07.12.06

“I say people beware because the Mouse is everywhere…” P&D Cavanaugh

Posted in Uncategorized, life's stories at 11:38 pm by Deb

Okay, it may be cheating to use lyrics to one of my own co-written songs, but the song was inspired by this adventure. Before I get to the adventure though, I need to get to the lead in to the adventure. We were settling in to life in Santa Cruz, collecting an odd assortment of friends and acquaintances and starting to feel like a family, albeit a rather unique family, but family nonetheless. We had started out living communally with another couple in a house a little removed from the downtown area. One day a tiny puppy started following us home. This wee thing followed us down the sidewalk for a block, tumbled off the curb as we crossed the street and whined and cried when he couldn’t climb back up onto the sidewalk. We kept discouraging him, hoping he would go home, but soon realized he was hopelessly lost or abandoned. After checking with all the neighbors in the area, we took him home. Topaz was a very sweet pup of about 3 weeks. Shortly after this, our friends had to leave the state so we moved into an apartment about 3 blocks from the beach - and The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, California’s oldest amusement park and a designated State Historic Landmark. Home to two National Historic Landmarks, a 1911 Looff Carousel and 1924 Giant Dipper roller coaster, it has been owned and operated by the Santa Cruz Seaside Company since 1915. The big draw for me was The Giant Dipper. I have always had a weakness for roller coasters, especially wooden ones, so I walked down to the beach everyday for at least one ride until the last 2 weeks of my pregnancy.
When we looked at the apartment, we asked about pets. The landlord told us we could have our dog if he was small. He certainly was - and also very young. We had no idea that he would turn out to be part St. Bernard and part Malamute. We moved in and, because it was so close to downtown, X started bringing home a motley assortment of characters for coffee, or a meal, or to stay the night. Pretty soon, these folks started showing up on their own, not waiting for an invitation, obviously knowing a good thing when they saw it. We had mostly travelers and homeless people of various ilks. X brought one guy home who had been given 6 doses of electroshock therapy by accident and had won some big lawsuit. He came with an entourage of people living off his unfortunate fortune. Topaz started barking before he even came into the driveway and never stopped until he was at least a block away. One of these couples that X had collected asked us to keep their two Great Dane puppies for an hour or two while they ran an errand. Two days and much damage later, we took them to the pound. The owners were furious when they returned the next day. We were creating the same situation we had run from in Connecticut, and I needed to get out!

Our friend A wanted to go on a mini-vacation to Southern California. I grew up watching the Mickey Mouse Club on TV and had always wanted to go to Disneyland.

M-I-C - See ya real soon!
K-E-Y - Why? Because we like you!
M-O-U-S-E!!

Woo-Hoo…Anaheim, here we come. We couldn’t find anyone to watch our dog for us (talk about Karma), so we packed him up and away we went. There was a kennel at Disneyland where you could board your dog for the day, so we did. We got good and high before we went in, but not so much that we couldn’t pass the “attitude inspectors” at the gate. At that time Disneyland was refusing entry to anyone who looked suspicious. I mean c’mon now, this was an All-American place. Besides, in 1970, some yippies tried to take over Tom Sawyer Island in an attempt to “liberate Minnie Mouse.” Surprisingly enough, we made it through. It could have had something to do with the fact that I was almost 8 1/2 months pregnant. Anyway, we got in and went on quite a few rides, including the Matterhorn, which was very disappointing. For one thing, they almost didn’t let me ride on it. I had to argue for a long time and finally signed a waiver releasing them of any responsibility if I were to go into premature labor. We decided to go into the Haunted House but … as we were riding the train past the kennels we were sure we could hear Topaz whining for us. And … our “inspiration” had worn off and our feet were firmly planted back on the ground. We picked up the dog at the kennel and headed off for the parking lot. We had heard that there were cameras and undercover people throughout the park, and didn’t want to take any risks. Our inspiration made two rounds between the three of us when we suddenly heard and saw two three-wheeled vehicles racing down the roadway. X threw our inspiration away, and we leaned against the car nonchalantly. One of the Disney cops got off his vehicle and said, “Okay, where is it?” X replied, “Where’s what, officer?” We all heard a voice on the two-way radio, “It’s under the blue Impala.” The officer leaned down, picked it up and said, “Hmm, still burning, too.” We were amazed. That parking lot was huge. You couldn’t see the end of it - like a big sea of cars. How did they see us? They started to harass us, so X got real cocky, mouthing off about the laws for Marijuana having been changed recently - until the officer informed us that the new law didn’t go into effect yet. X then got very nice and cooperative, giving them two more joints out of his pocket when they asked if we had any more and telling them that, “no, we hadn’t gotten it here, but had gotten from a guy named Stoney in Golden Gate Park.” Amazingly, they believed us, or maybe they were just bored. Anyway we got away with the large quantity in the trunk of the car and didn’t get locked up in the underground Disney jail. That’s right, at least at that time, Disneyland didn’t have to report to the Anaheim police, but had their own security compound (jail) and complex security system including camera on most of the light poles in the parking lot. The Disney cop finally said in a gruff way, “Okay, get out! And don’t come back for the rest of day.” “What, that’s it,” we didn’t say. X did ask how they knew we were out there getting high in their parking lot. The cop replied, “The Mouse is everywhere.” We went to Knott’s Berry Farm and returned to the enchanted kingdom the next day fully inspired and hit the Haunted House first thing. It was worth the wait.

875 © 1975 P&D Cavanaugh

Everybody’s worried about Big Brother

Looking over their shoulders checking one another

While old man Disney is frozen in ice

Making sure someday he gets his slice

And I say people beware because the Mouse is everywhere.

Yes, I say people beware because the Mouse is everywhere.

Well there’s Disney world and there’s Disneyland

And Epcot Center so big and grand

And one in Japan and one who knows where

With mansions in the sky and castles in the air

But I say people beware because the Mouse is everywhere.

Yes, I say people beware because the Mouse is everywhere.

Yes, he’s everywhere…watch out now.

Well there’s the Disney channel with Disney ads

Following fashions and all the latest fads

It’s a world of laughter, a world of fun

Reality’s gone. Imagination’s begun

And I say people beware, because the Mouse is everywhere.

Yes, I say people beware, because the Mouse is everywhere.

Yes, he’s everywhere…watch out now…why, because we like you!

Permalink