November 11, 1955.

"Thank you for coming to see me, Mr. Mandrake," Walt Disney said. "Cigar?" he offered, holding out a box. "Can I offer you something to drink?"

"Just water," Mandrake the Magician said. "I wish to keep a clear mind as we discuss your problem."

"That sounds like a good idea, but I'm having a Scotch just the same. My nerves could use it."

"Let me venture a guess," Mandrake offered as Walt Disney walked behind his office wet bar. "This is about the newest cartoon character to come to life? Which one is he again...?"

"Yes, it is. Kat Nipp is his -- its name. I don't understand it. Mr. Terrific and Capt. Comet assured me that it was public belief in Mickey and Minnie Mouse that kept the spell animating them going. But Kat Nipp is a character we haven't used in a cartoon in 25
years! Most people have never even heard of it!"

"Then perhaps their understanding of the original spell was wrong. I do not believe either gentleman is an expert in magic, regardless of their extensive fields of knowledge."

"Exactly! That's why I need your help, Mandrake. I understand that the magic you use in your shows is real magic and that you use it to help people too."

"Indeed, but you have not yet explained for what purpose you need my magic. At least, not precisely."

"How's this for precise?" Disney said, becoming mad. "I want you to get rid of this Kat Nipp! He's a drunken slob! He might have been funny a quarter-century ago, but this company is more family-friendly now and this Kat Nipp is bad for its image!"

"I understand," Mandrake said, rising from his chair. His suit was still immaculately unwrinkled. He kept his top hat in hand. "I will investigate this matter, Mr. Disney, and give it just the attention it warrants." And with that, Mandrake somewhat abruptly left.

Mandrake stood on Main Street, Disneyland City, and hailed the horse-drawn streetcar. Although there were two lanes of traffic on Main Street for regular cars, those lanes were so prone to traffic jams that it had become a common occurrence for families to unload from the back of a vehicle, go see an attraction, and catch up to their driver just a few blocks ahead. The lanes blocked off for official Disneyland vehicles like the old-fashioned street cars fared a little better. Mandrake gave a ticket to the driver, sat down, and patiently waited as the streetcar passed block after block of Victorian-esque shop fronts. At last, the streetcar reached the "hub" at the north end of Main Street -- a traffic nightmare where vehicles waited endlessly to merge into the lanes they needed to exit into the district of their choice. Luckier pedestrians took bridges over the road to reach a noisy island where a band in a gazebo worked diligently at drowning out the sound of cars with fun-sounding music.

At last, Mandrake found himself at the boundary of the Frontierland District. He had to leave the horse-drawn streetcar as it slowly made its way back south and sought out a nearby Conestoga wagon. The traffic was only somewhat lessened here. The wagon made a leisurely pass of the Davy Crockett Museum and several blocks of faux-cowboy town retail stores. Mandrake absent-mindedly checked his pocket watch. As he saw the Golden Horseshoe Revue come into sight up the road, he knew that his Spell of Finding had led him to Kat Nipp in about the amount of time he'd expected.

The performers at the Golden Horseshoe Revue were playing to a packed house. Judy Marsh and Donald Novis were playing Slue Foot Sue and the MC. Donald was displaying his tenor voice in perfect form, with Traveling Salesman Wally Boag waiting backstage for his cue. Suddenly, the crowd gasped when Kat Nipp shoved Wally out of his way and sauntered out onto the stage. The crowd gasped to see this strange apparition -- a colorless, misshapen humanoid that only vaguely resembled a cat. He held an almost empty beer bottle in one hand. How much of its contents had been drank and how many had spilled out thanks to Kat Nipp's erratic movement was anyone's guess. Kat Nipp looked around, grimaced, and then hissed at the MC until his voice broke. The band slowly stopped playing, until the whole room fell quiet.

"No alcohol is served in this saloon," Slue Foot Sue said loudly. "We're underwritten by Pepsi-Cola."

The audience laughed at her joking reference to the obvious advertisements for Pepsi around the saloon and regained some of its former mirth, no doubt thinking this was all part of the show now. Indeed, Boag quickly joined Nipp on stage and began incorporating the animated character into his jokes before breaking into his song "What

Have We Here?" Mandrake, who had witnessed all this from the saloon entrance, thought the performers showed a gift for improvisation worthy of the best vaudevillians with whom he'd ever shared a stage. Nipp, for his part, didn't seem to understand that the audience was laughing at him instead of with him. He danced a little and wheezed like he was trying to laugh.

Mandrake could see that this Nipp character clearly represented a side of the Disney Company -- perhaps a side of Walt Disney himself -- that he wished to keep hidden, but could see that he posed little threat except as a disruptive influence. He had resolved to do nothing, until Nipp happened to notice his beer bottle was now empty. The cat-creature dashed the bottle against the stage in a fit, shook its fists, and howled. The cast froze, unsure of how to segue from this to another song. Mandrake had changed his mind again and was about to act when another player entered the stage.

The audience turned its attention to Mickey Mouse, dressed in drag as a harem girl. Mickey sauntered out onto the stage, looking more ridiculous the more sensually he tried to dance. The audience, already accustomed to the unexpected in this show, laughed and applauded. Even Nipp grew quiet and turned around to look. But how, Mandrake wondered, did Mickey Mouse even get there? Wasn't he being held at the Superhero Clubhouse? It seemed it was easy to underestimate living cartoons.

Mickey Mouse left the stage to a round of applause, only to return moments later in his shoes, shorts, and a black derby. He danced a jig to the amusement of the audience. Nip grinned and clapped. Still, as docile as the cartoon cat was now, it was perhaps just a matter of time until it became angered again and might hurt someone. Mandrake decided to cast another spell, a cantrip of the unmistakable odor of booze wafting past Nipp's head and heading for backstage. Sure enough, Nipp noticed the smell, ignored Mickey's show, and followed the aroma onto the stage and past it. Mandrake made his way around the room, slipping through an employee-only doorway so he could find his way backstage and intercept Nipp for a showdown.

"Turn and face me, cartoon," Mandrake said, almost ashamed of the silliness of it.

Nipp, failing to see any booze backstage, had been hissing at the stage hands and turned angrily on Mandrake.

Mandrake waited patiently until Nipp's gaze met his, then he held the cat-creature's eyes riveted to him with a powerful stare. "You are in my power," Mandrake said. "You cannot move. You are frozen! Now..." he continued to say outloud to himself, "let us see what I can divine of the spells that hold you together..."

As Mandrake drew closer and stared intently at the unmoving Kat Nipp, Mickey Mouse came offstage and tossed his derby hat off. He produced a pair of white gloves and slipped them on his bare hands, perhaps as part of his next costume.

Mandrake glanced over at Mickey Mouse with suddenly saddened eyes. "Ah...poor little Mickey. I see you are bound up in the same spell that gives your antagonist here 'life.' To end his, as I had considered doing, may cause harm to yours. And how could I do that to a fellow stage performer and keep my honor?" he said with the return of his grin and happier eyes.

Mickey Mouse, largely ignoring what was being said, scurried about and somehow found a long-haired wig that was as nearly flat and colorless as Mickey.

Mandrake sighed. "Go ahead," he said, though whether to himself or to Mickey was difficult to say. "Give them one more performance. Enjoy your curtain calls. Then, when the lights dim, I will whisk you and your companion here back to the Guardians of Disneyland City and tell your keepers to keep a closer eye on you in the future."