“I always sleep well here. I think it is partly due to sheer exhaustion.”
Hannah laughed in agreement, she had to admit, she was tired this morning from the busy day on her feet the day before.
“But I also think it is something like why little kids sleep so soundly. While I am here, I have not a care in the world. It is good to feel like that once in a while.”
They had arrived at the bag check booth, the only ones around with the exception of an older cast member who was busily cleaning the tables. Hannah and Daniel were quiet while the man went about his work. Before long a family with two little girls arrived, and then some more cast members to work different tables. Slowly but surely, more and more people joined the lines until they began to swell.
“Are Linda and the kids coming today?” Hannah asked. She wasn’t totally sure what the plans were, she only knew she wanted to be near Daniel.
“No, they are taking the day for the kids to swim at the hotel.”
“Oh, I didn’t really say goodbye.”
“No problem, it was late. They said to say goodbye to you though. The kids loved you. And Linda wanted me to especially thank you for being so good with them. They can be a handful at times.”
“Are you kidding? Those kids were great, and they put up with me! Please tell them I said it was nice to meet them.”
This sounded so formal to Hannah. She wasn’t used to small talk. She had never been very good with it, and she was completely out of practice with social niceties.
The man at the baggage check table saved her by saying that they could go through. Neither Daniel nor Hannah had any bags so they walked straight through and on to the gates. They were indeed the very first in line at gate number nine. The words “Magic Morning” were printed above their gate and about six or eight others. Just behind them came the family with the girls, who stood at the very next gate. More and more families hurried over until the gates all had someone in front of them and then people began to form lines behind them.
It wasn’t crowded, nowhere near the amount of people that had been in line the day before. Though, without the gates being opened yet, the lines were growing. There was still twenty minutes before the park officially opened, but there was a bustle on the inside of the gates where cast members were gathering for what looked to be a “meeting” prior to the park opening. A few came over to open their stands up, log onto the computers that allowed them to take tickets.
Hannah found that she and Daniel were not talking, but it was not an uncomfortable silence. There was just so much to take in.
Suddenly, the gates began to open a few at a time and the excitement of the crowd began to grow. She saw a cast member speak to the family who had been waiting just behind them at the baggage check and surprisingly this family was led into the park at about five minutes to seven.
“They get to open the park.” Daniel’s voice was close to Hannah’s ear, making her aware of his presence. “They always pick a family to do the countdown before they let people in. Once when I came here with my parents and sister and the kids, when they were much smaller, we got to do that. It is pretty fun.”
And sure enough, just as Daniel had described, just before seven o’clock a cast member greeted the crowd and introduced the Johnson family from Albuquerque and asked that they get help counting down from ten to one to open the best theme park in the world. Hannah found herself shouting out the numbers along with Daniel and the crowd of people behind them. When they all cheered “Let the magic begin!” Hannah paused, she wasn’t sure what to do.
Daniel gently nudged her from behind and she realized that patrons were streaming in through the turnstiles around her. Embarrassed, she handed her ticket to the cast member and then passed through, Daniel right behind her.
Families passed by them at a feverish pace heading into the park, but Daniel had taken her hand (much to her liking) and walked gently with her under the same tunnel he had led her through the day before. She was calmer this time, knowing that she was in capable hands, knowing what was on the other side. Hannah was able to take time to read the inscription above and look at the posters lining the tunnel. Out the other side they came to the same sight that greeted her from the day before. Today, Hannah’s eyes immediately looked up to begin to devour the sights around her.
They strolled down Main Street, a wide avenue today with the limited number of people around them. Hannah could more easily hear the music coming from the speakers, and she chuckled at its fast ragtime beat, which seemed to fit with the families who were walking at break neck speeds toward the castle to try to get somewhere first. Daniel didn’t see the need to hurry however, which was to Hannah’s liking. The place was beautiful this morning. It was unbelievably, pristine clean, despite the mass of people who had been here until midnight the night before. And, the same as the day before, it was as cheerful as could be.
They did make their way directly to and then through the castle to a new wondrous area they hadn’t been to the day before. “Fantasyland” is what the sign said; Hannah liked the sound of that. The other side of the castle hid a street that was lined with buildings of a different age; these less like Main Street’s America of the early 1900’s and more like some small European village in the 1600’s to 1800s. Once again, the place was nearly deserted, with a few straggling families standing here or there, but nothing like the crowds of the day before that she had seen streaming under the castle’s archway.
Daniel directed Hannah to a line, which she recognized as being for a ride based on the story Peter Pan. There were not very many people in front of them, yet they still wound their way between the ropes to where she could finally see what the ride was. Two person pirate ships that “flew” up and into the belly of the ride were being loaded by a single cast member.
When it was their time to get on, Daniel got in first and then Hannah. Once safety checked for proper seating with the lap bar tight across their laps, their ship took off along the track and what looked like through an open window high over house tops of nighttime London. Hannah was mesmerized, staring down at the tiny scene below. She forgot for just a moment that none of it was real.
As they exited the ride they turned directly to their right and entered the turnstile of another ride. This one had old fashioned cars which drove them through the interior of a hall through the streets of an old town and in and out of different situations. Though just a child’s ride, there were some scary scenes, but it fun as well. Hannah would have liked to have gotten back on the Peter Pan ride, but when they got off Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride – which was the name of the ride they were just on – they crossed the still empty avenue to the Snow White ride then the Pinocchio ride. Each ride told a different story in a different way. The details of the interiors were amazing.
They wandered to the middle of the children’s area and found themselves in front of a large carrousel. Although the ride was called “King Arthur’s Carrousel”, it reminded Hannah of Mary Poppins – one of the few Disney movies she actually knew from when she was a child. Julie Andrews was one of her mother’s favorite actresses and Hannah had seen the movie many times. The scene when they jumped into the chalk drawing and rode on the carrousel horses had always delighted her to no end.
“Can we?” she looked at Daniel with a child’s plea to her eyes.
“Of course!”
When the current music changed, the ride slowed to a stop and Daniel and Hannah searched the horses for their favorites. Hannah picked a white steed with flowers woven into its hard mane. The ride did not last long, but it made Hannah feel like a princess. She loved looking at the people as she twirled around them, feeling a connection she hadn’t felt before.
After the carrousel there was the Alice in Wonderland ride. They decided against the tea cups – spinning giant cups and saucers that looked like they would weaken even the toughest of stomachs. Finally, they climbed into small boats in Storybook Land and sailed with a few other passengers through
Monstro’s tail to a land of tiny houses from a variety of the same different stories they had just ridden the rides of. Hannah didn’t know most of the stories well, but she loved passing by the miniature houses and perfectly groomed tiny landscapes.
“When I was a little girl, I always wanted to live in a doll house,” she told Daniel. Then embarrassed, she added, “I’ve never told anyone that before.” She felt her cheeks redden.
“Pick out the house here that you want and I will buy it for you.” Daniel teased, but gently.
At the end of the ride she turned to Daniel. “Thank you. That was amazing. This is all amazing.”
She stopped herself. Here she was with a person she barely knew and she felt, well, she felt like she was falling in love with him. Was it him, or was it the fantasy land she found herself in?
Daniel beamed back at Hannah. “Thank you” he said simply, his voice full of sincerity. “Not everyone gets this place. I think it says a lot about you as a person that you do. I could never fall in love with someone who didn’t feel about Disney the way I do.”
Hannah was speechless, and breathless. Did he actually say the word love? It was ridiculous. She had met him less than two days ago, she had known him not quite forty eight hours, and her heart was screaming “this is it” to her. Hannah looked away, afraid to reveal what she was feeling within.
“What’s next? Are you hungry?” Daniel saved her from the moment with his offer. “The rest of the park is open now if you want to go do some of the same rides we did yesterday.”
Hannah’s answer came swift. “Indiana Jones!” She wanted to savor her father’s favorite one more time.
“Indiana it is then” Daniel took Hannah’s hand once more, an action that was now becoming familiar and comfortable, and they made their way through the increasing crowd towards Adventureland. Hannah looked back at the castle as they passed under its entrance, smiling at a memory she was sure would not leave her anytime soon.
The morning went quickly and as twelve o’clock drew nearer Hannah couldn’t help but start to feel the old anxiousness come back to her. She hadn’t really told Daniel her itinerary, and he hadn’t asked. She desperately didn’t want to ruin any of the magic by talking about it ending. But as much as she didn’t want it to, it was, and she had to face that.
At 11:00, as they were standing on Main Street taking in the sights while taking a breather, Hannah decided she had waited as late as possible. The proverbial clock would soon begin to toll.
“Daniel, I hate to say it…” she was finding it difficult to make herself speak, “but I actually have to get back to the hotel. A car will be picking me up before too long and I need to go collect my luggage.”
“Oh. I am sorry, I never even asked. I will gladly give you a ride to the airport. What time do you need to be there?”
“Thank you. That is really nice. But I have a car already arranged to pick me up and it is quite a drive to LAX from here.” Hannah suddenly realized that she had no idea where Daniel was from. It was as if she expected him to just live, well, here. “But thank you. I… I… again, I can’t thank you enough.”
“Well, at least let me walk you back to the hotel and wait with you.”
Hannah started to protest but Daniel interrupted her. “I plan on spending every last second I can with you if you don’t mind.”
Hannah allowed herself a smile. “I don’t mind!”
CHAPTER EIGHT
The flight and drive home were uneventful, in that they barely registered in Hannah’s consciousness. The focus was more on the last hour she spent with Daniel; waiting at the hotel until her ride arrived, and the gentle but meaningful kiss that he left on her lips before she got in the car and drove away.
Meaningful. She thought it was meaningful. It seemed full of meaning, full of possibilities to her. She had learned that Daniel lived in Palo Alto. Hannah didn’t know much about California but she gathered that this was an area much further north in California from Disneyland, roughly near San Francisco. He was someone higher up in the HP company, having something to do with globally training employees on all manner of the business from selling to working to trouble shooting the computer systems. Listening to Daniel speak, Hannah realized how little she knew about a piece of equipment that she used almost daily in her own career. Hannah’s laptop was her life, and yet she took it for granted. It was as magical a thing to her as Aladdin’s flying carpet, never questioning where it came from or how it worked, always trusting that it would take her exactly where she wanted to go.
Daniel had never been married, he had had a few serious relationships (of which Hannah didn’t really want to know anything of) but had never found the right person to be with. He said he was close to his family, if this was not obvious from the time he spent with his sister and her kids, who mostly lived near him in Northern California. They had something possibly to do with wineries, though Hannah couldn’t be sure. Actually, Hannah was finding it difficult to recall many of the facts of his life, she realized. He had told her so much about himself and she had hung on every word, and yet, as her plane flew further east it was as if the information was fading from her memory.
Or was it that the kiss kept interrupting her thoughts? Daniel had said, “I will see you again, soon” before leaning over, squeezing her hand one last time, and kissing her full on her lips. Hannah hadn’t kissed many boys in her life, and generally couldn’t remember what a kiss (other than the “kiss-kiss” Sheila often gave her when they departed) felt like. But this kiss she was sure she would never forget and instead of fading as the miles passed, it seemed to burn deeper and deeper into her consciousness.
Hannah’s phone began ringing as soon as she walked in her front door. She flipped it open holding her breath just a moment. She hated to say it, but she was disappointed to see it was Sheila.
“Well thank goodness” was how she was greeted. “I was afraid you were kidnapped and taken to South America someplace. Where have you been?”
Hannah realized she hadn’t spoken to Sheila since Saturday. It wasn’t so much that she spoke to Sheila every day on most occasions, or even weekly. Hannah truly kept to herself most of the time, unless there was some business that she needed to attend to. But Hannah also realized that Sheila knew how uncomfortable she was in going to California, or going anywhere for that matter. The fact that she hadn’t called Sheila except the one time must have been somewhat troubling.
“Oh I am so sorry, I know, I didn’t call you. I guess I was just busy….” She cut herself off and smiled at the memory of the past two days. How could she explain all that?
“It’s the guy isn’t it? I told you it was something. Ok spill it all, and I believe I said I wanted details!”
“’Spark’ I believe is what you said.” Hannah couldn’t believe what she had just said.
“Spark! Yes I want to hear the spark!”
“Sheila, I just walked in the door, I have my suitcase in my hand still, and I am not sure I have showered since yesterday. I am exhausted, and now that I am home, I am never letting you talk me into going anywhere ever again.” Hannah pretended to be angry, but she could barely disguise the giddiness in her voice.
“You aren’t getting out of it that easy. I will allow you your bath and a good night’s sleep, but if I don’t hear from you by eight tomorrow morning, you are finding yourself a new agent. Didn’t I tell you I am bored to death? I have done nothing for the past 72 hours while you have been gallivanting around with Prince Charming! What is wrong with the picture when you have a life and I don’t?”
Hannah didn’t take the quip personally. She didn’t have a life, she knew it. She hadn’t had a life for as long as Sheila had known her, as long as she could remember. It was perhaps what made her such a good client. She was always available to do the work, make the deadlines, complete the revisions.
Hannah lounged in the tub until the water cooled. Images flashed in her head of the last few days; from the first moment that sh
e looked into Daniel’s almond eyes to thoughts of walking under the tunnel for the first time (now not a scary memory at all, but one that began to be the entrance to the magic.) She drifted in and out of conflicting feelings. Now that the distance between them was so great, her belief of what had actually happened blurred. Despite Hannah’s witnessing her parents’ intense love for each other, or even Sheila’s and Steve’s playful fights but obvious deep connection, Hannah didn’t see this as a possibility for herself. Somehow she found little confidence that someone could put up with her idiosyncrasies for years and years. Daniel hardly knew her. He had seen her at a time when she really wasn’t herself. While she had been completely happy in the magical land, now that she was home again she felt the fear building the walls up once more.
“How did I ever do that?” Hannah was amazed with herself and smiled, but sadly. While she was comfortable in this life of hers, having stepped outside of it, even so briefly, gave her the sense of how other people lived. Free. But she didn’t trust that freedom, hadn’t experienced it long enough to decide she could live that life. It was with this uneasiness in her heart that she sent herself to a restless sleep in her own bed.
Hannah stepped out onto the balcony, lifting one foot at a time to the rail to tighten the laces of her running shoes, and breathed deeply. The rush of the early morning Colorado mountain air filled her lungs and she felt her security return. She knew this feeling. She could depend on it to get her through each day as it had since her parents’ death. Breathing in deeply again, she danced down the steps and up across the road to her running path up the mountain side. This would be here for her no matter what. It would be here for her forever without fail. This she could trust.
Despite her assuredness on her run, Hannah hesitated while letting herself back into her house, wondering at the worry she felt that Daniel wouldn’t have called, then elated to see the light indicating a message flashing on her phone. She held her breath while she dialed the voicemail number, sending up a curious plea that it would be him. Hannah was rewarded with his voice on the other end of the line.
On A Run Page 7