Tracking Baloos

TaleSpin and its characters are the property of Disney/Buena Vista and are used without permission. I realize this technology didn't exist in the 1930s, but it's a fun 'what if'.

Cape Suzette Tribune, March 7, 1937 edition
A Small, but Important Ad

Anxious to know when your shipment will arrive?
Fret no more!
Higher for Hire announces a ground-breaking tracking service!
Know exactly where your cargo is at all times!

"At all times?" Baloo yelped, reading the ad over his boss's shoulder. "Becky, is that possible?"

"It will be as soon as Wildcat installs the transmitter in the Sea Duck. Then with this device," she patted what looked like a shiny, floor-model radio beside her desk; "I'll be able to see where you're at anywhere in the world."

"Anywhere?" Baloo groaned.

"Anywhere," she reiterated firmly, giving her employee a pointed look.

Rebecca turned a knob on the receiver. With a high-pitched whine, it hummed to life. A world map had been stretched across the green, glowing screen on the top of the unit. "See, it's working already!" A white light, visible under the map, was blinking under the dot indicating the coastal city of Cape Suzette.

Baloo gulped.

Higher for Hire
The Next Day…

Rebecca stood, hunched over the tracking receiver. The dot had been blinking under the island labeled "Louie's Place" for over an hour. Picking up the telephone receiver and dialing Louie's number, she muttered, "So you don't believe this tracking contraption works, huh, Baloo? We'll just see about that."

Thirty seconds later, the blinking dot sped away from Louie's Place. Rebecca smiled with satisfaction as she patted the receiver.

Higher for Hire
The Next Day

"Turn around! Where in the world are you going?" Rebecca yelled at the receiver's blinking dot. "Walla-Walla-Bing-Bang's the other way!" Tearing out a chunk of her hair, she muttered, "That stupid, fat bear couldn't navigate his way out of a paper bag."

Higher for Hire
The Next Day

"Where are you, Baloo?" Rebecca anxiously scanned the receiver for the dot. It was nowhere to be found. "I turn my back to take one phone call and you disappear. Where are you? Where are you?" She shook the receiver violently. With a 'clunk' of vacuum tubes, the dot appeared. "Oh, there you are." Poking the blinking dot, she said, both relieved and peeved, "How dare you disappear on me?"

Higher for Hire
The Next Day

"How dare you get captured by air pirates?" The dot was motionless in the middle of the ocean near Pirate Island. Rebecca, tugging at her hair, was once again shouting at the dot. "Best pilot in the world? Ha! I'm going to give you exactly five seconds to escape from the Iron Vulture , or I'm going to dock your pay, buster. Five, four, three, two… "

Higher for Hire
The Next Day

"One reason. Just give me one reason why I shouldn't fire you, Baloo." A slightly bedraggled, slightly hoarse Rebecca jabbed her finger at the dot, which was two hundred miles and two hours late from its intended destination. "Your work ethic stinks, probably like that Swizz cheese that you're supposed to deliver. I can't wait until your fat fanny is back here so I can poke holes in your excuses. What'll it be this time? Giant armadillos? Circus clowns? Whatever it is…"

Higher for Hire
The Next Day

"I don't believe it!" a slightly bald Rebecca rasped at the dot on the screen. "Baloo actually delivered something on time for once!"

When the phone rang, she cleared her throat and answered it. "Higher for Hire. If you're buying, we're flying. Uh-huh." She frowned. "Uh-huh." Her frown deepened. "Your ancient artifacts were smashed to smithereens, because my pilot took a shortcut through a hurricane? And now Higher for Hire owes your museum seventy thousand dollars? Uh-huh… " Giving the blinking dot the evil eye, she growled, "No, it's just that I feel like smashing something myself. Good-bye."

Higher for Hire

"Becky, what are you doin'?" Baloo exclaimed as he and Kit walked into the office that evening.

Rebecca, with large patches of hair missing from her head, was dealing blow after powerful blow to the tracking receiver with a hammer. When the dot had blinked its last blink, she turned to her flight crew and whispered, "I've decided it's less stressful not knowing where you are."

The End