Episode 2.3

The screen starts flashing and it turns completely black, as if it were going to go to another web page.

-What are you doing? I ask him.

"It's not me," Charlie says, taking both hands off the keyboard. This naughty boy is running on autopilot.

Gillian is not convinced and she tries to catch the mouse, but before she can, the screen hiccups again... and the Seven Dwarfs appear before our eyes. Doc, Sneezy, Grumpy — they're all there — each on a different button, from "Community" to "Library".

Gillian and Charlie sweep the page.

I look for the address of the web page at the top of the screen. There is no "www". The prefix, on the other hand, is "dis-web 1".

"Any idea what we're looking for?" Charlie asks.

"If this works like the bank, I think we're on their intranet," I say. Somehow, the photographs have led us to the internal network of Disney.

"And what happened to the website?"

—Forget the website, that's right.

for the general public," I tell him. As of this point we are officially snooping on the private computer network for Disney employees.

"Welcome Chosen Members!" She says at the top of the screen.

"What about the guy with the cleft chin?" Gillian asks.

"I don't think we'll have to wait much longer," Charlie says as he taps the screen lightly with his knuckle. Directly below the Seven Dwarfs is a red button at the bottom of the screen: "Guide to the Company".

-If we are looking employees...

"Pass the screen," Gillian says. Ignoring your

With her enthusiasm, Charlie clenches his jaw and feigns indifference. Even he knows that now is not the time to stop.

A flick of the wrist and another click of the mouse take us to a location marked "Employee Locator." From there, a new screen appears, and we find ourselves looking at dozens of brand new faces. Executive Director... Board of Directors...

Executive Vice Presidents... the list goes on, tons of photos under each category heading. This isn't the few dozen who run the website, we're talking about the entire hierarchy of the organization here, from the CEO to the cheerleaders behind the scenes.

"There must be at least two thousand pictures in here," Gillian says, and her voice shows that she's overwhelmed.

"Go to the Stoughton Internet group," she interrupts in a fluttering voice, letting go of Charlie's shirt. If I was Duckworth I'd stick with the team From home.

"Guess who's back at the wonder boy mode Charlie asks.

He loves to tease me, but I know he's turned on. He nods briefly and begins scrolling through screen after screen through the different groups until he arrives at Disney Online. Located in the exact same pyramid we've seen before, it doesn't take us long to find Stoughton's photograph. Below him we find the pale guy from accounting again, followed by the redhead. But then again, that's where the Online group. Exactly the same as before. There is no black uncle; no cleft chin. We find ourselves back where we started.

"Your father never did anything simple?" Charlie asks.

"It has to be here, somewhere," I insist without taking my eyes off the screen.

Gillian remains silent, but the way she tugs at her skirt indicates that she sees something familiar. Something she knows. Her voice rises slowly in her reflection.

"Go to Imagineering," she finally says.

Charlie looks at me; He approved the suggestion with a nod. The old familiar Duckworth dance floor.

He backs up at full speed. At the top, the Vice President of Imagineering is a handsome, middle-aged guy with a suppressed, quizzical smile. Below, his first lieutenant is about his own age, with a collection of double chins that gives him an almost jovial appearance. And below both... is Marcus Dayal, a black man with an unmistakable cleft chin.

Charlie supports the photo strip against the screen to compare snapshots. Static electricity from the monitor holds the strip in place. The match is perfect.

"I'm telling you, we're going to run into the Hardy Boys asses any minute now," he says.

"Press the key," I insist, forcing myself to contain myself.

Charlie moves the cursor over the digital photo of Marcus, activates it, and the countdown begins.

Nothing happens either. And then—again—something happens.

"Here we go…" Charlie whispers as the screen fades to black.

This time, however, it is different from what has happened before. A cascade of images appears and likewise disappears from the screen. Web page after web page opens at breakneck speed, their words and logos disappearing immediately upon hovering on the screen: "Team Disney Online... Company Directory... Employee Locator," the cursor darts in every direction, as if you were surfing through the entire site at top speed forward. The avalanche of images flies before us, faster and faster,

deep into the website and the black hole. The pages pass before our eyes at such a speed that they end up melting into a dark purple stain. I start to get dizzy but only a jerk would look away from the screen.

And then the images stop. A single final image appears on the screen. I literally jump in my chair when that happens. Charlie too. But Gillian is unfazed.

"Here we go…" Charlie says.

She is absolutely right. Wherever we found ourselves, it was what we were looking for. The idea of three hundred and thirteen million dollars from Duckworth.