was, it wasn’t worth going to jail for. What had he gotten himself into? What if he just let the kids board the ferry, and he surrendered? Wouldn’t that help prove he was innocent?

  He could even tell the police that the kids were heading to Peter Pan’s Flight. This was his chance—probably his last chance—to make this right.

  He stopped. The crowd moved past him, like water around a stone. All he had to do was turn around and walk back with his hands in the air. It would be bad—cops, lawyers, courtrooms, press—but not as bad as if they hunted him down.

  He turned around. All he had to do was take that first step. Off to his right he saw Sarah heading toward the ferry. His eyes swung left, and he froze. About twenty-five yards behind Sarah, trotting in the same direction, was the woman in the dark suit who’d been talking to the security people. A detective? An FBI agent? Whoever she was, she was heading in Sarah’s direction, her eyes searching the crowd.

  She was on Sarah’s trail.

  J.D. found Aidan to be something of a pain. But he liked Sarah—liked the way she thought, liked the way she overcame her fears, liked the way she never gave up. She was so close now to her goal, or at least she believed she was.

  And she had put her trust in J.D. He took a step toward the woman in the dark suit. For just an instant, he considered putting his hands in the air. Instead, he cupped them around his mouth and yelled, “Hey! Lady cop!” She looked his way; he could tell she recognized him.

  He turned and started running into the dense crowd headed toward the monorail. He glanced back. The lady cop was now running after him, with some security people right behind her.

  J.D. ducked his head and plunged deeper into the crowd.

  What is he doing? Sarah wondered as she heard J.D. shout. Then she saw him take off running, away from the ferry, with quite a few people chasing him.

  She wanted to help but knew there was nothing she could do. Reluctantly, she turned and made for the ferry. Ahead she saw Aidan, nearly to the dock, looking back at her. He waved at her to hurry; the ferry was about to leave.

  Sarah picked up her pace, reaching Aidan as he boarded.

  “Where’s J.D.?” he said.

  “He took off toward the monorail. He was leading the police away from us.”

  “That’s nice of him. But what if they catch him?”

  “Then we have to do this alone.”

  A recorded voice over the ferry loudspeakers announced that the boat was about to depart for the Magic Kingdom. The deckhands were getting ready to take in the gangway. Sarah’s eyes anxiously scanned the throng onshore. Then she saw him—a lone figure sprinting toward the ferry.

  “There’s J.D!” she said.

  “Is anybody following him?” said Aidan.

  “I don’t see anybody. He must have lost them.” Sarah ran to one of the deckhands. “Could you hold it just one second, for my friend there?”

  The deckhand looked at J.D.’s sprinting figure. “One second,” he said.

  “Thank you!” said Sarah. It was more like thirty seconds, but J.D. made the boat. He ran up the gangplank and collapsed on a bench, sweating and gasping.

  “That was exciting,” he said.

  “How’d you lose them?” said Aidan.

  “It’s a big crowd,” said J.D. “I hid behind a guy selling balloons, then when they went past me, I circled back.”

  “You know,” said Sarah, “when I saw you take off…for just a second there I was afraid you were leaving us.”

  J.D. looked up at her and smiled. “Wouldn’t dream of it,” he said.

  “Still,” said Sarah. “That was close.”

  “Tell me about it,” said J.D.

  CHAPTER 28

  FINDING BEN

  THEY MADE THEIR WAY TO FANTASYLAND, walking separately, staying just close enough that they could keep track of each other in the dense crowd. When they reached Peter Pan’s Flight, they remained apart for a minute, scanning the area. Seeing no security people, they joined up and entered the Peter Pan building arcade, joining a line that snaked back and forth in the crowd-control maze.

  “The sign said it’s a forty-five-minute wait,” said Aidan.

  “This is not a bad place for us to be,” said J.D., keeping his voice low. “We’re out of the sun, and out of sight of anybody walking past out there.”

  “So what do we do when we get on the ride?” said Sarah.

  “Well, obviously we look at Big Ben,” said J.D. “And we look for a bird. Beyond that, I guess we mainly just try to observe as much as we can.”

  “What about the…the secret ingredient?” said Sarah, pointing to her backpack. “When do we use that?”

  “We’ll have to figure that out once we get inside,” said J.D.

  They inched forward, speaking little, wondering what lay ahead, barely aware of the horde of chattering tourists around them. Finally, they reached the front of the line, where a costumed ride attendant guided them onto a moving walkway running parallel to the line of “sailing ships” suspended from an overhead track.

  It was a tight fit, but the three of them squeezed into one ship together, with Sarah in the middle, holding the backpack on her lap. The safety bar came down and the ship made a left turn into the ride, then angled upward.

  Suddenly, they were in the nursery of the Darling house in London, looking down on Wendy, Michael, and John Darling. They heard music, an orchestra playing “You Can Fly!” They flew out the window and passed over Nana, the dog, who barked forlornly up at them. Now the ship was flying through the darkness above an elaborately detailed miniature replica of nighttime London—the Thames, the Houses of Parliament, Tower Bridge, buildings, even streets with moving cars, their headlights lit.

  “There’s Big Ben,” said Sarah, pointing ahead. All three of them leaned forward, eyes focused on the approaching clock tower.

  Aidan made it out first. “It says 9:07,” he said.

  “Do the clock hands move?” said J.D., squinting.

  “Doesn’t look like it,” said Aidan.

  “I think they’re painted on,” agreed Sarah.

  “Do you see a bird?” said J.D.

  Aidan and Sarah leaned out, looking down as their ship swept over Big Ben.

  “I don’t see a bird,” said Sarah.

  “Me either,” said Aidan. “But it’s pretty dark.”

  “Okay, keep looking.”

  They flew past the moon, upon which were silhouettes of Peter Pan flying with Wendy, John, and Michael Darling. Then the ship rounded a turn and they were flying over Never Land island, being fired at by a cannon on Captain Hook’s ship far below. They flew over a volcano, then mermaids, then Indians. Colorful illumination came from the scenes passing below; the ship was flying through darkness.

  “I still haven’t seen a bird,” said Aidan.

  “Yeah,” said Sarah. “It’s so dark in here.”

  Ahead they could see a much larger version of the pirate ship, with Wendy, prodded by a gang of nasty-looking pirates, about to walk the plank.

  They heard a harsh noise over the music.

  “Did you hear that?” said Sarah.

  They heard it again, a high-pitched Caw! Caw!

  Suddenly, there it was, appearing out of the gloom just before the pirate ship: Skull Rock, a ghostly, pale skeleton face of stone with gaping empty holes for its e
yes and nose. But one of the holes wasn’t completely empty. “There!” cried Aidan, pointing at the skull’s right eye socket. Perched in the opening, staring at them, was a bird.

  It was a Disney Audio-Animatronic creature with bugged-out eyeballs behind a bright yellow beak and a wide wingspan. It cawed again; the ship veered sharply left. The skull was gone.

  They were passing the pirate ship now, but all three of them were looking back.

  “Okay,” said Sarah. “That was definitely a bird.”

  “Aidan,” said J.D. “Would you have been able to reach the bird from where you’re sitting?”

  “I don’t think so,” said Aidan. “It was too far away.”

  Now they were flying over Captain Hook, who was trying desperately—as he had been since the ride opened decades earlier—to escape from the jaws of the hungry crocodile, while Smee perpetually rowed to his captain’s rescue. Then the ship rounded another corner, and daylight appeared ahead; the ride was over.

  “We need to ride again,” said J.D., as the safety bar lifted and they stepped onto the moving walkway.

  “Right now?” said Aidan.

  “Yup,” said J.D. “We know the time Ben says, and we found the bird. We can assume that what we’re supposed to feed the bird is starstuff; that’s what powers the bridge. But how do we feed the bird if we can’t reach it?”

  “Could we hide somewhere and wait until the Magic Kingdom closes?” said Sarah. “Then we could sneak in and feed it.”

  J.D. shook his head. “Won’t work. We have to feed it when Ben says—that’s 9:07 p.m. I’m pretty sure the park is still open then.”

  “So we have to feed it while the ride is moving?” said Sarah. “How’re we supposed to do that?”

  “Okay,” said J.D., “we need to look at the bird really carefully this time. We also need to time the ride exactly, down to the second.”

  “Why?” said Aidan.

  “So we can know exactly how long it takes to get to the bird. We also need to know the exact time of day. That way we can get on the ride at the right time to reach the bird at exactly 9:07 p.m.”