Haunted Mansion backstory

It has come to my realization that there is some 'splaining to do about the Haunted Mansion's past. Behold the abridged version:


A sea captain named Captain Gore built a house for his beautiful young bride, Priscilla. Soon after the mansion was finished, however, Gore had to sail away on business and had to leave Priscilla behind. His instructions to her were that she was not to go into the attic and look in the trunks that were up there. Priscilla agreed to that, and Gore kissed her and sailed away into the New Orleans sunset, promising to return when he could.

Priscilla waited and waited for her husband and grew heartsick for him. One day, she became very bored and went into the attic to explore in spite of Gore's warning. After looking in the trunks, Priscilla found that Gore was, among other things, a bloodthirsty pirate. Gasp. Priscilla never had time to think about this, though, because someone came up behind her and killed her. It was Captain Gore returned from the sea, who did not take kindly to someone snooping about in his personal items. Little did he know, in the dim light, that the person he had just killed was his wife.

Upon discovering this, Gore decided to kill himself, as well. He rushed downstairs and hung himself from the rafters in the entrance hall, where they say, if you look above you at certain moments, when the light is just right and your Ghost Host feels like it, he will reveal his hanging earthly remains to you.

His wife, Priscilla, still waits in the attic for her husband to return, her heart beating on and on, a constant drum. Time seems to have forgotten what passed between them on that unfortunate night when identities were mistaken. But 'tis certain... Captain Gore has not.



And there you have it. My retelling of the gruesome tale behind the original attraction. Now the Mansion's tale has been changed: there is still a bride in the attic, but she is not Captain Gore's. Her name is Constance and she has a different story of her own.

Gore is still a part of the Mansion (the weather vane atop the building is a ship) and of course, he still hangs from the ceiling after the opening spiel. And if you happen to look to your right as you leave the first hallway and go into Madame Leota's seance room, you can see a small portait of Gore with a noose around his neck on the wall.

- Wisher

Chapter 13: Painting His Portrait

Chapter 13: Painting His Portrait

Gaston let out a rather feminine scream as he leapt off the couch where he had been posing for his portrait. He now stood looking quite embarrassed into the stunned faces of Eugenia and Queenie. Suddenly, the buff brute grew angry.

“What’s wrong with you? Why would you just barge in like that?!” Gaston shouted. Now, he was fuming. The portrait was meant to be a surprise for Belle. She would see how sexy he looked in the picture and decide he was so much better than that hairy dope she married and then she would come back to him. But now Eugenia and Queenie had seen him posing for it and they would tell everyone how amazingly good looking he was. His surprise would be ruined.

“We’re…uh… looking for the White Rabbit.” Eugenia responded when she finally remembered how to speak.

“OFF WITH HIS HEAD!” Yelled the Queen in haste.

Eugenia rolled her eyes and it was Gaston’s turn to stare in stunned silence.

“Have you seen the White Rabbit?” asked the former, ignoring her companion’s random outburst.

“OFF WITH HIS--” began the Queen, who was quickly silenced by a dirty look from an annoyed Eugenia.

“White Rabbit? No, of course I haven’t seen any--”

“But I have, Madame,” interrupted the artist who had, until that moment, gone unnoticed in the opposite corner of the suite. He left his easel to join the other three by the window. “He ran through here quite quickly while Gaston was looking into the mirror. He was muttering something about, ‘being late’. I’m afraid that’s all I heard.”

The Queen suddenly grew very intent and grabbed Claude (for that was the painter’s name) by his collar. “Where did the White Rabbit go, peasant? Tell me now or its OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!”

Eugenia attempted to calm down her friend. “Now Queenie,” she began, “ the gentleman just explained that he has no idea where the White Rabbit went. And frankly, I really think there’s no point in continuing this search for him. I mean, he could be anywhere by now…He could be in the Pirates ride or the---”

“THE PIRATES RIDE? THAT’S VERY IMPORTANT! WRITE THAT DOWN!!!”

“But Queenie, I didn’t mean—”

Alas, Eugenia didn’t have time to finish her sentence because the Queen of Hearts had already grabbed the poor woman’s arm and was pulling her out of the Dream Suite and towards the Pirates of The Caribbean ride.

Much to the relief of a dazed Gaston and a shocked Claude, who both slowly returned to their portrait business.

-------
Meanwhile, at 8:36 am in the real world, Mickeylover sat alone at her computer feeling depressed for more than a few reasons:

1) Although she greatly enjoyed Wisher’s Haunted Mansion storyline, she was ashamed to note that she had no idea of the tragic past that her friend referred to. Because of this, she could not continue that area of the story, and very much hoped that Wisher would elaborate in that respect.
2) She was also ashamed of the terrible quality of the writing in this current post she was about to publish. Could it be bad writer’s block or bad writing skills?
3) She had a bad bug bite on her leg that was driving her crazy.

So because of all this, Mickeylover ceased writing (lest she cause the characters to go on strike from her bad writing) and waited anxiously for Wisher to solve all her problems with her magical writing skills. Well, except for the last one.

--------
Meanwhile…
Merlin, Jack, Dopey, Dulcinea, and Flik were wondering what happened to their unfortunate storylines.

-Mickeylover

Chapter 12: Breaking and Entering the Realm of the Supernatural

Hello to those who might be reading our story! Mickeylover is taking a wee break from her writing, so you'll have to deal with two chapters in a row from me, Wisher. Here we go:

Chapter 12:

Queenie and Eugenia marched toward New Orleans Square. Queenie knocked people aside with her gigantic skirt while Eugenia followed behind, hoping the punishment of the White Rabbit would not take too long since she had a hot date planned with Barbossa for that night. They were supposed to go to a movie of her choosing (although Barby secretly loved chick flicks) and then have a candlelit dinner at the Blue Bayou. Eugenia closed her eyes and dreamed of Barbossa... oh, that beard... those yellowed eyes... that hat with it's scraggly purple feather...

"EUGENIA!"

Eugenia's eyes snapped open and she saw the Queen glowering at her.

"Stop daydreaming! We have work to do!"

"But, Queenie, dear," Eugenia sighed, "Cruella's left us, anyway... surely we don't need to keep on doing her dirty work for her?"

"I have been wanting to get my hands on that dratted rabbit for some time. This is a perfect excuse."

"But we told Roger we were going to help him."

Queenie stepped close to Eugenia and gave her a withering, hideous look as only Queenie could.

"Are you a villainess or not, Eugenia?" she hissed.

Eugenia nodded. Of course she was! After all, she had abused Cinderella to the best of her ability and had sent a hitman after her when the dratted girl had become a princess. But the hitman had been killed himself by the royal gaurds, and Eugenia's plans had been foiled. Hardly anyone knew about this incident, surprisingly. Queenie did, however, and knew that Eugenia needed to take her fury out on someone.

"Then let's find the runt and... OFF WITH HIS HEAD!"

Eugenia jumped and stared at Queenie, who was twitching. Oh, dear, not again. The Queen sometimes had a bit of trouble with her train of thought, spouting off random Wonderlandish quips. If this went on, it was going to be a long day.

"Roger said he was in the Dream Suite," Eugenia said and looked up to find that they were now at the steps to the said Suite.

Queenie nodded, charged forward, and pushed her way up the stairs, which was no easy task since her skirt was so large. Eugenia followed and they stood at a window to the Suite.

"How are we going to get in, it's-" Eugenia began, but was cut off when Queenie simply bashed the window with her beefy fist, causing it to shatter.

"IT'S MY UNBIRTHDAY!" Queenie roared as she crawled inside.

Eugenia followed with a bit of a sigh. They weren't being particularly stealthy about this. Once they were inside, Queenie barrelled off towards a bedroom to search for the White Rabbit while Eugenia peered into the main room. Low and behold, upon the blue velvet sofa sat...

Gaston...?

___________________________________
Meanwhile, back inside the Haunted Mansion, Hatter seemed to feel the cold fingers of Death at his heart. His own fingers automatically went to his pocket to touch the little silver teapot that he always carried with him. Just the thought of tea was something of a comfort as he stared into the face of Captain Gore.

"The Hatbox Ghost is sure to be particularly fond of you," Gore said, "He loves hats."

Hatter swayed on the spot. Gore smirked... what a delight it was to toy with foolish mortals. But then Gore recalled that he had once been a mortal himself, with a foolish heart. He sighed and wondered if Wisher needed to give more details, or if her dear readers already knew the tragic tale of the Haunted Mansion's past. Gore assumed they did for the time being.

"I... I don't want to..." Hatter began timidly.

"Don't want to join us?" Gore finished for him, "I'm afraid that is too bad. We already have a room set up for you. It's a bit crowded... full of old junk. But your roommate is lovely."

"R-roommate?" Hatter squeaked.

"Yes. I haven't spoken to her for years, but her name is Priscilla. Some say it's Constance. I suppose she changed her name, the viper."

"Mon dieu," Lumiere murmured again, as he came to the realization that Hatter would be rooming with none other than Gore's wife.

"You'll be staying in the attic," Gore continued, ignoring Lumiere's comment, "There's even a piano up there."

Hatter couldn't even respond anymore. His knees were shaking so badly that it was all he could do to stand up, let alone speak. But he was not prepared for Gore's next observation:

"I see you're still a mortal. Well, bit inconvinient, but we can fix that."

"Wh-what?" Hatter managed.

"You'll have to die, of course. You can't be a ghost without dying first," Gore said logically.

Hatter promptly passed out, sending Lumiere flying across the cold floor. His candles were blown out and they were all bathed in darkness again. Gore sighed.

"Mortals," he grumbled.

- Wisher

Chapter 11: Furrykins and Gore

Chapter 11: Furrykins and Gore

Cruella was almost beside herself. How could she bear to throw her beloved and most expensive fur into the briny moat? As the group walked back through Fantasyland and neared the Castle, Cruella's hand went up to her throat and stroked the raccoon fur. The wicked woman actually felt tears come to her eyes. No, she could not part with Furrykins (as she had no creatively named it). There had to be another way to get information out of the ridiculous Roger Rabbit. Cruella imagined that torturing him would do nicely, but what if the rabbit fainted? Then he would be of no use at all. As they neared the moat, Cruella began to hyperventilate at the awful thought of throwing her beloved fur into it.

"Eugenia, dahling!" she gasped, "I cannot do this!"

"It was your idea, Cruella," Eugenia hissed.

"I know, but... but I've changed my mind!"

"It's too late for that!"

"I can't just toss this gorgeous fur into that dratted moat!"

"Well, if you won't do it, then what can we do?"

Cruella sighed, for she had no idea. Was there another way to gain Roger's trust? She supposed that giving him a big carrot would appease him, but for how long? Cruella sighed and stroked the fur despairingly. Eugenia imagined herself stroking Barbossa's beard in all its scraggly wonder, but her thoughts were soon interrupted by a frustrated snarl from the Queen.

"Well, are you going to throw it in or not?"

"I... I..." Cruella attempted.

"You said you had to as part of of the F.A.," Roger said, raising an eyebrow, "Or was that a lie?"

All three women gulped. Had they been found out? Cruella stared at Roger, who looked back stonily... or as stonily as a cartoon rabbit can. Several silent moments passed. In those moments, Cruella had an inner struggle, Eugenia dreamed of a romantic night with Barbossa, and Roger wished he had stayed in his Toontown Hills home. But what of Queenie? Quite simply, the be-moled woman had had enough of this whole plotline. She snatched the raccoon fur from Cruella's neck and promptly went to the side of the bridge.

"Queeeeeeeeenniiiiiieeeeee!" Cruella screeched.

But Queenie was a woman driven by her own desires. She gave Cruella one short, fierce look. Then she threw the fur into the moat. Although Cruella screamed with rage, the fur floated for a second then sunk out of sight. The three women and the rabbit stood there and looked at the place where the fur had fallen. All four knew that it could never be recovered, for things that fell into the moat were never seen again.

"Well, that's that," Eugenia said after a moment.

Cruella turned and slapped Eugenia sharply across the face in her rage. Then she turned and ran down Main Street. Eugenia gave a whimper of pain once she had gotten over the initial shock and Queenie gave a dark, satisfied chuckle. Roger stared at them both for a second, then turned and started to run for the safety of Coke Corner. Queenie, however, reached out and grabbed his ears again before he could get away. He gave a little shriek of pain.

"Where's the White Rabbit?" she barked.

"I... uh..." Roger stammered.

Eugenia stepped forward and gave Roger an evil look.

"Well, I dare say we shall find out soon enough," she said, "I have a lovely torture chamber with all the furnishings set up for you."

"No!" Roger shrieked, "All right! I'll tell you! He's in the Dream Suite!"

Queenie and Eugenias' eyes widened. So the White Rabbit was living it up without them, eh? Well, he would soon pay... with his fur.

DUN DUN DUN!!!!
_________________________________
Meanwhile, back in the Haunted Mansion, the Hatter was completely and utterly terrified. If he had been scared before, now he could barely even stand up for fear. The darkness surrounded him, almost suffocating him. He couldn't even scream. He simply stood in the dark hall, trembling uncontrollably, his heart racing.

"Monsieur?" came Lumiere's voice, "Are you there?"

"Y-yes," Hatter managed, "I'm h-here."

Lumiere relit his candles and Hatter breathed a sigh of relief. He wanted to get out of the Mansion. He hurried forward to take Lumiere from his ectoplasm prison. Hatter gasped when he entered the area; it was terribly cold. He got ahold of Lumiere and carried him back down the hall... what he could see of it, anyway.

"We're g-getting out of h-here," Hatter stammered, "I can't t-take this anymore."

"Hurry, Monsieur!" Lumiere said.

Hatter did just that, but was stopped when the pair of doors leading to the exit suddenly slammed shut. Hatter gasped with terror. A loud, mwah-ha-ha-ish laugh filled the deathly still air. It sent shivers down Hatter's spine.

"Leaving so soon?" came the voice that belonged to the laugh, "But we were just getting ready to welcome you!"

"W-welcome me?" Hatter asked, looking around.

"Yes. We have 999 happy haunts here, but there's room for 1000. How good of you to volunteer!"

"But I didn't-" Hatter shrieked, but he stopped when someone materialized before him.

"Mon dieu," Lumiere murmured.

Before them stood the transparent body of a ghost with a terribly tragic past. Hatter could barely breathe.

"Welcome, foolish Hatter, to the Haunted Mansion," the ghost said.

"Wh-who are you?" Hatter asked, his voice barely more than a whisper.

"I am Captain Gore," said the owner of that name.

Hatter had never even entered the Mansion before, let alone read about its tragic history. But he had heard stories from the other Disney characters about the mysterious and horrible Captain Gore: that Gore ate kittens, that he was a pirate, that he was the victim of a horrid head transplant gone wrong, that he had murdered his wife. Hatter had once wondered which parts of the stories were true, but now, as he looked into the transparent face of his Ghost Host, he didn't really care. All poor, petrified Hatter knew was that he was just that- petrified at the prospect of being the 1000th resident on the Mansion.

"Your cadaverous palor betrays signs of foreboding, almost as though you detect a disquieting metamorphosis," Gore said, reciting a line from his spiel that he had to say over and over again every day.

Hatter only nodded. He couldn't do anything else at that moment. Which was a shame, for little did he know that Captain Gore was afraid of one thing, and that was something Hatter posessed in his coat pocket...

- Wisher

Chapter 10: A Cruella Manipulation

Chapter 10: A Cruella Manipulation

Poor Roger had come out of hiding expecting many great things to happen that day. He had hoped to see some old friends, take a ride on Space Mountain, and then he had planned to end the day by taking his hot girlfriend on a date at the Blue Bayou. He had NOT expected to have his ears squished in the monstrous hands of the Queen of Hearts only minutes after revealing himself to the outside world.

Roger squirmed to free himself from the Queen’s tight grip. “Hey!” he shouted indignantly, “Let me go, you old hag!”

But the Queen did not hear his feisty remark. Instead she shouted to her wicked friends, rather triumphantly, “I have found the rabbit!”

Eugenia and Cruella approached the Queen slowly; both reluctant to inform the uptight ruler that she had the wrong rabbit.

“Queenie, dahling. I’m afraid that’s the wrong rabbit…” Cruella began (for she was the more daring of the two women).

“WHAT????!!!” The Queen screamed in frustration as she threw poor Roger Rabbit into the air, causing him to land soundly on his bottom.

“Ouch! You really hurt me, lady.” Muttered the wounded animal as he stood up, wiping off his suspender pants angrily. He began to stalk away from the motley crew.

Cruella had an idea, though, and spoke quickly before the Rabbit was out of earshot.

“Oh dear Rabbit!” she yelled, stopping Roger in his tracks, “Please help us, we were only looking for the White Rabbit because… we heard he was in…great danger…yes! And we wanted to help him!”

Roger thought for a moment. He surely didn’t trust the three wicked women, especially not Cruella, who had a very bad reputation in the animal community. But still, the White Rabbit was his cousin, and if he really were in danger…

He turned toward the ladies very slowly, keeping a safe distance. “And why should I believe you?” he asked, narrowing his eyes at Cruella, “How do I know you’re not going to just make a coat out of us both?” He said as he noted the sad fate of the raccoon resting on her neck.

Cruella hadn’t calculated Roger’s intelligence into her evil plan. She thought for a moment.

“Well…you see Roger, dear, I have changed!” she lied, “I am breaking my addiction to fur!”

“Yes, it’s true!” joined in Eugenia, happy to be taking part of the evil manipulation, “I’ve encouraged Cruella here to join ‘Fur-holics Anonymous’.”

“I’m on day 23.”

“Yes, and she was just on her way to fulfill today’s assignment…to..uh..throw her favorite fur into the castle moat. Hence, the raccoon.”

Cruella’s hand instinctively went up to her precious, extremely expensive neck decoration. She did not like this idea one bit. But she was not dim and knew that she had to play along if she was going to get the Rabbit on her side.

She cast a glare at Eugenia, but continued the charade. “Um, yes, I was…just heading to the… moat.”

Roger was not fully convinced. “All right, I think I know where the White Rabbit may be, but first…” he began, “let’s go to the moat, I wouldn’t want you to fall behind on your assignments.”

“Oh, yes of course.” Cruella replied with a weak smile.

And with that, an excited Eugenia, slightly dazed and confused Queen, suspicious rabbit, and very reluctant Cruella made their way towards the castle moat.

-Mickeylover

Chapter 9: Of Darkness and Mistaken Identities

The poor Hatter cowered in his doom buggy, closing his eyes against the oppressive darkness. The possessed buggy went up a staircase and turned into a hall. Hatter opened his eyes to peek at his surroundings and suddenly heard a familiar French accent.

"Mon dieu! Le Chapeau Lune!"

Hatter did not speak French and looked about in confusion.

"Regarde! Regarde!" came the desperate French voice again, and Hatter suddenly saw who was speaking.

Lumiere the candelabra was trapped down a hallway facing Hatter's buggy. Poor Lumiere was floating, trapped in some sort of ghostly spell. He attempted to wave at Hatter, but he was stuck.

"Lumiere!" Hatter cried, relieved to see a familiar face, "What are you doing here?"

Lumiere had calmed down a bit and now spoke in English:

"Those horrible ghosts captured me and left me in this hallway! I was minding my own business in the Beast's Library and one of them... I think it was the little one, Gus... snatched me up and brought me here! I tried to burn his hand, but ghosts can't feel a thing."

"So you were candle-napped? That's horrid!" Hatter said.

"C'est vrai, mon ami," Lumiere sighed, "But now I am trapped here. I don't suppose you could help me?"

Hatter attempted to push his way out of his doom buggy, but the bar held fast. Hatter sighed. He had to help Lumiere... after all, what kind of friend would be be if he just left him in this frightening place? Hatter was finally able to wriggle his way out of the buggy, which growled at him angrily and continued on its way down the hall. Hatter hurried towards Lumiere, his hand outstretched.

Just then, a cold, mysterious wind blew through the Mansion and left Lumiere and Hatter in total darkness.


__________________________


Meanwhile, back in Fantasyland, the slowest moving line in the whole Park was slower than usual.

"Why is this taking so long?" Queenie bellowed at a nearby cast member.

The cast member, who was named Wilby, had always been horrified of the Queen of Hearts since his childhood.

"I'm s-sorry, Your Majesty, b-but P-Peter Pan's Flight is having technical d-difficulties," he managed.

Cruella rapped poor Wilby over the head with her cigarette holder and he gave a small squeal of pain.

"Listen, you twerp, we're looking for the White Rabbit," she snarled, "Have you seen him?"

"Oh, um, yes," Wilby said.

"Where?" Queenie roared, lifting poor Wilby into the air by his shirt collar.

"On the Carousel, I don't know, I'm sorry, I'm just a little fella, please don't hurt me, I-"

"Shut up!" Eugenia snapped.

Queenie tossed Wilby to the ground.

"Useless," she hissed, "We shall have to search elsewhere."

"But where, Queenie, dahling?" Cruella asked, "Alice cannot be in this ride since it's broken down. Perhaps the Rabbit is not even with Alice."

"That's true," Eugenia added.

Queenie sighed, gave Wilby a kick, and peered down the road into Fantasyland. She was surprised to see a pair of large white ears near the Teacups. She took off running toward them. Now, as you may have guessed, dear reader, being in the Queen's path was dangerous enough. Being in her way when she was running was very much like being in the path of a ferocious rhineroceros. People screamed and dove to the side as the Queen barrelled onward toward the pair of furry white ears.

"Queenie!" came Cruella's cry from behind, "I don't think..."

"That's not...!" Eugenia began.

But it was too late. The Queen had come to a stop and had seized the ears of none other than Roger Rabbit. Roger had not been seen for years, and yet on the day he had chosen to venture out of his home in the hills of Toontown, bad luck had found him with a vengeance.

- Wisher

Chapter 8: Big Ears, Screaming Children, And A Doom-buggy

Chapter 8: Big Ears, Screaming Children, And A Doom-buggy

Meanwhile, in a mine deep below Disneyland, a character who hadn’t yet been introduced into the story was busy at work on an important project. As he put the finishing touches on his masterpiece, he smiled a goofy smile and his ears wiggled slightly.

Whenever the undersized fellow had seen Merlin roaming the park with his beloved Dulcinea, he had always been filled with awe.

Oh, I wish I could have a hat like Merlin’s…The mysterious runt had always thought in silence. Sure, he’d had his own floppy piece of fabric that he wore as a hat, but that had never quite done the job right, so he’d gotten rid of it. He wanted something much better. He wanted a bona-fide, original wizard hat…with the point-y end and everything.

And he knew a fancy wizard hat was good for so many things. Covering up bald spots was one of them, and our tiny fellow had no hair at all, so he was most in need of this. He also relished the chance to finally cover up his humongous, ungainly ears once and for all. Oh, how he hated those huge ears of his. They weighed him down and made him so clumsy…not to mention the fact that they wiggled uncontrollably at random times. Yes, it was time to finally hood his hearing appendages, so no one else could remark: “Oh, what cute big ears you have!”

He fumed whenever he heard that one.

But the most important attribute of a good hat was that it could be a friend. He had observed many times the silent affection Merlin had shared with Dulcinea, and he wanted to have that to.

So he had created his own wizard hat. He smiled again, this time a proud smile that reached from one huge ear to other huge ear. Oh beautiful hat, he thought as he lovingly caressed its long purple point, I shall name thee…Winnifred.

Little did our silly little friend know that Winnifred was actually William, but that’s a detail that will become apparent later on in the story. Right now, all that mattered was that a new friendship had been born.

And Dopey did so need a friend.

---------

Eugenia had suggested to her comrades that they first check Peter Pan’s Flight in their search for the White Rabbit, because after all, Alice and Peter were friends and maybe the White Rabbit was with Alice on the ride. Secretly though, Eugenia was relishing the chance to get on a pirate ship because they reminded her of her sweetheart, Barbossa.

So, the three evil matrons stomped their way through Fantasyland, glaring at everyone they saw, much to the dismay of frightened old men everywhere. As they got in line to ride Peter Pan’s Flight, the Queen of Hearts was questioning her friends on where they had last seen the White Rabbit, in an attempt to speed the search along.

“So! Where was the last place the White Rabbit was seen?” asked the Queen, in a gruff, commanding tone.

Eugenia and Cruella had looked at each other helplessly and shrugged, replying that neither had seen the Rabbit in ages.

“THAT’S VERY IMPORTANT!” The Queen had screamed, causing several passers-by to stop and stare (if they weren’t already).

“WRITE THAT DOWN!!!!” The Queen ordered. When everyone just stared back at Her Majesty in confusion, she grabbed an autograph book from a little girl without so much as a thank you, and began to write down the useless clue.

All three ignored the small child’s screams (they were used to that sort of thing by now) and waited patiently in line.

---------

Meanwhile, our dear Hatter was in way over his over-sized hat at the Haunted Mansion. The stretching room had really done a number on the poor fellow’s nerves. By now, his knees were shaking and he was having a difficult time holding himself up. Once he saw the shadow of the hung man in the ceiling of the stretching room, he decided that Merlin’s hat could find itself, and he was off the case. But those darn CM’s had been no help at all. They just pushed him onward toward the doom-buggies. As his doom-buggy closed down on him with a horrific, final thud, he thought of how appropriately named it was.

For this buggy was certainly bringing him to his doom.

-Mickeylover