by Jeff Dixon
Shep knew they had to have been hidden long before he had taken up his station. He had immediately run to the attraction entrance, where he met Juliette, who had seen motion as well. They knew there were at least two people up on the Blue Line with Hawk and Kate but did not know exactly what to do. They decided to start the ride, hoping Hawk and Kate might take that as a sign there was trouble.
After that, things unfolded very quickly, as both the attackers had used the ride start-up to take a quicker way to find Hawk and Kate. Once the friends saw that Kate was in the ride car, they all waited for it to arrive at the unloading platform, where they planned on subduing Zeke, which they did effectively. When Hawk and Cambridge came riding along the track as well, they did the same thing again, and both Zeke Reitz and Reginald Cambridge were arrested. Al had told Hawk they would straighten out exactly what to charge everyone with later.
Kate was now bandaged and seated next to Hawk on the curb. Juliette was talking with Clint, who then made a few notes and walked away, as did the security team and medical team, convinced they had completed their responsibilities. She came over and stood in front of the pair of bandaged warriors sitting on the curb.
“This turned into quite an evening. I know the EMTs said you were fine—are you really?” Juliette looked from one to the other.
“Yes.” Hawk touched his eye. “But Reginald is one tough guy. He had a bad set of ribs and still managed to toss me into the People Mover. The guy is a beast.”
“Well, I guess he found out tonight that you’re more of a beast than he is.” Juliette smiled.
“That’s me.” Hawk probed the cut by his eye a little too hard and winced. “More beast.”
“Now, would that make me . . . ?” Kate looked at him.
“Hey, I get it . . . Beauty and the Beast.” Shep pointed at them. “Real cute . . . a Disney classic.” Then he looked down at the book Hawk had found, which he had been careful to hold on to since he plucked it out of the ride car. He gingerly lifted it from Hawk’s hand. “Hawk, do you know what this is?”
“I have no idea.” Hawk squinted up at him. “I never got a chance to look at it.”
“I’m not sure, but it looks like it’s a journal or a handwritten book.” Shep flipped through the pages. “And you might or might not believe this, but it was written by none other than Walt Disney himself.”
“What?” Hawk reached out for the book and began to examine it.
“I could be wrong.” Shep shrugged. “But is sure does look like his handwriting to me.”
“What is he writing about?” Juliette moved to the curb to look at the book, as Hawk flipped the pages.
Shep looked upset at having the book snatched from his hands. “Well, I didn’t have time to read it, but it looks to me like there’s a lot of information and instruction about how to build Progress City.”
“If that’s true . . .” Kate leaned in and looked to the book as well.
“Then this is priceless, and . . .” Hawk felt his pulse quicken. “It has details from Walt on how he was going to do the impossible . . . again.” He pumped his fist. “I unlocked what never was . . .”
“And protected what is yet to be.” Kate finished the thought for him.
Jonathan limped toward them from the entrance of the People Mover, holding something in both hands. Stopping before Hawk, he held out his hands and opened them to reveal five classic character collectable pins and one very old key. He laid them on top of the open book in Hawk’s hands.
“I believe those belong to you.” Jonathan pointed up to where he had come from. “I figured in all of the confusion, once everyone started snooping around, you had probably left some things back there you didn’t want to explain.”
Hawk looked at the pins and then back toward Jonathan. “Did you close it up?”
“Sure did. I pulled each pin out of the holding spot and then turned the key. It was actually cool, the church came rising up from nowhere—you know, that would be a great sermon illustration for you if we ever told anyone about this stuff—and then the control box just closed back up.” Jonathan paused. “Did I get everything, or do I need to go back?”
“No, I think that is everything . . .” Hawk smiled at his friend. The gnawing doubt about Jonathan once again subsided, as he understood the rationale he had used to start up the attraction. It had been his way of alerting them there was trouble coming. Once Jonathan and Shep had figured out that Cambridge was going to take another shot at Hawk by entering through Space Mountain, they had needed to do something. It may not have been the best plan, but it was an attempt to help. Now he was giving back to Hawk essential pieces of the puzzle he had solved. Perhaps all the misgivings he was struggling with were nothing but coincidence.
“Not so fast.” Kate leaned her head playfully on Hawk’s shoulder, then straightened back up. “That is not everything. You have to help me figure out how to tell this story . . . because you know, no one will ever believe it. It’s just too bizarre. They’re going to think we made it up.”
“Maybe you should just forget it and not tell it.” Hawk closed up the book and placed the pins and key in one hand.
“Wait, that wasn’t our deal,” Kate argued.
“I know, I know. . . . We’ll figure it out.” Hawk slowly got to his feet and helped her up. As the group took their first few steps to leave Tomorrowland, Hawk winked toward his friends and said softly, “It’s always about the story.”
EPILOGUE
* * *
SEATED AT FARREN’S RESERVED TABLE at Chef Mickey’s in the Contemporary, Hawk watched across the empty restaurant as Farren Rales and George Colmes said their good-byes. George had informed them he was going to disappear again, this time into the Florida Keys, and retire for real. Not as a ghost, but as a beach bum. Rales laughed and told him he was becoming the old man and the sea. George knew it was time to go, as he’d fulfilled his most important task as Imagineer and trusted friend to the Disney brothers. He had helped to protect and pass along their dream.
The book that he had been responsible for all of these years had indeed been written by Walt Disney. It contained many of his notes, thoughts, and hopes about the experimental prototype community of tomorrow. He penned his fears alongside his plans for tackling what he knew would be problems and difficulties in making this place a reality. The journal also contained some much more detailed and outlined ideas of what Walt saw as important to remember and implement as he thought about an unknown future. Hawk had read and reread it. Those ideas and dreams, he was now entrusted to keep, hold, and chase.
The year had passed quickly, and once again, Hawk enjoyed his role as chief creative architect for the Disney Company. He was becoming more familiar with how things worked, and his influence rippled throughout the organization. The opposition he had faced in discovering the Disney journal had grown silent over the past twelve months. Reginald and Zeke had both been arrested and were currently spending some time in one of the state penitentiaries.
More troubling to Hawk was that the third accomplice he had faced had never been found; Nancy Alport had just disappeared, and this ever-present group of people who opposed him was still out there—he just didn’t know where. Jonathan seemed not to have been involved. Even though Hawk periodically wondered about some of the things that had happened the previous year, Jonathan had stepped right back into being as consistent and constant in his friendship with Hawk and in his role with the rest of the group as he had ever been. The mysterious limp Jonathan had suddenly developed after they had been attacked at the Swamp Shack had bothered him so much that eventually he had asked his friend about it.
Jonathan offered to show him his foot to prove he hadn’t been spiked that night. Hawk had laughed and told him it wouldn’t be necessary. He didn’t believe Jonathan was involved; those doubts had been created by Cambridge, and Hawk wrestled with why he had allowed his security chief to fool him in that way.
With a wave, George was gone, and Hawk go
t up to move toward his old friend Farren. Stepping up beside him, Hawk patted him on the back as they watched George disappear down an escalator.
“You gonna miss him?” Hawk asked.
“Yes, but I’ve been missing him since the 1970s. I have gotten used to it.” Farren moved to head toward the escalator as well.
The two men followed the same path George had taken. They went down the escalator, walked around to the next, and then went down that moving staircase as well. Silently, they strode through the lobby of the Contemporary and were nearly out the door before Farren spoke again.
“Hawk, so what do you do with the instructions Walt gave you?”
“Funny you should ask. I have a few ideas I’d like to talk with you about,” Hawk said. “Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.” Farren stopped, as the automatic doors opened into the valet parking area. “What do you want to know?”
“As you have told me the story of the key to the kingdom, you told me there were three Imagineers. You . . . and you had the key itself. Then there is George, who had Walt’s personal journal and dream book, and then another . . . who has . . .”
“Is there a question in there?”
“Who is the third Imagineer, and what is that person’s role in this key-to-the-kingdom plan?”
“Hey, you!” A bright female voice came from a car whose door had just been pulled open by a valet.
Hawk and Farren turned to see the stunning Kate Young get out of the car and run across the walkway to greet them. She gave Farren a strong hug, then turned to Hawk.
“I was wondering if you were going to be here to greet me.” She put both arms around his neck and kissed him.
Hawk and Kate had become an item over the past few months. Since the Total Access star had visited a year earlier and helped Hawk on his latest quest, the two had found more and more opportunities to spend time together. They mutually had decided to take it very slow, and did their best to keep their dating relationship from becoming the fodder of celebrity magazines and websites. So far it had gone very well. He wrapped his arm around her waist as he turned back to Farren.
“So, Farren, you were about to answer my question,” Hawk stated.
“No, I wasn’t.” Farren smiled. “What I was about to do was to tell you both to have a good time catching up, and I will see you soon.”
With a wink, Farren was gone. They watched him walk away, then turned to make their way toward the Magic Kingdom. Kate was in town for an event she was hosting at the Orange County Convention Center. Normally, it was the kind of thing she never would have considered attending. But lately, she had been agreeing to many more invitations that brought her closer to Central Florida.
Hawk had been finding reasons to fly into New York City more frequently as well. Although neither had mentioned it, they both knew they were starting to get more serious about the way their relationship was heading.
In the days after they had found the Disney journal, the two had fought and almost ended their friendship before it had the chance to begin. They hadn’t been able to agree on how Kate was going to tell the story she had uncovered. Eventually, Farren Rales had helped them figure out how to make it work. Kate had written a book.
It was a work of fiction, and she wrote it under a pseudonym, because it was determined that writing it under her real name might be in conflict with her career as an investigative journalist. She had called the book The Key to the Kingdom. In it, she had chronicled the tale of Grayson Hawkes as he had been given a magical key that Walt Disney had chosen him to receive. The book, described as factual fiction, had received good reviews.
In an interview, Hawk had been asked about it and said it was just a work of silly fan fiction. He promised he hadn’t read it, which he hadn’t, and although she had embellished sections of the story, for the most part it was true. It had been an effective way to tell a story that she knew most would not believe. While she was in town, she had warned him that she was going to try to convince Hawk it was time to tell the next chapter of the story.
They paused on the corner, allowing traffic to pass them before they stepped over to the red-brick walkway that would take them to the Magic Kingdom entrance.
“You haven’t told me you missed me yet.” Kate once again leaned over to give him a kiss.
“I missed you, I promise.” He leaned in to kiss her back. Then something caught his eye as they stood on the corner waiting for the traffic to pass and the light to change to red. Pulling away and looking toward a truck that was driving past, he glanced down with a puzzled look toward Kate. “Did you see that?”
“See what?” Kate looked in the direction he was gazing. “That truck?”
“Yes.”
“It’s just a panel truck. Why?”
“I thought I read something on the side, and it just didn’t register quite right with me.”
“What did you think you just read?” she asked, looking between him and the truck.
“I thought it said Specter Cryogenic Labs . . .”
Afterword
There is more treasure in books . . .
WALT DISNEY ONCE SAID, “There is more treasure in books that in all the pirates’ loot on Treasure Island and at the bottom of the Spanish Main . . . and best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day of your life.”
I am convinced that opening a book is like opening a treasure chest. You aren’t always sure what you may find, but there will always be something of value. Perhaps it is something you can learn from; maybe it will be something that will inspire or challenge you; it might even move you emotionally; or, it might just make you smile and be a whole lot of fun. If you are still reading, I hope that as you turned each page, you have found some of those types of treasures hidden among the words, phrases, and paragraphs. I had a great time loading up this treasure chest for you.
This is my second journey with some of the characters in this story. I enjoyed getting to know them a little bit better, and if this is your second trip with them, I hope you did as well. If you somehow missed the first adventure with Grayson Hawkes, then this would be a good place to mention his arrival in the book The Key to the Kingdom (hint, hint, hint), but that would probably come across as a shameless plug, and I wouldn’t want to do that.
Now, there were some things from the first story that didn’t get thrown into this new treasure chest. The villains from the first adventure didn’t show up again, there was an amazing audio-animatronic figure that didn’t make it, there were some theme park changes that weren’t mentioned, and there was a vague reference to something found on an almost magical DVD that somehow didn’t get tossed in with the rest. Some of those things would have been nice to find, but I hope the treasure chest was full enough for you anyway.
This book was born in the heart of a huge fan of all things related to Walt Disney. From the theme parks to the motion pictures, I have fond memories of many great days of my life spent in the worlds Walt Disney created. Now to be sure, there is much in this book that is based on very real places that you can go and find for yourself. I hope you will. That is where the phrase factual fiction comes from. And if you do, then you can do a little mystery solving of your own, as you unlock a secret you never knew was there or that you find for the first time. In my opinion, that is some of the fun of going to Walt Disney World; there is always something to discover that you never knew was there before.
Sometimes, when I sit down with a book and open the pages, the places it takes me to come alive in my imagination. Walt Disney ignited my imagination as a child, and the places he built continue to ignite my imagination as an adult. I am honored that you took the journey with me. I sure don’t take that for granted, and I hope that the time we spent moving through these pages allowed your imagination to kick into high gear, and that you had a little bit of fun.
So what does the future hold for these fictional characters we have met along the way? Ah, that is a good question. What Walt Disney
once said about the story of Disneyland comes to mind: “It will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.” Time will give us that answer, I suppose. But if you do happen to find a treasure chest loaded with Disney secrets and a character they call Hawk inside . . . go ahead and take a look . . . after all, you do have the key.
Jeff Dixon
Writing this note at the Pirates of the Caribbean
The Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World Resort
UNLOCKING THE KINGDOM
* * *
Are You Ready To Unlock the Kingdom?
MOST OF THE QUESTIONS BELOW are answered within the pages of this novel. These are pieces of Disney history, Walt Disney World trivia, theme park stories, and discoveries that you can find on your own adventure to unlock the kingdom Walt Disney created. There are also a few bonus questions tossed in for you to do some additional research. Are you ready for the challenge?
Good luck.
CHAPTER 1
1) There is a uniquely named souvenir stand on the edge of Adventure-land. What is the name of this stand?
2) Bonus question (not found in the novel): Do you know what famous actor it is named after?
CHAPTER 3
3) What four different rivers do you travel along when riding the Jungle Cruise in the Magic Kingdom?
4) Name two of the boats used in the Jungle Cruise.
