They all heard the blast of the stream whistle signaling that the Mark Twain was pulling away from the dock. The ship and all her passengers would be floating by their location within minutes.
Wolf turned to the angry blue eyes peering out of the black mask. “Rose, please trust us. I know you don’t want to go back to the moat, but it’s our only option right now.”
She hissed at him and backed closer to the little cabin. This had been her “home” for quite a few years and she didn’t want to leave it—whether it was real or not.
Wolf glanced over at Wals and signaled him to jump into the fray and help. He could see the look of loss in Wals’ eyes and didn’t have time to deal with that, too. “Wals, just talk to her. She trusts you.”
It was difficult for Wals to relate to the swan as he had done with the warm, loving woman. But, he knew Wolf was right. They were running out of time. Squatting down and holding out his arms, he looked directly into the swan’s eyes. “Rose.”
Hearing recorded spiel from the Mark Twain getting louder, Rose knew she had to trust them. She rushed into Wals’ open arms and closed her eyes as his arms embraced her, and let the beat of his heart comfort her. “It’ll be all right,” he whispered to her. “I love you, Rose...and I’ll keep my promises.”
When Wals picked up Rose to carry her to the canoe, his fingers brushed against the gold chain that still hung from her slender neck. The pendant itself was buried in the white plumage of her breast. She angrily squawked when he took the gemstone from her, almost beating him with her wings.
“I’m sorry, Rose, but I have to keep it for now. It might slip off in Swan Lake, or the handler might see it.” As Wolf pushed the canoe into the River, he looked into her accusing eyes and felt contrite. “I’m sorry,” he repeated sincerely. “I will give it back to you. That, too, is a promise.” She stared steadily into his eyes. “I promise! Just as soon as we figure out how to get you back where you rightly belong. Okay?”
She tilted her head and those small blue eyes swept over to Wolf, who guided the canoe as close to the shoreline as he could to remain unseen by the passengers on the Mark Twain. His plan was to stop at the Mark Twain dock, quickly pull the canoe out of the water, and stash it behind the Columbia’s rolling gangplank. Both he and Wals were in costume, so, if questioned, he would just tell inquisitive guests—or cast members—that they were returning the swan to the Castle. He wasn’t sure what he’d tell them if they questioned Wals’ tarnished sword. A security guard and a canoe guide shouldn’t be toting around a sword…. Wolf growled low in his throat and then realized Rose was still staring at him. She seemed to be either asking his opinion or telling him to make Wals give it back.
“Don’t worry, Rose. If he doesn’t do as he says, I’ll turn back into a wolf and bite him.”
Content, she settled in the middle of Wals’ lap. He now saw she wasn’t going to jump out of the canoe and appeared willing to cooperate—well, as cooperative as any swan could be. Grabbing up the second paddle, he gave Wolf some much-needed assistance in getting them quickly around the Island. Between strokes, Rose would gently peck his arm.
“Yeah, I heard him.” Wals sighed. He hoped Wolf had been kidding. He wasn’t entirely sure at this point.
Once Rose was finally swimming peacefully, if not contentedly, in the moat around Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, the men headed for the cast member changing room and their lockers. When Wolf and Wals were out of sight, Disneyland’s Animal Handler, Merri, appeared on the side of Swan Lake. On seeing her, Rose gave a happy whistle and almost ran across the water to greet her.
Merri leaned down to give Rose a hug. “Oh, my darling girl is back! You’ve been gone for such a long time. Are you all right?” Holding Rose’s head, she looked deep into her eyes.
Rose shivered all over, eyes shining with emotion, as she excitedly tried to tell Merri what had happened. Disheartened when her words came out as whistles and grunts, she looked up at Merri, as if pleading with her.
“There, there, child. It’s all right. You can tell Merriweather all about it late.,” As Merri crooned to the swan, she stroked the elegant white head as it leaned against her comforting bosom. “We’ll have a lot to talk about once we get back home. I’m sure your mother is very anxious about now.”
Rose gave a sigh and nestled against her dearest friend.
Merri settled onto the grass next to Rose. “I see the wolf was limping. You’re all right, aren’t you, dearie?” The elegant head dip with an answering yes. “That’s good. He must have taken his job as your Protector very seriously.” Merri’s tone took on an amused, scolding tone. “You always did like to run off, even as a youngster! Why, the three of us girls never could keep track of you. And even after you were sent here, why, it was the same thing! It took me quite a while to figure out you had wandered into Frontierland that night and got caught in the River when the wolf left.” She looked away and shook her head. “Three long years. When you ran off before, I would usually find you swimming in the Storybook Land Canal. You always seemed fascinated by the little Cinderella’s Castle up on that hill. You know why now, don’t you?”
Rose nodded once and looked up at the pink elegance of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle above her.
“Yes, that’s right.” Merriweather gave a contented sigh. “And it looks like we’ll finally be going home. Well, we will once those two men get it figured out.” Merri threw a look in the direction Wals and Wolf had gone. “Wish I could help them, but I can’t. Let’s just hope they do it soon. I sure hope the wolf picked a good friend to assist him.”
The swan gave a wistful sigh and longingly tried to get one last glimpse of Wals. Merri’s sharp eyes didn’t miss a thing. “Ah, so that’s how it is,” she murmured. “Well, well, time will tell, my dear, time will tell.”
Wals couldn’t wait to change out of his clothes. His old canoe costume had been sorely abused in the time he had been gone. Half of the fringe was missing from the legs, there were more rips and tears than he liked to remember, and he didn’t even want to contemplate how it smelled.
Wolf had just stashed the sword in Wals’ locker and came back to the lounge. Wals’ mind was so cluttered that he didn’t even seem to remember the sword, let alone the need get it out of sight. Fresh clothes were forgotten, however, as he and Wolf stared at the calendar on the wall.
“How can that be!?” Wals was the first to break the silence between them. “I was there for two years!” He turned to face Wolf, confused. “Wasn’t I?”
Wolf shook his head. He, too, was stunned as he thought back, trying to figure out the conundrum. “It’s hard to explain. You and I went back to different years. Even though we went through the vortex at the same time, you seemed to be there a year longer than I was….” He broke off at the perplexed looked on Wals’ face. “It’s different with each passage. Time must have speeded up back there. According to this calendar, we’ve only been gone two weeks.”
They were alone in the cast member lounge area. Different cast members had been coming and going as their shifts started. Outside of a few greetings, most of the men were unknown to Wals. And the rest were used to the idiosyncrasies of the silent security guard. “Do we still have jobs?” As he stared at the calendar, Wals began to worry about his position. “I had some vacation time coming, but I hadn’t scheduled it.”
Wolf nodded. “I made arrangements with Management when I came back for your nametag. I told them that we were on an extended camping trip. Seemed appropriate.” He gave Wals an amused grin, seeing no reason to mention Lance and Kimberly—whom Wals didn’t know. “You probably won’t get any more time off for a while, but you’re good for now.”
Wals didn’t even hear him. He looked a million miles away.
“What are you thinking?” After all they had experienced, Wolf was curious where Wals’ mind was taking him.
“What?” Wals head snapped over to face Wolf. “Oh. I was just thinking about Rose. You know—the way I knew her o
n the Island. If we figure out how to take her back to wherever she came from, will she be human again? Like Aurora is supposed to be? Could she possibly be an actual princess? If you can get her back to where she belongs, can we pick up where we left off? I…She and I…I mean, well, we were….” Wals broke off, frustrated, not wanting to voice his deep feelings for the woman.
Ah, so that’s what this is about. Wolf hid a smile and lowered his eyelids so Wals wouldn’t see the amusement. He knew he probably shouldn’t do this to Wals, but he couldn’t resist. “I wouldn’t count on it too highly, Wals. Since Rose was human when you saw her on the Island, she will be human in her right place in time. But I don’t know about you. You’ve made the jump twice now….”
Wals’ face went pale, his heart suddenly started pounding. “What do you mean!? I didn’t change before. I’m still me! How do you know?”
“There are ways we can tell.” Wolf took his thumb and first two fingers and stretched them out side to side as far as he could. He placed his middle finger next to Wals’ eye, his index finger near the ear, and his thumb on the vein in Wals’ neck. Eyes closed, he frowned as if in deep concentration, and then grunted and nodded wisely.
Not recognizing the Vulcan Mind Meld gesture from the Star Trek television series, Wals started to hyperventilate, his eyes wide.
Wolf dropped his hand. He smiled and said, “Just kidding.”
“Not funny, man! Seriously not funny!”
Wolf held himself back from chuckling out loud. “Sorry.”
On a break from the canoes, Wals went in search of Wolf. He found his friend, dressed in a freshly-pressed security uniform, staring out over the Frontierland River. Although it was unseen from their current location, Wals knew the Friendly Village was the focus of Wolf’s stare.
“Thinking about home?” Wals sat on one of the half-log benches on the empty Tom Sawyer’s Island Raft dock. The name of the dock had been changed to Pirate’s Lair on Tom Sawyer’s Island, but Wals never could seem to remember the change.
The intense blue eyes swung around at the sudden interruption and narrowed. He had been so lost in thought that he hadn’t heard Wals’ approach. “Home?” Wolf repeated, momentarily confused. He gave a shake of his head to clear his mind. “Not sure where ‘home’ really is.” The admission came with a frown. “Here? There? It gets a little confusing sometimes.”
Not having an answer for his friend, Wals brought up the reason for his interruption. “I have a question about all of this.” He gave a general wave of his hand in Wolf’s direction.
The serious expression on Wolf’s face was broken by a quick smile. “Only one?”
“Well, okay, I have a lot of questions,” Wals admitted, returning the grin. He looked around to make sure they were alone and wouldn’t be overheard. There were families and couples walking in every direction, but only a couple of women gave the handsome men a passing, second glance. Wals cleared his throat. He seemed unsure of how to word his question.
Wolf’s eyes half closed as he waited for whatever it was Wals wanted to ask. Wals saw the gesture and wondered, once again, how he could not have known the wolf had really been his friend. The similarities were now so obvious. And the realization that they were one and the same helped him to relax and frame his thoughts. “Okay,” he started again. He leaned forward as he began, his eagerness obvious in his voice. “I wondered about, you know, your transformation.” His voice lowered as he again looked around for any possible eavesdroppers.
Wolf smiled to himself. He had wondered how long it would take Wals to start on this.
Not seeing the amusement in his friend’s eyes, Wals kept talking. “How does it feel? Do you know when it is coming? You seemed to know when that whirlpool-thingy was going to open. Do you have a tail or something sometimes? Does it bother you when, like, the moon is full?” He broke off at the odd expression on Wolf’s face. He remembered insulting him somehow when he was a wolf. Did he just do it again? He was just being curious.
Torn between being amused and irritated, Wolf narrowed his eyes and allowed himself to growl deep in his chest. He was inwardly pleased to see the eager expression on Wals’ face fade.
Wals cleared his throat to cover his sudden nervousness. Perhaps his curiosity wasn’t such a good idea.
Wolf let him stew for a minute and then partially let him off the hook. “Considering you’ve seen me come back through the vortex a couple of times and have seen me arrive without any clothes on, did you see any tail?” He allowed the words to snap. He didn’t want Wals to feel free enough to continually question his transformation any time he felt like it. One question asked around the wrong person at the wrong time could be disastrous for them all.
“Uh, no.” Sheepish, Wals held up a restraining hand. “Sorry if I seem nosey, Wolf, but you have to agree that this is all pretty spectacular. You were a wolf and Rose is a swan. Anyone else we know? What about Trey? Is he a gazelle or something?”
Wolf let out a hearty laugh at that. “No, Trey is just Trey. A gazelle!” Trey wasn’t exactly fleet of foot as they had found out during the employees’ annual softball games.
Wals took the laugh as a good sign that he wasn’t going to get chewed out, literally. “Well, I just can’t get my head around the fact that Rose might really be Princess Aurora, you know, the real Sleeping Beauty. I mean, that’s only supposed to be a fairy tale, right? How can she possibly be a real person?”
Wolf gave his one-shoulder shrug. “Why not? Can’t you think of any other literary figure who was based on a real person? What about Count Dracula?”
Wals visibly paled, his eyes widened. “You know him?”
“We were college roommates,” Wolf shot back. He rolled his eyes at the look of horror that crossed Wals face. “Oh, for crying out loud, Wals! No, of course not! It was just an example….”
“A pretty dang lousy example, if you ask me.” Embarrassed he had just exposed a deep-seated childhood fear, Wals had to look away.
“Dracula was said to be based on Prince Vlad the Impaler of Romania—which may or may not be totally true. His reputation of atrocities against his enemies became a fable, a legend, that was possibly turned into Count Dracula in works of fiction.” Wolf stressed the word fiction because he could tell Wals still hadn’t recovered. “How can we say that the Sleeping Beauty wasn’t based on a real princess, whether or not all the circumstances revolving around her were real or imaginary?”
“I cannot believe you put Aurora and Count Dracula in the same category!”
Wolf shook his head and groaned. “I didn’t put them in the same category. It was just an example, but do you understand my point?” he asked slowly as if to a small child.
“Yeah.” Wals gave a brief nod, still irritated and not completely mollified. “I do. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. And,” he added as a peace offering, “I’ll try to hold off any more personal questions until you decide to tell me something more. I just wondered if there were any others like you out there.”
“Deal.” The mysterious Wolf was back as he turned to go back to work. “But, Wals,” he muttered quietly, “there are always others.” Before Wals could panic and interrupt again, he raised a silencing finger. “First and foremost, we need to figure out how to help Rose and get her back to her own rightful time.” His eyes narrowed. “Have you visited her today?”
Wals couldn’t meet Wolf’s accusing stare. He found it increasingly difficult to relate to the swan as he had done to the human. “No, I haven’t.”
Wolf wasn’t going to let him off easily. “Don’t forget your promise! She is still Rose—whatever form she is in. And she still needs our help. Swans mate for life, in case you didn’t know. If she has fallen for you—as you obviously have for her—if you let her down, she could die.”
There was no need for Wals to answer. Wolf was right. Checking his watch, he had to get back to the canoes. He would go see Rose after his shift. He knew Wolf would be there too.
Wolf arranged with Disneyland’s Animal Manager, Merri, to allow them access to the moat around Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. It was easier to accomplish than he had thought. With the exception of the huge horses that pulled the Main Street Trolleys, the general public was never allowed access to the Park’s animals. Unbeknownst to Wolf, Merri knew why the female swan was so attached to the two men. Plus, she knew any kind of diversion was good for the well-being of the animals. In general, it helped prevent them from getting bored and, Rose in particular, from getting despondent over how long it was taking the men to figure things out.
Wals and Wolf always visited Rose toward the back of the Swan Lake moat, near the west side exit of the Castle. Most of the Park’s guests didn’t use that quiet walkway as it ended at the little-used Plaza Gardens and Bandstand. Most didn’t know that if they kept walking on the path, they could go into the side entrance of Frontierland and not have to go on the busier Main Street at all.
After Rose had excitedly greeted them and chased away her confused swimming companion, she settled onto the grass next to Wals. He had brought her some French bread from New Orleans Square that she was quietly nibbling while she listened to the two men.
Wolf had started the update. “We have some news for you, Rose. You might not like it.”
Rose looked over at him, the bread forgotten. She tilted her head, telling him to continue.
“We found out through the cast member newsletter, The Disneyland Line, that there’s a major change coming to Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. If your real time period reacts like my other time period did, this might affect you. Remember when we found out that Tom Sawyer’s Island here would be taken over by pirates?”
The elegant white head dipped once.
Wolf! The Legend of Tom Sawyer's Island Page 32