Chapter 2
15,20
2015 November 13 Friday
"All of ToonTown's still connected to Burbank?" Mickey asked in surprise as toon bricks faded to inert stone.
"Ya, what? Is it not in your world?" Oswald asked, keeping his eyes on the road as the two drove through the tunnel.
"No, some humans got ahold of a thinner and turpentine mix after a toon created it back in the forties." Mickey explained. "After that all the studios separated their cartoon worlds from each other."
"We never had that here, though the studios still separated." Oswald admitted. "So how do you get to the studio for filming?"
"There's a road leading to the studio directly." Mickey explained. "You still haven't told me where we're going."
"Oh, sorry, the studio." Oswald admitted. "I wanna call up a few people in EPCOT who'd know a thing or two about working with electricity. If they know, then we can send you back before your birthday."
"Wait, EPCOT? As in the real Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow?" Mickey asked, surprised.
"Ya, Walt got to live there even before he died."
"When did Walt die?" Mickey found himself asking, already jealous of the rabbit for the extended time he had had with the man.
"In 1989, right after his birthday, too." Oswald admitted, gripping the steering wheel tighter. "It was stupid, he could've lived longer if only that driver knew where he was going."
Mickey stared in surprise as a tear ran down Oswald's cheek, the pain of almost thirty years coming back. "You can't keep playing the what-if game." Mickey said, looking down at his lap as he picked at a loose thread in his glove. "And as many times Minnie's told me that, I still do it myself. What if I convinced him to stop smoking back when I did? What if I would've helped keep him in the hospital when he was supposed to be?"
"When'd he die in your world?"
"1966."
The two road in a memorial silence as Oswald pulled them into the studio lot. It wasn't until Mickey was stepping out of the passenger seat when he realized the water tower towering above with Oswald's rabbit ears.
"You wanna take the tour? I'm sure it's not too different, but when Tom and Tim get talking, they like to side track a lot." Oswald admitted, the two walking inside the building.
Mickey was about to say he wouldn't mind listening in when a poster from Poor Papa caught his attention. "Ya, I'll go find the tour."
"Tell Amy you're a guest of mine." Oswald said as the mouse rushed off.
Mickey found where a group of humans were gathered for the three thirty tour and quickly noticed a girl in Oswald ears with a name tag saying she was Amy. The girl noticed him right away and smiled, "We don't have many cartoons allowed to join a human tour."
"Oswald said to tell you I was a guest of his." Mickey said, not sure what to do under the eyes of the six humans that were gathered.
Amy looked him over a moment before nodding her head. "I did notice his car pulling up just now." She mumbled to herself. She raised her head before starting the tour. "Welcome to the Walt Disney Studio, founded in 1927 by Walt and his brother Roy."
Mickey followed behind the small group of humans, surprised one little change in the dispute between Walt and Mintz would cause so many changes. All around him, the mouse saw the world that could have been, should have been for the Oswald back home. The rabbit's image was everywhere that Mickey remembered his own with Ortensia taking the place Minnie always stood. A female rabbit dressed in green and Clara stuffed animals sat in a window they passed and not too far down sat what looked like older toys of Homer and Mr. Whiskers.
"…and with the addition of sound in 1930, Oswald was the first to utilize voice and music in a film with his cartoon, The Gorilla."
Mickey looked up at Amy in surprise before realizing it made sense for Walt and Roy to be a year late in coming up with the sound track on the reel. Oswald had gained his popularity in just his first year and they had no need to find that next big push that gave Mickey his own popularity.
As they passed a screening room, Mickey found himself stopping as a black and white carton was playing. The mouse walked into the room, staying behind the animators studding the film as he stared at an older looking Oswald using bunny children to fight back at storks who were bombing him with more bunny children.
Mickey leaned over to whisper in a distracted animator's ear, "Which one is this?"
"Poor Papa." The animator replied, his mind just relaying the information as he quickly drew a few frames.
Mickey stepped back and watched the old cartoon play, knowing this was one of the many Oswald had told him about but he could never show.
The cartoon ended and Mickey was about to turn away only for another Oswald short to start up. The mouse gave up on catching up with the tour and sat down in the far corner, closest to the door as Hot Dog began to play.
As the shorts played out, time flew by for the mouse lost in a world that was forgotten and lost for him.
"Mickey, there you are!" a voice hissed, surprising Mickey to jump in his chair. He turned to the voice and saw Oswald standing there with a frown on his face.
"Hey." Mickey said before turning back to watch.
"Come on, mouse." Oswald ordered, walking out of the room.
Mickey sighed before obeying, following the rabbit out into the hallway.
"You're worst then bringing my kids to work." Oswald said, rolling his eyes. "Amy realized you went missing at the end of the tour and found me, worried about you being a spy from another studio."
"Sorry, I've just never seen most of them they had playing." Mickey admitted. At Oswald's surprised look, he explained. "All of your first year with Walt was kept by Universal until ten years ago. When they gave the rights they didn't have any of the original reels so the company's been looking for them. About half of them have been found."
"What about the cartoons done with Universal?" Oswald asked out of curiosity.
Mickey shrugged. "I think a few are around but really I haven't seen too many of them. You, er well, the Oswald back home doesn't talk about them much. Oh, did you get in contact with them at EPCOT?"
"Ya, Tim actually wants to meet you." Oswald explained, leading them down the hall.
"I wish we could make it out to Florida." Mickey admitted. "To think, Walt actually got his dream here."
"He died right before they finished buying up all the land there, right?" Oswald asked.
"Ya, I had to help them open Florida in his place." Mickey said, putting his hands in his pockets. "I still remember all of that too well. No one expected Walt to die, not with the day before and how he was drawing out Disney World in the ceiling tiles while he was stuck in the hospital."
"I wonder if there's a world were Walt lived out his full life." Oswald offered.
"It'd have to be one where he didn't start smoking." Mickey said, looking at the rabbit. The two smiled at the thought of Walt living longer before Mickey's eyes caught sight of a newer Ortensia doll. A smirk escaped, getting Oswald to raise a brow. "Sorry, just thinking of if my Oswald saw a stuffed animal of Ortensia."
"Who's that?"
Mickey stopped short in surprise. "Ortensia, your wife."
Oswald eyed him for a moment before saying, "Her name's Sadie."
"I forgot she went by that." Mickey said, sighing in relief.
"When did she change her name?" Oswald asked, continuing down the hall.
"I think it the forties she changed it to Ortensia, but before that she'd been called a couple'a different names too." Mickey explained.
"I'm glad Sadie didn't. I like her going by that name." Oswald said as he opened a door. "Here, Tim should still be on screen."
Mickey walked into the room, just realizing he was walking into the same room he had his official office in. A TV screen posted on the wall showed a room miles away, every once in a while the window in the background a person would walk by.
"Hey Tim, you there?" Oswald asked as he closed the door.
A human of about thirty rushed into the screen, running a hand through his bangs to put them back in place. His mouth froze as his eyes stared at Mickey, getting the mouse to wave. "So this is the other worlder?" Tim said, trying to figure out where to start.
"Hiya." Mickey waved, not sure what to do under this human's gaze. He wasn't used to humans looking at him with a look of wonder as to who he was.
"Oswald says you might've come here through an electrical explosion?" Tim said, looking the mouse over. "Can you tell me what was happening before that?"
"Oswald and I were in his garage." Mickey started.
"Why'd you come over?" Tim interrupted.
"Huh, I was telling him our sister was planning on coming for Thanksgiving." Mickey admitted.
"Oh, so you're brothers?" Tim asked, surprised.
"Well, we both consider Walt our father so, ya." Mickey shrugged.
"Sorry about my curiosity." Tim smirked. "Please continue."
"Ortensia, er, she still goes by Sadie here," Mickey glanced at Oswald to see his face only to see nothing but an inquisitive gaze, "had come in saying she had just baked cookies. Oswald wanted to weld in one last circuit board when the cow he was working on came to life and bit me." Mickey instantly rubbed his right wrist. He shook his head before looking back up at Tim. "After that all I remember is waking up here."
"Well, there's the first thing to try." Tim offered. "Find out which circuit is was and try recreating what sent you here. If that doesn't work then maybe the electrical experiment Tom was telling you about."
Mickey raised an eyebrow as he turned to look at Oswald. "Electrical experiment?" he echoed.
