Baloo's Clues
Part 2
TaleSpin and its characters are property of Disney / Buena Vista Co. and are used without permission. All other characters are mine and cannot be used without permission.
Higher for Hire
The Next Morning
"Up and at 'em, guys!" Rebecca called cheerfully as she flipped on the light and set the alarm clock jangling with a loud brrrrrrrrrrriiiiing!
Kit yawned and rolled over, opening his eyes to find Molly grinning at him over the edge of the bed.
A groan came from the large lump curled up under the blankets in Baloo's bed. The big bear's hand made its way out from under the covers and groped along the top of the night stand until it found what it was searching for - the alarm clock. He flipped off the alarm and pulled the clock back under the covers. A few moments later, his muffled voice exclaimed, "Five o'clock? Becky, are you loco? Ol' Baloo only recognizes one five o'clock and this ain't it." He angrily plunked the alarm clock on the night stand and yanked the covers further up over his head.
When Rebecca set off the alarm again, Baloo's hand shot out from under the blanket and crushed the clock, causing the springs to pop out. It gave a final, metallic-sounding 'tink-a-link', then was silent.
"You can't sleep 'til noon!" Rebecca snapped as she and Baloo played tug-of-war with his blanket.
"Watch me." Baloo chuckled a little when he succeeded in jerking the blanket out of her grasp.
Furious, Rebecca threatened, "If you don't get out of bed this instant, buster, I'm going to dock your pay!"
Quicker than a flash, Baloo sat up in bed, blinking from the light of the hula girl lamp. "Okay, I'm up, I'm up."
"Hurry." Rebecca gingerly picked Baloo's shirt up off the floor and tossed it in his lap. "Get dressed. We have a full day of deliveries."
Baloo was startled in mid-yawn. "We?"
"Yes. Molly and I are going with you."
"How come?" Baloo ran a hand through his disheveled hair.
"Because I'm the boss and I say so." Rebecca took Molly's hand and led the little girl out of the room.
As soon as Rebecca was out of earshot, Baloo grumbled to Kit, "Wish she didn't have so much say-so."
Half Hour Later
Sea Duck
The sun was no more than a pale pink smudge on the eastern horizon when Rebecca was overseeing the loading of the Sea Duck from inside the dark cargo hold.
Shining her flashlight on the clipboard, she murmured to herself, "Electric blankets. Check. Napkins. Check. Mosquito netting. Check. Ace bandages. Check."
Baloo carried the last crate into the cargo hold, set it down, then sat down on it with a tired sigh. "Where's all this stuff goin', anyways?"
Matter-of-factly, Rebecca reeled off: "Blankets to Tundra City, napkins to Lhasa Apso, mosquito netting to Malaria, and the bandages to Mondobobo. We're going to Malaria first."
"Wouldn't it make more sense if we went to Lhasa Apso first?" Baloo said through his millionth yawn of the morning. "It's on the way to Malaria."
Without thinking, Rebecca blurted out, "No!"
Baloo shot her a suspicious look.
"I mean...th-these are scheduled to be delivered first."
Baloo flipped the lever to close the back hatch, then headed towards the cockpit, mumbling, "Whatever, lady. Don't pay me no never mind. I'm just the pilot. Only been 'round the world more times than you've been 'round the corner, but what do I know?"
"What did you say, Baloo?" Rebecca asked, glaring at his back as she stepped into the cockpit right behind him.
Hastily, he said, "Oh, nuthin', Becky. Nuthin'." The big bear plopped down into the pilot's seat. "Ready to pull chocks, Li'l Britches?"
"Roger that," said Kit from the navigator's seat.
"I roger that, too." Molly was sitting beside Kit, directing the flashlight's beam on the map so that the boy could plot their course.
Baloo chuckled and patted the little girl's head. Noticing the sketchbook lying on her lap, he said, "Brought your book along, huh, Pigtails?"
"Yup. We need it," the little girl replied with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
Before her daughter could elaborate, Rebecca said quickly, "She means that she needs something to do on this long flight."
"But I'd rather help Kit with navigating," Molly said, eagerly eyeing the sextant that the boy was walking across the map. "Kit, can you show me where we're going? Kit, can I hold your compass? I'll fold the map for you, Kit."
Kit sighed as Baloo flipped the switches to start the engines. "Miz Cunningham was right. This is gonna be a long flight."
Three Hours Later
Itchenscratchen, Malaria
Bordered by Bulgaria and Hysteria, Malaria was a small country known chiefly for its abundance of swamps. The only thing that outnumbered the swamps were the mosquitos, which suited the amphibious inhabitants perfectly as they considered the insects a delicacy. However, to outsiders, the mosquitos were nothing more than buzzing, biting bugs.
Molly shooed away a mosquito that had landed on her nose and gazed around at the Itchenscratchen airport, which was bustling with activity - and frogs. What was so intriguing about all of the frogs was that they were lapping mosquitos out of the air with their long, red, sticky tongues.
The client who was talking to her mother was no exception. "So..." Snap went his tongue as it shot out and snagged an insect. Slurp went his tongue as he drew it back into his mouth. He swallowed with a loud gulp. The whole process took less than a second and was as natural as breathing to him. Without missing a beat, he continued in his thick Malarian accent, "What did you think of the new Hetty Hopper movie?"
Rebecca paused in signing her name on the clipboard. "I'm afraid that I haven't seen it yet."
"It would be," snap, slurp, gulp, "too bad to miss it. My wife and I had a jumping," snap, slurp, gulp, "good time."
"I'll make a note to see it when it comes to Cape Suzette, then," Rebecca said politely. Suppressing the impulse to gag at his repulsive eating habit, she handed the clipboard and pen back to him. "That should do it, Mr. Bounding." She glanced over to where Baloo and Kit were carrying a large, long roll of mosquito netting from the Sea Duck to a waiting truck.
Baloo was saying, "Keep your end up, Kit. It's saggin' in the middle."
Rebecca thought, So are you, flyboy. Aloud, she said, "My flight crew will help you with anything else that you need."
"Thank you, Ms. Cunningham." Snap, slurp, gulp. "Are you sure that you and your," snap, slurp, gulp, "flight crew won't have breakfast with me?"
Rebecca looked slightly ill. "No, thank you. Maybe some other time when we're not so buzzy, er...busy." She shook his hand and forced herself to smile, even though her stomach was churning. "A pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Bounding."
He pumped her hand. "And you, Ms. Cunningham." Snap, slurp, gulp, he went as he ate a mosquito that had been buzzing a mere inch from her ear. "Mmm...tasty."
When he had walked away, Rebecca shuddered with revulsion. "I don't want to know what he eats for breakfast. We don't have time anyway."
"You mean...?" Molly said, her eyes lighting up.
Rebecca nodded, then patted her large purple purse at her side. In it was the sketchbook. "We're going to the glockenspiel."
"Yippee!"
A few minutes later, they climbed out of a cab in the old square in the heart of Itchenscratchen and joined the tourists who were gathered in front of the glockenspiel.
Rebecca scooped up Molly and made her way to the front of the crowd where they would have a better view.
As it had done for years, the twice-daily puppet dance began with the tolling of the bells. Several delighted children squealed when wooden figurines emerged through doors that opened on either side of the clock face. Around and around on their well-worn tracks, the elaborately painted wooden figurines - kings, queens, knights, even the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker - moved and sashayed to the music provided by the carillon bells.
Despite the maddening mosquitoes' high-pitched whining in their ears, despite the snap, slurp, gulp from the frogs, despite the slapping and scratching from the other tourists, the Cunninghams' attention was focused solely on the glockenspiel.
Suddenly, Molly exclaimed, "There! That little frog doll with the blonde hair and funny red hat shaped like a pancake is carrying a box like the one we found in Cape Park."
"Now's our chance," Rebecca murmured when a yellow bird at the very top of the glockenspiel cuckooed three times, signifying that the puppet dance was over. They made their way through the hordes of people headed for the shops and, giving a quick glance around to make sure they were unobserved, casually slipped through a door at the base of the glockenspiel. Once inside, they hurried up the stairs.
At the top of the stairs, they found themselves on a dusty scaffold overlooking a maze of narrow circular tracks upon which the figurines were lined up one after another, still and lifeless. Their white, vacant, bulging frog eyes gleamed weirdly at them through the musty darkness. Above them, the clock ticked steadily.
"Where is it?" Rebecca said quietly, peering through the dimly lit room.
"Right there!" Before her mother could stop her, Molly ducked under the railing and stepped onto the slender track.
Rebecca felt a little quiver of fear shoot down her spine when she heard the old track creak under her daughter's feet. She couldn't help but glance down into the darkness two stories below. "Molly Elizabeth Cunningham, get back here right this instant!"
"Don't worry, I can get the box," Molly said confidently. When she came to the first figurine on the track - a lady-in-waiting in a pink gown and pointed hat - she paused for a moment. There was only one inch of track on either side of the doll, which was taller as she. Throwing her arms around the doll, she clung to it as she tiptoed gingerly around it. When she was safely on the other side, she grinned back at her mother. "See, it's not that hard, Mom."
Rebecca held her breath as she watched Molly sidle around figurine after figurine, getting farther and farther away, until she reached the page doll.
Molly tried to tug the box out of its hands, but it wouldn't budge. "It must be glued on," she called across the echoing room.
"Open it with the key, Pumpkin," Rebecca suggested.
"Oh, right." Clinging to the doll for balance, she dug the key that they had found in the Cape Park box out of her overalls pocket, put it into the lock, and opened the box.
Not able to stand the suspense, Rebecca inquired eagerly, "Anything in it?"
"Yep," Molly replied. "Something really neat!"
Rebecca's hopes lifted. Visions of jewels danced in her head. Leaning over the rickety railing as far as she dared, she strained to see through the gloom. "What? What?"
"A green and silver marble," Molly replied, extremely pleased with her find. "Wait 'til Wildcat sees this one."
"That's it? A marble?" Rebecca's face - and hopes - fell. "We came all this way just for a lousy marble?"
"Nope. There's also a key and a piece of paper with the number 4 on it."
"A marble, a key, and a number. Great..." Rebecca muttered sarcastically.
"Yeah, isn't it?" Molly said enthusiastically as she shoved her newfound treasures into her pocket.
Back at the Sea Duck
As Baloo taxied the seaplane down the runway, he peered through the mosquito-splattered windshield and said, "I know why you wanted to come along today, Becky."
"Y-you do?" Rebecca stammered. She couldn't imagine how Baloo had possibly known that she and Molly were on a treasure hunt. She steeled herself for the derision that was sure to follow.
"Ya got the itch to see Itchenscratchen. Am I right?"
"Uh...yes. Exactly," Rebecca said, relieved.
"We saw the glockenspiel from real close up," Molly chirped from the navigator's seat.
Rebecca hushed her with a stern look.
"Come to 1-6-0 south, southeast, Papa Bear," Kit directed.
"But one thing puzzles me," Baloo said, banking the plane to the right.
"Only one thing?" Rebecca shot back.
"How you could go sightseein' without buyin' every souvenir in sight."
Airily, Rebecca replied, "Oh, we didn't find anything terribly exciting, did we, Molly?"
"Nope," Molly said with a grin and conspiratorial wink.
Two Hours Later
Mondobobo
Kit treaded lightly across the scorching, shimmering sand that blanketed the country of Mondobobo. The last time that he was here, there had an Olympic Diving Competition to determine who would marry the princess. It was an odd custom, considering that there were no pools or lakes, that the 'diving board' was a cliff top, and that the participants were heavy hippos.
While Baloo was busy chatting and eating with the tribal chief, Kit had decided to revisit the place where the 'diving competition' had taken place. He was sure that the view overlooking the vast desert with its shifting sands would be spectacular. Better still, this time he could actually enjoy it, because Trader Moe and his goons weren't around.
Kit wended his way through the crowded, open-air market. This is where Rebecca and Molly had said they were going, but, as yet, he hadn't seen them, which was odd. Two bears should have stuck out like sore thumbs in a market full of hippos. Something told him that they weren't anywhere in the marketplace. It was the same something that was telling him that the Cunninghams were hiding something from him and Baloo. For one thing, Rebecca didn't want them along to carry their souvenirs. In fact, they emphatically insisted on going sightseeing alone. For another thing, Molly seemed too excited over shopping with her mom, a thing that she normally loathed.
Something's not adding up.
As he drew closer to the cliff, he noticed something blue and pink on the ground beside a large boulder. To his surprise, it turned out to be Molly. The little girl was lying flat on her stomach, looking over the cliff's edge.
"Molly, what are you doing?" Kit grabbed her by her overalls straps and pulled her away from the edge. In his best big brother voice, he said sternly, "This is no place to play high-diver queen."
"I wasn't playing!" Molly said indignantly. "I was looking!"
"What were you looking at?" Kit peered over the cliff. When he saw Rebecca, a rope tied around her waist, hanging halfway down the cliff, he was so surprised that Molly had to grab onto his sweater to keep him from toppling over. "Miz Cunningham! What are you doing down there?"
"I...uh, felt like rock climbing?" Rebecca said with a half-hearted chuckle.
Kit wasn't buying it. "What's that in your hand?"
"This? Oh, it's...nothing." She quickly stuffed the box inside her cardigan and searched for a handhold in the rock.
"That 'nothing' looks like a box to me," the boy said shrewdly.
Simultaneously, Rebecca and Molly whispered, "Shh!"
"What?"
"We don't want Baloo to find out that we're on a treasure hunt," Molly explained.
"Molly!" Rebecca cried.
Molly cringed a little. "You never said not to tell Kit."
Meditatively, Kit said, "You're on a...?"
"Shh!" hissed the Cunninghams.
"Treasure hunt?" Kit murmured incredulously. From the way Rebecca had talked the day before, he thought Thembria would thaw before she would ever go on a treasure hunt.
Rebecca started climbing up the cliff face slowly, but steadily. "But you've got to promise not to tell Baloo."
Kit nodded solemnly. "Because he'll make fun of you?"
"Yes." Rebecca sighed, then smiled at him. "Now that you know, you might as well help me up."
The cubs grabbed onto the rope that was tied around a large boulder at the top of the cliff and began to tug.
A few minutes later, Rebecca was sitting on the cliff. Kit crouched nearby while Molly brushed the sand out of her mother's hair.
"What'd we get this time, Mom?"
Rebecca extracted the box from her cardigan, fitted the key into the lock, and opened it. As she expected, it was: "Another marble, another key, another number."
"'Another'?" Kit exclaimed.
The Cunninghams briefly filled him in.
"Where are we going next, Pumpkin?"
Molly compared the number found in the treasure chest to the page number in the sketchbook. "Lhasa Apso!"
"The sketchbook that Baloo gave you is a treasure map?" Kit shook his head in disbelief. "Then he really did find treasure at Stu's Secondhand Store."
"But Baloo's not going to know about it." Rebecca shoved the box back under her cardigan and, getting to her feet, started back towards the Sea Duck with the cubs right behind.
Two Hours Later
Lhasa Apso
Baloo hurried over a bridge spanning a pond filled with lotus blossoms, then past a row of ornate pagodas that edged a flagstone path that led up the lush, green mountain. Looming over everything at the very top of the mountain was the Great Temple. Perfect peace and tranquility reigned in this small village where the Doggie Lama, the wisest man in the world, resided. But Baloo was anything but peaceful or tranquil at the moment.
"I'm tellin' ya, Kit..." the big bear paused to bow to a brown-hooded monk, because the Ancient Tradition of Bow-Wow decreed that one had to bow to every monk that was met on the street, "it's like Becky's completely," bow, "lost her marbles. I don't get how," bow, "a gal who's such a stickler," bow, "about time," bow, "can possibly be late."
"You're not worried," bow, "about her, are you, Papa Bear?" Kit said with a sly gleam in his eyes.
"Nah." Bow. "It's just that's she's," bow, "so gung-ho about makin' a buck that she," bow, "always winds up," bow, "gettin' into trouble."
Just then, Rebecca, with Molly under one arm and a silver box under the other, sped past them, down the mountain.
"What in the...?" Baloo muttered.
They then heard loud shouting and footsteps pounding on the flagstone street. A stampede of angry brown-hooded monks was coming their way.
Pilot and navigator spun around and raced to catch up with the Cunninghams.
Baloo glanced over his shoulder at the mob that they were running from. "What'd you do to make 'em so barkin' mad, Becky?"
"Save the jokes until we're out of here!" Rebecca panted, too intent on escaping to glare at him.
Seeing some cloaks hanging on a clothesline, Baloo snagged four of them, much to the amazement of the monk who had just hung them up. The big bear ducked around the corner of a pagoda, shoved robes at the other three bears and ordered, "Put these on an' do what I do!"
They all sat down and shielded their faces with the hoods. When the angry voices faded in the distance, they gave a collective sigh of relief.
Baloo doffed his hood, straightened his pilot's hat, and asked quietly, "Now, what was all that fuss and flub-a-dub about, Becky?"
"I don't know," Rebecca said, attempting to shield her face with her hood. "Molly and I were just walking through that beautiful temple when..."
"Lemme get this straight. You an' Molly went into the Temple of the Doggie Lama?"
"Yes."
Baloo chuckled a little. "No wonder them guys were so steamed. Outsiders ain't allowed. How come you went in there?"
Determined that Baloo would never discover her secret, Rebecca looked him straight in the eye and stated positively, "Like I said, Molly and I were just sightseeing."
Molly nodded emphatically, but Kit look slightly uncomfortable.
Baloo wasn't convinced. He put his hands on Rebecca's shoulders and gazed intently at her. "Uh-huh. What were you really doin' in there?"
Sheer willpower allowed her to hold his gaze for a long while, but finally he won out. Her eyes dropped. "Looking...for something..."
"Lookin' for what?"
Rebecca was glad that the bulky robe hid the box that was concealed under her sweater. "Nothing...important."
Drastic times called for drastic measures. Baloo knew that Rebecca would never spill the beans until she had been softened up a little, so he picked a little yellow flower and gave it to her. In his gentlest voice, he said, "Come on, honey. You can tell ol' Baloo."
Rebecca looked at the flower, then looked up into the big bear's smiling face. She silently cursed the Powers That Be that made her a sucker for a flower and a sweet endearment. Besides, it would almost be a relief letting him in on the secret; hiding it from him and Kit had turned out to be a lot of work. Sighing in defeat, she said despondently, "Oh, all right. I'll tell you on the way to Tundra City."
On the Way to Tundra City
"Ha! You're kiddin', Becky!" Baloo couldn't help but smirk. "If my little ol' noggin remembers rightly, you said somethin' like treasure huntin' was a waste of time."
Rebecca could have kicked herself from Cape Suzette to Thembria. She silently, savagely yanked the petals off of the flower Baloo had given her.
"Only an idjit would run all over the world followin' a treasure map," Baloo said, looking smugly superior.
Steaming mad, Rebecca continued to pluck petals from the helpless flower.
Baloo, who was thoroughly enjoying himself, added, "An' X never, ever marks the spot."
Rebecca couldn't take it anymore. She flung the stem at him and shouted, "I never said that! Besides, there are no Xs on these maps! Other letters, but no X's."
Baloo chuckled good-naturedly. "What treasure were ya lookin' for?"
Molly piped up, "Jewels. Or one jewel. That's what the hidden letters spelled out."
"A jewel, huh?" Baloo stroked his chin. "And what have you found so far?"
Ashamedly, Rebecca said, "Three marbles and three keys."
Molly unlocked the box and announced, "Four marbles and four keys."
"Keys? Marbles?" Baloo cried, sharing a look with Kit. "What kinda cockamamie treasure hunt is this?"
"You tell me. You're the expert treasure hunter," Rebecca said grumpily. She crossed her arms and leaned against the pilot's seat.
"So where we headed next, boss lady?"
"You mean...?" Rebecca exclaimed, both astonished and relieved.
"Hey, don't wanna miss out on our chance to get our hands on some loot, huh, Kit?" Baloo winked at the boy over Molly's head.
"Nope." Kit grinned.
"Tell ya what. We'll take you gals to Tundra City as long as you agree to split the treasure fifty-fifty."
"Fifty-fifty?" Rebecca protested hotly. "Wait a minute! I..."
"Fifty-fifty," Baloo said firmly, offering his hand to shake. "Or we'll deliver the electric blankets, but pull the plug on the treasure huntin'."
"I guess I'll take it." Rebecca reluctantly shook hands with him.
Baloo gave her a friendly grin before focusing on the sky ahead of them. "Just wish ya woulda told me before about the treasure earlier, Becky. I hate missin' out on all the fun."
Recalling their near-brush with death in Lhasa Apso, Rebecca said dryly, "Yeah, fun."
Five Hours Later
Tundra City
The four bears, clad in parkas, found themselves trekking towards a gigantic frozen waterfall in a vast frozen wasteland. A bitterly cold wind blew specks of icy snow into their faces. Though the sun gave no warmth, it turned the blanket of snow into a sea of bright crystals, too bright to look upon.
"Who would be crazy enough to hide a treasure here?" Baloo shouted over the roar of the wind.
"What?" Rebecca shouted back, hugging her shivering daughter closer to her.
Baloo cupped his hands to his mouth and reiterated, "Who would be crazy enough to hide a treasure here?"
"It's not crazy! No one would think of looking for treasure here!" Kit yelled, struggling to walk against the driving wind.
"What?" Rebecca and Molly shouted simultaneously.
To their immense relief, they had finally reached the waterfall and, therefore, shelter from the bone-chilling, wearying wind.
In a normal voice, Kit said, "I said that it's a good place to hide a treasure, because no one would think of looking here. But where is it?"
They huddled close to each other as Rebecca consulted the sketchbook. "According to this, the treasure is halfway up this waterfall, but how are we supposed to get up there?"
All of them turned their eyes to the waterfall, which looked like a pale blue flame glistening in the sunlight. Taller than Khan Towers, it had been suspended in time for eons. A veritable fortress of ice.
"Climb?" Kit said with a shrug.
Rebecca groaned. "Not more climbing."
"What do you think, Papa Bear?"
"We've got some rope an' climbing tools in the Duck, but I vote we rest a spell before goin' back out in that wind." When he leaned against the waterfall, he fell backwards through a door-sized rectangle carved into the ice. "Whoa!"
"Baloo, are you all right?" Kit asked, holding out his hand to help him up.
"Just dandy, Li'l Britches," the big bear said, slowly getting to his feet. He rubbed his sore backside. "But my landin' gear might never be the same."
Kit flicked on his flashlight and stepped through the door. What he saw made him say: "Wow!"
"Double wow!" Molly breathed while Rebecca said, "Oh, my!"
By the beam of the flashlight, they could see that a circular staircase had been carved out of the inside of the waterfall. Not only did it go up, up, up as far as the eye could see, but the ice crystals that it was made out of shone with every color of the rainbow.
Baloo gave a low whistle. "One wrong slip on that staircase an' it's see ya next fall."
"If someone went to all this trouble, this must be some jewel!" Kit observed.
Baloo nodded. "You took the words right out of my mouth, kiddo. Ladies first?"
At the Top of the Staircase
Following a long climb, the four bears, cold, tired, yet still excited over the prospect of treasure, finally reached their destination. At the top of the staircase was an elaborate shelf carved out of ice, complete with dainty scrolls and curlicues. Sitting prominently on that shelf was a large wooden treasure chest bound with brass.
Rebecca, her pulse beating in her fingertips, said, "This has to be it!"
"Open 'er up, Becky, an' let's see that jewel," Baloo said.
"Yeah, hurry, Mom," Molly added, clinging so tightly to Kit's hand that the boy winced.
Holding her breath, Rebecca put the key that they had found in Lhasa Apso into the brass lock and turned it with difficulty. She eagerly flung the lid open. "It's...it's..."
End of part 2