The Key To the Kingdom

by Dixon, Jeff

  Hawk took the time to reconnect with the history of Walt Disney as he developed innovative breakthrough after breakthrough to revolutionize not only animation but filmmaking in general. The soundtrack of the attraction features the voice of Walt Disney himself revealing some of the most meaningful and emotional moments of his life. This carefully crafted narrative was compiled through a rare collection of audio interviews which had never been heard publicly prior to this experience. The first part of the exhibit yielded to a second portion which captured elements of Walt’s life that most people are more familiar with. The doorway separating the two served as the portal between the years of animation only and the birth of Disneyland. The emergence of television and the way Disney used that to capture the hearts of an American viewing public as he developed Disneyland was one of the first highlights featured. It was the medium of television that transported Walt into the American household. His face and voice became a part of the fabric of American culture itself as weekly people would tune in to watch and listen to Walt Disney. This portion of the exhibit included models of various creations in the theme parks worldwide designed by the Imagineers. An interactive display explaining the way animatronics work always fascinates guests. Still amidst the collectibles, the photographs, and the recordings, the most interesting portion of this section is located behind a big glass window. Beyond the window is the office of Walt Disney himself.

  This office was what Hawk had come to see. A small group of three people were clumped together speaking quietly, looking through the glass into the office. The way the display was set up, viewers were given the perspective of being able to look through a wall from a slightly elevated position. In essence you were looking down on the vacant office that had been set up to resemble the way it looked when Walt had last worked in it. Two empty chairs sat opposite Walt’s desk chair. On the credenza to what would have been Walt’s left, scripts were neatly stacked and stored, available for reference. On the right side stretched another credenza that was complete with a record player, a collection of long-play vinyl albums, and various other mementos. An announcement notified guests the film about the life of Disney would be starting in minutes, and the three people looking through the window wandered off to another part of the attraction.

  Hawk was now alone, intensely gazing through the glass, allowing his eyes to seek some detail of the office he had never noticed before. Opposite where he stood there was a window with blinds closed and a wooden door. Hawk knew this was not the original design of the office. Practicality dictated there could not be a door next to an exterior window on any level above a ground floor. Since Walt’s office was not on the ground floor, this must have been added to the design as they set up the display. Hawk assumed that the door opened to whatever was behind the set. He then scanned the credenza from right to left slowly and closely. The rows of scripts were stacked on a shelving unit with various items sitting across the top of the shelf. To the left of that was a small box. In appearance it could have been on oversized music box, although Hawk doubted it was musical. An ornate design decorated the top of the box that at one time might have been used to store a variety of valuables inside. The lid of the wooden box was closed so there was no way to see what might be hidden inside. Hawk squinted, trying to bring the details of the box into clearer focus. He could not be certain but it looked as if there was a lock built into the front of the box. He wondered for a moment if the key he possessed might open that box. It was an unlikely theory to be certain, but it also was unlikely that by looking through the window he would find anything that might give him some insight into what the key would open.

  Continuing his scan across the credenza he noticed a model replica of an airplane. Since the model was in the office, Hawk assumed it must be a model of the plane that Walt had owned. There were more items that adorned the surface of the credenza; none of them looked unusual or out of place. He moved slowly toward the far left side of the window and tried to see behind the desk. If Farren was to be taken literally about the key, Hawk would need to take it and do the same thing Walt did. He went back to the studio, sat behind his desk, and let the memories spark his imagination, his ability to really understand a story, and eventually how he would touch the world. Then Rales had given him the key. Take this and do the same thing Walt did. Looking through the window, Hawk knelt down and tried to get a better understanding about what he might see if he were behind the desk. His eyes raced over the view he had from a different angle. Frustratingly, he could see no more detail than he could when he was standing.

  “Looking for anything specific?”

  From one knee Hawk looked up into the smiling face of a cast member, dressed in a host uniform, towering above him.

  “No, I’m just trying to really see everything,” Hawk replied.

  The cast member bent slightly forward at the waist and looked into the office, trying to see what could be seen differently from Hawk’s point of view. Slowly and deliberately the cast member straightened back up, satisfied the view was not that different, and turned his attention from the office back to Hawk. With a pleasant if not patronizing look spreading across his face, he spoke again.

  “I did notice that you have been studying the office for quite some time. Are you a big Walt Disney fan?”

  “Sure, isn’t everyone?” Hawk attempted to respond like an overzealous tourist. He had managed to completely lose track of time studying the details of the office. A quick check of his watch let him know that the attraction would be closing in a few minutes. “I’m fascinated with the creativity that must have come out of this very office. I’ve been standing here wondering what it would have been like to sit in there and talk with Walt himself.”

  “It is fascinating to think about,” said the cast member, whose badge identified his name as Jim. “You’d be surprised how many people do exactly what you’ve been doing. Looking through the window and wondering what if.”

  “What if?” Hawk asked.

  “Sure,” Jim explained. “What if Walt were still alive, what if he’d seen Disney World completed, what if he were still running the Disney empire, what if you could sit down and chat with him?”

  “That’s a lot more thought than I was giving it.”

  “I’m sure if you stood here long enough you would’ve gotten there. There’s just something about Disney that sparks the imagination in people. But sadly you’re not going to be able to stay much longer; we close in just a few minutes. The last showing of the movie is when we clear this part of the attraction.”

  Hawk feigned a look of sadness. “How much longer can I stay here and look?”

  “The film will be starting in five minutes.”

  “Only five minutes?”

  “Yes, I’m afraid so.” Jim tapped his watch.

  “Then five minutes it is. Thanks for letting me know how long I have left, Jim.”

  “You’re welcome. When the doors at the far end of the exhibit open, you can go through them to see the film.”

  “Those are the ones at the far end on the right?”

  “Yes, sir.” Jim walked away to give Hawk another few minutes to spend alone with his thoughts at the window.

  The thoughts that Hawk was beginning to have at the window were nothing short of strange. He began to imagine what might happen if he could really do what Walt had done. Rales was very clear as he told him the story. Walt had gone back to the studio and sat behind the desk. How in the world did Rales expect Hawk to do the same thing that Walt did?

  The announcement jarred his thinking back to the moment at hand. The final showing of the film was getting ready to start in the Walt Disney Theatre. The lingering crowd began to shuffle toward the doors of the theatre. Momentarily they would open and everyone would go inside to find a seat. Hawk had seen the film before. It was a stirring fifteen-minute overview of Walt’s life. The doors’ automated mechanism swung them open. Ushered in by a cast member, the people started into the theatre. Hawk moved along wi
th the flow of people and glanced back into the exhibit area of One Man’s Dream. It was now deserted. All of the guests were finishing their move into the theatre and the lone cast member that had been in the area had gone in as well. Hawk stopped walking. Standing there, he made an impetuous decision and began nonchalantly backing away from the doors.

  Moving very casually in reverse, he faced forward as he drifted to the right side of the theatre’s holding area. This movement took him out of the line of sight of the cast member greeting the guests and getting ready to introduce the movie. With a quick step he jutted around the corner and now was standing alone in the exhibit area. He anticipated a cast member would be walking through at any moment. He wildly turned his head from side to side, looking for someplace to duck out of view. An adrenaline wave surged inside his chest and his heart began to beat faster. The automated doors clicked shut, sealing off the theatre as the movie began to play.

  In the darkened theatre, one lone movie attendee had no interest in the film whatsoever. Instead, this person’s attention was focused on scanning the scant crowd scattered across the spacious seating area. Looking once, then again, and one final time, the viewer concluded that Grayson Hawkes had somehow bypassed the movie undetected. The how, when, and why of the preacher’s actions escaped this person, who had been keeping the preacher under surveillance without the slightest notice.

  Hawk realized there was no escape from inside the attraction unless he retraced his steps to the entrance. If he retraced his steps, he could exit through the doors that opened back onto Mickey Avenue. A voice somewhere in his head told him this was the best thing to do. Stepping lively, he headed that direction. Off to his right he once again looked into the office of Walt Disney. Abruptly he came to a halt and knew that he was going to have to find a way to get inside the office and look around.

  Reversing his course, he heard the sounds of the exterior doors at the main entrance slamming shut. Hawk was certain there would be a cast member charged with doing a walk-through inspection of the attraction once it was closed and secure. He needed to find a place to hide. Moving deeper into the attraction he saw a cutout of Roy Disney and Mickey Mouse in front of a huge background photograph of Cinderella Castle. Getting closer he realized there was no way he could hide behind Roy and Mickey. They were securely fastened to the wall and there was very little room between.

  On his right were the hands-on displays of how audio-animatronics worked. Seeing the three different interactive panels for guests to manipulate, Hawk jumped over the rail that held these in place. Now inside the display itself, he moved to an audio-animatronics control panel sitting atop a large red multi-drawer toolbox that stood over three feet high. This would be perfect! Disappearing behind it, Hawk breathlessly used the wheels on the base of the box to move it slightly to the left. Wedging the huge toolbox next to a rack of electronic computer components, he created a completely out of sight hiding place. The only way he could be seen was if someone actually stepped over the railing he had scaled and physically looked behind the box. He was safe for now.

  As soon as he had hidden his body he broke out in a nervous sweat as he sat, waited, and listened. Hearing footsteps approach, he knew that he was now committed to what was going to be a criminal act no matter what rationale he used to explain it. He was hiding in the attraction to get into an area off limits to the general public. Hawk assumed the cast member approaching was doing a visual inspection to make sure all was clear inside. He stayed perfectly still and as silent as possible. In his ears his heart was beating ridiculously loud. His breath was coming in quick short bursts that he feared the employee might be able to hear. The anxious wait seemed to last an eternity before he heard the click of the emergency exit door open and then snap to a close. Though the cast member had now finished and moved on, Hawk dared not move for a few minutes, waiting for any unexpected activity in the area. He sat alone, hunkered down and hiding, trying to formulate the next move in his unfolding ad-libbed plan.

  CHAPTER TEN

  * * *

  Day Four

  Evening

  HAWK TRIED TO SLOW HIS BREATHING as his legs began to cramp while he held his crouching-pastor, hidden-criminal position longer than he thought possible. Realizing he couldn’t remain hiding there much longer, he strained to hear any sounds that hinted of someone who might discover him. He’d dared not look at his watch or anything else since he ducked behind the toolbox. He had been there a long time; too long. Now it was time to create the next phase of his plan. Resting on his knees, he looked up to see if he could spot any security cameras. He saw them carefully placed at various spots of the attraction. He was sure that some of them were merely placed strategically so they could be seen by the guests. They probably did not work and were nothing more than a deterrent to anyone who might try to execute a plan like the one Hawk was now living. He was just as certain that some of the security cameras did work. The problem was he had no way of knowing which ones. If indeed there was an active camera pointing in his general direction, it was unmonitored or he had gotten extremely lucky. He decided it was a little of both.

  The sudden click of a lock caused Hawk to tense with anticipation and dread. A cast member had opened a door with a keyed lock. He’d noticed that at the front and back of the attraction were two doors with no knobs, only locks that required a key to open them. His assumption was that these doors opened up to a hallway or working area behind the exhibits. He also had assumed that getting through these doors was going to be the way he’d get into Walt’s office—he just hadn’t figured out how. Now the door was open. A maintenance man walked into the attraction and past the animatronics exhibit, toward the front. After the man’s footsteps passed, Hawk straightened up behind the toolbox. He didn’t see the maintenance man and he now moved quietly back over the rail of the exhibit to the guest side. Easing through the open door, he pulled it snugly closed and moved into the backstage area of the One Man’s Dream set. Gingerly he stepped down the hallway as he tried to get some perspective on where he was. The door in Walt’s office had to open into a backstage area. In a matter of seconds he found himself looking at a door next to a window that had floodlights aimed at it. These lights created the outdoor light effect behind the closed blinds of the office. The interior of Walt’s office had to be on the other side of the door. Reaching down and grasping the handle of the door, he pushed down and released it.

  When the door opened, Hawk exhaled loudly. Once he entered the office, he could no longer hide; anyone walking by in the guest area of the attraction would see him. Resigned to the fact that it was now too late to worry about such things, he opened the door and stepped inside.

  Standing inside Walt’s office, he reverently closed the door. He found himself staring out into the exhibit where he had stood moments before gazing in through the window. Knowing he had to get started, he boldly walked to Walt’s side of the desk. He gripped the black leather of the seat back and rolled the chair out of his way, then crouched, peering under the desk. Much to his disappointment, there was not a drawer there. Rales had told Hawk to do the same thing that Walt had done. He took a seat in the chair and rolled it back under the desk just as if he were getting ready to do some work. His eyes rapidly danced over the surface of the desk. There was nothing that required a key to open. Hawk looked across the desk to the far wall and saw the plans, notes, and photographs on display. Swiveling to his left, he remembered the wooden box he had spied perched on the credenza behind the desk. The box sat below a picture of Walt and Roy Disney. He studied the box closely and saw, on the front of the box, there was a keyhole. Hawk thrust his body forward to lunge toward the box. The chair rocked backward. The unexpected motion of the chair threw him off balance and he stumbled forward to one knee. This action sent the chair rolling backward and clunking into the credenza. The noise was not loud but in the quietness of the office it was deafening. Certain that the racket would alert someone to his presence, Hawk turned his attention
away from the box and instead reclaimed the chair and attempted to place it back in its original position. Constantly looking back toward the window for any warning that someone might be approaching, he saw no one. The thought hit him that he had just sat in Walt Disney’s chair, behind Walt Disney’s desk, in Walt Disney’s office. Before he drifted too far away, his rational mind reminded him that he was going to go to jail if he got caught.

  Ripping his attention back to the box, he pulled the key out of his pocket and placed it against the opening on the front side. He moved it forward, but the key did not fit. He lifted the key in front of his face and examined it closely, then knelt and did the same to the keyhole. Repeating his attempt to insert the key into the lock, he felt the resistance of incompatibility. His key simply did not open the box. Looking to both sides of the credenza, he saw nothing else that held a lock. His mind raced, trying to figure out what to do next. He had his doubts that this was a wise thing to be doing, but those doubts had been eclipsed by the hope that an answer might be found inside this office.

  The murmuring of distant voices shattered his concentration. Beginning softly and growing in volume, the sound told him people were approaching on the other side of the glass window. He was momentarily immobilized by the fear of being discovered. This hesitation stole his chance to get safely back out the door he had entered through. Impulsively he ran toward the window itself and then veered off to the left side of the office. Slamming himself into the corner of the office, he was now to the side of the viewing glass. Positive he could be seen if someone looked closely, he stood perfectly still. The angle of his hiding place drew him out of the direct line of sight; he hoped that would be enough. Posing like a statue flat against the wall, Hawk knew that the attention of most people would be on the desk in the center of the room. Hopefully whoever was coming by would not glance into the office too closely and see him. Now the voices that had started in the distance were right there at the window. Hawk studied the floor in front of the viewing window and saw the distinct shadows of more than one person. These people were looking in the window at Walt’s office! From the rapport of the conversation, Hawk could tell that they were not there looking for him. While that thought brought some relief, it also meant that they were likely to spend a few minutes searching the office details and in the process catch sight of him. As terrible as that thought was, there was another realization that hit Hawk as he tried to disappear into the wall. He recognized one of the voices. He distinctly heard the voice of Kiran. She was talking to the people who were standing there looking in at the office, her tone similar to the one she’d used on the tour when he first met her the day before. Earlier in the afternoon when he’d made an excuse not to join her for dinner tonight, he had assumed she was not working today. Now she was here, just a few feet away, and he was hiding inside the office of Walt Disney.