Storming the Kingdom (37 page)

CHAPTER SIXTY - ONE

Post Storm—Six Months Later

T
he office in Bay Lake Towers was filled with the happy sounds of a reunion. Grayson Hawkes was back, and he was surrounded by his closet friends. Juliette, Jonathan, Al, and Shep had all been asked to come and meet him. He had stunned them when he entered the room. The six months he had been away had been good for him. He was relaxed and ready to get back to work. Hawk entered sporting hair that had not been cut in the six months he had been gone. Usually he had a shaggy look, but his hair now was much longer than they had ever seen it. His face was covered with a salt-and-pepper beard. Neatly trimmed and looking distinguished, Jonathan told him he looked more like a seminary professor than the Chief Creative Architect of the Walt Disney Company. Juliette scolded him, kiddingly, that he was in need of a haircut and he needed to lose the beard as soon as possible. Hawk promised to do that soon.

They laughed and spent a few minutes catching up. Although apart from him, they all had kept in close contact using email, he had not spoken to or seen any of them since he had left. Shep had been fairly quiet during this reunion, but in the midst of the laughter and lighthearted chatter, Hawk had made his way to his friend, placed a hand on his arm, and whispered to him.

“It’s OK, Shep.” The bearded face grinned. “We’re OK.”

An unexpected guest joined them. Mitch Renner from the Orlando Police Department entered the room, surprising the small group. Mitch had made an appearance at Kate’s funeral, but that had been the last time any of them had seen him. Or so they had thought. Hawk had spoken with him regularly since he had been away, and tonight, they were going to find out why.

“Sit down, everyone.” Hawk motioned for them to sit. “It’s great to see you. I can’t tell you how much I have missed you, how much I have missed being here.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“I guess you’re surprised I asked Mitch to drop by. Mitch and I have stayed in pretty close contact since I’ve been gone. I wanted him here tonight to explain why.” Hawk motioned for Renner to speak to them.

“It’s good to see you all again. As you know, when we all met, it wasn’t under the best circumstances. Since then, a lot has happened, and I wanted to be here to share that with you.” Renner paused. “You will remember that night in the hospital after the limousine was attacked, it was pretty rough. After what happened to Farren, then the assassin tried to take out Hawk right there in the hospital, so…well…it’s best if I show you.”

Mitch Renner walked to the door. Opened it and looked into the hallway. As he swung open the door, in walked Farren Rales.

Frail and looking weak, he still moved steadily as Renner ushered him in. To say the people in the room were stunned would be an understatement. They looked toward Hawk, who was beaming. His smile spread across his face like a kid on Christmas morning. His friends were surprised and he had been in on it. He gestured for Renner to take the floor.

“I had pulled Hawk aside in the hospital and told him I wanted to talk to him about the death of Farren Rales,” Renner said, then he took a seat. “I asked Hawk if he would help me pull off a scam of sorts. I wanted to announce to the world, which we did, that Rales had been killed. I believed it was the only way to protect him that night, since we weren’t sure Hawk was the only target. He agreed, and we made Far-ren disappear.”

Hawk smiled. “Now in fairness, this was not the easiest secret to keep.”

“But you said . . .” Juliette raised an eyebrow.

“I never said to any of you Farren was dead, I said he was gone…and he was.” Hawk laughed. “Even I didn’t know where he was.”

“And that is what makes it a great story,” Farren Rales added. “Now, I did spend the last five months in the hospital. According to the doctors, it is a miracle I survived. I didn’t even know about you telling the world I was dead until I was feeling, well, much more alive.” He winked at Juliette. “I am never riding anywhere with you and Hawk again.”

“Allowing me to make Farren disappear guaranteed that Hawk was going to be the only target for certain. And as it turned out, he was. It gave Farren time to heal, so we kept him in Florida Hospital and then a rehab center under an assumed name,” Renner said. “And then it meant we got to spend all of our time chasing Hawk and trying to keep people from killing him.”

“Are you OK?” Jonathan asked Farren.

“Older, more tired, and a bit weary…but good, thanks for asking,” Farren said. “But I was a bit disappointed to hear about the turn of events you all had to go through without me.”

“Well.” Mitch Renner got to his feet. “It was good seeing you all again. I’ll be going. You have not seen each other for some time. I want to give you a chance to get reacquainted.”

As Renner left, he shook hands with everyone and they talked briefly. As this was taking place, Juliette slid over and stood next to Hawk, watching him as he smiled, looking at Farren Rales.

“You are good.” She patted him on the back. “You cheated death this time.”

“I just wish I could have cheated it for Kate as well.” Hawk looked toward the floor.

“Hey, it’s going to be OK. We live forward and follow, right?”

“Right.” Hawk watched his friends talking. “You know, when I was away…I think I was looking for some sort of closure. I have told people for years that when someone dies or something bad happens, they have to find closure before they can move on. I found out I was wrong.”

“Wrong? About finding closure?” Juliette focused completely on Hawk.

“Yep, you don’t need to find closure. You can’t just close the book when you love someone and instantly move on. You have to quit trying to find closure and instead try to find
en
closure. You have to find the place to keep those memories and feelings. From time to time, you have to open them up, remember, and experience them all over again. You need those moments—they’re a part of who you are, and they can make you better. Then you can enclose them…move forward and follow.”

“Sounds like you’ve had a good six months.” Juliette smiled.

“I have.” Hawk nodded.

“So is this all over?” she wondered out loud. “Are the secrets of Walt Disney finally safe?”

“I have no idea…” Hawk admitted. “Why don’t we just enjoy today? Let’s see what happens tomorrow.”

Author’s Afterword

A lot of young people think the future is closed to them…

WALT DISNEY
once said, “
People sort of live in the dark about things. A lot of young people think the future is closed to them, that everything has been done. This is not so. There are still many avenues to be explored.
” This particular quote from Walt resonates with me and serves as a powerful reminder that there are great adventures yet to be taken, great discoveries yet to be made, and great experiences waiting for those who are willing to keep trying and keep moving forward…even when most around them have quit.

We have come to the end of
Storming The Kingdom
, and for some of you it is the third journey you have taken with me into the life, times, history, and worlds created by Walt Disney. In this installment, I have deliberately gone back into the previous two books to wrap up some loose ends and answer some of the lingering questions readers have asked me about that were hinted at in the first two installments. Of course, you will notice that while I wrapped up many loose ends, I have also unraveled a few other things…and now created even more questions.

This saga for Hawk and his friends was a little bit different than the times I had previously traveled with him. I wanted to dig deeper and spend more time with some of the impact of Walt Disney as a force of cultural change and the influence he had across the globe. I was able to weave one or two of those threads into the fictional story line that makes this book as much a work of “faction” (fact and fiction combined) as the previous books were.

After the first two books were released and received so well, the response was so overwhelming that people began asking if there would be a book three. For the fictional character of Hawk, I asked the question, “Has everything been done…are there any avenues yet to be explored?” It was out of that line of questioning and drawing on the inspirational quote of Walt Disney above that this novel was born.

I want you to know that once again, I am honored you have taken the time to turn these pages with me. If the trip across the sentences was as much fun for you to read as it was for me to write, then we have had a good time together. I continue to be fascinated with the details to be discovered inside the world of Walt Disney. You never know what you might find, and when you find something, you want to share it with those who have a love for the things Walt dreamed. Hopefully you read some things that surprised you, some things that confirmed what you thought to be true, and some things you have seen before that caused you to smile because it unleashed a treasured memory from within.

A novel is designed to allow you to free your imagination and go to places for just a few moments and see them in a way you never have before. It is my hope as an author that your imagination has taken flight, and along the way, you have been encouraged by the words you have read. I want you to know I am a huge fan of each of you, the reader. Because you are the kind of person who reads stories about the world of Disney, I know this about you: There is a dreamer within, and there is a vision you are chasing. I want to encourage you to remember what Walt said: There is much for us to do, much for us to discover, and the future is not closed…it is open for business, and it is time to come inside and start living it. As I wrote a few sentences ago…I am a fan of yours. So let me encourage you to keep dreaming, keep trying, don’t quit. You are a gift to the world. There is no one else like you. Share who you are with others, and you just might change the world.

Now some of you may be thinking…what happens next? Will we see more of Grayson Hawkes in the future? Good questions to be sure. The answer is a vague but intriguing…time will tell. There are surely many other things for him to do… but in the meantime, there are many avenues for us to explore. So close the book and start exploring. The world is waiting, your future is yet to be discovered. The best time to get started is right now.

Jeff Dixon

Author, dreamer, a fellow adventurer

Key to the Kingdom

Unlocking the Kingdom

Storming the Kingdom

www.DixonOnDisney.com

Bibliography

The following resources were invaluable in understanding the background, history, operation, and attractions within Walt Disney World.

Broggie, Michael.
Walt Disney’s Railroad Story.
Virginia Beach, Virginia: Donning Company Publishers, 2012.

Canemaker, John.
Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men & the Art of Animation.
New York: Hyperion, 2001.

Emerson, Chad Denver (editor).
Four Decades of Magic: Celebrating the First Forty Years of Disney World.
United States of America: Ayefour Publishing, 2011.

Gabler, Neal. Walt Disney:
Triumph of the American Imagination.
New York: Knopf, 2006.

Ghez, Didier.
Disney’s Grand Tour.
United States of America: Theme Park Press, 2013.

Ghez, Didier editor. Brightman, Homer:
Life in the House of the Mouse.
United States of America: Theme Park Press, 2014.

Gordan, Bruce and Jeff Kurtti.
Walt Disney World: Then, Now and Forever.
New York: Disney Editions, 2008.

Green, Katherine and Richard.
The Man Behind the Magic: The Story of Walt Disney.
New York: Viking, 1991.

Hench, John.
Designing Disney: Imagineering and the Art of the Show.
New York: Disney Editions, 2003.

Imagineers.
Walt Disney Imagineering: A Behind the Dreams Look at Making the Magic.
New York: Hyperion, 1996.

Imagineers.
The Imagineering Field Guide to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World.
New York: Disney Editions, 2005.

Jackson, Kathy Merlock and Mark West (editors).
Disneyland and Culture
. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, 2011.

Korkis, Jim.
The Vault of Walt
. United States of America: Ayefour Publishing, 2010.

———.
The Vault of Walt Volume 2.
United States of America: Theme Park Press, 2013.

Kurtti, Jeff.
Imagineering Legends and the Genesis of the Disney Theme Park.
New York: Disney Editions, 2008.

Marling, Karal Ann.
Designing Disney’s Theme Parks.
New York: Flammarion, 1997.

Miller, Diane Disney and Pete Martin.
The Story of Walt Disney.
New York: Holt, 1957.

Neary, Kevin and David Smith.
The Ultimate Disney Trivia Book.
New York: Hyperion, 1992.

———.
The Ultimate Disney Trivia Book 2.
New York: Hyperion, 1994.

———.
The Ultimate Disney Trivia Book 3.
New York: Hyperion, 1997.

———.
The Ultimate Disney Trivia Book 4.
New York: Disney Editions, 2000.

Pedersen, R. A.
The Epcot Explorer’s Encyclopedia.
Florida, USA: Epcyclopedia Press, 2011.

Ridgeway, Charles.
Spinning Disney’s World: Memories of a Magic Kingdom Press Agent.
Branford, CT: Intrepid Traveler, 2007.

Smith, Dave.
Disney Trivia from the Vault.
New York: Disney Editions, 2013.

———.
The Quotable Walt Disney.
New York: Disney Editions, 2001.

———.
Disney A to Z: the Official Encyclopedia.
New York: Hyperion, 1996; updated 1998, 2006.

Smith, Dave and Steven Clark. Disney:
The First 100 Years.
New York: Hyperion, 1999; Disney Editions, updated 2002.

Thomas, Bob.
The Art of Animation.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1958.

———.
Walt Disney: An American Original.
New York: Simon & Schuster, 1976.

———.
Building a Company; Roy O. Disney and the Creation of an Entertainment Empire.
New York: Hyperion, 1998.

Thomas, Frank and Ollie Johnston.
The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation.
New York: Hyperion, 1995.

Vennes, Susan.
The Hidden Magic of Walt Disney World: Over 600 secrets of the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom.
Avon, MA: Adams Media, 2009.

Walt Disney World Explorer CD-ROM. Burbank, CA: Disney Interactive, 1996.

Wright, Alex.
The Imagineering Field Guide to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World.
New York: Disney Editions, 2005.

Websites

These are
a few
of the author’s favorite Disney news and fan sites that helped provide information and resources beyond the printed page. The WDW Radio Show,
http://www.wdwradio.com
.

Inside the Magic w/ Ricky Brigante,
http://www.distantcreations.com
.

Jim Hill Media,
http://www.jimhillmedia.com
.

Disney Pal,
http://www.disney-pal.com
.

Passport to Dreams Old and New,
http://www.passport2dreams.blogspot.com
.

Resort Information,
http://www.mouseplanet.com
.

Disney History Institute,
http://www.disneyhistoryinstitute.com
.

DIS,
http://www.wdwinfo.com
.

Walt Disney World News,
http://www.wdwmagic.com
.