gritted her teeth. Pretend he’s not even there. Focus on someone else.She smiled graciously at a dapper, professional-looking raccoon seated across the aisle. The middle-aged man was also eating alone. Always on the outlook for potential clients, Rebecca wondered what he did for a living and if it involved shipping cargo.

Across the room, Baloo licked sauce off of his fingertips and leaned back in his seat with a contented sigh. Man, this is gooooood eatin’! Better’n most gourmet (he pronounced it - gore met) dinners Becky usually drags me to. These cooks ain’t afraid to skimp on the ingredients. He glanced over the menu to see which course was next - dessert.

His eyes traveled around the room at the other patrons. Unwittingly, he checked on his boss to see how she was faring. A pudgy raccoon of about Kit’s height with a too bright, too wide smile was conversing with her across the aisle. Becky’s got that ‘catch-a-client’ look on her face again. Don’t she ever think about anythin’ besides business? He pondered which of the two high-caloric dessert choices seemed most appealing, wishing that he could try them both. After the salad incident, he knew that he couldn’t finagle an extra dessert from the cute waitress. If he had been sitting with Rebecca, they could have gotten one of each and shared like they had on their last ‘date’...uh...the last time they happened to eat dinner out together.

When Baloo casually flicked his eyes in Rebecca’s direction again, he was mildly alarmed. The shifty-looking raccoon was now sitting beside Rebecca. Using the old fake a yawn trick, the raccoon slipped his arm around the bearess’s shoulders. Where does that slimeball get off doin’ that? Baloo got really steamed when he noticed that she was trying to pull away, but couldn’t. The raccoon shot her an ungentlemanly leer and pushed her farther into the corner. That’s it! Ol’ Baloo’s gonna take the bee outta his bonnet. Clenching his big fists, Baloo stalked over to the couple.

“Thanks fer savin’ my seat, pal,” Baloo growled, lifting the raccoon by the back of his suit coat and setting him down at his own table. Then the bear squeezed in beside his boss.

“Why, Baloo, I believe you’re jealous,” Rebecca commented with a sly, yet relieved, smile.

“Jealous of that bushy-tailed bozo? Ha! Not me.” Baloo crossed his arms. “Nah, Rebecca, I’m lookin’ out for numero uno. Every time you get involved with namby-pamby guys like that,” he jerked a contemptuous thumb towards the dandy raccoon who was shrinking towards the wall, “I gotta bail ya out. It interrupts my snoozes.”

The bearess placed a gentle paw on his arm. “Thank you for your concern.” She then drew closer to him, her expression soft and dreamy. “Baloo, I’m going to do something I’ve wanted to all evening.”

Baloo nervously licked his lips. “Yeah?”

Taking the napkin from his collar, she wiped the sauce from his mouth. She straightened his crooked bow tie. Patting his chest, she proclaimed, “There. Now you’re perfect.”

Baloo’s rumbling laugh resounded throughout the room, disturbing the hush of polite conversation. “Have ya had dessert?”

“You know I haven’t, Baloo. You’ve been watching me the entire time.”

The big bear’s shocked face softened into a smile. “An’ vice-a versa, boss lady. I’ve seen those big brown peepers of yours scopin’ me out.”

Two flecks of pink appeared on Rebecca’s cheeks. He knows what color my eyes are. The first nickname that Baloo had ever called her - Brown Eyes - on the first day they had met came to her mind.“Can you blame me? It’s no fun eating alone.”

“No, it ain’t, Rebecca.”

“Becky,” she corrected softly, smiling shyly up at him through her eyelashes.

That smile made the big bear look at his boss twice. For the first time in his life, he noticed how beautiful her eyes truly were. His heart beating out a staccato rhythm, he returned her smile. “Okay, Becky.” He peeked at her menu over her shoulder. “The double-decker, double-chocolate brownie sundae delight sounds good.”

“Mmm...I don’t know; it looks so rich, especially after all of that rich food. Maybe I’ll have a bite of yours.”

“May I take your orders?” the waitress - an attractive feline - asked.

“Does this sundae come with napoleon ice cream?” Baloo inquired in his best polite society manners tone.

“Excuse me, sir?” The waitress was confused with the verbiage.

“For what? Did ya burp?”

Rebecca chuckled. “I think he means neopolitan.”

“Sorry, sir. Just vanilla.”

“Too bad. Guess we’ll hafta live with that.” Catching Rebecca’s reproving gaze, he corrected, “Um...I mean, one sundae, if ya please, an’ two spoons.”

When the waitress had brought their dessert - two scoops of vanilla ice cream on a warm brownie with velvety fudge, whipped cream, and a cherry on top - Rebecca inquired a little too nonchalantly, “So, Baloo, what were you saying to that girl?”

The big bear scooped up a huge glob of the sundae. “Mmm, baby.” He smacked his lips in ecstacy. “I was just - man, this is dee-bob-a-licious! No Krakatoa Special, but it hits the spot.”

With a lift of her eyebrows, the bearess reiterated, “Ahem. About the waitress?”

“The waitress? What waitress? Oh, yeah, the waitress. I was just tryin’ ta sweet-talk her into givin’ me a little look-see at the cockpit.”

Smiling wryly, Rebecca asked, “Then you didn’t notice her other, er...attributes?”

Baloo cast his boss a suspicious, sideways look. Could Rebecca possibly be jealous? That was an interesting, and strangely heartening, concept. “She’s a stunner all right,” prompting a frown to appear on Rebecca’s countenance. Catching her displeased expression out of the corner of his eye, Baloo continued, “But she wasn’t much ta talk to. Heck, she didn’t even know a throttle from a rudder - not like you do, Beckers. Give me a smart gal who knows somethin’ about planes any day.”

That statement, as well as the affectionate look Baloo bestowed upon her, brought a dazzling smile to the bearess’s face, bright enough to light up the entire room.

“What were you sayin’ to that clown, Becky?” Baloo countered in a sly tone.

“If you mean that businessman, I was merely making friendly small talk,” Rebecca stated airily. “You know, nice night for a flight. Good dinner...”

“I own a cargo company. Do ya got any cargo ta ship?” Baloo snickered.

“It doesn’t hurt to advertise,” she retorted around a mouthful of sundae. She tapped the bowl of her spoon against his chest for emphasis. “And Higher for Hire can use all the advertising that we can get, Baloo, especially since that new cargo company stole twenty-five percent of our clients.” She frowned pensively out the window. “I don’t know what we’re going to do if this goes on...if they take more of our business...”

Is Becky so desperate for clients that she would let that sleazy shrimp take advantage of her? That thought frightened him. “Why don’t ya tell me this stuff, Becky? Maybe I can think of a plan ta help.”

Rebecca laughed derisively. “How can you help, Baloo? You know absolutely nothing about business.”

“Yeah, but I know planes an’ folks. I got some connections.”

“Loose connections, I bet. What we need is more advertising.” Deep in thought, Rebecca sucked absentmindedly on the bowl of her spoon.

“I think he thought you were advertisin’ yourself, Becky, the way he was all over ya.” Placing a paw over hers, he said seriously, “Ya gotta be careful around slimy snakes like that, honey. They ain’t gentlemen.”

Thinking that her pilot was being condescending, treating her like the proverbial damsel-in-distress, her temper flared. She yanked her hand away. “And you are, Mr. I-Only-Take-Baths-When-I-Have-To? I can take care of myself and Higher for Hire, and if you don’t think that I can, you can take yourself right back over to that other table, mister!”

“Easy, Becky. Don’t wanna see ya hurt, that’s all. I tell ya what, let’s make a bet. Five bucks says I can land a client.”

“Deal.”

They shook hands on it.

“That’s the easiest five dollars I’ve ever made,” Rebecca said smugly.

“Just leave the next customer to me, Becky. Hey, what happened to the sundae?” Baloo stared at the empty bowl. The dessert was gone, yet he had barely tasted it. “You call that a small bite?”

“No, I’d call that a lot of small bites!” she chortled mischievously, finishing off the dessert by picking up the cherry and popping it into her mouth.

After dessert, the two bears wandered into the observation room, which adjoined the dining room. In that dimly-illuminated setting, the lighted buildings of Cape Suzette were visible through large ceiling-to-floor windows. They sank onto one of the fourteen plush sofas - seven on each side of the room - facing the magnificent vista as they floated through downtown Cape Suzette.

“Oh, Baloo, isn’t it marvelous?” Rebecca gushed, eagerly taking in the sights. “I knew Cape Suzette was beautiful, but this is something else.”

“Yeah, somethin’ else,” Baloo murmured, thinking that his boss looked uncommonly pretty this evening.

Catching his eyes fixated on her instead of the city, Rebecca blushed, feeling her pulse quicken. What was happening to her? She couldn’t possibly be falling for...no! Absurd! Impossible! Ridiculous! And to use the vernacular - totally wrong-o! Pushing that uncomfortable thought far, far from her mind, she decided to lighten the mood by keeping the conversation light. “There’s my apartment.” The bearess gestured to a building constructed around a waterfall. “I wonder how Mrs. Poppins is doing with Molly. She pouted for a long time after I told her that I was going out with Kit.”

“Mrs. Poppins? Why should she care if ya go out with Kit?”

Rebecca giggled at his confused expression. “No, silly. Molly. She thinks the

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