Glowing Ape

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Higher for Hire

One afternoon, Baloo burst into Higher for Hire, saying, "I'm tellin' ya, Becky, that Louie is just the best friend a guy could have."

Without looking up from her ledger, Rebecca murmured, "That's nice."

Baloo perched on the edge of her desk. "Yessiree, he told me that if I ever needed something - like a place to stay for a week or something like that - he wouldn't hesitate in sayin' 'yes'." He cast a shrewd glance at his boss. Seeing that she was barely paying attention, he continued, "'Cause that's what friends do, right?"

"Of course," she mumbled, punching numerous buttons on her adding machine.

"Glad to hear it, Becky." Springing from the desk, Baloo rushed over to the door. "'Cause I told Louie he could stay here for the week while the paint wore off."

"That's..." When his words finally registered, Rebecca shouted, "WHAT?"

Baloo flung open the door to reveal Louie standing on the doorstep, bulging bags in both hands. His normally reddish-brown fur was covered with what seemed to be metallic bronze paint. "Hiya, Becky baby! Long time no see."

Rebecca shielded her eyes from the sun glinting off the ape."Not long enough..." Grabbing Baloo by the ear, she said through clenched teeth, "Would you excuse us a minute?" She pulled the wincing pilot into the kitchen and pushed him down into a chair. "Talk!"

Rubbing his ear, which was becoming perpetually sore from being frequently tweaked, he said, "Well, like I was tellin' ya, Becky. Louie found a few creepy-crawlies in his place the other day, so he called in the extentionists."

"That's exterminators."

"Yeah, them. Anyhoo, one of 'em accidentally had a sprayer loaded with paint instead of bug spray an' it accidentally went off all over Louie..."

"Which is why Louie is accidentally here," Rebecca concluded.

"Bingo. If the other pilots ever saw his new dye job, they'd never let him live it down. He needed a place to lay low."

Rebecca said ominously, "I can think of a couple of places for that low-life..."

"Trust me, you'll never even know he's here."

The words were barely out of his mouth when there was a crash in the office.

"You were saying?" Rebecca said wryly as she and Baloo rushed into the office where Louie was picking a juicer off the floor.

"The good news is that the juicer didn't get juiced, but I'm afraid the floor is splintersville."

"The floor?" Rebecca looked at the gaping hole in the floorboards, then glared accusingly at Baloo.

Baloo squirmed uncomfortably. "That's our cue to am-scray."

As Baloo and Louie escaped upstairs, Louie shouted over the banister, "Dig ya later, Becky baby."

Rebecca, who was still staring at the hole in the floor, groaned, "I'd like to dig a hole and crawl into it."

Upstairs
Baloo and Kit's Bedroom

Baloo set one of Louie's heavy bags down with a 'thud'. "I figger you can sleep on the cot we got in the storeroom. I'll go up an' get it. Just make yourself at home."

A moment later, Baloo returned with the cot. "Here ya go, pal. I...yi-yi..." The big bear dropped the cot, amazed by the change in the room. Louie's stuff was scattered all over and he had even rearranged the furniture.

Louie, sprawled out on Baloo's bed looking as comfortable as he if had always lived there, said, "Hope ya don't mind that I made a few changes and rearranges."

Baloo swallowed more than his pride. "Uh...nope. In fact, Kit was sayin' just the other day that we should do something different with this place and this is definitely...different."

To add insult to injury, the cot broke when Baloo sat down on it.

Later...

Louie was literally hanging over Rebecca's shoulder, 'helping' while she totaled numbers in her ledger.

While counting on his hands and feet, Louie said, "Five plus 6 is 11 plus 7 is 18 plus 2 is..."

Annoyed, Rebecca retorted, "Thank you, but I can do this in my head, Louie." Why, oh, why didn't he go on the cargo run with Baloo?

"And what a bee-you-ti-ful head it is. Have I ever told you that I love your hair?" he said, sniffing at her hair.

"Only 32 times," Rebecca muttered, shoving him away. Seeing Kit come through the door, she cried, "Kit! You're home from school." Under her breath, she added, "Thank goodness!"

"Hey, Miz Cunningham. Louie, what are you doing here?"

"Bothering me," Rebecca said none too quietly.

"And what happened to your fur?" Kit asked.

"My nightclub was infested with pests so Baloo is lettin' me crash here for seven days while my place is sprayed. I just happened to get sprayed, too. With paint, that is." The big ape glanced ruefully down at his shiny bronze fur.

"Gee, that's too bad," Kit said, wriggling out of his backpack. "I was really looking forward to one of your pizzas this Friday night."

"I know!" Rebecca exclaimed. "Why don't you make one of your special pizzas right here, Louie?"

Dubiously, Louie said, "I don't know. Without my equipment I'm afraid the dough won't grow and the tomato paste won't taste..."

"Nonsense!" Rebecca said, pushing Louie and Kit into the kitchen. "With your...er, abilities... I'm sure you can make a pizza here." When the door shut behind them, she returned to her desk, dusting off her hands. "And you'll be out of my hair."

Kitchen

Kit emerged from the cupboards triumphantly. "One mixing bowl and one spoon coming up."

Louie eyed the cooking utensils uncertainly. "I dunno about this, Short Stuff. My mixing bowl is much bigger."

"This is the biggest bowl we have. You'll just have to improvise."

"Hey, I'm the master of improv." Louie scat sang while he mixed ingredients in the bowl.

When Kit put a can of tomato sauce on the counter, Louie recoiled in horror. "What is that?"

Confused, Kit replied, "Tomato sauce."

"Ol' Louie ain't a fan of canned. Fresh is best. And what about the cheese and pepperoni and peppers and...?"

Kit sighed. "You'd better make me a shopping list."

Later...

Baloo entered Higher for Hire, grinning. "Do I smell one of Louie's primo pizzas? I knew bringing Louie here would be a good idea."

Rebecca pushed past him, saying, "Bringing Louie here was a bad idea."

"Whattaya mean?"

"You'll see," she said as she raced to her car.

Baloo shouted after her, "Aren't ya stayin' for dinner?"

"I don't even want to stay to see you get your just desserts!" Rebecca retorted.

"Huh?" As he jauntily strolled through the office towards the kitchen, Baloo said to himself, "I just don't understand that gal. If the dinner is free an' the dinner ain't me, I am there." When he pushed open the kitchen door, his expression changed from happy to bewildered. "What's going on in here?"

Kit, who was standing by the refrigerator and holding a trash can, said glumly, "You're just in time to help clean out the fridge."

From the deepest recesses of the refrigerator, Louie said, "You wouldn't believe what's playing hide-and-leak in here. This pear's so fuzzy, I don't know whether to plant it or pet it."

The pear flew into the trash can.

"I think growin' penicillin's illegal in this country."

Something brown and lumpy and covered with black spots joined the pear.

Pinching his nose, Louie gasped out, "This cheese is so ripe that you could smell it all the way from Thembria."

The cheese followed the pear and the unidentifiable brown, lumpy thing.

Just as Louie was about to toss a sandwich into the trash, Baloo cried, "Hey, I was savin' that!"

"Since when? 1922?"

The rock-hard sandwich ricocheted off the inside of the trash can with a clang.

Baloo eyed the pizza cooling on the stove. "When are we gonna chow down?"

Louie popped his head out of the fridge and said indignantly, "I don't see how you can think about food when your fridge is so cruddy crude. A clean refrigerator is an efficient refrigerator."

Baloo shared a hopeless look with Kit. "There's two of 'em now..."

That Night

Kit, wearing his earmuffs, was cozily curled up in his bed, fast asleep. Baloo, however, hadn't closed his eyes all night. He stared wide-eyed into the darkness, listening to Louie's snoring.

Snnnnnxxxxx-eeee-be-be-be-be-be-be-be-be Louie's snoring went up the scale.

Snnnnxxxxxx-eeee-be-be-be-be-be-be-be-be Louie's snoring went down the scale.

Louie is the only guy I know who can snore an' sing at the same time, Baloo thought as he gingerly turned over on the creaking, broken cot. Scowling, he plunked his pillow over his ears.

The Next Afternoon
Kitchen

Kit and Molly watched closely as Louie deftly juggled three mangoes.

"I'm gonna show you kids the secret of makin' my famous, patent-pending mango shake. First, ya gotta..."

Crash! A mango escaped from Louie's hands and flew through the window.

"Throw a mango out the window?" Molly asked.

If Louie hadn't have been covered in bronze paint, his face would have been scarlet. "Oops. Your kitchen ain't as wide as mine."

"We noticed," Kit said as the last fragment of glass fell out of the pane.

Outside, Wildcat stood up. His head was covered with a dripping mango. "Hey, did you guys know it was raining mangos?"

Later...

The Higher for Hire gang - minus Louie - were gathered in the Sea Duck's cargo hold. None of them looked very happy.

"Louie has got to go!" Rebecca remarked, her arms crossed.

Baloo uneasily rubbed the back of his neck, because everyone was glaring at him. "How come?"

"He's hanging over my shoulder," Rebecca replied.

"And he's rearranged our room," Kit added.

"He threw a mango out the window and we didn't get any ice cream!" Molly cried.

"You mean it's not raining mangoes?" Wildcat said, disappointed.

"He needs to go, Baloo," Rebecca said pointedly.

"He will...in a coupla days."

"Now! Do you hear me, buster!"

Louie, who had been listening outside, poked his head inside. A tear trickled down his bronze-painted cheek. "I dig ya loud and clear, Becky baby." Sniff. "Ol' Louie knows when he's not wanted." Sniff. "That's okay. I understand. I got in the way cookin' and cleanin' and helpin'." Sniff. "Don't worry 'bout me. I'll be right as rain as long as I can stay out of it." Sniff. Sniff. "Wonder if the hobos got an opening under one of the bridges for a poor old homeless ape like me? I'll just go pack my bags."

Baloo, Rebecca, Kit, and Molly felt guiltier and guiltier as they watched Louie trudge up the dock.

Rebecca sighed. Reluctantly, she shouted, "Fine! You can stay!"

Louie sped back to the Sea Duck. "No jive, Clive?"

"Yes...I mean, no?"

His face beaming as brightly as the sun, Louie hugged Rebecca fiercely. "You won't regret it, Becky baby."

"I already do," Rebecca gasped out comically, causing the others to laugh.

The End