It All Started...

by David W. Smith

  “This place hasn’t been visited in a long, long time.” Lance suddenly stopped moving again. “Uh, do you like spiders?”

  He could make out a soft chuckle behind him. “Why?”

  “No…,” she heard a loud smack on the wall as the light wavered, “…reason,” Lance finished. “I wonder if this stairway—and whatever’s at the top—is on any blueprints.” He had reached the top step. Here there was another small landing with a single door on the left. As Kimberly stepped up next to him, Lance softly knocked on the door, more to see how solid it was than from expecting anyone to answer. “Hey Walt...we’re home!” Lance called out in a loud whisper. His only reward was a light slap on the shoulder.

  “Shhh,” Kimberly giggled, still fearful that someone might hear them, even though they were probably in a section of Main Street that absolutely no one knew existed. And, with the finale of the firework show going on outside, he probably could have shouted at the top of his lungs and no one would have heard him.

  “Okay, okay. I’ll be good. This is a steel door, by the way. Almost broke my knuckles when I knocked.” The light worked its way around the door frame. “Hey, there’s another lock here. Well, lookie that!”

  Just above the round brass lock were the three letters that Kimberly and Lance immediately recognized—W E D

  “I would say we’re in the right place.” After all their searching, it was exciting to finally see the letters.

  Lance fished out the same key that opened the door at the bottom of the stairs. “For some reason, I didn’t expect another lock up here. Hope the same key opens it. Here, hold this.” He handed Kimberly the flashlight over his shoulder so she could shine it on the lock. “Well, sweetheart, this is it.” Before inserting the key, he turned to face Kimberly. It seemed like he wanted to tell her something poignant, but couldn’t quite figure out what to say. As they stood on the small landing, face to face, they could hear the final explosions of the fireworks die down outside. Within minutes, masses of people would stream down Main Street toward the exit gates. There were probably already people sitting in the chairs they had vacated moments earlier, watching the stream of humanity as they flowed toward the Park’s exit gates.

  “Wait.” Not knowing the reason for his silence, Kimberly stopped Lance when he turned away to aim the key at the lock. “This wouldn’t be a booby trap, would it?” The memory of the gas that came out of the Walt’s machine knocking Lance unconscious came to mind.

  “No way. Not at this point.” Lance sounded sure of himself, at the same time silently thinking that he hoped he was right. However, he did take an extra moment to have her shine the light over the edges of the door, looking for any telltale wires.

  As she watched the light play over the door, Kimberly had a sense of familiarity wash over her. When her light stopped on the deadbolt once again, it suddenly came to her. “Lance, wait a minute. I just remembered something.”

  All of their stopping and starting were beginning to make Lance anxious. “What? Anything wrong?”

  “No, no. I don’t think so.” The light suddenly aimed upward, toward the ceiling.

  “The lock is down here, sweetie.”

  He could hear the smile in her voice when she spoke. “Look up there. See that round disc? That’s a camera. This is that door on the monitor!”

  Lance had no idea what she meant. “What monitor?”

  “In Daddy’s War Room. I don’t know if you saw it or not, but there was one monitor that always showed a closed door. This is the door! It has to be. That’s why it looked familiar to me. Daddy kept watch on this room just like he did on Walt’s secret chamber.”

  Lance felt his heart rate speed up. “If you’re right, then this has to be it. You think?”

  The light aimed back at the deadbolt lock. “There’s only one way to find out.”

  Fitting the key into the lock, Lance had to apply some force to make it turn. They were both surprised when they heard what sounded like at least three heavy steel deadbolts retract. As they struggled to pull the steel door open, they could feel and hear the vacuum as if the room had been sealed for a long time.

  At first, their flashlight only illuminated the dust that slowly filtered down off the top and sides of the door frame. Kimberly immediately thought of pixie dust as the door swung open a little wider.

  Lance gave a final pull on the massive door to open it completely. As they stepped over the ribbed sill, their narrow beam of light revealed nothing that Lance or Kimberly could have possibly imagined.

  Like finding a long-lost Egyptian Pharaoh’s tomb, Kimberly and Lance gazed open-mouthed into the narrow but deceptively deep room. But, after seeing what it contained, it felt more like they had climbed the stairs of an old farm house and stumbled across Grandma’s attic—with its lifetime of memories salvaged from the ravages of time.

  The flashlight swung in a slow arc around the room. It revealed pictures hung over all the walls; chests and cabinets neatly lined the far wall, sheet-covered boxes and unidentified objects piled in front of the furniture. One shrouded item turned out to be a model of early Disneyland, at least six-feet square, that sat on a corner table enclosed within a dust-covered glass case. A number of audio-animatronic birds, presumably prototypes from the Enchanted Tiki Room, sat on their metal perches. At one time they had probably been covered with a protective sheet but it had slid off the display. Examining the birds, the beam of light revealed wires that extended out of the base of the perch to some sort of remote-control box. Lance immediately recognized one bird sitting alone on a perch as “Jose”. This red and orange parrot was the one that Walt Disney himself had operated in one of his Disneyland Television Specials as he demonstrated to the audience the realistic advances they had made in the field of robotics. Lance remembered reading that the Disney Archives had been in search of that first audio-animatronics bird, but had never been able to find its location. Lance now understood why.

  Feeling along the wall near the door where they still stood, he found a toggle that might be a light switch. He just hoped it was a light switch and not an alarm signal summoning another Guardian with a gun like Kimberly’s father had been. “Shine the light over here.”

  “Think it is a light switch?” Kimberly asked as the light swung over to the wall.

  “I’m guessing that.” Lance hesitated, his fingers waffling over the switch. “Should I? We don’t know for sure what will happen.”

  “Well, there aren’t any windows in the room, from what I could see with the flashlight. I think this is more like a vault than a room. What’ve we got to lose?”

  Lance thought about that and came up with a few things they could lose; their lives being one of them, even though that was, at this point, an unlikely scenario.

  Somewhat reluctantly, he pushed the old toggle switch up. Instead of a piercing alarm or red flashing security lights, a flicker of light was the only result. A pair of vintage light bulbs came to life, each in a protective fixture that resembled a kind of inverted brass funnel. There were two of them centered in the room’s ceiling. Both light bulbs came on and cast the room in relatively bright amber light. Hurriedly, they both scanned for windows again to make sure they hadn’t just inadvertently advertised the room’s existence to the outside world. Seeing none, as Kimberly had surmised, they heaved a sigh of relief and turned their fascinated attention to the contents.

  It was then the full magnitude of the room became clear to Lance and Kimberly. They stood in silent awe of the sights that surrounded them.

  It was a museum of everything Walt Disney.

  There were shelves lined with all sizes of books and what looked like photo albums. They could see boxes stacked neatly against the back wall, each labeled with faded black ink numbers that represented various years followed by short descriptions: Burbank Studio Office, Anaheim Facility, Florida EPCOT Ideas. There were other boxes with the names of Disney movies like Snow White, Mary Poppins, and Fantasia. A few boxes were labele
d as either Clothes or Hats.

  Lance felt like he had come upon the penultimate treasure trove of Disney memorabilia. Not wanting to open any of the boxes just yet, he could only imagine the things collected from each location or from each movie. The monetary value of such collectibles and memorabilia would be staggering.

  Near the center of the room sat a small, round wooden table. Sitting on a lace doily was a dusty glass dome, similar in size to what Lance remembered used to cover an old anniversary clock. His grandparents had owned one and he recalled that it kept time with a spinning weight on a metal wire that perpetually spun back and forth, over and over. Before he could wipe away the dust to see if it was a clock inside the glass dome, Kimberly called him over.

  “Lance, look over here.” The flashlight, unneeded now that they had plenty of light, was clicked off. She motioned him over to a pedestal standing near the entry door. Atop the small table was a thin book, like everything else in the room, covered in dust. Intrigued, Lance slowly lifted the journal. Tilting the one-inch thick, leather-bound book, Lance gently blew the majority of dust off the cover. The word Walt was embossed in black letters on the light-brown leather. Cracked with age and dry from lack of care, the book was fragile and obviously very old.

  “What is it?” Leaning close, Kimberly watched as Lance gently opened the book.

  “It looks like a journal, similar to the diary Adam had found in Walt’s apartment.”

  Lance opened to the first page as Kimberly read aloud the words:

  “Depending on who finds my little ‘home away from home,’ I hope for my sake, you will understand the purpose of this room and all that is in it.

  “I trust that someday I will be able to return to this room. I won’t know if I will be able to remember anything from my past. All that you see is here for one purpose: to help me know me. I’ve been told that, in theory, re-animation from a cryogenic state often is like being born again. I want to make sure that, if I need to, I can re-educate myself so I can, perhaps, continue with my dreams and not be totally unaware of my past.

  “First off, to whoever has managed to follow each of the clues I have left, let me thank you for being so diligent. I’m sure it wasn’t an easy task to solve each clue and follow each hint I left behind. With the help of my two Guardians, I was able to create the means in which I could be left undisturbed, hopefully until such time as doctors or the medical industry could cure my cancer. Chances are I won’t make it back. And, well, if that is the case, then so be it. It is hoped that people will remember me and those who helped me along the way. This room is a tribute to everyone who helped me bring to life all that I envisioned.

  “Actually, there is so much more that I was unable to accomplish; so many dreams left only as dreams. I hope that my Florida project gets completed some day. Now that was a vision!

  “I built Disneyland so that it would continue to grow and expand. As long as imagination is in the world, then indeed Disneyland will never be finished. There is a box in here—somewhere—with a lot of the new ideas I have for my Park. Maybe someone will be able to continue building some of these ideas.

  “In the meantime, I hope that you will be able to maintain this room for the purpose for which it was intended. The reason I made this quest for the Hidden Mickeys so intricate was because I didn’t want the world clawing at my personal things. I figured that any individual diligent enough to find this room would also be diligent enough to protect it for me.

  “Finally, I didn’t want this quest to end without a reward. Yes, there is something of great value that I want you to have. In the middle of the room you should find a magnificent diamond heart. It is under a glass enclosure. Beyond the value of the diamond itself, I think you will find it has a value far beyond money itself. I know it will provide for your future as it did for mine. You must remember, though, that how you achieve your future is up to you! This point was stressed to me and I cannot stress that enough.

  “In the meantime, feel free to look around. I don’t know if much here will have any value to anyone except me. Yet, if there is anything you see that you might like to keep as a personal memento of your search, please feel free. Just don’t take my hat! I’d really appreciate it if you could leave the rest of everything where I’ve put it, since it will help me someday, I hope.

  “Until we meet again, remember always to keep moving forward.

  “Walt Disney”

  Kimberly wiped a tear from her eye as they looked at each other and, as one they turned toward the center of the room.

  Lance used the sleeve of his jacket to wipe the heavy layer of dust off of the glass dome. Kneeling down, he and Kimberly looked inside. Hanging off of a Y-shaped brass stand was an antique-looking gold chain with the brilliant red, heart-shaped diamond that dangled several inches above the wooden base. The gem was backed by three small circlets of gold set in a very familiar shape. The simple, yet elegant setting looked to be very old. The chain itself was heavy yet beautiful with its intricate woven braid of gold. It connected to the pendant at the top of the golden ears. Lance thought perhaps they were looking at the very first Hidden Mickey.

  “This is incredible, Lance.” Even though they felt they were safe from discovery, Kimberly, stunned as she was, could only manage to whisper. “I’m almost afraid to touch it.”

  “Let me lift the dome off the base.” Lance put both hands around the glass sides and lifted straight up, careful not to hit the exquisite piece of jewelry. With care, he set the covering on the table next to its base, two handprints obvious of the glass.

  The two of them simply stared at the large diamond. Now free of the dome, they could see the fiery gem without the distortion of the glass and dust. Catching all the light in the room, a rainbow of sparkles shimmered off of the facets of the gem.

  With great care, Lance took hold of the chain and carefully lifted the pendant off its stand. He let it dangle from his fingers at eye level so Kimberly could examine it up close.

  As he turned the heavy piece back and forth, he noticed the gold setting and could only wonder. “Doesn’t that look like a hidden mickey that you’d find in the Park? Do you think Walt had this made? Wow, this red diamond is huge. Have you ever seen anything like it?” The stone looked to be about an inch wide and an inch tall.

  She could only shake her head because she was nearly speechless. Reaching out to touch the gemstone, she let the pendant lay flat in her hand as Lance held the chain, her fingers closing over the stone. “I’ve never even se….” Her sentence was cut short. In a mere split second, Kimberly felt as if she had fireworks going off in her head. The bright light expanded and extinguished, to be immediately followed by a vision. She was transfixed by the apparition.

  In that moment, Kimberly saw herself in a wedding dress. The scene instantly shifted to a beach surrounded by blue waters and swaying palm trees. Before she could blink, she was back at Disneyland, holding hands with a young, beautiful blond girl. Her own hair, she could see, was now gray as she walked arm in arm with someone…someone who had been seen in all the other images.

  That someone was Lance.

  “Kimberly! Kimberly!” Lance’s voice called out to her, but he sounded as if he was far away.

  At the familiar, comforting sound of his voice, her hand jerked and the diamond fell from her palm. She watched it sway back and forth on its chain as it hung from Lance’s fingertips.

  “You were saying something about the pendant and then you just stopped. Are you okay?”

  “Yes,” was her hesitant reply. With a tentative finger she reached to touch the red diamond again. Her mind filled with the unknown blond girl who looked to be around five years old. She jerked her hand back as if it was burned. Her eyes flew to Lance’s face, but she could only see concern there. He didn’t see it? How could he not see it? It was so real.… ”Yes, I’m fine. I think I just got some dust in my eyes or something. I sort of blanked out for a moment. Allergies…must be allergies to all this dust.�
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  For some reason, she was afraid to reveal what she thought she had just seen to Lance. She needed some time to ponder all that had just happened in her mind. “I think we need to leave.” Rubbing the chills on her arm, Kimberly could see Lance still stared at her.

  The worried look on his face was instantly replaced by an incredulous one. “What? But…but I want to look around. Look at all this stuff. This is fascinating!”

  Unable to meet his eyes, Kimberly found a small velvet box under the table where the pendant had been displayed. She reached down for the box. “Here, put the pendant in this.” Not wanting to touch it again, she held the box out to Lance. She watched him let the pendant drop into the box, the chain spilling from his fingers until it was all inside the velvet container. Kimberly then shut the lid with a decisive snap. “I think this needs to come with us.” Now that it was safely out of touch, she took the box from Lance and dropped it into her jacket’s pocket.

  As Lance looked around the room, he thought he understood what she meant, but wondered why she was acting oddly. “You’re right. This isn’t our room. It’s Walt’s. There’s nothing in here that we should disturb except this pendant. I think that was what Walt wanted to reward us—well, whoever found it—with.”

  “Yes.” Kimberly was distracted, her mind still trying to grasp the visions she had just seen. While they had been mere fleeting glimpses, they were the most clearly seen dreams she had ever had. They were so vivid, so precise—not abstract like a sleeping dream. The whole episode had to have taken place in only a second or two of time. Yet, she felt as though she had seen a lifetime pass before her eyes…her lifetime.

  “I think we should take the book and the pendant with us and leave the rest. We have the key. If we ever need to return, or if Walt needs to return, we can do just that.” Lance picked up the glass dome and placed it over the now empty display.