death glare at him.
“Sorry.”
“Just
sit still, Baloo!” she hissed, repositioning her head on his
shoulder.
Baloo
sat stiff as a poker for as long as he could: five minutes.
Finally, he could take it no
more. He had to move. He shifted his right leg a
fraction.
Thesqueak prompted an annoyed look from the elderly racoon.
He
inched his left leg a fraction to the right.
Squeak!
He
moved his left pinky up and down.
Squeakity-squeak!
He
wrinkled up his nose.
Squeak!
“Oh,
that’s it! This chair’s got somethin’ against me. Trade
places with me, Becky.”
“No!”
“But,
Beckers, this chair hates me.”
“I’ll
hate you if you don’t stop squirming.” Under her breath, she
muttered, “The chair hates me. How can a chair hate you? It’s
an inanimate object.”
Fifteen
agonizing minutes later, Mrs. Morrissey was reading the class list.
One by one, the sixth-graders ascended the stairs to the stage to receive their
diplomas and a handshake from Mr. Palmeroy.
“Janie
Bearenson.”
The
little bearess walked onto the stage amid a smattering of applause
and a few flashbulb flashes.
“Kit
is next,” Molly whispered anxiously.
“What
are we going to do, Baloo?” Rebecca murmured. “If Mr. Tannenbaum
hears Kit’s last name...”
“I
know, Becky. I know.” Cold sweat beaded on his brow as he glanced
nervously at the judge.
At
the exact same time that Mrs. Morrissey said, “Kit Cloudkicker,”
Baloo sprang to his feet, whistling and applauding wildly.
“Whoo-hoo! Way to go, Kit!”
Noticing
everyone’s eyes on him, Baloo chuckled nervously and stammered, “Uh,
t-that’s my boy. Heh...” He sank into his seat, his face a fire-engine red.
Mr.
Tannenbaum made a note on his clipboard.
After
a few moments of stunned silence, Mrs. Morrissey announced, “Mary
Anne Lamb.”
The Cunninghams’
Apartment
Later That
Evening
Baloo,
clad in his nightshirt, entered the bedroom and tossed his jacket,
shirt, and tie on the bed, prompting a frown from Rebecca. . “Man, oh, man, I’m glad that’s over.
The best part about graduation was gettin’ ice cream afterwards.”
“Which
I couldn’t eat, thanks to you.” With a look of disgust,
she pushed his clothes off of her paperwork, onto the floor. “Speaking of which...I’ve
been waiting all day just to ask you just one question.”
Baloo
crawled under the bed to retrieve his pillow and blankets. “Shoot.”
“I
only wish I could,” Rebecca murmured under her breath.
“Whattaya
wanna know, Becky?” he asked, spreading his blankets on the floor.
“Whydid you tell Mr. Tannenbaum that I’m allergic to ice cream?”
“To
keep him from tellin’ you we stopped at Louie’s.” Realizing
what he had let slip, he winced. “Oops.”
Furious,
Rebecca shouted at the top of her lungs, “You took him to Louie’s?”
“Shh!
He’ll hear you!” Baloo uneasily glanced towards the closed
door.
In
a hushed voice, she said sharply, “Why did you take him to
Louie’s?”
“I
needed ta refuel.”
“And...?”
Rebecca glared at him, arms crossed.
He
returned her glare. “An’ I had some personal business to tend
to.”
“Meaning?”
Baloo,
tired of constantly being under Rebecca’s controlling thumb,
retorted, “Meanin’ it was personal, an’ it was none of my
boss’s business.”
“Fine!”
Rebecca flung the comforter aside, causing books and papers to
scatter onto the floor. She got up, gathered her ledgers and adding
machine, and stomped to the door, leaving a paper trail behind her.
Baloo
plucked two papers from the top of his head and unceremoniously
tossed them aside. “Hey, where do you think you’re goin’?”
“It’spersonal.” She shut the door with a bang.
“Women!”
Baloo muttered, repeatedly punching his pillow.
Rebecca’s
Bedroom
Midnight
A
little sobbing figure carrying a doll quietly pushed open the door and padded across
the carpet. Molly scrambled over Baloo, using him as a stepladder to
climb onto the bed.
When
a sharp bolt of lightning crackled across the sky, she frantically
shook her mother’s shoulder. “Mommy, Karnage is back! Karnage
is back!”
Baloo
was instantly awake. He sat bolt upright. “Huh? Karnage? What?
Where?”
Kaboom!
With
a frightened yelp, Molly crawled, trembling, under the blanket.
Rebecca pushed herself up on one elbow,
removed her earmuffs, and blinked sleepily at her daughter. Taking
Molly into her arms, she said drowsily, “What's the matter?"
Crreeeeaaaaack! followed by a window-shaking kaboom!
"The pirates are back!"
"No, honey, it’s just a
thunderstorm. See, it’s raining outside.”
Another
flash of lightning streaked across the sky, followed by a loud boom!
“Karnage
isn’t gonna come here to get Kit, is he?” Molly whimpered,
clinging to her mother.
“That
blasted, no-good pirate better not,” Baloo growled menacingly,
pounding his fist on the bed.
“Baloo...”
Rebecca said warningly.
“Uh,
I mean, that Karny’ll have me ta deal with if he shows his pirate
posterior around here again.”
“You’ll
take care of me, won’t you, Baloo?” Molly sniffled, casting
a frightened glance at the
window following another lightning
flash.
Baloo grinned. “Sure thing, Button-nose.”
“Mommy,
too?”
“Yep,
Mommy, too,” he said candidly.
Rebecca
was glad the darkness concealed the blush she felt on her cheeks.
“You
promise?” Molly asked, her trembling subsiding. She barely noticed the next
flash of lightning.
He
drew a big ‘X’ across his chest with his finger. “Cross my
heart an’ hope ta fly.”
“Thank
you, Baloo,” Rebecca said gratefully. She tenderly stroked Molly’s
golden hair.
“Don’t
mention it, boss lady.” With a sigh, Baloo lay back down on the
floor. He beamed from ear to ear when he heard Molly say, “I like Baloo.”
“I
know you do, baby. Now, go to sleep."
Baloo
was lulled to sleep by the melody Rebecca hummed.
End
of part 3
It’s
Dough Contest
part
4
Higher
for Hire
Thursday
Afternoon
Day
4
Kit
poked his head into one of the top filing cabinet drawers. “This
one’s empty, too, Miz Cunningham.”
From
behind multiple towering stacks of papers on the desk came Rebecca’s
voice. “Is that the last drawer?”
“Yeah.”
He hopped off the crate and snaked his way through the maze of paper
skyscrapers to her desk.
Rebecca
sighed. Propping her head in her hands, she stared at her ledger in
despair. “I’ve gone through every single scrap of paper in this
place, and I still haven’t found out what happened to that $132.”
“It’s
got to be here somewhere,” Kit said encouragingly. “If you want
me to, I’ll help...”
“No...no,
Kit.” Rebecca smiled tiredly at her young navigator. “You’ve
helped enough. It’s the first day of summer vacation. Go have
some fun.”
“Okay,”
Kit said dubiously. He carefully picked his way through stacks of
papers to the door. “I’ll go see what Wildcat, Molly, and Mr.
Tannenbaum are up to.”
“Good
idea. And make sure Wildcat isn’t doing anything...crazy.” When
Kit left the office, her smile turned into a frown. She rose from
her desk and walked around piles of papers to where Baloo was snoring
in his easy chair. “Baloo!”
He
awoke mid-snore. “Huh? Wha...?”
Hands on hips, she snapped, “What
if Mr. Tannenbaum walked in here and saw you sleeping?”
Baloo
shrugged and closed his eyes.
“No
time for napping.” Rebecca tugged on his arm. “You’ve got to
help me find that $132.”
“Okay,”
Baloo said through a yawn. He stood up, closed his eyes, and fell
asleep on his feet.
Hearing
a snore, Rebecca spun around. “Ba-LOO!”
Baloo
cracked one eye open reluctantly. “Aw, c’mon, Becky. I haven’t
had a good snooze all week!”
“If
we don’t find that missing bill, we’ll lose this contest!”
“All
right. Okay.” Under his breath, the big bear muttered, “The
things I do for fifty gees.”
Outside
Mr.
Tannenbaum, Wildcat, Kit, and Molly were gathered around one of theSea Duck’s Superflight 100 engines that was
suspended from a log chain hung
on a winch. Several pieces of the
engine as well as various tools were scattered around on the dock.
Wildcat
peered into the inner workings of the engine - or what was left of
it. Wiping his greasy hands on his greasy overalls, he said, “PoorDucky. She’s reeeeeeaaaaallly sick.”
“Can
you make her better?” Molly asked, clasping her hands.
“Sure
thing, Mollycat,” the mechanic said with a grin. He patted the
little girl on top of her head. “But we’ll need one very
important thing. You know what it is.”
“Right,”
said Molly.
“Right,”said
Kit with a thumbs-up.
“What
are you talking about?” asked Mr. Tannenbaum, looking slightly
confused. In fact, he had been confused all day.
Nothing that the mechanic said had
made sense.
“Shh!
This is a very delicate operation. We must have complete radio
silence.” Wildcat turned to the cubs and asked solemnly, “Ready?”
The
cubs nodded, just as solemnly.
“On
my mark,” Wildcat said. “Ready, set, chew!”
Kit
and Molly swiftly
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