Todd gave a small chuckle as he tried to steal some tip money from an open receipt book on an outside table at the French Market Restaurant. His unexpected noise turned a few heads of the guests sitting at the surrounding tables and he was required to put the money back. “Oops, dropped it.” He returned the twenty to the leather binder and walked off. Idiot, he chided himself when he walked over to Café Orleans to try again. The way to be successful was to not draw attention to himself.
Bringing his mind back to his previous line of thought, he knew he was skilled enough to break into the house in the hills. But, breaking and entering was risky. And Todd Raven was all about reducing his risk factor. Hence, the long—the interminably long—hours he spent listening to the on-going drivel from the two boys and their friends. At least the backpack belonged to the oldest boy. That one could at least keep one line of thought going longer than his younger brother Michael.
From what Todd had gathered, the family expected visitors this up-coming weekend and they might all go to Disneyland together. They all hoped to lunch Saturday afternoon at Club 33, the private, exclusive restaurant above the streets of New Orleans Square. As he walked through the area, Todd glanced up at the intricate wrought iron railings around the balconies of the posh club. He had never been there. Apparently all of the Brentwoods were members. Todd gave a snort of disgust. Must be nice, he grumbled, wondering how Lance had managed that on a security guard’s salary. Must be inherited, that lucky…. He recalled what their house—their mansion, he corrected—looked like. Perhaps he should rethink his non-breaking-and-entering policy.
“Hey, Peter, you want to come over tonight? We have a new movie we’re going to watch.” Todd could hear a young voice over the roar of the bus. Why did the kid have to sit in the back next to the motor every stinking day? That roar was driving him crazy.
“Hey, Jason. No, I can’t. I have to do some…umm, homework tonight.”
“It’s Friday. You can do it on Sunday night like I do.” After the helpful suggestion, Jason added somthing that might sweeten the pot. “It’s rated R and my mom and dad won’t be home. Stevie, Rob and Megan are coming over.”
Todd could hear a long pause. Apparently Peter was thinking about it. “No, I really can’t. I really have to do a bunch of research before tomorrow. But, thanks for asking.”
“Aw, you’re no fun.” Apparently the disgusted Jason went to sit somewhere else because Todd didn’t hear him again.
Once the bus dropped Peter off at his stop and he walked the rest of the way home, Todd could hear the same things he had been hearing all week: The front door slammed; his mother told him not to slam the door; Peter asked what was there to eat; his mother asked him if he had any homework; Michael asked Peter to borrow something; the youngest boy, Andrew, vied for attention from all of them; Kimberly shooed them upstairs to do their homework; Michael asked for a dog yet again—even Todd was tired of hearing it; Peter dropped his backpack onto the floor or the bed; papers were removed from it; a grumble about teachers and unfair homework assignments; the computer started up; Peter played some video game for about half an hour until Kimberly called up for him to do his homework; a chuckle from Peter….
Already knowing what the next two or three hours would produce, Todd was about to pull the earpiece when he heard Michael come into Peter’s room, apparently uninvited.
“Hey, you’re supposed to knock.”
“I did knock.”
“I didn’t hear you, Michael. Go out and do it again.”
“I’m not going to knock on your door again! That’s stupid!”
“Shh, or mom will hear you, Michael. Did you finish your homework?”
“Why do I need Mom when I have you telling me what to do?”
“Fine. I’m busy. What do you want?”
Michael was silent for a minute. “You missed a target.”
“Where? Oh, thanks.”
“Petey, Dad said we’re going to Disneyland tomorrow with the twins and Uncle Adam and Aunt Beth.”
“I know,” Peter cut him off. “Get out of my room.”
Used to this kind of bantering, Michael ignored him and just continued with what he had come in to tell his brother. “Do you think we can open the capsule now? Maybe it’s a good time to see what we might have to do next.”
Todd expected to hear Peter tell his brother off again, but was surprised when Peter agreed with him. “Yeah, I was thinking that, too. We might be able to go off on our own again with the game book and see what we find next.”
“That’s a good boy.” Todd stopped next to the dock of the Tom Sawyer Island rafts and leaned against the railing. “Open the capsule, for crying out loud.”
“What do you think it is?” The excitement in Michael’s voice could be clearly heard through the earpiece.
Peter’s voice took on a kinder tone than he had used before. “I don’t know. It’s pretty cool what we got from Walt so far. How about if you come back to my room after dinner? When we’re at the table, ask me for help with some research you need to do. I’m sure we’ll get plenty of time alone to look at it and try to figure it out.”
“Oh, that’s a good idea! Dad always wants you to help me with my schoolwork.”
Apparently Michael had turned to leave the room when Todd heard Peter call to him. “Hey, Mikey, quit with the I-want-a-dog already. You aren’t helping. Give it a rest. You can bring it up again later. Okay?”
Michael’s answering groan faded away. Peter got up to slam shut his door and then immediately yelled out an apology to his mom. “Sorry, Mom, I didn’t mean to slam it.”
Todd finally pulled the small receiver out of his ear and tucked it into his shirt pocket. Smiling as he headed into Critter Country, he knew he had a lovely four hour break from listening to the incessant chatter from the Brentwood family.
Then, he hoped, he would get some long-awaited answers.
“This is really weird, Michael.” Peter turned the over paper in his hand, a frown wrinkling his forehead.
Michael was busy examining the oddly shaped key and Mickey Mouse watch that had been stuffed into the small oval capsule Peter had pulled from the Tiki God. The key, according to what Peter had found online, was called a skeleton key. Brass in color, it had two fancy teeth that curved out from the carved shaft that was rounded on one side and perfectly flat on the other. The hole at the top of the key caught the boy’s eye as he was sure it looked like a Hidden Mickey, only the ears weren’t just exactly right. They were a little more oval than the traditional Hidden Mickeys.
The watch was smaller in size than what the boys usually wore. The leather band looked old, but the face of the watch was still in excellent shape. Mickey had a pointed nose on his smiling face and his two white gloved hands would have gone around the black Roman numerals if the watch had still been running. Peter had found an imprint on the back that read 1940 and guessed the watch had been made in that year. What the boys didn’t know was that this watch didn’t require batteries and they would have just had to wind the small stem on the side to get it running again.
At his brother’s words, Michael looked up from their discovery. “What’s weird, Petey?”
Peter held out the yellowed paper that looked just like what they had found the first time. Michael didn’t take it from him. “It looks like a clue,” Peter continued when Michael refused the paper. “But, part of it is crossed out. See here?” He held up the scribbled note and pointed at one of the lines. “The words Grand Canyon are crossed out and the words Lilly Belle are written in above it. But, what’s funny is that it doesn’t look like the same person wrote it, from what I can tell.” He shrugged and turned back to his computer. “I don’t know. I’m trying to find a link between the two but can’t.”
“What if you tried them separate first?”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea. I’d better try that. I’ll start with Lilly Belle since it was written last.”
“Can I see it again?” Michael ca
me over to Peter’s desk. He carefully set the key and the watch next to the computer screen. With some difficulty he made out the clue: Take a ride in the Lilly Belle. Careful where you sit. Don’t get poked! He gave a chuckle. “It says ‘don’t get poked’ like you might sit on something sharp. That’s funny!”
“Yeah, funny.” Peter wasn’t really listening. He had added the words ‘Walt Disney’ to ‘Lilly Belle’ in his search and came up with a lot of computer hits. “Hey, Mikey, look at this. The main thing the words Lilly Belle point to is a train. Over and over again, see? There was this little one that Walt had in his backyard, but the article says the house was torn down after the Disneys moved out. The train Walt built was called the Lilly Belle, but it is now in…,” he pulled up another link and read for a moment. “San Francisco. Oh! Hey, we saw it when we toured the Family Museum there. Remember? About a year ago. Dad had the weirdest look on his face when he was telling Mom about the train. I never did figure out what he meant.”
“We have to go to San Francisco? Where is that?”
Peter stopped and looked at his brother in disbelief. “You don’t remember where San Francisco is? We were just there a year ago.”
Michael just shrugged, unconcerned. If he waited long enough, Peter would just tell him.
“It’s up north, I don’t know, about seven hours or so from here. Took forever to get there. Wished we could’ve flown. But, I don’t think we need to go there. That train was really small and Walt would ride on it. All the pictures of this train show people sitting on top of the little cars with Walt as the conductor.” He picked up the small piece of paper on his desk. “Look here at the clue again. It says we have to ride in the Lilly Belle, not on it like these people….”
“I’d like to have a train in my yard.” Michael let out a wistful sigh as he watched picture after picture of Walt’s elaborate backyard train set scroll past on the computer screen.
“Yeah, but your dog would mess it up,” Peter kidded, then he perked up. “Hey, look here at this link to Disneyland. This looks good. It says the Lilly Belle is a train car that only dignitaries get to ride in.”
“What’s a dignitary?”
“What? Oh, someone really important. Here’s a picture of the outside of the car. Wow, it’s pretty fancy. I wonder how we’d even be able to get into that.”
Michael’s attention wandered back to the clue. “Why is Grand Canyon crossed out, do you think? Is that important?”
Peter tapped a few keys on the computer. “Well, since the Lilly Belle seems to be a train, let’s see if the Grand Canyon is a train, too. I don’t think it means the part of the tunnel the train goes through.”
“That’s not nearly as pretty as the Lilly Belle.” Michael leaned in when Peter came up with a matching link. “What does it say?”
Peter read to himself for a few moments, scrolling down through the long article. “The Grand Canyon was built way back when Disneyland first opened. It was supposed to be a special train car for important people to ride in. They called it an observation car but when the dinosaur diorama was added—I always like that part—it was too hard for people to see out of the small windows. Plus, it took too long to load and unload, so it was put into storage in 1974.”
“Wow, that’s a long time ago. How are we supposed to ride in that?”
“Hold on, I think the story keeps going.” Peter clicked his mouse a few more times. “See here? Someone rescued that Grand Canyon car and wanted to turn it into something called a Presidential Car instead. That happened in 1976. After that, it was restored again in 1996 and again in 2005.”
“Uh, this might be a dumb question, but Uncle Wolf told us Walt died in 1966. So, if Walt died, how did he put a clue in that train ten years later?”
Peter turned away from the computer screen and stared at his brother—who was obviously waiting to be told it was a dumb question. “You’re right. I didn’t think of that, Mikey. That isn’t dumb.”
He picked up the clue again and tried to think it through. “What about this? Maybe Walt did put the clue in the Grand Canyon car. But look at the note again. That was scratched out and the word Lilly Belle was written in by someone else. So, maybe somebody who worked for Walt moved the clue after he died, fixed the name of the train and put it into the Lilly Belle after it was built. It was the same train car, after all. Does that make sense?”
“Why else would someone scratch out Walt’s clue? Yeah, that makes sense to me.” Michael shrugged as his eyes moved back to the watch. He wondered if he would get to keep it.
“Then, who else knows about the hidden clue? If someone did move it for Walt, are they still watching to see what happens to it?”
Michael’s head spun back around, his eyes wide. “Do you think someone knows we took it? Are they going to come after us?”
“I don’t know, Mikey. I wish we could ask Dad about this, but he wouldn’t understand.”
“What do you want to do, Petey?”
Peter turned back to the computer screen and stared at the elaborate, mahogany-lined train car. “I think we need to figure out a way to ride in the Lilly Belle and see if something is still hidden inside it. Maybe we can get Alex and Catie to help.”
Michael just nodded. He trusted Peter and knew his big brother would eventually figure it out. He just hoped they wouldn’t get into too much trouble this time.
“It’s a puppy!” Overjoyed, Andrew and Michael shrieked at the same time.
Standing inside the doorway of the Brentwood’s home, Beth Michaels looked extremely pleased with herself. Her twins, Alex and Catie, were bouncing up and down in their excitement to give their best friends one of Sunnee’s puppies.
“You shouldn’t have, Beth,” Lance told his dear friend dryly. “Really. I mean it. You shouldn’t have.”
“His name is Kevin!” Andrew’s sudden announcement drew everyone’s attention.
“I’m afraid this is a little girl dog, honey.” Beth gave Andrew a smile and ignored the look Lance was giving her.
“Then she’s going to be Dug!” Not to be left out, Michael threw out his suggestion.
“Hope that isn’t prophetic.” Lance continued to grumble to himself as no one was paying him any attention.
Always eager to please, Andrew took the name change in stride. “Maybe you can teach her to talk.”
All of the kids yelled, “Squirrel!” at the same time and started laughing.
The delighted puppy, the center of all the attention, wiggled her little tail, promptly piddled in the marble entryway and bounced over to sniff Kimberly’s shoes.
“Really,” Lance repeated to Beth, his eyes narrowed at the widening puddle, “you shouldn’t have. Right, Kimberly? Honey?” He turned to his wife to back him up.
“Oh, look at that widdle cutie face!” Kimberly cooed. Not even hearing Lance, she picked up the wiggling golden puff ball and cuddling it to her chest.
Lance, knowing he was beaten, just sighed and glared at Beth. “So, where’s Adam?” His voice was deceptively pleasant. “So I can kill him.”
Hearing what he had just mumbled, Beth gave him a mischievous grin. “Oh, he had to work today. I’m sure you remember Rose Anderson? She wanted her bedroom remodeled again. She asked about you, by the way. Adam wanted me to ask if you wanted to join him on the job.” Beth’s eyes sparkled with amusement.
Lance almost choked at the mention of Rose’s name. Adam had been doing work on her house when the two of them were on their first Hidden Mickey adventure. Rose was…. Lance shook his head. Rose was someone he wanted to keep a wide distance from—especially during a bedroom remodel. “Tell him thanks for the offer, but I think I’ll pass. Now, about the dog….” He broke off when he saw the animal in question was being bundled out the back door to the play area.
“You mean Dug?” Beth’s face was a mask of innocence.
“Yeah, Dug…. And, don’t look like you’re enjoying this so much, Shrew,” he bantered with her.
“Grumpy,” she shot back.
“Meddler.”
“Pooper Scooper.”
“All right, you two.” Laughing, Kimberly had to break in as she reentered the house from the back yard. “You guys will go on like that all day. Well, we got Dug settled. I think she likes it here.” Her bright comment was directed to her not-so-charmed husband.
Lance rolled his eyes. “I thought we were all going to Disneyland today. We did have a plan, you know,” he pointedly shot at Beth.
All he got was a complacent smile in return. “Oh, we can still go. You’ll just need to build a little pen for Dug. Poor little baby needs some place to call her own.”
“I want to stay with the puppy!” Michael, who had been anxiously listening, yelled in from the back porch.
“Me, too,” Andrew and Alex chimed in.
Lance had to remind everyone of why they were all there. “We have a reservation at Club 33 at two o’clock. It was short notice and we shouldn’t cancel it.”
Peter and Catie hadn’t given their opinion yet. After a moment of animated whispers between them, Peter spoke for the two. “We’ll go to the Park with you.”
“Well, we can’t leave the other kids here all alone. Lance, why don’t you stay and knock up some kind of shelter for the pup until we can do something more permanent. Beth and I will take the two kids to Disneyland.”
Lance stared at his wife as if he couldn’t believe she wasn’t backing him up. Catching Beth’s wide grin out of the corner of his eye, he let out a dramatic sigh. “Fine. You go. Have fun without me. I’ll be fine. No really,” he held up a hand, “I insist. Go.”
Without another word, the four ran out the front door and piled into Beth’s Jeep. Before they could take off, a back window rolled down and a large bag of puppy kibble was unceremoniously dropped onto the gravel driveway.
As Beth and Kimberly chatted in the front seat and caught up on all their news, Peter had news of his own for Catie. After getting an okay from Michael—who seemed relieved that someone else knew about their little secret—Peter told Catie about their discoveries at both the Golden Horseshoe and the Tiki Room.
Hidden Mickey Adventures 1 Page 6
