I grew up in Florida and except for a short time in the Coast Guard I have lived here all my life; therefore, I know very little about snow and ice, and even less about mountains and climbing them; unless they are titled Space, Splash, and Big Thunder. The only snow I like is a cone with mango flavoring. But I never let my ignorance stop me from helping someone.
I was in the Animal Kingdom conducting surveillance. I had been hired by the lawyer who represented a mother going through a custody battle with her ex-husband. This is the best way to get hired, because even if you do not get the results that support the case, they pay you. Lawyers bill the customer and I do not have to worry about getting stiffed. A law firm that bilks a private investigator is likely to run out of gumshoes to hire really quick, there just are not that many of us.
But like I said I was doing surveillance and not getting the results the mother wanted, she wanted to prove the father took the kids on vacation and spent all the time paying attention to his new girlfriend and her kid. If anything, the father spent more times with the kids then he did with the girlfriend. She would stay back at the room and read by the pool; the dad spent the day in the parks playing with the kids.
I had just gotten some great pictures of the dad and kids on Kali River Rapids having a blast, I even got to hit the button squirting them with the elephant trunk at the end of the ride. They were heading towards Expedition Everest, I imagined to dry off when I saw something that stopped me dead in my tracks and brought my surveillance to an end.
Carlos was the son of a former client; the client was his mother and a Cast Member whom I had helped find something she had been accused of stealing. Not on Disney Property, as I draw the line at messing with Disney’s internal affairs when it comes to the employer/employee relationships. Carlos had ‘helped’ me out with a few errands when helping his mother out and I liked the kid. I had seen him a few times since then and he was the nicest kid around. So, what was he doing clocking the comings and goings of Cast Members in the Fast Pass lane on Expedition Everest. I only had to watch him for about ten minutes to figure out what was going on as I did the same sort of thing when I was conducting surveillance, albeit not so obviously. I walked up to him and he smiled at me and I feigned a smile as I grabbed him by the upper arm and gave it a more than friendly squeeze and said quietly. “Don’t cause a scene and come with me.”
Luckily, he did as I told him and closed his little notebook and walked alongside me till we were on the bridge between Dinoland and Asia, that is where I stopped and raised and eyebrow in a stern questioning manner. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing.” Carlos said unconvincingly.
I folded my arms across my chest and shook my head. “Game recognizes game.” He was about to deny his activities again, but I stopped him with a held-up hand, not wanting him to entrench himself deeper in denial. “You were conducting surveillance on the Cast Members manning the Fast Pass Lane,” His faced showed I had uncovered his activities plainly. “and doing it in such an obvious way someone was going to catch you at it in another five minutes and they would have called Security and said there was a suspicious person.” My pronouncement shook him a little. “Security would have asked for your Park Pass, which I am guessing is an official Guest Pass tied to your mother’s name and the next thing your mother comes home with at the minimum a written reprimand on her permanent employee record.”
Carlos had the good sense to look both shocked and embarrassed and I saw him give up the lying right there and then. “I was that obvious?”
I chuckled. “You were only twenty feet from your target, you had a notebook and kept looking at your watch then writing stuff down. To tell you the truth I am surprised you were not invited backstage already.”
“I only started ten minutes ago.” Carlos said showing me his notebook.
I reached out and took the ninety-nine-cent notebook out of his hand without even opening it and walked to the closest trash can and threw it away. I gave Carlos a buck I fished out of my money clip without an explanation. Then I leaned against the railing and continued. “Okay I know I am going to be sorry I asked, but ‘Why were you tracking the Cast Members.”
Carlos now looked happy. “I met this girl, yesterday.”
“Yesterday?”
“Well last night, Candace is really pretty and we started talking.”
I held up my hand and Carlos stopped; I ran my fingers through my hair. “I got a feeling this is going to require a drink in AC.”
We left the Animal Kingdom via bus and ended up at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in their quick service area, I grabbed a beer and I bought Carlos a Coke, I picked out a table in a corner away from the hustle and bustle. Luckily, it was mid-afternoon so most people were still in the parks or at the pool cramming in as much recreation into their vacation as possible.
“Okay tell me about Candace.” I said once we were situated.
To finish the story: 
Categories: A Miles Mitchell Story, Outrageous Lies and Tales
Stories and Quotes from the Mind* and Keyboard of A.A.Forringer 
Witty observation, disparaging remark, question for A.A., well this is your chance.