Chapter 2

Six months and three weeks before the fight.

Before Kit's adoption, before Baloo and Rebecca saw Kit's scarred back, and before the events of "The Extra Son The World Would Never Need".

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"Baloo, this isn't a question of employment, he can certainly keep his job and frankly I would prefer that he does but living here with you taking care of him is something else entirely." Rebecca was attempting to balance being a parent herself with being a boss and though it was a tightrope to walk, she felt she was doing it well.

"I live here. What's wrong with Kit living here too?" Baloo retorted as a matter of factly.

"My issue isn't with his living location; he can live here too. My issue is his welfare. Can you adequately take care of him?"

Baloo started to detect a hint of personal invasion and responded with minor aggression, "Is that any o'yer business?"

"Normally, no, it would not be, and I do not mean to pry into your personal life. Normally you would be correct that this is not my business, but this is not a normal circumstance or scenario. When all my employees live at their place of employment and a child and his…" Rebecca struggled for a moment for the right word to describe Kit and Baloo's dynamic. "…guardian live together and may have an issue with basic needs then those issues will undeniably spill over into and directly negatively affect the productivity of the business, then it becomes my business. Besides, I granted you a pay advance this one time because I saw the need for it, but Baloo" she paused for a moment to emphasize the importance of what she was about to say, "you and Kit can't keep living on money that you haven't made yet."

Baloo felt attacked, but, despite his care-free attitude and simple outlook on life, he had to admit that she had a point. Though, just like always, he wouldn't confess it to her. He calmed down and spoke on a more solemn level. "He's a good kid Becky. Sure, he's rough 'round the edges, has his "tough guy" attitude, …..and won't stop glaring at me whenever I try to ask him about his past with the sky pirates, but I don't ever 'ave ta tell 'im ta clean 'is room, brush his teeth, make his bed, er take a bath. I don't even make MY bed! And come da think of it, he does spend a lot of time in the bath." Baloo scratched his head as he thought about that for a moment before Rebecca leaned back in her chair and interrupted him.

"Baloo" she kindly said with raised eyebrows and a smirk, "it's no secret why boys his age take so long in the bathroom; sometimes it takes a while for them to…..figure it out."

Baloo couldn't help but chuckle at the insinuation. "Ya ain't wrong Becky, but the doctor said he ain't dere yet. You've seen how malnourished he was; how small he is. The doctor said that is causin' a delay. Besides, boys always seem to start later than girls, you know that. Then again, who knows? He could just be a late bloomer."

Rebecca just looked at Baloo from behind her desk with a raised eyebrow, her head rested on her right hand.

"I'm bettin' he just never had a bathtub growin' up and now can't get enough plus he enters and exits fully dressed which, between you an me is kinda weird and….Quit lookin' at me like that! Yer makin' me uncomfortable."

"Ok, fine." Rebecca shifted and sat straight in her chair but leaned forward a bit. "I'll concede that it is weird that Kit is fully dressed before and after his bath; maybe he just likes his privacy or he is overly modest, I don't know. But for argument's sake to put the subject to the side, let's just say he is prepubescent, I'm a business major, not a pediatrician…"

"Pedi-what?" Baloo interrupted.

"A doctor for children, Baloo….never mind, the fact of the matter is that you are ill equipped to take care of a child much less yourself, and Kit is hardly an easy child to raise. How many times has he woken you up in the middle of the night with nightmares? How many times have you asked me for advances on your pay to buy things to provide for him? How many…"

"And how many times has he been comforted each time he woke up? How many times have you seen him happy to just see me?!" Papa Bear interrupted. "I may not be a parent, but I am all that kid's got."

Rebecca took a deep breath before conceding the point. Baloo was the only person Kit had even remotely close to something resembling a family member but that did not change the fact that Baloo wasn't able to adequately provide for him and Rebecca wasn't about to take on the responsibility of caring for and raising another child, especially one she had just met and did not know anything about. No matter how cute or how much of a so-called good-kid he may be. He was her employee and nothing more, and that was how it was going to stay. She wanted to emphasize the situation to Baloo and make him question his abilities to accomplish the task of child rearing and so she chose her next words very specifically. "Ok, so let's say you keep him. What then?"

Baloo would not be swayed from his stance and so without a second thought he shot back the hard and hurtful truth. "I could'ave asked you the same about Molly when you were startin' business school with an infant had I known ya then."

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The snow was falling slow and steady as Rebecca walked down the sidewalk. "Happy New Year" she sarcastically thought to herself as she made her way to see what was left at the corner convenient store. 1930 had greeted the populace as dismally as 1929 had left them only things were getting worse by the day. The stock market had just crashed a few months earlier, the price of bread and milk had tripled, there were no jobs to be had anywhere, and the skyscrapers had barred the admitting of people to their roofs for gazing out at a scenic view in an effort to halt the precipitation of bodies upon the streets and sidewalks below. Rebecca, like most folks, had no plan, she did not know what she was going to do. She was eight months pregnant with Molly when her husband just up and left after the Black Thursday crash and now she was waiting for her water to break any day now. And so, she just started taking action to keep her life going, her only goal to make it to the next day, one day after the next, she had little time to prepare for an infant and no one to help her with it. She sold her house and everything she had except the absolute basics and moved into a small apartment. All the money she had went toward rent, food, and – come summer of that same year – college tuition, in that order. Most universities had rules against children in the classroom but seeing as times were tough in The Depression and student enrollment had plummeted, they were willing to bend the rules if it meant making an extra dollar.

Majoring in business was a no-brainer for Rebecca as she had dabbled a bit in the stock market here and there, it was just a hobby of hers and had been for years. She had won some and lost some. She had made some big bucks only to lose it all again but both her successes and failures on the market had yielded important lessons and those lessons became magnified overtime as she started playing with larger and larger amounts which had all been made on the stock market. She knew she would lose most of it, so she would play, win some, pull some out, and stick it to the side to start the process again. Shortly before Black Thursday 1929 she had pulled a lot of her funds out of the market, betting that it was a high time to sell and she would buy back in at a lower price; the market had gone up and down and up and down for weeks in predictable yet erratic patterns and she had made a lot of money in a short amount of time. She withdrew what little she had in the bank, leaving a small sum to keep her account open. She had to be ready for the right moment to buy back in, besides, it was all play money that she could use with impunity. Her husband was the breadwinner, anything they made would help them, and anything they lost would not hurt them, what could go wrong? She counted her funds, watched the rise and fall of the market and waited; she was ready to buy in super low and make a huge profit…..or so she thought.

When everyone lost everything, Rebecca was one of the few who still had a bank account in the four digits, or "bank" account, rather. Shortly after The Crash the bank runs started. People had lost everything in the stock market and so they sought to recover what they could in liquid assets from the bank by withdrawing everything and closing out their accounts. But when they did this, the banks faced destabilization and sudden bankruptcy and then ultimately collapse; it was a self-fulfilling prophecy that caused even more people to lose whatever little they had left. When the runs on the banks happened, Rebecca was lucky that she had very little in them, only twenty-seven dollars or so. All of her preparation and transferring her funds into liquid assets for "The-Big-Buy-In" before The Crash had become her salvation.

It wasn't much but she had a little over $2000 to her name not counting what she made on her house and other things and a person could survive on that with no additional income for quite some time if they played their cards right. After factoring $250 per year for tuition that would leave Rebecca with a little under $1000 to live on for food, rent, school supplies, and baby supplies and Rebecca became exceptional at reducing expense. Corners were cut everywhere. Molly for instance never had a crib, instead she had a box with a pillow and then she slept in the twin size bed with Rebecca when she grew too big for the box. Day old bread was typically fifty percent cheaper than fresh. The discarded flour sacks from bakeries were the perfect material to make towels, dish cloths, diapers, stuffed toys and especially children's clothes out of and these things all became better looking once the flour companies caught wind of the populace doing this and started printing colorful designs on their fabrics.

Rebecca remembered keeping Molly awake as long as possible so that she would be most likely to sleep through class. She remembered carrying a backpack and a diaper bag to class and sitting in the back in case there was a "Code Brown", the occurrence of which became more and more predictable as Molly grew and became adapted to a routine. Cloth diapers weren't the most reliable but they were cheap and reusable and she became an expert at changing them in the middle of lecture. Furthermore, because she took Molly with her to class, she never had to pay for daycare even once. Besides, every penny counted. Having a degree would set her apart from the rest but it did not guarantee a job by any means. Surprisingly she wasn't the only parent in class, the typical college student demographic didn't have the funds to afford college and older family age folks such as Rebecca had some assets which were spared from The Crash. As the semesters went by and Molly grew from infant to toddler to preschooler Rebecca's classes became smaller and smaller as other students ran out of money which resulted in more direct time with professors which in turn allowed her to learn more and progress quicker though the degree program. Her final semester she remembered casually speaking with Dr. Wright before class, he was a brown owl with black feathers on his wings and sides. As Molly played with another child in the back of the classroom, he was asked about how The Great Depression [as it was now termed] had directly affected him. His story was much like others: barely hanging on yet he, like his students, were among the lucky ones. For they had an education, and he had a job, and he also had leads for his students to follow upon graduation.

In spring of 1934 Rebecca Cunningham had conferred upon her the degree of Bachelor of Business Administration, Magna Cum Laude. At her graduation ceremony both Rebecca and Molly Cunningham were in complete cap and gown graduation garb and walked across the stage together. As an additional surprise, Molly at this time having just turned four years old, and one other child who was around age seven who also walked across the stage with his father, were both called back up to the stage at the end of the ceremony and were awarded an official certificate of academic recognition from the university in acknowledgement of their having attended every single day of class for their parent's degrees. It was further announced that this certificate would automatically guarantee acceptance of admission to the university upon application with the caveat of a successful graduation from high school. Molly, now age six, still had that certificate from the university framed and on display in her room at home. It was no bigger than an 8-1/2" x 11" sheet of paper but it had the official seal of the university and fancy calligraphy to boot.

Rebecca's path as a single parent and full-time student was difficult. She had no plan, and no idea how she was going to make it to provide for her daughter. But through all of the endless days of draining stress, sleepless nights of study, and mountains of books to read and papers to write, she made it happen and was still making it happen. It all seemed so long ago but it had only been three years.

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"Well, are ya gonna answer me?" Baloo demanded in all seriousness.

Rebecca was silent. Baloo had a point and he had caught her off guard. She thought about her past and her experience and her determination to provide everything for her daughter but also about how Baloo now stood there in front of her desk displaying the same determination with the same conviction in his voice.

"No Baloo, I uh, I'm not…..because I can't. When I had Molly, I did not know what I was going to do, but I made it happen. I had some resources at my disposal, but I also had an infant. You lack those same resources, but Kit is twelve and not only are you employed and making money, he is as well."

"So, it's settled then. The boy stays." Baloo announced victoriously.

"It's not that simple Baloo." Sensing the coming question Rebecca continued, "WE have decided he can stay, that it is in his best interest to stay rather. But how long do you think you can keep an orphan hidden here? He has already gone to the doctor for a basic checkup and I have already submitted temporary employment forms so there are records of him floating around already and – because he is a minor – the Department of Labor is going to be investigating this "mystery kid" to figure out who he is. He is going to have to be enrolled in school soon and they are going to request information from you about him; in fact, they are probably growing suspicious that Kit is picking up Molly with more and more frequency but isn't enrolled. Baloo, eventually legalities are going to catch up to him and come into play and then comes the ultimate question about whether or not the courts will grant you custody or…" Rebecca paused for a moment sensing the need for delicacy before continuing, "…or whether they will take Kit away from here and place him in a foster home or orphanage."

"I don't know…..they're gonna do what now?!…..hold on, back up, I was an orphan and if someone wanted a child they just took 'em in! Now you're telling me that they can swoop in an take my boy from me?!" Baloo was confused how child adoption was now some sort of complicated procedure and felt the tiniest spark of anger within him ignite at the thought of Kit being hauled off by some jack-booted thugs like a common criminal.

"Baloo, this isn't the turn of the century anymore and as far as the government is concerned, he is not 'your boy', not yet anyways. But don't worry right now. Just know that I am on your side and that I will help you and Kit through it as much as possible." Rebecca looked at the time, "In the meantime, let's drop this subject. Kit should be back with Molly any minute and frankly he doesn't need to hear…."

Baloo and Rebecca turned to look at the door to Higher for Hire as it was gently opened and in walked a honey-colored bear in a blue jumper with a pink undershirt and blue pigtailed ears followed by an older browner bear in a forest green sweater with a brown patch on the right elbow, a white undershirt, light brown cargo shorts, and a red and blue cap with the brim facing backwards. Molly ran to her mother and Kit placed Molly's backpack and the small burlap bagged package he was sent to pick up on the way on Ms. Cunningham's desk before turning to Baloo with bright eyes and a smile.

"Hi Papa Bear."

-END CHAPTER 2-