startling the big bear. “What’s with the long face?”

“Whatcha mean?” Baloo quickly assumed an overly bright smile. “I’m flyin’ high.”

“You got that right,” Louie said with a knowing look. “Your head has been in the clouds all night. C’mon, cuz, ditch the deception an’ dish the dirt. You can’t fool your oldest and bestest pal.”

Baloo shrugged. The smile slid from his face. “Just antsy in the pantsy, I guess. Holidays always get me a little down in the dumpster.”

Louie had been friends with Baloo for such a long time that he knew what the big bear had left unspoken. Holidays were a time for being with family and, being a middle-aged bachelor with no family himself, he suspected what Baloo was feeling. He conveyed his sympathy through a friendly slap on the shoulder. “Ol’ Doc Louie’s got the sure cure for the blues, Baloo. One Mango Fizz, heavy on the fizz.”

“Thanks, my man.”

“Now, I’m gonna go personally welcome that dishy dame to Louie’s fine establishment.” He licked his palm, removed his hat, and slicked back what remained of his thinning hair before nimbly vaulting over the bar.

Baloo downed the drink in one gulp, then passed the back of his hand across his mouth. “Not if I beat you to her.”

Khan Towers
New Year’s Eve

The downtown streets of Cape Suzette were packed with revelers, eager to usher in the new year with music, dancing, and fireworks. In the middle of the square, people of all ages and species were gathered around the stage from where Dirk Cluck was introducing the next act.

“Looks like we have time for one more song in 1936,” Dirk Cluck, the popular emcee, said into the microphone. “Ladies and gentleman, the Gandrews Sisters!”

The crowd let out a deafening roar as the newest singing sensations, the Gandrews Sisters, took their places at the microphones and the band started playing.

Ninety stories above, a dropped pin could have been heard in the quiet, serene office of Shere Khan.

Khan stood at the large window, gazing out over Cape Suzette. Clad in a black monogrammed, silk robe with a drink in his hand, he mulled over the past year and thought about the year to come. Below him, the people were only thinking of tonight. They weren’t gifted with his far-seeing vision, a necessary trait for making him the wealthiest man in the world.

And thanks to the sub-electron amplifier, which would revolutionize the way power was generated, he would become more rich and more powerful. As of next week, all the electric power he needed or would ever need would be produced by something that fit in the palm of his hand.

When the fireworks were let off over the cliffs, signifying the beginning of the new year, he raised his crystal champagne glass. “To 1937...and the future.”

Meanwhile...
Riversidle

Amid the cheering on the radio, Rebecca hugged Molly with a joyful, “Happy New Year, honey.”

Meanwhile...
Louie’s

When Baloo and Louie both tried to kiss the raven-haired vixen’s cheeks, she ducked, causing them to kiss each other.

“Yee-uck!” Baloo cried, spluttering.

“Blech!” Louie spat. He grabbed someone’s drink from a nearby table and gargled with its contents.

Meanwhile...
Pirate Island

Fireworks were still popping and whistling throughout Pirate Island, filling the caverns with smoke.

Amid the fireworks, Don Karnage lifted his glass and choked out, “To the future, and the beginning of a new error.”

Kit, who had fled to his favorite ‘thinking cave’, following his near brush with death was now more determined than ever to escape Pirate Island. He looked out over the dark, rolling waters, sprinkled with the light of a million stars and illuminated with the intermittent, multi-colored flashes of fireworks. “Only one more week to freedom,” he murmured to himself.

One Week Later
Thursday Afternoon
Khan Towers

An extremely nervous Dr. Debolt was alternately pacing and hopping in front of Shere Khan’s huge desk.

Always calm, cool, and composed, Khan drawled from behind his newspaper, “Calm yourself, Doctor.”

Dr. Debolt paced even more furiously. “Do you know how many hours have gone into this? All the research, the trials, the failures, the...”

“The stone will arrive at my power plant.” The businessman leisurely turned a page in the newspaper.

“But the pirates!” the scientist squeaked. “They’ve hijacked every plane in the last three weeks!”

“My best pilot is flying my fastest plane to get it there. Besides, other than the pilot, yourself, and myself, no one knows of the stone’s whereabouts.”

“What if it falls into the pirates’ hands?”

“Then they’ll receive a nasty shock, won’t they?” Shere Khan smiled grimly at the skittish rabbit.

Before Dr. Debolt could open his mouth to offer one more protest, Khan folded the newspaper and placed it on his desk. “If Don Karnage does steal it, he won’t know what it is. Your secret is safe, Doctor.”

“But...!”

Khan held up a hand. “Furthermore, Karnage recently seems to be only interested in hardware, not jewels.” He picked up a list and read from it. “Wire, flagpoles, railroad track, glass tubing.” He pushed the list in Dr. Debolt’s direction. “If you can tell me how Don Karnage is going to profit off these items, then I’ll listen to your concerns.”

“But...!”

“Good day.” Shere Khan once more retreated behind the newspaper, an irrefutable signal that the matter was closed.

Knowing that he couldn’t argue with the great and powerful Shere Khan, Dr. Debolt picked up the list and left.

Meanwhile...
Baloo’s Air Service

With a nail protruding from the corner of his mouth and a hammer in his hand, Wildcat knelt on a loose floorboard in the office.

“I’m headin’ to Louie’s, Wildcat,” Baloo said as he came down the stairs, skirting around all the boxes and junk piled on them. He didn’t normally spend this much time at Louie’s, but he had to go somewhere and do something. He could only sleep and eat so much, and frankly, he was a little bored, but not bored enough to work. He was neverthat bored. “Can you take a peek at the sewer lines while I’m gone? I think they’re plugged up somewheres. The bathroom has a funny smell to it.”

“Funnier than usual?” Wildcat murmured around the nail.

“Yeah. Thanks!” Baloo said, banging the door shut on his way out.

Just after he nailed the floorboard down, the mechanic heard:

Ring! Ring!

Surprised, Wildcat looked at his hammer. “You say something?”

Ring! Ring!

“Oh, it’s the telephone!” he realized with a good-natured laugh.

Ring! Ring!

Wildcat dug underneath a pile of papers, following the sound of the ringing, to find the phone. “Hello? Uh-huh. Nope, he’s not here right now. Uh-huh. Sure. I’ll give him a message. You’re going to stop by later today to discuss the...what? Fore-close-sure.” He sounded out the unfamiliar word slowly. “Yup. Sure. I’ll tell him. ‘Kay, bye.” He hung the receiver back on the cradle, crossed the room, and opened a trap door in the floor. He then dropped his hammer into one pocket of his grimy overalls, and fished a wrench out of another pocket. “Come on, Silver, we’ve got to find a poor little plugged up sewer pipe.” Whistling, he disappeared down the ladder into the basement.

Meanwhile...
Riversidle

Rebecca hung up the phone and turned to her daughter. “Well, that does it. If we buy the business, the movers will bring the rest of our things to Cape Suzette tomorrow.”

“Now can we go?” Molly said impatiently.

“Yes, Pumpkin,” Rebecca said, patting her daughter’s golden head.

“Yay!” Molly rushed outside to the car with Lucy in tow.

Rebecca gathered her purse, suitcase, and her daughter’s suitcase, then gave one last look around the room. Except for the boxes and furniture piled in the entry way, ready for the movers to pick up, the house was bare.

At any other time, she would have cried, but her excitement about the future outweighed her sorrow about letting go of part of the past. Smiling, she walked out of the house for the last time and shut the door.

She placed the suitcases into the car’s trunk alongside a couple of boxes containing bedding and other personal items. In order to be at the Cape Suzette National Bank first thing in the morning, they were going to drive there this afternoon and stay in a motel overnight. Rebecca wanted to make sure that no one snapped up the air cargo service that she had mentally dubbed Higher for Hire before her.

After getting into the driver’s seat, Rebecca grinned over at Molly, who was fairly bursting with excitement.

“Lucy is real happy we’re gonna buy a business and an airplane.”

Laughing, Rebecca playfully tweaked the little girl’s nose. Molly had talked of nothing but airplanes all week. “I’m with Lucy,” she said, starting the car.

Meanwhile...
Iron Vulture

Kit, hiding in the vent, heard Don Karnage and a few other pirates clomp towards the control room. His heart was pounding, his hands were sweating, his nerves were pushed to the breaking point. This was it. This was the day that he was going to escape from the air pirates. However, the only way out was through everything he

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