Chapter 4 - The Curse Returns
Pleasure Island, Collodi, Italy, 1881:
The coachman has to rent a small steamboat with some of the last gold pieces he had obtained from selling donkeys that were once boys. He and Stromboli had three goals in getting to Pleasure Island, Collodi. One was to cut it off from Pleasure Island, Duckburg if possible and, was to restore the red star to Pleasure Island Collodi's interior and restore the profitable donkey curse to it and the third was to find a Sperm whale the red star could increase the size and ferociousness of, a second Monstro to guard their newly refounded enterprise. Things would be for the Coachman as they were before Pinocchio was given life as a puppet and he received the incompetent help of John Worthington Fowlfellow. Pinocchio would be no further bother because he would be locked into the Duckburg side of the Pleasure Island link between the two doors were closed when the Coachman's steamboat arrived at Pleasure Island but that didn't mean anything. They locked and unlocked from the outside. Once inside the park the Coachman and Stromboli
Made his way down the midway toward the 8 Ball Saloon and Pool Hall. They snuck up and quietly swung the saloon doors. Inside he saw the blue ring of light which represented the connection between Collodi and Duckburg through the two Pleasure Islands. Also in the saloon were at least Ten Junior Woodchucks Including Doofus McQuack and several of the dog type boys. The Coachman then opened the box containing the red star and pointed its radiation at all of the Junior Woochucks. Doofus of course was unaffected because of his anthropomorphic avian nature but all of the dog boys underwent a very familiar transformation. First their already longish ears began to grow longer, straight and furry, They developed a tail that they never had before as a species, their hands and feet formed into hooves and they were forced onto all fours. Nine Junior woodchucks were now the first donkeys of yet another revival of the Pleasure Island Curse.
Despite his name Doofus was really not a doofus and hid himself in his own sleeping bag which he arranged to be as messy as possible while avoiding the hooves of the agitated donkeys that used to be dog boys. While all of this was going on the Coachman calmly pressed the ace of spades on the faro layout closest to the bear bar and the bar slid away from the rear wall of the saloon to reveal the stairway complex to the interior of the Island. The Coachman would have to set the curse into action by placing the red star in the great pool cavern in the island's interior and once again Pleasure Island would be in its old business of deceiving the "stupid little boys" of Tuscany and turning them into donkeys. While all of this was going on Doofus got out of his sleeping bag and walked into the blue ring, through the barrel ride on the other side and back into Duckburg's world.
"Close up the connection!" Doofus yelled. "The Coachman's back and at full power."
"Huey was quick to remove the Junior Woodchucks Guidebook modified by the Blue Fairy from the barrel ride's "fuel" compartment re separating the two worlds.
"I wonder why the fairy hasn't come about this." Huey said.
"Probably because the fairy doesn't know the red star is back." Dewey said. "Remember that it was extracted by Magica De Spell from the Coachman when his humanity was restored."
"Yes," Pinocchio said. "She restored his and took mine away. I wonder if we could ever get her to give mine back."
"Probably not." Dewey said. "I think to get yours back you will have to pass the same tests you did before."
"You mean to be brave, truthful and unselfish." Pinocchio asked.
"Well I can at least think of one way to do that right off."
"To be an actor for Stromboli again, in return for a share of the profits from my performances as a stringless puppet." Maybe John Worthington can handle the negotiations again and my share of the profits can go toward Jiminy's and my fathers projects involving the pleasure Islands. That should handle the unselfish parts of that particular deal."
"I don't know about that." Huey said. "this Stromboli person does not look like the type to share any of his proceeds from your performances with anyone. And furthermore the Coachman seems to be in charge of Pleasure Island, Collodi again."
"Yes, but he always keeps his minions and himself in the donkey shipping areas of the port causeway. Pinocchio said. "And furthermore it does seem that I have some of the engineering talent of my father. I have devised in my mind a way we can get from Pleasure Island, Collodi to Collodi proper without the need of a boat."
"Exactly what is it." Louie asked.
"I've been looking up hot air ballooning in the Junior Woodchucks Guidebook and devised a way we can make a navigable hot air balloon airship using a clockwork motor for navigational propulsion." Pinocchio returned. "We can re establish temporarily the connection between the two Pleasure Islands and bring such an airship across the connection with now trouble at all. I think its gondola should be big enough to accommodate myself, Lampwick, John Worthington and Gideon."
"But what about us?" Huey asked concerning himself and his brothers. "We would make good performers for Stromboli too if he is actually the route for purchasing Pleasure Island, Collodi out from under the Coachman. The Coachman himself said that when he set up Pleasure Island, Duckburg."
"He did say that, didn't he." Pinocchio returned. "And there is safety in numbers just in case Stromboli does not change his ways. Okay them make the gondola accommodate yourselves as well. Doofus will cut off the connection once we get everything across.
Red Lobster, Collodi, Tuscany, Italy, 1881:
"Now that you saw a little of my operation in action what do you think of becoming a part of it." The Coachman asked Stromboli.
"Nota very Much" Stromboli returned. "Exploiting the little puppet withouta strings is one thing but thisa thing you do to real little boys isa something I don'ta want to be involved with.
"Come off it, bloke" The Coachman returned. "You sound like you are about to go moral traitor on me like that John Worthington Fowfellow and Gideon did."
"Anda what of it if I do." Stromboli returned. "I'm a puppet show operator, a crooked one froma time to time I'll admit. But this thing you do witha boys is as closa to murder as you cana get withouta actually killing someone."
"Yes, and it's very profitable too." The coachman said. "And just remember how low I'll already stoop to keep those profits should you try to cross me in any way. Fowlfellow and Gideon are already on my enemies list and you are headed in that direction yourself Stromboli. And as for selling Pleasure Island to the "stupid little boys" I've already got someone I can count on, my own adoptive son from Italian Somaliland in Africa, the Ringmaster.
Stromboli knew the Ringmaster well. He was a competitor in the puppet show business who used his very persuasive singing voice to keep the audience hooked to his shows even though he was nowhere as skilled a marionette manipulator as Stromboli was. His mentality was identical to the Coachman's himself. It was even rumored that the Ringmaster had his own way of turning boys into donkeys that did not require the red star but would limit its boy to donkey changing influence to a single ride in an amusement park, usually a roller coaster. Therefore the Ringmaster's method was considered to be useless to the Coachman himself who wanted donkeys in bulk rather than the three or four at a time that a single cursed roller coaster could produce. However beyond a doubt the Ringmasters hypnotic compelling singing voice would definitely be a plus for drawing the "stupid little boys" to Pleasure Island, Collodi. As much as he wanted his "little wooden gold mine back" Stromboli was hoping that Pinocchio would stay on the Duckburg side of the wormhole that connected the Pleasure Islands. The Coachman and the Ringmaster would be too much for the little living puppet to handle alone and in all probability even worse was on the way things that probably Pinocchio's Junior Woodchucks would not be able to handle.
On the causeway dock of Pleasure Island, Tuscany, Italy, 1881:
The Ringmaster arrived by his own puppet show showboat about midmorning on Thursday. He was a tall slender man of east African heritage dressed in an exaggerated old fashion soldiers uniform consisting of red and white coat with blue pants and black boots.
"Well, it's a good thing that you arrived when you did." the Coachman said to the Ringmaster. "Our new guardian for the Island is right behind you."
The Ringmaster looked back to see what first looked like a mountain emerging from the see. But soon he saw that the mountain was an enormously large sperm whale with a mouth that was more like a lion's that the normal sperm whale straight jaw and fully capable of swallowing the Ringmaster's showboat with room to spare. This whale also had teeth in both jaws rather than only in the bottom jaw like a normal sperm whale. However this was not just another sperm whale. The red star had turned a normal sperm whale into another Monstro just as it changed boys into donkeys. Except for the appearance of the Ringmaster to take over the roll John Worthington once performed everything was suddenly exactly as it was on the day Pinocchio first met John Worthington and Gideon on the way to what should have been his first day of school. In fact the path back to real boyhood for Pinocchio was being set up by the Coachman and the Ringmaster without they're even knowing they were doing it. Once again Pinocchio would have to prove himself brave, truthful and unselfish in a world virtually identical to the one the Blue Fairy had given him life in.
Next - Pinocchio's path back to real boyhood in the Chapter Brave, Truthful and Unselfish.
Note - The Ringmaster or more appropriately Ringleader was the replacement for the Coachman in a year 2000 live action television version of the Pinocchio story named Geppetto because it told the story form Geppetto's point of view rather than the cricket's. My version of the Ringmaster/Ringleader is being presented here as an adoptive son of the Coachman from East Africa because the actor singer who played the Ringmaster/Ringleader part in Geppetto was African American. The Ringleader in the 2000 live action version also used a curse that applied only to the Roller Coaster on Pleasure Island for turning boys into donkeys, hence my version's the Ringmaster's preference for applying the curse to this particular ride alone and not the entirety of the island.