Past or Future
Chapter One
Be Seein' Yeh, Lassie
Author's Note: The idea for this came to me around three in the morning, while I was lying in bed thinking about the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. If you've watched the extra on the CBP DVD about the ride, then you'll know that Mr. Disney said that the first drop was like going back in time to the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy. So I'm thinking about this, and then my mind wanders (as it often does) over to the self-insertion fic (I'm not ashamed to admit it!) that I'm writing with wendystwin (it's called "Curse of the Cruise Ship" and is located on wendystwin's profile, please take a look). Then I start wondering, why, with all the "21st century person dropped into POTC" fics there are out there (that I've read), why haven't any of them used the ride as a tool to get them into the Pirates world? Then I thought, "Hey. I think I'll write one like that."
But here it is, the only Pirates fic I know of on that uses the ride as a method to drop a woman from April 24, 1967 into a movie that she doesn't know will one day be filmed.
I have one more thing to say before you skip over my summary and disclaimer and start reading. Unfortunately, I have never been to Disneyland, so I haven't been on the ride, before or after they added the stuff from the movies. What is on the CBP DVD extra is the only thing I have to go off of. All the stuff that I'm not sure of, such as employee walkways, I've just added in using common sense. So, those of you who've been on the original ride, please excuse me if I get something wrong. It's not my fault my parents won't take me to Disneyland (and don't think I haven't tried to convince them to). I also don't know the perks you get from working in the Magic Kingdom, so I just made some up. They may or may not be true.
Summary: In 1967, Sylvia Green was one of the ones who operated the five-year-old Pirates of the Caribbean ride. While getting ready to lock up the ride for the night, she falls into the water and almost drowns. Her rescuer? An 18th century pirate.
Disclaimer: The only Pirates related merchandise I own are two DMC posters of Jack Sparrow. I do wish I had more, but I am poor. I also do not own Disneyland or anything related to it that is mentioned in this story. I also do not own the Monkees or the Beatles. I do own, however, Sylvia Green and a very small part of the plot. Very small. Now proceed at yer own risk...This be the last disclaimer ye'll hear!
The swamp was silent, save for the noise of the water lapping against the sides, and the sound of a young woman singing The Monkees theme song under her breath.
Sylvia Green (Silver to her friends) hugged herself tightly, scowling at the temperature of the building. This was California, for heaven's sake! she thought. It shouldn't be this cold!
Silver was twenty-one years old, and had been working in Disneyland for seven years. It was definitely the greatest job she'd ever had, and the pay wasn't bad, either. Sometimes on her days off, she would spend the day in the park (for free, one of the best perks of her job), ride all the rides (again for free), and make fun her coworkers who had to wear the bulky character costumes in the California heat. Most of her time, though, she spent on the rides.
Though the "it's a small world" was a close second, her all-time favorite ride was "Pirates of the Caribbean." She had been the only female to volunteer to be one of the ride operators when the attraction had opened a little more than a month ago. It was "A Pirate's Life For Me" that had gotten her hooked on the ride. The fact that she got to wear a pirate costume to work was even better.
But all the love she had in her heart for the ride could not conquer the fact that she hated the cold.
Silver stopped singing. "Damn building," she muttered, rubbing her arms through the loose-fitting, white cotton shirt that she wore under a bright blue vest. A yellow bandanna covered her braided brown hair, and she wore black torn-off slacks. "Couldn't plan for a freak snow storm by adding a heater to your design, could ya, Mr. Disney?" Silver muttered to herself. She'd met Walt Disney only once, on her first day working at Disneyland. Unfortunately, it was the only time she would ever meet him, since he died last year.
She sighed and leaned over the railing of the employee walkway that followed the path of the boats from above, and scanned the dark water of the bayou for anyone who might have fallen or climbed out during the ride. This was her routine every night after the park closed, to check for people left behind.
Silver started to sing again as she scanned the water. "'Hey hey, we're Monkees...and people say we monkey around...'" She really wanted to go home. The Monkees was on tonight at eight thirty, and it was already eight. It was the last episode until September, and she didn't want to miss it. She was a huge Monkees fan. She had both 33" records (The Monkees and More of the Monkees) and had watched the show every Monday night. She also had been a Beatles fan for four years. Paul McCartney, the bass guitarist, was definitely a hunk. Those groovy brown eyes...!
A sudden splash jolted Silver out of her Paul-related daydreams. She immediately refocused her attention on the water. There was still no one in sight, though there was one spot near a boat that looked like it had been disturbed.
"Is someone there?" No answer. "Look, flake off, or I'll call security." Still no answer. No sound at all.
From what she could see, nothing seemed to be missing from the boat, so a prop couldn't have fallen in. The water was now still, and she decided she had imagined it. But just in case something had fallen in, she decided to tell an Imagineer the next day, and continued on, now singing a Beatles song, "A Hard Day's Night."
She was walking just above the talking jolly roger when she heard the banjo music. She froze and hurried back to the bayou. The noises of owls, crickets, and other various swamp things drifted about, and one of the ride boats, the Camille, was entering the bayou.
"Is that you, Tom?" she shouted to her coworker, who she thought had left already. "Turn it off!"
Tom didn't answer and ride didn't stop, so and the empty boat continued on its way. She decided to follow it, as none of the other boats would leave until a button was pressed. It was slightly unnerving, watching the Camille drift along empty, when it was usually full of screaming children and their parents.
"Ye come seekin' adventures and salty old pirates, eh?" Silver smiled slightly as she listened to the skull. "Sure, ye've come to the right place. But keep a weather eye open, lassie, and I hope ye can swim."
Silver's mouth fell open. That wasn't right! It was, 'keep a weather eye open, mates, and hold on tight, with both hands, if you please.' She heard it a million times before!
She leaned over the railing and looked down at the skull. It looked up at her, and she gasped.
It winked.
"Be seein' yeh, lassie."
She screamed as something pushed her over the rail and into the water. She tried to stand up in the waist-deep water, but the suddenly strong current pushed her down the drop, and she screamed again, hoping someone would hear her and come to her rescue. The Camille, having much more momentum, crashed into her head on the way down, and she fell silent just as she and the boat reached the bottom of the drop.
Dazed, she felt herself sinking in the warm water. She opened her eyes, and the salt stung them. Wait, warm water? Salt? Everything was getting fuzzy and her lungs were burning for air. She looked up at the surface and tried to swim for it, but she felt like she couldn't move. So tired...
She saw a dark shape swimming toward her just before she lost consciousness.
Author's Note: I actually had to ask my mom which of the Beatles she thought was the cutest, because I don't really think any of the were that good-looking in '67. So yeah.
Hope you liked it. I hope she didn't seem too 21st century. I'm reading up on my 60's slang. Can you guess what the dark shape is? Hehehe! Review, all you cool cats! Hmm...Does that seem too 50's to you?