The Beginning Part 2 By Staci "Windsurfer" Faulkenberry Page 8 Later that day, at Rebecca Cunnigham's new business, she was bringing about major changes. The office had been cleaned, most of Baloo's stuff being thrown on the nearest garbage truck, and she'd ordered uniforms for Baloo and Kit. The Sea Duck had been newly painted to fit what Rebecca thought a plane should look like, and she'd had Wildcat make her a sign, which she hung up in place of the old "Baloo's Air Service" sign. She stood at the end of the dock as Wildcat nailed the sign into place.
"Oh, everything just looks fabulous!" she exclaimed, clasping her hands together and thrilling in the thoughts of owning her own business at last. It had been a dream of hers since she was a little girl, and she scarcely dared believe that it was coming true. The only sad note was that her husband wasn't here to see it.
She felt a momentary pang of sadness as she thought of his tragic death. They'd only been married for six years when he'd been killed on his way back from a business trip. She'd been out of her mind with grief for a while, but had forced herself to get on with her life. She had a daughter to take care of, after all, and Molly wasn't going to be fed and clothed if Rebecca didn't get her act together. She'd worked at various jobs for a while, all the time scouting around for a failing business. Two weeks ago, she'd found it. The bank had told her that the pilot was the best in Cape Suzette and that the air cargo business had a lot of potential for moneymaking.
Like any good entrepreneur, Rebecca had done her homework on her potential market, and had come to the conclusion that the banker was right. This morning, she'd been waiting at the bank when the clock struck nine and had immediately bought the place formerly known as Baloo's Air Service.
Shaking herself out of her melancholy, she turned back to the building and shouted, "Get out here, Baloo! Let me take a look!"
"Fergit it, lady," came the bear's reply. "I'm not going out in public like this!"
Rebecca rolled her eyes. Men were so dense in the ways of fashion. "If you ever want to fly the Sea Duck again, you get out here on the double!"
She thought she heard some uncharitable remark directed towards her, but she couldn't be sure. Finally, the door pushed open and Baloo eased out. He felt absolutely ridiculous! Rebecca's idea of uniforms left much to be desired. What pilot wore a red jacket with blue and gold trim that looked like something an usher at the movies would wear and a stupid hat that looked like a cross between a beanie and a tin can?
"All right, all right," he muttered, stalking down the dock to where Rebecca stood. Kit followed him, obviously as ill at ease as the pilot. "I feel like a flying fool!"
Molly came over to stand with her mother and looked at the two with wide eyes. 'If I were playing dress up, I wouldn't wear something like that,' she thought, hugging Lucy tightly.
Baloo noticed the Sea Duck and started. Kit followed his line of vision and stood with his jaw hanging open.
Rebecca's idea of a nice airplane included painting rainbows on the rudders and along the sides and a huge smiley face across the nose.
"Wh-what did you do to my plane?" gasped Baloo, putting a hand on his forehead and swaying slightly.
"Isn't it wonderful?" gushed Rebecca. "And incidentally, you two look fabulous! From now on, you're going to get noticed!"
"I'm tellin' ya, no one is going to hire a pilot dressed up like a flyin' soda jerk!" protested Baloo.
Rebecca folded her arms, looking complacent. "Oh no? What if I told you that I just landed us the sizable Fandango Mango account?"
Baloo gaped at the young bear. Every cargo pilot he knew had been trying to land that account! Why, that would have been enough money to buy back the Duck and then some! How had this young, barely out of college businesswoman managed to snag that account after being in business for less than a day?
"Yer pullin' my propeller," Baloo fiddled with the gold buttons on his new uniform.
Rebecca opened her mouth to fire a sharp retort in his direction when a truck backed up to the dock and a burly lion hopped out.
"Zis Higher for Hire?" he asked after consulting a clipboard.
"Why, yes!" Rebecca beamed at him. "I'm Rebecca—"
The lion wasn't interested in such trivialities. "Got a truckload of mangoes here. Which plane you want me to put them in?"
Rebecca gestured proudly to the newly painted Sea Duck. "The pretty one."
With a raised eyebrow, the lion and his assistant started loading the Sea Duck with crates full of mangoes.
'Higher for Hire?' thought Baloo. Something terrible occurred to him. Running to the end of the dock, he peered around at the newly painted sign that read 'Higher for Hire.'
"What happened to Baloo's Air Service?" he sounded wounded that she hadn't at least left the name alone.
Rebecca shrugged, "Higher for Hire is cuter, catchier. Now, time to go to work. I made the deal, you deliver the goods."
Molly tugged on the leg of Rebecca's purple pants and begged, "Can I go, too, Mommy? Please, oh pleeeaaase?"
"Sorry sweetie," Rebecca said with a shake of her head.
Molly's lower lip pushed out and she looked up at her mother with pleading brown eyes. "But I promised Lucy."
Kit stepped over to Molly and knelt down so that he was eye to eye with the girl. "Lucy looks kind of scared right now, Molly. Maybe she'll be ready to fly next time."
Molly knew Kit was just trying to find a polite way to say no, so she said, "Ok, Kit."
Rebecca smiled. Not only did Kit have a way with keeping Baloo in check, he was also good with Molly. "Thanks," she told him as he passed.
None of them noticed as Molly slipped away.
Soon, pilot and navigator found themselves winging their way beyond the cliffs of Cape Suzette. As soon as they were out of sight of the city, Baloo burst out laughing.
"Gone!" he exclaimed. "We're solid gone! Take the controls, will ya, kid? I've got to slip out of this monkey suit!"
Eagerly, Kit grasped the stick. He was having conflicting feelings about Rebecca and her daughter. Part of him wanted to trust them and let them get close to him. The other part of him looked at them coldly as just two more people to hurt him. He was glad to be up in the air and away from that particular problem.
Baloo reappeared in the cockpit in his favorite yellow pilot's shirt and red hat. Taking control of his aircraft once again, he exclaimed, "What a relief to be outta that monkey suit! Wouldn't old Beckers pop her pearls if she knew we was goin' to Louie's?"
Kit laughed a little as he shrugged out of his own "monkey suit" and replied, "Yeah, but how's she gonna know?"
They both jumped as a young voice from behind them asked, "What's so great about Louie's?"
Baloo and Kit snapped around to see Molly Cunningham regarding them intently.
"Look. Lucy's not afraid anymore," she said sweetly, holding up her doll.
Baloo sighed in exasperation. Just like her mother, sticking her nose into other people's business!
"How'd you get in here, button nose?" he questioned.
"I hid in the mangos," Molly gestured towards the full cargo hold and walked over so that she was standing between Baloo and Kit.
"Great," muttered Baloo. Why was this all happening to him? "You shouldn't have come, little lady. I'm going to have to take you back."
"Oh, pleeaase take me with you!" pleaded the cub, using every ploy she'd learned in her six years of life to persuade this pilot not to turn around and take her back to her mother. "I'll be real good!" she added. That had always worked in the past.
"Sorry," Kit spoke up. "But you're taking a one way trip home."
Molly frowned. These two were much harder to convince than her mother was. Then, she had an idea. Turning around, she sighed and started to walk back to the cargo hold.
"Well, ok," she said sadly. "Mommy probably wouldn't want me to go to Louie's anyway."
She heard both of the bears turn around quickly and Kit exclaimed "Louie's?!" She grinned, her young face taking on a crafty look. She knew she'd won.
"Uh, you don't have to tell your mom about Louie's," Baloo said.
Molly whirled around, her face the very essence of sweetness, "Oh, I won't! If you take me along."
Baloo and Kit looked at each other and Baloo burst out laughing. "Button nose, me and you are going to get along just fine! You think like me!"
Molly smiled and raced back to the front of the plane, leaping into the seat with Kit, who was smiling good-naturedly. Good. She didn't want to have to ride in the cargo hold, anyway. It was cramped and smelly and it made Lucy nervous.
Talespin Main Page