The Disneyland Quest

by Matt Ainsworth

  Chapter 17

  “How did they get ahead of us?” Dizzy asked. He was shocked to see another team already at the pig. He knew Justin’s group had the second clue but assumed they would have been stumped after the parade. “I rode the Jungle Cruise twice, and we all got in the line again together after that. I never saw him. Or his friends. Or his sister.”

  “Dizzy definitely would’ve noticed his sister,” Ana joked.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Dizzy,” Travis said. “It’s cool. Megan is nice, pretty, and loves this Disney stuff just as much as you do. It’s pretty obvious you like her.”

  “I don’t like her,” Dizzy said defensively. “I don’t even know her.”

  Dizzy was embarrassed. He had no idea he had been obvious in the attention he had paid to Megan.

  “None of that matters now,” Travis said, redirecting the conversation. “What are we going to do? We can’t exactly walk up next to them and start looking at the pig, too.”

  “So what? We just wait around until they figure it out, then we try to make our move?” Dizzy was angry. “Forget that. Travis, hand me your phone. I have a plan.”

  He held out his hand and Travis handed him his phone. Dizzy then climbed over the fencing and walked across the Haunted Mansion’s front lawn. He hopped over the other fence and squeezed in between Justin and his sister. Justin, his friends, and Megan all looked at Dizzy like he had just fallen out of the sky.

  “What do you think you are doing?” Justin said, pushing his finger into Dizzy’s chest.

  Dizzy was scared but remembered what Travis told him the night before. He shouldn’t be afraid of Justin, regardless of how much bigger he was. Dizzy was just a kid and Justin couldn’t hurt him without significant punishment. Dizzy took a breath to calm down and turned back to the pig.

  “Just solving this clue,” Dizzy said. He held up the phone and took a picture of the pig. Dizzy looked at the gravestone one last time and then turned to Justin. “That was easy. I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out yet.”

  Dizzy gave a quick smile to Megan, hopped over the fence and walked back across the grass. Travis and Ana were still in the same spot, shocked by Dizzy’s bravery.

  “You already solved the clue?” Travis asked.

  “Of course not,” Dizzy said. “But they don’t need to know that.”

  They looked back at Justin. He was arguing with his sister and both of his friends, angry that they weren’t smart enough to solve the riddle as fast as Dizzy.

  Dizzy handed Travis his phone back.

  “The pig is on there,” Dizzy said. “Let’s go find a place and see if we can figure it out.”

  “I know a quiet spot,” Travis suggested.

  The three kids began walking toward Splash Mountain and Critter Country. The Mark Twain Riverboat let out a loud whistle as it floated by them on the Rivers of America.

  “Hungry Bear Restaurant,” Travis said as they approached the walkway leading up to the cashiers. “Let’s go sit at a table on the bottom level. We should have some privacy down there.”

  His cell phone gave a short buzz and he took it out of his pocket to check it. It was a text from Michelle.

  “Hey kids, just checking in again. We were wondering where you are? Hope the Quest is going great! Mom.”

  Travis sent a text back to her. “We are at Hungry Bear, everything is fine. Travis.”

  Travis, Dizzy, and Ana sat at a table near the water. There was a family of ducks swimming in the river below them, and Ana sat and watched them paddling around the water. Travis set his cell phone on the table and Dizzy pulled the autograph book out of his pocket.

  “Open up the picture of the pig,” Dizzy said. “I thought I noticed something but want to look again to make sure.”

  Travis found the picture of the pig and opened it. The boys leaned over the phone and inspected the picture.

  “What did you notice?” Travis asked.

  “Do you see how certain letters are capitalized?” Dizzy said. “On the gravestone it says ‘ROSIE. She was a poor little Pig but she boughT the Farm.’ It could be nothing, but it caught my eye.”

  “Yeah, that is interesting. Let me see that book.” Dizzy handed the autograph book to Travis. “Read me the letters that are in capitalized again.”

  Dizzy zoomed in on the picture and read the letters. “The name of the pig is ROSIE. All of those letters are in caps.” Travis wrote down the letters. “The letters S, P, T, and F.”

  “R, O, S, I, E, S, P, T, and F,” Travis said. “So what does that mean?”

  “Maybe it’s an anagram?”

  “What?” Ana said standing up. “What did you call me?”

  “Nothing,” Dizzy said laughing. “An anagram. It’s when letters get rearranged to make a new word.”

  “I like that word,” Ana said, making up another song. “Ana, anagram. Grannie Ana anagram.” She was dancing around her chair and stopped abruptly. “I have to go to the bathroom.”

  “It’s right there,” Dizzy said pointing to the nearby restroom. “We’ll be right here.”

  The boys both took turns attempting to turn the letters into new words, but ended up scribbling out their failed attempts. After Travis dropped the pen in frustration, Dizzy picked it up and began writing.

  “Wait a minute,” Dizzy said, crossing off letters as he went. “I think I got it. It’s--”

  Dizzy was knocked sideways out of his chair and to the floor, and a blur of red leapt over him. He looked up to see the man in red running away at full speed.

  “Dizzy!” Travis shouted, chasing after the man. “He stole the book. Get up!” Dizzy clumsily got to his feet as he heard Travis shouting at the man in red. “Come back here Big Red!”

  Dizzy began running after Travis and Big Red and froze. He almost left Ana behind. She would have been terrified to walk out of the bathroom and found Travis and Dizzy both gone. Dizzy stuck his head into the woman’s room door.

  “Ana, we have to go. Now!”

  A few moments later Ana came skipping out of the bathroom.

  “So where are we off to?” she said happily. Dizzy grabbed her hand and began to pull her behind him. “What are you doing? Where’s Travis?”

  “The man in red stole the autograph book. We had just figured out the pig clue. Travis went after him. We have to hurry.”

  They ran up the steps of the restaurant and began running back toward the Haunted Mansion. They weaved in and out of people, apologizing to each as they passed. Dizzy had noticed a lot fewer Quest pins as they day went on. He guessed they had given up after getting stumped on the first clue. Less competition for us, he thought.

  They ran over the raised walkway above the line to Pirates of the Caribbean. He hoped he could see some trace of Travis or Big Red from up there, but found nothing. They stood there for a few more minutes and saw Travis walking back in their direction. Dizzy waved his arms to get Travis’s attention, and they met at the base of Tarzan’s Treehouse.

  “I lost him,” Travis said out of breath. “He is fast for a big guy.”

  “He took my book?” Ana said angrily. “I hate Big Red.”

  “He had to be working for Justin,” Dizzy said. “Justin must have had him follow us after I embarrassed him at the Haunted Mansion. He was probably hiding behind us at the restaurant, waiting for us to solve the pig’s riddle.”

  “Oh yeah,” Travis said excitedly. “You said you had it. You still remember it right?”

  “Yeah,” Dizzy said. “But it doesn’t make 100 percent sense. I was able to rearrange the letters to make ‘fire spots.’”

  “Fire spots?” Travis asked. “Where are first spots in Disneyland? Somewhere hot maybe?”

  Dizzy thought hard, trying to remember if any rides were particularly warm.

  “I think I know a place that has fire spots,” he said after a few moments. “Anyone up for a wild ri
de?”