The Watchmaker's Gift

by Charles Zitta

  “So it’s like a time travel device?” Charlie asked.

  “Sort of, my dear. Unlike normal time travel, which jumps to places or events based on reality, the Watch of WONDER is used to travel amongst all conceptual realities created by Disney imagineers and animators. These include park, resort, ship, movie, and other concepts, combined with all dreams that never even reached the concept stage. And, as you know, they are ALL bottled up in WONDER.”

  “Fascinating, isn’t it boys,” Frank added.

  “So it’s kind of like the Ears of Virtue we used last year to jump around within WONDER?” Charlie asked.

  “Yes,” Ruth replied. “But different as well. First, you can have the Watch magically send you anywhere within WONDER by simply asking it to go to a specific Disney-related place in time, even those around the Magic Rim—making it easier to control when and where you transport to. For example, if you and Michael wanted to explore a simulated Pirates of the Caribbean attraction from the fall of 2002, or a conceptual rendering of Captain Hook’s ship from the 1953 animated movie, all you would have to do is ask the watch to take you there, and it would.”

  “So it works for both, Disney park and movie concepts?” Charlie asked.

  “That, and any other ideas ever dreamt up by Disney’s imagineers and animators.”

  “Neat,” Michael replied.

  “And I should add,” Frank said, there are two limitations the Objects of Magic bare. They cannot access any of the finalized scenes or characters used during production of a Disney movie. Nor will you find the actual parks, resorts, ships, etc., we have in reality, stored within WONDER, using the Objects of Magic. Only conceptual realities, which includes all ideas dreamt up by Disney Imagineers and artists, can be found in WONDER. Sorry Ruth, I didn’t mean to interrupt. Please continue.”

  The boys each nodded, to confirm their understanding, though Frank knew all to well the boys would have questions later regarding these details.

  “Also,” Ruth added, the Watch can be used as a dream dot locator. Making it easier to navigate your way around WONDER.”

  “But how can we use it if it’s broken?” Charlie asked.

  Ruth looked to Frank for an answer. “That’s why I’m here boys,” Frank replied. “Now that you have the watch, we need to get you safely to the watchmaker so he can fix it. And THAT is going to take a good plan, a little bit of magic, and flawless execution, to keep it away from those pesky Thorn’s. But I think we’ve given you more than enough information for now. I want the two of you to go back and enjoy the rest of tonight vacationing with your parents. I’ll contact you tomorrow once I’ve figured things out. Until then, enjoy yourselves, go spend some quality time in the parks with your parents, and just try to let what we told you today sink in slowly and naturally. I know it’s a lot to take in all at once, but don’t worry, we are here to help. Understood?”

  “Sure,” Charlie replied, “but how will we know when you’re trying to contact us?”

  “I’ll make certain you know,” Frank said with a humble smile. “Now, you need to go, before Captain Plank’s men figure out where you went.”

  “How are you going to get out of here, Frank?” Charlie asked.

  The wise old Patron lifted the light charm necklace from under his shirt and winked. He touched the charm with his right index finger and was gone.

  Charlie shook his head in amazement and laughed. Then said, “It was nice to meet you Ruth.”

  “You as well, Charlie. And you too, Michael,” Ruth said, attempting to warm the boy’s heart. “You best be on your way now, boys. Just take the stairs to get back down to the store. I’m sure your parents are still wandering around there somewhere.”

  “Thank you,” Charlie replied. He signaled to his brother, who was impatiently pacing around the room, waiting to head back down stairs.

  “You should hide the watch in your pocket, just in case someone is looking for it once you get down there.”

  “Right. I mean, yes ma’am”, Charlie replied. He placed the watch in his pocket.

  The boys headed down the virtual staircase, which vanished behind them as they descended. When they reached the door at the bottom of the stairs, they opened it and walked back into the cast member room. The door slammed behind them—magical dust shot out from its seams in all directions, as it vanished, leaving behind nothing but a solid wall.

  Chapter Six

  Darkness was ninety minutes away and the watch was safe and secure in Charlie’s pocket, as the boys and their parents headed through Adventureland. Little did they know, they were being followed by three of Captain Plank’s men—Jimmy, Glubber and William, who were waiting for the right moment to move in and grab the watch.

  “What do ya say we stop and snag a Dole Whip while we waits for the boy to get off the Jungle Cruise ride,” Jimmy said.

  “Good thinking, mate,” William replied.

  “Yeah, I could use a good coolin’ off,” Glubber added.

  “Yeah, a good coolin’ off indeed,” Jimmy said, as they all laughed.

  Charlie’s father eagerly led the way, trying to squeeze in as many attractions as possible before the fireworks show began. “OK, we’ve done the tree house and Jungle Cruise, so what’s next?”

  “I suggest we head to Pirates of the Caribbean and work our way back towards the hub for the fireworks,” their mother said.

  “Brilliant idea, honey.”

  “Look at you, Mom,” Charlie added with a smile, “that’s a great idea.”

  “Hey Cap’n, we haven’t had a chance to grab the little rascals yet, but they just left the Jungle Cruise and looks like they’re headed for our neck of the woods, Jimmy said into his phone.”

  “That’s good enough for me,” Plank replied. “I’ll inform Dark Thorn Elontra, so she can set a Dream Dot trap for our two little friends. And I’ll make sure we have one of our boys disguised as a cast member put them in their own boat, cause we don’t want the parents complicating the situation, if ya know what I mean.”

  “Aye-aye, Cap’n, we’ve got ‘em now.”

  The Zastawits family arrived at the Pirates of the Caribbean queue.

  “This looks like as good a place to start as any,” their father said.

  “And look, no lines,” Michael added.

  Charlie and his family made their way through the unoccupied queue, passed the skeleton’s chess match, and came to a stop with only ten riders ahead of them in line. Because it wasn’t crowded, the cast member, one of Plank’s men in disguise, suggested the boys hop in one boat and the parents in another.

  Their parents climbed into the lead boat and departed, looking back to wave, while the boys quickly climbed into the next vessel—each claiming their own row of seats.

  The air was filled with that familiar musty water smell, as their boat slowly banked right, past the waterfalls, and through the damp, water-like fog, reflecting a projection of Black Beard. Their ride vessel continued right, passing skull rock, and shipwrecked skeletons, who’s boat had been shattered to pieces and laid scattered throughout the sandy shore. Sounds of the sea winds grew stronger and stronger, as a woman softly sang a salty pirate song that echoed throughout the cavern. To their right, another skeleton, sporting a bandana, captained the wheel of the shattered ship, as the stormy sea skies rushed by in the background. The wind continued to strengthen. Just ahead, their parents boat vanished into darkness—shooting down the waterfall. Screams echoed through the cave-like setting—then everything changed.

  The skeleton at the wheel of the shattered ship suddenly took on a life of its own. Stepping away from the wheel, it began to walk in an awkwardly-disjointed fashion along the shore, following the boy’s boat as far as the jagged terrain would allow. Placing one boney foot on a large raised stone, it leaned forward and pointed towards the hidden fall where their parents had just dropped.

  “Grab hold and prepare yourselves mateys, there be no pretending here tonight. You have somethin’ we n
eeds, and we intend to take it.”

  Placing both hands on his hips, the skeleton laughed and stared at the terror-struck boys, who had no route of escape.

  The skeleton’s laughter continued to follow them into the darkness, as they braced themselves for the dark unknown.

  Sounds of crashing water rose up from the darkness far below. The boat began its rapid descent—four, five, possibly ten times deeper then would normally be expected for the attraction. As the plummeting boat continued to pick up speed, Charlie and Michael held on white-knuckle tight to the railings in front of their seats—screaming uncontrollably, as their vessel continued to dive.

  There was a gigantic SPLASH, throwing a large wave of water up and over the front of the boat, which soaked the boys from head to toe. As they looked around, the unimaginable danger of their surroundings made it clear that reality had been left far behind.

  The boys had been pulled into a part of WONDER dreamt up by an unknown evil, which lay deep in the shadows of creativity.

  Their small vessel was flanked on both sides by more than a dozen pirate-infested ghost ships, all docked and floating just above the water’s surface. Charlie and Michael spun around in all directions, taking in the spooky sea-side town overrun by nonliving things, as their boat slowly moved along. Everywhere they looked; left, right, forwards, backwards, upwards and down, the boys could see nothing but ghostly pirates, skeletons that were once pirates, and dangerous luminescent sea creatures. There were sharks, eels, squids and unimaginable things that lit up the clear water in a vast array of colors with their glowing bodies, which at times, highlighted the treasure-covered bottom of the haunted cove. Obviously, it was treasure to be seen but never touched. To the right was a swash buckling battle between two ships for possession of the treasures the other had. The pirates battled to fend off a surge of corrupt skeletons who attacked their ship like a swarm of ants. While on the other vessel, the skeletons struggled to fend off a swarm of ruthless pirate ghosts attacking from the air. Neither appeared to have an advantage over the other. And though the pirates were transparent, had the ability to go through physical objects, and could fly, they also possessed the physical qualities of real matter when desired. This made the pirates very difficult to deal with, no matter how skilled or powerful their opponents were. To the boy’s left were three more ships—all fighting together against a giant octopus that had grabbed hold of the middle ship, causing it to upend and start sinking into the water, while at the same time, flailing its free tentacles, in an attempt to grab hold of the other two ships or anyone occupying their masts or decks. In the dark, starlit sky above, skeleton seagulls swarmed the docks, waiting for, and diving at, every opportunity to snatch up whatever tender morsels they could snag from the local fisheries, eateries and other food related establishments—while at the same time, being chased off by the flying ghost dogs who belonged to each facility.

  As the boy’s vessel crept further into the cove, and inevitable trouble, it became more and more apparent that they were quickly becoming the center of attention. Heads began to turn and take notice that the outsider carrying the watch was amongst them, and ripe for the taking.

  “I don’t like the looks of this, Charlie. It’s like someone took the Pirates ride, gave it a Haunted Mansion twist, then threw in even more spooky stuff,” Michael said.

  But what the young boy forgot to mention, was that everything they were experiencing was much greater in scale and much more real than the pirate attraction in the park.

  “There’s a group of pirates and skeletons looking at us over there by the tavern,” Charlie said.

  Michael started to turn his head.

  “Don’t look, Michael, just keep staring straight ahead. Maybe they won’t notice we’re here.”

  “Ha! I think it’s a little too late for that.”

  Just as Michael finished speaking, the entire cove fell silent. All except for the rum runner, who’s horse and wagon were being ransacked by a rowdy group of thirsty pirates. There weren’t too many things that took priority over a good bottle of rum, let alone a whole wagon filled with cases of rum, as far as the pirates were concerned.

  “We need to keep moving forward,” Charlie said quietly to his brother.

  “Forward towards what?” Michael replied. “There’s nothing ahead of us but more trouble.”

  And perhaps the younger brother was right. Just ahead, where the cove narrowed down to a crystal clear river, was an old wooden bridge that crossed over the waterway. On that bridge were at least sixty skeletons, all with swords and pistols out, waiting for the right opportunity to attack the boy’s boat.

  “Michael, are you ready for this?”

  “Ready for what?”

  “You know wha—watch out, Michael! Skeletons! Right behind you!”

  No sooner had Charlie gotten his words out, when three skeletons, all with swords ready, jumped onto their boat and started climbing over the empty rows of seats towards the boys.

  Michael turned to check the boney attacker’s positions—the lead skeleton was already upon him.

  “Ay there matey,” he grabbed Michael around his upper torso—spun him around, and held a sword to the young boys throat.

  Michael remained perfectly still, there was nothing he could do.

  The lead skeleton stared Charlie down, his hollow eye sockets glowed amber.

  “If you want yer brother here to live, you’d best be handing over that watch matey.”

  Two more skeletons, both flanking Michael, stared Charlie down as they pulled their pistols and aimed directly at the outsider.

  “Sorry Michael,” Charlie said in a defeated tone. He slowly reached into his pocket to pull out the Watch of WONDER

  CLANK, CLANK, CLINK, THUNK!

  “Not so fast there ya greedy bunch of boney what nots!” a pirate captain hollered from a nearby riverside dock. “We’ll be take’n the outsider, and that watch, if ya don’t mind. Heave-ho ya landlubbers!”

  On their captain’s command, a group of pirates tugged on the ropes attached to the four grappling hooks they had tossed onto the small boat. Their first tug jerked the boat radically to the right, throwing the boys and three skeletons off balance.

  Two of the skeletons stumbled to the left side of the boat and fell into the water, while the one holding Michael managed to hang onto the boy’s shirt, but had fallen between the seat and floor, struggling to get back up.

  “Heave-ho!” The ghost pirates gave a second tug, which threw Charlie backwards into his seat, but gave Michael the momentum to shrug off the skeleton holding his shirt. The younger brother leaped over two rows of seats, quickly joining Charlie—who stood up and grabbed onto the railing in front of him as the pirates gave a third tug.

  “Now… what… Charlie?” Michael asked in between breaths.

  “First we take this boney guy out,” his brother replied, while dodging a strike from the skeleton’s sword. The sword blade cut deep into one of the seats. Too deep for the skeleton to pull free. Thinking quickly, Charlie yanked a leg bone right off the skeleton and struck him solidly in the skull—which flew into the water and was crushed instantly by the jaws of a circling, luminescent shark.

  “Good contact,” Charlie,” Michael said.

  “Michael, behind you!”

  Just as Charlie hollered, the two skeletons in the water had managed to work their way back to the boat, and were attempting to climb back on.

  Michael jumped to the side, clearing the way for Charlie, who swung and connected with one of skeletons heads just as they were climbing aboard. The skeleton’s head bounced around in the boat with chattering jaws—hopping from one section to another, until Michael finally grabbed hold of it and threw it far into the water.

  “Heave-ho!” The pirates tugged again, just as Charlie was trying to swing at the other skeleton attempting to climb aboard. He lost his balance and fell hard to his right—losing control of the leg bone, which fell and was lost to the water.


  There was another SPLASH!

  “Michael!”

  “Charlie! Charlie! Help me! There are sharks everywhere!”

  “Swim, Michael!” Charlie said, while continuing to battle the skeleton attempting to board. “Grab hold of his bones, Michael, then pull yourself up.”

  Filled with frightful adrenaline, the young brother swam up, grabbed hold of the back of the skeleton’s rib cage and pulled himself up out of the water, over the shoulders, and eventually, over the head of the skeleton. Then he grabbed his brother’s hand, who pulled him aboard. As he fell forward into the boat, he gave the skeleton a hard kick square in the face, knocking the sack of bones into the water, where he was overtaken by tentacles of an unfriendly squid-like creature and pulled out of sight.

  “Heave-ho!” The pirate captain yelled. “We’ve almost got ‘em mateys.”

  “Quick, Michael, uh…” Charlie went speechless. Before he could say another word, he realized that their boat had been docked.

  A small group of pirates and their captain looked down upon them from above, eager to take what the young outsider had in his possession.

  “Hi there, fellas, me name’s Captain Goolie. What do ya say you get out of that boat and give us that watch,” the captain said, looking down from the dock into the boy’s boat. His appearance was exactly as you’d expect from a pirate captain; he wore a three point, feathered hat, with a captain’s jacket and large sword on his left hip. His pointed beard and curled mustache surrounded a crooked smile filled with crusty teeth. And beneath his hat grew long wavy hair. But unlike living pirate captains, he was transparent with a blueish-green hue, and his legs faded into thin air—as he hovered slightly above the surface of the dock alongside his crew members.

  “You heard the Cap’n,” one of the crew members spat out, pointing his pistol at the boys. “Get out of that boat and give us the watch.”

  “Yeah, you heard ‘em, give us that watch ya smelly little bugger,” another crew member with a tattooed face added.

  “Why should we give it to you,” Charlie snipped back while remaining seated in the boat. “The watch belongs to the Patrons, not some filthy pirate like you.”