The Tin Gold Mine
By Sharan McQuack, Launchpad's wife.
Based on the "Babar" episode "What's Mine is Mine"
So Babar's a little like "Ducktales". Who's stopping you from bringing back Ducktales, Disney? Not the people making Babar episodes. Why are you mad at them for profiting off of something a little like Ducktales when you could bring back Ducktales and profit off it, if you wanted to?
But knowing how stubborn you are , you'd just make Launchpad look even dumber and push dweebs like Ugly Twerp and Gizmoduck and have a flop on your hands and never admit it, never mind admit why it's a flop.
So maybe I should just shut up.
Also based on an episode of "Sabrina the Teenage Witch", the cartoon series.
Uncle Quigley took Sabrina's class on their class trip to the mountains, Sabrina on a dare went into a haunted mine, Harvey rescues her...
One day, Launchpad drove the camp bus full of Jr. Woodchuck to a Jr. Woodchuck campground in the mountains.
"We would get stuck with THIS campgrounds." Launchpad muttered.
"What's wrong with it?" I asked, for I had come along,too.
"There's an old mine not far from it. It's shut up tight. They'd used everything short of land mines and guard dogs to keep kids OUT of it. But stupid kids keep finding- no OPENING, entrances to it- BECAUSE of all the warnings not to. Some of them almost got killed that way!" Launchpad explains.
"And you're worried the Jr. Woodchucks might be dumb enough to do likewise?" I asked.
"The kids know about the mine. Mr. McDuck owns it. It drives him crazy. He shut it up tight, kids break in, kids get hurt, he gets sued...but there's no way to close it so tight somebody can't break in. No way to fill it up that won't cost WAY too much AND probably cause the mountain to collapse trying to fill up the mine!" Launchpad explained further.
"Mr. McDuck shut off entrances within the mine. Sometimes the kids go so far as to dig past the closed off areas after getting into the mine itself- only to find more blockages up ahead. So the kids can't get too far and get themselves killed- they've TRIED hard enough!" Launchpad said, disgust clear in his voice.
"And dumb kids cut thru a fence, ignore "keep out" signs, break into the mine, dig past blockages meant to keep them out and get hurt- and this is somehow MR. McDUCK'S fault? Oh, THAT makes sense." I replied, with the same disgust.
Well, luckily the weather was beautiful. Launchpad had us hike as far away from the old mine as we could get. I dug old camp songs out from my memory and taught them to the Jr. Woodchucks, everything from Alan Sherman(1) to Zoom.
Evening came. Between mouthfuls of smores, the Jr. Woodchucks begged Launchpad for a scary story about the "haunted" mine. Launchpad obliged, and pulled out all the stops. He told a scary story of the haunted mine that made it out to be so ugly and dangerous nobody with the common sense God gave the hind end of a grasshopper would go anyplace near it, ghosts or no ghosts. He spoke of poison gas, land slides, getting lost... dangers that, unlike ghosts, you KNOW exist.
"Won't that story make them MORE likely to try and sneak into the mine?" I whispered to Launchpad.
"Why do you think I insisted we hike all the way here? There's a lake between us and the mine. And all the boats are locked up in the boathouse. You can't get to the mine from here without a boat." Launchpad whispered back.
But I'm afraid Launchpad underestimated the ability of a kid to do what he's NOT supposed to do.
Soon, the Jr. Woodchucks were daring each other to enter the mine.
"We can't! There's a lake between us and it! And all the boats are locked up inside the boathouse! We can't get there!" said Dufus.
Even Dufus had enough sense to NOT want to enter the mine.
"They're building a dock on the lake. There are a bunch of logs at the edge of the lake, waiting to be put into place. We could "borrow" a log. They are long and thick and would make a good boat. We could use branches for oars." Huey suggested.
"Why would you WANT to go into that spooky, dangerous old mine?" Webby asked.
"To prove we're brave enough!" Dewey said.
"To see a ghost! A real ghost! " Louie said.
"If you go, I'll TELL! And it's NOT tattle telling when somebody can get hurt! And you guys could get killed!" Webby said.
Naturally, NOW the boys HAD to sneak into the mine - since a "dumb GIRL" told them NOT to. Don't ask ME why boys have to do the opposite of what girls want them to do, I'm just a "dumb GIRL."
So, the boys waited. They volunteered to gather firewood. But ran down to where the logs were and rolled a nice, long thick one into the water. They took some long, thick branches and rowed across the lake. Despite them complaining that is WAY too hard when Launchpad wants them to do that.
"Think Webby will REALLY tell on us?" Huey asked.
"She's busy cooking tonight's meals and doing the dishes! She got caught playing a practical joke on Dufus and is being punished for being naughty!" Dewey said.
"By the time she realizes we're gone, we'll be in the mine already!" Louie said.
The boys were, unfortunately, right. Between fixing their meal and doing the dishes, Webby did not realize the boys were missing until it was time for the evening campfire and they were out of wood.
" We used the last of the wood to cook supper. The Triplets were supposed to collect more." Launchpad said.
"They missed supper, too." Dufus said.
He could not imagine missing a meal on purpose.
"Oh, no! They were daring each other to go into that old mine!" Webby said.
"Relax, Webby. There's a lake between us and the mine. And all the boats are locked up in the boathouse. They can't get to the mine." Launchpad said.
"They were talking about using one of the logs from the dock they're building as a boat to cross the lake. I TOLD them if they did something that silly, I'd tell!" Webby said.
"That's why they did it. Because you told them not to." Launchpad said.
Launchpad dug out his walkee talkee (2) and contacted the forest rangers. But they were busy elsewhere and could not get to the mine soon.
"Look, if you KNEW they were going into that death trap, it'd be different! But you're just guessing!" One ranger replied.
"Great. How can I rescue the Trins and keep an eye on you kids? I can't risk taking you kids near that mine!" Launchpad moaned.
"My Aunt owns a cafe on the highway, near the mine. She'll babysit us." said Dufus.
Like I said, Dufus did NOT want to go into the mine.
So Launchpad unlocked the boathouse, launched (sorry!) a rowboat and rowed them across the lake. And left them with Dufus' Aunt Sally.
"Can't we help? We won't go into the mine, honest! We have more sense than that!" Webby asked.
"You can help cook a meal for the boys. They'll be hungry once they're rescued. Or you can help me find and prepare my first aid supplies. In case they're hurt." Aunt Sally offered.
"I'll help prepare the first aid stuff. I've had enough of cooking for one day." Webby replied.
So Launchpad heading towards the mine. He went first to the lakeside, hoping past hope he could cut the boys off before they found a way into the mine. Launchpad found the log they rode in on. And three sets of duck footprints. KID duck footprints.
Launchpad followed the footprints towards the mine. The fence was further in, lest the lake water rust it. the lake often swelled in early spring. It was now mid-spring, and the lake had already swollen, then receded very recently. This had opened up a hole in the lake shore that led to the old mine. The boys had found the hole and entered the mine- as their footprints clearly showed.
()()Now how am I going to find my way back if I follow them?()()Launchpad asked himself.
Fortunately, I've told him about the story of the labyrinth, and he remembered the story. He also had a ball of kite string in his pocket some kid had lost that he had meant to take to the lost and found but forgot about. He found a tree near the hole, tied the string to the tree and unwound the kite string as he followed the footprints. He also took out a flashlight and soon turned it on as the light faded as he got deeper into the old mine.
Launchpad followed the footprints until he came to part of the mine where lake water seeped into. The water formed a stream and erased any footprints.
"Huey! Dewey! Louie! It's me, Launchpad! Where are you?" Launchpad called.
Fortunately, the boys heard him and having quite enough of the spooky old mine by now, answered. Unfortunately, the echoes made it impossible to figure out where their calls came from. However, those calls for help disturbed some bats, which flew out the cave right past Launchpad. Launchpad, on a hunch, went in the direction the bats had come from.
He soon found the boys and started leading them back the way he had come. Until the string broke and Launchpad found himself holding the broken end of the string. The other end of string was no place in sight and there were dozens of passageways, all looking the same, ahead.
"I always wondered why that didn't happen in the story." Launchpad sighed. "NOW what do we do?"
"Launchpad, the water we've been wading thru keep running faster and faster, so more water must be seeping in, but it's not getting any deeper..." Huey said.
"So it must be getting out of this mine somehow..." Dewey added.
"And maybe we can get out the same way?" Louie asked.
"It's worth a try. I don't know which way I came down from here." Launchpad replied.
So they followed the water until they came to where the water was trickling out of the mine. However, the crack was too small for Huey, Dewey or Louie to get out that way, never mind Launchpad.
"I think we can roll the rocks away enough to get out of here, if we work together." Launchpad said.
And they all worked to push the rocks until the hole was big enough to escape from the mine. The water gushed out the mine...putting out a fire the forest rangers were fighting. (3)
Our heroes climbed down from the old mine.
"Thanks for putting out that fire, even if it was by accident! And sorry if we didn't look for the kids- but we get lots of calls about missing kids who dared each other to enter the old mine- who somehow decide to try and sneak into an "R" rated movie instead." One ranger said.
They stopped at Aunt Sally's cafe to pick up the rest of the Jr. Woodchucks. Soon, Launchpad returned the boys to the mansion. Their great-uncle, who had been pacing the worry room since he heard they were missing, hugged them.
"Thank you, Launchpad, for rescuing my nephews. They mean everything to me." Mr. McDuck said.
"You're welcome, Mr. McDee. But what are you going to do with that old mine now?" Launchpad asked.
"I don't know! I found out that tin mine I owned had run out of tin only six months ago! This depressed me a bit, it had been one of my most dependable investments. It never made much money, but it paid a steady, reliable income, year after year. Then, the tin ran out- been all mined up." Mr. McDuck began.
"Now, all I have is a mine shaft and mine cars and one giant head-ache!" Mr. McDuck groused.
"You can always turn it into a roller coaster!" Launchpad joked.
"Actually...that's not a bad idea. It's centrally located. It sits on a lot of land. The mine is so large, I can sub-divide it and make it into at least 2 or 3 roller coasters..." Mr. McDuck began
"And maybe a "house of horrors" ride...in the dark with fake ghosts and stuff? It was awful spooky down there." Huey suggested.
"And rides little kids can ride are that AREN'T LAME!" said Dewey.
"Instead of all the good rides requiring you to be a certain height!" said Louie. (4)
"But the mine leaks dreadfully in one large area..." Mr. McDuck objected.
"Turn that into water flumes! What better for ducks?" asked Launchpad.
"And a pool!" said Huey.
"With waves!" (5) said Dewey.
"And a waterslide!" said Louie.
"Well...I will have to do something with the old mine. I've TRIED to close it up so tight nobody can ever get in and hurt themselves and sue me so hard I'll bounce, but dumb kids keep breaking in! And tearing down the whole mine would cost a fortune. And closing that mine put a lot of people out of work...people I could train to run an amusement park...." Mr. McDuck mused.
So mostly because he still owned the land and nobody wanted to buy the land, Mr. McDuck began turning the old mine into an amusement park. Mr. McDuck couldn't stand the idea of the land not turning a profit somehow. So he reinforced the entire mine area, made it as safe as taxes. and put in filters to clean the water before using it.
Soon, Mr. McDuck opened a new amusement park in the old mine...which the Jr. Woodchucks visited whenever they went to those campgrounds.
The End.
(1) Alan Sherman was an earlier day "Weird Al" Yankovic. It is unfair that the only Alan Sherman song anybody remembers is "Hello Muddah". That is bad remembering.
(2) I doubt a cell phone could connect in the middle of no place.
(3) That's what the forest rangers were busy doing. Our heroes were some distance from the entrance to the mine by now.
(4) A problem I often faced when I visited the late lamented Palisades Amusement Park. Which probably couldn't of survived vs. Great adventure, anyway.
(5) OK, WHY did they destroy the pool there along with the amusement park? You think they could of spared the pool for the condo dwellers to enjoy.