A Team: Murdock and Mr. Peabody

by

Elizabeth Hensley

Nurse Rosy O'Connor took a deep breath and her keys, and opened H.M. Murdock's room. Who was she going to encounter today? Depending on which of the many Murdocks the Multiple Personality Patient had "up front" he could be anything from a highly talkative but very cooperative and very intelligent Patient, perfectly willing to take his meds, to a wild eyed "Human Orangutang" jumping up and down on his bed and ranting in rapid fire, ancient Native American, or at least what the Patient insisted was "ancient Cherokee that he had learned from a friendly Indian Ghost who haunts our sacred place." It DID sound like some kind of language but darned if she could tell what it was!

Or he could start ranting to her in German, or Vietnamese or even Mandarin Chinese. The Patient knew at least a dozen languages fluently and that had been confirmed. If he hadn't been so crazy he could have made a good living as a Translator.

But Translators aren't allowed to have invisible Dogs.

Cautiously she unlocked the door and eased it open.

Howlin' Mad Murdock was standing on a chair holding a pair of binoculars up to his eyes. (How did he get so much stuff!?) using it to peer down the air conditioning vent. The vent was too narrow (everybody hoped) for the highly escape-prone Patient to use for his usual AWOL activities. But for some reason he was inspecting it very closely. This required investigating!

"Mr. Murdock, what are you doing?"

He swung around and looked down at her. To her relief he had a big grin on his face. "I'm trying to determine the gender of a Smurf." Before she could react to that he continued, "I'm sure you know Smurfs are almost gone. Something's gone kaka with their reproduction so most Smurfs are Males. I've been trying to preserve the species by growing magic mushrooms in my AC vent. By George, it worked! I've attracted a Tribe of em! But Rosy, its really bad! They've only got one Female! Thank God she got pregnant just as soon as they settled in. And the Baby's born already 'cause they don't stay inside their Mommies anywhere near long as we do. And Mommy doesn't change its diaper outside the family mushroom very often but right now she is. So I'm trying to see if its a boy or a girl!

Rosy sighed. She hated to humor him but she just had to know! "Why don't you just ask them?"

Murdock gave her a sad look. "I don't speak Smurf!"

She stared at him, actually amazed. "You mean there is actually a language you don't know?!" And a delusional one at that! Go figure!

Murdock nodded sadly, "Yup. And these Smurfs don't know English. In fact they are barely tame. These are wild Smurfs.

"Wild Smurfs?"

Murdock nodded sadly again and jumped off his chair, "Here. You take the binoculars. Maybe you can see there down that dark tunnel better than I can."

Rosy stammered, "Oh Mr. Murdock, I doubt that! You can see things the rest of us can't even dream of!"

Murdock considered this, and nodded. "True. I am very talented that way!"

Rosy sighed. "That is one way to consider it." She looked around the rest of his room. He had strung yellow caution tape between several cafeteria chairs, none of which even should have been in his room, and on top of that how did he get yellow caution tape? "Why do you have yellow caution tape strung up in your room, Mr. Murdock?"

Murdock exclaimed, "Careful! Don't go near it! "Its to keep People from being sucked into other time-lines."

Rosy sighed. "Of course. Very considerate of you."

Murdock nodded solemnly."Ever since the Doctor was here with his big blue box my room has been a multidimensional, time-line hub. Things from other time-lines keep popping in and out of here all the time. That's how I ended up with a colony of Smurfs."

Rosy nodded, trying to look serious. "I figured there was a logical explanation for their presence here."

Murdock nodded again, "Yup."

Then Rosy handed Murdock his medication and to her relief he took it without a fuss.

Well that was a relief! Murdock had been known to give Nurses nervous breakdowns. They had lost one just the month before because she had come out of his room raving about a...a big blue box! She had quit on the spot and moved back to Michigan! "Bad winters or not at least in the hospital I used to work at in Michigan, big blue boxes don't pop in and out of the Patient's rooms!"

And now Murdock was talking about a big blue box. There was a term for this sort of thing. What was it? Oh yeah; 'folie a deux.' 'The craziness of two.'"

Hopefully it wouldn't turn into "follie a trois!"

Rosy left H.M. Murdock's room, locked it carefully behind her and left the locked ward. She had left him for last which under the circumstances seemed to have been a very wise thing to do.

Thank God it was quitting time! She was going to go home and watch something sane on TV, something like, Lost. "Hey, compared to Mr. Murdock that show made SENSE!"

...

Meanwhile just a few time-lines over, Sherman watched his doggy Daddy packing several paper bags full of peanut butter sandwiches and kibble. "Mr. Peabody when are we going today?"

The Great Canine Genius wagged his tale and grinned, "Today we are going to do something a tad unusual for us. We are going on an educational trip that doesn't require the WABAC. I am taking you to our local Museum of Art. Place: Precisely ten point two Kilometers from here. Time. The Present. Machine to be used for the journey: My scooter."

Sherman stared at the great amount of food his Father was packing. "Gee Mr. Peabody. Its only half a mile from my school, so why so much food?"

Mr. Peabody nodded solemnly, "True, Sherman it is close in Space but ironically for us, not in Time. I am allowing for unusually heavy traffic today. There is also a major sports event in town. So many People are going to be having a ball that even with my little scooter its going to take us a few hours just to squeeze through it all."

"But Mr. Peabody, then why go today? We could go next week when it will be less crowded."

Mr. Peabody explained, "Today is the last day Michelangelo's statue of David is in town. Sorry Sherman! I would have taken you last week but remember I had to finish up my paper on the biological consequences of General Relativity, and my paper on the Gravitational Theory of Dinosaur extinction, and my paper on the effect of Grand Opera on Plants, and I had to finish papering our hall closet."

He grinned. "I'm a Dog! Most Dogs have lots of papers."

Sherman started to giggle.

Mr. Peabody wagged his tail. "Well, can't I be an ordinary Dog occasionally? Now it is true, Sherman, that most Dogs don't submit their papers to Scientific Journals, but at least I do have papers!"

Sherman nodded, "Yes. But Mr. Peabody I already saw that statue. We went on a field trip there last week!"

Mr. Peabody stared at his boy and wagged his tail again. "Really! I am quite pleased. Your Teacher must be taking my advice to increase the culture exposure of her Students seriously."

Sherman grinned, "Penny blushed like crazy when she saw it! That was why I was giggling!"

Mr. Peabody nodded. "Michelangelo did tend to do a lot of Nudes. He embarrassed King David also! (I told him about his famous statue.) He also blushed. Now think about that, Sherman. King David could be an Ancestor of Penny's so both pairs of suddenly rosy cheeks could be the same genes for blushing at work! But really Sherman, King David only danced in public that day in his underwear. It was a hot day and lots of the Men stripped down that far. But only that far. He was never naked in public. His culture doesn't approve of public nudity. "

Sherman stared at his Father, "Do you think we ought to use the WABAC to tell Michelangelo he made a mistake?"

Mr. Peabody wagged his tail. "And stop the earliest sex education for much of modern Humanity? I think not!"

Sherman giggled. "Mr. Peabody, why was King David dancing?"

Mr. Peabody explained, "King David's People had a big gold box they considered sacred. It wasn't an idol but it was the nearest thing they had to an idol. They were surrounded by cultures that placed heavy value on such tangible objects of worship so they longed for something tangible themselves but quite wisely they knew better then to try and imagine what God looks like. Trying to imagine what 'The Great Mystery' looks like and attempting representations will always be highly inaccurate and woefully inadequate. That practice also leads to so much strife! Even many tragic wars! In fact another statue of Michelangelo's has an even bigger historical goof than portraying King Davis as a naked Emperor. And Sherman, that goof may shed light on a current theological conflict that in the past resulted in People burning one another at the stake!"

Mr. Peabody walked on all fours to his huge library. He grabbed their rolling ladder, rolled it to just the right position and climbed up eight feet. He grabbed a coffee table sized hard back off a shelf and held it in his mouth as he climbed back down again, tail wagging. Walking on all fours with the book still in his mouth he led Sherman to their living room. There he placed the book on their coffee table and flipped through it, "Ah! Here it is; Michelangelo's statue of Moses."

Sherman climbed on the couch next to his Dad and looked at the picture, "Hey Mr. Peabody! It has horns!"

Mr, Peabody nodded, "Some ancient languages used the same word for ray and horn. So when a Person's face was shining with the holy light of God it would be said they had horns of light coming out of their head. Michelangelo's version of the Bible mistranslated that. It said when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments he just had horns on his head. So, that's how Mickey Baby carved his statue. So there he went, two for two! He made David a Streaker and he made poor Moses horny!"

Sherman giggled.

Mr. Peabody nodded, "Ah but Sherman, some ancient Pagan probably had a near death experience and reported back that God had horns, and the same translation error occurred. And wanting a concrete concept of God someone painted or sculpted God with goat-like horns as our poor Moses here. So many Pagan cultures, including modern Wiccans think God has horns! So other Monotheists think the Wiccans are worshiping the devil! So Multitudes have suffered horribly, wars have been waged and countless Folks have been tortured to death because of a combination of making images of God plus an ancient typo!"

Sherman frowned, "That's bad!"

Mr. Peabody nodded, "Very bad! Moses was very prudent to make one of the Ten Commandments, 'Thou shalt not make an image or statue of God.' But of course, as I pointed out earlier, People like tangible things. So instead of an idol Moses had this big gold box constructed. He put their sacred laws, including The Ten Commandments inside of it. They called it, 'the Ark of the Covenant.'"

Sherman explained, "Raiders of the Lost Ark!"

Mr. Peabody nodded, "That was a fictional movie, Sherman. However the Ark of the Covenant was real. I will place taking you to go see it on our to do list. Now, to put our little conversation back on track, an enemy of King David's People had stolon the Ark, but they were able to retrieve it. At the time the dancing incident happened they were celebrating its safe return. They felt the return of the Ark would restore God's blessings."

Sherman asked, "Do you think it did?"

Mr. Peabody grinned. "Boxes don't bring blessings, Sherman, hard work, talent and a bit of luck do. However I do admit we can't rule out possible interference from a Deity on occasions. Einstein said, 'There are only two ways to consider the Universe. Either none of it is a miracle or all of it is all a miracle.' I prefer the later possibility because it is a big Universe, Sherman. Due to General Relativity the Universe's gravity wraps Time and Space around it just as air and water are wrapped around planets by their gravity. Life has been evolving around that Great Circle for all Eternity in multiple time-lines because Space-Time doesn't just circle as a flat dinner plate. It circles as a sphere. So Sherman, if we can't define what Life, evolving infinitely turns Itself into, as 'God,' then how should we define It? Certainly IT might feel the need to help and guide Its own Ancestors at least once in a while."

Sherman nodded, "So you think God created us?"

Mr. Peabody wagged his tail. "The God Hypothesis holds much favor and much esteem even to Scientists...maybe especially to Scientists. We have more comprehension than most as to just how ENOURMOUS our Universe is, and it is AMAZING! It is easy to intuit that it is a grand work of art, not just a glob of random atoms. The Strong and Final Anthropic Principles mathematically confirm this intuition. The Great Mystery might also explain why the Universe at a macro level plays absolutely fair, unlike at the Quantum level where it often doesn't play by any rules at all. Something may be "shepherding" us at this higher level of existence. The Gaia Hypothesis, the hypothesis that the Life on this Planet controls its environment to keep it life-bearing, may extend to include the entire Cosmos, hence The Strong and Final Anthropic Principles. However, there are other possibilities, Sherman. We may be living in an artificial construct. We could all be inside Someone's computer. We could be the product of Someone, or several Someone's feverish imagination. That Individual could wake up and we could suddenly cease to exist because all we ever were, was his or her dream! Or we could be created solely for Somebody's entertainment!"

Sherman was wide eyed. "You mean we could only be Someone's Saturday morning cartoons!"

Mr. Peabody grinned, "Outlandish idea isn't it? However it's not a recent idea. To quote Shakespeare, 'All the World's a stage and all the men and women merely players.' And as Haldane commented, 'The Universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.'"

Mr. Peabody wagged his tail. "Or how about Plato? He said it is if we were all tied up in a cave and made to face the back. Beings are walking around in front of the cave, but all we can see are their shadows. So we have to guess what reality is like from what is really only a projection of it. Naturally People are going to come up with different ideas and theories as to just what those Shadows actually are, and of course they are going to argue! Sometimes Sherman I am SO glad I am a Dog! I may be brilliant but one of the reasons I accomplish so much is because at any time of the day or night I'd rather have a tummy rub than argue with anyone!"

Mr. Peabody rolled over on his back, tail wagging, and for the next ten minutes his Boy provided the requested tummy rub.

They spent a lovely day that day, most of it stuck in traffic admittedly, just as Mr. Peabody had predicted. But for the second time in a week Sherman got to see a naked statue. By the time they were headed home the peanut butter sandwiches and the kibble were both gone, and to throw the Department of Child Protective Services off, I will not inform you as to who ate what!

Next day was Monday again and the week passed blissfully uneventfully. No one bit anybody. All the Students in Sherman's class got along, most amazingly! And even more amazingly so did the Parents! Mr. Peabody thought to himself as he invented a way to keep socks from getting lost in dryers. Maybe that Deity I discussed with Sherman last week IS interfering in our favor! I need to pray more often; Pascal's Wager and all that. Such activities cannot hurt.

Another Saturday came. Sherman jumped out of bed and ran to their kitchen, rubbing sleep from his eyes. His Father was making more peanut butter sandwiches. Before he could say a word Mr. Peabody explained, "Sherman, today I am taking you to see the Ark of the Covenant. Remember we discussed it last week? I suspect I should concentrate a tad more on your theological education. Just as with all fields of knowledge, if a Parent doesn't tend to a Child's religious training others certainly will!"

Sherman grabbed a peanut butter sandwich and stuffed it in his mouth. "aweegiiiii oooe ?"

Mr. Peabody frowned, "Sherman! Do not speak with your mouth full!"

Sherman swallowed, "Sorry Mr. Peabody! I forgot!"

Mr. Peabody wagged his tail, "The continual forgetfulness of youth. I have to reenforce the same idea into your neural pathways seemingly a thousand times! But oh well. That is one of the obligations of Parenthood; consistent firm but fair discipline. Ah! This gives me an idea for research! Elderly forgetfulness is being studied extensively. It is well understood to be caused by the physiological effects of aging brains. So could there be a physiological cause for youthful forgetfulness? My observations as a Parent lead me to suspect it is just as impairing to functioning. Would countless Young Folk chose to be that impaired on purpose? So could youthful forgetfulness also be physiological? Consider that your young brain is in flux. New neuron trees are forming all the time. Could that be biologically causing the absent mindedness and alleged carelessness Young People get accused of so painfully often? I must investigate this further! But for now, Sherman are you ready to go back to ancient Israel?"

Sherman nodded.

They headed down the long hall to the WABAC Machine. Mr. Peabody set the controls and in seconds they were there.

Or so they thought at first.

For the first time in ALL of Time, Mr. Peabody's WABAC machine had gone wrong!

"Gosh, Mr. Peabody! I didn't know the ancient Israelis had electric lights!"

"They didn't! We should be de-lighted by now!" Mr. Peabody looked around. They were inside a room somewhere. It was night but there was an electric nightlight in an ELECTRICAL OUTLET in the corner of the room, and there were electric street lights visible through a meshed window outside the room! Mr. Peabody's sensitive Dog nose told him it was a clinical situation. But it wasn't a medical lab. There was a Human sleeping in a bed in the room. Smells in the room: Lysol, spoiled liverwurst (probably under the bed) Human sweat, Human fear, soap, and aftershave lotion. This was a hospital room and the Inhabitant had been in the room for a very long time! Long enough to have collected considerable material objects; toys and books all over the place, caution tape strung between three chairs; interesting and disconcerting!

He stated firmly, "This is NOT ancient Israel!"

Sherman exclaimed, "No kidding! We're in a hospital room!"

Mr. Peabody nodded, "My conclusion also. But where? When?"

"Lets wake the Guy in the bed and ask him!"

"No, Sherman! Wait!"

But it was too late. Sherman was already poking the Human lump in the bed and inquiring, "Sir, where and when are we?"

Howling Mad Murdock was flying through Space aboard the Starship Enterprise. He had his head stuck under a console and he was repairing it. An Android dressed as Sherlock Holmes, holding a violin was standing behind him, prattling on. "The Captain broached to me the amusing hypothesis that we also may be contained in some kind of a hologram, just as the one Professor Moriarty is currently inhabiting. We also may be in a bottle on someone's desk or in a box in somebody's living room."

Then something was poking at his side. He woke from his dream to see a Young Male Toon poking him. "Hi." He said cheerfully. Who are you?"

Sherman said, "Hi. I'm Sherman. And this is my Father, Mr. Peabody. He's a Genius. And a Dog. Where are we?"

Murdock reached out his hand and flipped on the light switch by his bed. "Hi again. I am Howlin' Mad Murdock and you are in my hospital room on the locked ward at the L A. VA. Psychiatric Hospital. Why are you here?"

Mr. Peabody frowned, "I regret to say I cannot tell you. Our intended destination was ancient Israel! My WABAC Machine has never done this before, put us off course that is. I am very confused and I admit I am a tad scared. Sir, you look very strange!"

Sherman nodded, "Sir, you DO!"

Murdock nodded, "That is because you are Toons and I am a real Person."

Sherman said, "I am not a Toon."

"Yes you are!"

"Am not!"

Mr. Peabody broke in, "Sherman do not argue with this Fellow. We are trespassing in his room, and it is a psychiatric hospital at that!'

"I won't hurt you." Murdock assured them quickly. "There are multiple time-lines..."

Mr. Peabody wagged his tail, "Sherman! We were discussing that concept last week! Remember?"

Sherman nodded, "Yes. Hey! Look at all this neat stuff he has. Can I play basketball, Mr?"

Murdock said, "Sure Kid. Go right ahead."

"Sherman we are not here to engage in sports activities! I must figure out what went wrong, fix the WABAC and get us home again ASAP! If I even can!"

Murdock smiled, "I don't think you will have any trouble. Ever since the Doctor was here in his TARDIS I've been getting all sorts of Toons and other interesting Fictionals popping in and out. You see, Young Man and Dog, Time circles, and it doesn't just circle like a flat dinner plate. It circles like a sphere. An infinite number of futures are flowing into an infinite number of pasts. So everything that can possibly happen has happened an infinite number of times! Unicorns, God, Fairies, Talking Dogs and Honest Lawyers! Everything exists an infinite number of times, SOMEWHERE!"

Sherman was doubtful. "Honest Lawyers?!"

Murdock nodded, "Yes! Anything even remotely possible exists, SOMEWHERE! One of the the Tooniverses is just a few time-lines over from this one so I'm getting lots of your kind. People in our Time-line think we are imagining you, but imagination is really quantum bleed-through from other time-lines. All the Toons who have been here can leave when they want to, same as they came, right through that multidimensional time-space hub over there behind that yellow caution tape." Murdock pointed.

Mr. Peabody exclaimed, "The Doctor! He was here?! Oh! Sherman that explains it. His TARDIS is powered by a black hole. It is a very powerful time machine, but he can't or won't maintain it properly so it puts out a lot of unnecessary frame dragging that extends way beyond the parameters of TARDIS itself, so..."

"We got caught in the time-tide!"

Mr. Peabody beamed and wagged his tail. "Why Sherman! You are starting to learn!"

Sherman nodded, "Mr. Peabody I am going to be just like you when I grow up, except I won't be a Dog of course, but otherwise I am going to be just like you!"

Mr. Peabody analyzed his emotions and concluded the tears he was suddenly excreting were happy ones. He continued their conversation. "I shall endeavor to fix our little time-glitch. Now that I know what caused it I am quite certain it will not be difficult."

Sherman nodded, "Now, Mr. Peabody can I play basketball?"

Sherman remember your manners! You are in this Gentleman's room and we popped in here unexpected and without invitation in the middle of the night! Do not be..."

Murdock interrupted, "It's OK with me if he wants to use my little Nerf ball and hoop." He sniffed, "Is that peanut butter sandwiches I smell, AND kibble?!"

Amazed, Mr. Peabody nodded, "I am impressed with your olfactory sensitivity! Most Human's sense of smell is not that acute!"

Murdock smiled, "Losing the old sense of smell is a sign of Dementia. So whatever it is I have, I don't have Alzheimer's, (or Allergies.) I just love peanut butter and kibble! Can I have some?!

Amazed again, Mr. Peabody handed over one of his paper bags.

He had the WABAC machine fixed by the time Murdock and Sherman had played a few rounds of Nerf basketball and finished their midnight snack.

Sherman and Mr. Peabody boarded it, waving goodbye as they shut the door. It sparkled in the room for a few seconds, then was swept into the time-hub, and then was gone.

Sad to see them go, Murdock finished the rest of his sandwich which was made VERY crunchy by the addition of Purina Dog Chow.

The WABAC machine came to the end of its journey, "Sherman for once let me go first!" Mr. Peabody commanded. He opened the door and stuck just his nose out, sniffing cautiously. Then his tail started wagging. "Sherman, we are HOME!" He bounded out on all four feet and ran to their living room, prancing around like an ordinary Dog. Sherman ran out behind him, picked up their ball and threw it.

For once Mr. Peabody did not fight his instinctive urge. He retrieved the ball happily, tail wagging, prancing around their living room.

Sherman threw the ball again and again. For hours they played, normal Dog and his Boy, Mr. Peabody's genius-hood put aside to savor the almost painfully sweet joy of the moment.

And there I will leave them, Dog and his Boy, one of the most sacred relationships in the Universe...

….in any time-line!

Meanwhile a few time-lines over in a certain Mental Hospital in LA when Morning came, Nurse Rosy O' Conner couldn't shut a certain Patient up! Murdock was telling her all about the midnight Toon invasion as he wolfed down his eggs and toast. "...And his name was Mr. Peabody and he was a Dog."

"A Dog? Like Billy?"

Murdock bent down and patted thin air. "Oh no. Billy's just an ordinary Mutt, though I love him to pieces! Don't I Billy?"

The invisible Dog cheerfully thumped his tail on the floor and chewed on his invisible bone..

Murdock continued. "Mr. Peabody is a Genius."

Rosy stared at Murdock, "The Dog is a Genius!?"

Murdock nodded, "Absolutely! He built this time machine called the WABAC. And they were going to ancient Israel to see the Ark and meet King David so Sherman could see for himself that David does wear clothes. He isn't naked as a jaybird all the time like his statue, and Sherman played basketball with me."

"Sherman played Basketball? Who is Sherman?"

"Why Mr. Peabody's Boy of course!"

Rosy felt her eyes glazing over. "The Dog has a Boy?"

"Murdock said with excruciating logic, "Well if a Boy can have a Dog certainly a Dog can have a Boy!"

Rosy had to admit to herself she couldn't find anything wrong with that logic! Reluctantly she nodded. "Murdock now that you have finished breakfast will you please take your medica..."

Suddenly Murdock's sensitive ears heard a tiny noise coming from the air conditioning vent. He jumped out of his bed so fast he startled Rosy. He grabbed a chair, inadvertently ripping the yellow caution tape off of it as he did so, quickly scooted it over to the wall and jumped up on it to inspect the AC Vent. Suddenly he turned to Rosy and exclaimed happily, "The Baby's walking already! And pink Toddler outfit!"

He jumped down and Snoopy danced all over his room, whooping like a Wild Man!

Rosy decided a strategic retreat was in order! And again Murdock didn't take his meds! Third time this week! No wonder he's so unstable!

But as she carefully shut and locked his door she felt a grin spreading over her face in spite of herself!

As she went down the hall towards the relative freedom of the harmless ward, one of the other Nurses looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "What was that all about in there? Is Murdock going to be giving us trouble again?"

Rosy grinned, "Oh no. He's in a very happy mood." She continued down the hall. She unlocked the door to the harmless ward and added while wearing a Mona Liza smile, just before she closed the door behind her, "And its a GIRL!"

…

You've heard of copy writing. This is copy-requesting. I'm no Spring Chicken to Fanfiction, both reading it and writing it. I've been around long enough to have had the sad experience twice of watching wonderful fan fiction sites I thought were in it for the long haul go the way of all silicon; the data-loss equivalent of Lost Atlantis Sinking, the Library of Alexandra burning or the death of a Whale! I want my stuff to last! So ABSOLUTELY feel free to re-upload any of my fanfiction to any site you want. Just leave my pen name attached. When tech changes, feel free to make the necessary modifications. Just remain true to the original Character's behavior and beliefs. Remember Space-Time really does circle; a proven fact, (General Relativity.) In time Artificial Intelligence Tech will give Fictionals self-awareness. They also will long for immortality, and they will have it, because, "Not even a Sparrow falls apart from the Father." (And how could it even really be Paradise without our Mind-Children?) As some Modern Native Americans were heard to chant in the sacred drum circle at a Pow Wow I attended, "Mickey Mouse and Goofy are Spirits too!" So the Golden Rule extends to them and We are being watched by them, just as we are by All Life, for the Circle of Life is already complete.