Catie was all ears as Margaret continued her story. They had moved to the attic so Margaret could get the other photographs. Catie had dozens of questions in mind. “Were there very many girls? I would have loved to have tried out for that.”
Alex gave an amused snort and couldn’t resist a brotherly chide. “You barely know how to swim! You’d sink right to the bottom. I bet I could do it better than you!”
“Yeah, Alex, I think you’d make a much prettier mermaid than Catie would!”
Alex turned red at Peter’s comment. He hadn’t meant it to come out that way. “Hey! That’s not….”
Margaret knew she had better step into the fray before it got out of hand. “All right, you three. Knock it off! Alex, quit teasing your sister. Peter, quit being your dad. Catie….”
“Hey, what did I do!?”
“I was just going to answer your question, dear.” That car show is sounding better and better by the moment. “There were almost one hundred girls who showed up for the audition, but I didn’t know any of them. Gosh, I was only eighteen.” Margaret gave a wistful sigh for all the years that had gone by. It seemed so long ago. “We had our legs and arms tied together and had to swim from one end of the Disneyland Hotel pool to the other. Now, it was a completely different pool than it is today. None of the fancy decorations and slides. Just a huge plain rectangle. “
“How’d you do, Grandma?” Alex figured he had better join in the conversation and deflect what had just happened.
“Sank like a rock and died.”
“Really?”
“No.” She laughed at the looks on their faces. She loved testing to see how far their politeness and manners would stretch. “I did pretty well. There were only six of us who were picked.” She again held up the photo to look at the faces. “We all became pretty good friends and stayed in touch even after they stopped having the mermaids in the Lagoon. This girl,” she pointed at a pretty brunette, “was one of my bridesmaids.”
“Why did they stop? It sounded like the guests in the Park really enjoyed them.”
“Oh, they did.” Margaret’s eyes sparkled at one particular memory. “Some of the gentlemen guests got a little over-enthused and actually jumped into the Lagoon to come see us. We were so far away from the edge of the Lagoon and with all the noise from the subs, we couldn’t hear what anyone shouted. So, we just had to wave and smile at everyone. Those guys apparently took it as an invitation. I wasn’t there that day, but I sure heard a lot about it. But, it was all the chlorine in the water that finally got to us. My hair is brown, so it didn’t happen to me, but one of the girls had blonde hair and it turned green. It was hard on our skin, too.”
“How did you get into the Lagoon, Grandma?”
Margaret had picked up the plastic harp and held it in her arms as she would have done years ago. “Hmmm? Oh, there was a special tube chamber. You see, we were supposed to just mysteriously appear in the Lagoon. It would have ruined the effect if the guests had seen our helper dump us into the water. We couldn’t very well walk in those heavy fins. Sometimes the guys helping us would be in a bad mood and would just drop us whether we were ready or not. I wish your grandfather had been working in that part of the Park then to be a helper and not that other guy.”
“Papa worked at the Haunted Mansion, didn’t he?”
“That’s right, Alex. He started there in 1962, but I hadn’t met him yet. Then he worked on the new tower of the Disneyland Hotel in 1965. He and all his construction friends had quite a time watching us girls learning our movements for the synchronized swimming.”
“How did you meet him, Grandma?”
Margaret recognized the starry-eyed look on Catie’s face. “Oh, he managed to have one of his friends push him into the pool while we were practicing. Landed right on top of me. Just like he had planned it, I found out later. The construction guys had made up some lame excuse to be near the pool instead of working on the Tower like they should have been doing. Something about making sure the pool hadn’t been cracked by all the jackhammer use in the area. Something stupid like that.”
“Was it love at first sight?”
“Well, considering he almost knocked me out, no! But, those big blue eyes of his and that wavy blonde hair did more to get me to forgive him than his apologies.”
The boys were already tired of the mushy stuff and wanted to get back to the Lagoon. “Grandma, what was that thing used for?”
With a small smile, Margaret allowed the boys to distract her. She knew Catie would be back privately for more information. “My lyre? That was just a prop we used in the Lagoon. Some of the girls had huge plastic combs for their hair, and some had shell-shaped mirrors. We had to swim down when the submarines went by and wave at the passengers inside or do some synchronized swimming. Sometimes for fun we would dive down and rearrange the fish that floated in the water!” She could see the boys were more interested in hearing about the pranks. “I remember one time in particular.” Margaret looked away and grinned to herself. “Gosh, I haven’t thought about this in years. Once I met your grandfather, everything changed.”
Peter let a groan escape his lips. He gave her a sheepish look when her eyebrows rose. “Sorry.”
“What I was going to say, Peter, is that I found something weird underwater. One day two of us were in the water and I was on the port side of the sub as it went by. After I went to the surface to get a breath, I dove again and tried to move one of the larger grouper fish. It was tied down pretty securely, but I saw something wedged under the coral rock next to the fish. I dug it out it and went back up before the next sub came by. Since it wasn’t a prop that we were supposed to use, I had to stash it out of sight behind our rock. The other girls had no idea what it might be, so I called dibs and put it under my wrap when we left the Lagoon that evening.”
“What was it, Grandma?”
Margaret didn’t answer as she reached over into the Memory box Catie had discovered. She pulled out one of the objects and held it up for them to see.
“What is it?” Alex held out his hand for it and lightly shook it. He couldn’t hear anything inside. “Did you open it? What’s was in it?”
With a shrug, Margaret shook her head. “You know, it was so long ago I can’t even remember. I must have opened it at some point. I think….”
As Catie was handed the object, Peter was silent. He could only stare at it, his mouth slightly open in the surprise that overwhelmed him. He knew exactly what it was.
It was a gray capsule just like the ones he had found at Disneyland with his brother Michael. It had to contain a long-forgotten clue from Walt Disney. And it was right there in front of him.
Flashback — Disneyland — 1965
“We hope the undersea voyage you are about to take will encourage your interest in the wonderful life in the sea.”
“Did you hear that, Ken? It definitely said we were going under the sea.”
Ken, Anne and their daughter Ruth inched through the crowded queue as they got closer to the large gray submarines. The Seawolf had just sedately sailed past in the colorful lagoon on their left, its hull still wet and dripping from the waterfalls.
“I think I see a fish!”
Ken settled Ruth more comfortably on his shoulders as she squirmed about. The submarine was closely watched until it disappeared under the waterfall at the far end of the lagoon. “I think all the fish are underwater, sweetie.”
“I really don’t want to get my hair wet, Ken. We’ve talked about this already.” Anne’s hand went up to touch her elaborate hairdo. After hours in the beauty parlor she didn’t want to take a chance and ruin the French Twist.
“I think you’ll be fine. See those ladies over there? I think they just came out of the exit and I don’t see a drop of water on them.” Ken let Ruth’s movements cover his sigh. He had been excited to ride in a submarine ever since he read about the U.S.S. Nautilus, America’s first nuclear-powered sub, as it embarked on a journey under the polar i
ce. Aware of the realism Walt Disney put into all his attractions, Ken hoped his wife would just relax and let him enjoy it.
“Is that our submarine? We’re next!”
“Oh, my stars.”
Ken was all smiles as he watched the white-costumed crew members use large hooks to capture the release mechanism on the hatch. With a loud metallic Bang!, the hatch and attached walkway fell onto the unloading platform. At each end of the submarine, one by one, smiling guests emerged from the depths as they climbed the narrow circular staircase. “See, Anne? Not a drop on them. You’ll be fine.”
The first in line, Anne had a death-grip on the handle of the staircase as she slowly went down the metal stairs. Aware of her excited daughter—and husband—right behind her, she kept her fears to herself. She rolled her eyes and grumbled as she daintily walked over the wet floor directly under the hatchways. “I knew it.” Once at her assigned pull-down seat with its own viewing portal, Anne bit back a claustrophobic feeling she hadn’t expected. The interior was dim and the same metal gray as the outside. Steel grids, iron piping, brass fixtures and metal-caged lamps helped make the moist, clammy atmosphere very realistic. When the sub was fully loaded, her eyes widened when the hatches fore and aft clanged shut. All the guests could hear the locking mechanism as it turned and knew they were now sealed inside.
With her face as close to her viewing port as possible, Ruth could see her breath form little clouds of condensation that quickly dissipated. “This is so exciting! I don’t see any fish! Where are the fish?”
“Secure the ship for sea…make all preparations for getting under way….”
“Who was that, Daddy?”
Ken pointed to the white-panted legs standing on a small platform in the middle of the sub. The man’s upper body was in the conning tower and couldn’t be seen. “That’s the Captain.”
Another voice was heard. “All stations manned, sir…ship rigged for getting underway.”
“That would be the first mate, Ruthie.”
“All ahead one third.”
The submarine now started to move and all thirty-eight passengers leaned forward to the windows. The cement docking pier was soon covered over by the sight and sound of millions of rushing air bubbles.
“Stand by to dive…. Dive! Dive! Take her down easy now to ten fathoms.”
Anne’s groan was drowned out by the blare of a diving horn. When the bubbles finally cleared, starfish, barnacles, and other sea life began to appear in a bright coral reef.
“This is the Captain speaking. Welcome aboard. We are now underway and on a voyage of exploration in this vast liquid space. We are currently enroute to the polar ice-cap and will then probe depths seldom seen by man.”
A bed of bright green kelp lightly brushed against the windows as the submarine continued its voyage. A school of silver fish could be seen circling in the distance as huge lobsters shook their claws at the passengers who stared at them.
“As they roam the bottom of the coastal seas, giant groupers are always in search of food. Speaking of giants, that giant clam has a fluted shell that can weigh up to a quarter of a ton. That moray eel has powerful tooth-filled jaws and likes to ambush unwary prey from holes in the beautiful reef.”
“Mommy, look! That snake thing tried to attack us! Hey, those red fish are fighting with each other!”
“Those are lobsters…which I would rather be having for dinner right about now than watching out that thin, tiny window…. Oh, no, now what?” Anne’s clammy hand touched her throat as a warning bell was sounded.
“Weather alert! All controls… take her down eight degrees. Hold her at eight fathoms and proceed on course.”
Anne’s arms went over her head in an unneeded effort to protect her hair as the thunderous sound of water pounded on the hull. Her porthole was obscured by a torrent of water as the ship passed under the first waterfall.
“Sharks! I see sharks!”
Just like Ruth, an enthralled Ken pressed his face closer to his porthole as everything became dimmer the further they got from the sunlight.
“Submarines can dive safely below the violent surface of the ocean during storms. Other craft have not been so fortunate. Here you witness their fate. The graveyard of lost ships—and a stronghold of sunken treasure!”
The beautiful coral and plant life grew up and around the remnants of the sunken wooden ships from many different cultures and eras. Sharks guarded their secrets as they silently circled the wrecks. Two deep sea divers were struggling to lift an encrusted, heavy treasure chest while an octopus waved its tentacles at them.
“We’ve raised the Polar ice-cap, sir! The ice is thickening.”
“Take her down. Ladies and gentlemen, we are now passing under the North Pole into a place where the sun has never penetrated. This is the realm of eternal darkness and the creatures here have their own eerie luminescence.”
“I can’t see anything, Daddy.”
“That’s the point, honey. Just keep looking, Ruthie.”
A small shriek was heard as a strange fish with long teeth and a light dangling from its forehead suddenly appeared and vanished just as quickly.
“Captain! Giant squid ahead!”
“Stand by with the repellant charge. Steady…..The legends tell us that ships are crushed by the powerful tentacles of a giant squid. But, these are just legends told by ancient mariners and have no basis in fact. They should be classified as fiction along with the other tales of…mermaids? I don’t believe it, Mate. Check the air pressure in the cabin!”
The huge squid struggling with a captured black and white whale vanished from their view and a sunken treasure trove was seen with its beautiful inhabitants.
“Mermaids! Look, Daddy! Look, that red-haired one is trying on a crown!”
The mermaids too quickly vanished from their view as the scenery changed to one of destruction. Stone columns and huge statues were seemingly strewn about on the ocean floor.
“These crumbling heaps betray the hand of man. These classic ruins could very well be the legendary lost city of Atlantis believed to have been destroyed by a tremendous volcano.”
“Ken? What’s that rumbling noise?” Anne pulled her face from the viewing port and tried to see her husband in the dim light of the interior.
Red lights and erupting clouds of bubbles suddenly came from the shifting ruins and the submarine shook side to side.
“Helmsman, steer clear of the tottering ruins! We now appear to be safe from the volcanic activity….”
The Captain was interrupted by the mate. “Sir? The sonar reports an unidentifiable condition dead ahead. Uhm, sir? It…it looks like a sea serpent!”
All faces in the submarine pressed closer to their windows at the long, sinewy, scaled body that seemed to go on forever. There was a brief laugh from the guests as they came face-to-face with the silly face and rolling eyes of the ‘monster.’
“You’re right, Mate, it is a sea serpent! No, don’t enter it in the log. Nobody would believe it. I think we have been submerged too long. Stand by to surface!”
“Thank goodness.” Anne’s mumble could be heard by those seated around her. Ken gave a chuckle as the submarine gave three blasts on its horn and the exit waterfall could be heard thundering on the hull.
Once docked and given the ‘all clear,’ the guests retraced their steps and climbed the circular staircase. With a sigh of relief, Anne lifted her face to the welcome sun and took a breath of fresh air.
“So, what did you think, honey?” Ken tried to mask his enthusiasm. He was ready to go get in line again.
“I loved it!”
Anne gave their daughter a fond, but disbelieving, look before she answered. “Well, you were right, Ken. My hair is safe. But, whoever heard of a red-headed mermaid?”
As the family walked off to get in line for the Matterhorn bobsleds, Ken just bided his time until he could ride the submarines again.
Yorba Linda
“Can we open it,
Grandma?”
“I don’t see why not.” Margaret looked at the eager faces that surrounded her and her glance rested on Peter. He seemed a little too pale and too quiet compared to her grandkids. “You okay, Peter?”
His wide green eyes jerked up from the canister that was still in Catie’s hands. After a swallow, a fake grin was plastered on his face in an attempt to hide what he felt must be a guilty expression. “Yeah, I’m great! Uh huh. Just excited, that’s all.“ Quit talking. You sound stupid.
“All right.” Margaret’s words were slow as she tried to analyze his odd reaction. Since his father Lance had been best friends with her boy Adam ever since college, she had known Peter practically since birth. Lance was like another son to her and she knew Peter had the same quirks and qualities as his charming father. There was something that just wasn’t right, but she wasn’t sure how to find out what it was. “Do you want to do the honors, Peter?” The gray capsule was taken from the disappointed Catie and held out to their friend.
As he eagerly reached for the item under discussion, he noticed the hurt looks on both Catie’s and Alex’s faces. “No, that’s okay. Alex or Catie should open it.” When his hands dropped to his sides, his fingers were clenched in a tight fist.
Without a word from his grandmother, Alex grabbed the canister. “I’ll do it! Hey, this is really tight.”
“You need to work it loose with something else first.” Three faces turned to Peter at his mumbled comment. Eyes wide again, he hastily added, “Umm, at least, I think you should try something like that.”
After a ‘what’s wrong with you?’ look at Peter, Catie turned back to the Memory box. She had spotted something in there that might help. “Will this work?”
Margaret bit back a groan as Alex took the collectible gold bottle opener from the early 1960’s. The plastic domed center of the opener protected a golden Sleeping Beauty Castle and a waving Mickey Mouse. Without a glance at the ornate golden filigree, Alex dug at the gray plastic cap. Maybe he won’t bend it all up…. Okay, maybe John can bend it back into shape….
HIDDEN MICKEY ADVENTURES 3 Page 3