bear.

Rebecca frowned at him. “We will.”

After a long pause, Baloo nodded and pointed out, “Okay, but it’s gonna be a rough landin’.”

“Here. Use this for a pillow,” Louie said, handing the burlap sack to them.

Rebecca took one look at the sack and said indignantly, “Oh, no! I’m not using my dress to break our fall.”

“Do you want to spend our honeymoon in the hospital? Traction ain’t fun. Believe me, I know.”

She sighed in defeat. “Fine, but if anything happens to my dress...”

Baloo eyed the rapidly approaching pavement. “I’m more worried ‘bout somethin’ happenin’ to us!”

When the Pink Piranha was a half a mile from the street, Baloo said, “Brace yourself, Beckers.”

Rebecca nodded and wrapped her arms more tightly around his neck.

“Don’t strangle me!” he gasped out.

She loosened her grip. “Sorry.”

“Ready?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” she added with a whisper, “I guess.”

“Happy landin’,” Louie said cheerfully - a little too cheerfully, Baloo thought.

“How’d we always get stuck in these situations, anyhoo?” Baloo, holding Rebecca closely to him. He nervously clenched and unclenched his fist around the sack as he waited for the ground to come closer.

“The next time we see Karnage, remind me to thank him,” Rebecca said with a wry smile.

Baloo returned her smile. “Yeah, ditto. Well...here goes everything. Geronimo!” Taking a deep breath, he jumped.

Both bears screamed the entire fifty feet down. They landed with a jarring jolt; the only thing between their backsides and the concrete was a burlap sack and a wedding dress. Just above their heads, thePink Piranha pulled out of its dive and gained altitude. Right on its tail was the CT-37.

“Whoo-hoo! Back to fun and games!” Aunt Louise proclaimed jauntily. “Let’s try a little zigging and zagging to ditch this piratical pursuer.”

ThePink Piranha zipped around a skyscraper like it could corner on rails. However, the CT-37 wasn’t so lucky - it slammed right into the side of the building and burst into flames.

“Incoming!” Baloo yelled. He shielded his and his wife’s head with the burlap sack as flaming pieces of the wrecked CT-37 rained down on them.

Rebecca, her nerves raw from their recent narrow escapes, giggled uncontrollably until she started to hiccup. Between hiccups, she managed to say, “I knew my dress would come in handy somehow.”

“Man, I’ve been in explosive situations before, but that one takes the cake,” Baloo exclaimed, cautiously poking his head out from underneath the sack. The only thing floating in the sky was the pirate pilot parachuting to the ground.

Rebecca beamed up at him. “Oh, Baloo,” she hiccuped, “get over the cake already.”

Khan’s Office

Ninety stories up and seven blocks north, the children saw the explosion. However, they were too far away to tell that it was the CT-37, not the Pink Piranha.

Molly, who had been brave all day, buried her face in Kit’s shirt and started to cry quietly.

Kit swallowed a big lump in his throat. His eyes felt hot and tight. He tried to get his mind around the fact that he - so close to having parents - had once again found himself an orphan. To calm his whirling head, he tried to reason with himself. Okay, I’ve been an orphan before. I can be an orphan again. At least I have Molly this time - if they don’t split us up. They can’t split us up. They just can’t! Oh, Papa Bear, Miz Cunningham... One tear, then another trickled down Kit’s cheek.

Shere Khan was uncomfortable for the first time in his life. He, the tough, merciless businessman who had no qualms about crushing competitors, didn’t know how to comfort two weeping children. No amount of money would fix this. When the elevator dinged, he turned, welcoming the diversion.

It was Don Karnage. “Welcome home, you truly scrumptious pirate captain,” he gloated to himself.

“Uh-oh!” Kit whispered. He pulled Molly behind a pile of loot and told her to be quiet.

They listened to Karnage hum to himself as he confidently strutted through the office, picking up jewelry along the way and draping it on his person.

On the other side of the window, Mad Dog and Dumptruck were yelling at Karnage to turn around.

“What did you say, you nincompirates? I can see your mouths moving, but all I can hear is mmm-mmmm.”

Dumptruck and Mad Dog continued to pound on the glass. They pointed to the chair, shouting, “Don’t sit down!”

Karnage misunderstood them. “Sit down? But of course I’m going to sit down. It is my own glorious chair, yes-no?”

Before he knew it, a hand shot out from the chair and clenched his neck in a vice-like grip, lifting him from the floor.

“Someone’s been sitting in my chair,” Khan growled, nose to nose with the pirate. “And here he is.”

Karnage, eyes bulging out, squeaked out to Mad Dog and Dumptruck for help only to see them hitching a ride on the Iron Vulture. He let out a strangled cry of defeat.

“Now, Mr. Don Karnage, you will personally make reparations for the damage that you have inflicted upon my building as well as the business time that I have lost.”

Karnage choked out in a rasping whisper, “H...How am I going to do that?”

“Oh, I’m sure we can work out something, but first, as my guest,” Khan tightened his grip around Karnage’s neck, “I insist that you be made comfortable.”

After Karnage had been tied securely to a straight-backed chair and placed next to the hungry Venus flytraps, the elevator dinged.

“Man, that was some rolly coaster of a ride!” Baloo said jauntily, stepping from the elevator.

Rebecca - with one hand holding the burlap sack, the other enfolded in her husband’s hand - said wearily, “Next time you can ride the roller coaster by yourself, Baloo.”

Hearing the familiar voices, Molly yelled joyfully, “Mommy! Daddy!” She tore herself away from Kit to throw herself into her mother’s arms.

Likewise, Kit leaped into Baloo’s arms, who looked down at the boy’s tear-stained face.

Baloo fondly tousled the boy’s hair, prompting an even bigger smile to crease Kit’s face. “Ya didn’t think you could get rid of your ol’ Papa Bear that easy, now, did ya, Li’l Britches?”

Kit fought down a sob of relief; he thought that he’d never hear that nickname again. But his tears were forgotten when Baloo swept he, Rebecca, and Molly into his arms for a warm hug, which they held for a long while.

Shere Khan cleared his throat. “I’m sorry to break up this tender family moment, but we still have one loose end to tie up.” He gestured to Karnage. Three Venus flytraps were salivating over him and a fourth was licking its chops.

The elevator bell dinged once again. Aunt Louise and Louie stepped out.

“The death-defyin’ daring-do thing is way overrated,” Louie averred. “From now on, I’ll do all my stunts on the ground.”

“Ground, schmound. I prefer the wide, open...oh, happy, happy day!” Aunt Louise giggled in ecstacy at the sight of Karnage. “If it isn’t my little Don Juan Karnage!” She rushed to his side and showered him with unwanted attention.

“What are we going to do with you?” Khan purred. He got a feeling of satisfaction from the tortured, helpless expression on the Karnage’s face as Aunt Louise stroked his hair and planted big, wet kisses all over his cheeks.

“Hurry up! Punish me!” Karnage gasped out. “Don’t keep me in suspenders.”

“Turnips and sandpaper,” Kit suggested with a slight sly smile, recalling Karnage’s own favorite torture device.

“Fingernails on a chalkboard for hours on end,” Baloo added.

“Boil him in oil,” Rebecca said.

“Yeah!” Molly chimed in. “Do all of ‘em!”

“Hey, I got a slam-bang idea,” Louie said, grinning mischievously from ear to ear. “Since he seems ta like Aunt Louise so much, I think he should go on a date with her.”

“Oh,yes!” Louise shouted fervently, crushing the pirate captain in her strong embrace.

“Oh, no!” Karnage yelped. “I’ll do anything! Feather and tar me! Boil me in vinegar with a little salt! Shoot me! Lock me up for the rest of my life! Anything but that!”

Aunt Louise bodily picked him up and carried him to the elevator. “We’re going to have so much fun, my little pirate-y poo. I’ll take you to all of my fave party spots and we’ll dance, dance, dance the night away. Maybe we’ll even get married at the Chapel of Love in Lost Vegas.”

“I’m a confined bachelor! I can’t get married, especially to you! HELLLLPPPPP!” Karnage shouted as the elevator doors shut. His agonized screams could be heard throughout Khan Towers.

Chuckling, Baloo wrapped an arm around Rebecca’s waist. “Ah, love. Ya gotta love it.”

Higher for Hire
Sunset

Baloo opened the office door, saying to Louie, Rebecca, Kit, and Molly, “It sure is good to be back at home, sweet...” he broke off, chuckling. “Speakin’ of sweet, lookee here.”

“Wildcat!” Rebecca cried. In her astonishment, she dropped the burlap sack. “Look at this mess!”

Wildcat sat on the couch, ringed in by mounds of gooey s’mores. There was also a chocolate-y,

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