Kingdom Keepers V(50)

“I’ll take these for you,” Maybeck said, putting a hand on the hand truck, trying to stall.

“Bucket brigade?” the older man said. Suddenly, a smile lit up his grizzled face. “I like it. That could be more efficient. Good suggestion…” He studied Maybeck’s ID. “Charles.”

“Thank you.”

“Listen up, everybody!” the man hollered into the room of workers. A moment later he’d instituted the bucket brigade principle to the loading efforts—one person wheeled in a hand truck carrying the food while another person took over the hand truck and put the food away.

“Just perfect,” Willa said, having overheard and now seeing what Maybeck had started. “Only one person at a time inside the coolers. That was brilliant. Nice work. Now we’ll never get into the rest of them.”

“Never say never,” Maybeck said.

“As in, not today,” she said.

“Admittedly,” Maybeck said, “we’ve hit a setback.”

“You’re an idiot,” she said.

Maybeck grimaced. He knew he deserved it. But then divine intervention took over. A worker removed a black crate filled with heads of lettuce from the third refrigerator and set it atop a pile of cardboard boxes marked FRESH FRUIT. The top flap of one half of the plastic lid held a torn strip of fabric pinched in its corner. Another worker arrived and picked up the crate before Maybeck could think.

“Hey,” he said to Willa, “I need you to tip over those cranberry juice crates.”

“Excuse me?”

“Now, please. As in, this moment.”

He moved to his right.

Thankfully, Willa, his teammate, obeyed. She pretended to stumble, throwing her shoulder into the crates of cranberry juice, tumbling them across the central aisle marked by yellow warning lines. Those lines meant that the lane must stay clear at all times. Several workers rushed to help her, including the man carrying the lettuce. He set down the container and hurried to Willa’s side.

Maybeck crossed the aisle behind the confusion and snatched the torn piece of fabric from where it was pinched. He slipped it into the pocket of his kitchen uniform and was about to help Willa when something in the opposite direction caught his attention. There, down the long corridor stacked with crates and boxes, the open doors of the refrigerators and freezers belching a white fog, he saw a pretty girl staring at him. Just out of college, maybe. Dark hair. Dark eyes. She looked away as he glanced in her direction.

But she’d been staring. Staring coldly at him. Curiously.

More like the stare of a spy.

* * *

White shorts with a woven black belt. Ankle socks with a red fuzzy ball sewn at the ankle. White deck shoes. A collared, pale blue golf shirt with DISNEY CRUISE LINES embroidered on the upper left side. Firm posture. Bright smile. Charlene adjusted the Cruise Line headband in the reflection of the elevator glass, licked her lips, and double-checked the name on the ID that hung from the pale blue lanyard: Cecily Fontaine.

Cecily? Really? And Fontaine? Does she look like a fountain or something? Who came up with such stuff?

“It’s starting,” said one of the other girls, a tall, thin, sharp-nosed girl with insanely long legs. Charlene followed her out of the elevator and down a hall to a bar that wasn’t open at this hour. There were a dozen young people dressed as she was along with a half dozen other Cast Members dressed in dark blue shorts and white tops. These, it turned out, were the handlers for the characters who were not in on the meeting.

“Okay, so listen up, everyone! This Sail-Away is different today—”

“Just like everything else about this cruise!” said one of the Cast Members. She brought the others to laughter.

The leader acknowledged her with a nod. “Yes. It’s true. This passage won’t be like anything we’ve done before. Everything’s a little bit different.” She then silenced the girl with a glance; she didn’t want other interruptions. “And today’s Sail-Away includes the introduction of the DHIs—the Disney Hosts—”

“The Kingdom Keepers!” someone else said. Again, more laughter.

“Yes. They are being briefed separately. Their entry will come after Jack Sparrow, but before Minnie and Mickey. The cue is the end of the song, on the lyrics”—he checked his clipboard—“‘living the adventure.’ Does everyone know his or her marks at that point?”

Everyone nodded.

“Does anyone not know his or her marks?”

No one raised a hand, though Charlene’s was halfway up before she pulled it back down.

“For those of you just joining us today for the first time, we have Danny, Kyle, and Cecily. Raise your hands, please.”