Part III of "Instrument" and "Foolish."
The house was smaller than the kids expected it to be. There was a small living room with some rickety chairs and a fireplace that extended into an even smaller kitchen, a tiny vestibule holding a ladder leading up to a tiny attic room with a ceiling so low not even the boys could stand up straight inside, and about inch-thick coating of dust on every surface. On the mantle above the fireplace was a small, hazy portrait, and there was an equally hazy (and equally small) mirror hanging next to the ladder. The kitchen contained a few banged-up pots and pans. And...that was it.
It turned out that they needed the moonlight to find the treasure (and the ghosts weren't supposed to come out until nightfall, anyway), so the quintet headed to a restaurant in town (complete with entertainment!) to pass the time until sunset.
"Are you sure it's a good place to bring kids?" Donald had said.
"Of course! I would never suggest we go to a place that's not for them!" Panchito had said. "They've even got an early show!"
"What kind of a show?" Donald said.
"Some singer. I did not see the name. All I saw was that it wasn't," Panchito drew a very shapely shape in the air.
"So how exactly do you two know each other?" asked Louie after they'd gotten their food.
"That's kind of a long story," Donald started.
"I was his birthday present!" Panchito said.
"You were his what?" Huey asked as Dewey choked on his soda.
"His birthday present! Many many years ago, I got to show your Tío Donal' all around Mexico on my flying sarape. Ah, yes. It was a fun time, eh, Donald'?" Panchito nudged him in the side.
Donald felt his face start to grow a little warm. "It was. But that was a very long time ago."
Panchito sighed. "This is almost like old times, no? We're just missing José."
"Yeah," Donald agreed.
"Who's José?" said Dewey said.
"Another friend. He showed me around Brazil a few times, and he was with us when Panchito gave us his tour of Mexico. Together, we were like-like the three caballeros," Donald said.
"'Like' the three caballeros? No, no, Donal'-we are The Three Caballeros," Panchito said.
Just then, the band started to play and the curtain went up to reveal a green parrot dressed in a snazzy suit and bowtie.
"That's José!" Donald said, his eyes bugging out of his head.
"And so it is! Eee-haw!" Panchito said, pulling out his pistols and shooting them into the air. Donald ducked, throwing his arms over his head. Sure, Panchito had said his pistols were loaded with blanks, but instinct was strong.
"Donal'! Panchito! Is it really you?" cried José, jumping off the stage and running to their table.
"Of course it is!" Panchito said, finally putting his guns away so he could greet his friend with one of his patented handshakes.
"But what are you doing here?" said José.
"We are looking for treasure!" Panchito said. "But what are you doing here in Méjico instead of Brazil?"
José shrugged. "I go where the jobs are, amigos. And right now, the jobs are here."
"Where is that parrot?" said an angry voice from backstage.
"But not for very long!" José said. "I will see you after the show, yes?"
"Does the show end before sunset?" Donald said.
"Sim! The evening show has more," José drew a very shapely shape in the air.
"Perfect! We will see you later!" Panchito gave José another handshake.
"Carioca!"
"Aye aye aye! I will see you later!" José ran back to the stage.
"The Three Caballeros, back together again!" Panchito said. "It'll be just like old times!"
"Yeah. Old times," Donald said, a smile creeping onto his face.
"Ok, but since when did Uncle Donald have friends?" Dewey asked as they drove back to the (supposedly) haunted house of Don Juan Francisco Hernandez Sebastian Cortes de Vaca y Narváez.
"You know, I thought I saw some green and red in Webby's Donald file…" Huey said.
"I thought that was just us," Louie said.
"Ah ha! We have arrived!" said Panchito, hopping out over the side of Donald's little red convertible. Everyone else followed once Donald had stopped the car.
"And you say this house, she is haunted?" José said.
"According to the legend, sí," said Panchito.
"All right!" Dewey said, running towards the house.
"Not so fast!" Donald said, yanking him back by his shirt collar. "We can't just run in like that. We need a plan."
"Yes, Donal' is right," José said. "You say you have seen the inside of the house?"
"Sí," Panchito said, pulling a piece of paper out of his hat. "It says here that, when the clock strikes 8:48, the light of the moon will shine in through the window and show where the treasure is hidden."
"Wait, 8:48?" said Huey, snatching the paper from him. "When was this written?"
"1854."
"Then don't we have to adjust this for standardized time?" Huey said, taking out his Junior Woodchuck Guidebook. "According to the Guidebook, American and Canadian railroads adopted standard time in 1883, and the Standard Time Act of 1918 standardized America's timezones, and I know we're in Mexico-"
"Do not worry, mi amigo," Panchito said, taking the paper back. "I have already fixed for that!"
"Cool," said Louie. "Then let's go in."
"Wait!" Donald said. "If anything happens and we get separated, we'll meet back at the hotel, ok?"
"Yes, Uncle Donald," the boys chorused.
The group went to the front door of the house.
"Wh-who wants to go in first?" Dewey asked, suddenly not quite so eager as he had been a few minutes ago.
"How about Panchito?" José suggested. "It's his treasure hunt, after all."
"No, no, no, that would make me a rude host!" Panchito said. "How about-"
Panchito was interrupted by the sound of Donald opening the door and promptly falling flat on his face after tripping over the doorframe.
"That's our Donal'! So brave and eager to jump into adventure!" José said.
Huey, Dewey, and Louie exchanged a look as they helped their uncle up.
"Well, what are you waiting for, Donal'?" asked Panchito. "Let's go!"
The group split up, looking around the small house for every place the moonlight might shine in.
"Where did you say the light was going to come in?" Huey asked.
"Ah, that, I'm not so sure," Panchito said.
"Do you get the feeling we're being watched?" Dewey asked.
"You're just jumpy 'cause it's supposed to be haunted," Louie said.
Huey stiffened as he felt a cold chill run up his spine. "Did anyone just stick their cold hand up my back?"
No one was close enough to have done so.
"Wak!" Donald said. "Who did that?"
"Did what?" asked José.
Donald smacked Panchito's hand, as he was the closest to him. "Don't touch me!" he said.
"But Donal'," Panchito said. "I did not touch you."
"Then who-" Donald thought he saw something in the reflection of the glass on the portrait on the mantle. "Never mind. Let's just keep looking so we can get out of here."
A crash came from the kitchen.
"Boys! Are you all right?" Donald asked.
"We're in here," Louie said from the tiny room containing the ladder.
Donald, José, and Panchito looked at the kitchen.
"I'm sure it was just a little mouse or something," José said.
"We should probably check," Panchito said.
"Yeah," Donald agreed. Slowly, the three crept into the kitchen to find that the pots and pans, which had previously been in a neat pile
"Hey, what's that?" Dewey asked, peering into a dusty mirror hanging on the wall.
"What's what?" asked Huey.
"It looks like there's something-"
"BOO!" said a deep, unfamiliar voice, attached to a translucent face popping out of the mirror.
"AHHHHHHHHH!" the three boys screamed.
"What's-" Donald began from the kitchen doorway, but was cut off by his three boys bolting past on their way to the front door. He looked back the way they came from and saw a blue-tinged, translucent figure floating a few inches off the ground.
The other two Caballeros cowered behind their third.
"Donal'? Is that-" Panchito said.
"I do not think I want to know what that is," José said.
Donald stared at the figure, unimpressed. He then checked his watch. "Well, it's 8:52. Looks like we missed this moonlight thing." He turned and walked out of the house, José and Panchito following closely behind. The three of them got into the car, where Huey, Dewey, and Louie were already hiding on the floor in the back seat, and they headed back towards town.