get Wildcat an’ the gals.” Unable to turn around in the vent, Baloo began backing up.

An Apartment Building

“Knock, knock! Happy Christmas!” Dumptruck sang out. He and Mad Dog were ‘collecting’ presents door to door.

“You mean Happy Christmas for us!” Mad Dog added with a nasal chuckle. “We’re here for your presents!”

“Und nickels und dimes if you haf any!”

An eleven-year-old girl moose opened the door. Seeing the ‘elves’, she smiled cordially. “Grandma, Santa’s elves are here.”

A quavering, elderly voice answered back, “Tell them to come in, Darla, dear. They can have some of that fruitcake that I found in the freezer from twenty years ago. I scraped most of the frost off of it.”

Darla held the door wide open. She looked expectantly up at the ‘elves’.

At the mention of frost-encrusted fruitcake, terror registered on the pirates’ faces.

“Uh...ve can’t,” Dumptruck stuttered.

“Allergies,” Mad Dog added quickly, inching away from the door.

“Yah, that’s it. Allergies.”

Darla was disappointed. “Maybe next time, okay? Come back next year!”

After the door had shut, Mad Dog grimaced. “Fruitcake? Blech!”

“Next apartment.”

Both pirates broke into off-key singing. “Oh, what fun it is to steal on a Christmas holiday, hey!”

Higher for Hire

Ten minutes later, the Sea Ducksplashed down in front of Higher for Hire. Everyone ran outside to greet the plane. Baloo began loading the next day’s flour shipment into the seaplane’s cargo hold. He told the others, “Grab all the sheets you can find, some chain, and lotsa rope.”

Wildcat and the cubs ran to get the items. Rebecca trailed back and forth behind her husband as he loaded sack after sack of flour into the plane.

“Baloo, what are you doing?”

“This ain’t time ta play follow-the-leader,” he puffed under the weight of the sacks. “Get a move on, Beckers!”

She stopped him in his tracks by placing both paws on his chest and digging in her heels. “Will you please explain what in the world you’re doing with my cargo! What about Karnage?”

Baloo stacked four twenty pound sacks of flour on the deck of the cargo hold and sat down on them as he explained. “Here’s the scoop. We’re gonna give Karny the yuletide scare of his life.”

“Like Darles Chickens' The Christmas Caroler, Mom.” Kit piled sheets next to the flour and sped back to Higher for Hire for more.

“Balooooooo! We can’t just barge in on Karnage. He’s got guns. We’d be outnumbered five to fifty - at least! We need a plan.”

“I’ve got a plan.” Baloo briefly filled her in on the details.

“That’s nice, but to make it convincing, we’re going to need a few more props besides flour and sheets.”

“We’re gettin’ chains, too.” Baloo smirked.

Shooting him an annoyedglare, Rebecca continued to rant. “We can’t slap this together willy-nilly when we get on the Iron Vulture. Who’s going to play the ghosts?”

Baloo rubbed the back of his neck. “I thought me an’ Kit an’ Wildcat.”

“You?” Rebecca laughed derisively. She poked at his stomach. “It would be impossible to lift you up on a rope. I can be a ghost.”

“But, Becky...”

Arms crossed, Rebecca retorted, “I’m a lot lighter than you. If Kit can do it, so can I. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t.”

“The baby.” Baloo placed his paws on her shoulders and gazed directly into her eyes. “Honey, you can’t dangle with a rope cinched tighter than a ham string around your waist. What if you hurt the baby?”

Reluctantly, Rebecca muttered, “That’s a good reason.” The fact that he was right irritated her to no end. “Okay, you win, but don’t you dare gloat about it, Baloo. I’m sure it won’t happen again.” With an umbrageous toss of her head, she headed inside to gather up necessary props.

“Sure, Becky.” Grinning, Baloo watched her stalk up the dock. Man, she’s cute when she’s all riled up!

The Iron Vulture

It was pitifully easy to board the Iron Vulturethe second time. There were no guards posted. All of the pirates were off pillaging. Karnage was the only one aboard. However, he wasn’t keeping a vigilant lookout, being too busy with his new ‘presents’.

You may be asking yourself the following questions right about now. Why weren’t Khan’s planes buzzing the Iron Vulture? Where were the Cape Suzette police? It was just easier without them. Back to the story...

The Sea Ducklanded in the middle of Santa’s wrecked village. Our gallant heroes alighted from the seaplane, their arms full of props, costumes, and other gear. With Kit in the lead, they snuck down the halls, winding their way through the ship to Karnage’s bedroom.

Baloo stuck his ear to the door. There wasn’t a sound from within. He gingerly turned the knob. Except for the furniture and the big mound of stolen gifts, the room was empty.

“Why’s he got all these mirrors?” Baloo wondered.

Mirrors were everywhere. In addition to two full-sized free-standing mirrors, there were several hand mirrors on the dressers, chairs, and ottomans.

Kit gave a short, sardonic laugh. “So he can see his big ego from every angle?”

Immediately, they went to work. Wildcat began setting up the pulley system while Rebecca passed out the costumes. Kit arranged a black curtain in one corner for them to hide behind and to allow them to work without their flashlights showing. He put the props behind it so that they would be easily accessible. Baloo pushed Karnage’s plush chairs, ottomans, tables, fringed lamp, and curtained four-poster bed against the walls, being careful not to break a mirror. Molly, along with her friend Duncan, drew the heavy drapes over the windows and rolled up the Oriental rugs. Then they all got into costume.

“Everybody about ready?” Baloo turned to Molly’s friend, a seven-year-old brown wolf. “Thanks for doin’ this on such short notice, Duncan.”

The boy’s black eyes gleamed with excitement behind his horn-rimmed glasses. “This is great! I’ve never been on a pirate ship before. It sure beats watching my mom make her Christmas spaghetti and wheat balls.”

“Doncha mean meat balls?”

“Nope. Wheat. She’s a vegetarian. For Thanksgiving we had tofurkey.”

“Tofurkey?” Baloo echoed, confounded.

“Turkey made out of tofu. It’s processed soybeans,” Duncan explained.

Kit and Molly wrinkled up their noses in distaste.

“Glad our mom isn’t a veggie-tarian,” whispered Molly.

Kit nodded vigorously, causing a dusting of flour to fall to the floor.

Rebecca tied a rope securely about Kit’s waist and handed him a flashlight. In his other hand, he clutched a second rope with a hook on the end of it.

“Ready, kiddo?” Baloo asked.

The boy nodded and took a deep breath. “Let’s do it, Papa Bear.”

Wildcat and Baloo pulled on the other end of the rope, which was wound through a pulley attached to a pipe on the ceiling. Kit was gradually hoisted to the ceiling. The boy mentally prepared himself for his role in the scheme. This was going to be the toughest part - inserting the hook into Karnage’s trousers’ waistband without him knowing it. But it had to be done; it was crucial to their plan, and he had volunteered to do it. Kit perched atop a pipe to alleviate the pain of the rope cutting into his waist.

“Are you okay, Kit?” Rebecca asked concernedly.

“Fine, Mom.” He slid a finger around the rope to loosen it a little. He knew that he would probably have rope burn there tomorrow.

Finally, they were ready. At the fuse box, Rebecca flipped off the breaker that controlled the room’s lights. With bated breath, they waited in the dark.

End of part 1

Merry Christmas to All and to All a Good Fright
Part 2

After what seemed like an eternity, Don Karnage’s footsteps resounded along the hallway. He chuckled to himself, “It is truly a plunderful life,” before stepping into his bedroom with another armful of stolen treasures. He shut and locked the door behind him. The pirate captain was still dressed as Santa minus the beard. He flipped the light switch.

Nothing happened.

He flipped it again.

Still dark.

“How can I see my presents if I cannot see?” He repeatedly flipped the switch, becoming enraged.

“Is this when we jump out and yell ‘surprise’?” Wildcat said softly.

“No!” Baloo and Rebecca hissed simultaneously. The bearess clutched the mechanic’s arm to prevent him from betraying their presence.

Too late. Karnage had heard their whispers. “Who is here?” he barked. “Show yourselves to me!”

From his position close to the ceiling, Kit turned on his flashlight and shone it on his flour-covered face. Wrapped in a white sheet and covered with flour, he uncannily resembled a ghost.

Karnage shrank backwards, tripped over his own feet, and went sprawling on the floor. “Wha...who?”

Kit couldn’t resist one tiny, “Boo!”

The ‘fearless’ pirate whimpered. In futility, he tugged at the locked door handle.

Biting the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing out loud, Kit moaned and shook the chain hung around his neck. “I am the first of three ghosts who will visit you today. I am the Ghost of Christmas Past.”

“G...ghost?” stuttered Karnage. Then, he recovered a shred of dignity. “Wait a minuet! There are no such things as ghosties!”

“Lower him!” hissed Baloo to Wildcat.

The pulley squeaked softly as Kit slowly descended towards the cowering pirate. His arms were spread as if he was flying. “Come closer,” he rasped with an ominous chuckle, “if you are not afraid, mortal.”

“Don K...K...Karnage, the t...t...terror of the four winds is not af...afraid of anyone or,” he gulped, “anything.”

Unexpectedly, Baloo sneezed from flour tickling his nose and let go of the rope. Kit plummeted towards the floor as the rope slipped through Wildcat’s hands. Reflexively, the boy flipped off his flashlight, reached for his airfoil, fanned it open, and slid it