Mr. Fin

“Daddy! Daddy! Come see Walt Disney,” the small girl shouted at the dark-haired man behind her.

Her name was Lilly, aged four, as I’d found out in recent visits. Her father gave her an indulgent smile and followed dutifully as his little mini-me clad in a pink dress with big brown eyes and pigtails got closer. She gripped her favorite dolphin stuffie, covered in snot and dirt. My heart panged at the sight.

“Don’t run in the museum, baby,” the father said.   

He had on running clothes and a small backpack across his back.

“Look, daddy,” she said, pointing at Walt. “Disney.”  

Lilly’s father bent down next to her and acted like her discovery had led to the curing of cancer even though they’d been here two days ago and seen the exhibit at least six times before that. I’d been like that with my niece Maria. It was instinctual, like the need to eat.

“Can we take a picture?” Lilly asked and her father nodded, pulling his phone out of his pocket, just like the last time.

He snapped a dozen photos, telling her to pose and make funny faces. Lilly giggled the whole time, keeping her dolphin stuffie in her arms. The man smiled back at his daughter in the reflection on the screen of the phone. I held in my nonexistent tears, the desperation to get out of here stronger than ever before.

Before long, they finished their weekly obsessive visit to Walt and moved on from the Mega Movies exhibit. I strained all I could to keep watching, but until midnight I wouldn’t be able to move a single muscle. I’d tried other figures around the museum to get a better view and more information, but they never went anywhere but this hall. The girl was obsessed with Walt Disney and nothing else.

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I counted the slow minutes down to midnight until finally, like every single night for the past three years, the magic that’d cursed me spit me out of Mary Poppins. Now, I had six hours to roam free before whatever figurine I stood closest to when the clock struck six sucked me back in, forcing me to sit on the sidelines of my life for another day.

Dahlia had promised me she and Camilla were broken up when we started hanging out, but it turned out Dahlia had lied and Camilla was one vindictive witch, trapping me in the place where I’d taken her girlfriend for a date.

Heading for the employee break room, I skipped through Pop Stars of the 90’s. Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and a backstreet boy I didn’t know the name of stared at me but I couldn’t detect any magic in their forms.

Moving on, I devoured the remainders of Steve’s lasagna and thanked him, once again, for braving marriage with an Italian woman as I inhaled garlic, parmesan and parsley in the most perfect ratio I’d ever discovered. I also said hello to Harry, a ghost who lived in the fourth-floor storage room, and my only companion in this hellhole. He missed his wife but otherwise, things were well.

After completing my usual routine, I, once again, tried my magic on the front door. Nothing. No matter how many spells I tried or how much power I saved up, I could never get out. Camilla’s spell was flawless.

Toward the end of the night, I took a turn about Roaring Rock of the 80’s and the Secret Lair of Villains exhibits on the third floor. I debated spending a day in Stevie Nicks but the temptation of seeing the rambunctious daughter who reminded me so much of my sweet niece won out.

At three minutes to six, I sprinted down the stairs and back to the first floor, running around the corner toward Walt, but right before I turned down the hall, I saw a blue item out of the corner of my eye. Curious, I stopped to pick it up. Lilly’s dolphin.

Oh. Oh. This was good. This guaranteed they’d be back.

Except, the movement had cost me precious minutes and when the time struck six, my body disappeared. However, this time, instead of seeing Walt’s familiar face staring back at me, I saw the ceiling.

What the hell?

I glanced around, desperate to understand what I’d done, when the maintenance man came by.

“Oh, my, what’s this little treasure?” he asked out loud, picking me up.

He picked me up.

I was in the stuffie. The dolphin.

“Looks like the lost and found for you,” he said, before dropping me in the bucket with a bunch of stinky sweaters. Ugh.

Lilly and her dad better hurry. I’d suffocate on BO and mold within the day. 

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 “Daddy, daddy, there’s Mr. Fin,” a familiar voice shouted at exactly five minutes after ten. 

The maintenance man from earlier returned and pulled him out of the bin, handing him over to Lilly, who wore a school uniform. The man with her wore a navy suit.  

“This yours?” asked the maintenance man.

“Yes!” she shouted.

“Thanks, man,” her father said, grabbing Lilly’s hand. “Now, we have to go back to school, Lil.”

Lilly nodded, smiling, and walked with her father toward the front exit. Inside, my heart thundered. Could I get out this way? Would the stuffie be propelled back into the building? Would I be?

Before long, the father slammed the door open and brought Lilly and Mr. Fin with him into the light. The second we crossed the threshold, I felt my body, my real body, be thrown from the stuffie and onto the street. I landed on my hands and knees, but on concrete. Outside.

“Holy shit,” I marveled, staring at my own arms and hands, no longer trapped in the building. “You saved me.”

I grinned, standing up and throwing my arms around the suited man.

“Daddy,” a quiet voice whispered, “Did you know Mr. Fin was a lady?”