by Peggy Dulle
Kenny laughed. “He doesn’t understand what he is asking for. Stretch is exhausting.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t know what to do. If we don’t make a decision quickly, I will be back at school and then nothing can happen until next summer. I won’t leave my kids in the middle of the year.”
“Then we need a plan to introduce him to Stretch and for him to want Stretch to go away for a while.”
“How am I going to do that?”
A long beat of silence.
“Kenny, are you still there?”
“Just thinking,” then he laughed, low and deep. “Oh, I’ve got it. Has the man ever been to Disneyland with you?”
“No.”
“Call him up and take him. I guarantee after three days, maybe two, he’ll be begging you to come back, get married, and stay as Liza.”
“Why? I’m not that bad at Disneyland.”
“Trust me, Stretch. It should do the trick.”
“Okay, I’ll give him a call.”
“I’ll see you in a few weeks.” Kenny said.
“You better,” I told him, hung up and dialed Tom’s number.
He answered on the second ring, “Hi, Liza. How are you today?”
“I’m fine. Do you have a few days still left of your vacation?”
“Yeah, I have some. Why?”
“I’m thinking about going to Disneyland. Would you like to come?”
“Disneyland? Really?”
“Yes.”
“I haven’t been there in years.”
“It’s been more recent for me,” I told him, leaving out the fact that I bought a season pass every year.
“Okay, sure. It’s Friday, so if we leave tomorrow will we be back by Sunday night?”
“No, we’ll spend three days in Disneyland and then drive back.”
“Okay, I’ll move some meetings to later in the week. I’ll be there tomorrow morning. It will be fun. Will we leave right away or the next day?”
“Oh, we’ll leave as soon as you get here.”
“What about a place to stay?”
“I’ll take care of it.”
“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I hung up and quickly dialed the Copacabana – my favorite motel at Disneyland. It was across the street, right outside the front gate. No waiting for a shuttle for us. We could just walk to the park. I got a room for three nights. Then I made a call to the Disney Dining Line. The only reservation I could get for the Blue Bayou was for 7:00 pm on Monday. That wasn’t unusual since I was calling just a few days before we’d be there.
Those two things done, I needed to pack. I had used my suitcase to bring home the end of the year gifts from my class. I had gotten lots of cards from kids and parents, chocolate covered cherries, two candles, and a beautiful bracelet. I dumped the contents onto the desk in my spare room, except the chocolate, which I put in the refrigerator. I wasn’t leaving my air conditioning on and it would be a melted mess when I got home.
I took the suitcase into my bedroom to pack. I put in good shoes because we will be doing lots of walking, and my lanyard with its Mary Poppins pins, and my Disney Annual Pass tucked into the pocket at the end. I was ready – now, I just needed to wait for Tom. I didn’t sleep well that night because I was so excited to be going to Disneyland again. I love that place! And being there with Tom would make it even better. I have no idea what Kenny is talking about. But he seems to think that spending time with me in Disneyland will fix my ‘I want to know Stretch’ problem. I hope he’s right.
Next I called Justin.
“Hey, Teach,” Justin answered. “Do we have a new case? I’m bored to death!”
Justin was talking about my last several cases. In the first case I got a wrong date on my computer, researched it, tangled with a crazy clown organization that specialized in mind-controlling drugs, pornography and illegal adoptions but I also found Jessie, a missing child that I had gone there to rescue. Then another wrong date led me to a town involved in an eating contest, drug smuggling and murder. My third adventure was more personal. I enjoyed a Mexican cruise with Tom. He asked me to marry him and I found the people who murdered my mom. The last case sent us up north to a rodeo town. I saved the life of an entire family, Tom arrested my dad, and we started the on-again, off-again ring thing. Justin helped in all these cases. He is a wiz at the computer and he did all the research. I couldn’t have solved them without him.
“No, I’m afraid not, Justin. Tom and I are going to Disneyland and I wondered if you’d watch Shelby for me.”
“Of course, you know my mom loves that dog of yours. I’ll come by now and get her since you are probably headed to LA at the crack of dawn tomorrow.”
“I have to wait until Tom gets here.”
“Does he realize how much you love Disneyland?”
“He will soon,” I told him.
Five minutes later I heard the horn of Justin’s wheelchair at my front door. Justin was in a soccer accident when he was thirteen and is paralyzed from the waist down but he doesn’t let it slow him down. He graduated from high school a few months ago and is looking forward to going to college. He got three acceptance letters, one from the University of California at Berkeley, one from Stanford, and one from the University of California at Davis. He chose Berkeley but still is undecided on his major. I still think he needs to go into computers since he is a techno-wizard, but he says that’s too much like fun.
When I opened the door, Justin was just setting the two triangular blocks on my steps so he could roll in.
“Hey, Teach.”
Shelby came barking and running in from the backyard and went directly to him. He petted her and she continued to bark.
“Quiet, Shelby,” I told her.
“I think she’s blind, Teach. Every time I try to throw a treat to her, it usually hits her on the forehead and she’s got to use her nose to go and find it.”
“Well, she’s getting old.”
“How old is she?” Justin asked.
“I have no idea. The vet says she was probably seven or eight when she wandered into my garage, so that would make her twelve or thirteen.”
“Kind of old for a medium sized dog, huh?”
“Not so much, but I don’t think she had a very good life before she started living here, so that’s going to take its toll on her body, too.”
Justin quickly changed the subject. He didn’t want to think about the day that Shelby might die – neither did I. “Have you checked your computer every day? I’m ready for a new case.”
“Justin, there have been no computer date problems.”
“No notes from the Library of Congress?” This is the way I got involved in the last case. I received a note about a family that would be murdered several months in the future. It was weird, but it all worked out and the family is fine.
“Nope, nothing.”
His chest deflated.
“Where’s Veronica?” She was Justin’s current girlfriend. Surely she could keep him amused.
“Her family went on their annual two-week campout. They invited me, but I didn’t want to go.”
“Why not?” I asked.
Justin slapped the arms of his wheelchair. “Uneven dirt ground and this chair just don’t go together. Her family likes to go hiking through the roughest terrain they can find.”
“I’m sure they make the trails wheelchair accessible, Justin.”
“They don’t stay on the trails and I would just slow them down. Besides I’d rather stay at a hotel than sleep in a tent.”
“What about Veronica? Does she like camping?”
“Not really but she figures this is the last year she’ll go and so she wanted to make her mom and dad happy.”
“That’s right she’s going away to school.”
“Yeah, she starts in the fall at the University of the Pacific in Stockton. She wants to be a music teacher.”
“How are you going to deal with a long distance relatio
nship?”
“I’ve got my car and she’s got hers. We figure we’ll do the weekend hop back and forth. Stockton is not that far from here. It worked okay for you and the chief.”
I nodded, not wanting to discourage Justin. It did work but it wasn’t easy.
Justin left a few minutes later with Shelby trailing behind him. I reheated some left-over pizza and went to bed early. I wanted to be well rested for the next few days.
I woke up at five in the morning and called Tom.
“Are you on your way?”
“What?” he asked, his voice full of sleep.
“Oh, did I wake you?”
“Yes, and I guess I am on my way in a few minutes.”
“Perfect, I’ll see you when you get here.”
Then I paced until I heard his truck in my driveway. I took several long steady breaths and waited for him to come to the door.
When he knocked I swung it open and handed him my suitcase.
“Can I go to the bathroom first?” he asked.
“Of course, I just want to get on the road. Even though it’s Saturday, evening traffic might still be bad in LA.”
“Traffic in LA is twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. I’ve got time to go to the bathroom.”
“Okay. I’ll just put my suitcase in your truck. Lock up when you come out.”
A few minutes later we were on the road. Tom’s radio was set on a country-western station and he sang along as we drove. The man’s voice was beautiful, so it was like being at a live concert without all that aggravating clapping and screaming. It was an uneventful drive until we got into LA, where I heard more cuss words than ever out of Tom’s mouth. I just ignored it all because with each mile we were closer to the Happiest Place on Earth.
“Where are we staying?” Tom asked when we took the exit for Disneyland.
“At the Copacabana. It’s across the street from the entrance to the park.”
“Oh, that’s great. Last time I was here we were several miles away and needed to take a shuttle back and forth. If we can walk, we can take breaks and go back to the hotel to rest.”
I ignored the comment. Why would someone want to take a break when they are in Disneyland?
After we checked in, got our room, and settled in, Tom asked, “I need to get my tickets for the park.”
“I already got yours online yesterday,” I told him.
“Thanks. How many days?”
“I bought you a three-day hopper pass. I figured we’d go in tonight, walk around and see Fantasmic, World of Color, and enjoy the fireworks. I also pre-ordered a picnic dinner online so we can get a ticket that gets us a spot in the World of Color viewing area. Then tomorrow we can go on some rides.”
“That sounds great.” Tom stood.
Tom put my suitcase on the bed and opened it for me. He knew I liked to unpack, putting my clothes in a drawer rather than living out of a suitcase, but this was Disneyland, I didn’t have time for this. I took a deep breath and began removing the clothes. Tom went around me to pick up his suitcase and dumped the contents of my suitcase onto the floor.
“Sorry Liza,” he said, picking up my clothes.
I threw the rest of the clothes into the case and said, “Let’s leave it. I’ll do it when we get back.”
“Okay,” he said. “Let’s go.”
I grabbed a sweater off the pile, even though it was late June and the weather was warm. You never knew how the weather would change when the sun went down and I didn’t want to come back to the hotel. In fact, I didn’t want to deal with the clothes when we got back late, either, so I zipped up the suitcase and put it next to the dresser. I’d unpack tomorrow.
Tom and I strolled arm and arm across the street and into Disneyland. We passed all the shuttle busses and picked up Tom’s ticket. Everything about Disneyland, the sights, smells, people rushing around, families smiling, kids laughing and crying, all wafted through my senses and lifted my spirits higher. It was better than any drug or alcohol in the world. I felt like the Grinch at the end of the story, my heart grew ten times as I experienced it. Disneyland just made me that happy.
“What’s first, Liza?” Tom asked.
“We can pick up our picnic dinners and then head over to the Fantasmic area.” I could send him to sit and wait for me to bring the picnic dinners but it was too soon to separate yet.
“What time does the show go on?”
“9:00 p.m.”
Tom glanced at his watch. “It’s only seven.”
“If you want to see the show, you have to go early. That is why I always go on the first night.”
“Okay.”
We headed over to California Adventure. I was surprised at the large number of people there but then remembered that Cars Land recently opened. It actually made California Adventure a busy place. We needed to go to the Sonoma Terrace at Golden Vine Winery to pick up our dinners.
“They serve wine in Disneyland?” Tom asked.
“Sure, do you want some?” I asked.
“No, I’m fine. There just seems something wrong with serving alcohol with so many kids around.”
“Then stay away from Downtown Disney. You can get everything from a dry martini to a shot of the best tequila,” I told him.
When I handed Tom his dinner, he asked, “How much did you pay for this?”
“It’s better not to ask,” I told him. We left California Adventure and walked over to the main park.
I grabbed Tom’s hand and we walked down Main Street. I pointed to the Carnation Café and said, “That’s where we’ll have breakfast tomorrow. They used to make the best croissant Benedict and cinnamon roll French toast but they changed their menu a few years ago. But the Mickey-shaped waffles, apple pancakes, Café Scramble, omelet and frittata are very good. I used to always get the croissant Benedict, but now I enjoy the waffles. You can have whatever you think you would like.”
“You seem to know what you are doing. I’ll follow your lead.” Tom smiled, squeezing my hand as we continued down Main Street.
It was packed, as it is most days during the summer. Most people can’t stand the crowds, I relish them. If you know how to work the system, you can maneuver quite effectively and still enjoy all that Disneyland has to offer.
We found a place in the sitting area in New Orleans Square for Fantasmic and sat down. Tom finished his chicken, coleslaw, potato salad, and miniscule apple pie in just a few minutes. I knew it wasn’t enough food for him but knew it would give me the perfect excuse to let him sit while I got some things I needed.
“I’m going to walk over and go into one of the stores. Can I pick you up something more to eat?”
“I’ll go with you.” Tom started to rise.
“No, you stay here. We’ll lose our place if you move.”
Tom frowned.
“It’s fine. I need to go to the bathroom anyway.”
Tom shrugged. “Okay.”
I gave him a quick kiss and slowly got up, even though every muscle in my body wanted to run, run, run – my typical speed at Disneyland. I went into the store near Pirates of the Caribbean and bought one of the starter pin sets. I’d use them to trade if I saw any Mary Poppins pins on the staff members’ lanyards. Then I went into the Royal Street Veranda and got a bowl of clam chowder for Tom. That should finish off his meal nicely. On the way back I stopped four cast members and looked at their pins but nobody had any that I wanted. Mary Poppins pins are quite rare, so I am happy if I can get even one new one from each trip to Disneyland.
The crowd was doubled in size when I got back to Tom even though I hadn’t really been gone that long. People were starting to maneuver closer to each other; jostling to make space for the people they were saving spaces for, just as I had Tom save me a spot. Everyone did it, but it didn’t stop the angry glares that some people were giving each other.
“Wow. The people really started coming when you left. I’m glad I didn’t go with you or we’d be ten rows back by n
ow.” Tom slid over and made room for me to sit next to him.
I smiled and handed him his soup.
“Thanks,” he said and quickly opened the container and started eating.
Tom likes large, several-course meals, which I enjoy, too. But when I am at Disneyland, I make sure I have a great breakfast each morning at the Café and dinner once at Blue Bayou, but other than that I just snack when I can. You have to eat based on the rides, your Fast Passes, and the crowds.
“How long is this show?” Tom asked when he finished his soup.
“It’s about twenty minutes.”
“Then what?”
“We’ll walk back to Main Street and stand with the crowds to watch the fireworks.”
“We have to stand?” Tom frowned.
“We’ll get trampled if we sit down and we won’t be able to go early enough to get one of the park bench seats around the square.”
“Okay,” he said. “You seem to know exactly what you’re doing.”
While we waited, I people-watched and Tom took a nap. That man amazed me – he could sleep anywhere. Me, I have too many requirements – dark, warm, lying down flat. I think he could sleep standing on his head in the middle of a parade.
Thirty minutes later, the show started. I didn’t have to wake Tom up; the sounds from the show did that for me.
“What?” Tom jolted awake.
I patted his hand. “The show is starting.”
He blinked himself awake and we watched Fantasmic. I usually catch glimpses of it as I pass by going from Pirates of the Caribbean or Haunted Mansion to the Indiana Jones ride. It was nice to enjoy it again actually sitting down.
When the Evil Queen from Snow White showed up, the little girl next to us started to cry. She must have been only five years old and was dressed as Belle, in her yellow gown with her hair braided into pigtails and then piled on top of her head with a tiara. Her mother tried to get her to stop, but she was terrified. Tom leaned over and spoke to the girl, “I’m a cop and I’ll keep you safe. I bet Mickey will take care of her, just you wait, okay?”
She nodded her head between tears and the mother mouthed, “thank you” to Tom.
As the evil part of the show continued, with Ursula from The Little Mermaid, the eels, and skeletons, the little girl moved closer to Tom. When Mickey showed up to battle Maleficent, the little girl screamed and pointed, “There’s Mickey!”