Disney After Dark (14 page)

Finn watched as the effect of those smiles registered in the frozen glass eyes of the dolls.

The expressions on the small faces changed from blood lust to surprise, then curiosity, and then outright affection.

The effect quickly spread through the faces of other dolls. Some stopped swimming. Others turned around.

“Keep smiling!” Finn said, through clenched teeth, his fake smile never faltering.

As the swimming dolls encountered the smiles, they fell back over the side of the boat, back into the water.

Finn and the others began clearing dolls out of the bottom of the boat. Inside the vast room, the song continued, over and over, over and over. Within a few minutes, the boat was cleared.

Dozens of dolls floated, lying still in the water.

It’s a Small World was going to be closed for “restoration” for quite some time.

The boat passed the giant sun at the end of the Americas scene.

Finn studied it carefully. He saw nothing that even remotely resembled a clue.

17

S
aturday midmorning found the sky without a cloud. A hot sun burned a yelow hole in the rich blue background, promising thunderstorms by late afternoon. The corner parking lot of Dangerous Dan’s Used Cars was marked by little red and yellow plastic flags on a string that ran from light pole to light pole, giving the school car wash the feel of a circus. A four-foot-long mock blimp and a big bunch of colorful balloons hovered fifty feet above the asphalt in an effort to draw attention.

That was also the job of the girls at the stoplight, who wore jean shorts over their bathing suits and held a sign proclaiming: GIRL SCOUT CAR WASH—$5.

Dan’s older-model Hyundais, Fords, and Buicks had been parked to the side, leaving a large area now covered with hoses, buckets, and lots of white foam, as skinny girls struggled to scrub, polish, and shine the cars that lined up for the five-dollar wash. Most of the time the process included a water fight, or a bucket brigade, the general chaos kept under control enough to be fun for all, even onlookers like Finn.

There was already a rumor going around that It’s a Small World had been vandalized the night before and would be closed for months. Police were investigating.

Finn stood away from all the water with his friend Dillard, who had taken the occasion to borrow one of his father’s Hawaiian shirts. Finn thought he looked pretty cool.

Finn spotted Jez as she left the collection table, where she’d been taking in the money. She kicked off her pair of shorts to reveal a dark purple one-piece Speedo and jumped into the middle of a water fight. Suds flew. The girls giggled and screamed. They hosed down a Volvo and sponged it clean. Now wet, with her hair slicked back, Jez looked over at Finn. She’d known he was there all along.

Noticing this, Dillard said, “You think she likes you?”

Finn said, “She’s a girl. No telling what she thinks.”

Dillard asked, “You think girls are smarter than us?”

“In some things.”

“Like what?”

“Like school stuff, and friendships, and family stuff.”

“So we’re better at…?” Dillard asked.

“Computer games. And farting,” Finn said, cracking up his friend.

“What’s so funny?” said a girl behind them.

It was Amanda, wearing a white T-shirt over a swimsuit and a pair of jean shorts. Finn said hi and she said hi back to both boys.

Dillard opened his mouth to say hello, but belched instead. He’d never been much around girls. Both boys laughed hard.

Amanda dug into the snug pocket of her jeans and pulled out several bills. She handed Dillard a dollar. “Hey, Dill,” she said, calculatingly coy, “would you mind getting me an orange soda?”

“No—no—no…” he stuttered. “Happy to.”

Dillard asked if Finn wanted anything and Finn passed him a dollar, asking for a cola, and thanking him. Dillard took off.

Amanda said, “The nearest orange soda is at the gas station, across the street. It’ll take him a while.”

“He’s not a servant, you know?” Finn said.

“I wanted to hear about It’s a Small World,” she said. “That
was
you guys, I assume.”

Finn said, “You can’t say anything to anyone.”

“You guys trashed the place?” She took a step back. “Why?”

“It wasn’t anything like that. It was—” He felt boxed in. “Impossible to explain.”

“Impossible because you
won’t
, you mean.”

“Impossible because you wouldn’t believe it.”

“That’s not true. Try me.”

Finn met eyes with her, considered if this was the right thing to do, and said, “The dolls came alive and…attacked us.”

Amanda looked stunned, but she did not make fun of him.

Finn returned his attention to the noisy girls and the car wash.

He pulled up the leg of his shorts and showed her where he’d been bitten. Amanda gasped.

“Finn…”

“I know,” he said. “It’s getting serious.”

“Getting?” she fired back sarcastically.

“And what’s worse, we didn’t find any clues to the fable.”

“You’ve got to stop this somehow, Finn. It’s too dangerous. It’s just stupid to continue.”

Finn said, “Wish I could, but I don’t think I can.”

“When I do things I shouldn’t do, my mother says I need a new pair of glasses—that I should be looking differently at the choices I make.”

A silent alarm went off in Finn’s head. He tuned out everything around him—everything but Amanda—and focused on her. “What did you just say?”

“You can’t go getting hurt. That’s just stupid.”

“About the glasses,” Finn said.

“Just some dumb thing my mother says.”

“Like a different perspective,” he said.

“Yeah.” Her concern mounted. “What if you just stayed up all night and didn’t go to sleep? By the time you did go to sleep the Magic Kingdom would be open. Even if you ended up there, it would be safer!”

“And this for the rest of my life, I suppose?” Finn asked. But his brain was working overtime.

A new pair of glasses.

“Hey, isn’t that guy a host?” Amanda asked.

Finn spotted Maybeck at about the same moment that Jez did. Maybeck went over to her, said something, and the two started laughing.

Jez took Maybeck by the arm and led him over to a lemonade stand. She snatched up two cups and offered him one.

Only then, as he peered over the rim of the paper cup, did Maybeck spot Finn and Amanda.

His eyes went wide with recognition, and he gave Finn a half wave. Maybeck took two steps toward Finn, but Jez caught him by the arm again, tipped his cup to make him finish his lemonade, and then said something that caused him to crumple up his cup and throw it at her. Jez did the same back at him. Within seconds it evolved into a water fight, with Maybeck at its center.

For some reason Finn wanted to be at the center of that battle. But his focus shifted past the water fight to the street and a car parked there.

Disguising the direction in which he was looking by pretending to scratch his head, Finn said,

“Check out that black four-wheel-drive that just pulled up to the curb.”

“Yeah?” Amanda said.

“Look closely. Tell me what you see.” Finn turned his back on the car completely now.

“Okay. A woman. A grown-up.”

“Her hands. On the wheel.”

“White gloves,” Amanda supplied. “That’s a little weird.”

“A little?”

“Yeah. White gloves are a little weird, even for Florida.”

“Like totally insane,” Finn observed. “It’s a zillion degrees out.”

“You’ve got to see this,” Amanda told him.

Finn glanced carefully over his shoulder. Goose-bumps raced up both arms. The driver rolled the passenger window down. Jez, who’d broken away from the water fight, walked stiffly toward the car and stepped up to the window. The driver leaned over to speak to her, giving Finn a better look. Her face appeared unnaturally pale. She reminded Finn of someone, but he couldn’t place her.

“Does she look familiar to you?”

“She looks scared,” Amanda said.

Finn had been looking at the driver. Only now did he focus on Jez and see her square posture and unexpressive face.

The driver had dark hair, pulled back sharply.

“I can think of one reason you might wear gloves and a ton of makeup,” Finn said dryly.

Amanda was off in her own world, still describing Jez. “She looks so unhappy.”

“You think that’s her mother?”

“No!” Amanda snapped sharply.

“It’s possible,” Finn said defensively.

“They don’t look too friendly to me,” Amanda said. “But you’re right about the gloves. What’s with that?”

Finn didn’t say what he was thinking: You might wear gloves and a lot of makeup if your skin was green.

18

T
hat same Saturday night, the DHIs met at the Indian Encampment across from Tom Sawyer Island. At eight o’clock the park was still open, so they waited for its closing by hiding invisibly inside the teepee.

Finn said, “We’ll make our move during the fireworks finale scheduled for eight-thirty. All eyes will be aimed at the sky.”

“Why not just wait until closing?” Charlene asked, never one for unnecessary adventure.

Philby answered, “After what happened at It’s a Small World, Disney announced that they’re increasing security. That means patrols, probably in pairs, maybe in golf carts. We can’t afford to get busted. So we cross the park while there are still guests inside. Seeing a DHI will make sense as long as it isn’t past closing.”

Finn asked the obvious. “How did those dolls come to life?”

Philby answered with a question. “How do
we
come to life?”

“We were
designed
to cross over, if you believe Wayne. The dolls most definitely were not designed to march around attacking people.”

Maybeck said, “A certain woman with a green face comes to mind. A spell?”

Finn found it odd but cool to be invisible, to be nothing but a voice. He wondered if Maybeck had gotten as good a look at Jez’s mom as he and Amanda had.

Philby announced, “We can talk about this later. For now, we’ll travel in groups, never all five of us together, in case we should get caught. And no matter what, we never go it alone. Two groups. Finn and me. The three of you.”

No one objected.

“Maybeck,” Finn said, “did you get them?”

“Yeah,” Maybeck answered. “Hang on. I left them by the door.”

Maybeck’s arm appeared by the teepee’s open door. He produced five pairs of plastic glasses. “I got here a little early,” he said.

“What’s with that?” Philby asked.

Finn explained, “Walt’s comment to Wayne. And then something a friend of mine said about perspective.”

“I don’t get it,” Charlene said.

“As I recall, Walt’s exact words to Wayne were: ‘I have plans for this place that should put things into perspective.'”

Finn explained, “In the late fifties and sixties, 3-D movies were all the rage. Walt was an illustrator and moviemaker. He would have known all about perspective. These days the 3-D

movies are some of the coolest things in the parks. I think Walt mentioned it to Wayne for a reason, and Wayne and the others never picked up on it. Perspective; 3-D. You have to wear special glasses. That’s why Maybeck and the girls are returning to It’s a Small World tonight.”

“What?” Charlene said.

“We missed the clue,” Finn explained. “We should have found something. Those dolls did not want us in there—or maybe they wanted our attention on them and not the scenery. What if we weren’t looking from the right
perspective
?”

Philby asked, “You think the glasses are the answer?”

“Philby and I are going to take the next clue—clouds—while you guys are at It’s a Small World checking out the Mayan sun, this time with glasses.”

“Isn’t going back there a little risky?” Charlene asked nervously.

Maybeck said, “It’s the last place they’ll look. Lightning doesn’t strike twice, and al that.”

A coil of wind swirled outside of the teepee, tossing up dust. It quieted the group. They waited a minute or more to feel a chil or see Maleficent, but there was nothing.

Charlene asked, “What do you suppose happens to us back home in bed if we get busted on this side?”