out. Twenty? Maybe thirty? He�d never get to fly!

From out of nowhere, a sultry female voice belted out a slow ballad. �Some bear to watch over me...�

Dunder looked around in surprise at the familiar voice. �Is that Rosebeary Clooney? Did the Colonel arrest her, too?�

From beneath his shirt, Kit pulled a small gadget. �Nah, Dunder, it�s my portable radio. Wildcat made it, and it gets awesome reception. Last week, Papa Bear and I listened to a Sox game all the way from Zapan.�

Dunder gazed wistfully at the radio. �Zapan�s on the other side of the world from Usland. That�s even farther away than Thembria.�

Baloo bounced up to the prison cell, still confined to his chair; the chair made a horrible scraping sound on the cement floor as he scooted along. �Time ta vamoose, Li�l Britches, while Spiggy�s down for the count,� he panted.

�We�re kinda in a hurry. Do the paperwork later, Dunder!� Kit exclaimed desperately. The boy heard the tramping of soldiers� boots in the hallway, and he knew those hulking soldiers would have weapons. It was escape now or never.

�Please, ol� buddy, ol� pal!� Baloo pleaded.

Dunder wavered for a moment, his eyes passing from the big bear to his son.

�I�ll give you my radio,� Kit offered, holding the small device.

It was a tantalizing offer, but firing squads loomed in the back of his mind. �Oh...I don�t know.�

�I�ll send you new batteries whenever you need them,� Kit wheedled.

�Deal!� Without a second thought, Dunder took a key ring from its hook on the wall. He unlocked Kit�s cell. �But don�t tell anybody about this. I could get in big trouble, you know.�

�We won�t tell anyone,� Kit promised as he sliced through Baloo�s ropes with his pocketknife.

As soon as he was free, Baloo started for the door at a run. �Thanks, pal! We owe ya big! If yer ever in Cape Suzette, stop by for a hot dog or ten!� he shouted as the two bears sprinted out of prison.

�Stop! Stop, spies!� Spigot panted, running up to Dunder. He leaned tiredly against the sergeant. �Why didn�t you stop them?�

�They were too fast for me, sir.� He patted the radio safely concealed in his pocket. Now he could listen to K-CAPE anytime he wanted.

�I�m taking away your radio!� Colonel Spigot yelled, smacking Dunder across the knees with his riding whip.

Dunder forced himself to appear disappointed. �Yes, Colonel Spigot, sir.�

Both warthogs stepped outside and began walking towards the big government building. �What am I going to tell the High Marshall?� Spigot said fretfully.

�Tell him it�s my fault, sir?� Dunder suggested.

�Yes, Dunder, it�s all your fault! This whole situation is your fault!�

�Yes, sir.� Dunder, who had been fingering the portable radio, accidentally flipped it on. Carmel Miranda�s Spanish voice belted out, �Mama, oh mama, oh mama, quero ser seu...� With wide eyes, he quickly turned it off.

�What did you say, Dunder?� Spigot said, staring at the big warthog suspiciously.

Blushing, Dunder whispered, �Nothing, sir.�

Cape Suzette Memorial Hospital

�Oh, I wish Baloo was here,� Rebecca murmured, cuddling the infant in her arms.

Ten minutes earlier, she had said the same thing, but with a much, muchdifferent connotation: �Oh, I wish Baloo was here! If that bear ever lays a finger on me again, I�ll strangle him, fire him, strangle him again, and break every bone in his fat body! Then he�ll need a hospital! OWWWWW-OWWWW! DOCTOR, WHERE ARE MY DRUGS!� Shaking the physician violently by his lapels, she screamed, �GIVE! ME! MY! DRUGS!�

But all of the pain and anguish of labor - well, some of it - had been forgotten when the nurse placed her baby in her arms.

�Do you have a name chosen, ma�am?� asked the nurse, clipboard in hand.

Rebecca smiled down at the newborn, then up at the nurse. �Yes, I�ve just thought of the perfect one.�

The Sea Duck

The beautiful blue sky was brushed with wind-swept cirrus clouds and, ten thousand feet below, the radiant, late afternoon sunlight glimmered off of the placid Pacific Ocean. The cockpit was hotter than the interior of a volcano, even with the windows down. But Baloo was oblivious to it all. He didn�t even notice the steady stream of perspiration dripping off the end of his nose onto his sweat-drenched shirt. He, hunched over the control yoke, was focused on one thing and one thing only - getting to Cape Suzette Memorial Hospital. He mumbled repeatedly under his breath, �Hang on, Becky, I�m comin�.�

In the co-pilot�s seat, Kit took off his cap and brushed sweat from his brow with his sleeve. He looked up from the map only to catch a glint of sunlight reflecting off of glass out of the corner of his eye. He stuck his head out the open window. Trouble! Five CT-37s were zooming up fast behind them. �Uh, Papa Bear, you�re not going to believe this, but air pirates are on our tail.�

Baloo groaned, rubbing his eyes wearily with a massive paw. �Oh, man! What do they want? I don�t got any cargo.�

Over the radio, the pirate captain Don Karnage said, �Surrender yourselves unto us, Sea Duck, or face the unspeakable, ugly wrath that is Karnage.�

�Yer wrath ain�t as ugly as yer ugly mug, Don Garbage,� Baloo chuckled into the mike.

�It is Karnage! Don Karnage! Roll the �R�. How can you insult my beautious self?�

�Like this.� Baloo blew a raspberry.

Father and son shared impish grins as the wolf screamed, �I�ll get you, Bahloo, if it�s the last thing I do this minute!�

�Ex-squeeze me, Karny, but ya gotta catch me first, an� I don�t got time for fun an� games today.� Baloo yanked the control yoke back sharply. �Time for the ol� Baloo Corkscrew! Hang on to yer knees, Li�l Britches!�

Both bears knew that the pirates� CT-37 fighters stalled out at the end of a steep climb and that none of the air pirates could follow complicated aerial maneuvers - a fact that the dim-witted pirates kept forgetting. True to form, the single-man tri-wings began falling away one by one.

The Sea Duckmade graceful arcs around the floundering CT-37s and kissed the surface of the ocean before leveling out. The pirates ate proverbial prop wash.

�Louie�s is just a mile east of here,� Kit mentioned.

�No time for sundaes now, kiddo. Gotta get home.� Baloo nudged the throttle up a little. Not for the last time did he wish that he still had his overdrive engines.

Kit grinned wryly to himself. He�d never thought he�d see the day when don�t-trouble-me-with-troubles Baloo would pass up a chance to go to his favorite party spot.

But it didn�t really surprise him. It was just another small change that Kit had noticed in his Papa Bear since he had literally run into him. On the outside, Baloo appeared the same: he wore the same yellow flight shirt, still possessed his easy-going personality, loved his �baby�, and enjoyed a good snooze in his hammock. However, he had become a little more responsible, a little more punctual, and even put others� needs before his own - sometimes. In a nutshell, Baloo was finally growing up.

In an attempt to be cooler, the young navigator stuck his head out the window and watched the blue ocean speeding by below them. He wondered how his mother and new little sibling were faring.

End of part 1

Baby Baloos
Part 2

Cape Suzette
Rush Hour Traffic

HONK! HONK!

Another car answered irately with a BEEEEEEP followed by a �Hey, buddy, get outta the way!� from its driver.

�Yeah, same to ya!� yelled the first driver, thumbing his nose.

�Why, you!�

All up and down the street, horns were blaring and tempers were flaring.

The hot temperature was heating up tempers all over the city. If the awful heat wave wasn�t bad enough, the streets of downtown Cape Suzette were clogged with bumper-to-bumper cars. Commuters trying to get home after a long day�s work found themselves stuck in a horrible traffic jam due to an overheated truck blocking the road.

Baloo leaned over the front seat of the taxi that he and Kit were in. �Do ya think you could speed it up, pal?�

The taxi driver, an ape, said over his shoulder, �Through this traffic? Whattaya think this is - a plane?� He laughed derisively. �Those are the breaks, Mac.�

After Baloo leaned back, Kit whispered, �I think he�s riding the brakes.�

�Oh...� the big bear moaned, mopping sweat from his face with the hem of his shirt.

�That was a joke, Papa Bear,� the boy said with a wan smile.

Baloo pushed Kit�s cap down over his eyes with a sigh. �Yeah, I know, kid. I just hope Becky�s all right.�

�We�re movin�,� announced the taxi driver triumphantly. He put the yellow cab into �drive�. They inched ahead a few feet and halted once again. �We�re stoppin�. Sorry, folks.�

Baloo felt like banging his head against the seat in front of him in frustration. Instead, he clenched and unclenched his cap in his hands. �This is wrong.�

�What�s �wrong�?� Kit was almost positive that he had seen a snail zip past them.

�It took us less time gettin� ta Cape Suzette from Thembria than it�s takin� us ta get across town.�

Kit opened his mouth to say, �Not quite�, but quickly shut it. He didn�t think Baloo would appreciate being corrected just then. He stared out the open window where a group of teenagers was walking down the sidewalk, bottles of soda in hand. Kit smacked his dry lips. He was so thirsty. He fanned himself with his cap, almost wishing that they were still in cold Thembria instead of sitting in rush hour traffic in a smothering hot cab.

Cape Suzette Memorial Hospital
An Agonizingly Long Hour Later

The sun had sunk below the cliffs when Baloo and Kit hurried up the steps of the tall, brick hospital and burst into the air-conditioned lobby. Directly in front of them was the receptionist�s desk. On their left was a small, glassed-in cafeteria

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