She thinks the world of Kit, you know.”

“Yeah, an’ Li’l Britches thinks the world of little Button-nose, too. Lookee, Becky, all the lights are on in Khanny’s tower. I heard he makes his guys work sixteen hours a day. Never catch me workin’ that hard. No sirree.”

“If I get sixteen minutes of work out of you, buster, I’m doing good,” Rebecca retorted testily.

“But I get a lot done in those sixteen minutes,” the pilot rejoined. He draped an arm on the back of the seat, then casually slid it onto Rebecca’s shoulders. He was pleased when she leaned her head against him.

The zeppelin slowly made a U-turn and headed towards the cliffs. Lights of the cliff markers, passing airplanes, and houses situated on the cliffs drifted by.

Baloo yawned. “This couch is comfy. The Big Guy’s nice an’ full.” He patted his ample stomach. “Good time for a good snooze.”

“You think anytime’s a good time for a snooze, Baloo,” Rebecca said sarcastically. She was feeling curiously congenial towards this bear who usually drove her up the wall.  She tentatively nestled a little closer to him, reveling in the wonderful feeling of his strong arm about her.

“I got a reputation to uphold, Beckers.” Yawning again, Baloo thought that this woman couldn’t possibly be the same stressed out, irritating boss that he knew. Something about her had changed, and he liked it a lot. Maybe there was something in the air on this zeppelin.

“A reputation for being lazy?” Rebecca chortled softly.

“Ya know, laziness is nothin’ more than the habit of restin’ before ya get tired. I read that someplace.”

“You definitely have that habit down pat.”

Baloo beamed proudly. “You better believe it! It look years of practice to perfect it, too.”

Rebecca opened her mouth to say her next retort when a male crane sat down beside Baloo, his hippo wife sitting down beside him. They weren’t shy about taking up more than their fair share of the couch. The two bears were forced to scoot over.

Rebecca took in their expensive, tailored clothes and decided that they were indeed somebody important. She intended to discover who when Baloo interrupted with, “Howdy do, folks. Fine evenin’, ain’t it?”

Rebecca could have cheerfully strangled him. Howdy do? Oh, Baloo!

“Howdy right back atcha,” the crane said in a voice tinged with a southern accent.

“Howdy, y’all.” the hippo crooned, also with a southern accent.

“You from outta town?” Baloo inquired politely, briefly removing his arm from Rebecca’s shoulders to shake the crane’s hand.

“Yeeeeuuuuup,” replied the crane succinctly, giving Baloo’s hand a firm shake.

“Attlanta,” added the hippo, peeking around her husband’s beak to get a better look at the bears.

“Visiting Elmira’s sister this weekend.”

Elmira, the hippo, nodded in agreement. “Are you and your wife from Cape Suzette?”

“Oh, we’re not married,” Rebecca corrected quickly.

“Rebecca’s my boss.” Baloo lifted his arm from around the bearess.

“Yes, I’m Baloo’s boss.” Rebecca nodded furiously.

“Small world. Elmira’s my boss, too,” the crane chuckled, prompting a scowl from his wife.

“Lester! Hmpf!” Elmira petulantly crossed her arms.

“What’s your line o’ business?” Baloo inquired casually.

“Cotton.”

“Cotton?” Baloo echoed.

“Yeeeeuuuuup. Cotton balls, cotton swabs, cloth - if it’s cotton, we make it.”

Baloo could feel Rebecca clutching at his arm. “Sounds real interestin’,” Baloo said, patting Rebecca’s paw. He knew exactly what she was thinking - potential rich clients. Baloo wanted to show his boss that he could land contracts. In addition to the fact that Higher for Hire desperately needed customers, five whole dollars was on the line! And he wanted to rub it in Rebecca’s face when he ‘told her so’. He had to try to steer the conversation towards shipping. This was new territory for the cargo pilot, so he began tentatively, “Good business?”

“Weeeeellllllll, can’t complain,” Lester drawled. “Opened a factory last month in Port Largo. Only problem is sometimes with shipping. Not enough planes to ship merchandise out fast enough, especially to this part of Usland.”

A soft squeal escaped from Rebecca.

Ignoring the painfulness of Rebecca’s fingers digging into his arm, Baloo rubbed the back of his neck thoughtfully. “Hmm...that is a problem, Lester; but we might be able ta help ya out. See, Rebecca an’ me run a cargo company here in Cape Suzette by the name of Higher for Hire.”

“That a fact?” Lester said, his interest piqued.

“Y’all run a cargo service? Isn’t that wonderful?” Elmira piped up loudly. “Higher for Hire, did you say? A little family business?”

“Yes, Higher for Hire,” Rebecca agreed cordially, enunciating every syllable of her business’s name. “And I guess it is sort of a...” she shared a smile with Baloo; “family business.”

“Catchy name, ain’t it, sugar?” the hippo said, prodding her husband’s arm with her index finger. “Remember how you’re always saying that you want to patronize as many small businesses as you can? We started out as a little family business, just me and Lester; and now we own seven factories in three states.”

“Call us.” Rebecca dug in her purse and produced a business card, which she handed to Baloo. Baloo, in turn, passed it to Lester.

“Yeah, ring-a-ling us up if ya need any help,” Baloo reiterated courteously.

“Will do.” Lester looked at the card before tucking it into his pocket. He shook Baloo’s hand again.

“Let’s check out the view from the other side, sugar, and leave thesebusiness partners to discuss things privately,” Elmira said, taking her husband by the arm and basically pulling him up. “Nice to meet y’all.”

“Nice meeting you,” Baloo and Rebecca replied in unison.

When the couple was out of earshot, Rebecca whispered, “That was very smooth, Baloo. I am impressed.” She couldn’t believe that her incompetent pilot, the immature slob who ran his own business into the ground, landed a contract - practically.

Baloo smiled smugly. “You’ve just gotta have a little faith in this little ol’ bear, sugar,” he drawled, mimicking Elmira’s accent. He held out his hand. “An’ you owe me five smackers.”

Reaching into her billfold for the money, Rebecca said, “Double or nothing, you can’t do that again.” Her voice, as well as the voices of all the others onboard, rose to a high-pitched squeak.

“What’s goin’ on?” Baloo squeaked, sounding like a chipmunk.

“Helium. The balloon is full of it. Inhaling it makes voices squeaky. There must be a leak somewhere,” Rebecca speculated.

“Oh, baby, there really is somethin’ in the air!”

Crew members passed through the room, cracking open windows. “Stay calm, folks. We have a leak in one of the helium canisters. Nothing to worry about. Helium is a safe substance. A little ventilation, and it will all clear out.”

Baloo screwed up his face comically. “I already went through a voice change once in my life. This is ridiculous.”

Rebecca squealed, “Look at the stars! They’re so clear tonight.”

“Wonderful, Beckers,” he replied, paying more attention to her bright eyes than the bright stars.

“Ooo! A shooting star. Did you see it, Baloo?”

“Quick, make a wish,” Baloo said in his normal voice. “Hey, I sound like me again.”

Rebecca squeezed her eyes shut. But before she could wish for anything, Baloo murmured, “Uh-oh. Who turned out the stars?”

The bearess’s eyes flew open. The zeppelin was being devoured by theIron Vulture. “Oh, no. Air pirates,” she said wearily. “I knew this evening was going too smoothly.”

End of part 1

Up, Up, and Away in My Beautiful Baloo-n
Part 2

Don Karnage, a dashingly handsome wolf in a blue coat trimmed with gold buttons, burst through the observation deck’s door with a jaunty, heavily-accented, “Hello, rich passengers-type peoples in the big silver balloon! It is I, the dreadful pirate, Don Karnage. You may now all tremble in fear of my truly magnificent self.”

The majority of the passengers and crew did just that. Whimpering, wailing, and shrieking they made a mad dash for the far corner of the room.

Baloo and Rebecca didn’t follow their fellow travelers’ examples. The two bears stood where they were in the middle of the room with defiant sneers etched on their faces.

“Why if it isn’t Don Garbage, the scourge of the air,” Baloo jeered, not breaking eye contact with Karnage. He gently pushed Rebecca behind him. “What’s wrong, Karny? Are cargo planes too fast for ya? Ya gotta hijack slow zeppelins now?”

An ugly scornful smile appeared on the pirate captain’s face, revealing a mouthful of sharp pointed teeth. “Ah, Bahloo. We meet again, yes-no? I didn’t know they allowed blimps on blimps.”

“Why you...” the big bear snarled, doubling his fists.

The pirate captain unsheathed his sword and waved it under Baloo’s nose. “Ah-ah-ah. Control that temperament. You and the annoying business lady, come with me!”

They were roughly escorted between Mad Dog and Dumptruck onto the Iron Vulture. The other passengers and the crew were herded into the zeppelin’s kitchen where they were locked up.

Gibber whispered a hasty message in Karnage’s ear.

“You may have a point on your head.” Turning to the two bears, Karnage said, “Because you and your bossy boss are masters of escape like Whodini, you will be placed in my special occasion cell. One with heavy duty locks!”

“Have a nice stay!” Mad Dog snickered, shoving the two bears into a dark prison cell secured with a thick door. This thick door, equipped with three locks, had a tiny window with crisscrossed with thick bars. Dumptruck was assigned guard duty over them.

“Hee-hee-hee! This is a fool-proof plan even for you fools. We will ride the zeppelin right behind the

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