The Watchmaker's Gift

by Charles Zitta

  “Yeah, I did.”

  “And when are we supposed to do this?”

  “This morning.”

  “But I was sitting right next to you. I didn’t see or hear Frank say anything.”

  “That’s because the secret message he passed on was only meant for me. Besides, when have you ever been able to see or hear any of the secret messages I’ve received outside of WONDER?” Charlie said in an angry, yet lower tone.

  “Mmm? I guess your’e right,” Michael replied with a smirk—knowing well he had gotten the best of his brother during their conversation.

  Charlie exhaled, then continued on. “Anyway, when we get to Disney Springs I need you to help me persuade Mom and Dad to take us to the World of Disney Store before the morning is over and mom gets into one of her go-go-go shopping modes. Got it?”

  Michael looked at his brother out of the right corners of his eyes and said, “piece of cake.”

  The bus rolled on.

  There it was. Bigger than life. The largest Disney character store in the world. And looming over the east corner entrance was a larger than life Stitch, who shot streams of water from his mouth—catching many unsuspecting passerby’s by surprise in hilarious fashion.

  As they entered the store, passed through the section of cups and kitchen accessories in the east wing, and into the heart of the store, their mouths fell agape. Their eyes looked forwards, backwards, upwards and down. The boys could not believe the overwhelming presence of characters, color and merchandise that surrounded them from floor to ceiling. It was the most amazing display of Disney character merchandise they had ever seen in their lives. There were hats, shirts, plushes and balls. Ears, glasses and toys on the walls.

  From one room to the next, the Zastawits family slowly made their way from the east wing towards the west, as their mother collected items from one section after another—handing them to her husband to hold onto until they had reached the other end of the store, at which point she claimed, they could sort through and pick one item each to be purchased as a souvenir. It wasn’t really the buying she enjoyed, but rather the hunt for that perfect something to make someone happy, that brought joy to her heart.

  As they neared the west wing, Charlie and his brother noticed a huge selection of character plushes. “This has to be it, don’t you think?” Charlie whispered to his brother.

  “Has to be what, dear?” his mother asked.

  Caught off guard, Charlie thought up a quick lie. “Oh, I’ve been, uhhhh, looking for a particular plush Mickey,” he replied.

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah, I thought if there was one place I could find it, it would be here.” He nervously awaited his mother’s response.

  “Well, if you want to look around, go ahead. It’s not like we live next door to Disney World or anything like that,” his mother said jokingly.

  “Is it alright if Michael helps me look?”

  “Of course. Just make sure you stay where we can see you. Your father and I will be right over there by the picture frames and such.”

  Charlie felt a surge of relief shoot through his body, as he exhaled then replied, “thank you, Mom.”

  “Of course dear, that’s why we’re here, isn’t it? You go ahead and search for your special Mickey.”

  Charlie returned the smile then called to his younger brother, who was preoccupied with something cool on a shelf near by, “Michael, come on, I need you to help me out,” he said with urgency.

  Michael picked up on the vibe his brother was sending, and immediately walked over to help.

  “Alright, it’s time to comb through all these characters until we find Midnight.”

  “That should be pretty easy, since he’s not a Disney character. Don’t you think, Charlie?”

  “Usually I would say yes, but since we’re dealing with a magical cat from WONDER…who knows,” he replied. “You start over their on the right, and I’ll start on the other side.”

  “Got it.”

  As they scanned the area—searching shelf by shelf, wall by wall, stack by stack of colorful plushes, it became obvious that finding Frank’s large, black cat was going to be more challenging than anticipated. “Here kitty-kitty,” Michael said softly to a cluster of plush Plutos. No response. Then he moved to a group of Nemo plushes and repeated his words. Again, no response.

  On the other side of the room, Charlie was busy searching as well. “Midnight. Are you there? Midnight, where are you?” he quietly said to a wall full of Minnie and Goofy plushes. Still, no response.

  After a long and tedious effort of looking, Michael reached the final section of the wall he was scanning. There were plushes of Stitch, Pooh, Tigger, Simba, Sorcerer Mickey, Dumbo and more. In a last ditch effort to find the magical cat, he whispered with a hint of aggravation, “Kitty, where are you, I think you’ve been hiding long enough.” One of the pink Cheshire Cats just above to his right winked! “What? Did you just wink at me cat?” Michael said a little louder, staring intently at one of the pink cats with the large grin. Quickly, he walked over and pulled his brother by the shirt sleeve.

  “What? Why’d you do that? What’s wrong?”

  “Follow me. C’mon. Over this way. Now,” Michael said as he turned and anxiously walked back towards the group of Cheshire Cat plushes on the wall.

  As his brother walked up beside him, Michael said softly, “OK, cat, do it again.”

  “Who are you talking to? There’s nothing here but a bunch of plush characters.”

  “Really? Is that what you think?”

  “Looks that way to me,” Charlie replied. “I mean, I don’t see anything on the shelf that even comes close to resembling Midnight.”

  “Oh, so you think I’m making this all up?”

  “Yes, you could say that. Either that, or you didn’t get enough sleep last night.”

  “The two of you really need to stop with all the bickering. It’s beginning to give me a headache.”

  “What? Who said that?” Charlie asked, whipping his head around in the general direction of the voice.

  “See, I told you, Charlie.”

  “Told me what, Michael. I still don’t see anything that looks like Midnight.”

  “You need to try a little harder, young man,” the voice whispered.

  Charlie turned his head once again, facing the plush-lined shelves.

  “Pssst, up here.” The patient young boy, who had anything but patients at the moment, glanced upwards and to his right—focusing all his attention on the cluster of pink Cheshire Cats. To his surprise, the second cat from the left turned from pink, to purple, then blue. Its eyes glowed yellow, and the grin on his face grew even larger, exposing a big set of pearly whites. And then…he spoke. “Glad you could make it boys,” the blue cat said.

  “Midnight?” Charlie said with a perplexed look on his face.

  “The one and only,” the cat replied.

  “But—”

  “I know. I look nothing at all like myself. It’s a gift. A little extra something-something Frank threw in when he thought me up.”

  “So you can change into other things?”

  “And then some,” Midnight replied.

  “That’s amazing,” Michael said. “So can you like, change into an orange elephant, or a clock?”

  “Anything,” the cat replied. “But now we need to move the conversation onto more important matters. Like getting you boys to the watchmaker.”

  “Right,” Charlie added.“The watchmaker. So how do we get started?”

  “Simple. Pick me up and hold me in your arms. As you do, have your brother touch my tail.”

  “And then what?” Michael asked.

  “You’ll see,” the blue cat replied with a grin. “So Charlie, if you would please.”

  “Sure,” the boy replied. He picked the blue cat off the shelf and held him in his arms.

  “And now it’s your turn, Michael.” The young boy gently grabbed hold of the feline’s tail, which was st
icking out through Charlie’s arms.

  The room began to spin—all became a blur of colors, distorted voices and unrecognizable music. Faster and faster the room continued to spin—to the point that everything turned to bright white and silver-like dust. Round and round and round the funnel of sparkling dazzlement continued to spin. And standing dead center in the eye of the magic were the two boys and Midnight, who was still comfortably nestled in the arms of Charlie.

  THHHHHHWOOOSH!

  The funnel broke apart, disappearing into thin air and exposing a place vaguely familiar to the boys—who were now fully animated.

  “Where are we?” Charlie asked, looking around from high atop a mountainside.

  “You don’t recognize the forest below?” Midnight asked.

  “The realm of the watchmaker?” Michael replied.

  The blue cat jumped out of Charlie’s arms, and in mid air, transformed back into the overly large black cat the boys had come to know. “Very good, Michael.”

  “It was pretty obvious, I mean, since we’re searching for the watchmaker, I assumed it would have to be in the realm where he lived,” Michael replied confidently.

  “Yes. While that is true in this particular instance, sometimes it is not.”

  “And why is that?”

  “Well, Michael, there are times when certain characters, creatures or whatever may jump to another realm within WONDER. There are no limitations here,” Midnight replied.

  “So this is where we met Provo, Sassyfran, and Fethearwink?” Charlie asked.

  “Indeed it is.”

  “The forest below looks different than it did the last time we were here.”

  “Which it not unusual in a realm of WONDER,” Midnight replied.

  “How so?” Charlie asked.

  “Remember, the realms of WONDER are based on concepts and dreams of the Imagineers and animators, so they are in a state of flux. What you see today, may be different tomorrow, because Disney is constantly thinking and dreaming up new things. Which is the way Walt intended it to be. At least that’s what Frank has told me.”

  “So Frank was actually working for Disney when Walt was alive?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Wow! That must have been pretty neat,” Charlie said. “How old is Frank? He must be quite old. He doesn’t seem that old?”

  “Yes, Frank is quite spry for someone his age, I must say,” the cat answered with a chuckle. “Anyway boys, we need to keep moving. This way gentlemen,” the cat said. He headed up the narrow mountainside path, but was suddenly stopped by Charlie’s words.

  “I almost forgot. Last night Frank told me we needed to follow the frost trail? So, what exactly is that?”

  “It’s a hidden trail left by Neve the snow fairy, which can only be seen for the briefest of moments in temperatures above freezing. Once it melts, no trace of it can be found. Which reduces the risk of any unlikely threats—such as Thorns and shadow villains.”

  “That’s all good and such, but what about us? What if we don’t spot a part of the trail before it melts? Then what?” Michael asked.

  “Not to worry, young man. The frost trail is charmed. So it will not melt until after those intended to see it, such as us, lay their eyes upon it.”

  “But what if, say a Thorn sees it before we do?” Charlie asked.

  “Again, it is a charmed trail, which is only visible the moment a friendly ally comes near it,” Midnight replied.

  “It sounds as if there are only a few seconds from the time we see the trail, to the time that it melts?”

  “Exactly, Charlie.”

  “You said that the frost trail can only be seen for the briefest of moments in temperatures above freezing. So what happens if we go somewhere below freezing?” Michael asked.

  “Yeah, that’s a good question,” Charlie added. “I would imagine the snow fairy’s ice cottage is definitely located where temperatures stay below freezing. And if that is actually the case, how would the frost trail ever melt?”

  “Freezing temperatures to one, may be balmy temperatures to another,” the cat replied. As I’ve said before, and I’m sure I’ll say again, here in WONDER, anything is possible.” On his word, Midnight transformed again. But this time he became a large polar bear—making him well equipped for the chilly temperatures that lied ahead.

  “Huh?” Michael reacted.

  “It’s going to be a little cooler where we are headed, boys. I highly suggest you follow suite.”

  “But…but that’s not possible. I mean, how are we…I mean, we just can’t turn ourselves into polar bears,” Charlie replied.

  “Why not?” Midnight answered back. “The only limitation you have here is your own imagination.”

  Charlie and his brother looked at the bear like he was crazy.

  “Go ahead, what are you waiting for? Think it, then be it.”

  “Think what?” Charlie said. He continued to deny the fact that he could change himself into anything he wanted.

  “Anything. Anything you can imagine. Just look at me, it’s really not that difficult. Just think it, then be it. Go ahead, give it a try, Michael. I can see the wheels turning in your head. Just let it out and see what happens.”

  Michael squeezed his eyes shut with excitement and thought up something wonderful. Instantly, he transformed into a half-grown reindeer. “How do I look?”

  “Ha-ha! Rather cute. I mean, magnificent,” Midnight replied. “You’ll do well where we are headed. OK, now it’s your turn, Charlie. Give it a go, young fella.”

  Charlie closed his eyes and thought really hard—possibly too hard. POOF, he was a snow owl—POOF, then a seal—POOF, next a penguin—POOF, and finally…a funny looking elf?

  “What?” Michael spat out.” An elf? How in the world is that going to help where we are headed?”

  “I saw you change into a reindeer, then I began thinking snow, which made me think of the watchmaker—who is sort of a toymaker, like Santa. Then, you know, I put it all together and started thinking Christmas. So, now I’m a little guy who likes to help others, drinks hot cocoa and builds toys.”

  “You forgot to add, someone who does very well in bitterly cold weather,” the bear said. “Not to mention, is the type of fellow who can conjure up a nice bit of magic if the need arises.”

  “Hmm,” was all that Michael could manage to say in response to the polar bear’s brilliant assessment of Charlie’s choice.

  “Speaking of magic,” Charlie said, “it looks like a frost trail is forming over on that cluster of mountain shrubs.”

  Just a little ways from where they were standing, a miraculous trail of sparkling frost began to grow and spiral around the plant life on the side of the mountain. However, instead of leading up the mountainside, the magic frost trail led downward towards the woods, where Charlie and Michael had met Featherwink the frog just the other day.

  “Huh? What on earth is going on?” Michael said in a bewildered state. “Shouldn’t the frost trail be traveling up the mountain? I mean, you would think the snow fairy’s ice cottage would have to be somewhere up that way,” he said, pointing up the mountainside. “At least that would be the normal choice. Right?”

  “Well, this isn’t exactly a normal place, now is it,” Midnight answered. “And a polar bear will be far too warm where we are headed.” The large white bear instantly turned back into a cat.

  “Now I get it,” Charlie replied. The boy switched from an elf back into his animated self.

  “Well I’m not changing back, I still believe we’re headed somewhere cold,” Michael added, reluctantly.

  “Suit yourself, but it may get a little warm for a reindeer,” the cat replied.

  Large, chubby hands pulled away a pair binoculars from the staring eyes of Captain Fibs, as his sunglasses slid back down—stopping at the bridge of his large, red nose. He pushed his portly body away from the large rock he was leaning on, then handed the binoculars to the silver fox, continuing to look towards the
mountainside. “Looks like your plan is working, foxy. Those two little brats and the chubby cat are headed this way.”

  “And to think you ever doubted me, Captain,” the fox replied, as he held the binoculars to his eyes. He located the threesome as they descended down the mountainside—his sly smile growing larger by the second.

  “Alright, alright, so we agree, it looks like your plan is working—”

  “Now hold on there Duke,” Fibs interjected. “I may have agreed with the old fox here, but that don’t mean I believe this plan of his is gonna work. In fact, until I see the watch in my hands, as I hand it over to the Dark Thorns, I really don’t believe much at all.”

  “Oh, it’s going to work, Fibs,” the fox snarled back, as he continued to follow the three watch seekers down the mountainside. “Yes, there’s no doubt about it. The outsider and his two little helpers are going to lead us right to the watch, just as Ben promised.”

  “What makes you so certain the red headed fella told us the truth?” Grim asked.

  “Consequences, my good man. Consequences.”

  Grim’s looked confused, as he stared blankly at the fox. “I’m not following ya.”

  “Yes, I can see that,” the fox answered back in a sarcastic tone. “Let’s just say, if Ben chose not to tell me the truth, then he would have to deal with my little friend.”

  “And by little friend he means me,” Flamario blurted out—cracking his knuckles.

  “Oh, I get it now,” Duke replied. “The fox used mister hot belly here as an intimidation factor to get what he wanted outta Benny.”

  “It’s a wonder the two of them have survived this long under the command of the Dark Thorns,” the fox replied under his breath, allowing only Flamario and Mr. Jollysnaps to hear what he said.

  “Come again, fur brain,” Fibs snipped back. He was sure the fox had made a crude comment directed at him and his men.

  “It was nothing,” the fox replied in a condescending manner. “Just mumbling to myself.”

  “Well, I think that’s enough chit chatting gents,” Mr. Jollysnaps jumped into the conversation to break things up. “What do ya say we get a move on? Our three little friends should be reaching the woods shortly, and we need to get into position to follow ‘em to the watchmaker, eh?”