TALE SPIN: F’REEZE
A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW
Fan-fiction adaptation by jb
Based
on the Tale Spin #6 comic book; story by Bobbi J.G. Weiss
Disclaimer:
The following story is based on the television series, characters and
situations, created by Jymn Magon & Mark Zaslove, Tale
Spin © 1990-1991 Buena Vista
Television/Walt Disney Company and W.D. Publications. This is an adapted work of
fan-fiction, using characters and property of the Walt Disney Company without
consent and for non-profit use. Some artistic liberties were taken to add more
dramatic and humourous effect on the storyline.
PART THREE
On
Upon arrival, the pirates stripped the band members of the contents in
their wallets and for once, the businesswoman was glad she’d left her purse
behind onboard the cruise ship. If they had looked at her identity and
recognised her, it would have spelt deeper trouble for her.
“C’mon, c’mon!” ordered the guard on duty, roughly shoving the
hostages. “Get in there!”
“Wait’ll the Cap’n gets a load of you,
girlie!” smiled Mad Dog while manhandling Rebecca. “I’ll probably get a
bonus for this!”
Girlie?!! Rebecca fumed.
As he jostled her into the cell, she managed to strike him across the
face, almost tripping inside.
“Get your paws off me, you filthy pirate!”
Mad Dog shook his head, seeing a daze of stars before his eyes and
rubbing his sore jaw where she had hit him. He glared at her which she evenly
returned with fury.
“Heh-heh-heh!” the brigand grinned. “Ain’t you feisty…
an’ the Cap’n loves that type!”
“Yeah,” laughed his comrade as he locked the cell door and walked
away with him. “We get ourselves a dancing girl to go along with the band for
his birthday party – talk ‘bout two for the price of one!”
Dancing girl??? These imbeciles think that I’m a…
The businesswoman walked away quietly to an empty corner of the cell and
leaned against the cold cavern wall.
“Ma’am…?” said the bandleader.
“Please…I want to be alone for a while…”
The band members understood and respected her privacy.
She
wanted to cry, but she wasn’t about to. All she could think about was what was
she going to do about getting out of here before Karnage and his pirates
discover who she was and most of all, one particular person on her mind right
now...
Molly…
That evening, the Air Pirates whooped it up in sheer, unabashed delight
at the birthday party held in the mess hall. They guzzled what seemed like gallons
of root beer, gobbled up a sumptuous feast that their cook had prepared for
them, laughing stupidly and singing terribly out of key.
Rebecca, naturally, was horrified by the debauchery that went on before
her eyes. She’d seen her fair share of wild parties before, but this
one made anything she saw at Louie’s Place on a Saturday night look
like a peaceful Sunday ginger ale champagne brunch in comparison.
Reluctantly she put on a show for the pirates with all her dance moves as
best she could as the band played “Osain.” She hadn’t had that much
practice since taking those Latin dance classes back in university for fun and
recreation. Now she was dancing for her life – literally.
But what sickened her more, was that Karnage was looking at her with lust
in his eyes…
“I hate this!” she hissed to the bandleader in a low tone.
“What if Karnage discovers I’m a phoney?”
“He won’t, as long as you keep dancing. Now don’t worry, ma’am
– we’ll get out of this mess somehow!”
“Don’t worry? Easy for you to say! That pirate rat isn’t leering at
you!”
Thank goodness, he thought unwittingly.
“Mad Dog, my normally dimwitted flunky, I am proud of you,” Karnage
praised him as he sat on his throne of
honour. “Not only did you go out and find a band, but a good one! With a most intriguing
dancer…”
“Gee – thanks, Cap’n!”
The wolf pirate ogled at the attractive she-bear again. The whip of her
shawl whirled in synchronicity with her flamenco skirt revealing her slender,
silken-hosed calves; the lapels of her blouse collar delicately flapped,
teasingly exposing her bare neckline slightly; her torso movements giving her
hips and rear end quite a pleasing shape to him while managing to keep her face
hidden under the rim of her bolero hat.
And yet she seemed vaguely familiar, which fascinated him even more.
“In fact,” he ordered, “go fetch
her for me!” How I love mondo
mysterioso lady-type women!...
“Aye-aye, Cap’n.”
“When’re you gonna open your presents, Captain? ‘Specially that big
one!” asked Hacksaw anxiously, looking at the large purple and blue
ribbon-wrapped present next to him. “I’m surprised Louie gave it to you,
considerin’ you stiffed him for the cake an’ sundaes!”
“How many times must I tell you, Hacksaw,” said Karnage, rattling a
smaller present to his ear. “Your captain is adored by all – even his
enemies!”
At that moment, the cook was in the kitchen standing atop a barrel
placing the last candles on the huge and lavishly-decorated birthday cake for
Karnage on top. “Every year it’s the same thing – twenty-nine
candles,” muttered the hippopotamus disdainfully. “Talk about getting stuck
in a rut!”
But unbeknownst to the hippo or anybody else for that matter, was that
inside the cake laid two hideaways, waiting in anticipation within the hollowed
centre made especially for them…
“I c-can’t believe Louie t-t-talked me into this!” Baloo’s
teeth were chattering as he hugged himself in an
attempt to keep warm. “I’m f-f-freezin’ in here!”
Molly, despite feeling a bit on the chilly side, tried to sound brave by
waving her spatula and boldly stating: “Danger Woman doesn’t get
cold!”
The temperature inside the cake was roughly around minus-five Celsius
which was modestly nippy, but within close confinement for at least a couple of
hours for anyone with light clothing on, it could be made to feel like the
Artic.
Baloo knew he shouldn’t have brought the little girl along, but to
leave her at Louie’s would result in
a truckload of grief from Rebecca for taking her to a place she didn’t like
him going to, even when he was on
off-company time.
And besides, since “Danger Woman” insisted on going with him, how
could he say no?
“So when do we jump out and attack the pirates?” she asked directly.
“We’re n-not gonna at-t-tack anybody!” the pilot reminded
her. “You know the plan – wait t-till it’s quiet, sneak out, light those
candles – an’ then r-run!”
“And we’ll rescue the Frosty Pep plane, too?”
“W-we have to – it’s our t-t-ticket outta here!”
Outside, the hippo lit the last of the candles and began to cart it out
of the kitchen. He gave the signal to one of the pirates to start the cake
ceremony, to which he rushed back to tell the others.
“It’s t-too doggone c-c-cold in here!” Baloo whimpered softly.
“I-I think I’m gonna sneeze! Ahhh—”
“Baloo, you can’t
sneeze!” Molly warned. “Somebody’s out there!”
Meanwhile in the mess hall, Rebecca was forcibly taken to meet with
Karnage, the moment she had been most dreading. The jazz quartet could do
nothing, fearing what the pirates might do to them if they stopped in taking her
away.
“Greetings and salivations, O captivating coryphée!” he greeted her
in a smarmy tone. “It is the most
pleasurable and honorific of you to be gracefully dancing for one such as I,
the most feared pirate of the skies, Don Karnage!”
The displeasure is all mine,
unfortunately…
“So,” he said taking her hand and kissed it sloppily; to which she
inwardly recoiled in disgust, “what is your name, my prancing pigeon?”
Ewww, gross! “None
of your business!”
“Gee, that’s a weird name!” laughed Mad Dog.
“Playing ‘hard to get along’ with me, will you?” the lupine
stated angrily, then brightening up with enthusiasm and a drool, “Oh, goody! I like it like
that!”
“So I’ve been told,” Rebecca muttered. Goodness,
his horns are showing…
“Where do you think you are
going, lovely one?” said the pirate leader as she started to pull away from
him, but had tightened his hold around her wrist while Dumptruck tied a
blindfold around his eyes. “You must stay with me for the grand finality!”
I don’t want to know what your idea of a ‘grand finality’
is, buster!!!
Dragging the reluctant she-bear with him, Karnage was lead by the Dane to
the centre of the hall as the pirates began to sing in honour of their commander
when the cake came rolling in.
“For he’s a jolly good pirate, for he’s a jolly good pirate, for
he’s a jolly good piiiiiraaaaate….”
Inside the hollow cake, Baloo could no longer contain the sneeze that was
building up within and was about to reach its apex, despite the little girl’s fruitless
attempts to silence it.
“Ahhh – AHHH…”
Oh no! Molly thought. We’re doomed!
“ ...That nobody dares defy!!!”
Flicking the blindfold off from Karnage’s eyes, he had the blissful
look of contentment upon vision of the cake and sighed happily.
“SURPRISE!!!”
“AACHOOO!!!”
The force of the pilot’s sneeze blew the top of the cake clean off,
flew into the air and landed with a heavy plop onto the floor, extinguishing the
candles that were still on top at that moment. Revealed from the cake were the
hefty pilot and the oddly-dressed youngster inside, to which the party guests
were in complete and stunned shock.
“Oops,” said a penitent Baloo to the world in general.
“BALOO???”
shouted Karnage, so surprised that he let go of the she-bear’s wrist.
“Baloo?!!”
Rebecca
echoed equally, to which her hat popped off the top of her head.
“Mommy!!!”
The young cub waved happily to her mother, heedless of the gravity of the
situation at hand.
“Becky?!!”
“Becky?!!”
Karnage repeated, turning to her and recognizing the businesswoman.
“Molly??!” she cried out, clasping her hands in feral terror of witnessing her child
in clear and present danger.
Waitaminute,
Baloo
frowned with a certain amount of bile rising in his throat and a gnawing feeling
all at once, didn’ I just see Becky an’ Karny holdin’ hands
together back a second ago??...
But
there was no time for him to speculate on the matter. All of this was just too
much for Karnage to take with these unexpected turn of events at his birthday
party, come to ruin his fun.
“GET
THEM!!!” he roared.
Baloo
and Molly had already clambered out of the hollow space in no time and the pilot
grabbed the handlebar of the trolley, where he said: “Here, fellas – have
some cake!”
With
one mighty flip, he had dumped the cake over onto the charging pirates that were
unfortunate enough to get covered in the chocolate icing, ice cream, ribbons and
the sprinkly little doohickies on top, while some managed to escape the icy
onslaught before them.
“C’mon,
Beckers,” shouted Baloo hastily, grabbing Molly under his arm and Rebecca by
the hand – that practically took her off her feet – all in a single motion,
running like greased lightning to the nearest exit. “Party’s over!”
“What in the – yow!!!”
Seizing
the opportunity to escape, the Latin jazz quartet had quickly gathered up their
instruments and followed the three fugitives through the same door.
“Hey!”
called out the trumpeter bandleader. “Wait for us!!”
“Do not be standing about
like stupid bumps on rocks in your pointed little heads!” Karnage vociferated
to his henchmen and stomping his feet like an angry little child. “Get them
before I taxidermize your pathetic,
worthless hides for a new set of doilies for Mama!!”
Running down the endless tunnels in its various byzantine twists and
turns, Baloo, Rebecca, Molly and the four musicians raced frantically for their
lives, trying to escape from the Air Pirates.
However, the businesswoman was too vexed to feel any fear
from the pirates as of this moment…
“Baloo! What are you doing
here with my daughter?!”
“What were you doin’ holdin’
Karny’s hand?!”
Holding his hand?! Of all the asinine –!
“I was kidnapped, you moron!
And I wasn’t holding his hand –
he was holding mine!”
“Then who are these guys?” the pilot asked, gesturing to the
musicians behind them.
“We’re the band from the cruise!” answered the bandleader. “We
were kidnapped too!”
“Really?” said Molly, “Baloo and me came here on purpose!”
The grey bear cringed on those words. Aww,
Cupcake! Didja have to put it like that?!
“On purpose?!” Rebecca
reacted, her anger growing by the minute over the pilot’s irresponsibility.
“Baloo, what –”
But he had halted abruptly, causing everyone to do the same as he did and
saw the reason why. They had just ran into a huge cavern filled with Purrsian
tapestries, platinum bars, pricey bric-a-bracs, chests brim-filled with jewels
and jewellery of every kind and size, gold and silver coinage bulging in bags
everywhere from wall to wall.
“Oh, my goodness…” gasped
Rebecca in
amazement.
“Man oh man,” Baloo exclaimed. “I think we hit the heart of Pirate
Central!”
“Mommy, look at all the
money! The pirates are rich!”
“This isn’t their money, sweetie! They took it from people like you
and me!”
This gave the ace pilot another modus
operandi to work with.
“Yeah – an’ we’re gonna take some back!”
Rebecca was
shocked by this statement. When did greed get the best of him, especially at a
time like this?
“Baloo,
you can’t be serious! That’s stealing!”
“An’ since when is it wrong
to steal from thieves?” he said, busily shoving handfuls of coins into an
empty bag. “Look, Karny owes a coupla debts – I’m just gonna make sure he
pays up!”
The she-bear wasn’t going to argue with that type of logic that her
employee had just explained, even as it gave her a headache and reluctantly, it
did kind of make sense as he was now playing the aerial Robin Hood of sorts.
“Here!”
he said, tossing a large bag to the quartet bandleader. “This oughta cover
your time an’ trouble!”
“Wow – will it ever!” he
said gratefully as he caught it. “Thanks!”
“This way!” came a distant voice from up ahead.
“Baloo, they’re coming!” Rebecca alerted.
“Jus’ a second!” said the pilot, quickly filling up two big bags
full of coins as fast as he could. “Karny owes Louie an’ those Frosty Pep
pilots too!”
“But there’s no time!”
Molly was just by the chests filled with pearls, overheard her
mother and suddenly came up with an idea.
“Bet Danger Woman can make some!” she said. “I got a plan!...”
A group of armed Air Pirates lead by Mad Dog had followed the tunnel the
prisoners had just ran through and heard voices coming from the cavern. He
readied his pistol, locked and loaded.
“They’re in the treasury – trying to steal our stolen stuff!
Hurry!”
The brigands barged in and saw the large pilot standing alone with the
coin bags he held in his hands.
“Hey!” ordered Mad Dog.
“Put those back!!!”
“Y’want ‘em?” taunted Baloo. “Come
an’ get ‘em!”
At that moment, Molly raised her spatula and shouted: “Fire!”
Rebecca and the musicians at once spilled the pearls onto the floor in
the direction of the incoming pirates, causing them to slip all over the place
and into each other.
Quickly running to Baloo at once, the five adults grabbed a nearby
Purrsian tapestry rug with three on each side and charged at the skittering
corsairs. Carefully avoiding the scattered pearls to the best of their
abilities, they promptly dropped the rug onto them.
“Hey! Who turned out the lights?” a muffled Mad Dog shouted
underneath.
“As my dear ol’ Mom use t’say,” chuckled the pilot as they ran
out of the treasury toute
suite, “‘When you’re in a rush, just sweep the dirt under the
carpet!’”
“Do you have any idea were
we’re going, Baloo?” said Rebecca huffily, trying to keep up in her heels on
the uneven rocky ground and hat bounding on the back of her head.
Of all the days to wear my
best shoes! And I’ll just die if I get so much as a run in these
stockings!…
“Sure I do – the docking bay! It should be right around this corner
–”
But then, the grey bear collided with a cutlass-brandishing Don Karnage
and his search party. Fortunately, his girth was enough to bounce the head
pirate off into his men and crash onto the floor.
The fugitives quickly scampered back the other way.
“Okay, maybe I need a map! Run for it!”
“You will need more than a
map when I am through with you, you
uninvited party-crasher!” Karnage angrily snarled as he picked himself up from
the ground, retrieved his sword and continued his pursuit.
And there was more trouble in store. Mad Dog and his party had just
returned from their entanglement back at the treasury and had blocked the tunnel
leading to whence they had come from, just a few paces away.
“Baloo,
look up ahead!” announced the bandleader. “We’re trapped!”
“Do
not let them get away, men!” ordered the wolf leader. “Shoot to stop!!!”
All seemed hopeless as the pirates readied their guns, until the she-bear
cub made an accidental discovery in one of the side tunnels – a trolley cart
large enough to carry all of them.
“‘No
need to fear when Danger Woman is near!’” she said triumphantly. “Look,
everyone – a Dangermobile!”
“Good girl, Molly!” said Rebecca. “Everyone, jump aboard!”
They all piled onto the trolley and with a shove, they rapidly started to
roll away down the corridor – right into the direction of Don Karnage’s
company.
“Gangway!!!” Baloo hollered
with glee.
“Nooo!” screamed the
horrified lupine commander.
They crashed into the search party, sprawling them all
about like knocked-down pins at a bowling alley, leaving them amongst a cloud of
dust. Lying in a symphony of moans, groans and a montage of stars and planets
dancing before their eyes, Karnage dazedly rose from the pile and weakly called
out before collapsing back onto the ground: “After…them,…men…”
Going faster and faster down the tunnels at a dangerous speed, the
trolley cart’s acceleration started to make the passengers nervous except for
Molly who was having the time of her life.
“Wheeeeeeee!” This is more
fun than riding on a rollercoaster!
“Slow down, Baloo!” ordered
Rebecca, clinging to the trolley handlebar for dear life.
“With what? I can’t even steer!”
The ride was about to come to an abrupt end when one of the pirates, a
big hulk of a bruin; was standing guard to an entrance, unaware of what was
coming in his direction.
“Ev’rybody,”
shouted the pilot. “Assume the crash landin’ position!”
Bracing themselves for impact, the riding party then whammed into the
surprised guard with a thunderous “oof,”
flinging them all off the cart and onto the ground.
“Molly!!”
coughed Rebecca in a receding dust cloud, turning to her tawny-coloured
offspring who landed and tumbled right beside her. “Molly honey, are you
alright?!”
The she-bear cub lifted the tilted rim of the colander on her forehead
back upright, gave her concerned mother a thumbs-up and a big smile.
“Affirmative!! Can we do that
again, Mom?”
“Well,” said the bandleader philosophically; seeing that the guard
was knocked cold out of his gourd from the collision, “at least we landed on
something soft!”
“An’ we’re back at the party!” said Baloo happily, as he helped
his employer off the floor, realising they were in the Air Pirates’ mess hall
again. “This is great!”
“Great?” the businesswoman
said brusquely while she dusted herself off. “We’re back where we started
from!”
“But now I can give Karnage his present!”
She looked at him disbelievingly. “You’re giving
that slimy pirate a birthday present?!”
“Nope,” said the pilot as he produced a box of matches from his shirt
pocket and struck one with a wicked glint in his eye that corresponded with his
grin. “But Louie is!”
“They just up an’ disappeared, Cap’n!” reported Hacksaw, as the
Air Pirates searched the tunnels for the prisoners.
After the trolley cart crash, they had recovered within minutes and
Karnage was more than ever determined to re-capture the fugitives and personally
skin the huge pilot alive.
“Nobody ups and disappears
from Don Karnage! We will split up again and – ”
“Oh, Karneee!” sang out
Baloo mockingly, his voice echoing off the cavernous walls. “We’re down heeeeeere!”
“Oooh, I really hate
it when he calls me that!! Men, back to the mess hall!”
The quartet bandleader stood by
the entrance, waiting for the pirates to arrive while the others completed with
the final task at hand. When he heard angry voices and footsteps approaching, he
called out: “Here they come!”
“Now we make our getaway!” Baloo said, grabbing his employer’s hand
again and heading out another doorway, with the musicians soon following.
“Let’s skedaddle on the double, guys!!”
“But this is the wrong door!” Rebecca protested, clinging Molly to
her.
“No, this is the right door, Mommy! He took the wrong door last
time!”
Two minutes later, the pirates stormed the mess hall, primed
for action and found….an completely empty room to their amazement and dismay.
“So where’d they go?” queried Mad Dog impetuously.
The wolf captain made a bizarre cognition, noticing that all twenty of
the birthday sundaes’ candles were lit up – and making a slight hissing
sound.
“And who,” he said aloud, “lit all the little birthday fuses?”
Then a sudden realization struck him…
“Fuses?!”
As if on cue, all the small firecrackers exploded in the sundaes,
showering and splattering the room in a mélange of ice cream and sprinkles that
lasted for about roughly half a minute. When the last sundae had gone off,
Karnage had cowered into a corner with Gibber, shivering from the icy coldness
of the ice cream and out of fear.
“Is it over…?” whimpered the pirate leader.
Standing up and surveying the scene, all his men and himself were covered
in ice cream and burnt-up firecrackers. In spite of everything, he thought this
puzzling manoeuvre was an average one for the large pilot. He expected a lot
more from his arch-nemesis than this.
“That was it? A few little
boom-booms in the ice cream? That Baloo, he is one very estrange fellow!”
“Look out!” stated a
frightened Mad Dog, pointing at Louie’s large present by the birthday throne,
seeing it had one firecracker lit on top of it. “That one hasn’t gone off
yet!”
“So?” said their commander nonchalantly, approaching the present.
“I will just put out the little flame. No flame, no boom-boom, yes-no?”
He boldly pulled out the red firecracker from the top, only to find it
was just a hollow canister with a longer fuse that went directly into the
present. A rumbling noise emerged from the shaking box, growing louder and
louder that made the faces on the brigands go white.
“Uh-oh,” said Karnage in a
very tiny voice. This really isn’t my
day…
Ahead
of them by five minutes, the escapees finally had made their way to the docking
bay, miraculously without further confrontation from any more Air Pirates; to
which Baloo spotted the FP 427 Frosty Pep cargo plane coming within his view.
“Everybody
in – pronto!” he ordered, huffing
half in exhaustion and half in desperation. “We’re takin’ off!”
“Start
the plane!” Rebecca shouted. “I’ll take care of the ropes!”
Dashing
along the boardwalk, they went aboard while she undid the mooring lines.
Fortunately, the plane was unguarded and it still had a more than adequate
supply of Frosty Pep ice cream, which
made Molly extremely happy.
So
this is what heaven is like…she
thought dreamily. Beautiful…
“C’mon,
‘Danger Woman’!” Baloo called out as he put the engines into operation.
“Ride up on front with ol’ Papa Bear!”
“Okay,
Daddy – err, I mean, trusty
sidekick!”
As
Molly ran into the cockpit and clambered into the co-pilot’s seat, the large
pilot seemed a little startled by what the she-bear cub had just called him back
in the cargo space.
Daddy??...
And
yet, he found it was quite touching, too. Aww…
Tossing
the last line away, the businesswoman jumped into the seaplane, seeing the
musicians managing to settle themselves and their instruments in the cargo hold,
she quickly slammed the door.
“Are
we all battened down back there, Beckers?!”
“Yeah!”
she hollered, hastily securing the hatch and racing towards the cockpit with her
heels clacking on the metal deck. “Let’s get the fudge out of Dodge, Fly
Boy!”
Joining
her pilot who just pulled away from the boardwalk, she found Molly waiting for
her in the co-pilot’s seat. Lifting and placing her in her lap, Rebecca hugged
and kissed her daughter warmly.
“Baloo,
I don’t know how you did it, but you saved us!”
“And
the Frosty Pep!” Molly added.
“Well,
hang on!” the grey bear said as the cargo plane sped across the small bay.
“We’re not outta this yet!”
The FP 427 lifted off the surface, nearly missing a couple of the
lagoon’s rocky spires and zoomed into the bleeding crimson atmosphere, which a
deep velvety blue hue crowned the sky and speckled with the early evening stars.
As the plane climbed higher and higher, Rebecca looked puzzled and worried by
the perspiration concentrated on the pilot’s brow.
“Why, what’s wrong? What’s in
that big box that Louie gave Karnage anyway?”
“Hee-hee – you’ll see, Mommy!”
I’ll see?...
A sudden whistling sound punctuated the air, followed by a flash off the
plane’s port bow that the she-bear caught from the corner of her eye.
Startling her at first, she turned her head to see a thundering, colourful array
of pyrotechnics from above
“Oh…yes, I do see!” she
smiled broadly. “I see very well!”
“Heh-heh!” Baloo laughed at the sight, as they flew further away.
“We gave ol’ Karny what he wanted most of all – a real bang-up
of a birthday party!”
Epilogue
The mood was of jubilation with the safe and successful return of Baloo
and the others when the Frosty Pep cargo plane arrived at the Pair-O’-Dice
Island Casino an hour later, much to Louie’s relief.
Performing in the gazebo-like band stage in the main harbour quay
situated next to the large docked riverboat casino covered in decorative lights,
the Lady Luck, was the Festivia
Latin Jazz Quartet playing a special guest gig at the party along with the house
band; who had recently added a steel-pan player to their ensemble, doing “The
Peanut Vendor” with a lively calypso feel to it.
“Uh-huh…uh-huh,” said Baloo over the bar phone.
“H’okay…thanks a lot, Mac. ‘Bye.”
Hanging up, he turned to Louie who was wiping the inside of a glass with
a dishcloth behind the tropical flower and candlelit-festooned bar while Molly
devoured a Krakatoa Sundae Special with much enthusiasm.
“Great news, guys! The Coast Guard picked up the Frosty Pep cargo
pilots ‘bout a few hours ago an’ are gonna be just fine.”
“Super-duper, man! Not to mention gettin’ a reward for recoverin’
the plane an’ its cargo for the ice cream company,” said Louie, removing his
straw hat and bowing toward his best friend. “Hats off to you, Fuzzy!”
Guess that horoscope was right
after all, he proudly thought.
“Well, I couldn’t have done it without li’l Miz ‘Danger Woman’
here, earnin’ her well-deserved Krakatoa Special,” he said, giving Molly an
affectionate peck on the cheek. “Baby, yer da greatest.”
The she-bear cub wiped off the ice cream on her mouth with the back of
her hand and grinned smugly: “I know.”
“Say, where’s Beckers? Haven’t
seen her since we finished dinner.”
“Over there,” said the orang-utan, pointing toward the end of the bar
to a solitude Rebecca, sitting on a barstool and staring into one of his
concoctions in her hand, looking a little bit pensive while dangling one of her
heels off the edge of her foot.
“Whuzzup with her?”
“Dunno,” replied Molly, before continuing with her sundae. “Mom
said she wanted to be alone for a bit.”
“Frankly, cuz, I think she could use some company.”
“Gotcha…gimme what she’s havin’, Louie.”
“One Shirley Dimple, comin’ right up.”
The
businesswoman swivelled the drink around in her glass and sighed despondently,
not even noticing her pilot coming up to her. Clearing his throat, he asked
politely: “This seat taken, lady?”
“It’s a free bar…” she muttered, not looking up. “Go ahead.”
“C’mon, Becky…what’s eatin’ ya?” he asked as he sat down.
“Louie says yer killin’ happy hour – an’ that lasts twenty-four hours
‘round here.”
“Just wishing…that I had better luck with men, that’s all.”
“Whaddya
talkin’ ‘bout? Ya had yer date with ol’ Karny back on
“Taddy,” she corrected, cracking a little smile. “And please
don’t remind me about Don Gar-bage,
smarty. I called the day cruise charter line to see about getting my purse I
left behind when I got kidnapped…and to find out about him.”
The pilot raised a suspicious eyebrow, feeling that gnawing feeling
again.
“And…?”
“The good news is that they found the purse and are holding it until we
get back home, plus giving me a complementary double pass for the next day
cruise for getting their band back alive and for my troubles. The bad news is, I
only knew Taddy by his first name…didn’t get a chance to know his last. And
since there were five other men listed
onboard with the first name ‘John,’ it’s impossible to find out who he
was.”
For some strange reason, Baloo felt very pleased about that.
“Oh…oh well, at least ya got a free cruise outta it, Beckers.”
“Yeah…count
my blessings, I guess,” Rebecca sighed. I got to admit…‘Taddy’ is
a rather dippy nickname…
“Well,
this oughta put that frown
upside-down, Brown Eyes…the Frosty Pep Ice Cream Company’s awfully glad we
returned back the plane an’ cargo all in one piece. They’re givin’ us ten
grand outta gratitude.”
The news lit up her face. “Really?”
“Yep – an’ I’m gonna split the dough with Molly.”
“With…Molly? Why?”
“Hey,” he said in between sips. “It was her idea in the
first place to go after them Air Pirates, so it’s only fair…an’ I do
hope yer gonna put her share of the cash away fer her schoolin’ or somethin’.”
“Oh, of course,” Rebecca agreed. Baloo was right on that matter and
it was rather generous – and sweet – of him to give a rightful share to her
daughter. “It’ll go directly to her college fund, I promise.”
“Right on. Plus an autographed picture of Danger Woman, a coupla of
Danger Woman comics an’ a month’s supply of Frosty Pep for her, too.”
“A month’s supply,” she repeated with a smirk as she finished her
Shirley Dimple. “The way she pounds through it, it’ll be gone in a
week…or in your case, Fly Boy, three
days tops.”
Baloo hid a smile in his beverage. Must
be feelin’ better already…
As
the bands ended their number and the dancers applauded, Baloo had drained his
glass and decided the opportunity was right to bring a little more cheer to her.
“Say…why don’t we dance those mean ol’ blues away?”
“Oh, Baloo,” the she-bear fretted, “I look like a mess!
My clothes are dusty; I don’t have my compact to fix my face; my hair’s
frazzled and I’m pretty sure I got a run somewhere –”
“I don’ care, I’ma mess, too. ‘Sides, any couple who’s gutsy
enough to dance together in their skivvies in public is certainly brave enough
to dance like they’ve just came outta a trolley wreck.”
Rebecca had to laugh at that. “Even without
my castanets?” she said, looking at him coquettishly.
“At least there won’t be any pirates interruptin’ this time,” the
pilot guffawed.
She just smiled. “After what I’ve been through today, I’d love
to.”
“Now yer talkin’.”
When the two bears walked onto the dance floor, the bands broke into a
slow song that sounded very familiar to Rebecca as she stepped into the grey
bear’s arms.
“Baloo! That song…it’s ‘Moonlight Melody!’”
“Yeah…what ‘bout it?”
“That’s…the
same song I requested to those guys to play before we got abducted by the Air
Pirates,” she explained, turning her head to the performers in surprise.
“Really now? Must be some kinda coincidence,” Baloo said
nonchalantly, as he secretly gave a wink at the Latin jazz quartet’s
bandleader, in which he likewise returned.
Molly and Louie looked upon the scene, smiling with approval.
“There ain’t enough ‘O’s in smooth
to describe Baloo, Honey Bunch.”
“Uh-huh…and so once again, the day is saved
– thanks to Danger Woman and her trusty sidekick!” she said, slapping each
other a low-ten.
As they danced, Rebecca was deep into her own thoughts, running some
things through her memory of late…
“C’mon, Becky…if ya want to meet some nice guys, go to Louie’s! Meet a real
man – not some rich snob with some fancy-schmancy suit who calls himself
Skippy or Biffy…”
“What were you
doin’ holdin’
Karny’s hand?!...”
Coincidence?…I’m beginning to wonder now…
A slow smile spread on her face and she looked at her dance partner
impishly.
And
to think that I had thought…
“Baloo…?”
“Yeah?”
She was deeply curious to ask him what made him think that she would ever
consider holding hands with Karnage
back on
“Um…do
you have any plans for the Saturday after next? You…wouldn’t mind taking a
day cruise with me, would you?”
“Boss
Lady…are you askin’ me out on a
date?”
A
date? Her
face turned red.
“Uh,
no! I-I mean…I thought…well, I don’t want to waste a perfectly good
complementary double pass for a day cruise on just myself, that’s all.”
“Of
course.”
“Of
course,” Rebecca repeated.
The
pilot looked at her for a moment and then said: “Well…ya know I’m more
inta airships than sea ships…the Saturday after next, huh?”
“Yep.”
“Only
if yer wearin’ that outfit ya got on, Becky,” he smiled.
“Deal,
Fly Boy,” she sweetly returned. And
maybe – no, I will wear my black fishnets, too.
Just
then, the fireworks display went off above them, to which everyone on the
floating casino and quay looked on with fascination and awe, except for Baloo
and Rebecca who were too caught up in the music and themselves to even notice.
“Wow!”
Molly exclaimed. “Fireworks – twice in one day!!”
“Uh-huh,”
grinned Louie, watching the ursine couple holding each other closer on the dance
floor. “Fireworks.”
END