1955

Promises

"Come on Rynnie! We want to get to the Shoppe before they run out of milkshakes and floats!"

"They won't run out Rya!"

"Ice Cream maybe. My daddy says he went once before, and they didn't have any ice cream there at all!"

"When was that? Before we were born? We don't have to ration anymore!," Farryn said to the little gray rabbit. She didn't know a whole lot about the Second War; it ended 2 years before she was born. But what little she did know about it, she learned from her father. He never saw battle himself; toons were exempt from the draft, but he did see the impact it had back home. All of the studios, not just his own, were doing propaganda shorts to support the effort, leaving many toons out of work for a while. Rations were required by everyone. Everything from sugar, meat, and even ice cream was rationed in an effort to help the war. After it ended however, rations were stopped and there wasn't a shortage of supplies. Usually.

"No, it was a few years ago! Daddy says it was so hot outside, everyone within a five-block radius was at the shoppe getting an ice cream float!"

"It ain't that hot today though! We'll be fine!" the fox giggled alongside her best friend, Mariah. It was a beautiful summer day in Southern California and the two were taking advantage of the nice weather and summer break to head down to the Soda Fountain at the edge of their neighborhood. It was their favorite place to hang out; they ventured there almost every day. It didn't help that it was as far as the two could go without parental supervision.

The two girls giggled as they came up to the entrance of the Shoppe. The place was already pretty packed, and it wasn't even noon yet. Luckily for them, a few people sitting on the stools got up and appeared to be leaving. The girls climbed into a stool and waited for the soda jerk to get to them, already knowing what they wanted.

"Hello girls," the young ink-splot looking toon said to them when he had a free moment. "The same as usual?"

"Yes please Jerry." The soda jerk nodded and turned to the wall behind him to begin making their drinks. The girls frequented the place so often they knew most of the employees there. They giggled some more as they looked around the shoppe. Most of the toons they were able to recognize; they were all from around the area and frequented the place just as much as they did. Most of, if not all, of the toons that were currently occupying the place were close to their age or in their teens. There were a few parents' there with their family, but most of the adults tended to go to the bars that were on the other side of the neighborhood. She wasn't for sure why; this place had yummy snacks, goodies, drinks, and even a jukebox. It was the perfect place to hang out on a hot, summers' day.

"Here you are girls. A root beer float," the employee said placing the brown drink in front of Farryn, "and a strawberry ice cream milkshake," he said, placing the pink shake in front of the rabbit.

"Thank you Jerry," the girls said while each handing him $2.

"Enjoy girls," he said taking the money and placing it in the register before he went off to help another set of customers. The girls happily drank their drinks, trying not to finish them too fast. They didn't want to get a brain freeze already.

"Are you guys excited about tomorrow?," a young voice said, causing the two to turn to their left. Standing next to them, barely taller than the kit, was a silver-colored fox named Sam. He was a grade above the two girls, but he had befriended them on the playground a year ago.

"Very!," the two said in unison. For the last several months, the new theme park opening up in Anaheim was being advertised on tv, in newspapers, and even flyer handouts at department stores. Theme parks weren't exactly new, especially around the L.A area. Santa Monica pier was a favorite of many people, humans mostly she noticed, thanks to it being directly on the beach. And Knott's Berry Farm had the cable cars and a haunted house walkthrough that she remembered scaring her when she first went on it. But this new park was said to be bigger than both of those, with many more attractions, several themed lands, and characters from movies, including her fathers'.

"My daddy says that we're going to go on all the rides! And eat as much food as we can!"

"Yeah, and my mom says we can stay all day if we're able, to watch the fireworks that night! Doesn't that sound fun?," Rya chimed in, nearly knocking her milkshake over when she raised her hands up. "Are you going to be there Sam?"

"Nah, my folks don't want to deal with the crowd. They said we'll go sometime before school starts though."

"Might be best. You won't have to wait around in the heat. My dad says it'll be a hot day and I'm not looking forward to that at all."

"Might not be that bad, Rynnie. Besides, they'll probably have a lot of sweet shops and candy there." Farryn shied away slightly at him calling her by her nickname, taking a big sip of her float. She liked Sam, but the only one who knew that was Rya. And she had promised to keep it a secret. Not even her father knew, at least she didn't think so. He never said anything to her about it anyway. He was sometimes peculiar about who she hung around with and she wasn't quite sure why. "Besides, you could end up in the news about it! That'd be pretty neat, huh?"

"No. I don't like those people with the cameras. They always ask me questions, want pictures of me, and make me nervous."

"Right. I forgot about that." There was a silence between them as the girls took sips from their drinks while Sam stuck his hands in his pockets. She didn't want him to feel bad. She just really had a dislike for paparazzi. Or anyone who was a fan of her dad really. They were the ones who always asked her about things she didn't know.

Noticing Sam glancing out the large windows behind them, she turned to follow his gaze and noticed a silver-colored tall male fox gesturing towards him. His father, she presumed.

"Guess I better go. My dad was picking up a package from the post office and let me pick up some Pez," he said holding up the blue dispenser with an astronaut's head. Farryn couldn't help but giggle at how silly that thing looked, causing him to smirk.

"Promise you'll let me know what the park's like?"

"Promise."

~XXXX~

"But Daddy, you promised we'd go together," Farryn said, putting her lip out in a pout and trying to hold back her tears. For the past several months, her father had told her-promised her-that when the new Disneyland Park opened in Anaheim in July, they would go on the opening day together. She had been so excited up to this point. An entire day of fun and rides with her dad. It was just like going to the beach, but better!

However, when she got back from the Soda Shoppe and exclaimed how excited she was for tomorrow, he told her, with regret it seemed, that they couldn't go together; he'd been selected to work for opening day. Apparently, the park was going to have its toon actors walk around as their respective characters to greet and interact with guests. They also decided, for whatever reason, that her fathers' character, and his respective co-workers', were going to be some of the ones for opening day. She was excited about this at first, as she thought it meant that she would get to be with him while he was in character. However, her mood quickly changed when he told her that she wouldn't be able to be with him. At all.

"Honey I know I did. You know I would rather spend the day with my little girl. But I have to work and it's really really important that I'm there," he said, although she could tell from his tone that he didn't really want to work. "Besides, it's not like you won't see me around the park. You'll even be able to come and talk with me in costume! You always want me to talk in funny voices when I read you stories anyway."

She simply stared at him, her eyes wide and tearing up, and lip wobbling. Sure, she thought the accent was funny and always wanted him to use it. But what good was that if he couldn't walk around with her or get snacks or ride rides together?

"B-but you won't b-be able to go on rides. O-or eat with me w-will you?," she sniffled, using her hand to wipe her falling tears away.

"No, sweetie. I won't be able to. I have a set of rules I have to follow, just like the rules you have at school. Whenever I'm in costume, I have to be available to interact with all the guests. Even if I don't want to."

She looked towards the ground and sniffled again. What was the point in going to this theme park now? All of her excitement was gone, and she was now dreading even going. It's not like she was gonna be able to go anyways, she can't walk around by herself or anything so-

"You know who else is going to be there tomorrow?"' Farryn shook her head while still looking down. "Mariah."

At the mention of her friend's name, she looked up at him, eyes still wide and tears falling, but he now had her attention. In the time she had been home, she had somehow forgotten that her best friend was going to be there too. How could she have forgotten? It's all they talked about for weeks!

"Her daddy has to be there as well, ya know. Her momma is taking her to the opening tomorrow. I talked to her earlier today, while you were at the Shoppe, and she's more than happy to have you accompany them while I'm working."

She continued to look at him, before she looked down at her twiddling fingers.

"Wouldn't you like to go with your best friend? That'll be fun I bet." She would love nothing to more than to go with her friend. That's why they were best friends after all! But that didn't change the fact she was still upset about the fact that her father wasn't going to be with her.

"What about you Daddy? I'd still want to do something with you." She heard a heavy sigh from him, causing her to glance up at him. He was pinching the bridge of his nose, something she'd learned over the years meant he was getting annoyed. This caused her to look down at her hands again, feeling sadder that he was seemingly getting annoyed with her.

"Tell you what. I'll talk around and see if there's a way I can pull some strings." She glanced back up, to find him looking at her. He didn't seem annoyed anymore, but more like he was thinking of something.

"You mean, you won't have to work tomorrow?"

"No, I still have to work. But I'm gonna see if I can leave a little early instead of staying all day. That way, you and I can still go on a few rides and maybe grab dinner before we leave. How's that sound?"

Well, it wasn't quite what she wanted. But it was better than nothing she supposed. Wiping away the last of her tears that fell, she nodded her head slowly.

"I know you're still upset, but honey," he said as he gently grabbed her chin and made her look up at him. "Sometimes things don't always go the way we want them to. If they did, we'd be living in a bigger house, be able to afford all the nice things you ask for, travel this country, be a top-of-the-line celebrity with several awards, and not having to deal with yo- ". He stopped what he was saying quickly and cleared his throat, while Farryn cocked her head, confused on what he was going on about at the end.

"Uh, what I meant was, that we have to deal with what we're given. You wanted to spend the day with me tomorrow, but the best I can offer is a few hours. It's something that will make more sense when you're older."

At this, she pouted. She hated when he used the 'you'll understand when you're older,' thing. He would tell her she's a big girl and tell her she's getting older. But then other times, he would say she wasn't old enough yet to know or that she was still a little girl. Which one was it?

"Remember how much fun you had on your first day of school? You had so much fun throughout the day that you didn't even think about me?" She nodded. She remembered how worried she was about going to school. Now she actually likes going. "I promise you the same thing will happen here, even more so. You and your friend will be having so much fun tomorrow, you won't even think about me throughout the day."

Farryn sat there a moment, thinking. He promised that her day would be so much fun, even without him being with her the whole time. But he had promised her before that they would spend the entire day together and now they can't. Would he break this one too?

"Promise Daddy? Promise that I'll have a lotta fun tomorrow? Promise that we'll ride at least one ride together?"

"I promise," he said with a small smile, his finger tracing a small X over his chest, their sign to each other when they promised each other something. Smiling, she reached out to hug him, accepting his sign and knowing that he meant his words.

~XXXX~

"Mom, is it almost time? I'm hot."

"Almost Mariah. We've got about…five minutes," the older rabbit said while glancing at her watch. Farryn leaned against one of the stanchion posts' and fanned herself with a map she had been given when they got in line. Her and her best friend had gleefully looked through it several times, pointing out the rides they wanted to try and giggling about what they wanted to eat for lunch. They were so excited; they could hardly wait to get inside!

That was almost an hour ago. They hadn't moved since they'd gotten in line, and she didn't really like being surrounded by so many people. Not only that, it was beyond hot. Before he left for the park earlier that morning, her father had mentioned that they were in a heat wave and she needed to drink a lot of water, even if she didn't want to. Having so many people around in combination with the heat was causing her to start sweating and she wasn't even inside the park yet.

She couldn't believe how many people were in line. There were already a ton of people in front of them and even more behind them. How many were there, hundreds? Thousands? She wasn't sure. What she did know though, was that there was a mixture of both toons and humans here. It was almost strange to see. She'd never seen so many mingled together like that before. A few guests must've recognized her and her friend, as they asked them weird questions, like if she believed any of the rumors going around about her dad, or what he was like as a father and even if he was around nearby. When she shied away from answering, causing Molly to not-so-nicely tell them off, they left her alone. Why was everyone so obsessed with her dad?

That morning was almost chaos, at least in her mind. He had woken her up at about 5:30, way earlier than she would've liked to get up. Not getting out of bed yet, she had groggily watched as he started going through the closet and muttering about how he had to be at work at like 7:30 or something. That was still 2 hours away; why the early rush?

She must've fallen asleep again, as she heard her dad tell her to wake up, slightly louder than before. As she slowly got out of bed, he helped get her dress on and tied one of her many assortments of ribbons into her hair. Still standing up, groggily, she watched as he seemed to be almost running through the house, grabbing what seemed to her to be random items. When he finally finished putting all of it in the car, he motioned for her to get going. Just wanting to go back to sleep, she complained she was tired. He must've been stressed or worried or something. He didn't try to give her a talk or anything. He simply walked back into her room and picked her up, while mumbling something under his breath she didn't quite catch.

He took her over to the Rabbits' house and gave her a hug and a kiss, telling her to be good and that he'll see her at the park. Being so out of it, she didn't even try to put up a fight about him leaving. It must've been his plan all along to wake her up as early as possible.

Luckily for her, the park wasn't going to open until 10. As soon as he left, Mrs. Rabbit took her to Rya's room, who was still sound asleep in her bed, and made a makeshift bed for her on the floor, which Farryn collapsed onto and slept for a few more hours.

"Rynnie are you ready?" Farryn looked at her friend, who had her hands clasped together, and jumping up and down relatively high, being a rabbit toon and all. She smiled at her.

"Of course I'm ready! I've been waiting for this day for months!," She excitedly exclaimed and began jumping up and down with her friend.

They were so giddy and giggling loudly, they didn't hear the announcement from Mr. Disney, the owner of the company and the brand-new park. And they almost got ran over when the gates opened, and the crowd pushed them towards the gates. But they quickly joined pace with the rest of the crowd and quickly moved forward. Excited and laughing, they caught up with a large group of children in front of them as they began to run through the gates and up Main Street, only stopping when they heard Mrs. Rabbit call for them.

As they waited for her to catch up, they couldn't help but stare in awe at all the shops that surrounded them. There were so many, they wanted to go take a look in all of them! There was a candy shop, an ice cream parlor, a candied fruit and jam store, even a Coca-Cola bar! And that was just the food shops. She also saw a cinema, an arcade, carriage rides, and train! And she hadn't even gotten to the giant castle yet!

"Mom, mom can we go to the candy shop? Look at the caramel apples! You can smell them from here!," Rya exclaimed excitedly, her eyes growing wide as the candymakers in the front windows stretched some pink taffy.

"Look Rya, they even have fudge!"

"Girls, girls we'll get to try the candy later," the older rabbit said laughing, finally catching up to them. "Why don't we go into the cinema to cool off for a moment?" The girls could agree with that. It was hot and they'd been so excited on being able to finally enter the park, they had forgotten they were sweating.

As the trio walked in, welcoming the cool air, they couldn't help but notice it was different than cinemas she'd always gone to. In the middle was a circular raised platform with a railing around it and a centerpiece of lights on the ceiling. Instead of just having one screen, like she would've thought, there were multiple, each playing a different black-and-white, silent movie. She recognized a few of the movies being of Charlie Chaplin. She only knew him because her father enjoyed his movies, using a bit of the slapstick humor into his own character.

Disappointed that none of the films had sound, she sat down on the cool floor next to her friend to spend a few minutes watching, relaxing, and talking about what they wanted to do next.

~XXXX~

It was almost 5 p.m. Farryn had been at the park for 8 hours. Well technically longer since she had to wait in line to get in, but that didn't count because she wasn't physically in the park. She was starting to get hungry and, dare she say, tired. The heat had never let up, not helping the situation and they ate ice cream for lunch. They had been on almost every ride and checked out nearly every building. Well almost.

The Santa Fe and Disneyland Railroad, the Tea Cups, and Peter Pans Flight were all that was left on her list of things to ride. She wanted to ride everything before she left for the day, and boy was it a chore. While the lines themselves weren't too terribly long, surprisingly, there were so many different areas of the park scattered about, each with a different theme, like one based on the Olde West and one that was about the future. Her legs were starting to hurt, and she wanted to go home.

That is, until Mrs. Rabbit said at 5 o'clock, there were going to meet her father.

She became so ecstatic about getting to see him and go on some rides with him, she completely forgot that she was hot, and her legs were hurting! She started skipping along to the Western themed land, trying her best to remember how to get there. When she finally made it, she stopped and looked around confused, unsure where exactly she was supposed to meet him at here.

"Farryn dear, see this short line here?" She nodded her head, almost hurting her neck at how fast she turned around. "They are in line to meet your father," she whispered to the young fox, not wanting to alert the others around them who she was.

Sure enough, as the line began to move forward, she saw him. He was dressed in his country bumpkin costume, talking to the others in line before her, and posing to take pictures with them. The line had moved up enough that she could even hear him speaking in the accent.

And before she knew it, she was next in line to see him. Getting excited, she started hopping up and down on her toes. She saw him whisper something to the employee controlling the line before she was gestured to come forward. And boy did she. As soon as she saw that, she ran right up to him, jumping into his arms and exclaiming "Daddy!"

"Well, howdy there, lil' one! Quite a surprise t' see ya here, ain't it?" She giggled at hearing his accent. She thought it was impressive how he could switch to it at the flick of a switch.

"Daddy, I had so much fun today, like you said! I went on almost everything, except a few rides! I saved them for us to ride together!"

"Ya did now, huh? Did ya 'appen t' eat anythin' for lunch?

"Yeah we had Ice Cream on Main Street! And it was delicious! Oh, and we tried the candy apples at the candy shoppe!" He laughed at this before he picked her up. She was finally able to get a quick look around her. Some stanchions had gone up where the line was and the only people really waiting around were Mrs. Rabbit and Rya.

"Well, I'se purty hungry, ya know! 'N' I knows of a place where we can git some yummy food!" She widened her eyes with excitement, unsure where he wanted to eat at, but excited to see what new place she could try.

"Where Daddy?" "I can't tell ya. It's a surprise," he whispered, causing her to clasp her hands together, a bright smile forming on her face. A surprise? She loved surprises! And what could be a better surprise than getting to try something new at a brand-new theme park with her father?

"Well, a'ight! Give me 'bout…ten minutes t' change int' sum dinna' clothes 'n' we'se git goin'!" He said while putting her back on the ground. She nodded her head again, watching as he and the human employee disappeared behind a door that seemed to have opened up on the wall behind him.

Farryn walked over to the edge of the curb and plopped down next to her best friend, who was watching the Riverboat slow down and pull up to the pier. The two had gone on it earlier, with Rya's mother. Having never been on a boat before, she was beyond excited to get to be on one and float peacefully down the river. However, a lot of people had packed onto the boat, and while she liked watching the scenery as they floated past, she wasn't too fond of having all those people pressed up against them.

"Where you gonna eat at, Rya? You wanna join us?"

"It sounds like fun! But I think mom and I are supposed to meet dad somewhere for dinner. Then I think we're gonna get dessert somewhere on Main Street. If I'm still hungry for it, that is!" The young rabbit toon said jokingly. The candy apples they had earlier for lunch were huge! They had never seen ones that big before! They both had gotten full when they weren't even half-way done with it. Didn't help they had ice cream not too long afterwards.

"I think I'm still a little full from those apples," the young fox said, giggling.

"I hope you aren't too full to eat dinner with your dad then," a voice said from behind her, causing her to jump a little, before looking back, causing another smile to spread across her face.

"Daddy, you're back!"

"Of course I am! I promised you dinner and a couple rides didn't I?" Giggling again, she quickly got up to go with him before she stopped and remembered something.

"Thank you Mrs. Rabbit for bringing me here!," she said turning back around.

"Well, you're welcome dear! I'm sure Mariah had fun with you here, as well."

"Yeah, I did! We need to do it again Rynnie!" The young rabbit said while pulling her taller friend into the best hug she could manage with their height difference.

"Ok! We should come every week! That'll be fun, right?" Farryn asked, wanting to make plans already for their next trip.

"Yeah! Oh, can we mom? Can we?" Rya asked excitedly, tugging on her mom's dress.

"We'll see dear. We have to meet your father though. He's waiting for us."

"Oh alright. Bye Rynnie! I'll see you later!" the rabbit said to the fox, bringing her in for a hug, which was returned immediately.

"Bye Rya!" Farryn said, waving to her friend once they let out of the hug. She continued to wave until the small, long-eared child disappeared into the crowd. She turned back to her father, smile still spread across her face, ready to find out what this surprise place was.

~XXXX~

The screaming and cheering inside the Golden Horseshoe Saloon was loud and obnoxious, that had he not learned how to drown it out simply from being around it throughout the years, he probably would've screamed himself. For once in his life, however, Fletcher didn't seem to mind it. Not one bit.

I oughta spend my lunches here from now on.

Chin resting on his hand, he was captivated by the showgirls-especially their very accurate costumes-performance. Exactly the reason he chose this place to eat. He'd heard a coworker talking about the performances they had here, and he was interested in taking a look for himself.

"Daddy?" She asked, interrupting his thoughts, and tugging his shirt sleeve.

"Huh?"

"Is this what it looked like when you were little?"

"Is what looked like this?" He asked, turning his attention away from the stage to the little fox girl dressed in blue sitting next to him.

"This!" She gestured her hands to the interior. "Buildings that looked like this, with those lantern lights and people in costume."

I wish. "No. Why you askin'?"

"Cause you're old. And this building is old!"

"Hey, I'm not THAT old you silly!" He said, leaning towards her to tickle her, causing her to start laughing. Though, as much as he hated to admit it, he would be thirty-one in a few months. Seemed weird for him to think about but there wasn't anything he could do about it.

"You're older than me!" He chuckled at this just as their waitress, a pretty blonde, placed their sandwiches down, ham and cheese for him while she got beef and cheese. They each got a small bag of Fritos and a cool glass of coke, perfect for the still muggy day. As they began to quietly eat their meals, they turned their attention to the stage once again, although he was disappointed to see that the showgirls had finished.

"So," he asked, in between bites of his meal, "what rides did you save for us to enjoy together?"

"The best ones! There's the tea cups," Oh God. That'll go over well right after dinner. "Peter Pan, and the big train!" He thought about how best to do this. Going on a spinning ride right after eating was bound to make one of them sick, most likely him. But the railroad station was all the way at the entrance of the park. It was pointless to walk all the way over there, turn around to ride two more rides, and then turn around once more to go in the same direction to leave.

"Ok then, how's this: We'll head over to Fantasyland after we eat as it's close by. We'll ride on Peter Pan first so Daddy doesn't get sick, then the tea cups, and on our way out we'll ride the train together. And if you want to, we'll watch the fireworks before we leave. Sound like a plan?"

"YES!" She shouted excitedly, barely being heard over the noise in the saloon. "Oh, Daddy I'm so happy you're able to go on rides with me! I've been waiting all day and now this'll be the best day ever! Thank you for keeping your promise!" He smiled at this as she leaned towards him to give him a hug.

"Of course, Squirt! I've never broken a promise to ya before, have I?" She shook her head, still squeezing him with all her might, as he put his arms around her, forgetting all about the ruckus going on around them momentarily.

This was the best part of the entire day, by far. While he had to stand outside in the blazing heat for hours on end, with hundreds, thousands maybe, of children screaming around him and yelling from adults, and having to plaster a forced smile on his face for their pictures, this is what made all of that worthwhile. This is why he does what he does.

She doesn't know it, and he hoped she never would, but after he sobered up all those years ago, he made a promise to himself that he was going to be the best father he could possibly be to her. He might not be a perfect one in anyone else's eyes, but he didn't give a damn what they thought. She was the reason he still had a job, a house, hell, still alive even. And for that, everything he did, everything he endured, every trivial problem and issue he went through, he did for one reason, and one reason alone.

Her.