It All Started...

by David W. Smith

  “So, it sounds like we are close?” Lance’s gaze shifted back to Kimberly.

  Excited and, at the same time, intrigued by the fact that they must be close to whatever final treasure Walt had alluded to, Kimberly’s gaze was unfocused as the Omnibus pulled up nearby, allowing a dozen passengers to disembark. “I guess so.” She sounded distracted as her voice trailed off in thought. “What do you think he meant, ‘See your future in the heart’?”

  “I don’t know. Could be anything. Maybe he’s got some sort of crystal ball hidden away, one in the shape of a heart.”

  “We found a lot of hearts in this search. Or maybe it’s a figurative statement, like ‘trust your heart’ or ‘follow your heart’,” Kimberly reasoned.

  “Well, that makes a lot more sense than my crystal ball theory.” Lance grinned at the serious look on her face. “I guess we won’t know until we find out where this key fits,” Lance said as he held the key up between his fingertips.

  A smile transformed her face. “Let’s go find Walt’s door.”

  “I think the best place to start is at the beginning of Main Street…and then work our way up to the Hub.” They stood up from the bench after the envelope and key were carefully placed deep in his pocket.

  It was already well past midday and a large number of guests were still entering the Park, dispersing from Main Street like a colorful mass of ants leaving the small opening of an ant hill.

  “Let’s avoid the crowd on Main Street by going backstage, Lance.”

  “Great idea.” They both knew how hard it was to move against the flow of so many people. “We can come out next to the Main Street Bank and work our way back up to here.”

  Hand in hand, the couple moved toward the cast members’ entrance next to the First Aid station. Beyond their door was the Inn Between Restaurant where they had eaten before spending the night in the Treehouse. As they walked past the restaurant, Lance squeezed her hand. “Seems like a lifetime ago since we met and then slept with Tarzan….” Lance trailed off, thinking about all that they had experienced together in the last four weeks.

  Lost in her own thoughts, Kimberly remained silent and gave his hand a light squeeze.

  Veering to the right after they passed the restaurant, they came to a large parking area with most of the spaces reserved for those who worked in the Administration offices to their left. Following a walkway that paralleled Main Street, the backs of the various Main Street shops were to their right.

  “I wonder what we’re going to find.” Kimberly’s statement was actually more rhetorical than actually expecting Lance to answer.

  “I wonder what effect all this will have on our future, if any.” Lance answered with his own rhetoric.

  “Well, I do know that my life has already been changed drastically over the past few weeks.” They reached a canopied break area where several costumed cast members were eating lunch and talking with fellow employees.

  Looking at his companion, Lance thought she probably meant her losing her dad, dealing with firing Daniel, and all. But he hoped, in there somewhere, she was relating to their relationship, too.

  As if reading his mind, she tugged on his hand and pulled him to a stop. “I’m talking about us, Lance.”

  Looking deeply into her eyes, he had a serious, sincere look on his face. “I hoped I figured in your life, somehow.”

  She smiled. “I know it’s only been a month…and certainly we were brought together under some very extreme conditions.” Kimberly shrugged her shoulders. “But, you know? I honestly feel like I’ve known you a long time.”

  “You do? Me, too. But, there’s still a great deal we don’t know about each other,” Lance added, touched by her words.

  “Yes.” She slowly drew out the ‘s’ on the word as she tried to put her feelings into words. “You know that feeling you get when you’re looking forward to something? I remember looking forward to that first cruise with my dad.” Kimberly broke off and smiled at the memory. “I had no idea what to expect or what I would be doing or what I would be seeing. But, mostly I was excited because I was going somewhere with my dad and I knew that the trip with him would be an adventure. And it was, in more ways than one.”

  Lance smiled as he recalled his trips with Adam and Beth.

  But she wasn’t finished. Shyly reaching out, she took both his hands in hers. “Well, I feel like that now—with you.”

  Looking down at their entwined fingers, he felt an electricity that seemed to pass between them every time they touched. “I want that adventure, too.” Lance pulled her into his arms and felt a desire build as they kissed.

  Across the way, seated under the break area canopy, a couple of security guards watched them and whistled.

  With a groan, the couple reluctantly ended their kiss. Turning red, Kimberly buried her face in Lance’s chest.

  “You guys are just jealous.” Lance took Kimberly’s hand and gave a tug. He led her to the long, narrow passage that went to the cast members’ entryway near the Main Gate. The two security guards, obviously friends of Lance, again whistled at him as they vanished from sight. Both men were indeed quite jealous.

  “Okay, so right or left?” Lance and Kimberly hadn’t exited the Park, but emerged onto Main Street’s Town Square. Before they could decide, Lance halted her. “Hold on a sec. Let’s go over here for a minute.” He led her over to the brass, engraved plate at the base of the tall, silver flagpole. Paying his respects, he looked at the words that were etched there for all time: The Opening Day speech that Walt Disney had given when he opened the Park on July 17th, 1955.

  “I always get goose bumps when I read those words,” Kimberly admitted, looking down at the plaque that was surrounded by beautifully manicured flower beds.

  “You should have seen Adam and me when we first found Walt’s diary.” Lance grinned at the memory. “Walt had written out that part of the speech on the first page.”

  Kimberly was lost in her own thoughts. “Doesn’t this all seem a little surreal?” Looking up from the plaque, she gazed down Main Street to the Castle and then back to Lance. “Honestly, don’t you ever step back and wonder if this is all some kind of a dream?”

  Lance took her hand. “If it is a dream, I honestly don’t ever want to wake up.”

  Blushing at his words and the look he was giving her, she whispered, “Me neither.”

  They decided to cover the right side of Main Street first, walking slowly along the sidewalk that fronted the shops. First was the beautiful white and gold Opera House where the Disney Story played daily. There was no locked door to be found, in plain sight or otherwise. Almost all of the doors on Main Street were entrances to the various shops.

  “I can’t imagine a door leading to some…chamber, or whatever, existing here on Main Street without someone knowing about it.” Lance paused as they passed the Magic Shoppe. Five steps led up to a closed door next to the Shoppe, but they could see books and souvenirs through the windows. The huge, brightly colored marquee of the Main Street Cinema was next, now showing Steamboat Willie, the first animated cartoon with sound. Two more quaint shops followed as they continued down the street. To passersby, it looked as though they were doing some serious window shopping, which, under different circumstances, they would have been doing.

  Their steps paused as they walked under the blue awning of the Disneyana shop. There was a flight of stairs between the Disneyana shop and the store whose banner proclaimed ‘Canned Goods’ and ‘Spices.’ “Lance,” Kimberly whispered, “There’s a door up there! Go try the key.”

  Positioning her in front of the stairs, Lance stood behind her on the first step. Not seeing any attention thrown their way, he took another tentative step up. Kimberly turned to look into the window, moving any attention away from the stairs. Now out of sight, Lance hurried up the stairs. Whether it was turned up or down, the key didn’t fit the locked door he found at the top. In fact, the door and the lock both looked as if they were used with some reg
ularity. The lock was clean and had signs of lubrication; the hinges didn’t have the look of forty years of disuse. A little disappointed, Lance moved down the stairs and returned to street level.

  “Nope,” was his brief answer to her inquisitive, eager eyes.

  While Kimberly displayed a subtle look of disappointment, something had already told her this was not the door. After putting her arm in Lance’s, she led the way back up Main Street. “Then, let’s continue.”

  A few more shops brought them to the first corner and the large Market House that had proudly occupied that spot since Opening Day. It was in here that the working party-line telephones still entertained the guests. Next to a beautiful, intricately-detailed potbellied stove was an old-fashioned checkerboard on top of a cracker barrel, two wooden chairs patiently waiting for the next two players.

  Crossing the small side street that led to the daily-use lockers, the large, curved entrance to the Disney Clothiers, Ltd. greeted them. A popular place for the singing group The Dapper Dans to stand and entertain the guests, the wide doors now framed customers who went in and out. What looked like another storefront turned out to be another entrance into the popular clothing store.

  The next building used to be the home of a greeting card store, but had no outstanding features to make them pause.

  The sparkling window display of the Crystal Arts shop dazzled their eyes as they hesitated to admire the goods. Hand-blown glass figurines, faceted crystal, and imported glass from different countries all vied for attention. “See anything you like?” Lance noticed Kimberly had come to a full stop.

  “I’m sorry. I got distracted.” Misunderstanding, she thought he was intent on continuing their search.

  “No, it’s all right. They have some beautiful things in here. Did you see that huge blue Chech vase up in the corner?” he pointed. Eighteen inches tall, rimmed in gold, the vase was adorned with handcrafted porcelain flowers and leaves, and twisting veins of twenty-four karat gold wound around the flowers. It was stunning.

  “Wow, that is beautiful. It looks like they have a lot of matching pieces, too. Didn’t they used to have a glassblower in here?”

  Lance nodded. “I never saw him, but I heard that it was pretty fascinating to watch him create a castle out of melted threads of glass.”

  Next was the narrow, three-story-tall Silhouette Studio. Small black examples of their work sat in oval frames in the one window of the shop. Inside, the artist was hard at work.

  Lance was about to ask her if she wanted her likeness made for posterity, when her clasp on his arm tightened. “Lance?” She sounded distracted, far away.

  “What?” He was still watching the makings of a child’s face appear on a screen inside the little studio.

  “What did the clue say about chairs?”

  Concerned by her abstract voice, he turned from the shop. “What?”

  “The clue…what did it say about chairs? I can’t remember.”

  Lance recited from memory: “It said ’Pull up a chair and use this key to open the door that was only open for six months on Main Street. In fact, you don’t have to be a Wizard to know which door this might be. It isn’t hidden. In fact, like almost everything else was, it is in plain sight.’ Why do you ask? You want to look at it again?” He was getting concerned as she had gone pale.

  She pointed at the next storefront. “Chairs.”

  Next, up a short flight of three steps, was an inviting railed porch that had three wooden chairs bolted to the deck. Shaded by a filigreed balcony overhead, it was a pleasant, restful place to take a break and watch the crowds as they walked up and down Main Street. In fact, two guests were doing just that as Kimberly and Lance stood staring at the porch. There was no sign over the door, no address. Two windows and the pane of glass in the door were all backed by a white lacy panel that effectively blocked whatever was inside the little building.

  “Do you think this is where he meant?”

  Lance looked up the street. There were only a couple more shops before the end building which was the large Photo Supply Company. They would have to start down the west side of Main Street, but, from their efforts to locate the Timepieces shop, he knew there were no chairs on that side of the street. His heart started to beat a little faster. “I think you’re right.”

  “What do you think we should do? There’re people here,” she whispered with a tilt of her head.

  Lance grinned. “Yeah, they’re everywhere. I wonder why?”

  That broke her out of her serious, whispering mode. “Ok, ok, I get it. What do you want to do?”

  “I don’t suppose you could pull off a dead faint, have me carry you up the steps and ask them to run and fetch help?”

  She just looked at him. “I do hope you’re joking.”

  “Yeah, you do look really heavy.” He said it kiddingly, but should have known better. “No, no, don’t hurt me!” His hands went up in mock surrender. “There was another part of the clue, the part about the Wizard. Do you think we should first find out what that means?”

  Kimberly looked across the street and down a block to where the New Century Timepieces shop was. “We could go ask Jeffery. I’d bet he’d know.”

  “Yeah, but, he’s probably still waiting for us to take his picture.”

  She made a face. “True, that won’t work. I know. How about if we pick a fight and make it so uncomfortable the people on the porch will leave?”

  Lance gave a laugh. “I don’t think I could make an argument with you look convincing. I’d rather kiss you than argue with you.”

  “Well, maybe if we did that long enough they would get uncomfortable enough to leave.”

  He raised one eyebrow. “Is that an offer, Ms. Waldron?”

  She cleared her throat to cover her embarrassment. She should’ve known he would jump on that idea. Funny, she found herself thinking she wouldn’t mind it too much, either. Instead, Kimberly had another suggestion. “Why don’t you take me to eat and we’ll talk about our various options.”

  “If you insist. Dinner does sound great right now.” Lance took her arm in his and started walking toward Adventureland. Lance thought the Blue Bayou would be an ideal restaurant to take Kimberly.

  “Where are you taking me? Club 33?”

  Lance whistled. “I wish. I’m not a member. I was heading for the Blue Bayou. Their jambalaya is really good.”

  Smiling to herself, Kimberly let Lance lead the way into New Orleans Square. When they approached the busy entrance of the popular restaurant, she motioned for him to give her a moment. Thinking she needed to use the Ladies Room, he stepped back across the street next to the artists who were drawing caricatures. Instead, she went to the small door right next to the Blue Bayou’s entrance. Surprised, he watched as she pushed an intercom button located under a brass cover plate. Opposite the brass plate was an oval mirror framed in bronze. The mirror had the number 33 beautifully etched in frosted emerald green and white. There was a small speaker above the button with a card slot that looked like the kind that opened a hotel room.

  “You sly devil.” Lance grinned as he walked up to Kimberly. It had just dawned on him that of course she and her father would have access to the most exclusive dinner club in the west. “I should have known.” A voice coming through the speaker cut him off.

  “Waldron, Kimberly. Number 9865,” Kimberly spoke into the intercom.

  After a brief moment, the voice in the speaker came back. “Welcome back, Miss Waldron. Please come through.” A buzz was followed by an audible ‘click’ as the pale green door opened automatically in front of them.

  Kimberly smiled at Lance. It was one of the rare times in their short relationship that she was able to one-up Lance.

  Behind them, Disneyland guests craned their necks to try and see inside that mysterious door as Lance and Kimberly walked inside. While many people had never heard of the famous Club 33, there were those who did know and stood there gawking at who they imagined where probably
celebrities or possibly wealthy executives entering the restaurant.

  “This is so cool,” Lance told her as the door shut behind him. “I haven’t been here in years.” They were now in a small foyer with polished cherry wood walls and large, inlayed mirrors on one side and expensive crushed velvet wallpaper in a deep burgundy that nearly matched the woodwork on the other wall. The centerpiece of the lobby was an elegant antique English elevator that sat with its door open just ahead of them; its matching cherry wood walls were accented with black wire mesh so people could see in or out as they rose to the next floor. The reception desk was to their immediate right as they stood in the center of the black and white marble tile floor. A carpeted stairway wrapped around the elevator shaft and featured gold-framed pictures depicting the early Jazz era that grew out of New Orleans.

  “Good afternoon, Miss Waldron.” The hostess who greeted them wore a conservative, black French-maid costume.

  “Hello,” Kimberly smiled. “I know I don’t have a reservation, but I wondered if there would be an opening for two of us for dinner.”

  “Absolutely.” The hostess didn’t even look at her reservation book. Lance felt a sense of certainty that if Kimberly—or her father before her—wanted to eat at the Club, they would not be refused.

  The tuxedoed maître d’ hurried down the stairs. “Robert, could you show Miss Waldron and her guest to the Disney Room, please?”

  “Of course, Cynthia.” Robert turned to the couple and asked, “Would you prefer the lift or the stairs?”

  Kimberly looked at Lance, already knowing what his choice would be.

  “Oh, by all means, let’s ride.” Lance had a delighted grin on his face—one that would stay through the course of their meal.

  Once Lance had raided the elaborate dessert table for the third time, it appeared he was finally full and content. Kimberly watched as the last bite of the crème Brule disappeared into his smiling mouth.