April 18 2014

Chapter 13: Danger Woman

For the next several days I spent my time mostly in the office, answering the phone and stuff like that. That lasted until Baloo finally got his license back and was more than happy to be back piloting the Sea Duck. When Becky had still been the pilot I had rather stayed behind. Even though she had gotten a bit better at flying after she started to listen to him I didn't want to take the risk that her flying skills would get us into an another argument. But now that Baloo was back behind the controls I could step into the plane safely again.
And even though she wasn't a good pilot, Rebecca and I had become better friends after the truth had been told. She even took me to a clothing shop to buy me some clothes like a pajama and some spare shirts and pants. "Don't worry, you can pay me back by working" she had told me when she paid for the stuff. Then she had taken me to another shop to buy some personal hygiene stuff. "Is that really all you need?" she had asked from me when I had showed her a toothbrush and a hairbrush. "Yeah, I'll manage with these".

During those days in the office I had decided to do something useful and try to remember the upcoming "episodes" but for some reason it was starting to get harder and harder for me to remember what was going to happen next. However I could still remember my home and family fine, so that made the fading of the memories about the show even stranger. But was it really any stranger than the stuff that I had already gone through, I asked from myself. No, not really.

...

"Lis. Lis, wake up!" a voice called me.

"Mmfive more minutesmm" I mumbled and pulled the blanket over my head. It was Saturday so we could sleep longer and I hadn't slept well because of some idiots on motorboats had been making noise in the middle of the night.

"Lis! You have to get up, it's really important!" Kit said again.

"What is it? I mumbled through the blanket.

"We have to wake Baloo up and clean the Sea Duck before Miz Cunningham comes to work."

"Why? She's not flying anymore."

"But she's gonna make a surprise inspection!" I threw the blanket off my face and frowned.

"If it's a surprise inspection how do you know about it?".

"Uh, I accidentally read it from her calendar".

I froze for a moment. When I had worked in the office Rebecca had given me a calendar to write the dates of new cargo deliveries on. I had also seen an another calendar but when I asked about it Rebecca quickly locked it in one of the drawers of her desk. "It's a private one" she had said and I decided not to ask anymore questions about it.

"Aaand how exactly do you 'accidentally' read something that's locked in a drawer?"

"I read it yesterday when she had left it on her desk unguarded"

I sighed. "Okay, you go wake Baloo while I change clothes".

By the time I reached the plane Baloo and kit had already cleaned most of the plane and were sweeping the floor.

"Morning Lis! What took you so long?" Baloo greeted me.

"A: It's almost eleven o'clock, you can't really call it a morning anymore and B: I took some toast and drank a glass of water. I can't do any cleaning with an empty stomach."

"Well you don't need to do much." Baloo said and pointed at the half cleaned plane.

"Well, well. You guys have done a really good job."

"Yeah, cleaning is a piece of cake"

"Especially when you just hide most of the stuff in that locker" I pointed at the metal locker.

"How did ya know?"

"Call it a hunch. But don't worry, if seeing this plane cleaned keeps Rebecca happy I won't say a thing."

"Ya know, I really like the way you think" Baloo's smile died a bit when we heard the sound of a car pulling over and Rebecca's voice calling his name.

"It's Miz Cunningham!" Kit exclaimed.

"Quick, Lis! Open the locker".

Baloo and Kit stuffed the rest of the trash into the locker and we forced the doors shut. Baloo had to lean on the doors to keep them from springing open. Only a moment later Rebecca stepped into the plane and with her was her daughter, a little bear girl. The girl had a yellow fur and was wearing a pink shirt with blue overalls and a blue bow around each of her ears. And for some reason she also had a tin strainer on her head and a red towel as a cape.

"There you guys are" Rebecca said once she saw us. Then she looked around the seemingly spotless plane. "I'm seeing it and I still don't believe it".

"Baloo!" Molly said happily and ran to him. Baloo picked him up.

"Whoa, Molly. What's with the get up?"

"I'm not Molly, I'm Danger Woman!" she exclaimed "-Here to inspect my secret headquarter".

"It's the only way I could get her away from that silly radio program" Rebecca told us. Then Molly turned to look at me and her eyes widened.

"Who's she, mommy?"

"Of course, I forgot you haven't met before. Molly, this is Elisabet. Elisabet, my daughter Molly."

"Hi" I said.

"Hi! My middle name is Elizabeth too!" Molly told me.

"Really? That's really nice. But you can call me Lis"

"Okay, Lis"

I smiled. She was a sweet kid. But like most kids she had a short attention span.

"Hey, what happened to all of your neat garbage?"

Rebecca congratulated Baloo for finally learning to keep the plane clean. But Baloo's relief didn't last long.

"You missed a piece" Molly pointed at a lonely piece of paper. When Baloo reached to grab it the locker doors sprung open and all the garbage spilled out, burying him and Molly.

"Got it" Baloo dug his way out of the trash holding the piece of paper.

"This is more like it!" Molly giggled.

"You okay, kiddo?" I lifted her away from the pile of garbage. She nodded.

Rebecca wasn't amused; "I thought the air trade business would be full of adventure and romance! All I get is clutter and disorder. Where's the glamour, where's the excitement?"

"Don't worry mommy" Molly ran to her, "There's always glamour and excitement when Danger Woman's on the job"

"Honey, I wouldn't trade you or Danger Woman for anything".

"Thank goodness for that kid" I thought in my mind.

"But what I wouldn't give to meet someone with charm, with culture, a real man of the world"

"Careful what you wish for" I muttered quietly, and when you knew it, we heard a male voice that made us turn around.

"I beg your pardon, but I'm looking for a Miss Rebecca Cunningham" a grey furred jaguar said as he jumped on to the dock from a motorboat. His sharp clothing and small mustache must have been charming by Rebecca's standards since she seemed to be enchanted by him.

"I-I'm Rebecca Cunningham"

"Ah, Rebecca- a name for royalty, and it suits you so well my dear. My name is Covington" he introduced himself and kissed her hand.

"Oh my" she said.

"Oh brother!" Baloo said.

"Oh crap!" I thought. This sleezeball of a guy would surely be trouble.

"You must be Baloo, master of the world famous Sea Duck" Covington continued, shaking Baloo's hand and ignoring me and Kit completely. "Ah, the tales I've been told".

"You have? Well now, I have been through a scrape or two or three..." Baloo was sold and Covington moved on to try and sweet talk Molly to like him. Her response was clear.

"You stay away from my mommy!" and she kicked his shin.

"Molly! Be nice to Mister Covington, he was just trying to say hello." Rebecca scolded her.

"Come on, Molly" I whispered to her. "Let's leave them talk" The two of us walked deeper to the plane, where I saw a bag. Once I saw it I remembered the episode.

"Hey, Molly. Look at this." I took a wooden doll from the bag which I remembered was the key thing in the episode.

"Wow, a doll! Can I have her?"

"Sure" she took the doll and hugged it. Even though giving it to her would result in some dangerous situations I decided not to mess with the plot of the episode. Much.

"May I see that, my dear?" Covington hurried to us.

"NO!" and Covington got another kick.

"Molly!" Rebecca said angrily.

"It's my doll, Lis gave it to me!"

"It was in the plane." I hurried to say. "I thought Baloo wouldn't mind if I'd let her keep it, do you Baloo?"

"Of course not, she can keep it" Baloo smiled. No-one else noticed, but Covington looked at me clearly swearing in his mind. I shot a look at him that said "What're you gonna do about it?".

Rebecca apologized to Mister Covington, who told her to call him just Covington. "We cannot remain so formal if you and I and your- delightful child and her little wooden playmate are to became good friends, can we?"

"Alright Covinton" she said.

"I know this is quite sudden, but would you and your sweet daughter join me today at the City Park?" Covington asked.

"Boy, he doesn't waste time".

Rebecca agreed and all of them left the plane, leaving only me and Molly stay behind.

"I don't like that man" she told me.

"Neither do I, but your mother does. Go with them, but don't let him have the doll, okay?"

"I won't!" she said and the two of us hurried after the rest of them.

Author's note

Phew, got this done before Easter ended. So now I'm writing about the tenth episode of the show, Molly Coddled. No-one likes that Covington guy except Rebecca...

Reviews are welcomed =)