Katy Dodd was returning. Rebecca had heard variants of that theme for the past three days, until even Kit had fled at the sight of Baloo wanting him to see if this tie or that tie was better. Louie was even worse. Three years before Rebecca had bought Higher for Hire, Baloo and Louie had encountered the Vixen, and Becky could instantly see why they'd taken to her. Overstuffed, and obviously wearing clothes to show it, it was plain that young Dr. Dodd dressed to impress.
She sighed. Now between Louie and Baloo (and the only reason Rebecca hadn't kicked Louie out was that over the past three days, the Orangutan had cooked some of the best meals she'd ever eaten—as long as she was fast enough to beat Baloo of course.
"That's the taxi!" Baloo shouted from above, and with an ominous creaking, the thundering herd charged down the steps, leaving Molly and Kit looking after them. Molly shrugged, the eight year old looking up at Kit. The teen shrugged back. Kit had discovered girls, he was 14 after all…but this didn't seem calculated to discover them back…more likely chase them screaming for the hills.
"Now Cuz, you don't want to scare her with that tie." Louie said.
"Heh—what about your hat—afraid to show her the Great Bald Spot?"
"Boys!" Becky shouted, "Keep that up and I'll tell… Katy that you're both grounded and can't come out and play." That got them quiet, and Becky sat back on her chair with a sigh, and looked up as the door opened. Baloo bowed low and Louie doffed his hat…and they were both making such a production of being polite that neither one saw Katy before Rebecca did.
Baloo blinked. There was a suspicious sound from Rebecca, like she was desperately trying to keep from laughing. Then it spread to Kit and Molly. He looked up… into the face of a young vixen cub, about five years of age, wearing a child sized pith helmet and looking like a small version of Katy.
Ain't that cute, she has a kid sister. his brain desperately said, but there was also the fact that the hand holding the kid had a plain gold ring on it, and Baloo looked up. Katy was there… one hand holding the kid, and the other one with a young toddler scooped up, resting him on her hip in a way that indicated some practice…and it looked like she was about seven months gone, with two more to go until another kid…
"Katy…" Baloo said…then the full horror of the situation hit him and he and Louie hit the floor in identical faints.
"You were right, Mommy." The young child said, "They were surprised."