Mickey let out a soft sigh as he sorted through the mail on his desk. This was the single most boring task ever. Mickey would much rather have been meeting with his "sector leaders", or coming up with new fuel for the Disney Dreamer. But the mail had to be sorted. It was one of the cons about being the ruler (although Mickey preferred the term 'leader') of Disney.
The content was nothing new - mostly junk mail; a couple of letters from Woody, leader of Pixar, involving the trade relationship between the two countries; and one large envelope. This one was brightly colored, with red-and-white horizontal stripes and pink glitter along the edge. This looks fun, thought Mickey as he picked up the envelope and flipped it over. The address listed was as follows: The Cat in the Hat, Dralace Palace, Seuss. Seuss. Where had Mickey heard that name before? He tore the envelope open, hoping for more information.
The envelope contained a single sheet of paper, in bright yellow. There was blue text on the paper - apparently a poem of some sort. It read:
Dear Mickey Mouse,
You don't know me yet, but soon we'll be getting on smoothly, I bet. No, not quite "bet"; I was looking for "hope", but I won't leave you hanging like off of a rope. I'm the leader of Seuss, and I'd like you to know that living here can be a wonderful show. But things can get boring, so we're hoping to see if you and your people would like to meet me. I'll take some ambassadors; maybe we'll find that in Disney we'd have just a stoomendous time. Write back if you can, and I guess that is that.
Sincerely, yours truly,
The Cat in the Hat
Mickey gathered that the Cat probably wanted to establish diplomatic relationships with Disney. Of course he'd write back! But first, he wanted to make absolutely, positively sure that it was a good idea. The best way to do that would be to call a council meeting.
A little later...
Mickey finished reading the letter aloud to the assembled sector leaders, representing various sections of Disney: Winnie the Pooh, Mickey's second-in-command, representing the Hundred-Acre-Wood, Cinderella of Court Royal, Jiminy Cricket from Sidekick Street, Simba of the Animal Kingdom, Peter Pan from Hero's Valley, and even Maleficent, who was representing the Mountains of Dread.
"I liked how the Cat made the letter rhyme," said Pooh. "I bet I could make that into a hum..."
Peter Pan interrupted, "So anyway, I say we take up on this offer. This Cat sounds like a person worth knowing."
"Plus, we definitely need to establish diplomatic relationships with other countries," added Jiminy. "Remember the quasi-war with Dreamworks?"
"I doubt anyone could forget that," commented Maleficent bluntly. She always seemed to be dragging these meetings downhill.
"All in favor of allowing the Cat and his ambassadors to come to Disney, say aye," announced Mickey. Six "ayes" rang out. "Good, it's unanimous," decided Mickey. "But the question still remains: how do we greet them?"
Simba commented, "Seuss seems to center on the nonsensical and whimsical, whereas Disney focuses on the magical and meaningful. We'd need to combine those somehow..."
"Music connects to both central principles..." suggested Cinderella. "And we are known for singing..."
Mickey suggested, "Some of us have done something called a 'musical'. It's like a regular play, except with singing and dancing."
The room fell into silence. It wasn't really an awkward silence, though - it was just that no one had anything else to say. Mickey's suggestion had been on point. A musical it would be!
