The Screech Owls arrived too early for the parade down Main Street, U.S.A., so they killed some time by poking around the stores. At the Emporium, where Sarah and Data were lining up to get their names stitched on the mouse ears they had purchased, Travis thought he saw the beautiful young woman from the campsite. He told Nish.

“Geez,” Nish said. “Why didn’t I bring my X-ray glasses?”

Travis shook his head: “They don’t even work.”

“You have to believe in them,” answered Nish.

Travis just shook his head again. What was the point in even trying to talk to Nish? How, Travis wondered, did this lunatic ever become his best friend?

Even without the help of his glasses, Nish wanted to check her out. Travis had seen her in the books section, buying a guide to the Magic Kingdom, and they hurried over in order to catch her before they left.

There was indeed a young woman there. She was putting her purchase into a large pram she was pushing, the baby shielded from the sun by a canopy.

“It’s not her,” said Nish, turning away.

Travis wasn’t so sure. But he could have been mistaken. Perhaps the baby had just been sleeping back at the campsite and the man with the shaved head was her husband. Or the guy with the ponytail.

The Owls killed a bit more time by checking out some of the Fantasyland attractions–Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Legend of the Lion King, It’s a Small World–all of which they considered were for “little kids,” not anyone who had ridden the Tower of Terror.

This, of course, only opened up more teasing opportunities for Nish. He tried to get Simon to take one of the rides, and for a while he and Andy and Wilson followed Simon around, taunting him in high, childlike voices: “It’s a small world, after all. It’s a small world, after all. It’s a small world, after all…It’s a small, small world….”

Wilson looked very uncomfortable and quit after the first obnoxious verse. Andy quit after the second. Nish didn’t know when to quit. He continued singing in a high-pitched voice while walking around behind Simon, until Simon looked as if he wished that he, like the star of Peter Pan’s Flight a few steps down the street, could simply make a wish and fly away.

Travis waited until he had an opening. “Knock it off, Nish,” he whispered.

“Yes, sirrrr! Mr. Lindsay!” Nish barked back. But at least he shut up and stopped singing.

“We better head off for the parade,” Sarah said, checking her new Minnie Mouse wristwatch.

They were heading quickly back through Fantasyland and across Liberty Square, just opposite the Hall of Presidents, when Nish, at the head of the line, brought the Screech Owls to a sudden stop.

“The Goof Man!” he shouted.

Nish was pointing to the side of the building. The object of his attention, standing in the dark shade of the building, was concealed slightly by a parked maintenance truck.

“It’s Goofy!” Data shouted, fumbling for his camera.

“C’mon!” Nish called back to them. “I gotta have my picture taken with the Goof Man!”

The Screech Owls turned like a swarm of bees, heading straight for the Hall of Presidents and the maintenance truck.

“Hey!” a uniformed maintenance worker shouted as they rounded the truck. “This is a restricted work area. You kids can’t come in here!”

“We want to see Goofy!” Nish protested. “We just saw him here!”

The worker angrily checked his watch. “Parade’s in fifteen minutes, kids. Catch him there.”

Just then the side door to the hall opened and Goofy emerged: big toothy dog’s grin, black floppy ears, eyelids half closed, red shirt, yellow vest, and black pants, white three-fingered gloves. Just like in the cartoon the Owls loved about Goofy trying to play hockey on a frozen pond.

“Goofer!” Nish shouted.

Goofy turned sharply to see who was calling, then began to move in the opposite direction. He has to get to the parade, Travis figured. He hasn’t time for all the photographs and autographs the Screech Owls are going to demand.

Nish shouted after him, “Goofy! Hey, wait up!”

With Andy and Data behind him, Nish raced past the truck and brushed right by the outstretched arm of the maintenance worker. Nish barrelled straight on down past the door Goofy had just come out of. He caught Goofy by the arm as he was about to slip away between two buildings.

“C’mon, Goof Man! All I want is a picture to prove I met you!”

Goofy turned, shaking Nish’s hand off his arm. When he spoke, the muffed voice from inside the suit sounded irritated.

“There’s a picture session at the end of the parade, son.”

“We know that, Goof Man! But we’ll never get through all the parents and strollers. Just a quick one, okay?”

Goofy shook his head impatiently, but Data already had his Polaroid out and Nish was posing for the camera as if he and Goofy were the greatest friends in the world. Nish had a big hey-look-at-me! grin on and had slipped an arm around Goofy’s waist.

With no way out, Goofy gave up. He quickly threw an arm around Nish, posed, and Data took the shot.

“Only one!” Goofy said. “I gotta go!”

“No problem, Goof Man. We’ll catch ya later.” Nish didn’t care. He had what he wanted.

Goofy hurried away between the Hall of Presidents and the Liberty Square Riverboat, and the Owls turned to continue toward Cinderella Castle for the parade. At the same time, the maintenance worker pulled away in his truck, veering sharply in front of the Owls. Travis got a glance at his face as he passed by. The worker looked furious. How did he ever get hired here? Travis wondered. Everyone else in Disney World was so friendly and helpful, but this guy had treated them as if they had no right to be here and had no right at all to be bothering a busy Disney executive like Mr. Goofy.

The Owls made it to Main Street, U.S.A. just as the parade was starting out, and they pushed as close to the front of the spectators’ line as they could manage. It was wonderful, with marching bands and all the Disney songs and brilliantly coloured floats showing scenes from all the best-known Disney movies–The Lion King, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid–and bringing up the rear was a huge float with all the best-known cartoon characters: Mickey and Minnie, Pluto, Snow White, Donald Duck, Dumbo…and, of course, Goofy.

The Owls couldn’t have been better placed. The parade stopped right in front of them for one of the “magic moments,” when the cartoon characters from the final float came and danced with the children in the crowd and shook hands and posed for photographs. Travis shook Mickey Mouse’s hand, feeling a little silly as he did so.

And Nish, of course, got a second chance with Goofy–who this time was in a much better mood. He posed for several photographs with Nish, then with Sarah and Jeremy and even Andy, who had been claiming he was far too old for this stuff but looked as pleased as Nish to stand arm-in-arm with Goofy while Data took their picture.

“The Goof Man!” Nish shouted, and Goofy turned and high-fived him.

Sarah just stood there, shaking her head in amazement.

“A true meeting of minds,” she said. “It’s almost enough to make you cry.”