“Aaah!” they yelled as they splashed into the moat.

A second later, a dripping Baloo pulled himself up on the opposite shore. “We’re safe now.”

Just then, the drawbridge lowered and arrows flew around them.

“Oops, spoke too soon,” Baloo muttered. He yanked Kit and Buzz out of moat, scooped up Buzz and put him under his arm, and took off towards the woods with the knights and archers right on their tails.

As they sped along the wooded path, Baloo puffed, “Them knights can sure move fast packin’ that aluminum sidin’. Sure we’re headed towards the Duck, partner?”

Grinning, Kit panted, “Trust me.”

“You’re the navigator,” Baloo replied.

At the bottom of the hill, the trees thinned out. Through the branches, they could catch glimpses of yellow.

“There’s the Sea Duck,” Kit proclaimed as he lightly vaulted over a log.

Baloo ducked as an arrow flew overhead. “Man, these guys don’t give up!”

Buzz called to the knights, “If you adjusted your arc fifteen degrees, your accuracy would improve!”

“Don’t give ‘em any pointers, Buzz.” Baloo opened the cockpit door, tossed Buzz and Kit inside, then scrambled in.

There were high-pitched pings and dull thunks as arrows and lances hit the fuselage.

Buzz, with his beak pressed to the window, watched excitedly as the knights surrounded the seaplane and started hacking at the ‘yellow dragon’ with their swords. “Isn’t this wonderful? History in action.”

“Takin’ off is the only action I’m worried about,” Baloo muttered under his breath as he flipped switches as fast as he could. He winced at the sound of the swords beating ‘his baby’.

“I sure hope that ice storm didn’t do any damage,” Kit said uneasily.

Much to the flight crew’s relief, the engines roared to life. Frightened by the noise and the sudden gust of wind that the propellers created, the knights scattered into the forest.

“Ha-ha! That’s the way ta clear a room,” Baloo said triumphantly. He taxied the seaplane around and took off, the fuselage scraping the tops of the trees slightly.

When they were in the air, Kit sat back in his seat, relieved. “So long, Hammalot. I don’t want to see it again except in history books.”

Baloo said, “Speakin’ of history, let’s make time tracks, Buzz.”

Giving his pocket watch to Buzz, Kit asked, “How do you work this thing anyway?”

“Oh, it’s simple.” The inventor then launched into a highly technical explanation.

“Easy for you to say,” Baloo chuckled, with a shake of his head. “Just get us home.”

“June 16, 1938,” Kit clarified.

Buzz set the watch hands. Before he pressed in the knob, he said, “Here we go.”

“Here we go,” Kit muttered to himself. He crossed his fingers and shut his eyes.

With a plane-shaking boom and a bright flash, they were transported to a time and place where it was twilight. A faint stain of fast-fading pinks and oranges were in the west. In the clear, starry eastern sky hung a crescent moon.

Kit peered out the window. He was glad to see that there was no signs of a prehistoric jungle, futuristic city, ice age, or medieval forest. He whispered, “Did we make it? Are we back at the right time?”

“What is the right time?” Buzz said wonderingly. “The right time is different times for different people. All a matter of how you look at things...”

“Looks like Cape Suzette up ahead,” Baloo said nonchalantly, belying his anxiety. “We’re gonna find out in a jiffy.”

Kit nodded. His stomach was clenched in a nervous knot as he watched the familiar dark outline of the cliffs surrounding the city grow closer.

A few minutes later, the seaplane splashed down for a landing in the harbor and taxied up to the dock in front of Higher for Hire.

Kit didn’t know whether he wanted to get out of the plane. It lookedlike Higher for Hire, but what if it was the Higher for Hire of the past or the future? He didn’t know if he could stand the disappointment.

Then, he saw a shaft of light spill from the building as the warehouse door opened. The boy held his breath with the terrible suspense.

To his immense relief, Rebecca and Molly - looking like they had when they left two days previously - hurried down the dock to greet them.

Baloo opened the cockpit door, exclaiming, “Ah, it’s good to be back!”

“Where have you been?” Rebecca said frantically, rushing over to hug him. She then hugged Kit and critically looked her menfolk over. “I’ve been worried sick. Are you all right?”

Before Baloo, Kit, or Buzz had a chance to say anything, Rebecca continued, “Why didn’t you deliver the liniment? Why didn’t you answer the radio? I’ve been trying to reach you since the hospital in Lumbago called to say that their liniment hadn’t arrived, and no one had seen you, not even Louie. It was like you’d disappeared...” Her voice trailed off when she noticed the lances and arrows protruding from the seaplane’s exterior. “Why in the world does the Sea Duck look like a pincushion?”

Baloo rubbed the back of his neck. “Ya see, Becky, we tried to make it to Lumbago on time, but...”

“But?” Rebecca said, crossing her arms.

“We were sorta stuck in Hammalot.”

“Hammalot?Hammalot! You expect me to believe that fairy story? That’s the lamest excuse you’ve ever...” Her sentence was curtailed by Baloo’s kiss.

When they pulled apart, Rebecca looked a little dizzy. “Don’t...don’t try to get around me,” she mumbled, leaning against her husband with a blissful sigh.

“Man, I missed you, Beckers,” Baloo whispered, enfolding her in his arms.

“Hammalot isn’t a fairy story,” Buzz said, turning the hands of the pocket watch. “In fact, I’ll take you there right now.”

“No!” Kit shouted. Taking Molly by the hand, he dragged her up the dock, away from Buzz. Baloo did likewise with Rebecca.

The von Bruinwalds looked on in amazement as Buzz disappeared into thin air, accompanied by a flash of light and a sonic boom.

“Baloo...” Rebecca said haltingly. “Would you mind explaining...what...just...happened?”

Baloo winked at Kit. “Believe me, honey, it’d take too much time. Oh, an’ we gotta get Kit a new pocket watch.”

Rebecca nodded dumbly, her eyes still fixed on the spot where Buzz had been.

Baloo wrapped an arm around his wife’s slim waist, kissed the top of her head, and gently led her up the dock.

“Why do you smell like smoke?” Rebecca said suspiciously. “Did you go to a barbeque?”

“Sorta. Kit an’ me were almost the roastees.”

“Baloo!” Rebecca gasped, aghast.

To calm her anxiety, he added, “They weren’t gonna eat us, honey, but they did have strange tastes. Speaking of tastes, what’s cookin’, good lookin’? I’m starvin’.”

Kit smiled as he watched his parents enter Higher for Hire’s office/living room through the warehouse, thinking that if he had been a sorcerer and could make anything he wanted, this was the kind of place and these were the people that he’d conjure up. He looked down when he felt Molly slip her small hand into his.

“Kit, did you really see Hammalot with knights and dragons and everything?”

He grinned down at her. “Yeah, I’ll tell you all about it later, little sis.” His gaze moved from Higher for Hire to the Sea Duck, then past the seaplane, across the dark harbor to the twinkling lights of Cape Suzette. He smiled to himself, reveling in the normal sights and sounds of home. “Right now, I’m just glad to be here.”

“Me, too. It’s more fun when you’re around.” She tapped him, then took off, shouting over her shoulder, “Tag! You’re it!”

“Not for long!” Kit replied, chasing after her.

A few minutes later, Baloo hollered from the door. “Kit! Molly! Supper’s ready. Stop draggin’ your feet.” When Molly tried to slip past him, he scooped her up and tossed her in the air, prompting the little girl to squeal joyfully.

Kit joined them, panting, “‘Dragging your feet?’ Don’t remind me about dragons.”

“Did you meet a dragon, Daddy?” Molly asked eagerly.

Baloo nodded solemnly, though his eyes twinkled. “Sure did, Cupcake.”

“For really?” she asked, fixing her skeptical gaze on him.

“For really. Story time’ll come after chow time.” He kissed Molly’s cheek, then put her down. “Why don’t ya go help your mama set the table?”

After Molly had hurried into the kitchen, Baloo gently laid a hand on Kit’s shoulder and smiled down at him. “What say we join the rest of the von Bruinwalds, son?”

Kit admitted, “It’s gonna take a while for me to get used to ‘von Bruinwald’.”

“Don’t worry, kiddo. You will.” He

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