It’s a Small Uber World After All
Chapter Eleven
Linda Crist
"Those two seemed to be having fun." Meg tugged at Isalba's arm, leading her away from the Haunted Mansion. "I hope we did not frighten them too greatly. It was a good idea, you had. Everyone should be reminded to cherish and care for the ones they love, and they surely did seem to be deeply in love."
"True. I rather enjoyed being the only real ghosts in there. I only wish I understood those strange machines that were projecting the forgery ghosts at every turn. I was quite confused until I understood they were not real. At least now I know why they cannot take on color and form, nor talk as you and I can. And you are correct -- everyone is having fun in this place." Isalba looked around as they floated up and over Liberty Square, and toward a large castle. "Whatever this place is."
"That map we looked at said this place is called 'The Magic Kingdom'." Meg held onto Isalba, resting a hand gently at her waist as they continued to fly over the large theme park, peering down at the throng of vacationers. "And that large sign near the front gate said it is the happiest place on earth."
"I would have to agree that almost everyone we have encountered here does appear to be happy. Although you know how I feel about magic. I do not care much for the tricks of voodoo and black magic. I spent too many years guarding against coming under spells and curses." Isalba grew thoughtful. "I wish this place had been in existence when we lived on the ship, especially since it is so near the islands. It would have been a good place for us to visit, I think."
Meg's thoughtful green eyes met troubled blue. "My love, I was very happy with you, and the life we shared together. I did not need a magic kingdom."
"But your family ..."
"Hush." Meg reached across, brushing back long dark locks and tucking them behind her lover's ear. "You are my family, and I am still very very happy."
"I love you, have I told you that recently?" Isalba's blue eyes sparkled in the bright Florida sunlight.
"Only every day for the past several hundred years." Meg laughed, tossing her blonde hair back. "Now, let us go find Kennedy and Carson."
"I wish we could. I simply want to check in on them and see that they are faring well. We have not seen them since All Hallow's Eve." Isalba looked down at the castle and grinned gleefully. "I would have enjoyed pillaging that in my day. Must be full of treasure." The smile disappeared. "But you showed me a much better way." She took Meg's hand, squeezing it as they made a turn. "Fantasyland. That would be a place Carson would enjoy, I would think."
Meg squeezed back and took the lead, her eyes growing wide in amusement. "'Ariel's Grotto?' 'Tinkerbell's Treasures?' 'Snow White's Scary Adventures?' Such strange places. Why would anyone want to partake of something scary?"
"Oh, I do not know." Isalba's lips twitched mischievously. "I do believe you have partaken of something scary a time or two."
Meg blushed, feeling Isalba's appreciative eyes quickly roam over her body. "That I have, have I not?"
"Aye, you have." Isalba frowned. "There go two more that look like us. It is starting to make my head spin."
"There do seem to be many women here who resemble us, as well as Kennedy and Carson. It will not make finding them easy. Let us take a closer look." They swooped down, ducking under tree limbs and over power lines, and swirled past the carrousel toward a small train. "University of California at Berkley." Meg studied the lettering on the t-shirt of the taller woman they were following. "That is not Kennedy. She went to The University of Texas at Austin, did she not?"
"Aye, she did. What is that annoying music?" She snarled in the direction of the train ride, which was blasting out the same tune over and over again. "And it is not a small world. Whoever wrote that song obviously knew nothing of geography," Isalba snorted in disgust and moved a bit closer, turning her attention back to their oblivious subjects, reading the letters on the back of the taller woman's t-shirt. "'O'Flaherty.' She appears to be wearing one of those sports jerseys that are so popular with this generation. Active pair. Look at their muscles."
"True." Meg flew in a quick circle around the couple. "But not our target. Perhaps we should go past that main gate again and see if perhaps Kennedy and Carson have not yet arrived here. Are you certain they are supposed to be here?"
"Aye." Isalba followed her lover as they swooped over the treetops, across a lagoon, and down a long street lined with tiny shops full of toys, clothing, and strange food items. "I am certain I saw a brochure for a BardCon taking place at a place called the 'Grand Floridian' in Orlando, Florida, on this weekend. This place seems to be the grandest place in Orlando, so they must be here."
"Perhaps they are trapped in one of those long lines at the gate. I heard something in passing about long security lines that are associated with a terrible tragedy that occurred on September the 11th." Meg peered down at another couple, which was seated at a small table. They were indulging in a dish of ice cream. She stopped, hovering in place and laughing in delight. "There are two who are dressed a bit more as we did in our day." She pointed down to a dashingly tall woman escorting an equally beautiful woman who wore long skirts and a petticoat. "Or is that one a woman?" She drew Isalba down closer. "I thought I heard the other woman call her 'Charlie'."
Isalba floated in the taller person's face, inches away. "Aye, this one is a woman, although everything about her outward appearance indicates otherwise. How many times did you and I take on men's clothing in order to accomplish our purposes?"
"True." Meg pulled at Isalba's hand, leading her on toward the main gate. "You were quite handsome and gallant, you know."
The ghost pirate blushed. "Come. We have people to find, if I recall."
Meg laughed at her flustered lover, and followed behind, dipping down to inspect a large stuffed bear sitting in a shop window. "Balou." She smiled. "What a charming little creature."
"Perhaps I will procure that for you before we leave this place." Isalba smiled. "Although I do not think they take pieces of eight in payment. I must look into finding some of those 'Disney dollars' mentioned in that brochure."
They flew on, enjoying the sunny warm day and the blue cloudless sky. Meg had spent her childhood in Florida, and was glad for the visit back to her early home. As they approached the main gate she grabbed Isalba and gestured toward a group of people standing around near the ticket and transportation center. "Those people are still there, standing in that same place. Is it some kind of shrine?"
"I do not know. Let us take a closer look." The couple approached slowly, making sure to stay cloaked from view. "They are using those small flashing boxes quite frequently. They always seem to be pointing the boxes at each other when they flash."
"I wonder why anyone would want to flash light in someone else's eyes. Or why someone would stand still and smile while having light flashed in their eyes?" Meg shook her head in bewilderment. "Look. Some of them are lying or kneeling on the ground and others have placed their jewelry on that brick down there. And they are grouped together to have more light flashed in their eyes. How queer. Let us take a closer look, please?"
"Fine by me, my love." Isalba took her hand and they floated downward, first looking at the jewelry. It was all silver, some of it shaped like a bone, others with a paw print cut out of a piece of silver, and still others in the shape of a ring -- the rings were gold and silver, with a Greek key pattern on each side. One pendant had the letters 'WWXD' stamped on it. Isalba moved to the brick. "Dar & Kerry. Eternal Soulmates."
"We are the eternal soulmates." Meg's eyes flashed in anger. "Are we not?"
"From what I understand, there are many pairs of soulmates." Isalba kissed her on the head, soothing Meg's often-quick temper. "But I assure you that you and I are soulmates. Kennedy and Carson are direct proof of it."
"As long as you are certain." Meg's ruffled feathers smoothed, and she also peered at the brick. "They all seem to have an affinity for that date -- February 14th. At least the ones who are in love do."
"Aye. I have observed them purchasing flowers and partaking of elaborate feasts for two on that date, and eating chocolate. It hast to be a special date for them to partake of such a rare treat as chocolate." Isalba circled the group that was worshipping at the brick shrine. "I wonder what this Dar and Kerry did, that these people are placing their treasures on that brick?" She squinted, reading small print on a hat one of the women in the group wore. "Meg, what is a 'Merpup'?"
"I do not know." Meg followed her gaze. "These are all humans, like us, but nearly all of them seem to be claiming to be Merpups. See? Nearly all of them wearing the Merpup shirts have a wolf paw print on the shirt." She shrugged slightly. "Perhaps they are all part of the same band, just as the pirate bands in our time wore the same colors."
Isalba looked around. "Whoever these Merpups are, they seem to be a fun group of people, but I do not believe I see Kennedy or Carson among them." She felt Meg's hand slip into hers, and smiled. Hundreds of years, and I still shiver at her touch. She smiled and ducked her head, kissing Meg soundly for a long moment. "Perhaps we should go visit one of the other 'parks,' as the map calls them. I do believe I saw an exhibit called 'The Living Seas,' and an indication that people can scuba dive there. I know both Kennedy and Carson are scuba divers. What I would have given to have scuba equipment when you and I were roaming the high seas."
"Mmmmm." Green eyes fluttered open and Meg emerged from a sensual haze. "I apologize. Did you say something to me?"
Isalba grinned rakishly. "I would like to go visit the park they call 'Epcot'."
"Excellent idea," Meg piped up. "I think Kennedy and Carson would both like 'The Living Seas'."
Isalba merely kissed her again, and shook her head. "My brilliant lover."
The couple spent a long time floating through The Living Seas, observing the marine life and reminiscing of their days together in the Caribbean, and life aboard ship. At last they found an activities log and spotted Kennedy and Carson's names listed for the Divequest experience. "It says here they will be doing this dive tomorrow afternoon." Meg pointed at the date and time next to their names.
"Where oh where can they be?" Isalba crossed her arms over her chest, blowing out a breath of frustrated air and puffing her bangs up in the process.
"Where would you be, my love?" Meg circled her neck with her arms, drawing her close and pressing their foreheads together.
A brilliant smile graced Isalba's lips. "I would be somewhere partaking of your considerable charms."
"Then perhaps we are looking in the wrong place." Meg tweaked her nose, then kissed her once more, as they swirled around in a circle over the Disney revelers, who were quite unaware of their presence.
"That was delicious." Isalba licked her lips and turned back to the activities log. "Oh, my. I feel so foolish. I do believe The Grand Floridian is a hotel. It says here that Kennedy and Carson are staying there. Let us find that map again."
A review of the map revealed The Grand Floridian to be near The Magic Kingdom. The delighted ghost pirates quickly flew toward the prestigious resort, and entered it, looking around for any sign of the couple they sought. Meg spotted the board first, and tugged Isalba toward it. "BardCon." She smiled and pointed down a hallway. "Down there, if I am not mistaken."
They carefully approached a large elaborate ballroom, full of mostly women, with a scattering of men. Some were sitting at tables talking, while others were walking up and down a row of tables, purchasing what appeared to be books. Isalba and Meg followed some of the women, looking at book titles over their shoulders.
"Some of those sound really interesting." Meg watched as one woman almost dropped a hefty stack of books. "I must read some of these."
"Oh my goodness." Isalba's breath caught, as a large screen at the front of the room caught her attention. "It is Xena and Gabrielle."
"What?" Meg spun around, looking up as images of the warrior and the bard appeared before her, with interesting music coming from somewhere, though she could see no orchestra in the room. She searched around and finally found the source of both the music and the images, and went back to where Isalba was rooted in place. "A woman named Liz is in the back of the room, creating those images with some strange looking equipment. There are a bunch of other women with her, and they appear to be really busy. One is counting some money, while another is counting out some little tickets with numbers on them. Another one is sorting through some items she calls 'goodie boxes' -- 'Phil' is what I believe they are calling her. And one of them, she keeps smacking people on the back of their heads. She must be important. I heard one of the women call her the 'Diva'."
"How do they know about Xena and Gabrielle?" Isalba followed her to the back of the room, mystified that the warrior and bard appeared to be so well loved by the group in the room. As the images filtered across the large screen, she observed a few of the watchers to be sniffling and dabbing at their eyes.
"I do not know, nor do I know how they have captured their finest moments so accurately. I remember reading about two of the soulmates, Melinda and Janice, and that they found Gabrielle's scrolls, but I had no idea the scrolls had survived into this day and age." Meg watched another segment of images, set to an interesting song called 'Moulin Rouge.' "Both of the ladies could certainly, dance, could they not?" She smiled fondly at the screen.
"They most certainly could." Isalba began to study the crowd, one by one, as her heartbeat slowed from the surprise of seeing the warrior and the bard on the screen. There were several more look-alikes in the room, but Kennedy and Carson were nowhere to be seen. Her nape hairs rose as she spotted a couple at a side table, near the back. "We must leave this place."
"Why, my love?" Meg could feel the tension in the body her arm was wrapped around. "No one in this room can hurt us."
"Almost no one." Isalba nodded toward the couple she was watching. "See those two?"
"Yes." Meg's brows furrowed in question. "They are mortals?"
"Not just any mortals." Isalba was already drawing Meg toward the door. "Aeron and BJ. I have heard of them in our current realm. They are ghost busters." Her voice trembled just mentioning their names.
"Gh ... ghost busters?" Meg's eyes grew wide in fear. "They could expose us here, could they not?"
"Aye." Isalba drew out the word through gritted teeth. "Or worse. Come." She grasped Meg's hand. "I think we should go find Kennedy and Carson's room and leave this BardCon for the time being."
Meg agreed and they beat a hasty retreat for the hotel's front desk, where a quick perusal revealed Kennedy and Carson were staying in an upstairs room, with a view of a white sand beach surrounding a sparkling lagoon. They located the room in short order and stopped at the door. Meg hesitated. "Perhaps you should look inside before we simply barge in there."
"Good idea." Isalba stuck just her head through the wall and quickly withdrew, the blush evident even on her ghostly features. "They are very well and happy." She took Meg's arm and guided her back toward the lobby.
"Shall I guess?" Meg chuckled. "Is Kennedy living up to her lusty reputation?"
"Ummmm." Isalba looked down, a tiny smile tugging at her lips. "Not quite. Rather, Carson is living up to hers."
"Oh." Meg's blush matched her lover's.
"That Kennedy is one lucky devil," Isalba muttered under her breath.
"I heard you." Meg tickled the pirate behind the ear and shrieked as ghostly fingers reached out, locating her ribs easily beneath her short white cropped top. "Keep that up, and you will not be as lucky as Kennedy tonight."
Isalba stopped in mid-motion and cocked her head to one side. "Do tell?" She purred and smiled. "I have one more place I would like to visit, and then I would love for you to make good on that promise."
"Anything you wish, my love." Meg kissed her and took her hand. "Lead on."
"I saw a ride called 'Pirates of the Caribbean' and I must see if it is as laughable as 'The Haunted Mansion' was." She waggled her eyebrows wickedly.
Meg merely smiled and followed, as they made their way back to The Magic Kingdom and across the park to Adventureland. Just as they arrived at the ride, two more look-alikes walked up and gazed up at the sign in front of the ride.
"Here it is, Bly," the blonde woman exclaimed exuberantly. "I love this ride. It's fun and spooky all at the same time."
"I am not going to be spooked by a Disney ride, Jordan." The brunette feigned boredom, adding a yawn for good measure.
"Come on," Jordan dragged her lover through the entrance, rolling her eyes in mock exasperation. "It's dark in here. We can sit in the back of the boat and do scandalous things to each other." She tickled Bly's palm and batted her eyelashes playfully.
"Now you're talking." Bly perked up, and willingly allowed herself to be led toward a row of boats.
Behind them, two ghost pirates laughed evilly, green and blue eyes dancing with merriment.
"This is going to be fun," Meg whispered.
"Aye, it is. Maybe we should take up residence here." Isalba held up a hand and received the 'high five' sign they had come to imitate from their modern subjects.
They clasped hands and followed the unsuspecting couple into the darkness.
To be continued in Chapter 12 ....