Guests who were in line for the princess meet-and-greet on the other side of the small lagoon were indeed interested in the commotion on the normally unused dock. Wolf saw a few cameras raised in his direction. With a mutter of something unpleasant in Lakota, he began to toss everything back out of sight. “She’s gone again. I don’t know how but she’s gone. There must be a trapdoor that I can’t see.”
The twins could tell that the danger was over and came to join Peter. After a curious glance inside the storage area they had never seen before, Alex handed Peter the watered-down soda. “Sorry. It’s kinda warm now.”
Peter took a sip anyway and shrugged. “Thanks.”
“What happened? Who was that?”
Alex looked from the security guard to their friend. Neither Peter nor Wolf seemed ready to tell him anything.
“Uncle Wolf, she talked this time.”
The sharp blue eyes snapped back to Peter’s face. “She did? Do we need to bring your dad in on this?”
Peter lifted a shoulder and took another drink. “I dunno. I’ll tell you and you can decide. Oh, and I figured out the clue.” He looked down at the soda in his hands. “I probably shouldn’t be drinking this. I never did get to go to the bathroom.”
Wolf put a reassuring hand on the boy’s shoulder and guided him back to the main walkway.
The twins fell into step behind, curious to hear what had just happened. As they walked toward the Alice ride, Alex asked Catie if she had noticed anything about the awning they had just been under.
She did a quick glance over her shoulder at the Motor Boat dock. “Oh, Alex! It’s green and gold! Should we tell them?”
“I dunno. I’m not going to say anything. Uncle Wolf’s is still pretty mad. You tell him.”
“Not me! Besides, Peter said he figured out the clue. He must have seen it.”
Alex looked at his sister out of the corner of his eye. She seemed like she was willing to talk. “So, tell me, who was that crazy woman?”
Catie quickly whispered to Alex that she was the woman from the Mansion.
His eyes got wide. The day suddenly got more interesting.
Flashback—Disneyland—1965
“I want to ride the boats, Daddy!”
“What boats, Ruthie? Where are you pointing?”
“Oh, look, Ken! They look just like the little boats we rented at Lake Tahoe that summer.”
They walked past the entrance to Storybook Land Canal Boats and headed for the large letters that spelled out Motor Boat Cruise. Ken checked the tickets that they had remaining in their ticket books.
“This takes a B ticket, honey. I thought you wanted to ride the Circus Train. We only have one B left.”
“But, Daddy, I can drive my own boat! Can’t you get another ticket? Please?”
Ken looked into the imploring eyes of Ruth. He gave a sigh. “It already cost me four dollars for each of our ticket books, not to mention twenty-five cents to park.”
Anne pushed her white-rimmed sunglasses down her nose as she looked over at the blue-shuttered window of the ticket booth. “Ken, it’s only twenty-five cents for another ticket. We don’t get here very often. Let’s just have fun. There’s probably a lot to see as we go through the course.”
As he got out his wallet, Ken looked over the dock and the three piers that jutted out into the green water. There were two boats docked for later use, one was blue and the other was red. “I’m sure it’s just as good as that Mr. Toad ride. That was pretty fun!”
Ruth gave a little shiver. “I didn’t like the train coming at us. That scared me!”
“Well, I can guarantee there won’t be any trains coming at us on this ride!”
As they handed in their individual tickets, they wound through the near-empty line queue. A cast member dressed in a bold blue and white striped shirt and wide, white trousers had them wait at the opening as a green and white boat putted to a stop in front of them.
“I want a red one.”
“Sorry, honey, this is ours. Careful. Hold onto Daddy’s hand while I get in.”
“Can I drive?”
Ruth scampered into the middle of the white seat and grabbed the steering wheel. Ken took the last space. Just as he sat, the small boat started moving past the remaining length of the dock and into the open channel. “Ruthie, honey, you could have waited until I was comfortable.”
“Huh? Am I supposed to push on the pedal thingy down there?”
Anne looked down at her daughter’s feet. They were quite a ways away from the gas pedal. “Try it now, honey. Maybe once we get going you can drive it.”
Ruth pushed hard on the metal pedal and could hear the engine vroom. Water churned out the back. “Here we go! Look! I’m steering!”
Anne looked over at Ken behind Ruth’s back and shrugged. “I don’t think we’re moving any faster than we were. Do you?”
“Hey, Mom, there’s those cars we drove. We’re going under them! Why do they look like they’re going faster than we are?”
“Because they probably are.” Once they emerged from the bridge, Ken shaded his eyes against the glare of the bright sun sparkling off the water. Other than the overhead Autopia track and the Monorail track, there was no shade. “Try the gas pedal again, honey. It’s kinda warm out here.”
The engine sounded like it revved again and more water bubbled up behind them. “Here we go! Look! There’s a lot of rocks up ahead. I’m going to steer really careful through there.”
“You do that, honey. It is pretty back here, Ken. Lots of flowers and bushes.”
Ken grunted as he fanned himself with the park guide they had gotten at the entry gate. “I didn’t expect to pay another seventy-five cents for ‘pretty.’ I thought there’d at least be a waterfall or something to go over.”
“What?” Ruth had been so concentrated on steering that she only half-heard what was said around her. “A waterfall? Like on the Jungle ride? Oh, you’d better steer, Daddy.” Her hands flew off the wheel and she scooted the available inch closer to her mother. Her eyes immediately narrowed when she realized what had happened—or, more specifically, what had not just happened. “Hey, how come we’re still going straight?” Her fear of the unknown forgotten, she put a hand back on the wheel and gave it a hard tug to the right. The boat stayed true to its straight course through the channel and didn’t crash into the bank where had Ruth aimed. “Aww, that’s not fair! I thought I was driving it.”
Ken and Anne smiled at each other behind her back. “Well, at least you got to steer the car through Mr. Toad’s house.”
Ruth shot a suspicious look at her father. “Why are you smiling like that?”
“Because I’m having so much fun. Hey, look, we’re back at the dock safe and sound after going through those treacherous rapids. You did great, Ruthie.”
“Welcome back, sailors. Watch your step.” The cast member held out his hand for Anne to help her out of the small boat.
When they saw the look on Ruth’s face, her parents knew she was ready to question the cast member about the lack of proper steering. “Hey, let’s go ride that Circus Train now! I heard you can sit in the Monkey Cage, Ruthie.”
The subterfuge worked as Ruth’s head swung back from the cast member. “Do we have to go through the whale’s mouth?”
“No, I think that’s a different ride. Let’s go check it out.”
The prospect of seeing something new had the desired effect on Ruth and the family walked off hand-in-hand to go explore more of Fantasyland.
Disneyland—Current Day
“I’m glad you came to get me, Wolf. I think this might be getting too dangerous for the kids to continue.”
Peter’s heart began to sink as he stared at his dad. Yes, he had been grabbed twice now and knew he was being followed, but…. Frustrated, Peter shook his head as he turned to watch the Casey Jr. Circus Train being loaded. Even though she had thrown a knife at him, he somehow didn’t feel that Omah woman would actually hurt him
. Her focus didn’t seem to be on him any more. It was on that mermaid.
“Okay, Casey…. Let’s get this show on the road! All aboard! All aboard!”
With a sharp blast of its steam whistle, the colorful train pulled out of the Fantasyland station, its cars and cages filled with happy kids and their parents. The riders would see the same miniature houses and dioramas of all the favorite fairy tales as the Storybook Land Canal boats, but at a much faster pace. When the bright red and gold caboose was out of sight, Peter glanced back at the two adults still deep in discussion. To kill some time, Alex and Catie had wandered over to the kiosk next to where they stood to look through the postcards for sale.
“Dad, can I buy some….”
“No.”
“But I didn’t say what I wanted.”
“You’ll spoil your dinner. Wolf and I are about done. Hang on.”
Peter’s mumbled, “It’s only lunchtime,” went unheard. He felt he deserved to be in on the discussion since he was a Junior Guardian after all. Still, there was a hesitation to say anything just so he didn’t inadvertently make it worse. When Lance and Wolf finally turned to him, he involuntarily took a step back. By the looks on their faces it could go either way.
“Okay, son, Wolf and I came to a decision.” Lance paused, expecting Peter to jump in and defend himself before he heard what they had to say. When that didn’t happen, he continued. “Okay, then. Alex, Catie, come on over here, please.” He looked into each of the three eager, yet wary faces in front of him. “You all know we’re worried about what keeps happening to Peter.” They nodded, but remained silent, their eyes wide. “Well, we also know how important these treasure hunts are to you. They were important to me, too.” He again stopped at the confused look that came over Alex’s face. Apparently Peter hadn’t told him about his dad’s previous adventures. “Adam can fill you in later.”
“Wait a minute. Dad was involved in something like this!? Is that what he was talking about in Missouri? When was that? What did he find?”
“Alex, we’re getting off track here. What I was going to say is that you can finish what you started, but Wolf or I will be with you the whole time.” Again the expected argument didn’t come. Maybe the kids finally realized it isn’t all fun and games. “Wolf will come with us right now because we think we need eyes and ears in more than just one place. Agreed?”
At the question the three kids quickly went into a huddle to discuss their options while the two adults watched, amused smiles on their faces. There seemed to be a lot of gestures and head-shakes with an occasional point at Wolf. When a mutual accord apparently had been reached, they broke apart. Peter, the elected spokesman, stood in front of his friends and announced that they were in agreement.
Lance bit back a smile at the stance Peter took. He was terribly proud of his son and couldn’t wait to see how this would all work out—how Peter would continue to grow and develop. “Well, I’m glad to hear that. So, Peter, you said you figured out the clue. Where do we go?”
Glad they were being taken seriously, he pointed to the east. “Back to Fantasia Gardens, the old Motor Boat Dock.”
Wolf bit back a groan. “I was afraid you were going to say that. Fine. Lance, you take the opening of the dock and I’ll stand guard at the rear. She won’t get past me again.”
“Okay, this is what I found.” Peter took the twins to the southern edge of the cement walkway. They could clearly hear the Autopia cars as they rumbled by on the other side of the thick, bushy barrier. Peter pointed up at the Monorail Track that curved away from them and followed the old Motor Boat channel below.
At least, the track was what the twins thought he meant. “What are we looking at, Peter? It’s a cement beam like every other one in the Park.”
“No, Alex, look under the beam, just at the top of the support thingy. See up there? What do you see?”
“Uh, some U-shaped cement things that hold up the track? Is that it?”
Peter almost slapped his forehead. “No! Under that. On the other side.”
“You mean that black number 222?”
“Yes! That’s it!”
Catie looked over at her friend as if he had lost his mind. She spoke very slowly and carefully with the hope that she didn’t hurt his feelings. “But, Peter, the clue said it was Monorail 268. That’s not right.”
Peter stared back at Catie. How could they not get it? “Come with me and I’ll show you what I mean.” With an unbelieving shake of his head, Peter led them past the start of the dock where his dad stood guard.
“I wonder where that door goes.” Alex referred to a small building off to the side. It looked like it was made of off-white cement and had rows of natural stones that accented the bottom. A blue-shuttered window was locked next to an old-fashioned brown door. The black metal design of the hinges looked similar to the ones around the Matterhorn.
“I don’t know, Alex! It might have been a ticket booth for the Motor Boats. And, no, Catie, I didn’t bring the Key to Disneyland with me so we can check.”
“Me? I didn’t say anything. I’m just waiting to find out what the clue meant. Alex….”
Peter gave an exasperated sigh. “Sorry. I’m just anxious to get on with this. Look up here at this Monorail support. See the number? Now go back one more. What does that say?”
“This one says 271, and the one closer to the dock is 270.”
“See? They’re getting smaller. It figures that 268 has to be the second pillar under the awning. What else could be Monorail 268? This has to be it. You just can’t see the numbers on the dock because of the low roof.”
“And this awning is green and kinda gold. Maybe it faded.” Catie started to get excited now that Peter began to make sense. “So, do we need to get up on the roof?” Knowing they would need both permission and assistance to do that, she looked over at Wolf who was supposed to be keeping watch at the far end. “What’s he doing?”
Peter and Alex stopped their circling of the Monorail pillar at her question. “Who? Uncle Wolf?”
Wolf had half his body over the back railing and was bent toward the placid green water. Determined to find out how Omah managed to vanish two times, he was searching for a secret door or panel or hatchway. After rolling up his sleeve, he thrust his hand under the water’s surface and felt along the dock as far as he could reach.
“Hope he doesn’t fall in.” Alex’s muttered comment was met with a round of laughs. Wolf wouldn’t like it, but it sure would make their day.
“Shh, Alex!” Catie tried to keep her face serious, but couldn’t help a wide grin. “Don’t let him hear you. He has really good hearing, you know. We don’t want him any madder than he already is. So, Peter, do we need to get up on the roof?”
Peter walked over to the water’s edge and leaned back in an attempt to see the roofline. “I don’t know. I kinda don’t think so. The Monorail goes right through the middle of it. Besides, the clue said it was under the awning. Alex, help me pull this bench over to the edge.”
The scraping noise drew an inquisitive glance from Lance, but he remained where he was and let the kids figure it out. Wolf ignored them.
“Gosh, what do they make these benches out of? Cement? Is this far enough?”
“Yeah, set down your end, Alex.” Peter hopped up on the wooden bench and touched the stiff fabric of the awning. It overlapped the roof and hung down a few inches past the corrugated metal of the cream-colored eaves. About every ten feet or so was a blue support beam that extended across the width of the roof and down the eaves. Peter ran his eyes across the ceiling, past the black light fixtures, to the other side. He could see no break in the metal that might be a hiding place. He did notice some old bird’s nests that stuck out of the blue railing that extended the entire length of the roof.
“Hey, guys, look at that.” He pointed at the various sticks and dried leaves moldering under the roof.
“Eww, that’s gross. Don’t touch it!”
“Catie
, I wasn’t going to touch it. I was just showing you there’s room between that blue metal thing and the roof. Maybe what we are looking for is stuck in there.”
“You want some gloves?”
“I’m not going to wear gloves! I’m just going to see if anything is crammed in up here.”
“You think that might be it?”
“Maybe, Alex. I hope so.” He gave a nervous glance toward the stroller parking area for Small World. “People are starting to stare again. We need to get done and get out of here. Catie, go tell my dad what I’m doing just so he doesn’t have to come and look.”
When the girl ran off, Peter cautiously stuck the tips of his fingers in the nook between the support rail and the overhang. He thought there might be some jagged edges on the metal and went slowly. With a check at the Monorail pillar in question, he tried to gauge how far he would need to explore before it encroached on the next pillar.
“Uh, Peter? You do know there’s another rail just like it on the other side, too, right?”
“Oh, that’s right. I forgot about that. Let me finish up here. I only found some dried sticks and dirt so far.”
The kids drug the park bench over to the side of the dock closest to Its a Small World. The princess meet-and-greet in the pavilion closest to them was not in session, so the only guests were farther away in line for Small World. Peter repeated his first movements. Only this time his fingers came in contact with something harder than a stick.
“I think I found something!”
“What is it, Peter!?”
The answer came out in grunts. “It’s really wedged in here. Pretty small.” He rose on his tip-toes to try and peer into the track. “Whatever it is was painted over. It’s all blue. Wait. I got a finger under the edge. Nope. Need a knife.”
“I don’t have a knife on me, Peter.”
“I know that, Catie. Sheesh. Go ask my dad for something sharp or pointy.”
HIDDEN MICKEY ADVENTURES 3 Page 8
