The Beginning
part 1
By Staci "Windsurfer" Faulkenberry
Page 2
Inside of Louie's, a rundown nightclub/refueling station that looked as if it had been built from pieces of driftwood, the patrons were cheering and laughing boisterously as a large gray bear with a sheet wrapped around his waist and a fruit basket on his head danced across the stage.
"Do a tango!" shouted a bear in a leather bomber jacket and goggles.
Laughing, the dancer turned to the ragtag band of monkeys and said, "You heard him! Let's have a tango? Hey, Louie! Come up here!
"From behind the bar, an orangutan wearing a straw hat and a wildly printed Hawaiian shirt laughed and shouted, "You got it, fuzzy!" before swinging easily over the bar and hopping up on stage. Together, he and Baloo performed a wild song and dance routine that only vaguely resembled a tango and which set the patrons to cheering, laughing, and whistling.
The cargo pilot was coming in for a landing, his passenger still in tow. He saw the boy release his hold on the grappling hook, then snickered vindictively as he saw the boy skid up the dock on his crescent-shaped piece of metal, obviously out of control. Leisurely, the pilot secured his plane. He'd have plenty of time to let the boy have it when he got inside. No doubt the boy wouldn't make Louie too happy either,
not by the way he'd burst through the doors�
The cub had thought that it would be a fairly easy landing. Unfortunately, he'd misjudged the slipperiness of the dock and he went sliding up it, out of control and still clenching his prize like a football under one arm. Bursting through the double doors, he slammed into people right and left before finally crashing into a rather large gray female bear who'd been doing some kind of song and dance routine before his abrupt crash landing.
"Whoa!" "she" said in a surprisingly deep voice. "What have we here?"
Struggling to get off of her, the young cub immediately and automatically put on his best don't-mess-with-me face while scrambling for his airfoil and box just as the pilot he'd hitched a ride with stormed into Louie's.
Looking around until he spotted the boy, he barged up to the stage, shouting, "There you are! C'mere, you half-pint hitchhiker!"
"Cut the kid some slack, Jack!" the gray bear jumped to his defense.
"Yeah, listen to the fat lady!" urged the cub.
The "lady" turned to the cub indignantly, "Lady?!"
Ducking his head, the cub realized his mistake and muttered, "Sorry," and wondered what kind of idiot would dress up like a woman.
The pilot's next words alerted the cub to the fact that this bear held some power, however. "Sorry, Baloo. I didn't know he was a friend of yours. No hard feelings, huh?" Jack backed away and moved to the bar.
"That was some crash landing, li'l britches," the bear removed the brightly colored sheet and swiped the fruit basket off his head, ruefully surveying it for damage. "Maybe next time around, you could take some lessons.
"The cub's eyes widened as he noted the yellow pilot's shirt the bear wore. "Y-you're a pilot!" he stammered ingeniously.
"Last time I checked," Baloo chuckled, taking a red pilot's cap from Louie. Turning his gaze to the kid, he immediately noticed the box and leaned forward curiously. "What ya got there?"
The cub's eyes narrowed and he scowled, "It's mine!" He'd had too many adults take things from him for him to begin to trust people now.
Shrugging, the bear replied, "Suit yourself. See ya in the funny papers, kid!"
Turning, he sauntered out the door, waving cheerfully to Louie on his way out. He'd no sooner gone than Don Karnage barged in, two of his most trusted lackeys, Maddog and Dumptruck in tow."
I am sorry to fracture the festivities," he began, his temper held in by the thinnest of threads. "But I am looking for a boy who has stolen something from me."
The cub turned and ran for the balcony that ran the length of the club. Maybe he could hide the box somewhere and come back for it later. Looking around, he spotted a tribal mask that seemed to be a likely spot. Making sure no one was watching, he placed the box inside and listened as Karnage threatened the orangutan in the brightly colored shirt.
"Get outta my bar, Karnage!" he heard Louie demand.
"Manners, manners," Karnage tsked and shook his head disapprovingly. "I am merely searching for someone. Now, if he is here, I demand that you hand him over and I will leave quite peaceably. Come, come. Speak up, now! I have not the time for these games!" To the cub's surprise, no one voiced a suggestion to the enraged pirate captain.
"No one has seen him? But I was so sure I had seen him come in here," Karnage paused theatrically, then ordered, "Very well. Tear the place asunder, my plundering minions."
The cub looked over the edge of the railing to see Karnage waving his sword in the air, his red tail waving about as if it had a life of its own, and Maddog and Dumptruck lumbering into the bar, malicious grins on their faces.
He knew that it was up to him to do something or someone would very likely get hurt. Grabbing a vine that lined the walls and roof of the club, he leapt onto the railing,
"Don't bother! I was just on my way out!" every eye in the place turned to the banister as the boy leapt off, swinging over Karnage's head.
"Where is it?!" demanded Karnage, swiping at the boy and missing.
The cub laughed, racing out the door and onto the dock just in time to see a yellow sea plane taxi towards the end of the dock.
"Get him, you slow poking sloths! Do I have to do everything myself?" he heard Karnage shout and felt the old planking on the deck reverberate as the pirates gave chase.
Putting on an additional burst of speed, he leapt for the plane just as it took off and managed to snag the rudder. Working his way carefully along the body of the plane, he eased past the propeller and hung onto the edge of the window. Looking inside, he saw Baloo singing and talking.
Trouble was, no one was in the plane with him.
'Never mind that,' Kit thought. 'I need a lift, he's here, and he knows his way back to Louie's. So what if he's crazy?'
Knocking on the window, he could see that he had startled the gray bear.
Nevertheless, Baloo replied as if he saw cubs in worn clothes clinging to his window 10,000 feet above the ground every day.
"Hiya, kid! Need a lift?" he shouted.
The cub's grip slipped a little, but he regained his grip and nodded emphatically. 'Please don't tell me he's going to make me ride out here all the way to wherever it is he's going,' he added silently.
"Fine by me! Though it may be more comfortable on the inside!" shouted Baloo, reaching over and rolling down the window.
The cub scrambled inside with remarkable agility that told Baloo he was no stranger to aircrafts and looked around the cockpit with wondering eyes.
"Wow!" he exclaimed. "What a great plane! It's a Conwing L-16, right?"
Baloo grinned, starting to like this boy, "Good eye, kid!"
"And those are Superflight 100 engines, right?" the boy continued excitedly.
"Hey! You're all right, kid! I call her the Sea Duck. Customized her myself," he spoke fondly, patting the console possessively. Then, he realized that he didn't even know his passenger's name. "So, what do they call ya?"
"Kit," replied the boy. "Kit Cloudkicker."
"Nice to meet you, Kit," Baloo shook the boy's hand and said, "So. You're interested in planes, huh?"
"I'm going to have a plane of my own some day," said Kit proudly. It had always been a dream of his to fly and he rarely shared his dream with anyone, but he felt instinctively that he could trust this pilot. Even if he did dress in drag. And talk to himself.
"What do your parents think about that?" chuckled Baloo, remembering what his own parents had thought of his becoming a pilot. At the same time, he was curious as to how this young man had found his way into Louie's. The island bar wasn't exactly a popular hangout for kids.
"I�don't have any parents," Kit abruptly turned away from Baloo.
"Oh," Baloo shifted uncomfortably, yet his curiosity was aroused. Who was this boy? Still, he sensed that now was not the time to be asking any questions. "Well, if you're going to own a plane, you'd better learn how to fly. Why don't you take the controls for a while?"
Kit sat up, his brown eyes wide with amazement. "Me? Really? You'd let me fly your plane?"
Baloo leaned back easily and locked his hands behind his head, "Knock yourself out, kid!"
"Wow," Kit breathed, reaching forward and grasping the stick in front of him. A smile touched the corners of his mouth as he felt the plane shift beneath him as if it were a living thing.
Baloo watched the boy through half-closed eyes, grinning at the look of eager anticipation on his face. He looked more like the kid Baloo thought him to be rather than the tough act he'd put on at Louie's. He wondered again how this boy had come to make such an entrance into his friend's bar. Kit looked to be about 12 and small for his age, besides. How had he managed to snag a ride with Jack, a notoriously anti-hitchhiker pilot?
The sound of machine gun fire jolted Baloo back to the here and now. Jerking upright, he peered out the window and saw three CT-37's coming at him.
"What was that?" Kit asked nervously"
Well, on my corner, we call that�pirates!" Baloo informed him, his paws closing over the stick. "Fasten your seatbelt, kid! This could get messy!"
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