cream neither.”

“Boss? Boss?”

“Yoo-hoo!” Ape Goon called, going into the cockpit for a look around.

Not seeing anything of his boss except for the floppy brown hat on the floor, Rhino Goon turned to Cassie. “You seen da boss, baby?”

Cassie gazed up at him, placidly sucking her thumb.

The rhino jumped when the hat belonging to Trader Moe moved a couple of inches, then stopped. “Did youse see dat?”

“What did I see?” Ape Goon asked, coming from the cockpit.

“Shh!” Rhino Goon whispered as he tiptoed towards the hat.

Ape Goon put a finger to his lips and whispered to Cassie, “Shh!”

Cassie took her thumb from her mouth, crawled over to the tall, floppy brown hat, and patted it.

The hat moved again.

Rhino Goon lifted the hat, revealing a baby alligator. “Who’s dis?”

“I dunno.” Ape Goon shrugged his enormous shoulders. “Another baby?”

“Why would da boss want another baby? He don’t like da first one.”

Ape Goon scratched his head and slowly counted the babies. “One, uh, two.” Then, he slowly counted himself and his counterpart. “One, uh, two. Yeah, two. Two babies for two of us?”

“Maybe.” Picking up the baby alligator, Rhino Goon said, “Dere’s somethin’ kinda familiar about him.”

The baby alligator swatted him across the nose with a tiny hand.

Fifteen Minutes Later

A lanky crane pilot bent his long neck to look at the picture of Cassie. In a thick Nosenbeak accent he said, “Many pardons, but I no see dat little girl. She is your sister, no?”

“No. I mean, yeah,” Kit sighed as he gazed at the grinning little girl in the photograph. “Thanks anyway, sir.”

The crane tipped his pilot’s hat before entering the cockpit of his Krellman Special.

From the position of the hot summer sun overhead, Kit knew that it had to be past noon. They had been searching for over an hour, yet hadn’t seen one single sign of Cassie.

“Wait up, Britches!” Baloo puffed as he hurried over to join them. “Find her?”

“Not a trace,” Kit replied. “You?”

Baloo solemnly shook his head, his eyes glistening. “You’d think one of them guys woulda seen her, but I guess she’s so little that...” his voice broke with emotion; he hastily cleared his throat, “that she just sorta slipped through the cracks.” He gratefully accepted the handkerchief Kit gave him and blew his nose with a loud honk! "Becky was right. I never shoulda brung her."

“We still haven’t checked that airplane,” Professor O’Bowens reminded them, pointing at a red, twin-engine plane on the outskirts of the Port Largo airfield.

“Wait a minute. Isn’t that Trader Moe’s plane?” Kit murmured.

Baloo’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Yeppers.”

“Who’s Trader Moe?” Professor O’Bowens asked as they cautiously made their way towards the seemingly deserted plane.

“Only the crookiest croc this side of the other side,” Baloo said quietly.

“A thief?” the professor exclaimed. “Perhaps he has my necklace!”

Baloo nodded. “We best keep our eyes peeled for him an’ his two goons.”

“That won’t be hard,” Kit said, thinking about the goons’ hulking size.

When they had reached the plane, they heard a little distressed voice cry, “No, no, no, no, nooo!”

“Cassie!” Baloo and Kit exclaimed simultaneously.

“If he lays one finger on my baby, I’ll personally turn his worthless hide into a purse!” Baloo growled, clenching his fists. He plowed through the cargo hold door. “All right, hand over the girl an’ no one gets hurt.” Surprise registered on his face. “What the...?”

“Trader Moe’s a...babysitter?” Kit gasped.

A baby ape was cutting monkeyshines by clambering over crates as if they were one gigantic set of monkey bars. A baby rhino, his cheeks bulging with gumdrops, was slowly crawling along the floor, pushing a toy car. At the far side of the cargo hold, a baby crocodile was playing tug-of-war with Cassie over the amulet.

Pulling the amulet towards herself, the little girl shouted, “Nooo!”

“Gimmee!” baby Trader Moe ordered, pulling the amulet towards himself.

“Children, that amulet is not a toy!” Professor O’Bowens said sternly, rushing to retrieve his artifact from the tiny tots.

With one last tug, Cassie wrenched the amulet from Trader Moe’s hands. When she saw Baloo rushing towards her, she grinned and held out her arms to be picked up.

Baloo scooped her up and kissed her cheek. “We’ve been lookin’ all over for you, Bugaboo.”

“Boo!” Cassie giggled, nestling her cheek against her father’s shoulder.

“Yeah, boo.” He kissed the top of her head, then screamed, “Yeowch!” Baby Trader Moe had sunk his claws into Baloo’s leg in an attempt to crawl up to the amulet.

Baloo did a crazy dance trying to shake him off. “Talk about an ankle biter!”

Just then, Cassie put amulet to eye and babbled, “Ca’go bee bee. Ca’go bee bee.”

Baloo, Kit, and the professor shut their eyes to shield them from the bright purple light that shot out from the amulet.

Trader Moe, restored to his normal size, loosened his grip on Baloo’s leg and fell. “Nighty-night...oh...” he groaned before passing out.

Adult Ape Goon crashed to the floor with a pained, “Ow!” and a confused look on his face.

“What happened?” big Rhino Goon slurred through a mouth full of gumdrops. He stared at the car as if he’d never seen it before.

Cassie, blissfully unaware that she had caused any trouble, simply sucked on the amulet.

“Let’s get outta here before their brains catch up with their bodies,” Baloo said, turning on his heel.

“So that’s what the amulet does.” Kit said as they swiftly made tracks towards the Sea Duck. “It turns grown-ups into babies and back again.”

“It also explains the Babbleoniannan account,” Professor O’Bowens said, awed and thrilled by what he had just witnessed. “Amazing! Never in the history of the world has such a thing been recorded. Until now, that is. Just think, I get to be the one to share this finding with the archeological community, which could unlock the secrets of the Gagagoogians. What a find! And all because of a baby’s random gibberish.”

“Give Daddy the pretty necklace...” Baloo said, gently removing the chain from around his daughter’s neck, “before ya can cause any more little accidents.”

He then handed it to the professor, who anxiously examined it. “A little slimy, but still intact.” Rubbing the spit off using his shirt tail, he said, “How can I ever thank you?”

“Don’t thank us, Professor,” Kit said. “Thank Cassie.”

“Even though she is only a baby, she should be rewarded somehow.” Professor O’Bowens returned the gleaming amulet to his pouch with a smile of satisfaction.

“How ‘bout givin’ her a high-five?” Baloo suggested when they reached the Sea Duck.

“For saving a priceless artifact, that’s quite a bargain,” the professor said, holding out his palm in front of Cassie. “Five?” he said uncertainly.

“Fibe!” Cassie slapped his hand and giggled with glee when he returned the gesture.

Higher for Hire
Two Hours Later

Baloo, Kit, and Cassie entered Higher for Hire’s kitchen where Rebecca, with a smudge of flour on her nose, was putting the finishing touch - a single candle - on the birthday cake. Molly sat on a chair nearby, licking chocolate frosting from a wooden spoon.

Smiling, Rebecca said, “There you are. It’s about time!”

She held out her arms to her baby, who went into them with a happy, “Mama!”

“What took you so long? I expected you guys hours ago.”

Baloo shared a meaningful look with Kit. “I guess you could say we ran into a few little problems.”

The End

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