HIDDEN MICKEY ADVENTURES 4

by Nancy Temple Rodrigue

  There was a long pause as Joe waited for his boss to continue. When it became obvious, he asked what was expected of him, “About what? There’ve been so many things.”

  Now it was Walt’s turn to laugh as he cut into his steak. “You’re probably more right than you know. But, I was thinking about Fowler’s Harbor.”

  Joe gave a grunt between bites. “At least you quit calling it Joe’s Ditch.”

  “Thought that had a nice ring to it. No, you were right.” Walt pointed at Joe with his fork as he kept talking. “We did need a dry dock for the big boats inside the Park. It would’ve been very difficult to work on them without it. Look at the trouble it took just to get the Mark Twain to the river! Using flatcars on the railroad track was the only way.”

  “Well, I did learn a thing or two working in the San Francisco ship yards.”

  Lost in thought over the myriad of difficulties in getting Disneyland built in less than a year, Walt brought up another innovation the Admiral had conceived. “Building a wood mill on site was a good idea, too. Not many know that was how the Opera House started out.”

  Not one to boast of his accomplishments, Joe finished off his lunch with a smile of appreciation and changed the subject. “I see why you love coming here. Great food.” He could also see that Walt was done eating, but showed no sign of leaving. His boss was usually impatient to get back to work. “Was there something else?”

  Walt shoved aside his plates and leaned his arms on the tabletop. His face revealed a mixture of excitement, business, and plotting. “Yeah, Joe, there is something else.” He let the moment drag on a bit longer until he could see a wariness come into the Admiral’s posture. Yes, he had made a good decision in convincing Joe to stay on all these years. Now the Admiral was needed for something else coming down the line. “Tell, me, Joe. What do you know about Florida?”

  Disneyland

  After claiming to have the answer to the clue, Peter, Catie, Alex, Adam, and Beth were back in the hidden apartment. Arriving at Disneyland a few hours before closing time, they had made it to the room undetected. Now, in the early hours of Sunday morning, it was discovered Peter hadn’t yet worked out all the bugs.

  “I thought you said you knew right where to go, Peter.” Feeling like he’d been had, Adam, though secretly pleased to be in the apartment again, was staring at the boy.

  “You look just like Dad did when I scratched his car.”

  “Leave your dad out of this…unless you’d like me to let him know what’s going on right now.”

  Peter bit back his next response. “Sorry, Uncle Adam. I think I know the general area we need to go. I thought we’d just figure it out really easily once we were here.” He tried the charming smile he and his dad had perfected over the years.

  Also slightly irritated, Beth had to chuckle. “That look doesn’t work on us, honey. We’ve been around Lance way too long for that!”

  Peter dropped the face. “Well, I really do think the answer is somewhere in Frontierland. Or Main Street. Or….”

  “So, you really don’t know.”

  “You can help, Uncle Adam.”

  Adam and Beth retook their places on the messy sofa while the silent twins watched to see what would happen next. They had learned that sometimes silence was the best protection. Let Peter sink his own ship. “I think you had better get busy on Beth’s tablet again and find us the answer. Quickly.”

  “Yes, Uncle Adam.” Peter took the tablet that Beth handed to him and brought up the search site he had been on when Uncle Wolf interrupted him. Catie came over to the table to help him while Alex plugged in some ear buds to listen to his music.

  It didn’t take Peter very long to find some interesting pieces of Disney history. “Hey, did you guys know there used to be a restaurant called Maurie’s Lobster House?”

  “Ooh, lobster sounds good just about now.” Comfortable on the sofa, Adam was doing his best to stay awake. Cuddled next to him, Beth had already fallen asleep. “Where was it?”

  With Catie peering over his shoulder, Peter had already moved past the small reference, and had to scroll back up. “Umm, oh, here it is. Over in Frontierland at Fowler’s Harbor. She was Admiral Fowler’s wife. Looks like that place is gone and the Harbour Galley is there now.”

  “Well, actually, that’s in Critter Country, Peter.”

  Peter, doing what he loved, deep in the history of Disneyland, had to stop and look up at Catie. “Oh, yeah. I guess you’re right. The walking area around the back is just before the canoes. Do you know the name of the street that Fowler’s Harbor is on?”

  Only Catie and Adam were interested in trivia that early in the morning. Alex hadn’t even heard the question. Catie didn’t know the answer, but Adam thought he did. “It’s Mill….something.”

  “Mill View Lane,” Peter filled in for him. “This says it was taken from the Admiral’s actual address in Florida.”

  “Florida?” Adam had to think to make the connection. “I know he was instrumental in getting Disneyland built on time. That’s right. I forgot that he was also used at Walt Disney World. Walt loved his ‘Can do!’ attitude. Everything that was thrown at him got a ‘Can do,’ response. And he did it, too!”

  “Do you think this is the Admiral in the clue?” Catie hoped that was the case. Becoming drowsy, she glanced over enviously at her mom as she stifled a yawn. It would be nice to go to sleep for a little while before rushing out into the Park again.

  Peter looked at Adam for confirmation. “Sounds like it to me. What do you think, Uncle Adam?”

  Adam gave a slow nod as Catie came over to snuggle into his side. He wondered how long it would take her to fall asleep like her mom. “I think that might be the answer, too, Peter. Now you just have to figure out what the sign of the Admiral would be. You see any pictures there of Joe’s work?”

  When he narrowed his search to focus on just the Admiral, Peter let out an exasperated breath. “Oh, wow, he was involved in just about everything here. How do we go through all that?” Knowing Uncle Adam would probably tell him to figure it out, he didn’t wait for an answer. Scrolling through the information again, he looked for a different angle. “Wait a minute. I think I see something. There’s one picture that keeps coming up. It’s dated 1961.”

  He held the tablet up for Catie and Adam to see.

  When he saw the old photograph, a big grin spread over Adam’s face. “That looks like a sign to me.”

  At first confused, Peter just stared at where Uncle Adam was pointing. He had merely looked at the general picture, not any specifics in it. As recognition came, a smile erased his frown lines. “And that’s still there! I know it is! We see it every time we go by on the Mark Twain or the Columbia.”

  Peter’s enthusiasm was infectious. The tiredness in Catie vanished as she looked from her dad to her friend. “Let’s go see!”

  “Now hold on.” Adam held up a restraining hand as Peter closed the tablet and headed for the door. “First, we need to wake up Beth. Then, we need to check to see how many people are in the Park already. If it’s early enough, the Columbia should still be berthed. She won’t come out until the Park gets busy. And, if it’s a slow Sunday, she might not come out at all.”

  Peter was almost dancing in place. “This would be the perfect time to go. There won’t be any cast members on board yet.”

  Beth had heard the commotion and was already awake. “What happened? Did you find something?”

  “We found it, Aunt Beth! We found the sign of the Admiral!”

  Swinging her legs over the edge of the sofa, Beth tried to work a crick out of her neck as she sat up. “Ow. Miss my pillow…. How long have I been out?”

  “Couple of hours. These two,” indicating Peter and Catie, “were too excited to sleep.” Adam placed a hand on his daughter’s arm. “And still are, from the looks of it.”

  “What’s the plan?”

  While Beth and Adam discussed Adam’s plan, Peter and Catie tried to devise the
best method to get the attention of the unaware, distracted Alex. The Bucket of Cold Water plan was quickly negated by the boy’s mom and dad. They had to go to the second-best plan and sneak up behind him, using a piece of fabric to tickle his nose until he jerked around and started sneezing.

  “Kids.” The tone in Beth’s voice stopped Alex from throwing the first punch. “We have work to do. You can settle that later. Without hitting, Alex.”

  Alex pushed Peter away from him as they followed Adam to the exit of the apartment. “Stupid clues.” Shoulders hunched, his muttering continued as they blended in with the first wave of people walking toward Sleeping Beauty Castle. “Rather be riding Splash Mountain and Big Thunder.”

  There was a crispness in the air that early in the morning. Mist lazily rose from the Rivers of America as the group slowly walked past the entrance to the Haunted Mansion. Most of the guests around them hurried into the entrance to the Mansion or kept going to be one of the first riders on Splash Mountain.

  Adam had taken Beth’s arm as they walked. “Remember when we rode Splash looking for a certain dog named Sunnee?”

  She had to laugh at the reminder. “Yeah. That clue was ‘Sunnee Holds the Key.’ And I recall you got into a lot of trouble because we didn’t have to ride Splash at all. It wasn’t here in Walt’s time.”

  “Yeah, I know. You did get a Blue Bayou dinner out of it. It was fun, though.”

  “Yes, that was a good time. That first clue search you and Lance went on, wow, look where it’s led us.” She nestled deeper into his side. “Now our kids are following clues all these years later. Who would have thought it possible?”

  “Walt did.” Adam still marveled at the man’s vision of the future.

  “Hey, look, the restaurant’s still closed. That’s good.”

  Peter’s excited voice broke into Adam’s and Beth’s reflection. They stopped at the buildings that looked like they had been transplanted from the eastern seaboard. Nautical knickknacks, ropes, lobster cages, and ship’s bells adorned the weather-beaten buildings and the dock where the silent Columbia was tied.

  As they walked around the dock in front of the ship, their eyes all turned to the last wooden building on the dock. It was a two-story building, brown wood with crisp white trim. There was an inviting porch out front that framed the two windows and a white door. On the shingled roof that shaded the porch was a greyed wooden sign that had half a ship’s wheel holding up each end. Two dusty brass lights stuck out from the sign, the dim light now extinguished in the early morning sunlight. On top was a small, matching birdhouse, also trimmed in white and shingled.

  It was the words on the sign that now held their attention. Hand-painted white letters spelled out Fowler’s Inn.

  “It has to be behind that sign.” Peter stood on tip-toes in a futile attempt to see what might be hidden out of their sight. With a glance over his shoulder, he made sure the deck of the Columbia was still empty. “I think I can get up there if you give me a boost, Uncle Adam.”

  Beth sent Alex and Beth to peer around the edge of the Harbour Galley. “Make sure no one’s coming this way. Sometimes guests like to sit here in the shade and wait for the Columbia to get underway.”

  At the all clear signal from Catie, Adam hoisted Peter up to the roof. “Hurry, Pete. We don’t know how much time we have.”

  On his hands and knees, Peter kept himself from looking down onto the deck of the Columbia as he scurried over to the sign. There was always something fascinating to see from a different perspective and he knew he needed to hurry. There wouldn’t be any easy way to explain why he was up on the roof of any building in the Park.

  “Someone’s coming!” Catie ran back to her mom, her arms waving in the air. “One of them is dressed like a chef and the others are in Frontierland clothes! I think they might work here!”

  “You’ve got to hurry, Peter! We might have company.”

  “It’s right here.” Peter sounded surprised as he popped up from behind the sign. “It wasn’t even nailed down, just like the one in Adventureland.”

  Adam caught the capsule as Peter dropped it and handed it off to Beth. Just as Peter put his feet over the edge to be helped down by Adam, the first cast member came around the corner.

  “Hey! What are you doing up there?”

  Beth pushed Catie and Alex toward the walkway that went behind the Inn and ended up at the canoe dock.

  “We’ll meet you at the canoes, Beth. Get out of sight.”

  When the two kids took off, Beth gave one last look at Adam as she hurried after the twins. Adam could handle this.

  Peter got back to the dock with a little less grace than Adam had intended. Spooked by the sudden appearance of the cast member, he almost dropped the boy. Adam quickly pulled the cap off his head and hoped it hadn’t been seen. “Did you get the hat, Peter?”

  “What?” Behind Adam’s back, Peter was surprised when a hat was suddenly rammed into his hands. “What hat? This one?”

  Adam gave a fake laugh and turned to the cast member. “Kids. What can you do? His brother threw the hat up on the roof and Peter here had to get it. My wife just took off trying to catch the little boogers.” He gave a lopsided smile and pointed over his shoulder at the empty dock. “I really need to help her with them. They’re a handful. We good here?”

  Not sure what he had really seen or was hearing, the cast member could only slowly nod his head. “Yeah, I guess. Just keep off the buildings, sir. We don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

  “Yeah, you’re right! Good policy. Well, thanks.” Adam pushed Peter ahead of him and hurried out of sight around the corner. “Just keep walking.”

  The twins were watching the loading of a canoe as the nervous Beth fidgeted nearby. She gave a sigh of relief when Adam and Peter appeared. The capsule was pulled out from under her jacket and quickly stuffed into Adam’s backpack.

  “Dad! Can we ride the canoes?”

  Adam looked over at Alex as he tried to get his heart-rate to slow down. About to say no, he changed his mind. “You know, that’s a good idea. Let’s look like normal guests on a normal day. Let’s ride the canoes. Gosh, thought I was going to have a heart attack back there.” The last words were mumbled quietly to Beth as they walked down the wooden ramp and grabbed paddles out of the waiting bins. “I had to shove my hat at Peter and tell the guy Alex had thrown it up on the roof. Don’t know for sure if he believed me or not.”

  “Well, security isn’t here, so I guess he let it pass.”

  Adam groaned. “Yeah. I wasn’t looking forward to being escorted out of the Park.”

  Beth made a face as she took her place in the canoe. “Been there. Done that. Not fun.”

  “I did tell you I was sorry I got you fired, didn’t I?”

  “Yes, Adam. Five years after the fact, but, yes, you did.”

  He leaned over to give her a kiss. “You were a great Keelboat pilot, too.”

  “Yeah, I was.”

  Much to Alex’s delight, the family stayed in Disneyland for the rest of the morning. The adrenaline and energy lasted until just after lunchtime. They wearily piled into the Monorail for the quick trip over the Disneyland Hotel.

  “No, you’re too big to carry. You’re going to have to walk.” Adam gave a chuckle at Catie’s weak plea that she was too tired to walk all the way to the Hotel. “The car’s in the Hotel parking lot. You can sleep on the way home.”

  “That was nice of Russ to give us a Hotel pass so we could leave the car overnight.”

  “Yeah, nice.” Adam let out a sarcastic grunt. “We have to take him to Club 33 for dinner next week.”

  Wondering about Adam’s tone, Beth gave a shrug. “That’s fine. We haven’t been there in a while.”

  “And three of his friends. We’re paying.”

  “Oh.”

  As they exited the Disneyland Hotel’s main building, valet Russ gave a jaunty salute to Adam as they passed. “Thursday works for me,” he called out as Adam unlocke
d the car.

  A slanted pair of green eyes watched from the shadows as the Jeep pulled out of the parking spot and headed for the exit. “Well, well, my little pet. You did much better this time. Much better. Now for the final blow!”

  Puzzled, Russ looked over at the welcoming statues of Mickey and Minnie when an odd wisp of green smoke drifted over him. It had to have come from that direction, but there was no one there. There was an acrid smell, too, sharp and distasteful to his nose. And…old. It smelled old.

  As the mist evaporated, he could only imagine he had heard a cackling laugh float by in a nonexistent breeze.

  Fullerton

  Adam dropped Peter off at his house, honked a hello to Lance, and headed home.

  Dropping his arm from a wave good-bye for the twins, Lance draped it around Peter’s shoulder. “Well, I see you’re carrying a canister and I didn’t get a call at five a.m. this morning, so I’m assuming you were successful.”

  Peter did a quick glance up at his dad’s face to make sure he wasn’t getting blamed for that early call yesterday. “Yeah, it was good. I had to climb up on the roof of Fowler’s Inn. The bad part is that we got caught.”

  “You don’t seem too upset by that. So Adam must have been able to talk your way out of it.”

  “Yeah, he did.” Bouncing into the house in front of Lance, Peter walked backward, one arm gesturing as he became more animated in his tale. “I was up on the roof, and this guy came around the corner, and, then Aunt Beth ran away with the twins, and I was, like, whoa! Then Uncle Adam shoved his hat into my hand, and I’m, like, what? And then he says that Alex threw it up on the roof, and I had to go get it, and then we had to go chase the twins!” He held the gray canister out in front of him as if he still couldn’t believe the series of events. “And this wasn’t even nailed down! I was, like, wow, here it is!”

  Still trying to sort out the scattered story in his mind, Lance took the container and shook it. From the lack of sound he knew there would only be papers inside. He gave a tentative tug on the end cap. It didn’t budge. “It wasn’t secured to the roof? At all?”