The Disneyland Quest

by Matt Ainsworth

  Chapter 15

  “Look across the street,” Dizzy said, pulling on Travis’s shirt to focus his attention. “It’s Justin and his idiot friends.” And his beautiful sister, Dizzy thought to himself.

  “What are those guys doing here?” Travis asked. He was shocked to see Justin and his friends. He was certain they would still be on Tom Sawyer’s Island with the rest of the people who misunderstood the first clue.

  “Maybe it’s just a coincidence. Who knows, maybe they have given up on the Quest?” Dizzy said unconvincingly.

  “You don’t think...Big Red?”

  “What about him?”

  “He was following us after we found the second clue. He must be working with Justin and his friends. He probably followed us after we got out of line for the raft. That’s how Justin found the second clue. He is now looking for Belle in the parade, too!”

  Dizzy didn’t want to admit that they were being followed, but it was hard to argue with Travis’s logic. How could they have searched Tom Sawyer’s Island, then figured out the real location of the second clue, and made it down here to Main Street before the parade started? Travis’s idea seemed to make a lot of sense.

  “There goes our head start,” Dizzy said. “I sure hope we find this clue.”

  The floats continued to travel past them. Each float had different Disney characters on it. They would wave to the crowd as they passed and danced to the music. Ana was experiencing happiness overload, screaming at each character as they waved in her direction.

  Near the end of the parade was a long float covered in silver and white streamers. Riding on it were four princesses and their respective princes, dancing and waving to the crowd; Cinderella and Prince Charming, Ariel (in human form) and Prince Eric, Princess Jasmine and Aladdin, and Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip. Belle was nowhere to be found.

  The parade ended with a float featuring Mickey and Minnie, waving to the crowd and thanking them for coming. There was a large group of people, including Justin, his friends, and Megan, gathering to follow the parade as it continued down Main Street toward Sleeping Beauty’s Castle.

  “Well, that was a waste,” Travis said.

  “That wasn’t a waste,” Ana said excitedly. “That was awesome!”

  “Ana seemed to like it,” Dizzy said. “So I guess it wasn’t a complete waste of time. I can’t believe Belle wasn’t in the parade. Maybe they didn’t mean Belle the character from the movie. Maybe they wanted us to translate the word belle to beauty?”

  “So any of those princesses could have been the next clue,” Travis added.

  “That’s what I’m thinking,” Dizzy said.

  “I’m sure you boys will figure it out,” Michelle said, stacking everyone’s garbage on her tray. She began looking around Town Square. “I wonder what is keeping Steve. I’m going to look for him. Dizzy, will you watch my stuff?”

  “Of course, Mom.”

  Michelle threw away everyone’s trash and walked across Main Street to look for Steve.

  The kids sat on the bench and watched Mr. Pegg reappear from behind the Cast Members Only door. A line of people wanting to guess their combination reformed in front of the stage. The guessing of the combination had paused during the parade.

  “These people are pathetic,” Travis said. “There are over 400,000 different combinations to open that safe. How could they think they are going to get it without even looking for the numbers?”

  “How do you know how many possible combinations there are?” Dizzy asked.

  “There are seventy-five numbers on the dial, three numbers to unlock the vault. Seventy-five times seventy-five times seventy-five is over 400,000.”

  “Wow.” Dizzy was impressed. He was an OK student in school, but math was by far his worst subject. “We know the first number though, so don’t you think our chances of guessing the last two are better.”

  “Yeah they are better, but do you really want to go ahead and tell everyone the first number of the combination?”

  Mr. Pegg had a little ceremony for each person trying to open the vault. The guest would write down their numbers on a piece of paper and he would read them out loud over the microphone, before turning to the vault and entering their combination.

  “I guess you’re right,” Dizzy said, feeling stupid.

  “Do you think we should watch the video of the parade?” Travis asked. “Maybe the camera caught something we missed?”

  “Yes!” Ana said excitedly. “Let’s watch it again.”

  Dizzy took the video camera out of his mom’s bag. He opened the screen and scrolled to the most recent video file. He hit play and Travis and Ana leaned in close to watch.

  “We are looking for anything that will lead us to the second part of the clue,” Travis said. “Remember the clue, a belle or a beauty will help us know the next place we are supposed to go.”

  Dizzy hit the fast forward button on the video camera and hit play when the princess’ float appeared. They looked carefully, hoping to find any detail but came up empty.

  “Hey, what is that?” Travis said pointing at the video screen. The camera was pointed at the crowd across the street during the gap in the parade floats.

  “What is it?” Dizzy asked hopefully. “The next clue?”

  “No, it looks like my dad. Look. There in the background.”

  “It looks like he is arguing with someone in the store.”

  The video camera’s autofocus feature kicked in and the picture became clearer. It definitely was Steve arguing with someone.

  “I can’t tell who he is talking to,” Dizzy said. “The wall of the store is blocking whoever it is.”

  “That is really weird,” said Travis. “We’ll have to ask him about it.”

  The video of the parade ended and Dizzy closed the screen in frustration.

  “Relax” Travis said, taking his phone out of his pocket. “Let’s take a look at this clue again. Maybe it didn’t mean Belle the princess or belle meaning beauty after all.”

  Michelle returned to the bench alone, unable to find Steve.

  “No luck, huh?” Dizzy asked.

  “I couldn’t find him anywhere,” Michelle answered.

  “Maybe he is still yelling at that person,” Ana suggested.

  “Maybe he’s what?” Michelle asked. “Yelling at who?”

  “We think we saw him on the parade video,” Dizzy said. “It looked like he was standing in that store over there yelling at someone inside it.”

  “Oh no,” Michelle said. “It couldn’t be him. Travis, is your dad someone that would go around yelling at a perfect stranger?”

  “I guess not,” Travis said.

  “It must’ve just looked like your dad. I’m going to keep looking for him. I just wanted to come back and grab my bag. You kids go back to your Quest and have fun.”

  She gave Ana and Dizzy a kiss on the forehead, placed the video camera back in her bag and began to walk away.

  “Oh, but before I go.” She reached in and pulled out her digital camera. “Say ‘Mickey!’”

  “Mickey!” the three kids reluctantly said. Michelle checked the image on the back of the camera and dropped it back in her purse. She waved goodbye and left.

  Ana reopened her sticker book and continued dressing the princesses in sticker dresses. Travis opened the picture of the clue on his phone and read it to himself.

  “Can you make the picture bigger?” Dizzy asked.

  Travis touched the screen with two fingers and slowly spread them apart, zooming in on the picture.

  “What’s that?” Dizzy said, pointing at the screen.

  “What?”

  “That dot. Right there. Do you see it?”

  “You mean after the A in ‘A Belle?’”

  “Yeah,” Dizzy said. “Maybe it means something.” He took out the autograph book and wrote “A. Belle” in it.

  “When you write it like t
hat, it looks like a first initial or something,” Travis said. “Anyone or anything have a first name that starts with A and has a last name Belle?”

  “It could be the name of a place. Or an animal. Or a--”

  There was a loud “pop pop” from somewhere in the distance. It was the sound of the cap gun on the Jungle Cruise ride used to scare away the attacking hippos. The ride was located just on the other side of the buildings on Main Street.

  “Or a boat,” Dizzy said. “I think I got it. Follow me!”

  The three kids quickly stood and began running down Main Street.