Did anyone see the Family Guy episode, "Road to Multiverse"? There was a part where all the characters were drawn Disney-style!
A small patch of sunlight found its way into a small gap in the tent, casting itself next to Faith's head.
"Mmm…" She stirred and opened her eyes. Mysterious Isa was softly snoring beside her, the formers back to her. Being careful not to wake her up, Faith sat up in the tent and crawled over to where the girls had placed their suitcases last night, deciding that the events yesterday made them too exhausted to do anything about them. Opening one of the suitcases, Faith carefully rummaged through it until her fingertips felt leather. Smiling to herself, she pulled it out.
It was a journal, black in color with a pen attached to it from a cloudy white string. It'd been purchased at a local bookstore before she and the others left Silver Point for what hopefully would be for good. Well…she wouldn't say purchase, but at least she got something to record her travels in. "And who knows? Maybe I'll publish it one day and it'll be a bestseller," Faith thought to herself. "'Disney Chronicles: Life in the Park;' based on a true story." She opened up to the first page.
June 22nd
Day 1 at WDW
Well, this is it! Our new lives in Walt Disney World, Florida, have just begun. After brainstorming ideas to get money for almost a year (and finding some change on the ground), we were able to buy six tickets and get to the U.S.A. And it wasn't easy; we had to take a plane from Cayenne-Rochambeau Airport to Miami International, get on a bus from there to Orlando, and then we got on a Disney bus from there to the park.
When we were getting settled at Disney's Fort Wilderness, two things happened: Ty got poison ivy and Little Jo wandered off and got taken by the Winslow twins, Tommy and Erica, to the Chip n' Dale Campfire, where they got to see "Dumbo" and eat s'mores. Was Mysterious Isa happy? You bet she wasn't! In fact, she had to make me keep an eye on Little Jo from now on, as a "moving buddy."
We're going to the Magic Kingdom today. I know Little Jo is excited to go; he was talking about it on the way here yesterday. I don't know if Ty will be all right to come with us due to the poison ivy incident; he'll have to stay at the campgrounds if he cannot. If by himself or someone's going to watch him, I don't know.
"Mmm…Faith?" Mysterious Isa asked sleepily as she woke up. "What time…is it?"
"I don't know, Isa," Faith apologized in reply. "I don't have a watch on me. But it's morning."
"I know that." Mysterious Isa sat up and smoothed her red hair. "And don't forget about Little Jo." Faith smiled at her and promised she wouldn't forget.
The two girls got dressed and then stepped out of the tent. Faith wore a red sleeveless shirt and blue Capri's; Mysterious Isa wore a knee-length jean skirt with a green T-shirt that had "Princess" written on it in glitter and black leggings.
"Should we wake up the boys now?" Faith inquired.
Mysterious Isa shook her head and smiled. "Let's get breakfast. The boys can wait." Faith emitted a small laugh and the duo walked away.
Of the four boys in the group, it was Little Jo who woke up first. He heard his sister and Faith talking to each other from outside the tent. But about what?
Cooper was still asleep beside him in the tent. Little Jo put on his red gym shoes, crawled out of the tent, and waited until the girls were out of sight to follow them.
Faith and Mysterious Isa didn't look behind them; they were too busy chatting with one another (perhaps about their future in Disney World?) as Little Jo followed them from a safe distance.
But when he passed the place where the Winslows had their motor home parked, Little Jo smiled when he saw Erica and Tommy, the twins he met the previous night. With them was Mr. Winslow.
"Hey, Erica! Hey, Tommy!" Little Jo called out to them as he ran towards the twins, who smiled back at him.
"Little Jo, hi!" Erica trilled. "It's nice to see you again!"
"Where're your friends?" Tommy buzzed. "They asleep?"
"Some are and some aren't. Faith and my sister walked off and…oh, no!" It dawned upon Little Jo that the two girls were out of sight when he turned towards the direction where he last saw them. "Where did they go?"
"Don't worry, Jo, I'm sure Faith and Isa didn't go that far," Erica assured him. "If we hurry now, we could catch up to them."
"Dad, can we go ahead of you to Pioneer Hall?" Tommy asked his father.
"You don't have to, because I'm already ready," Mr. Winslow chuckled in response. "I'll let your mother know where we are when we get there." Mrs. Winslow was still asleep in their motor home.
"Come along, Tommy, Erica, Josiah." Mr. Winslow led the three children towards the mess hall. Little Jo hoped he would meet up with his sister and Faith soon.
Faith and Mysterious Isa reached Pioneer Hall, where they passed a child being scolded by his mother for making a scene. A ten-year-old girl (probably related to the child) emerged from the Hall, ketchup staining her shirt. Faith grabbed the door from the girl and she and Isa went inside.
"Howdy! Welcome to the Trail's End Restaurant," a young man greeted them brightly. His hair was a dark shade of brown and he had a clean shave. "Are you going to get anything from the buffet table, or will you order from the menu?"
Faith and Mysterious Isa thought about it for a moment and decided on the buffet table. The man smiled and led them to a nearby table, adding that their waiter would be with them in a moment.
As soon as he'd gone, Faith leaned towards Mysterious Isa and whispered, "Don't we pay for getting stuff from the buffet?"
"Beats me," Mysterious Isa shrugged. Back in the country of French Guinea, Faith, Isa, and the other four boys would either go shoplift from supermarkets, dine and dash at restaurants, or go to homeless shelters if they didn't have enough money on them. Never before had they taken food from a buffet.
Faith was starting to get worried. "We should've woken up the boys," she thought to herself. "Maybe Latham would've known what to do." She looked towards the entrance to the restaurant. "Please Latham, please hurry."
"Where are those three?" Cooper wondered aloud as he, Ty, and Latham surveyed their campground. The African Guinean had woken up to an empty spot beside him, and when he went to check on the girls, he found their tent open and the two gone.
"I think they went for a swim," Ty suggested.
"Well, I say they headed towards the Magic Kingdom without us," Cooper stated.
"It was for a swim!" Ty snapped at him.
"Kingdom!" Cooper yelled in response.
"Swim!"
"Kingdom!"
"Swim!"
"Kingdom!"
"Knock it off!" Latham hissed at them. "Faith, Mysterious Isa, and Little Jo wouldn't ditch us like that. I'm sure they're still around here...just not that close."
"What makes you say that?" Cooper quizzed.
"We six have to stick together, no matter what," Latham enounced stolidly. "After we get dressed, we'll go look for them. First, we'll check by the pool, and then if they're not there, we'll just head to the Magic Kingdom and hope that they are there. Got it?" Cooper and Ty nodded their heads.
"Good morning, sir; table for five, please," Mr. Winslow said to the waiter. "We're going with the buffet."
The waiter looked down at the children. "Is anyone else joining you?"
Mr. Winslow nodded. "My wife's coming." He ushered the children to a table next to Mysterious Isa and Faith. The two girls were already up at the buffet table and did not see them coming in.
"Think up anything yet, Faith?" Mysterious Isa whispered to the blond girl as she placed a slice of bacon on her plate.
"I think I did," whispered Faith in reply. "You know how we used to dine and dash back in Silver Point? Well, we will do that here."
"Dine and dash?" Mysterious Isa raised an eyebrow. "I don't know, girl. Security's probably tough here. And I doubt there are any windows in the bathrooms."
Faith shrugged and placed another slice of bacon on her plate. "Couldn't be hard to try."
The two girls added more food to their plates and headed back to their table. As soon as they sat down, Mysterious Isa heard a small voice say, "Hey, madam? Could you please hand me a napkin?" The redhead girl nodded and swiped up a napkin she got. But when she turned towards the voice, she came face-to-face with a familiar boy.
"Little Jo! What're you doing here?" she exclaimed, surprised.
"I followed you guys before coming across the Winslows. They were heading here. We've been here for a few minutes now," Little Jo said with a smile. Tommy and Erica peeked over his shoulder at them, the latter waving.
"Where's the rest of the gang?" Faith inquired.
"I think they're asleep."
"Oh, ya think?" Mysterious Isa scowled at him. She turned to Faith and asked her what they should do.
"Well…let's see…" Faith scratched her head. "As soon as we're done eating, we'll go back and see how Latham and those other two are doing. We'll wake them up and go to the Magic Kingdom as a group."
"And if they're not in the tents?" Little Jo pressed.
"Then maybe they went to the Magic Kingdom without us, and we'll just go catch up with them. Fair enough?" The redheaded siblings nodded.
"Wow, you really know how to use your brain, Faith," Erica remarked. "Did you ever do anything like this back home?"
"Uh, yeah, I guess," Faith rejoined. "Our lives were busy." She took a sip of the orange juice she got from the buffet. Mysterious Isa shoved a morsel of hash browns into her mouth.
Latham and Cooper waited for Ty as he checked by the swimming pool. "Are they there?" Latham demanded as the Asian boy trotted back to them.
Ty shook his head. "Nothin'. It isn't even opened."
"Looks like you were wrong about them goin' for a swim, Tyler," Cooper teased.
"Shut up, Coop." His dark brown eyes met Latham's blue ones. "Do we go to the Magic Kingdom now?"
Latham sighed. "I guess so. C'mon, you two; let's get walking. I'll bet Isa, Faith, and Jo are waiting for us by the Transportation and Ticket Center already." He sighed again.
Keeping to the edge of the path so that no cars would run them over, the three boys made their way to the entrance, where they would await the bus. At one point, Cooper spoke.
"What if those other three aren't at the Magic Kingdom?" he wondered aloud. "What if they're still here?"
Ty snorted and rolled his eyes. "Seriously, Cooper? Where do you think they are? Imprisoned by the Disney villains?"
"No!" Cooper snapped. "Maybe they could still be in Fort Wilderness…probably at Pioneer Hall or the stables." He turned to Latham. "I propose we go back and continue looking for them."
"Don't listen to him, Lath," Ty said quickly. "He's crazy. I am sure those three are on their way to the park as we speak."
Here, Latham stopped and thought about what the African Guinean boy had said. Was Cooper right? Were Mysterious Isa, Faith, and Little Jo still wandering around here? If they were, where would they be?
"Let's go check by the campsite one last time," Latham finally declared, turning around and jogging back.
"What?" Ty's jaw dropped. "Lath, don't—"
"Come on, Ty!" Cooper ordered. "We're going to look some more." He smiled and followed the blue-eyed boy.
Ty was flabbergasted at what had happened. One minute, they were strolling along merrily to get to the Transportation and Ticket Center, and the next, they were going back! And it was all because of that Cooper.
"That Cooper may've persuaded Latham, but he won't persuade me!" Ty thought to himself bitterly. "I'll just go to the Magic Kingdom by myself!" And with that, he bolted down the road as fast as he could.
Next Chapter: Latham and Cooper find Isa, Faith, and Jo...but where did Ty go?
