HIDDEN MICKEY ADVENTURES 5 Read online

  “Don’t panic, Pete. This has to be the room. There’re lots of yellows over on that far wall. Just start talking before someone wonders what we’re doing in here.” Adam lifted the iPad to eye level again and pushed the record button. “Start talking, Peter.”

  Running out of material and nerves, Peter started to rattle on about his favorite rides at Disneyland as he edged his way around the room. “Oops, dropped my mike,” he announced rather loudly.

  “Be careful with the equipment, buddy,” Adam automatically replied as he glanced over his shoulder. No one seemed to be paying the least bit of attention to them any longer. “We’re clear, Pete. Check out that bottom shelf.”

  “Uncle Adam! Look! There’s a WED engraved into the shelf. This is it. It has to be.”

  Adam hefted the iPad again and hit record, using his body to block anyone from seeing Peter on the floor. “I only see plastic from here, but do what you have to.”

  Peter didn’t take time to reply. There were five different yellows lined up on that shelf, three deep. All of the tall plastic bottles had their elaborate color code facing outward. Peter pulled some of them off the shelf to set them on the floor out of his way. In his hurry, one of them tipped over. He gasped when the bottle’s blue endcap slowly rolled away. Canary yellow paint began to ooze all over the floor. Before he could panic further, his eye caught the glint of glass in the back corner. A small, round paint bottle was crammed into the darkest corner behind all the tall containers. And it was yellow. “I found it!”

  “Someone’s coming. Pocket it and stand up. Hurry. Start talking.”

  His face flushed, Peter stood just as a different artist came into the room.

  “You guys almost done in here?” His mouth went into a deeper frown when he saw the yellow paint spreading over the floor. “What happened here?”

  Peter managed to look teary-eyed. “Oh, I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault. I was trying to show the bottle to the camera and it just fell out of my hands! I’ll clean it up. I’m so sorry.”

  Adam felt he needed to step in. “We’re awfully sorry about the mess. If you show us where the rags are, I’ll be glad to clean the floor. Sometimes the boy gets so excited while he’s talking. Probably why his blog is so popular.” Adam forced his lips to close when he found he was rambling.

  The artist looked up from the spill. “No, that’s all right. It happens more than you’d think. I’ll call for the janitor. He’s used to this kind of mess.” If he wondered why the young one no longer looked so devastated, he didn’t say anything. “You have all you need for your, uh, blog?”

  “Yes, we have exactly what we needed. We got just what we came for.”

  Adam signaled for Peter to tone it down. “Yes, thanks. Everyone has been so helpful. We need to get going, Pete. I think our time’s up.”

  In his excitement, Peter had to hold himself from breaking into a run as they headed for Adam’s car. “We did it, Uncle Adam! We found Walt’s next clue! Can we go tell Catie?”

  Adam put a fond arm around the boy’s shoulders. “I think that’s a great idea. Do you think we have a minute to shop in the Studio store? I’d like to pick up a souvenir. Or two.”

  “How about the Commissary? I’m starving.”

  Just like his dad. “You’re always starving. Let’s not push our luck. We’ll stop somewhere on the way home. How about the Tam O’Shanter on Los Feliz Boulevard? We’ll ask for Walt’s table.”

  Fullerton Hospital

  “Catie, we got the next clue! Your dad was so cool! It was awesome!”

  Adam stood back at the door to watch Peter interact with Catie. The nurses had just finished moving her arms and legs to help keep them limber. After they left, Peter continued their tale of daring-do. Adam was encouraged. Peter seemed a lot more animated and excited about the clue search than he had been. He wondered if this Hidden Mickey hunt would do the trick and get the boy back to his normal excitable self about all things Disney.

  “We were just using the iPad and an old microphone and… Oh! Uncle Adam! Her eyes are open! Catie?”

  At Peter’s startled gasp, Adam leaned out and hollered for the nurse. Adam then rushed to the bed to take up Catie’s limp hand. Her unfocused eyes had indeed fluttered open.

  The nurse ran in and checked Catie’s monitor. But, by the time she pulled out a flashlight to check the retinas, Catie’s eyes had slowly closed again.

  “That’s a good thing, right?” His heart pounding, Adam’s voice was full of hope. “Is she coming around?”

  “I’ll call the doctor right away. Yes, I think this is a very good sign.”

  Peter pulled out his phone. “I’m going to call Mom and Dad.”

  As much as Adam wanted to shout from the rooftops, he held out a restraining hand. “Let’s just wait and hear what the doctor has to say. This could be like her finger movements and just involuntary.” Even though his eyes were wide, Adam took a steadying deep breath. “I don’t want to get everyone’s hopes up.” As Peter’s phone was slowly returned to his pocket, Adam smiled at the boy. “But, I think this is very promising. I think we’re getting our girl back.”

  Once the doctor had checked Catie and gone over her brain wave chart, he, too, was optimistic. “That is a good sign that she’s coming back to consciousness. Just so you know,” he cautioned when Adam looked ready to grab up his phone, “this will still be a slow process. We don’t know for sure when she will fully come around. There will probably be some confusion at first while she gets used to the idea of where she is and what happened to her. Catie might not know or remember. Her brain and her body will have to get used to functioning again. It’s possible there will have to be some rehabilitation.” He hated to see Adam’s face fall. “But, there’s always the chance that she will come out of it just fine. You just need to know the possibilities. I suggest you all keep doing what you’ve been doing. Any more questions?”

  Adam refused to let the hope within wither. “No. I think you answered everything. Thank you.” After shaking hands, and the doctor left, Adam pulled out his phone. “I think we can call the others now. You know what to say, Peter? We don’t want them to think she’s going to wake up and go home tomorrow.”

  “I know. But, it would be cool if she did.”

  Adam had to smile. “Yes, it would be cool....Beth! Honey, guess what? Catie opened her eyes for a couple of moments….Yes, the doctor just left…I know. I’m happy, too…But, here’s what he said….”

  “Catie, before everyone else gets here, I wanted to open the paint jar with you.” Peter pulled the yellow jar out of his backpack and held it up to Catie’s face. He knew her eyes would stay closed, but he was still inwardly disappointed when they did. “I found it in the third room of the Paint Department. And, I made a mess. Hard to believe, right?” With a chuckle, he looked over at Uncle Adam.

  “Yeah, he sure did, honey. Had to drop one of the brightest yellow paints in the whole room. At least he didn’t step in it and have yellow footsteps leading back to our car.”

  Peter let out a laugh. “That would have been cool!” At the look on Adam’s face he felt he had to defend himself. “Well, it would have. If they didn’t clean them up, my footprints would be there for everyone to see.”

  “I don’t know if that would be a good thing, Pete.”

  With a disagreeing shrug, Peter turned back to the paint jar. “Well, anyway, we have the next clue. The jar is pretty small and doesn’t make any noise when I shake it. It has to be just the next clue.” He twisted off the metal cap and peered inside. “Hey, the inside of the jar was painted yellow. I can see where the brushstrokes stopped. See? They don’t even cover the bottom of the jar.”

  Adam held out his hand so he could examine it. “Well, it would have been difficult to hide a clue in an actual bottle of paint. Maybe this one was specially done just for the clue.” The collector in Adam hated to hand the jar back to Peter. He wondered if Walt’s fingerprints were on the glass.

 
; “Yep, it’s another piece of paper like the other ones. This one says: “Visit Nevangnewa’s house on the cliff.” Frowning, Peter reread the name on the clue. “Gosh, I wish Uncle Wolf was here. That sounds like something he would know. Uncle Adam?”

  Adam didn’t answer. He was trying to turn his mind from Catie to focus on the new clue. “Why does that sound so familiar? I should know what that means, but just can’t remember.”

  “Remember what?” Smiles on their faces, Lance and Kimberly came into the room. After a quick hug from Peter, they checked on Catie. “So, our girl’s doing better, we hear?”

  “You got here fast.” Adam checked his watch. Peter had just ended the call to his parents before he finished his update with Beth. “Were you in the area?”

  “Took the boys to a play date. So, we just swung over.” Lance took the chair by the door, his long legs sprawled out and ankles crossed. “So, what was your feeble mind trying to remember, Adam?”

  Adam let it pass. In a better mood than he had been in for a month, he let Lance have his little victory. “We were discussing the next clue Peter found in the paint room.”

  Lance perked up. “So, you were successful. Wondered if you could pull it off without me…”

  “Hey! I was just as much a force in our quest…”

  “Boys, boys, boys.” Kimberly hid her grin as Lance pushed a few more of Adam’s buttons. She could tell Adam was more optimistic than he had been and was thrilled to see it. “Play nice or I’ll send you to separate rooms.”

  Lance pointed at Adam. “He started it.”

  “I…”

  “So, Peter, what did you find?” Kimberly interrupted what could have gone on for hours. “Did you get another clue?”

  Peter was sorry the show was over. When his dad and Uncle Adam started to banter, he usually found out more than they intended for him to hear. “Um, yeah.” He held up the small jar so they could see it. “We found this and I had just read the clue to Catie.” He read it again for his parents.

  Kimberly and Adam began to discuss the possible meanings while Lance sat back, a smug look on his face. It didn’t take long for the others to notice.

  Adam was the first to comment on it. “What? I know that superior look of yours.”

  “Remember when we were running the MouseAdventure quest when we found the diary?”

  Adam waited for a more specific question, but there wasn’t anything forthcoming. He knew Lance well enough to know he would make Adam work for it. “Yes. And…”

  “We discussed that very name.”

  “That was over fourteen years ago! I don’t have your freaky, abnormal perfect memory.”

  Lance had always been proud of the fact that he was able to remember everything he ever read. He didn’t tell too many people as some tended to treat him like a one-trick pony and use him like a party game. “Eidetic memory, if you want to be precise.”

  “Lance,” Kimberly threw out as a warning.

  “Sorry.” He looked the exact opposite of contrite as he let out a long-suffering sigh. “We had been discussing possible questions that might come up during the Race. You asked if I remembered the name of the Hopi chief who blessed the Grand Canyon Diorama when it opened in 1958. I answered yes and you, for some reason, dropped it.”

  “Silly me.” Adam shook his head. Remaining friends with Lance for decades took a lot of work. “Now that you mention it—finally—that does sound right. I think that’s your answer, Peter.”

  Peter, whose head had been swiveling back and forth as if he had been watching a tennis match, looked baffled. “Answer to what? I don’t even know what you’re talking about any more.”

  His dad roused himself out of the chair and came over to put his arm around his son’s shoulder. “Yeah, I know what you mean. It’s like that around Uncle Adam all the time.”

  “Hey!”

  “Lance.”

  Unabashed, Lance returned to the chair to stretch out again. “What you have, Peter, is the answer to your clue. Nevangnewa was the name of the Hopi chief who was with Walt when he opened the Grand Canyon Diorama. You just have to figure out what Walt meant by his house on the cliff.”

  “And you aren’t going to tell me?”

  “Nope. What fun is that?” Lance smiled over at Adam. “Half of the fun of the quests was figuring out the clues and discovering where we needed to go. Right, Adam?”

  Adam had to agree with Lance. “Yeah. Much as I hate to admit you’re right about anything. You’ve been doing this for a while now, Pete. Don’t you find it more rewarding when you figure it out for yourself?”

  Peter was torn. He understood what Uncle Adam meant, but sometimes he still liked the easy way out. He also understood which answer the adults would like to hear. “Yes, I know what you mean. I’ll figure it out. You gave me a hint, now I’ll find out the rest.” With a big smile on his face he turned to his mom. “So, when can I go back to Disneyland?”

  “Don’t you get tired of that place?” All eyes in the room turned toward the doorway. Wolf and Omah had just arrived.

  “Uncle Wolf! Do you know who Nevangnewa was?”

  Omah had just gotten a hug from Kimberly and was greeting Peter. She frowned as she looked over at Wolf. “Why does that name sound familiar? It’s Hopi, I know that.”

  “The ninety-six-year old chief who blessed the Grand Canyon Diorama. Nice guy.”

  Omah snapped her fingers. “That’s right! Oh, and remember the little boy, Little White Cloud? He was supposed to represent Chico, the mascot of the Santa Fe Railroad, but not too many people got that. When Walt and Fred Gurley drove off in the new train, he had to stand by the side of the track and wave at everyone as they went in to see the Diorama for the first time.”

  “Walt also brought in the Santa Fe All-Indian Band from Winslow, Arizona. It was a big day for Walt. The Diorama was great.” Wolf broke off and grinned. “I should say, the Diorama was Grand.” There was a disgusted snort when no one seemed to appreciate his humor. “But I think Walt really enjoyed adding another engine to his train collection.”

  Peter thought he saw an opening to get the answer to the rest of his clue. “Hey, Uncle Wolf, why would Walt say the chief had a house on a cliff?”

  Not knowing what had been discussed earlier, Wolf told him, “Hopis were cliff dwellers. He was probably referring to the ruins at the start of the Diorama. What? What’d I say?” He couldn’t understand why Adam and Lance groaned and started to signal him behind Peter’s back. “Is something wrong?”

  Peter was all smiles. “No, not at all. Thanks!”

  “You just told Peter the answer to his new clue. We were going to have him look it up himself.”

  “Oops.” Unconcerned, Wolf shrugged it off. “Well, he’ll still have to figure out how to reach it.”

  Picturing the Diorama in his mind, Peter had already been running possible scenarios. Then he started working on it out loud as he paced the short distance around Catie’s bed. “Well, I know I can’t get in through the front. That’s solid glass.” The pacing suddenly stopped when he got a brilliant idea. “Hey, I know! I can rappel in from the roof like Dad and Uncle Adam did in San Francisco. They can teach me how.”

  There was a chorus of “No!” before Lance, a wry grin on his face, could add, “I knew we shouldn’t have talked about that in front of you. I don’t know where Adam came up with all those dangerous ideas of his. I’m surprised we all weren’t killed.”

  “Hey!”

  Disneyland

  Stuck close to his dad’s side, Peter blended in with a large group of cast members who just got off the shuttle from the parking lot. The harried guard at the Harbor Pointe security gate recognized Lance and barely glanced at his identification as they were quickly waved through.

  Once they were safe and out of earshot, Peter was surprised when Lance stopped him. With a hand on the boy’s shoulder, Lance glanced back at the gate. He knew what Peter planned to do, but was also well aware of what he woul
d find when he followed that chosen path. “Do you need me to go with you? You know what you’re going to do?” The decision to let Peter follow this quest on his own—now that Catie was unable to join him—nagged at the back to Lance’s mind. Being a dad, he wanted to help; he wanted his children to succeed in whatever they did. But he realized his desire went against the decision that all of the adults had made. He had to let the boy figure it out for himself.

  Peter stifled an impatient groan and squirmed under the firm hand. Eager to get going and find the next clue, he didn’t want to stand around chatting with his dad. “Yes, Dad, I know what I’m doing. I’ve heard Mom and Aunt Beth talk about Costuming forever. They said over and over how they could hear the trains go by. I know what to do!”

  Biting back what was on the tip of his tongue, Lance could only smile and nod. “All right. If you did your research, then go ahead. Just keep your head down.”

  Once Lance’s hand was lifted from his shoulder, it was Peter who hesitated. It seemed like his dad wanted to say something else but didn’t. “Okay. Anything else?”

  Lance’s smile didn’t exactly give the impression of sincerity. “Nope. You’re on your own. Just like you wanted.”

  With the intuition all children learn early on in their lives, Peter knew there was something else behind his dad’s words. He waited a moment longer in case Lance decided to enlighten him. When nothing else was said, his right shoulder rose in a slight shrug. Parents can sure act weird sometimes. “Okay. I’ll see you later, Dad.”

  Lance said nothing as Peter turned to the left and headed away from him. With a sigh and a “he’ll figure it out,” Lance headed for the tunnel under the berm and to his assignment.

  On his own now, Peter ran at a jog down the long walkway as he headed to Costuming. The building, painted in Walt’s favorite No-See-Um Green, blended in with the background trees and shrubs as intended. The eyes of the guests passing overheard on the Monorail wouldn’t be drawn to the unobtrusive structures, but instead to the attractions they could see inside the Park. All of the show buildings, Administration, and offices outside of the berm were done in a similar green or gray. Some buildings, such as the show building for Indy, also had a row of tall palm trees to help hide it in plain sight.