…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.
Chapter One
46 Years Later
“Thanks for taking me to the airport, John,” Susan said, hefting one of several suitcases
into the back of her Honda Civic. “I really appreciate it! Donald had an important court case this
morning and had to be there, otherwise, he would have dropped me off.”
“No problem,” said John, putting the last suitcase in the car and closing the trunk. “You
said you’re only going on a seven-day cruise? It looks like you must have packed enough for a
month or more!”
“Yeah, well,” said Susan, “I like to have choices, you know. Girls like options.”
“Uh huh,” he responded, opening the door on the passenger side for her.
Susan slid into the seat and fastened her seatbelt while John went around to the driver’s
side, got in and started up the car.
“So,” said John, “What made you and Lynn decide to go on a cruise together without
Ernest and Donald? Couldn’t they get time off?”
“No. Donald is involved in one of his big court cases, and Ernest is working on some kind
of superconductor or secret government project. Plus, we just decided we wanted to take a girl’s
cruise. No husbands. Plus, I’m still unsettled after going to that concert last year in Texas. I just
felt like I needed a distraction.”
“Oh, the concert where you went to see James you mean?”
“Yeah. Seeing him was like a dormant volcano came alive again. I shouldn’t have gone.”
“Susan, it’s been fifty years, you know…”
“Oh, I know, I know, but you remember how it was with me in junior high and high
school…Everybody knew about me and my ‘James thing,’ especially poor Brian. I still pity the
guy having to put up with me and my obsession or whatever you’d call it.”
“Oh yeah, I remember your ‘James thing.’ Everybody in school knew about it. Brian and I
are still close friends you know; we play Frisbee together a couple of times a week.”
“Really? I didn’t know that. I knew you were still friends, but I didn’t realize you see him
that often. Sometimes I think about him and wonder if he remembers the horrible thing he did
to me.”
“What horrible thing? I always wondered what broke the two of you up. Even though he
was my best friend at the time, he never really said what happened. You guys went steady for
how long? Four years? A lot of people were sure you’d end up getting married after we
graduated, and then all of a sudden, you were with Donald and ended up marrying him.”
“Well, the ‘horrible thing,’ as I call it, had to do with James. Brian was picking me up
from an after school class I was taking at the university, and when I got in the car, he had this
big, giant grin on his face. When I asked him what that was all about, he just turned up the radio
and started to laugh. The news was on, and they were saying how James had just gotten
married. I was beside myself…I started screaming and crying. And he just kept laughing and
laughing.”
“Wow…I didn’t know that…”
“And then, he rubbed it in that James had married someone named Susan, and that it
wasn’t me. I remember him saying it was the happiest day of his life. It was the most miserable
day of mine. I remember leaping out of the car and running away from him to the bus stop, but
he caught up with me; I made him take me home. I never forgave him for laughing at me. I never
will… My bubble was burst, and I was devastated. But for Brian to laugh at me and rub it in…
Sorry, I know he’s still your friend, but…”
“Hey, Susan, he was probably happy just because he was tired of having to compete with
James, and he likely thought that would be the end of your infatuation with him. Face it; it
wasn’t as if you would ever have had a chance to be with James anyway; he was so out of reach
for you.”
“Maybe, but I still harbored some crazy idea that I really would be with James someday,
and I knew there would never be an end to my feelings for him. Obviously, I was right, huh? He’s
so deeply embedded in my heart that I don’t think I’ll ever get him pried out of it.”
“So, what does Donald think about your ‘James thing?’ He can’t be very excited about it.
Especially being married to you for forty-four years now.”
“He’s man enough not to be threatened by it. He knows he’s number one with me,
despite my musings over James from time to time. It’s not like James has seriously affected my
life or the raising of our children or anything. Besides, and this is something I’ve never told
anyone but Lynn…”
John looked over at Susan and raised his eyebrows.
“A couple of months after James got married, I was standing in front of my easel in art
class, looking outside at the rain and feeling pretty dismal. As I looked out, I prayed to God, the
Universe, or whatever power might be hanging out there. I asked that if I couldn’t have James,
which I knew deep down inside was an unobtainable dream anyway, then please, could I have
someone just like him. Right then, the clouds parted for just a moment, and a ray of sun came
down and lit up the window next to me. And, you’ll think this is weird, but Donald passed me a
note in the next class asking me for my phone number. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but
later…”
“That’s pretty incredible, Susan. A prayer answered! So, do you think Donald is a lot like
James?”
“I have no way of knowing. I’ve just always had James up on this pedestal, making him
near perfect in my mind. He helped me get through my miserable and abusive childhood. When
things get bad in my life, he’s just someone to run to in my mind…in my dreams…”
“Well, I think Donald is one fantastic guy. Maybe going on this cruise with Lynn will take
your mind off James. And, maybe you’re right that you shouldn’t have gone to that concert last
year to see him. I still can’t even believe how popular he still is, going all over the place at his age
and putting on those mega-concerts. Sounds like seeing him stirred the pot of memories for
you.”
“You could certainly say that! Hey, here we are at the airport already. I really do
appreciate this. You’re a great friend, John!”
“Happy to help you out, and I hope you and Lynn have a great time.”
“Oh, I know we will! I just love cruises!”
John pulled the car up to the curb at the American Airlines terminal, and both he and
Susan got out. John helped Susan get her luggage to the curbside check-in, then hugged her
goodbye.
Susan smiled in anticipation of being with her best friend, Lynn, again and cheerfully
walked into the airport to the security line. An hour later, her plane lifted off the ground, and she
was winging her way to Texas where Lynn would pick her up before driving them both to
Galveston and the ship.
***
The flight to Dallas/Fort Worth was three hours. Susan had packed her Kindle in her
carry-on bag but became annoyed at herself when she realized the battery was near dead and the
charger cord was in one of her checked bags.
“Oh well,” she thought, “I’ll just have to entertain myself in some other way.”
She looked at the movie guide as soon as the “fasten seatbelt” sign went off, but nothing
appealed to her. Grateful to have a window seat, she looked out as the plane gained altitude over
the ocean then made a turn to head east from San Diego to Texas. She looked down, trying to
recognize something, but as usual, from the air, nothing looked familiar. She leaned back in her
seat and closed her eyes.
She was looking forward to being with Lynn, her best friend from elementary school.
They shared so many good times and memories, and she especially remembered the ones where
she and Lynn had gone to see the most famous band of all time.
The band had consisted of four boys from Brighton, England, named Derek, James, Ian,
and Blue. “Blue” was actually a nickname for Bernard, their drummer because he wore the color
blue all the time. Lynn became infatuated with Ian and Susan with James, attending three of
their concerts in 1964, ’65 and ’66.
Susan thought back to the first concert in 1964 when she was twelve years old and
watched James through a pair of binoculars. Everyone was screaming, and she remembered
wishing they would shut up so she could hear better. She, Lynn and another friend, Joy, had
tickets in what she called the “nosebleed” section, being so far from the stage. The only good
thing about being so far back at the Hollywood Bowl was that they were right below the
speakers, so she could at least hear some of what one of the boys in the band would say when
they announced a song.
The most memorable moment at that first concert had been when James stepped up to
the microphone as Susan pressed the binoculars into her eye sockets, holding her breath,
waiting to hear what he was going to say and wondering what song would be next. Shivers went
down her spine as she heard his voice, and then he started singing what had become her favorite
song, “All My Kisses.” Tears poured down her face as her young, pre-teen heart wrenched for
want of something that she couldn’t identify. All she remembered was that she was certain she
had fallen in love, and she imagined James was singing to no one but her.
That particular stage in her life had been an unhappy one. Her father had passed away
five years previously and her mother, unable to cope with his loss, became so mentally unstable
that Susan, her brother, and mother moved in with her grandparents.
Susan’s mother had no patience for her and constantly berated her, often screaming and
throwing things at her or even pulling her hair or slapping her. To add to her misery, her uncle,
who lived across the street, began molesting her when she was ten years old. She was too young
to fully understand what his touches and fondling were all about, and he made her keep it a
secret between them, but for some reason, it didn’t seem right to her. It made her feel dirty and
ashamed.
The one joy in Susan’s life was her ballet classes, and she put all of her energy into
working as hard as she could to become a good dancer. It was her dream to be a famous
ballerina one day, and until James entered her life, she spent many hours in a fantasy world
where she was the most talented ballerina in the world. The only drawback to ballet was the fact
that her mother didn’t drive, so her sole transportation to and from classes was her uncle. Every
time he came to pick her up, she cringed, knowing what he’d want from her before they got
home.
Then James and his band came to the U.S. in February 1964. Susan joined in with Lynn
and her other friends to become fans of the group, seeing them first on the Ted Flannagan Show,
buying their records and looking at their pictures in magazines. But, it wasn’t until the
Hollywood Bowl concert that Susan went over the cliff with James and made him her dream
prince, just like Sleeping Beauty had a dream prince.
James became her escape from the harsh reality of her life, and once he’d embedded
himself in her heart, there was no turning back. He became everything to her, and whenever
things became unbearable, she ran off to be with him in the fantasy world she had created for
them both, especially during the times she had to spend with her uncle on the drive home from
ballet class. She blocked what he did to her from her mind, thinking instead of James holding
her in his arms and telling her everything was going to be okay.
And then the chance meeting in Disneyland…She chased thoughts of those moments out
of her head. She still couldn’t believe it had really happened.
Susan opened her eyes as the plane hit a pocket of turbulence, rousing her out of her
thoughts of the far past. She reached up to her chest and tugged on the silver necklace she wore
around her neck. A pair of silver ballet shoes hung on the end. She flicked her finger at them.
Here she was at sixty-two years old and still thinking of James like a silly twelve year old.
What was wrong with her anyway? Hopefully, spending time with Lynn and going on the cruise
would wipe the cobwebs out of her mind along with her renewed feelings for James.
At least she hoped it would.
***
Susan’s plane was ten minutes early arriving at DFW, and when she called Lynn to let
her know, Lynn hadn’t even left her house yet. Lynn’s house was almost an hour away, south of
Dallas. Susan began to fidget, annoyed at having to wait another hour.
She managed to get all of her luggage claimed and hauled out to the curb in the parking
garage, then went back into the airport, asking one of the security people to keep an eye on her
bags for a minute or two. She shortly returned with a foodie magazine, thanked the security
guard and sat down on a bench to wait for Lynn.
She perused the magazine and started to feel hungry looking at all the pictures. A
delicious-looking photo of Crème Brulee was on the cover, and she thought if they weren’t
driving straight from the airport to the ship in Galveston, she’d make some for Lynn and Ernest
at their home. It was one of her specialties, and she always had fun with the blowtorch when
caramelizing the sugar on top.
She smiled. Lynn was no cook. Ernest always loved it when Susan came to visit because
she always prepared fabulous meals and did her best to teach Lynn to cook. Cooking was one of
Susan’s favorite pastimes.
Susan read the magazine cover to cover before Lynn finally arrived.
“I forgot when your plane was due in,” Lynn said sheepishly. “I thought you said 11:00,
not 10:00.”
“Lynn! How could you have forgotten? It’s a five-hour drive from here to our ship, and
the ship sails at 5:30! We’re going to be cutting it super close!”
“I know…I know…sorry, honey…”
“You forgot what time I was due in last time too, remember? When I came for the
concert?”
“Oh, Susan, don’t remind me of that!”
“Why not?”
“You turned into a basket case, that’s why. I thought you were going to leap off the
balcony when James started to sing “All My Kisses.” I really did!”
“How ridiculous! I was not about to leap off the balcony! Why would I do that? I’m not
that crazy!”
“Well, I’m not so sure about that when it comes to him…Plus, you told me going to see
James made you start thinking about him again. You shouldn’t be thinking of him at all, you
know.”
“Yeah, I know…But with Donald all wrapped up in his court cases and everything…
Sometimes I don’t even see him for a whole week, other than sleeping in the same bed for a
couple of hours a night. And, sometimes he even stays at his office all night, so I don’t see him at
all. He doesn’t even make time to call me.”
“Susan, he treats you like a princess, and you know it! He adores you. Once this court
case is over, you know he’ll sweep you off on a romantic vacation somewhere, just like he always
does.”
“Yeah, maybe, but in the meantime, I’ve got James stuck in my head again. I keep
thinking of the time I met him in Disneyland…remember when I told you about that?”
“Oh yes! And you were just sixteen! What could he have been thinking wanting to go off
with you like that? You would have been underage jailbait! And, what was he doing there
anyway? Are you sure you just didn’t imagine it?
“I’m very, very sure! It was definitely him. I keep wishing I hadn’t run away. What do you
think would have happened if I hadn’t run away?”
“Something that you would have regretted, I’m sure. You probably wouldn’t have been a
virgin when you met Donald for one thing.”
“He just said he wanted to take a ride on the Monorail and go for a cup of coffee.”
“Uh huh…and I’m the Queen of Sheba. I don’t think so…It creeps me out just thinking
about it.”
“Whatever…I’m still going to always wonder. I’m always going to wonder what he’s really
like. He seemed so nice up in the Sleeping Beauty Castle… I’d give anything to go back and
re-live that time…maybe even decide to go have that cup of coffee with him…”
“You and your thinking he’s so darn perfect. He’s just a made-up dream, and you know
it. Your real dream is what you already have. You should appreciate Donald more.”
“I do! But it still doesn’t keep me from thinking what it would be like to go back in the
past and be with James again in the castle. Or…even better yet…What if I could go back in the
past and meet him before the band became famous? Maybe he’d fall in love with me and then…”
“You’re crazy, Susan. You would have been, what, about ten years old right before they
became famous? I don’t think James would have been interested in a ten-year-old. You should
do more thinking about Donald, and then maybe you’d forget about James. I forgot about Ian a
zillion years ago, and you remember the crush I had on him!”
“I’ll never forget about James…”
“Oh, Susan! What am I going to do with you anyway? You and your stupid James thing!”
“You’re my best friend in the whole world, Lynn…just indulge me, okay?”
“I love you, Susan!”
“I love you too, Lynn! And, we’re going to have a fabulous time on this cruise…I just
know it!!!”