Mickey Mouse in the Public Domain

Chapter 5

Once they were finally far enough away from the danger to catch their breaths, Mickey took a deep one of them breaths.

"I can't believe that was me," Mickey said, "I can't believe I turn out like that, I can't... I'm not like that am I?"

"Of course not Mickey," Minnie said, "You would never EVER turn out like that."

"Except..." Mickey hesitated, "I did."

Oswald just sat back and threw up his legs over the seat, "It's the Public Domain, anything can happen."

"But THAT!" Mickey cried.

"What would you expect from a character who got his introduction by playing poor innocent animals as musical instruments?"

Mickey stopped steering and turned to look at Oswald indignantly, "You're just jealous that we received more popularity in just three shorts than you did in your entire career."

"Woah woah woah," said Oswald, turning to face him, "You think all this popularity came from just three shorts in 1928? The moment you arrived here, your presence here has been strong. We may not be able to see who you are beyond what you were 95 years ago, but for a presence to be that strong, you must have had a major impact on the world to be remembered this long after. That kind of impact would be hard to create from your 1928 fiascos alone. Hardly what anyone would call cinema" He leaned back in his seat as if proud of the preposterous statement he had just made, but then his next sentence became bitter, "As for me, I don't know if I have many memories left, I might have possibly made a slight resurgence in later years, but to be honest, I think I've practically been forgotten."

There was silence a moment, then suddenly, Minnie laughed, "I see where you're going. You didn't actually expect us to believe we'd actually be such a big deal in the Public Domain if our public domain adventures aren't that popular.."

Oswald just shrugged, "you can't copyright popularity. It's not to say your original works aren't popular, they must be for so many people to want to use them, but chances are, later versions of you only served to strengthen whatever popularity you originally had, and that all funneled back down to your earlier versions of yourselves once they reached Public Domain. Of course there is no way of confirming any of that, we can only guess at why your first three comics are still very relevant 95 years later. After this long, you'd certainly need a whole lot of reasons to have this much attention that you do, and that'd be quite a feat with only those three cartoons from 1928. Certainly not better than what I brought to the world at that time."

"Well, we had sync sound." Mickey said, indignant at this whole conversation and the suggestion his earlier works weren't enough to carry him by themselves.

Oswald just rolled his eyes, "Face it, you have years of Public Domain drops ahead of you, new adventures, new friend's, new love interests..." he feigned a look of apology at Minnie, "Better than what I probably got, I'm practically at the edge of my rope when it comes to that matter, not that I mind, no more unexpected surprises for me."

Bristling from these words, Minnie gingerly reached forward to touch his arm, and rubbed it affectionately, causing Mickey to calm down just a little "perhaps we're nothing more than some antique reels in someone's attic being celebrated in a Granny's Club," she said.

"Yes, I'm sure a Granny's Club would be so passionate about making a twisted horror villain out of you."

Minnie shrugged, "could happen."

Finally, Mickey turned his attention back to flying and the mountains that were steadily approaching ahead. "Me and Minnie are forever, you'll see," he said have to himself.