Prologue
The Sleeping Beauty Castle
The year was 1968 and Susan was sixteen years old. She’d come to Disneyland with her family, but as soon as they’d entered the gates, she waved goodbye to her mother, brother, and grandparents, saying she’d meet up with them later at the ice cream parlor on Main Street. She scurried down the street and across the bridge to the Sleeping Beauty Castle before her mother had a chance to protest. She knew she’d later be in trouble for running off, but she didn’t care; she wanted to be alone and away from her family for at least part of the day.
The entrance to the Sleeping Beauty attraction was an obscure doorway that wasn’t well-marked, and the attraction itself was infrequently visited. Inside the doorway, narrow stone steps led upward past the story scenes hidden behind glass windows. Various tunes from the Sleeping Beauty movie played as the stairway ascended, but it was at the very top of the stairs where Susan wanted to be, where she felt was the very best place in all of Disneyland. The small, shadowy room contained a window to the largest and best scene of all, the forest scene where Briar Rose (Princess Aurora) meets her dream prince, Prince Phillip.
For four years now, Susan had been infatuated with a certain someone in a band, in fact, the most famous band of all time, who she’d seen in concert three times. James, one of the band members, had become her dream prince, saving her from her unstable mother’s verbal and physical abuse, and an uncle’s inappropriate and repulsive fondling.
James had become her safe haven, wrapping his arms around her in her dreams and telling her he loved her, that everything was going to be okay, that someday he would come and take her away to be with him forever.
Yes, it was just a dream, but it had become very real to her. When things got bad, she’d run to James, and he was always there for her, the one person she could always count on.
When she reached the top of the stairs in the castle, she sighed as she looked upon the idyllic scene laid out behind the glass, imagining that she was the princess and James was the prince. As had been the case every other time she’d been here, she was completely alone. She began singing along with the music to her favorite Sleeping Beauty song, “Once Upon A Dream.”
“I love you…
You danced with me once upon a dream…
When I saw you…
The sparks in your eyes were so familiar to me…”
She closed her eyes for a moment, thinking of James and savoring the pleasurable and happy feelings coursing through her body and turned in small circles around the room as she sang. She didn’t notice that someone else had come into the castle and was standing in the shadows at the top of the stairs watching her as she continued to sing and spin, her long, blonde hair flying around behind her.
“So I’m sure it’s true…
That first love is rarely what it seems
But now I’m with you…
I know what is true…
You’ll hold me again…
Just as you did then…
Upon a dream…”
“Lovely,” said a voice out of the shadows. It sounded so familiar; it made her come to a sudden halt and freeze in place.
“Will you sing it again for me?”
When she spun her head around and saw who was standing there, her eyes grew as big as the teacup saucers in the Alice In Wonderland attraction. She was speechless, and her knees felt as if they might buckle under her.
It was James. The real, live and in person, James.
How or why he was here, she didn’t know. Had she conjured him up from her imagination?
All she did know was that the sight of him took her breath away and made her heart feel as if it would pound out of her chest. She licked her lips thinking she would choke if she tried to say something. She blinked and closed her eyes for a moment, thinking he was just a vision, but when she opened them again, he was still there.
James moved forward out of the shadows, into the small room and smiled at her, the corners of his eyes crinkling in amusement, and she could see the amber highlights in them glinting in the half-light.
“Cat got your tongue?” he asked teasingly.
All she could do was shake her head, but she finally managed to say, “No…you…you just startled me is all…” Her words were merely a whisper.
“So, will you sing me the song again?” he prodded.
“Oh, no! I can’t sing very well…I…I thought I was alone…and…” she stuttered.
“I thought you sang quite nicely. Please, will you sing it again?”
Susan was glad the room was so dark, as she was blushing crimson all the way from the roots of her golden blonde hair down to her toenails. She could feel the heat in her face.
“Really…no…”
He stepped closer until he was only a couple of feet away. “Please?” he said, raising his eyebrows.
She’d been holding her breath and let out a great exhale. For almost a full minute, she couldn’t think or speak as he continued to look at her imploringly.
“Well…I guess…” she finally managed.
She walked up to the glass and looked in at the scene, turning her back to him. She felt him come up behind her and was shaking at the thought that he might actually touch her. She knew that if he did, she would pass out on the floor right then and there. She took a deep breath and began to sing again.
As her trembling and unsteady voice faded on the last notes, he said, “That was very nice, thank you.”
She turned around to face him. “I’m sure you could sing it better…”
“Do you think so?”
“Well, of course, I do!”
“So you know who I am?”
She gulped. “Uh…yeah…how could I not know?”
He laughed. “Well, if I’d left my disguise on, maybe you wouldn’t. That’s why I came here. That mustache and beard thing were getting all itchy. I was told that no one comes here very much.”
She laughed back. “You’re right; not many people know this is even here. That’s one reason I like it.”
“So, are you here alone then?”
“No. I came to Disneyland with my family, but this is my favorite place. I always come here first when we come to Disneyland. I told my mom I’d meet up with everyone later.”
“Do you come to Disneyland often?”
“Once or twice a year…We don’t live very far away.”
“And why is this your favorite place?”
She bit her lip and turned to look at the scene behind the window again. “I’ve just always loved the Sleeping Beauty story, I guess.”
“What do you like most about it?”
“Um…well…the falling in love part when he doesn’t know who she is and she doesn’t know who he is…and…and the end where he wakes her up with love’s first kiss…and when they’re dancing at the very end, and two of the fairies keep changing her dress color from pink to blue…”
“Ah…and what color does it end up being? Pink or blue?”
“Why, pink, of course!’
“I see…your favorite color maybe?”
“Maybe.” She leaned back into the glass window to brace herself because her legs were shaking so bad.
When he reached forward and took a lock of her hair between his fingers, she was sure she would faint. She inhaled sharply, her eyes flying to his and their eyes locked.
“Perhaps you’d be interested in taking a ride on the Monorail with me?” he asked.
“The Monorail?”
“Yes, it goes all around the park, as you probably know, and it even makes a stop at the Disneyland Hotel. We could have a cup of coffee.”
She sucked in her breath. “You mean…leave the park?!”
“Just for a bit. Perhaps I could even sing to you…”
A weak “Oh” was all she could manage.
He let go of her hair, sensing he was making her nervous.
And, he knew full well he was making her nervous; he knew the effect he had on girls. They constantly chased him and just about threw themselves at his feet. Being in a band that was now world-famous had its drawbacks, but having beautiful girls pining to be with him, was one of the bonuses.
He assessed the girl standing in front of him, knowing that his closeness was affecting her. Although it was rather dim in the room, he could still see she was one of the loveliest girls he’d ever encountered. She was just a few inches shorter than him, with a very trim yet shapely body. She wore a pink, sleeveless sundress with a modest neckline, yet there was still a hint of cleavage peeking out at him from the top. Her tanned skin was flawless, and her face and hair looked almost like the Sleeping Beauty character behind the glass window. He wanted to touch her skin as he had her soft and silky hair.
It was her eyes, however, that he found captivating. They were a deep emerald green, unlike any eyes he’d ever seen before. His thoughts shocked him for a moment. He was normally not so quickly captivated by a pretty face. Most of the time they all seemed the same to him.
But, he wanted to find out more about this girl for some reason…her name…her age…what she looked like outside the dimness of the room. It was as if the Sleeping Beauty castle had cast some kind of spell over him.
As if she could read his mind, Susan flinched and moved towards the other set of stairs leading down through the rest of the attraction to a second door that led out of the castle. She was more than nervous; she suddenly and unexpectedly felt panicked. Here was her dream prince right in front of her, asking her to leave Disneyland with him, and she was so unnerved and flustered that she could barely breathe.
The thought of spending more time with him, having him touch more than just her hair, sent terrified shivers down her spine.
She had to leave. She had to get out of the castle and away from him. She didn’t know why she was so frightened, but she began to shake uncontrollably before turning on her heel and racing from the room and down the stairs, hair flying behind her, as fast as her unstable legs could carry her.
Right before she reached the bottom, she glanced over through one of the windows and saw the scene with Prince Phillip waking up Princess Aurora with love’s first kiss. She choked on a sob and tears began to pour down her face.
As she passed the final window with the dancing scene and the flashing blue and pink lights changing Sleeping Beauty’s dress color, she heard footsteps behind her and knew it was James.
“Wait!” she heard him yell. “Where are you going?! What’s your name?”
But, by the time he reached the bottom of the stairs and stepped out into the bright sunlight, Susan was gone.