The Beginning Part 2 By Staci "Windsurfer" Faulkenberry Page 11 Molly sat up, looking at her mother with earnest brown eyes. "It's not like home," she said. "Molly—" Rebecca paused, gathering her thoughts. "Home is where you have love and friends. It's where your heart is. I think we've found a place with all of those things, don't you?"
Molly looked unconvinced, "Yeah, but—"
Kit watched as Rebecca moved to hug her daughter, and he felt his tears well up in his eyes. When he'd been moving from port to port and living with the air pirates, no one had cared for him. They'd never taken the time to ease his fears. He'd had to cope with them on his own. He suddenly realized that he was tired of being a street kid and wanted nothing more than to be a part of a family, part of this family."I'm always with you, sweetie," Rebecca crooned, tucking Molly in. "I'm here in your heart, and you're always in mine. That's what being at home is all about."
Rebecca turned, humming a lullaby. She spotted Kit staring at her through the window, but gave no impression of having seen the boy. She knew that it would embarrass him if she openly acknowledged having seen him listening in on her and Molly's obviously private conversation. Taking a jar of cookies from her desk, she moved over to the window, opening it as if to let some of the warm Cape Suzette breezes into the room and sat the jar of cookies on the sill."Home is where your heart is, sweetie. If you have friends and love, then you're home," she said, as if talking to Molly.
Kit, who had ducked out of sight, smiled and wiped a tear from his eye. He had a feeling that Rebecca had seen him. Why else would she put the cookies on the sill? And he had a feeling that those last two sentences had been directed to him. Gratefully, he took a couple and moved towards the Sea Duck.Out past the cliffs of Cape Suzette, an off-key voice broke into song, "O solo mio! O solo you-o! O the police-o stay very calm-o--!"
The guards on the cliffs jumped up and trained a huge spotlight on the waters below. "Who goes there?"To their surprise, they found a fox dressed in a red and white striped shirt, blue pants, and a straw hat paddling a gondola through the channel. His passengers, a large male dog in a brown suit, and an ugly female ferret with blonde curls and a pink dress, waved up at the officers.
"Er—good evening, officers," said the dog in a heavy Swedish accent.
The female looked cross. Her arms were crossed in front of her and she had a sour expression on her face."Scuzi, signori, but the young lovers, they need their privacy!" said the gondolier.
The guards gave them a cursory inspection from their perch high above the water, then turned their spotlight off.
"All right!" one of them said. "Go ahead."It didn't occur to either one of them to wonder where the gondola had come from, since Italy was about 350 miles to the northwest of Cape Suzette.
To Don Karnage, however, it made perfect sense. He'd devised this little plan in order to get into Cape Suzette to find the boy and the stone. He'd made Maddog and Dumptruck dress up like a pair of young lovers and had made the Iron Vulture drop them off just out of view of the Cape Suzette cliffs.From there, they'd used an engine until they'd gotten close to the cliffs, then Karnage had paddled them in, singing as loud as he could so that the guards would be sure to notice them. He'd reasoned that if someone were going to invade the city, they'd try to be as quiet as possible, so he'd gone out of his way to make sure the guards didn't get the wrong impression from him.
"I hate this," whined Maddog, scratching his head underneath the blonde wig he wore."Shut up, you dumb-dumb!" Karnage snarled. "We are in Cape Suzette! Now find that plane!"
Maddog ripped the wig and dress off as the captain started the motor and drove towards the Cape Suzette harbor.
The next morning, it was Baloo who got Kit up.
"Rise and shine, li'l britches! It's the early bird that gets the best deal," he said cheerfully, shaking the cub.
Kit sat up sleepily. "Oh, yeah. Shere Khan."He'd spent half the night tossing and turning, contemplating his new life and remembering his old one, none of the thoughts pleasant for a kid to be having.
Quickly, he threw back the covers of the bunk he'd been sleeping in and settled his baseball cap on his head, hurrying after his partner.
"I'll bet we get two hundred bucks for this sparkler!" Baloo was bubbly. He seemed to get this way whenever large amounts of quick money were involved.Kit, on the other hand, was looking at the situation with a calmer eye. "Do you think it's smart to just walk into Khan's office with that thing?" he asked, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.
"Say, you're right, li'l britches," Baloo agreed, pausing as he contemplated the stone in his hand. He had an idea and jogged into Higher for Hire.
"Whatcha doin'?" Kit ran after him."We better leave this jewel here," whispered Baloo, scanning the room for a moment. "We don't wanna tip our hand too soon, ya know."
Spotting Molly sound asleep on the chair with Lucy, he tiptoed over and eased the doll out of her young mistress' arms.
"Li'l button nose'll guard it like a hawk and not even know it," he said, shoving the stone into the back of the doll and gently replacing her on the chair.Karnage had been searching for the plane all night. As the sun rose, he continued his search, knowing that no one would recognize him in his current attire. Finally, as the sun started to heat up the earth, he spotted an old yellow seaplane.
"Lookedy-look, men!" he laughed. "We have found it!"
Steering the plane to the dock, he waited for Dumptruck to moor it, then he leapt impatiently to the dock and stealthily crept to the plane. Looking in, he found no one. A quick search proved that the stone wasn't located anywhere in the junk aboard the plane. Karnage snarled. He was losing his men's faith more with each passing day. He needed to get that stone back! And killing the boy in the process wouldn't hurt, either… With a grin of anticipation, he motioned to his men, and the three pirates made their way up the dock towards the shabby building that had a small sign saying "Higher for Hire" at the end of the dock.
Baloo and Kit looked about them nervously. Shere Khan's office abounded in rich furnishings and plants that made both of them uncomfortable. To top it off, the cavernous office was dim, enhancing the atmosphere of being in a huge, opulent cave. They slowly made their way towards the figure sitting in the desk at the far end.
"What can I do for you gentlemen?" the tiger's voice was a deep bass, as unmovable as a mountain.
Baloo quickly explained what had brought them there."So you see, Mr. Khan, sir, if we could get the stone back—what might it be worth to ya?" finished Baloo.
"Well, Mr. Balloon—" Khan began, getting up and turning to stare out of the massive window behind his desk.
"That's Baloo," corrected the pilot."Uh—yes," the tiger accepted the correction graciously and continued. "That "stone," as you call it, is an electrical alloy developed by my scientists."
Baloo pushed back his hat. "So that's why it zapped me."
"Yes," the tiger turned back to regard the two. "I'll make it worth your while to return it. How does a hundred sound?"Baloo's face darkened. "A lousy hundred bucks?"
Khan lifted one of his eyebrows and said, "One hundred—thousand—lousy bucks."
The bear and cub looked incredulous. "Dollars?!" they exclaimed.
Turning, they ran out of the businessman's office.
"Sit tight, Shere, baby!" Baloo shouted over his shoulder. "We'll be back before you can say Sea Duck!"Shere watched them impassively. As the door slammed shut behind them, his mouth turned up in a small smile and he said to himself, "It was worth fifty times that."
That pilot had been too easy to fool.At Higher for Hire, Baloo was still chortling about his good fortune. "One hundred thousand smackers! Now I can buy back my baby and get out of here."
Kit smiled, huffing a little as he tried to keep up with the big bear's long strides. "We did pretty good, huh?"
Baloo laughed, "You better believe it, Li'l Britches."Pushing open the door to Higher for Hire, he motioned Kit through and added, "Let's grab that sparkler and get outta here."
"Oh my gosh!" he heard Kit exclaim. Hurrying through the door, he found the cub standing in the shambles that had once been Rebecca Cunningham's office. Filing cabinets were overturned and papers scattered everywhere. Furniture had been ripped up or broken and the door to the storeroom hung off its hinges."Molly! Ms. Cunningham!" Kit shouted desperately, racing about the office.
"Beckers! Where are ya?" Baloo joined in the search.
"Baloo! Up there!" Kit said.Baloo looked over to find a note pinned to the dartboard with an ornamental dagger. Ripping it off the wall, he read it aloud, "Unless you return the stone, you will never see your friends again. Seriously yours, Don Karnage.
End of Part Two
Talespin Main Page