The Disneyland Quest

by Matt Ainsworth

  Chapter 12

  Travis read the clue on the strip of yellow confetti in his hand:

  Two brothers lands apart.

  You arrive where you depart.

  At the base, not the peak.

  There you’ll find what you seek.

 

  “I don’t understand,” Travis said, staring at the clue in disbelief. Why is there a different riddle on this strip of paper?”

  “I wondered why Mr. Pegg said ‘Here are your clues’ before the confetti erupted,” Dizzy said. “I just thought he meant there were going to be a lot of extra clues lying around. I didn’t bother to think the papers were different. He must have literally meant there were going to be several first clues.”

  Dizzy was depressed. It was 9:45 and they were practically starting over with a new clue. He wondered how many people had gathered as many clues as they could on Main Street and gotten to work immediately. He feared they were already too far behind.

  “Don’t even think it,” Travis said, looking at Dizzy. “You are thinking we can’t catch up and we should quit.”

  “How did--”

  “You are doubting yourself. I’m telling you, we are going to win this thing. This was a minor setback, that’s all. Now let’s get to work on this clue.”

  “Don’t you think we should go back to Main Street and see if there are any more clues?” Ana asked. “If the one stuck in my hair was different, maybe they were all different?”

  “Good thinking,” Dizzy said. “Let’s go.”

  The three kids ran to Main Street, just a few yards away. When they looked down the street toward Town Square they were surprised to see every scrap of confetti had been cleaned up. The sidewalks, street, trees, and awnings were all spotless.

  “They move fast,” Travis said. “Oh well, nothing we can do about that now. Let’s go grab a seat somewhere and get started on this clue. Again.”

  Dizzy, Travis, and Ana sat on the sidewalk in front of Main Street Cinema. Ana asked if she could go inside to watch the cartoons, and Dizzy agreed. He reminded her they would be right in front and to not go anywhere else.

  Travis flattened out the strip of confetti and Dizzy began writing the riddle down into Ana’s autograph book.

  “It is almost the same as the first one,” Dizzy said. “But the clues are a little different. This one says two brothers. The other clue didn’t say how many, so that helps. And I was right about distant meaning they are far apart. This clue says they are lands apart.”

  “So one brother is like in Tomorrowland and the other is in Adventureland?” Travis asked.

  “Yeah, something like that.”

  Dizzy searched his brain, trying to think of two brothers that they hadn’t thought of yet. He looked to his left, toward the vault sitting on the stage, wondering if they would even have a chance to try to open it. As he looked up, he saw the Cigar Store Indian statue that was positioned on the sidewalk. Years ago, there was an actual tobacco shop on Main Street, selling cigarettes and cigars to the guests. That sort of thing would never be allowed now. In fact, not only could someone not buy cigarettes in Disneyland, you couldn’t smoke at all unless you were in one of the few designated smoking areas in the park.

  Dizzy continued to look at the statue and leapt to his feet.

  “I got it!” he shouted, startling Travis.

  “You do? What? Where?”

  “The Indian,” Dizzy said pointing at the statue. “There are two of them. One here on Main Street and another in Frontierland. Two brothers, lands apart.”

  “Distant brothers point the way,” Travis said, quoting the original clue. “You are brilliant.”

  Dizzy and Travis ran past the ticket booth and through the turnstile at Main Street Cinema and found Ana sitting on the steps watching an old black and white Mickey Mouse cartoon. They each grabbed one of Ana’s hands and raced back out and ran down Main Street toward Frontierland.

  The entrance to Frontierland was a nod to pioneer living. Tall wooden logs formed the walls in front of the land and a wooden sign welcomed visitors to the Old West. The three kids ran through the open gates and found the second Indian statue in front of the Westword Ho Trading Company.

  “It isn’t pointing anywhere,” Travis said, inspecting the statue.

  Dizzy walked a few circles around the statue, checking it out carefully. He put his head right up next to the Indian’s shoulders.

  “Maybe his eyes are pointing the way?” Dizzy suggested, pointing in the direction the statue was looking.

  It was looking directly at Tom Sawyer’s Island.

  “We might be too late,” Travis said, pointing at the island. “Look.”

  The scene on Tom Sawyer’s island was incredible. Hundreds of people were running around the island. As Travis, Dizzy, and Ana walked closer to the Rivers of America, which separated Frontierland from the island, they saw a huge line of people waiting at the dock to ride the raft over to the island.

  “Looks like everyone figured out the clue already,” Travis said. “Let’s go.”

  The three children began running to the growing line forming near the dock. When they reached the line, Ana froze in terror.

  “What’s wrong?” Travis said.

  Ana stared at the island.

  “Oh no,” Travis began. “The boat thing?”

  “Ana,” Dizzy said, bending down and looking at his sister in the eyes. “Listen to me. You can do this. The whole ride across takes fifteen seconds tops. We are at Disneyland, the Happiest Place on Earth. They wouldn’t call it that if everything here wasn’t perfectly safe. You can hold mine and Travis’s hand the whole ride over and close your eyes tight. It’ll be a piece of cake.”

  Ana took a deep breath and wiped a tear away from her eye.

  “Ok, I can do this.”

  “Thanks sis, you’re the best.”

  They stood in line and watched raft after raft take passengers across the river. Dizzy noticed that not once had someone returned back across the river from the island.

  “This is terrible,” Dizzy said after watching another raft fill with passengers. “If I would have grabbed more confetti this morning, we could have been here an hour ago.”

  “Don’t worry about that,” Travis said reassuringly. “We are here now. Let’s just find the second clue. Hand me the autograph book so we can figure out exactly where we should go about looking.”

  Dizzy reached into his pocket and handed the book to Travis. He jumped backwards as the book was slapped out of his hand, crashing to the ground.

  “Well, well, well. Look who it is.” Justin and his two friends were standing behind the boys. They had jumped over a rope, cutting in front of the 50 people behind them in line. Justin was wearing a pin that said 212 and each of his friends wore their own pin, 213 and 214. Megan was standing on the other side of the rope, not wanting to jump over and cut in line.

  Dizzy bent down and picked up the book, dusted it off, and put it back in his pocket.

  “Good morning fellas,” Travis said confidently. “Didn’t one of you say you were going to unlock the vault within the first hour?” Travis looked at his watch, tapped the face and held it up to his ear. “Maybe my watch is broken.”

  “Very funny smart guy,” Justin said. “Megan, I told you to get over here.” Megan reluctantly crossed over the rope and joined her brother. She was also wearing a 212 pin.

  “Hey, no cutting!” a voice yelled from the back of the line.

  “We’re just joining up with our friends here,” Justin called back. He put his arm around Dizzy’s neck playfully, and squeezed a little too hard. “Isn’t that right, pal?”

  Dizzy held up his hand and waived to the people behind him in line. Justin let go and turned his back on Travis, Dizzy, and Ana. Megan took her Hidden Mickeys book out of her backpack. She was using a piece of confetti from that morning as her bookmark.

  “Find anything good?” Tr
avis asked. “Hidden Mickeys, I mean.” He motioned to her book.

  “I’ve found most of them already,” she said. She opened her book and flipped through the pages. Dizzy saw most of the pages were full of check marks, indicating which Hidden Mickeys she had already found.

  “What’s a Hidden Mickey?” Ana asked.

  “All over Disneyland,” Dizzy explained, “are small, hidden Mickey Mouse ears. They could be anywhere. In restaurants, on rides, or even on garbage cans.”

  “Cool!”

  “They are cool,” Megan agreed.

  She was wearing her same pink Minnie Mouse hat, a white Disneyland t-shirt, and tan shorts. That was the second day in a row Dizzy had seen her, and both times she was wearing Disneyland clothing. She apparently was not like the rest of the kids his age, too cool for Disney.

  “I like your bookmark,” Dizzy said after a short silence. He was normally awkward around girls and was trying anything he can to keep the conversation going. He was again jealous at how easily Travis seemed to be able to talk to her.

  “Oh, thanks,” she said. “Got it this morning. You know, the treasure hunt and all.” She held it up and Dizzy noticed that her confetti had a much shorter poem on it. It seemed to only have two lines. How many different clues were there, he thought to himself.

  “Can I see that?” he asked as yet another raft had filled and left the dock. The line moved forward and it appeared they would all fit on the next raft.

  “Sure I guess,” she said and handed Dizzy the confetti.

  Dizzy only had a moment to read it before it was snatched out of his hand.

  “Megan, what are you doing?” Justin was furious. “Why would you show them your clue?”

  “I’m sure they have the same clues we have,” Megan replied. “Sorry about him,” she said pointing at her brother. “He’s a jerk.”

  “Yeah,” Travis said. “We noticed.”

  “Shut it kid,” Justin said pointing his finger at Travis. “I’ve had about enough of you.”

  Dizzy remained quiet, Megan’s poem repeating in his mind.

  The raft had returned and began loading the eager guests, excited to get to the island and begin looking for the second clue.

  “How many in your party?” the Cast Member asked Justin.

  “Just the four of us.”

  “And you?” the Cast Member turned to Dizzy. “How many in your party?”

  Dizzy didn’t answer. Megan’s riddle was now on a loop in his mind, blending in with the other two clues they received that morning.

  “How many in your party, sir?” His patience was about gone.

  “None, we aren’t riding. Sorry.”

  “Oh, thank God,” Ana said, letting out a huge breath of air. She had been holding her breath without realizing it.

  “Dizzy,” Travis said. “What are you doing?”

  The Cast Member shrugged his shoulders and motioned to the man driving the raft to depart. He replaced the rope fencing and the raft began the short trip to Tom Sawyer’s Island. Megan looked back at Dizzy, confused why they didn’t get on the raft.

  Dizzy motioned for Travis and Ana to follow him out of line. They looked at each other and began following Dizzy through the line of people behind them.

  When they were clear of the line, Travis grabbed Dizzy’s shoulder and spun him around.

  “Care to tell me why we aren’t on that boat right now?”

  “I saw Megan’s clue. Everyone is going to the wrong place.”

  “They are?” Travis asked. “How do you know?”

  “Because I know exactly where the next clue is.”