Disney after Dark

“Excuse me?”

“I assumed that you’d question this—that’s only natural—but ultimately there’s only one explanation, isn’t there?”

“Is there?” Fi

“The other ones I wasn’t so sure about. But you, Fi

Fi

“What other ones?” Fi

Wayne said nothing as he stood and walked up Main Street, past the shops and toward the castle. Fi

The castle rose majestically into the night sky.

“What time is it?” Wayne asked.

As Fi

“What’s going on?” Fi

Wayne sounded critical as he said, “Figure it out.” He then reached into his pocket and removed what looked like a remote control for a car: a small black plastic fob with a single red button. It looked like a garage-door opener.

“What’s with that thing?” Fi

“This button will send you back.”

“Back where?” Fi

Then his other arm. He looked down at his legs. His whole body was glowing and vaguely translucent.

“Back to bed,” Wayne answered.

“So it is a dream? I thought so.”

“It’s not a dream.”

Fi

“What?” Wayne asked excitedly.

“Nothing,” Fi

“You saw something!” he practically shouted into Fi

Wayne leaped up, suddenly years younger. He pulled Fi

“You saw something!” he thundered.

“Hey! What’s the big deal?”

“Tell me what you saw.”

“You saw it too!” Fi

“Which character?”

Fi

He was clearly playing some kind of game, making Fi

“Which character did you see?” Fi

“You want me to push this button?” Wayne threatened.

Did he? Fi

He glanced around at the sound of footsteps. Goofy went tearing past them, not thirty feet away, and headed into Frontierland.

Wayne never moved. Never looked in Goofy’s direction.

“You’re playing head games with me,” Fi

“Am I?”

“Goofy,” Fi

“Are you asking me if I’m goofy? I’ve been called worse.” Wayne studied Fi

Maybe Wayne needed a hearing aid—he seemed prone to fits of shouting.

Fi

Wayne probably couldn’t hear all that well. He obviously hadn’t heard Goofy’s footsteps, because he hadn’t turned toward the sound.

Fi

“You saw Chip and Dale?” He made it sound like Fi

“I, ah…This is getting a little weird. I think I want to go back now.” Fi

“I’ll push the button, if you like. But I have to warn you….” Wayne fiddled with the nametag pi

“Warn me about what?”

“What you’ll be missing. The park after dark. Basically all to yourself. The attractions operate day and night. Not many people know that.”

“Now I know I’m dreaming.”

“But you aren’t,” Wayne explained. “Are you forgetting your arm?”

Fi

“Like you’re glowing,” Wayne said in an all-knowing, I-told-you-so tone of voice.

“Am I?”

“What might account for that?” Wayne inquired.

Fi

“I give up,” he said.

“No, you don’t,” Wayne protested. “You never would have been chosen for this if you were the kind who gives up on things. You’re a finisher, Fi

Stu

“Who are you?” Fi

“I’m Wayne. I work here. I was one of the first people hired by Walt Disney to imagine this park. The rides, the attractions. They call us Imagineers.”

“You knew Walt Disney?” Fi

“He was my boss, you might say. At any rate, he’s the reason I’m here. The reason you’re here.”

“Me?”

“I know this can’t be easy.”

“It’s a dream,” Fi

“No, it’s not a dream,” Wayne said. “Take a look at the moon.” Fi

Fi

“When you wake up—when you think you wake up—take a look out the window. You’ll see the same moon, and you’ll know.”

“Know what?” Fi

“That you were here. Sitting here in Disney World with an old guy named Wayne.”

“You’re telling me this isn’t a dream?” Fi

“We’ve got a problem. A big problem. A problem that affects not only the park, but the world outside the park. We call them the Overtakers.”

“The what?” Fi

Wayne said urgently, “You need to contact the other hosts. All four. Arrange to meet them here at the same time. That will mean all of you going to bed, going to sleep, fairly close to the same time. Within a half hour of one another. Tell them that. That should work, I think.”

“What are you talking about?”

“There’s a fable, a story, a puzzle of sorts that was left in case of a problem like this. It’s called the Stonecutter’s Quill.”

“A problem like what?” Fi

Just then, Tom Sawyer came out of Frontierland and headed up a long ramp into the castle.

Is that really the Tom Sawyer? Fi

Wayne said, “The puzzle has to be solved to be understood. It has to be understood to be of any use to us.” He paused and looked over at Fi