+Postage Due+Disney-comics digest #138.

[Don Rosa]

Mostly to Mattais:
	There's no reason why Disney would have any problem with how I
show young Donald. I use him in a story where he's about 5 or 6 years
old, and the story is taking place in 1930. But, y'see, nowhere in the
story does it SAY it's 1930, just as nowhere in any of those "Life of
$crooge" tales is the year ever given -- even though, as in the 1930
tale, if you check obscure comments and do some addition or figuring,
one can come up with the date. 
	Am I already violating my/our idea that Donald was born in 1920?
Well, that date isn't set in stone... and this tale needed to be set in
1930 and Donald needed to look younger than 10 (which is about how old
HD&L are). Or maybe he is 10 in this story. I can get away with messing
about with a few years one way or t'other since I never actually mention
birthyears.
	I had lotsa trouble dealing with when $crooge's sister Hortense
would have had to've been born and when Donald and Della are born.
Hortense is at least 44 years old when DD is born, even if we use 1920.
Oh, well -- I s'pose that happens.
	And the business about whether Mickey exists in the Duck
universe... since I'll never use him, what difference does it make
whether I say he doesn't exist or that he exists but will never be seen
or heard of. And as for Barks' mention of Mickey's social security
number -- what if we were at a perty playing Trivia, and someone asked
for Mickey Mouse's social security number? Does that make Mickey become
a living being? Maybe Donald (or whoever it was in the story) was being
sarcastic or kidding. Actually, I dislike scrutinizing infinitesimal
details like this as if I was a Star Trek fanboy or something, but I
just mean to show that it's always possible for me to wiggle out of such
corners. And if that doesn't work, I'll just say I ignore that scene as
I do a number of other Barks stories or scenes as apocryphal.

	Even Flood! As long as you're translating more Norwegian... did
you see the two or three news articles that came out during my last trip
over there? If you still have copies, I'd sure like to see translations
of them sometime. Possible?