The Beginning Part 2 By Staci "Windsurfer" Faulkenberry Page 6
Morning sun streamed through the windows of the rundown building beside the bay that housed Baloo's Air Service. The building's two inhabitants were sound asleep, having had quite an adventure the night before. As the sun crept along its path across the sky, the light made its way past the piles of junk, some identifiable and some not, that cluttered the small room.Finally, it fell upon the face of a young brown bear cub who was curled up in a hammock. He slowly opened his eyes, wincing against the brightness of the sun and sat up, stretching and carefully placing the blue and red baseball cap he'd acquired the day before on his head. Looking at the clock, he suddenly found himself wide awake. It was an hour past the nine o'clock deadline that his partner had been given to get that three thousand dollars in the bank! The boy only hoped that the bank wouldn't repossess his friend's property this early.
Hurrying over to where his partner, a large gray bear, lay slumbering in an old armchair, he shook the bear urgently.
"Baloo, it's ten o'clock!" he exclaimed.
The big bear turned over, pulling his red pilot's cap more firmly over his eyes and muttering, "Nothin's getting me outta this chair."
Kit smiled. "The treasure," he reminded his friend in a singsong voice.
The bear sat up, suddenly wide awake. "Tah-reasure!" Leaping out of the chair, he added,
"Kit, you just said my two favorite words. Now, let's see. First, we'll get something to eat, then-"
Kit interrupted him, "If we don't get to Louie's and get that jewel now, the bank is going to shut you down, Baloo."
"Relax, Li'l Britches! The bank wouldn't send anyone this early," Baloo stated confidently.
"You hope," Kit retorted.
As if summoned by some perverse imp of fate, there was a knock on the door. Bear and cub looked at each other quizzically. Could it possibly be someone coming to repossess the Sea Duck?
Gulping, Baloo turned towards the door to see the face of a young neatly coifed she-bear peering in the window and laughed nervously, "Just a customer."
Striding over to the door, he swung it open and glared out at the brown female who'd dared to disturb his day.
"Good morning! I'm Reb—" was as far as the young bear got before Baloo interrupted her.
"We're closed, lady. Come back when the sun's warm, like August. Bye-bye!" he slammed the door in her face.
On the other side of the door, the lady was not at all happy. She stared at the door in surprise for a moment, then her face darkened in anger and she clenched her fists.
"Oooohhh!" was all she managed to articulate. The bank had warned her when she'd gone to get the deed to this place this morning that Baloo had a very abrasive personality, but she'd never expected such out and out rudeness.
Looking around, she saw that the window to the left of the door stood open. Without hesitating a moment, she crawled through it, determined to let this rude pilot have a piece of her mind.
"If this is how you treat customers, buster, it's no wonder this business is failing!" she yelled, pulling herself through the window and just barely managing to avoid stepping in a pile of junk that didn't bear thinking about.
"Back off, lady! You act as if you own this place!" Baloo snarled, irritated at this pushy woman who seemed determined to have a word with him, no matter what he did.
"I do!" was the startling answer. Pulling out an official-looking document, she waved it in Baloo's face and stated, "When you didn't pay your loan this morning, the bank sold the deed to me."
Kit came up behind Baloo and examined the piece of paper. Turning to the bear, he couldn't resist saying, "Told ya!"
Baloo looked as if he'd been hit by a two-by-four and wasn't sure how to act. "They didn't even give me time to brush my teeth!"
Taking off her blue trenchcoat, the woman turned to the two, "You must be Baloo," she said, pointing to the pilot. "The bank tells me you're a terrific pilot."
Baloo chuckled, softening towards this woman. "That's true," he smiled proudly.
Her next words destroyed any notion of his warming to her. "I'd be inclined to add sloppy, careless, and rude."
Baloo couldn't believe this! Who did this lady think she was, barging in here and passing judgement on him like that?
Slamming his fist on the nearest crate, he turned to face the woman, who was examining a hanging basket that contained a wilted plant. "All right! Now just who are you, sister?"
"Rebecca Cunningham, business major," the woman seemed as proud of her title as Baloo was of his piloting skills. "I've been looking for a failing business like this one for quite a while, and now that I've sunk my life savings into it, I'm going to turn this dump you call an air service into a real moneymaker."
Baloo was offended. What was wrong with his place? He looked around at the garbage and shouted, "Dump?! I happen to like the "lived-in" look!"
'Very lived-in,' thought Rebecca. She'd decided the minute she'd crawled through the window that she was going to have to take this bear down a peg. He was extremely cocky, and if she was going to persuade him to be her staff pilot, he would have to be willing to take orders from her, something she knew he wasn't going to do in his present state of mind.
"Well," Rebecca said firmly. "We're going to have a whole new look. New curtains, new wallpaper, rugs."
Baloo's annoyance gave way to full-blown anger. Rebecca didn't know anything about him, and here she was implying that his whole business style was wrong! Why, he bet that he could make more money in an hour than this young upstart could make in a year!
"Listen here, you—" he was getting ready to really let Ms. Rebecca Cunningham, "business major" have it when Kit intercepted him.
"Sounds terrific, lady! Bet you'll do just great!" he exclaimed, jabbing Baloo in the stomach.
Rebecca seemed mollified and a little surprised. "Why—thank you."
'The bank didn't say he had a son…' she thought in confusion.
"But Kit!" whispered the pilot, leaning down so that Rebecca couldn't hear their conversation.
Kit rolled his eyes. Why was Baloo so hotheaded about some lady taking over his business? "Forget her, Baloo! Remember the treasure!"
Baloo calmed down visibly. "Oh, yeah."
Rebecca had been watching the two throughout their whispered conference. No, they weren't father and son. Their chemistry was far different from the parent-child bond she'd seen and experienced herself. 'How long have these two known each other?' she wondered. Certainly not for long, from the way they were acting. They seemed to be an oxymoronic combination of close and distant. The boy was quieter. He seemed to be watching every nuance of everything that occurred and choosing a more diplomatic reaction than the hotheaded Baloo. Yet, there was something about him that was secretive and he seemed almost scared to reach out. Rebecca couldn't quite put her finger on what it was, but she sensed that there was some aspect of this boy that he wasn't willing to share with anyone.
"Well, enjoy yourself, Ms. Manager," Baloo's deep voice was cheerful again. "Kit and me are off to Louie's."
In one leap, Rebecca crossed the room and snatched the keys Baloo was twirling out of his hand.
"Not in my plane, you're not!" she said flatly.
Baloo turned back to the petite bear, incensed. "Now just a prop-spinnin' minute! The Sea Duck is mine!"
"Not according to the bank," she informed him, crossing her arms and glaring at him as if daring him to say something about it.
He rose to the challenge. With Kit looking on worriedly, he snapped, "Okay, that's it, sister!"
Kit had a feeling that things would have gotten pretty nasty if not for the entrance of a small, golden bear cub dressed in a pair of blue overalls and a pink shirt.
"Mommy, do I still hafta wait in the car? Lucy and me are getting hot!" the cub said in a sweet, girlish voice.
Rebecca turned to the cub, her face softening in an instant. "Oh, I'm sorry, pumpkin! Come see our new place!"
Crossing the room, she scooped up the cub, straightening the blue ribbons tied around her fuzzy ears.
Turning to Baloo and Kit, she introduced the cub, "This is my daughter, Molly. We'll be staying here until I find us an apartment."
Kit looked absolutely enchanted, which told Rebecca that whatever he'd done before coming here, he hadn't spent much time around children. Glancing at Baloo, she saw a completely different reaction.
"Swell," muttered the bear, scowling and placing his hands on his hips.
Rebecca ignored him, walking around the room to get a feel for the place.
"Wow, mommy!" Molly exclaimed. "Can I keep my room this messy?"
Rebecca closed her eyes. If she persuaded Baloo to work for her, another thing that would have to change would be his cleaning habits. She wouldn't have her daughter growing up thinking that moldy food and papers all over the place were ok room decorations.
Talespin Main Page