Kit, the Magician - a Tale Spin fan fiction

[Kit_Lee]

Oct 6, 2009 6:13:59 GMT -5 eclipse said:

Very nice! I like the way the relationships between characters are presented. Almost like in real life.

Oh and I would help Simba get at whoever was feeding those orphans Gruel *pulls out keyblade* ... eh? *looks at keyblade*

Keep it up! I eagerly await what happens next.

Thank You! Eclipse,

Me and Kc5 both appreciate that you liketed this chapter alot:D that makes us feel proud

On Simba dont worry we has a few things we cant reviel right yet but hes not going to be very happy or forgiving thats for sure.

Thanks again pal and thats waht we try to do is make teh charatcer feel real and beleveable

Thanks for the wounderful feed back.

Sincerely
Your friend,

Kit Lee
Christopher

:0)

[KitCloudkicker5285]

Title: Kit, the Magician
Authors: KitCloudkicker52885 and Kit_Lee

Disclaimer: We do not own Tale Spin, Disney does. But we do own Chris Cloudkicker, Jeffery and Melissa.

Warning: Contains Chris Cloudkicker cuteness and sad Chris. Read with plenty of tissues.

Chapter Five

Doctor Baggie and Angry Lion

---

Melissa stood in the middle of her rehearsal studio, waiting for her magicians-in-training to show up. She was out of her nurse’s outfit, but not in costume for rehearsal either. Instead, she was wearing something similar to Rebecca’s outfit, except her sweater was aqua blue instead of purple like her sister’s.

“Oh good,” she said brightly when her three students walked in. “And about time too. Okay, first thing first, Jeffery, why don’t you show them to the dressing room and help them into their costumes, so that we can begin.”

“How come we’re doing a dress rehearsal, Mom?” Jeffery asked “It’s only a lesson session, isn't it?”

“Oh, no, Jeffery dear,” Melissa said, smiling and pinching Jeffery’s cheek. “This isn’t a dress rehearsal; we’re just fitting them into their costumes and making sure they're comfortable while they’re performing tricks."

“Oh!”Jeffery exclaimed. “That makes sense. I guess it would be fun to do it in costumes. I really like wearing mine.”

“Oh, I know you do, honey. Tell you what,” Melissa said, getting excited. “Why don’t you go ahead and put yours on while these two are trying on theirs?”

“Do you mean it, Mom, do you really mean it?” Jeffery asked excitedly, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“Why, yes, of course dear.” Melissa said with a smile.

Jeffery let out a joyous squeal and hugged his Mom around the middle. He couldn’t help himself; any excuse to wear his costume was a treat for him.

“Thank you, Mom!” Jeffery said, and then he turned to his cousins. “C’mon you two.” And he led them away to the dressing room and to help them into their costumes.

Chris and Jeffery talked a bit about the show from the pervious night while Jeffery helped Chris with the zipper on the back on his costume, one thing led to another, until Melissa’s sawing-Kit-in-half trick was brought up, which gave Kit a flashback of his terror and shock.

“Um, Jeffery?” Kit said, trying to sound casual, but there was a small trace of nervousness in his voice. “This doesn’t mean I’m getting sliced again, does it?”

“Yeah, of course Kit!” Jeffery said, smirking at Kit’s look of horror but then he took pity on his cousin and decided to ease his worries. “Hey…Don’t worry, Mom’s gonna be teaching you the trick first this time. Look at me, I’ve been sliced a hundred times and I’m half the bear I used to be… Good luck cuz…” he winked, grinning slyly.

“Jeffery, will you stop teasing my brother?” Chris asked, frowning at Jeffery. “He’s really worried and you’re just making him feel worse with your jokes.”

“Oh!” gasped Jeffery, noticing Kit’s expression for the first time. “Oh, Kit, I’m so sorry… Look, there’s nothing to worry about. You see, in a trick, nothing is real, they only look real. You were never really sawed in half; my Mom’s going to show you the trick behind it as soon as we get ready.”

Within minutes, they were ready, all dressed in their costumes and then they went out to meet Melissa, who was standing in front of a chalk board with a diagram of a magic trick drawn on it.

Melissa noticed Kit’s expression at once, which still looked anxious and nervous.

“Kit dear, come up here a minute.” Melissa said, beckoning Kit to her side. She bent down and whispered in his ear. “Are you alright, Kit? You look worried I’m going to stick a needle into you or something,”

“Um…” Kit said hesitantly, and then he leaned forward and whispered in her ear. Whatever he said, it was not heard by Jeffery and Chris.

Melissa smiled in understanding and hugged Kit consolingly.

“Oh not to worry, Kit dear,” she said, gently stroking his furry cheek. “It’s not as bad as you think it was. Here, I’ll show you. Come over here a moment.”

She led him over to the box, in which he had been sawed in half the night before. Chris followed Kit and stood next to him in front of the box.

Melissa opened the box lid and Kit peered inside to see a flat white covered cushion he laid on last night.

“Take a closer look,” Melissa said in a voice of mystery. “Do you notice any thing out of the ordinary?”

Kit looked closer but could see nothing out of the ordinary, not knowing what to look for.

“No, not really…” Kit said, scratching his head in confusion. “I guess you really did saw me in half.”

Melissa snorted with laugher. “No, Kit dear,” she said, her eyes twinkling. “Watch this...”

She moved one of the covers, revealing a compartment where Kit’s legs and midsection would go.

“So that’s how it works!” Kit said, sounding mildly surprised, and then he felt embarrassed for the way he had reacted to the trick the night before. “But if I wasn’t really sawed in half, how come I saw my feet sticking out of the end of the other half of the box?”

“Oh, that’s easy, cuz.” Jeffery said, and for some reason, he was blushing embarrassingly. “I was in the other half of the box, wearing my Mom’s pantyhose…” he grinned sheepishly and then he buried his face in his hands to hide his embarrassment. “The pantyhose on my darker fur made them the same color as yours.” He then took out a pair of pantyhose from a nearby drawer and put it on one foot to show how it made his fur the same color as Kit’s “See?”

“Wow, that’s really all there is to it?” Kit asked, amazed, but then he frowned. “But how come I was tickled when it was Jeffery’s feet you were tickling?” he asked, looking up at Melissa.

“Oh, that…” Melissa said, again in that voice of mystery. “Look into the legs’ compartment of the box.”

Kit reached into the box, opened the legs’ compartment and peered inside, where there was a foot massager at the bottom. So this is what really tickled him…

“But whose idea was it to saw me in half?” Kit asked, looking at his aunt with a slightly hurt expression, as though he couldn’t believe she’d do that to her favorite nephew.

“Well, heh-heh…” Melissa said, laughing a little nervously, as though she were a little girl, who was caught raiding the cookie jar. “Oh fiddlesticks! How do I explain this to you?”

“You could start from the beginning...” Kit suggested.

“Oh dear… I thought you would say that.” Melissa said, more nervously still. “Well—now don’t think too badly of Rebecca—”

“It was Mom?!” Kit interrupted, looking half-incredulous, half-outraged. Then he muttered: “Thanks a lot, Mom…trying to give me a heart attack at twelve…”

“Heh-heh, well, I’m afraid Jeffery and I would have to take some of the blame.” Melissa said, grinning sheepishly. “We sort of….encouraged her idea until she insisted on us putting you through it.”

“Oh no, not you and Jeffery too!” Kit sighed. “Are you all trying to give me a heart attack here?! Gee thanks a lot… You could have told me it was a trick beforehand, you know.”

“Kit dear, it wasn't all my doing.” Melissa said pleasingly. “It was only partly my doing. You should blame Jeffery and your Mom the most.” She laughed with a wink.

“Moooom! So not fair of you to rat me out!” Jeffery groaned. “Me and Aunt Becky were just joking, we meant Kit no harm. Kit’s always so brave, we thought he would—Kit, don’t look at me like that, cuz… please,” he said, cowering to the look Kit was now giving him, a look that has not cross his face since his Air Pirates days.

Chris nervously backed away from his brother. He had no idea that Kit could make such a face, He then ducked behind his Aunt Melissa for shelter from Kit’s wrath.

It was then that Jeffery fully understood why bullies feared Kit. That look upon his face was once part of Kit’s tough guy routine and it was hard NOT to be a little afraid when Kit was looking at you like that.

“So you did set me up, didn’t you?” Kit asked, still with that dreaded look, which was a cross between a scowl and glare.

“Uh… Uh, Mom, a little help, please?" Jeffery said, wanting nothing more than to run in the opposite direction, away from his cousin’s glare.

“Jeff, you just sealed your fate,” Kit said. “When we perform in the talent show, I’m sawing you in half… and I won’t tell you how I did it!” Jeffery gulped, for the first time in his life, he was afraid of Kit. “How could you do that to me, Jeffery?” Kit continued; the dreaded look replaced by a look of disappointment. “I can forgive Aunt Melissa, and even Mom to an extent. But you? I’m so disappointed in you.” he said, hanging his head.

“K-Kit... Kit, I’m so s-s-sorry!” Jeffery said, stuttering and cowering in fear. He gulped and then said: “I m-m-meant you no h-h-harm, Cuz… Please don’t h-h-hurt me, I won’t do it again, honest!”

“Oh don't worry, I’m not going to hurt you, Jeff,” Kit said playfully but sternly. “I love you too much to ever hurt you, you nutty bear. But when we perform at the talent show, you’re not getting off the hook. So you wanted to saw me in half, huh? Okay, I’ll just saw you in half just to see how you like it.” He added with a sly grin. “But you are defiantly not getting out of a big nuggie.”

Kit pulled Jeffery under a headlock and gave him a slight nuggie so not to hurt him. No matter what he might say, he would never hurt his adopted cousin.

“Jeff, you really need to learn not to pull pranks on me like that.” Kit said sternly but playfully as he continues to rub his knuckles on his cousin’s head. “You could have given me a heart attack.”

“Okay! Okay! Kit, I promise I won’t do it again, honest!” Jeffery said, laughing despite his slight discomfort. “I’m so sorry I scared you, cuz.” He added, trying to wiggle out of the headlock Kit had him under.

“You’d better not!” Kit said sternly “But you’re not getting off that hook that easily. You’re still getting sliced at the talent show. And I’m not telling you how I’m going to do it.” Kit added with wink in his Aunt Melissa’s direction. .

“Oh, come now, do tell what’s all this talk about a talent show, dears?” Melissa asked, suspiciously.

“Oh yeah, we haven’t told you yet.” Kit said sounding forgetful. Upon releasing his cousin from his headlock, he continued: “There’s a talent show at school this coming weekend.”

Kit looked suddenly nervous.

“Kit dear, what’s the matter sweetie? You look so nervous. Come now, you can tell your Aunt Melissa.” Melissa said comfortingly. .

“Well,” Kit said “Jeffery wants me to be the magician, with him and Chris as I disagreeist—” he was interrupted by Chris.

“Yeah, but no sawing me in half!” Chris said loudly.

“Chris dear, I’m sure Kit would never do that to you.” Melissa said massaging Chris’ furry cheek.

“Don’t worry, Chris, I wouldn’t do that to my little brother.” Kit said, hugging Chris. “It’ll be Jeffery whogets sawed in half,” he added, grinning slyly towards Jeffery, who was still trying to figure out what was going on in his cousin’s mind. “Anyway,” Kit continued “I’m really not sure about me being the magician, Aunt Melissa, you and Jeffery know more than I will ever know in a week.” Kit was now feeling slightly upset that he doesn’t know magic well.

“Oh nonsense, Kit, you can learn magic just as fast as anyone. You proved that to me last night while watching the show.” Melissa said cheerfully. “We’d just have to speed up your training a little bit—Oh, c’mon now, don’t hang your head like that around me.” Melissa added placing her hand under Kit’s chin, raising his head up comfortingly

“I—I know Aunt Melissa, but am I really cut out for this?” Kit asked, trying to sound confident but the nervousness in his voice was apparent by his slight stutter.

“Kit dear, you can be just as great a magician as me and Jeffery are,” Melissa said comfortingly “Please don’t feel like you can’t. I’ll teach you, not just as the assistance, but as a magician’s apprentice too. Okay? Now cheer up, you’re going to do fine.”

“Thanks, Aunt Melissa; that means a lot.” Kit said with newfound confidence.

Later, after their first magic lesson—or in Jeffery’s case, the one hundredth and fifth lesson—the three bear cubs returned to Jeffery’s attic bedroom. It was agreed that Kit and Chris would stay at the boarding house until Baloo or Rebecca comes to pick them up. Kit reluctantly agreed to this, for Chris’ sake. Chris’ safety was more important to him than his boyish pride that wants to walk home by himself.

“Snowy? …Snowy?” Jeffery called, looking under the bottom bunk. “Where are you, you silly rabbit?” He then looked in the wastepaper basket, in the closet, under the desk, but still no rabbit. “AH!” Jeffery cried in frustration. “Snowy, c’mon, this was funny yesterday when I found you in my top hat, but not any—” he stopped talking abruptly and smacked himself on the forehead. “Why do I always forget her favorite hiding place?”

He then moved over to the shelf and lifted Snowy the white rabbit out the top hat.

“There you are,” Jeffery said, cuddling his pet rabbit. “Time for your dinner, Snowy.” He set the rabbit down and gave her rabbit food in a bowl. “That’s a good girl, Snowy, you eat that right up.”

Kit smiled at the scene and couldn’t resist teasing Jeffery a bit.

“See, Jeff? Your memory’s getting as bad as your Mom’s.”

“Okay, okay,” Jeffery said, looking a little grumpy at being teased for his memory problem again. “So I have some memory lapse, but they’re not as bad as Mom’s.” He looked up at the clock on the wall and let out an excited gasp. “It’s time for my favorite band!”

He rushed over to the radio and turned it on.

He rushed over to the radio and turned it on.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I give you—the one, the only—the Country Bears! Ha, ha!” said the radio announcer.

And then a soft, lively melody of country music begins to play.

You can’t sit around waiting for the, path to glory
You've gotta get moving to, tell your story
The bigger they come the harder they fall
From a littlest acorns come trees so tall

Kit’s ears perked up to the lyrics that define his life in a lot of ways. He begins to have flashbacks of his escape from Karnage, his crash-landing on top of Baloo at Louie’s, of his meeting Rebecca and Molly for the first time, all the good times he had at Higher for Hire, and finally, the discovery of his brother, Chris.

Where you're coming from, where you're going.
Until you get there, you got no way of knowing

All the love in the world won't find you if you don't let it
Let it ride, let it ride, let it ride
And every mistake is a break, but only if you get it
Let it ride, let it ride, let it ride

Kit glanced at Jeffery and Chris; they were both swaying to the music. And Chris looked as though he was playing an invisible guitar.

“I like this song, Jeff,” Kit said, allowing himself to sway to the music as well. “It’s got really good words and music to it. I think Baloo would like this too.”

“Yeah,” Jeffery said in agreement.

And all the love in the world won't find you if you don't let it
Let it ride, let it ride, let it ride
And every mistake is a break, but only if you get it
Let it ride, let it ride, let it ride

Every day's brand new place

Feel the sun up on your face
Try something new, you won't regret it
The hole in your shoe, buddy, just forget it

Let it ride, oh you got to let it
Let it ride, let it ride, let it ride
Let it ride, oh you got to let it
Let it ride, let it ride, let it ride
Let it ride, oh you got to let it
Let it ride, let it ride, let it ride
Let it ride, oh you got to let it
Let it ride, let it ride, let it ride

The song ended and the three bear cubs, minus the rabbit, applauded just as Melissa was calling to them through the intercom between the kitchen and Jeffery’s room that was time for dinner. They find this convenience for commutating between four and a half floors, from the kitchen to Jeffery’s attic bedroom.

“Oh boy, dinner! I’m starving, how about you two?” Jeffery asked happily.

“Yeah!” Chris and Kit said in unison as their stomachs gave a huge rumble.

“Dears, come on already, it’s getting cold, and nothing’s worst than cold lasagna.” Melissa’s voice said from the intercom, sounding playful.

Too true, Jeffery thought. He walked over to the intercom, press and held down the call button.

“Okay, we’re coming, Mom.” Jeffery called back.

Quickly the boys headed down to the kitchen, stopping on the way down to wash their hands, to meet Melissa who was setting their plates.

“Yummy, Mom; that smells great! Your cooking’s always the best!” Jeffery said, kindly complementing his Mom’s cooking. She was teaching him, but there was still room for improvements.

“I’m glad you like it, Jeffery dear.” Melissa said gently hugging her son. “I just hope Kit and Chris will like it too."

It was at that moment did Melissa and Jeffery noticed that both Cloudkicker twins were staring their plates, their mouths drooling hungrily as the four bears took their seats.

“Heh-heh,” Melissa laughed. “I guess that answers my question.” She chuckled, and then said. “Well dears, it looks like you three are ready for a good dinner, huh?”

“You bet!” the tree cubs exclaimed in unison.

“Heh-heh, okay, I won’t make you wait any longer. Go on, dig in.” Melissa said. “Oh hold it!” she added, holding up a hand and sounding forgetful. The three cubs froze with their forks halfway to their mouths, looking a little impatient. “Jeffery, would you be a dear and say grace for us, please?” she asked.

“Sure! I would be happy to, Mom.” Jeffery said, putting his hands together under his chin, bowing his head and closing his eyes.

Kit, Chris and Melissa imitated him, putting their hands together and bowing their heads as well.

“O Mighty Lord in the heaven above,” Jeffery begins. “Thank you for giving us today our daily bread. Thank you for our family, for we are so blessed to be together. Thank your for love and peace. Thank you for providing us with this wonderful meal, for we are so grateful and blessed. Amen.”

“Amen.” echoed Kit, Melissa, and Chris."

“Jeffery dear; that was so pretty.” said Melissa gently wiping a tear from her eyes.

“Thanks Mommy,” Jeffery said happily in response. “I always love saying grace,” he added. “I’m glad you asked me to, Mom."

“Oh, you’re welcome, Jeffery dear.” Melissa said.

“Wow, this is really good, Aunt Melissa.” Kit said happily, trying not to talk with his mouth full.

“Yeah, I agree!” piped up Chris, while breaking a piece of garlic bread and eating it.

“Oh, thank you, dears, I’m glad you like it.” Melissa said, smiling pleasantly, while picking up a bit of lasagna off her plate with her fork.

“Told you Mom’s lasagna’s the best,” Jeffery said, grinning at his cousins. “It’s a bit of an old secret family recipe Mom learned from my Grandma. It’s pretty cool, I want to make something this good someday. I only know how to make some breakfast stuff, pizza and-and baking for now though.”

“That’s just great, Jeff.” Kit said encouragingly. “I know you’re only just learning, but you’ll get there. Just like me with becoming a magician.”

“Aww…Thanks, cuz.” Jeffery said sounding slightly embarrassed. Kit really knew how to make him feel happy.

Just then, there was a knock on front door. They looked toward the door to see a red pilot cap through the square window in the door.

“It’s Daddy Bear!” cried Chris delightedly, he then bolted from his chair and dashed down the hall to open the door. “Daddy Bear!” he yelled as he jumped up into Baloo’s arms. “I’ve missed you, Daddy Bear.” he laid his head on Baloo’s chest, happy to be with his Daddy Bear.

“Aw, I’ve missed you too, Lil Buddy.” Baloo said, cuddling Chris and gently patting the back of Chris’ head.

“Ah, Baloo, come in, come in.” Melissa said from the kitchen doorway. “Why don’t you join us for dinner?”

“Hey, sure thing!” Baloo exclaimed, making his way into the kitchen, carrying Chris. “Thanks, Millie.” He set Chris back down in his seat and took the available seat next to his Lil Buddy.

“Uh, Baloo dear, don’t call me that.” Melissa said with distaste toward the nickname Baloo gave her. “Either call me Melissa or be booted from my house…. the painful way…” Her voice was calm but at the same time, it sounded so dangerous that Baloo didn’t even attempt to argue.

Chris looked down at his plate; he has only eaten half of the square piece of lasagna that was on his plate. He picked up his fork and picked at his food, not feeling hungry anymore.

“I’m sorry, Aunt Melissa, I can’t eat anymore, I’m full.” Chris said, looking apologetically toward his aunt.

“Oh, don’t worry about it, dear.” Melissa said kindly from her side of the table. “Just leave it sitting there, unless somebody else wants it.”

“I’ll take it, Chris.” Kit offered kindly, and he gently took Chris’s plate.

“It was really good though, I’m really sorry I couldn’t eat it all.” Chris continued, still looking apologetic.

“Oh, thank you, dear.” Melissa said, smiling warmly while taking a sip of her drink. “And don’t worry about it, Chris dear, I’m just glad you like it.”

The rest of the meal was an enjoyable affair, as Baloo told the three eager cubs about his day. Apparently, he had had another run-in with the Air Pirates who were after his cargos again.

“…And then, I pulled back on the stick and went into a steep climb. Up and up I went.” Baloo was saying. “Until I heard their engines splutter and then— SPLASH, they fell right into the water! Ha, ha, ha! And then I eased out of the climb and flew home without any more problems.”

“Wow, Uncle Baloo…” Jeffery murmured, gazing up at Baloo in awe.

“How come the pirates’ engines died?” Chris asked, frowning in puzzlement.

“The CT-thirty-sevens are not meant for steep climbs,” Kit said at once. “if you climb high enough, they won’t be able to follow. And they don’t call Papa Bear the best pilot in the world for nothing.” He added happily.

“Mmm-mmm, that was good, Mill—uh, Melissa.” Baloo said, “But do ya got any more?” And without waiting for an answer, he went over the refrigerator and opened it. “Oh boy, pizza!”

“Baloo, no!” Melissa cried, but too late, Baloo had crammed the whole slice into his mouth. “Oh, how rude! I just treated you to dinner and you repay me by eating my pizza?!”

“Hey, relax, lady.” Baloo said, waving a hand. “You can make some more.”

“Why, you—!” Melissa looked ready to strangle Baloo, but Jeffery intervened, stepping in between his Mom and his Uncle ‘get-in-trouble-a lot’ Baloo.

“Mom, calm down.” Jeffery said, holding his Mom back. “I’ll make you some more tomorrow, I promise, as long as you don’t kill Uncle Baloo.”

Melissa sighed in defeat; she knew she could never come between Jeffery and his favorite uncle, so Baloo was spared from her wrath…for now.

“Alright, Jeffery dear,” she smiled. “Now, why don’t you boys clean up while Baloo and I have a talk—I’m not going to hurt him.” She added as Jeffery gave her a sharp look. “We’re just going to talk, that’s all.”

As the three cubs started clearing the table, Melissa pulled Baloo into her office and closed the door.

“What’s up?” Baloo asked, pulling his arm out of Melissa’s grip.

“Well, I gave Chris a physical examination today.” Melissa said. “He’s fairly healthy, except….haven’t you noticed how light he is compared to Kit and Jeffery?”

“Well yeah, it’s one of the first things I’ve noticed about him.” Baloo said frowning. “Did ya weigh him?”

“Yes, he weighs forty-five pounds.”

“WHAT?!” Baloo yelled, outraged.

“Keep your voice down!” Melissa hissed. “And I’m afraid it only gets worse, he’s obviously been malnourished, living off Thembrian gruel his whole life.”

Baloo was now furious beyond belief, anger exploding inside him. He whirled around and slammed his fist against the wall, creating a dent in it.

“BALOO!” Melissa shrieked, grabbing his hand and pulling him to the place where she kept her first aid kit. “Don’t do that, you’ll break your knuckles.”

“I’m fine,” Baloo insisted, trying to pull his hand away, but Melissa was stronger than she appears and wouldn’t budge.

“You are not fine, now come over here.” Melissa said firmly, and she begun wrapping Baloo’s hand in a bandage.

“How could they do that to him?” Baloo asked miserably. “That Simba guy seemed alright to me, he was nice and all, he doesn’t seem the type ta let those kids live on daily gruel.”

“I don’t know, Baloo.” Melissa said sadly. “But Chris needs to gain at least twenty-five pounds and be on a life-long ban from gruel of any kind. How does that feel?” she asked as she finished bandaging his hand.

“Fine…” Baloo grunted, holding up his bandaged hand and looking at it. “So, looks like I really gotta beef Chris up a bit, huh?”

“Yes, but just don’t overfeed him or make him eat when he says he’s full, it could make him sick.” Melissa advised him. “His stomach is small because of malnutrition and he won’t be able to eat as much as Kit and Jeffery can, he only ate half the lasagna that was on his plate, Kit had to finish it for him. Well, lasagna is very filling anyway, so I should be glad he ate as much as he did.”

“Yeah… Okay, I won’t overfeed him.” Baloo promised.

“Good and you’ll have to take him to the doctor tomorrow morning,” Melissa said, handing him a card. “I’ve already made him an appointment with Jeffery’s doctor. He’s a very good children’s doctor.”

“‘Dr. Bagheera’,” Baloo read from the card. “But didn’t you already check him out?”

“I’m only a nurse, Baloo.” Melissa said. “I’m not qualified to give Chris prescriptions for medicine he might need or injections, he’ll have to see a doctor for those.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right,” said Baloo, already forgetting that doctors and nurses were in totally different fields. “Something tells me Chris’ not going to take injections very well... ‘Dr. Bagheera,’ wait a minute! Isn’t that Baggie, one o’ my old school friends?”

“Well, as I didn’t go to the same school as you did, I wouldn’t know,” Melissa said. “You’ll just have to find out tomorrow.”

---

The next morning, Baloo and Chris were walking through the town, hand and hand, with Chris gazing around the city in awe and admiration.

Kit wanted to accompany them to the doctor’s office and be a source of comfort to Chris if he needed it, but Baloo said no and sent him off to school. Needless to say, Kit was not a happy camper about that, and he left home for school, slamming the door behind him in anger.

“Where’re we going, Daddy Bear?” Chris asked curiously, wondering why he was out with Baloo today and not at school with Kit and Jeffery.

“Well, Lil Buddy, you have an appointment to see Dr. Bagheera this morning.” Baloo said gently. “And we’re going to see him.”

“Why?” Chris asked, with innocent child-like curiosity.

“Well, we gotta check to see if you’re healthy, that’s all.”

“But Aunt Melissa said I was fine, I just need to put on a bit more weight.”

Baloo sighed. “Millie’s the one who made the appointment for you, it was her idea.”

“But why?” Chris asked again.

“Well…” Baloo was at a loss for words, this was like talking to Molly. “Well…because, uh, because, uh…because Millie’s only a nurse, she’s not qualified to give you medicine when you need it… yeah, that’s it.”

A few minutes later, they’ve arrived at the doctor’s office. Baloo went over to the front desk.

“Excuse me, Miss?”

A motherly-looking swan peered up at him over her glasses.

“Yes? How may I help you, sir?” she asked kindly.

“I have a Chris Cloudkicker here; he has an appointment to see Dr. Bagheera.” Baloo said, as though he had memorized what he was saying by heart.

The swan checked her records of people due for an appointment that day.

“Ah, yes,” the swan said, closing her book. “We were expecting him today. Have a seat; the doctor will see him momentarily.”

“Thanks ma’am.”

Baloo went and took a seat in the waiting room while Chris wandered off to a corner where there were some toys and younger children playing,

He approached a golden retriever puppy, who appeared to be about Molly’s age and was wearing a red-and-white striped shirt and a pair of navy-blue overalls. He was playing with a set of blocks.

“Hi, I’m Chris.” Chris said to the puppy. “Can I play with you?”

“Okay!” the puppy said brightly, and he handed Chris some of the blocks. “I’m Jason.”

“Nice to meet you, Jason, and thank you for letting me play.” Chris said, accepting the blocks Jason offered him.

“You’re welcome.” Jason said, smiling. “I’ve never played with a big kid before; they all think I’m too little to play with.”

“Oh, you’re not too little,” Chris said, putting a comforting arm around the pup. “You’d have to be a baby to be too little, and you’re not a baby, are you?”

“Nope!” Jason said proudly. “I’m not a baby, I’m six.” And he held up all six fingers.

“And I’m twelve, but I’d still play with you.” Chris said kindly.

And they started playing, building castles with the blocks. Then they got some knight figures and horses and started playing castle invasion.

After a while, Jason’s mother came over to get him, as it was time for him to see the doctor.

“Mommy, come see my new friend, Chris!” Jason said excitedly. “He’s a big kid like Brad, but guess what! Guess what!—He doesn’t think I’m too little and he’s nice and I like him a lot!”

“That’s nice dear,” said Jason’s mother kindly, then she looked at Chris. “Oh my, you’re so cute!” she exclaimed, pinching Chris’ cheek and Chris blushed a little. “Thank you for playing with my Jason, dear. My name is Lois Robinson.”

“You’re welcome,” Chris said, smiling. “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Robinson.

“Oh you’re such a polite nice boy!” Mrs. Robinson exclaimed, pinching his cheek again, “I was watching you playing with my Jason and I’d have to say, you’re really quite good with him…” Mrs. Robinson paused, looking thoughtful. “You know, I could use a babysitter on weekends if you’re interested.”

“That would be great, Mommy!” cried Jason excitedly. “Say yes, Chris, oh please, say yes.” And he gave Chris the real puppy-dog face which was totally irresistible,

“Um, okay…” said Chris hesitantly, not sure whether he should accept the job without asking Baloo or Rebecca first, but still, he couldn’t resist that pout Jason was giving him. “but only if my brother and cousin can come with me.” Mrs. Robinson agreed to his terms and gave him their address. “Oh, I know where that is, it’s just a few blocks from my cousin’s house. Okay, I’ll see you Saturday.”

“Thank you, dear. Say goodbye to Chris, Jason,” said Mrs. Robinson, looking fondly at her precious little boy.

Jason launched himself onto Chris and hugged him around the neck. Chris stumbled a little bit from not being very strong himself. He quickly bent down so he wouldn’t drop Jason

“Don’t do that,” he told the pup. “You’re pretty heavy.”

“Sorry, Chris.” Jason said, grinning sheepishly. He hugged Chris’ neck again. “Bye, Chris, I’ll see you later.”

“Bye Jason.” Chris said as they ended the embrace and he stood up.

As Jason and Mrs. Robinson left, the swan stepped into the waiting room.

“Chris Cloudkicker,” she called. “The doctor will see you now.”

Chris gulped, feeling suddenly fearful, and not knowing what to expect, he dashed over to Baloo, who was standing up, and he ducked behind his Daddy Bear.

Baloo chuckled as he picked Chris up and cuddled him.

“Don’t worry, Lil Buddy,” he said gently, massaging the back of Chris’ head. “They’re just gonna look you over like Aunt Millie did.” It was the understatement of the year and Baloo knew it, but he had to get Chris to see the doctor somehow.

“Would you go in with me…please?” Chris asked in a small voice, with his face buried in Baloo’s flight shirt.

“Sure kid,” Baloo said and he carried Chris from the waiting room.

As they walked into Dr. Bagheera’s office, Baloo was still holding Chris in his arms, trying to comfort him. He then looked over at Bagheera and saw that he was indeed an old school friend, to whom he had referred to as Baggie.

“Baggie!” Baloo exclaimed, placing Chris up on the examination table.

“Baloo!” said Bagheera, sounding pleasantly surprised. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh…well, this here is Chris, my adopted son,” Baloo muttered. “He has an appointment to see you.”

“Ah, yes, Melissa did mention the Cloudkicker boy having a brother.” Bagheera said, surveying Chris with interest. “Hello, Chris, how are you today?”

“I’m…okay…” Chris said shyly, shrinking back a little.

“No need to be shy, Chris, I won’t bite.” Bagheera said lightly, putting on a pair of white rubber gloves.

And so the examination began, with Bagheera placing a hand on Chris’ back and stomach, feeling his spine and his almost flat belly, frowning slightly all the while.

“Chris, I’m going to take your sweater off so I can take a better look at you.” Bagheera told him. And he pulled the sweater up over Chris’ head and laid it aside. Chris sat there, without any clothes on, except for the towel Bagheera laid across his lap. “My word!” Bagheera hissed, staring in horror at Chris’ torso. “He’s malnourished! What have you been feeding him, Baloo?”

“Hey, it wasn’t me, Baggie.” Baloo said indignantly. “The orphanage he grew up in fed him gruel everyday at every meal,” he explained in a growl, his hands curling into fists at his side.

Bagheera scowled at the information Baloo gave him as he continued to feel Chris’ furry chest and back, checking his breathing.

“Okay, now take a deep breath, Chris…” Bagheera instructed him, his hands still on Chris’ chest and back, and Chris inhaled a deep breath. “Good, now let it out,” and Chris exhaled. “Good, again, breathe in….breathe out….breathe in….breathe out….Good, very good, Chris. You are a very good patient. Now this may feel cold, but I need to listen to your breathing and your heart rate.” He took out his stethoscope and pressed it to Chris’ furry back. Chris shivered a bit at the cold touch. “Okay, let’s do it again, breathe in….breathe out….”

After Bagheera declared his breathings normal, he listened to Chris’ heartbeats, pressing the stethoscope to his chest.

Chris giggled. “What are you doing? Ha, ha, that tickles.”

“I’m listening to your heart.” Bagheera said simply.

“What does a heart sound like?” Chris asked curiously.

Bagheera smiled gently at him. “Would you like to listen to your Daddy’s heart to find out?”

“Yeah!” Chris said eagerly while looking over at Baloo.

Bagheera chuckled. “Alright, Baloo, come over here please.” And Baloo stepped over toward them. Bagheera then gave the stethoscope to Chris. “Put these in your ears and hold the other end up to your Daddy’s chest.”

Chris did as he was told and listened intensely with the stethoscope in his ears and the other end placed on Baloo’s chest.

Thump, thump… thump, thump… thump, thump….

Chris gasped, his face shining with excitement.

“Daddy Bear, I can hear it! I can hear your heart!” Chris exclaimed excitedly. “It sounds like a slow drum roll! So that’s what a heart sounds like…”

“Yes, now you know.” Bagheera said, taking back his stethoscope. “Now, I’m going to take your X-ray while you still got your sweater off.”

“What’s an X-ray?” Chris asked curiously.

“It’s where I take a picture of your insides and look at your bones,” said Bagheera in a mysterious voice.

“Oh, when you have it done, can I see it, please? I’ve never seen my insides before!” Chris said excitedly.

So, Bagheera took a full body X-ray photo of Chris and when it was developed, he returned to the office while Chris was putting his sweater back on. He handed Chris a picture of his own skeletal face. The bony cheekbones were raised up slightly as Chris was smiling in this picture.

“Yikes!” Chris exclaimed, looking slightly creeped out. “Hey, my eyes are gone, what happened to my eyes?! Where are my eyeballs, Dr. ‘Heera?”

“The X-ray only shows us your bones, your lungs and your stomach, it doesn’t show your eyeballs, except for the sockets.”

“Alright, alright, Baggie, enough with the gruesome details, you’re scaring Chris.” Baloo interrupted, looking revolted.

Bagheera frowned at Baloo before turning his attention back to the X-rays.

“My word…” he murmured.

“What?” Baloo asked, looking worried. “What’s wrong?”

Chris was looking back and fort between the two adults, looking half-curious, half-apprehensive.

“Look at this,” Bagheera said, holding up a picture of Chris’ stomach. It was smaller than a chicken egg. “Normally, a person’s stomach is about the same size as their fist, but as you can see, that is not the case with Chris. This is the result of malnutrition. And if the stomach does not expand due to malnutrition from an early age, such as eating gruel three times a day, it does not grow and as a result, the person is very likely to be underweight and small for his age, just like Chris. Well at least the good news is that his bones are all growing just fine.”

“Ooh, when I find out who was feeding my boy that awful gruel, they won’t have any teeth left to count!” Baloo snarled, punching his palm with a fist.

“For once, I won’t protest, as I cannot condone malnutrition, especially not in children.” Bagheera said calmly. “Just don’t send them to me when you’re through with them, because I won’t treat them,” he added, his expression was dark and fierce.

“Right,” Baloo agreed. “I’ll just send them to an early grave, or prison. Whichever tortures the person most.”

“Baloo!” Bagheera hissed, covering Chris’ ears. “Not in front of the child!”

“Oh, right… Sorry, Baggie.” Baloo said, looking ashamed, he really should have known better than to act or talk sadistically in front of a child.

“Honestly, you haven’t changed much, have you?” Bagheera sighed, letting go of Chris’ ears.

Chris looked up at Baloo with a worried expression. “Daddy Bear, you’re…. you’re not gonna hurt anybody, are ya?”

Baloo felt his violent anger melting away as he gazed into Chris’ beautiful blue eyes and felt like breaking down, pulling Chris into an embrace and never letting go.

“No, Lil Buddy, I won’t hurt no one.” Baloo promised, picking Chris up and hugging him. “…not unless they hurt my two boys first.”

Chris hugged Baloo’s neck. “I love you, Daddy Bear.” And then he did something he has never done before, for the first time since he had met Baloo, he kissed his Daddy Bear on the cheek.

“Aww, that was sweet, Chris.” Baloo said, smiling, and then he kissed Chris on the forehead.

“Uh, as much as I’d hate to break up this touching moment…” Bagheera said. “But I have a job to do and I’m still not finished with Chris.”

“Oh great, way to ruin the moment, Baggie.” Baloo said resentfully as he sat Chris back down on the examination table.

“Sorry…” Bagheera muttered sheepishly

Bagheera continued his thorough checkup on Chris, checking his blood pressure, giving him an eye and hearing exam, which all were declared normal. And then he laid Chris on his back and started checking his teeth for cavities. Bagheera told them that he was able to do teeth cleanings since he was a full all-around doctor. He gently tries to clean Chris’ teeth but Chris, who has never been to a dentist in his life and therefore never had all these metal cleaning instruments in his mouth, couldn’t find himself able to hold still for the doctor and Baloo had to hold him down.

Finally, Bagheera sat Chris up into a sitting position after his teeth-cleaning.

“We’re almost done, Chris, you’ve been very good today.” Bagheera told him, smiling. “The last thing is your booster shots and then you can go.”

Chris was sitting there, thinking that he likes the doctor — that is, until he saw Bagheera coming back to him with a needle. His eyes widened in panic at the sight of it.

“Wh-wh-what’s that?” Chris asked fearfully, pointing at the needle in Bagheera’s hand.

“This is what I going to use to give you your booster shots.” Bagheera said simply. “I’ll give you a lollypop if you’ll be a good boy and hold still for me.”

If he had thought the bribery of a lollypop would make Chris feel better, he was widely mistaken. Chris jumped down from the examination table and ran, crying, to hide behind Baloo.

“NO! I DON’T WANT A SHOT!” Chris cried from behind Baloo. “Daddy Bear, don’t let him give me those!”

Baloo picked Chris up in his arms and patted his back consolingly. Chris buried his face in Baloo’s chest and whimpered.

“Aw, Baggie, does he have to have those nasty shots?” Baloo asked, stroking the back of Chris’s head soothingly. He hated it when something frightens Chris this badly. “Shh…There, there, Lil Buddy…it’s alright... Shh….”

Chris sniffed in response, sticking his thumb into his mouth and started sucking on it.

“I hate this part of the job…” Bagheera sighed. “Believe me, Baloo, I don't like giving these shots either, but it’s my job, I have to. If you would like, you may hold Chris till I’m done,” he said comfortingly. “Chris is such a sweet little boy, but I really need to give him these so he can be immune to colds and other aliments. You don’t want him getting sick, do you?”

“No,” Baloo sighed. “Get it over with, I’ll hold him fer ya.”

“What?! Daddy Bear, no!” Chris cried; looking so betrayed that it broke Baloo’s heart into pieces. “I don’t want water coming out of me!”

“WHAT?” exclaimed Bagheera, looking outraged. “What have you been telling him, Baloo? Are you trying to turn all the children against me?”

“It wasn’t me, Baggie,” Baloo said defensively. “Chris’ cousin, Jeffery is a magician’s assistant and he made the remark at the last show.”

“Ah, yes,” Bagheera said, nodding in understanding. “Jeffery’s sword trick. ‘Watch where you’re sticking those things, they’re worse than the doctor’s needles,’ he said, and then he drinks a cup of water and water sprouted out of his chest, is that the one?”

“Yeah, that’s the one, Baggie.” Baloo said,

Bagheera sighed and shook his head. “That line and that trick shall be the end of me; it is not good for business.” He reached out and patted Chris on the back consolingly. “There, there, child. I would never harm you. Jeffery was just joking when he said that and the water that sprouted out his chest was just a trick, it is physically impossible to do that without dying doing so.”

Chris moved his face away from Baloo’s chest and stared at Bagheera with teary eyes.

“R-really?” he sniffed.

“Let me tell you something, Lil Buddy.” Baloo said, raising Chris up a little. “I’ve known Baggie since my own school days, he wouldn’t hurt you and he wouldn’t give you those booster shots if you didn’t need ‘em.”

“R-really?” Chris sniffed again, with half a glance at Bagheera.

“Really,” Baloo and Bagheera confirmed in unison.

Chris looked between Baloo and Bagheera as though trying to make up his mind about something.

“O-okay…” he said timidly, then he look up at Baloo and tightened his arms around Baloo’ neck. “Hold me, Daddy Bear.”

“Sure kid,” Baloo said softly and he moved toward the examination table and sat Chris down upon it but he kept his arms around Chris in his comforting hold.

Bagheera then put on a new pair of white rubber gloves, and began to start by checking the needle to make sure it wasn’t contaminated.

“Chris… please be very brave for me.” Bagheera said comfortingly. “I promise you, this will all be over soon.”

Chris was still clinging to Baloo as Bagheera approached him with the dreaded needle. Bagheera gently grasped Chris’ wrist and pushed up his left sleeve and he dabbed his arm with an alcohol-filled cotton ball. And Chris whiningly turned his face away from his left arm and hid it in Baloo’s chest again.

“Relax Chris, it’ll be over soon, but it’ll hurt worse if you move too much.” Bagheera said gently, aiming the needle to Chris’ arm.

Chris froze, as still as a statue and Bagheera gave him his first shot. He let out a weak cry as he felt the prick of the needle on his arm, a tear slid down his cheek.

“You’re doing well, Chris.” Bagheera said gently, patting Chris on the back. “You’re being very brave.”

“Is it over?” Chris whimpered in a muffled voice, his face pressed against Baloo’s chest.

“Not yet, Chris. You’ve still got a few more, just a few. Keep being brave for me.” Bagheera said comfortingly

Chris begins to cry as Bagheera gave him the second shot.

“Sometimes I really hate this job.” Bagheera muttered, patting Chris back consolingly. “I find no pleasure in making children cry.”

“Shh, Chris… It’ll be okay, Lil Buddy,” Baloo said, comforting Chris with a gentle pat as well

“N-n-no more, Daddy Bear,” Chris sobbed. “P-p-please, no more, I wanna go home!”

“We’re nearly done, sweet child,” Bagheera said gently, patting the back of Chris’ head. “We’ve got one more to go, just one more and then it’ll all be over.”

“No, I wanna go home!” Chris cried.

“Chris,” Baloo said gently. “Just take one more and then we can go home, scout’s honor.”

“NO!” Chris shouted, “I wanna go home—NOW!”

“Chris Buddy Cloudkicker!” Baloo said sternly, and Chris shrinks in Baloo’s arms. “Do not shout at me like that.”

“I-I’m sorry, Daddy Bear…” Chris whimpered,

Baloo sighed; he really didn’t want to be stern with Chris, not now when he was upset about having gotten two shots already. He hugged Chris a little tighter.

“Hey, I know you wanna go home now, but you’ll have to take the last shot.” Baloo told him gently. “Just one more shot and then we can go; can you do that for me?”

Chris looked up at Baloo’s face with teary eyes, hesitated, then said: “O-okay, Daddy Bear, I’ll take one more…”

“That’s my boy…” Baloo said softly, he gently wiped Chris’ tears away with a finger. “You’re doing great; it’ll all be over in a moment. –Hurry up, Baggie, this is torture for him.”

Chris extended his arm to Bagheera while burying his face in Baloo’s chest again and moaning.

Bagheera came up and gently gave him the final shot, this time, drawing blood for a blood sample. The blood-drawing needle hurts worst than the first two needles and Chris let out a gasp and cried loudly against Baloo’s chest.

Baloo sympathetically strokes the back of Chris’ head, trying to console him.

“Shh, Lil Buddy, shh….It’s all over now, no more shots.” Baloo said, rocking Chris back and forth. “You were a very good boy, being so brave and all, I’m so proud of you.”

“That hurts, Daddy Bear!” Chris sobbed, tears leaking down his cheeks.

“Shh, I know, I know, shh….” Baloo said gently, tightening his embrace on the sensitive cub. “But it’s all over now—look, Baggie’s giving you a free lollypop.”

Chris turned his face away from Baloo’s chest, sniffing tearfully, to look up at Bagheera, who was holding out a big blue lollypop. He smiled weakly and accepted the lollypop.

“Th-th-thank you, D-D-Dr. ‘Heera,” he said, tearing off the paper and started sucking happily on the lollypop, suddenly feeling much better.

“You’re welcome, little one.” Bagheera said, smiling warmly. He put a blue bunny band aid on Chris’ arm before turning his attention onto Baloo. “I’m going to look at this blood sample and then I’ll be back.” And he left the room, shutting the door behind him.

Baloo kissed Chris on top of the head while rolling down the left sleeve of Chris’s sweater. Chris laid his head on Baloo’s chest, still sucking happily on his lollypop.

“I’ll buy ya an ice cream after this, for being so brave and taking yer shots.” Baloo said.

Chris’ face lit up and he took the lollypop out of his mouth for a moment.

“Really, Daddy Bear, really?” he asked eagerly. “Can I have the peanut butter cups kind?”

“Sure kid, any kind you like.” Baloo said smiling.

“Oh, thank you, Daddy Bear!” Chris cried happily, throwing his arms around Baloo’s neck. And then he returned the lollypop to his mouth and continued sucking on it.

Bagheera came back into the room with a file that contains the result of Chris’ blood test.

“Chris, why don’t you go into the waiting room while Daddy and I have a talk,” Bagheera said gently.

“Okay,” Chris said brightly, and he hopped down from the bed and walked out. Bagheera watched him go.

“Such a nice kid.” Bagheera said, turning to Baloo. “Alright Baloo, I have the results of Chris’ blood test.” He said seriously. “Now, feeding him decent food alone is not going to be enough to improve his body build, I’d recommend Malaid, it’s a children’s malnutrition pill that helps the child eat more and it helps strengthen the child’s body build so that he doesn’t look too skinny.”
“That’s exactly what we need fer Chris.” Baloo said happily.

“Now, Baloo,” Bagheera said cautiously. “Malaid can be dangerous for him if misused. Make sure he only takes one a day, preferably at dinnertime. If he takes any more than one a day, he will very likely be sick at his stomach for a few days, so use it with caution. I think either Miss Cunningham or Melissa should supervise Chris’ pill intakes.”

“Well, he’ll be eating dinner at Millie’s place from now on anyway.” Baloo said shrugging. “He’ll be going to her after school, she’s teaching him and Kit how ta be magicians. So I’d say let Millie manage his medicine.”

“Okay, I’ll call Melissa later and give her the prescriptions.” Bagheera said. “Oh, and Baloo, don’t let Chris eat catfish, he’s allergic,” he added, pointing at the file with the blood test results inside. “Oh, and Baloo, these shots would make Chris a little irritable later, so you can expect to deal with a cranky kid sometime this afternoon.”

“Oh, thanks for the warning, Baggie,” said Baloo.

“Is there any point in asking you to stop calling me Baggie?” Bagheera sighed in defeat.

“Nope!” Baloo said, grinning, and he left the office.

Bagheera sighed deeply and then he went over to his desk and picked up the phone.

“Operator, get me the Freeport Orphanage…”

---

Later, at the Freeport Orphanage, the Orphanage Director, Simba Pride let out a lion roar and slammed his fist upon his desk so hard that he dented the surface. He was enraged by the information he had received, concerning Chris Cloudkicker. He had loved that boy from the time he was a little baby bear cub, but now he found out that Chris was malnourished, skinny and underweight, all because of the gruel he was eating all these years.

He looked at the papers that were shattered all over his desk, they were the past reports of what the children had been eating, none of the reports had the word ‘gruel’ in them, they gave details of gourmand meals—the most recent report stated that they had lobsters, dip ‘n butter. And yet, the doctor of Chris Cloudkicker said otherwise, poor Chris had been living off gruel for almost his whole life.

A tear slid down Simba’s cheek as he wondered why haven’t he seen the signs before, why haven’t he check more thoroughly on the children? Perhaps this was why there haven’t been any adoptions for a while now. Adoptive parents wanted whole and healthy children, not skinny, unhealthy-looking children. And that’s another thing, why hasn’t he noticed that they were skinny?

He berated himself for half an hour before he finally called the halt and pressed the call button on the intercom rather harder than he meant to in his anger.

“URSULA COLE!” He yelled in a thunderous roar. “I WANT YOU IN MY OFFICE IMMEDIATELY!”

Outside in the hall, stood a pig with blue skin and white flaming hair. She was wearing a black dress with black high-heels. She winced at the sound of Simba’s voice as he was calling her and she knew she was in trouble.

She noticed her co-workers had a look of triumph on their faces as she made her way slowly toward Simba’s office. She scowled at them as she passed them.

How dare they? They all look happy that I might be in trouble! She thought angrily. When I’m through with whatever Simba needs me for, I’ll make their lives miserable!

She reached Simba’s office and knocked on the door.

“ENTER!” roared the angry lion inside.

Ursula trembled in fear and her legs shook so much that she was held on to the doorframe for support. She gulped as she wondered when was the last time she had heard Simba that mad before.

She wiped the sweats from her brows, took a few deep breaths, trying to master herself. And then, she turned the doorknob and stepped into the office.

The office was dark and the atmosphere inside was intense. Simba was sitting in his chair behind his desk, his face half hidden in shadows. He gave off the impression of a lion about to pounce upon his prey. Ursula moved cautiously toward Simba’s desk and sat down opposite him.

“I DID NOT INVITE YOU TO SIT DOWN!” Simba roared, so suddenly that Ursula jumped about a foot in the air. “YOU WILL REMAIN STANDING!”

“Sorry,” Ursula said hastily, she stood up and looked more closely at Simba’s face and saw that every inch of the lion’s face was contorted with rage. “My, how did I get under your skin today?”

At these words, Simba looked as though he wanted nothing more than to murder her on the spot. He took a few calming breaths before speaking.

“I have recently received intelligence that you have been feeding the children nothing but gruel in all the years that you’ve worked here.” He spoke in a calm, controlled voice, but it shook slightly out of anger. “I’ve just got off the phone with a doctor of a child who used to live here; he admitted to have been living off gruel for years! HE IS MALNOURISHED, UNDERWEIGHT AND SKINNY! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?!”

“You can’t prove that, the doctor could be lying.” Ursula said, grinning slyly. “And you know the children here are perfectly healthy.”

Simba glared at her before pressing the call button on the intercom.

“Miss Applebarn, please come to my office and bring Chris Cloudkicker’s old roommates.”

Ursula went pale. She knew what was coming. If Simba examines the children thoroughly and declare her a liar, she will be out of the job and out in the cold, where she will no longer be served her gourmand meals.

Then all too soon for Ursula, Miss Applebarn, a motherly-look fox, entered with three boys behind her, a bear cub, a lion cub and a puppy.

“Ah, Miss Applebarn, come in and have a seat.” Simba said politely. “I’ve just got off the phone with Chris Cloudkicker’s doctor.”

At the mention of Chris’ name, the three boys looked suddenly excited.

“Chris?! How is he? Is he happy with his new family?” They all asked in unison.

“Why, yes, yes he is.” Simba replied gently. “He now has a loving mother and father, a devoted and protective brother, a little sister, a loving aunt and a good and loyal cousin.”

“How is Chris?” asked Miss Applebarn, while the three boys celebrated Chris having a good and loving family.

Simba’s expression darkened. “He’s fine now, but he’s malnourished, underweight and skinny. The doctor said he had been living off gruel his whole life.”

Miss Applebarn gasped and clutched at her heart. “Oh, my!” and then she glared at Ursula. “YOU! You’ve been feeding the children gruel all this time, haven’t you?!” and then she launched herself at Ursula and begins strangling her, her hands on Ursula’s throat.

Simba didn’t even bother to call Miss Applebarn off as he walked around his desk toward the three boys and begin to examine them.

He felt their waist and then he lifted their sweaters up so to look at their flat, thin bellies.

“Have you three been eating gruel as well?” Simba asked.

“Yes, sir.” They nodded.

“Since the day you came here?

“Yes, sir.” They nodded again.

“Okay, you may go and inform the other children that they will no longer be eating gruel.” Simba told them

“YAY!” They cheered and then they dashed out of the office.

As they left, Simba called Miss Applebarn off of Ursula. “Miss Applebarn, that’s enough. I need to talk to Ursula.

“One more, please?” Miss Applebarn pleaded, holding Ursula up by the hair and holding a fist, ready to punch her. “For good luck?”

Simba smiled nastily. “Go ahead; get it out of your system.”

Miss Applebarn let Ursula have it alright. POW! She punched her right in the center of her face before letting go of her hair. Ursula swayed on the spot, her face was now purple and blue and she was sporting a black eye, a bloody nose and swollen cheeks and lips.

“Thank you, Vanessa; you will get a pay raise tomorrow.” Simba said. “You may go.”

As Miss Applebarn left, Simba turned, glaring, to Ursula.

“Ursula, you were fired once before for your cruel punishment to Chris Cloudkicker…” Simba said. “And then, out of the goodness of my heart, I hired you back after you promised not to even touch Chris. Not that you would’ve been able to anyway, Miss Applebarn kept a real close watch on him after what you did to him, to ensure his safety.”

“I did nothing life-threatening to that stupid boy.” Ursula snarled.

“You locked him in a dark closet!” Simba roared, slamming his fist on his desk. “He’s nyctophobic! Your unjust punishment traumatized him! And don’t you ever call him stupid again, he’s a bright kid.”

“Whatever,” Ursula said carelessly; she knew what was coming and found that she didn’t care very much this time. “A kid who is afraid of the dark is a stupid one if you ask me.”

“I have only two last words for you,” Simba told her, he was shaking with suppressed rage. “YOU’RE FIRED! Now get out of my office! I fired you once for the way you treated Chris, and now I’m firing you again for half-starving all the children—GET OUT AND DON’T COME BACK!”

Ursula stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry, before she marched out of the office, slamming the door behind her.

Simba knew she was going back home to Thembria. He picked up his phone and called Colonel Spigot.

“Hello, Colonel Spigdart—” he began.

“THAT’S SPIGOT!” yelled an irritable voice from the receiver.

“Sorry, Spigot.” Simba said hastily. “I was wondering what the penalty is for the unjust punishment of children and making them live off of gruel daily? …Firing squad, eh?” a mischievous smirk was spreading across Simba’s face. “Well, I happen to know a certain Ursula Cole, who should be arriving in Thembria in a few days….”

[KitCloudkicker5285]

Meanwhile, back in Cape Suzette, Baloo was carrying Chris into an ice cream parlor. Chris was whimpering; the arm that had been pricked by the needle three times was starting to feel sore.

“There, there, Lil Buddy.” Baloo said soothingly, cuddling Chris in his arms. “I know your arm’s sore, it would be for a few days, Baggie said. Now, how about that ice cream ya wanted?”

“Okay…” Chris said, he stopped whimpering but still looked unhappy.

Baloo sat Chris down on a stool at the bar. Chris started whimpering again and he reached up for Baloo to take him back. Baloo sighed as he picked Chris up again. He sat down on the stool and set Chris on his lap. Chris leaned back, his head resting on Baloo’s chest. Baloo smiled sadly as he patted Chris on top of the head, he wished that Chris’ arm would stop hurting.

Baloo then ordered two bowls of peanut buttercup flavored ice cream and he and his Lil Buddy ate together. Chris, still on his lap, started shoveling his ice cream with the arm that wasn’t hurting him.

After they’ve finished their ice cream, Chris was feeling considerably better; he smiled up at his Daddy Bear.

“That was good, Daddy Bear!” he said happily.

“I’m glad you like it.” Baloo said, and then he paid the man and walked out of the parlor, carrying Chris in his arms.

Baloo took Chris to Melissa’s house, as Kit and Jeffery would be there in a few hours.

“Oh, Baloo dear,” Melissa said as she opened the door to let them in. “How did things go at the doctor’s?”

“It went okay, I guess.” Baloo said as he put Chris down. “Dr. Baggie prescribed some Malaid for Chris and I want you to be in charge of his medicine. Dr. Baggie said it would make him sick if he had more than one a day.”

“I know,” Melissa said, smiling. “Dr. Bagheera called to tell me just after you left. I’ll give it to him every evening after dinner.”

“Why after dinner?” Baloo asked as Chris climbed the stairs up to the upper floors.

“Because, to have it before dinner might upset his stomach while he eats.” Melissa explained.

Later, Baloo was lying on the sofa in the living room, taking a nap. Melissa went looking for Chris, she had a pretty good idea of where he might be and she turned out to be right. She found him on the fourth floor, trying to pull down the trap door in the ceiling which led to Jeffery’s attic bedroom.

He was having difficulties, he wasn’t very strong to begin with and trying to pull on the rope hanging down from the trap door was hurting his left arm even more.

“Ow…” Chris whined, clutching his left arm, a tear sliding down his cheek, and then he glared up at the trap door in the ceiling. “Stupid door!” he said, sounding thoroughly disgruntled.

Melissa walked up behind Chris, bent down and hugged him. Chris jumped on contact, but quickly relaxed.

“Need help, Chris dear?” she asked kindly.

Chris nodded, unsmiling. He was starting to get cranky but he restrained himself from lashing out at Melissa.

Melissa kissed him on the cheek in an attempt to make him feel better. It worked somewhat, he did smiled at her, but the smile did not stay long, as it become a grimace of pain and he clutched his left arm again.

Melissa then reached up and pulled down the trap door in the ceiling. She then helped Chris up the steps to Jeffery’s bedroom.

They entered Jeffery’s bedroom, Snowy who was sitting on the floor, looked up as they came into the room.

“Hey Snowy,” Chris said, glancing at the rabbit as he made his way over to the bottom bunk bed, wanting nothing more just now than to take a good long nap and sleep off his crankiness.

Melissa pulled the covers over him as he lie down and kissed him on the forehead.

“You have a good nap, dear,” she said gently. “And if you need anything, just call me over the intercom.”

“Okay, Aunt Melissa.” Chris said, before turning over to his right side and drifting off to sleep.

Melissa left the room, but as she was backing out of the room, she saw Snowy hopped onto the bed and settled herself on top of Chris’s legs that were under the covers.

“Aww…” Melissa cooed softly, before closing the door and heading downstairs.

Later that day, Kit and Jeffery came home from school. They went straight for kitchen.

“Mom, we’re home!” Jeffery shouted happily, he dashed over to his mother and kissed her on the cheek.

Melissa, who was sitting at the table, fixing their snack, smiled, her eyes twinkling as she hugged her son and kissed him back.

“Oh, hello dears,” she said, now hugging Kit. “Did you two have a lovely day at school?”

“Yeah, we did,” Jeffery said, grinning slyly at Kit. “Kit had cafeteria duty today; he didn’t have a good enough excuse getting out of it this time…”

Jeffery ran as Kit made a dash toward him, he didn’t get far though before Kit caught him and had him under a headlock, giving him a well-deserved nuggie.

“Kit…” Jeffery said, laughing and squirming. “I was just joking, cuz.”

Kit laughed. “I know you were, but I don’t use my brother as an excuse to get out of anything, and besides…” he smirked as he gave Jeffery another good rub on the top of his head. “You had this nuggie coming to you for a while.”

Jeffery continued to laugh until Kit let him go.

Melissa was laughing the whole time she was watching them, thinking of how much similar to brothers they were acting.

“Okay, dears, settle down,” she said, her eyes still twinkling. “And have these nice sandwiches I fixed for you boys.”

Just then, Baloo walked into the kitchen, yawning and stretching.

“Oh, hey there, Lil Britches,” he said, clapping Kit on the back. “How was yer day?”

“It was fine, Papa Bear…” Kit said, looking a little worried. “Look, I’m sorry about this morning, I just wanted to—”

“I know, Lil Britches, I know,” Baloo said gently, hugging Kit. “But Chris went through going to da doctor just fine.”

“Oh, that’s good,” said Kit, looking relieved, then he appeared anxious. “How did he handle getting those shots?”

Baloo frowned. “No worse than you did, Lil Britches.”

“Did he cry?” Kit asked, looking annoyed at being reminded of his shots from Bagheera.

“Well, yeah,” Baloo said nervously. “He almost refused to take his third shot, but what kid doesn’t cry at their first—”

“Three shots?” Kit interrupted disbelievingly while Jeffery looked thunderstruck behind him. “You see? I told you I should’ve went with him, but since when do you ever listen to me?”

“Now, that’s going a bit too far, Lil Britches.” Baloo said indignantly. “I listen to ya more than I listen to Becky, and that’s saying something, kiddo.”

“Yeah, but you don’t listen to the important stuff I had to say!” Kit shouted, stomping his foot in frustration. “Just like you didn’t listen to me when I said no to the request to ‘borrow’ my fifty dollars! And my brother’s far more important to me than money; please don’t take that from me too.”

“Kit, I—” Baloo said, but Melissa shook her head at him, giving him the ‘shut up!’ look.

“Kit dear,” Melissa said, smiling down at him. “Chris is upstairs in Jeffery’s room, why don’t you go up and see him? But be careful not to wake him up if he’s still napping.”

“Thanks, Aunt Melissa.” Kit said, still glaring at Baloo, then he ran from the kitchen, Jeffery following behind him.

Melissa waited until the boys were out of sight before rounding on Baloo, deciding to let this overgrown oaf have it.

“You are so tackless!” she shouted at Baloo. “Couldn’t you see that Kit is upset because he felt that he couldn’t be there for his brother when he needed him?”

“Millie, I—”

“DON’T CALL ME MILLIE!” she yelled, and in the next moment, she kicked Baloo like a large football out of her house, literally. Baloo flew over the steps to the house and landed painfully on the pavement. “And don’t worry about the boys, I’ll keep them overnight!” and she slammed the front door shut before poor Baloo could protest.

Later that night, Melissa came up to Jeffery’s room, baring a tray of cookies and milk.

“Time for bed, boys,” she said as she walked in on Kit and Jeffery wrestling around on the floor, with Kit on top, pinning Jeffery to the floor. He was wearing one of Jeffery’s spare pajamas.

“Aw, Mom…” Jeffery whined as Kit got off of him. But made no further protest as he and Kit climbed up into the top bunks. He knew better than anyone not to argue with his mother, they just can’t win against her.

Chris was sitting on the bottom bunk with a pained expression, holding his arm, which had been bothering him ever since his shots from the doctor that morning.

“Is it still hurting, dear?” Melissa asked sympathetically as she set the tray onto Jeffery’s desk

Chris whimpered as he nodded.

“Oh you poor baby,” Melissa said softy as she got down on her knees and hugged Chris. “I may not be a doctor, but I still say Dr. Bagheera made an error. Really, two booster shots and a blood-drawing all on one arm, he should’ve done the blood-drawing on the other arm.”

“Yeah,” Chris agreed, a slight tear sliding down his cheek. “Then my arm wouldn’t be hurting me this bad.”

Melissa hugged him and kissed him, before laying him back onto his pillow. She then reach toward the tray and picked up a couple of pills and a glass of milk as she forgot to bring a glass of water too, but for now, the glass of milk will have to do.

“Here, dear, take these.” Melissa said gently, holding a pill under Chris’ chin. “They’re Tylenol; they will help with the pain in your arm.”

Chris opened his mouth and Melissa popped the pill into it and sipped the glass to his lips, letting him take a drink before repeating the process with the second pill.

“Good boy, Chris.” Melissa said proudly, letting him hold his glass as she took a cookie from the tray and handed it to him.

“Thanks Aunt Melissa,” Chris said, smiling before taking a huge bite out of the cookie, munching on it happily.

“You’re welcome, dear.” Melissa said, smiling and then she stood up so to give Kit and Jeffery their cookies and milk.

“Thanks, Mom,” Jeffery said, munching happily on his cookie just like Chris.

“Yeah,” Kit agreed but taking a more reasonable bite out of his cookie, savoring it. “Thanks, Aunt Melissa.”

“Oh you’re welcome, dears.” Melissa said, kissing each of them on the cheek in turns. Then she bent down to kiss Chris on the bottom bunk.

“Wait, don’t go!” Chris said, grabbing hold of her arm after she kissed him goodnight. “Stay here, at least until I fall asleep.”

“Why, Chris dear?” she asked curiously. Chris blushed as he told her in a low voice that he was scared of the dark. “Oh, of course I’ll stay for a few minutes. But I think Jeffery have a nightlight, don’t you, dear?” she asked, looking up toward Jeffery’s bunk.

Jeffery blushed a little as his secret was out: he sleeps with a bunny rabbit nightlight from time to time.

“Um, yes I do, Mom.” And he climbed down from his bunk, took a bunny rabbit nightlight from a desk drawer and plugging it in.

“There you go, dear,” Melissa said to Chris. “Now the nightlight will scare away the boogie monsters.”

“It still won’t scare away Oogie Boogie,” Jeffery said, shaking his head.

“Well, if this Oogie Boogie knew what was good for him, he’d leave my boys alone.” Melissa said, playing along with Jeffery and was doing a good job of it by looking fierce. “Now, it is time for bed, good night.” She made to get up but Chris pulled her back down.

“Please,” he said, “could you s-s-sing me a lullaby?”

“Of course I could, dear,” she said and she settled herself in a comfortable sitting position on Chris’ bed. “Your Mom—my sister, Rebecca taught me this one shortly after she had Molly, would you like to hear that one?”

“Yeah!” Chris said eagerly.

Melissa begins to sing in a soft soothing voice while stroking Chris’ head with the gentlest touch. Chris felt himself relaxing to just her touch alone.

Home is where the heart is,
Wherever you may be.
There'll always be a home for you,
Here inside of me.

Home is where the heart is,
And whatever you may do
There'll always be a part of me
Here inside of you

Four walls may surround you,
And protect you from a storm.
But my two arms around you,
Will keep you safe and warm.

She gathered Chris in her arms and hugged him to emphasize the last part of the song. Kit and Jeffery were leaning over the edges of their beds, watching the scene below them with warm smiles on their faces.

If ever I’m not with you,
If ever you're alone.
Remember where my heart is,
And you’ll always have a home

She laid him back down onto the pillow and kissed him on top of the head.

Remember where my heart is,
And you’ll always have a home

At the last line of the song, Chris Cloudkicker drifted off to sleep…

---

Authors’ Note

We hope you’ve enjoyed this chapter. As creators of Chris, Jeffery and Melissa, it broke our hearts to have to give Chris those shots, but we wanted him healthy.

Stay tuned for the next chapter, where Kit and the gang learn more tricks and prepare themselves for the school talent show. Until next time

[eclipse]

*applauds* perfect job as always! And man you guys sure have this way of making Chris so ridiculously cute! Makes me want to really draw him as such. -and way to go Simba!

So far pacing is nice and the development of relationships seem to work well. Although I imagined Melissa being a bit more tolerant of Baloo but then again she is Rebecca's Sister XD

Oh and you might want to change this word to intelligence..

“I have recently received intelligent that you have been feeding the children nothing but gruel in all the years that you’ve worked here.” ...

I'm eagerly awaiting for more! I'll work on your requests while I do so.

I kindof forgot my password over at fanfiction.net so that's why I'm replying here ^^;

[Kit_Lee]

Oct 27, 2009 10:44:15 GMT -5 eclipse said:

*applauds* perfect job as always! And man you guys sure have this way of making Chris so ridiculously cute! Makes me want to really draw him as such. -and way to go Simba!

So far pacing is nice and the development of relationships seem to work well. Although I imagined Melissa being a bit more tolerant of Baloo but then again she is Rebecca's Sister XD

Oh and you might want to change this word to intelligence..

“I have recently received intelligent that you have been feeding the children nothing but gruel in all the years that you’ve worked here.” ...

I'm eagerly awaiting for more! I'll work on your requests while I do so.

I kindof forgot my password over at fanfiction.net so that's why I'm replying here ^^;

Hello! Eclipse,

Thanks again for the wonderful Feed back we Both very much appreciatet It.

Thanks Simba Really showd Mrse Cole oh was Boss. thats for sure. she'll have a nice firing squad awaithing her in themberia

And On Melissa My Talespin Mom she may be Tolerent but she can not stand nick names Henec Baloo getting booted. she warned Him

Thanks again Pal.

More is on the way plenty more form us actually.

Thanks again for the Great feed Back.

and No worries Just ask them for a E-mail with your password that should help.

Sincerely
Your friend,and Friends

Kit Lee
Christopher
and
Kc5285

:0)

[Copper]

wow my very first time ever reading any of kc5's stories and i must say this one is good as i'm sure all of his stories are good i read twp chap's so far i will be reading the rest later tonight good job kc5 and kit_lee

[Kit_Lee]

Oct 27, 2009 23:41:32 GMT -5 Copper said:

wow my very first time ever reading any of kc5's stories and i must say this one is good as i'm sure all of his stories are good i read twp chap's so far i will be reading the rest later tonight good job kc5 and kit_lee

Thank You! Cooper,

Kc5 and I both really appreciate the feed Back. Thanks mucly please continue enjoying the story.


Sincerely.


Kit Lee.
and Kc5


:0)

[KitCloudkicker5285]

Title: Kit, the MagicianAuthors: KitCloudkicker52885 and Kit_Lee
Disclaimer: We do not own Tale Spin, Disney does. But we do own Chris Cloudkicker, Jeffery and Melissa.

Chapter Six
FLASH! Bunny Rabbit Chris!

Chris was gliding among the clouds, the wind blowing through his fur, obliterating all worries and cares from the young bear cub’s mind. It was the most wonderful and relaxing feeling.

He continues to glide on top of the yellow, creamy clouds on an airfoil, looking left and right, watching all the different birds flying around him. He giggled and laughed as a flock of birds flew all around him, tickling his face with their outstretched wings. And then the birds soared upward toward the sun. Chris watched them go with an awed look on his face, thinking how pretty they were.

Then, all of a sudden, the pink and gold sky turned dark and the clouds moved out from under him, revealing that he was ten thousand feet up in the air. For a moment, he froze, feeling an acrophobic panic attack coming on before he let out a yell.

“Ahh! What’s going on?” he shrieked with fright, nervously glancing around at his surroundings, which were now dark and stormy-looking clouds.

He gasped, panicking as a rumble of thunder sounded and the airfoil fell away from the bottom of his feet before he started falling himself.

“No! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” he screamed, his voice echoing as he fell. “AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!”

As he was falling, he spotted Kit gliding toward him on an airfoil. He let out a breath of relief— he was safe, his big brother was coming to rescue him!

“Chris, grab my hand, hurry!” Kit yelled, looking terrified for Chris’ safety.

Chris made a grab for Kit’s hand but missed. He gasped in panic as he fell away from Kit, falling out of the sky like a ten-ton brick, screaming as he fell down, down, down…

Up above, Kit made a determined face, put away his airfoil and dived after Chris.

“KITTTTTTTTTTT!” Chris yelled as he was being swallowed by the darkness. “Save me, big brother!”

The next thing Chris knew was that he was thrashing around on his bed with someone standing over him, shaking him awake.

“Chris… Chris! Wake up, little brother!” said Kit’s voice above him. “You’re having a nightmare, wake up!”

Chris stopped thrashing around and opened his eyes weakly, feeling scared and confused. He blinked, looking around until his eyes rested upon Kit, who was standing over him at the side of his bed. Chris then let out a sob and threw himself onto Kit, wrapping his arms tightly around Kit’s neck and clung on like magnet on metal, crying into his shoulder.

Kit wrapped his arms comfortingly around his little brother, rocking him back and forth and patting the back of Chris’ head very gently.

“Shh, Chris, it’s alright…” Kit said soothingly. “It was just a bad dream; you’re safe, little brother, shh…”

Chris calmed down and ceased his crying, but still clings to Kit like a kitten on a tall tree.

“Chris, do you want me to sleep with you?” Kit asked, knowing that his brother was too terrified from the nightmare and therefore, unlikely to let go of him anytime soon.

“Mm-hmm.” Chris nodded his head against Kit’s chest, a hint of a sob in his voice.

Kit kissed Chris on top of the head and gave him a comforting squeeze before laying him gently back down onto the bed. Chris was feeling much calmer since Kit comforted him. He relaxed as his big brother guided his head onto the pillow.

“Okay then, scoot over.” Kit said, pushing Chris back against the wall on the other side of the bed. He then climbed into bed and laid there next to his brother. Chris then snuggled himself up against Kit’s side, holding on to Kit’s arm and was asleep within minutes.

On the top bunk, Jeffery was watching the brotherly scene below, wishing for the umpteenth time that he had a brother like Kit, who would go to the ends of the earth to comfort Chris and get what he needs.

Kit looked up, noticing Jeffery watching them from his bunk.
“What’s up, Jeff?” he whispered up to him, so not to reawaken Chris.

“Oh, nothing…” Jeffery whispered back. “I just—no, it’s nothing, go back to sleep.” Jeffery rolled over, away from the edge of his bed so that he could not see the brotherly scene below. And then, Jeffery begins to sob softly into his pillow.

“Jeff, c’mon, you can tell me.” Kit urged him in a whisper from below. “What’s wrong?”

Jeffery wiped his eyes on his pillowcase before he rolled over to the edge of his bunk, looking down at Kit again.

“Nothing’s wrong, Kit,” he assured Kit. “It’s just that…” he hesitated. “It’s just—you and Chris, you two are everything I ever wanted for…”

“For what?” Kit asked, confused.

“Brothers!” Jeffery said a little louder than a whisper, it was more of a hiss. “I want you and Chris for brothers,” he paused to let out a sob that was fighting to get out, tears running down his furry cheek. “I—I want a brother!”

“Oh…” Kit said awkwardly, not knowing what to say, for he knew that he couldn’t make a brother for Jeffery appear out of thin air and Melissa was slowly approaching the age where she would be past the age of child bearing in a few years.

Silence fell between them for a few minutes.

“Look, forget I said anything,” Jeffery said finally, rolling over in his bunk again.

Kit heard a soft sob and knew that Jeffery was crying into his pillow. He knew Jeffery had it a little rough growing up and being the only child was making him feel lonely, having all that he has and not being able to share it with a sibling, like a brother.

He disentangled himself from Chris’ clutches very gently so not to wake him up. He rolled out from the bottom bunk and started to climb up to Jeffery’s top bunk, which was on the same level as his own bunk, separated by the corner. He got into Jeffery’s bunk and pulled the silently sobbing bear cub into a sitting position, away from his damp pillow and embraced him very tightly, pressing Jeffery’s face to his chest.

“There, there, Jeff…. Shh….” Kit said soothingly in Jeffery’s ear. “It’s okay… Look, even your Mom can’t magically make you a brother and I know that you want one badly, but—”

“I want a brother more than anything!” Jeffery sobbed, holding on to Kit in the embrace. “I’d trade all of my stuff for just one brother! What wouldn’t I give to have a big or little brother?”

“Shh… calm down, Jeff…” Kit said, patting Jeffery on the back, while wondering how in the world did he suddenly became everybody’s comforter and guide. “Tell you what, Jeffery, Chris and I will be your brothers—surrogate brothers, we’re so much like brothers anyway, so why not make it official?”

“You—you really mean it?” Jeffery sniffed, staring at Kit with wonder. He wiped away a few tears and his nose on a sleeve.
“Sorry about that,” he muttered, looking slightly ashamed of himself. “When I’m sad, I get like that…”

Kit knew Jeffery was referring to his emotional side and hugged him tightly.

“No need to apologize, Jeff, you’ve got nothing to be sorry for.” Kit said gently. “You can’t help it…. And to be honest, I wanted a brother everyday before I met Chris. I wanted a Dad everyday before I met Baloo. And a Mom before I met Miss Cunningham. They may be my surrogate parents, but they’re as good as real parents to me and Chris. And Molly’s been like my sister from day one. At least you have a real Mom and a good one at that. Do you know how many people would kill for a Mom like yours? You’re so blessed to have her.”

“Yeah,” Jeffery sniffed, sounding cheered up somewhat. “I don’t know what I’d do without her, she’s the best Mom in the world and I love her so much.”

“And she’s been a wonderful aunt to me and Chris and we love her too.” Kit said, smiling with a hand on Jeffery’s shoulder. “Anyway, we’ll make you our surrogate brother; we could be the Cloudkicker Trio.”

“But, I’m not a Cloudkicker, Kit, I can’t cloudsurf.” Jeffery said, sounding as though he thought he wasn’t worthy of the Cloudkicker name.

“Neither can Chris and he’s scared of heights, not exactly what you’d call a Cloudkicker quality.” Kit said, shrugging. “Beside, you’re as much of a Cloudkicker as you are a Cunningham.”

“Okay…so can I be the oldest?” Jeffery asked hopefully.

Kit chuckled. “You’re pushing your luck, bro,” he said, lightly shoving Jeffery, so that Jeffery swayed backward for a moment before righted himself.

“Ah, well…it was worth a try…” Jeffery said slyly.

Kit pulled Jeffery under a headlock and gave him a playful nuggie.

“So, how are we gonna do this?” Jeffery asked as Kit released him.

“Well, Chris is so much like a little kid…” Kit said, holding his chin thoughtfully. “So he can fill the ‘youngest brother’ spot.”

“Yeah, and you’re practically a teenager already.” Jeffery added, nodding. “So, I guess that puts me in the middle between you and Chris. This is great, I’m getting a big brother and a little brother! …Must be a two-for-one sale…”

Kit chuckled a little bit before he frowned. “Hey, I am not a teenager!” he said indignantly. “I’m just very matured for my age.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, big bro.” Jeffery said, putting a great deal of emphasis on the word ‘big,’ which earned Jeffery yet another nuggie from Kit.

“You nutty bear!” Kit said cheerfully, ruffling Jeffery’s hair. “Well, I’m going back down there with Chris, we all need our shuteye.”
Kit laid Jeffery down onto his pillow, tucking him in. He then leaned forward and gave Jeffery a brotherly goodnight kiss on the cheek to keep his newly surrogated brother from being left out after he had kissed Chris.

“G’night, bro.”

“Good night, Kit…” Jeffery muttered sleepily, yawning, his eyes closing lazily.

Kit climbed down from Jeffery’s bunk and rejoined Chris in the bottom bunk, who instantly snuggled and curled up to Kit’s side, one hand on Kit’s arm as he slept on.

Kit wrapped an arm around Chris’ shoulder and kissed him on top of the head before slowly drifting off to sleep.

There was a delicious smell in the kitchen the next morning as Kit,
Jeffery and Chris, who now called themselves the Cloudkicker Trio, went down for some breakfast.

“I hope that’s Mom famous scramble eggs,” Jeffery said as they neared the kitchen. “Because, I’m tellin’ ya, you haven’t lived until you had a bite of her delicious eggs with bacon and sausage.”

“And biscuits smothered in breakfast gravy…” Chris added with a dreamy expression.

Jeffery stopped in his tracks and turned to face Chris.

“How did you know that?” he asked in surprise.

“Because that’s what I smell…” Chris said simply, “and Daddy Bear cooked something that smells like that the other day.”

“Leave it to Uncle Baloo to spoil surprises...” Jeffery muttered under his breath. “Good nose, by the way.”

They entered the kitchen as Melissa was turning over the bacon.

“Oh, good morning, boys,” she said brightly. “I hope you’re hungry.” She laughed as the stomachs of all three bear cubs gave a rumble. “I guess that answers my question, have a seat, dears.”

They all sat at the table when the two apes that played as Jeffery’s goons in the magic show came into the kitchen, looking a little putout about something.

“Oh, hey guys,” Jeffery said, smiling up at them. “Kit, Chris, this is Mac and Fred, they’re construction workers outside our magic show and they live here in the boarding house, on the second floor.”

“Nice to meet you,” Chris said to the two apes, sounding polite but timid at the same time, he always felt intimidated around people more than twice his size.

“Hey guys.” Kit said, waving a hand in greeting.

“Hey kids,” said Fred.

“Jeffery, we’ve got a bone to pick with you.” Mac begins gruffly.

“Now, now, Mac, go easy on the kid.” Fred said; he then turned to
Jeffery. “We’ve looked at our scripts for the next show and…well….”

“You’re making us out to be a couple of brainless gorillas,” Mac cut in grumpily

“What?” Melissa said; looking confused as she laid out the food on the table.

“Look at this,” Mac snarled, handing her a rolled-up copy of the script.

She took it, read the first few lines and let out a groan. She then rounded on her son, her hands on her hip.

“Jeffery Lee Cunningham!” she said very sternly, and Jeffery shrank so low in his chair that only his forehead was visible. “We let you keep the line ‘I’ve gotta get some better goons’ but this new line is going too far. You march straight upstairs and change the scripts!”

“But, can I have breakfast first?” he asked weakly, he knew better than to ask but he wasn’t very keen on the idea of climbing up four and a half floors without an elevator to change a script.

“No, you can eat after you’ve changed that script.” Melissa said, she hated to be stern and firm with her baby, but he had to learn. “Go on!”

Jeffery glumly got up and left the kitchen.

“What does the script say?” Chris asked, once the sounds of Jeffery’s footsteps on the stairs faded away.

Kit, who was reading a copy of the script, frowned.

“Oh Jeff…” he said, shaking his head. “Bad move there, bro.”

“What, what does it say?” Chris asked more urgently.

“Right here, he had Fred and Mac trip over some of the magic equipments and then he’d say ‘I swear, they’re getting dumber and dumber everyday…” Kit said as he read from the script. “Oh Jeff, what were you thinking? Now I’m going to have to give you a disciplinary nuggie.”

“Maybe he was trying to be funny, but did it the wrong way...” Chris suggested. “But that was kind of mean of him to say that about Fred and Mac.”

Fred grinned and Mac gave Chris an appreciative smile for his comment.

“He’s not mean, Chris… maybe he was tired when he wrote that.” Kit said, shrugging. “He does tend to go overboard with things when he's tired.”

“It was both, dears.” Melissa said gently. “He was both trying to be funny and was tired at the same time. I didn’t raise my baby up to be mean, I assure you, Chris dear.”

“Whatever the reason, if he insults our intelligence one more time, we’ll want paying for our generosity.” Mac growled.

“Easy there, Mac,” Fred said, retraining his co-worker with a hand on his shoulder. “Jeffery’s just a twelve-year-old kid, cut him some slack.”

“Oh, I’m sure Jeffery won’t do that again, I’ll make sure of that.” Melissa said apologetically, and then she held two plates up to them and said brightly. “Bacon and eggs?”

“Sure, we would love that, Mrs. Cunningham.” said Mac and Fred together.

“Oh please, call me Melissa or Aggie. Mrs. Cunningham is my sister, dears.”

“Okay,” said Fred.

Mac turned his head sideway, staring at Melissa and then he said:

“You look more like Melissa than Aggie.”

“My sister tells me that, but I still like the sound of the name Aggie.” Melissa said, smiling.

Just then, the sound of running footsteps reached their ears and Jeffery dashed back into in the kitchen with a new script in his hand.

“I’ve—finished!” he panted, gasping for breaths. He had obviously run all the way back down four and a half floors.

“Okay, dear, let’s see how you did.” Melissa said, taking the script from him and reading it

“Uh, can't it wait until after breakfast?” Jeffery asked desperately.

“No, dear.” Melissa laughed; she continued reading the script “‘oh goodie, they're getting smarter everyday!’ Oh, Jeffery...” she said, sounding disappointed. Clearly, this was not what she had in mind.

“What?” Jeffery said defensively. “You made me rewrite that script on an empty stomach and you know I can’t think straight on an empty stomach. That’s why I wanted to have breakfast first. I need my brain food, Mom."

At this, Melissa and the Cloudkicker twins laughed.

“Oh, go on and eat before it gets cold.” Melissa said, smiling humorously.

“Finally!” Jeffery bolted for his seat between Kit and Chris and begins shoveling down his scrambled eggs.

“Slow down, Jeff; remember what happened last time you ate too fast?” Kit said cautiously.

“Oh…yeah…” Jeffery said, embarrassed and he slowed down.

“What happened?” Chris asked curiously.

“You don’t wanna know, Chris.” Kit said, looking a little disgusted. “Let’s just say he got sick that way.”

Jeffery gave Kit an apologetic look, but Kit shook his head warningly at him.

“Forget it, Jeff, you couldn’t help it.” Kit told him firmly, “Now let’s drop this. New topic please.”

“What’s a topic?” asked Chris.

“A subject to discuss.” Kit explained kindly.

“Oh…” Chris said, he paused to think for a minute and then said:
“Hey, I forgot to tell you… I accepted a babysitting job for the three of us, we start on Saturday.”

Jeffery spat out a mouthful of orange juice, spraying Kit in the face. Kit froze, looking disgusted.

“You know, you really need to stop doing that,” Kit said slightly irritably, wiping his face with a napkin, while Jeffery coughed and spluttered.

“What?!” Jeffery exclaimed finally, looking incredulously at Chris. “You mean to tell us that you accepted the job—and included us in it—WITHOUT EVEN ASKING US FIRST?!”

“Y-yes....” Chris said timidly, shrinking back and looking down at the floor. Jeffery’s tone made him feel as if he had done something stupid.

Jeffery sighed and pulled Chris into a hug. “Hey…” he said softly.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad, but you really should’ve asked us first.” And he kissed Chris on the side of the head to comfort his brotherly cousin.

“Yeah, Chris....” Kit agreed, joining Jeffery in hugging Chris while Melissa was saying ‘Aww, how cute!’ in the background. “But, you do realize that the babysitting job is on the same day as talent show, don’t you?”

“Oh, no! I forgot!” Chris exclaimed in panic, looking upset. “I’m sorry, guys, I forgot about the show when Mrs. Robinson asked me.”

Kit embraced Chris in an effort to calm his upset brother.

“Chris, calm down...We’ll work something out.” Kit said consolingly, patting his brother on the back. “Shh, calm down, little brother.”

“Yeah, like Kit can show Jason a few tricks as practice, I’m sure he’ll like that.” Jeffery said. “We just have to make sure the job is over before the show starts.”

“See, Chris? We can work something out." Kit said, still holding his brother in a consoling hug. “But next time, we’d like to be told about it before you include us in a job, okay?”

“O-okay, big brother.” Chris sniffed, his face hidden on Kit’s shoulder.

“Cheer up, cuz,” Jeffery said, walking up to Chris and patting him on the back. “We’re not mad at you, so please, turn that sad face upside down.” And using both of his index fingers, he pushed Chris' lip into a smile. “There, that’s better.”

Chris giggled, feeling much better now. “Thanks, Jeffery.”

“There, that’s my happy cuz.” Jeffery said, smiling cheerfully and placing a hand on Chris’ shoulder. “We would never be mad at you, Chris, not ever. Look at this face,” he added to Kit, holding Chris’ chin in his hand. “Who could ever stay mad at a face like this?”

“Very few.” Kit replied, grinning.

The rest of the week went by with Kit improving little by little with the magic tricks he was learning from Melissa and Jeffery, but he was also getting more and more nervous as Saturday looms ever closer.

“What if I get up on stage and freeze up or—or forget to do a trick or something?” he confided some of his feelings to Jeffery on Friday, the night before Saturday.

“Relax cuz, you’re gonna do fine,” Jeffery said comfortingly. “If you get too nervous, just picture the audience in their—”

“NO! I’m not doing that!” Kit said, looking mortified.

“Heh, sorry, cuz, forgive my bad joke…” Jeffery yawned and stretched out his arms. “I’m getting tired. But hey, Uncle Baloo’s going to the show, isn’t he?”

“Yeah…” Kit said slowly. “As far as I know, Papa Bear and Mom are taking us trick-or- treating after the show is over, so I guess he’s coming, if he’s not late getting back from Louie’s Halloween party…”

Jeffery laughed. “Well, if he’s there, just look at Uncle Baloo or at Aunt Becky when you have to look out at the audience.” Jeffery suggested. “Otherwise, you’ll just be looking at me or at what you’re doing.”

“I guess…” Kit said doubtfully.

“So, what’s ya gonna be for Halloween?” Jeffery asked, purposely changing subject.

A white ghost suddenly popped up in front of them

“BOO!”

“AAAHHH!” yelled Jeffery, falling backward onto his poor tail section, while Kit had no reaction except to smile at the ghost. In his street days, Kit had been taught to expect the unexpected and he doesn’t get scared easily.

The ghost pulled of its’ sheet to reveal Chris, who was now pointing and laughing at Jeffery.

“Gotcha!” Chris laughed, grinning real big and holding a white sheet in his hand. “I can’t decide if I wanna be a bunny rabbit or a ghost….maybe I should flip a coin for it…”

“Chris!” Jeffery gasped, breathing heavily while holding his chest.
“Hey, no fair, how come I’m always the victim of your pranks?” he pouted.

Chris shrugged. “You’re just a lot easier than Kit; I just can’t prank him, no matter how hard I tried. He just doesn’t scare easy.”
Kit was smiling and chuckling amusingly at Chris and Jeffery’s interactions. “You’re both nuts…”

“But we’re your nuts.” Chris pouted cutely, hugging Kit.

Kit and Jeffery both laughed at that, while Kit pulled Chris into a deep embrace.

“That’s right; you’re a nutty bear, but you’re my nutty bear.” Kit said, kissing Chris on the cheek.

“So, what are you gonna be?” Jeffery asked Kit, as he and Chris broke apart.

“Yeah, big brother, what’cha gonna be?” Chris asked, still smiling happily.

“Do you even have to ask?” Kit said, shaking his head. “I’ll either wear my magician outfit, or change into an ace pilot after the show. What about you?”

“Oh, that’s neat, cuz.” Jeffery said, smiling. “I think I’ll be my magician self, Star Bear the Wizard…or maybe a surgeon,” he added, looking uncertain.

“Jeff, the wizard or the magician suits you better.” Kit said, grinning.

“Yeah, so why’d you even think of being a surgeon.” Chris asked, while nodding in agreement toward his brother. “What’s a surgeon, big brother?”

“I’ll explain later, Chris.” Kit said gently, but his insides were boiling, enraged by the fact that Chris’ education was so carelessly neglected.

Jeffery shrugged. “I dunno; it is something I wanna be when I grow up….”

“I don’t think you’d want to be a surgeon, Jeff.” Kit said gently.

“Aw, why not?” Jeffery whined, looking as though his dreams had
been crushed.

“Because…” Kit said, not wanting to burst Jeffery’s bubble. “You faint on the first sight of blood, and to be a surgeon, you’d have to operate on people and you’d be seeing a lot of blood during an operation.”

“Ooh-ooh…” Jeffery shuddered, looking creeped out. “Just the mention of blood makes my skin crawl!” and then he made a fake gagging noise.

“What’s blood?” Chris asked innocently. No one in the orphanage where he grew up ever mentioned blood, thus he doesn’t know what blood is.

Kit and Jeffery groaned, neither one of them wanted to explain what blood is to Chris. And Kit suddenly wished for a terrible fate to befall the person who deliberately neglected Chris’ education.

Kit looked at Jeffery. “Jeff, why don’t you go and get us a snack while I talk to Chris?”

“Yeah, sure thing, cuz.” Jeffery said as he turned and left the room.
At the doorway, he heard Kit saying: “Well, Chris, blood is what gives you life, it is life in a way,” before he closed the door. Going down the steps, he heard Chris asked: “So, blood is the water inside me?” A loud groaned sounded from the bedroom and Jeffery could imagine Kit rubbing his temples to ward off a headache that was coming.

“Well, it is my fault that he thinks blood is really water…” Jeffery muttered to himself. “Why did I have to go and do that water-sprouting trick for?”

Jeffery went downstairs and into the kitchen, wishing the umpteenth that they had an elevator.

“Well, you wanted a room on the top floor…” he muttered to himself

“Mom, can you fix us some finger sandwiches for me to take up to my room, please?”

“Sure dear, as long as you don’t leave crumbs on the floor.” Melissa said and she started making sandwiches.

“Mom!” Jeffery groaned while smiling and rolling his eyes. “I’m a neat and clean freak; I’m not going to get messy up there.”
Melissa froze and then she turned around to face Jeffery, looking stern.

“Jeffery Lee Cunningham!” she said, one hand on her hip, the other wigging a finger at Jeffery. “Don’t you dare call yourself a freak! You’re not a freak, you’re a very special boy.”

“Mom….” Jeffery said, blushing scarlet, but looking pleased that she called him special. “It was just an expression, I didn’t literally call myself that.”

“I don’t care!” Melissa said in a final sort of way, before returning to making sandwiches. “Just don’t ever say that about yourself again.”

“Okay, Mommy, I won’t, I promise.” Jeffery said, still blushing.
Being called special by his mother made Jeffery feel so happy, he felt as though a happy balloon was floating around inside him. He dashed to Melissa’s side and threw his arms around her waist, hugging her deeply.

“Mmm, I love you, Mommy,” he said with happy tears, rubbing his cheek against her side.

Melissa smiled down at him and wrapped an arm around his shoulder and kissed the top of his head.

“Oh, I love you too, baby.”

“Guys, I’m back!” Jeffery said loudly as he returned to his bedroom a few minutes later, holding a tray of sandwiches. “And I’ve brought sandwiches!”

It was then that he noticed the atmosphere in the room has changed since he left it; it was silent and slightly depressing. He saw Kit and Chris sitting on the bottom bunk, Chris looking a little upset, hugging and clinging to his big brother. Kit was trying to comfort his little brother, holding him on his lap, muttering soothing words. Jeffery caught words like: ‘it’s alright,’ and ‘it didn’t hurt that much.’

“What’s up?” Jeffery asked, putting the tray on the desk and walking over to the twins. He placed a hand on Chris’ shoulder. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Kit…. he….he got a….” Chris croaked, but seemed unable to say and he buried his face in Kit’s chest. Kit held him comfortingly, whispering soothing words to him,

Jeffery casted Kit a curious but slightly alarming look.

“Kit, what did you—?”

Kit held up a finger, which had a bandage wrapped around it. And now, the tensed atmosphere suddenly made sense to Jeffery.

“KIT!” Jeffery shrieked. “Please, tell me you didn’t—”

“Jeffery, calm down, it was just a—”

“Calm down?! Kit, you hurt yourself—”

“It was just paper cut, nothing to get worked up about.” Kit said quickly. “I was trying to show Chris what blood looked like in your medical book, but I cut my finger on a page and he got upset that I was bleeding a little bit. He doesn’t like me getting hurt. There, there, little brother, I’m alright… ” he said, patting Chris on the back of the head.

“But you still hurt yourself, big brother.” Chris whimpered, looking close to tears. “I—I don’t want you hurt.”

Kit wrapped both arms around Chris and hugged him consolingly.

“Shh, Chris, don’t worry, it didn’t hurt that much…” he said soothingly. “It’s only a small paper cut, it’ll heal by tomorrow.”
After he got Chris to calm down, Kit let his little brother off his lap. Chris then wandered over to corner toward his overnight bag.

Jeffery let out a sigh of relief, and then he marched over to Kit and bonked him on top of the head.

“Ow!” Kit shouted, holding his head. “Hey, what was that for?”

“Don’t you ever scare me like that again!” Jeffery said very sternly.
“By the tension in this room when I got back, and by the way Chris was acting, I thought it was something very serious!”

“I’m sorry, Jeff, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Kit said, looking a little sheepish. “But I didn’t mean to go and get myself a paper cut, either…”

“Aw, it’s alright… but it’s my turn to give out the nuggie this time!” Jeffery suddenly grabbed Kit around the neck and gave him the mother of all nuggies for all the times Kit did this to him. He then stopped. “I can’t work with this cap on your head.” He took Kit’s cap off and tossed it aside, where it landed neatly on Chris’ head, who was still in the corner, rummaging through his overnight bag. And then the nuggie continued.

“Ha, ha, ha! Jeff, c’mon, cut it out!” Kit begged through tears of laugher. “Ha, ha, ha, it was an accident! I swear I won’t do it again! Honest!”

Jeffery gave him another round of nuggies for good measure before releasing Kit.

Kit stood up, massaging his head.

“Gosh, Jeff, did ya have to nuggie me that hard?” he asked reproachfully. “If I find a missing hair on my head, I’m gonna rub you bald!”

A mental image flashed into Jeffery’s mind, one of him looking like a monk with a bald top.

“Sorry, cuz…” Jeffery said sheepishly. “But I’m usually on the receiving end of the nuggies, so I don’t get to give them out much and I got a little overexcited about it.”

Then, somebody in a ghost costume suddenly popped up and shouted: “BOO!”

“AAAHHHH!” Jeffery let out a startled yell and fell backward, landing on his tail end to the floor.

The ‘ghost’ tore off his sheet to reveal a bright and happy Chris wearing Kit’s cap in forward position on his head, laughing and pointing at Jeffery. Now Jeffery knew what Chris was doing in the corner by his overnight bag. He was putting on his costume while Jeffery was busy giving Kit the nuggies to have noticed.

“Ha, ha, ha, ha!” Chris laughed cheerfully. “Gotcha again, Jeffery.” And then he extended a hand to Jeffery, offering to help him up.

“Oh very funny.” Jeffery said sarcastically, grasping Chris’ hand but pushing himself up with his other hand on the side of the bed, knowing that Chris wasn’t strong enough to pull him to his feet singlehandedly. “You got me again! That’s twice you got me as a ghost today! …So, you’re going to be a ghost?”

“I’m not sure yet.” Chris confessed. “I like the bunny rabbit costume too; maybe I’ll flip a coin for it, that always works for Uncle Wildcat.”

“Wildcat?” Jeffery asked, scratching his head.

“Uh-huh,” Chris said, nodding happily. “He said that if I have to choose between two things, flip a hammer, but I decided to use a coin instead so I don’t hurt myself.”

“Yeah, a coin is a safer choice.” Kit said, agreeing with his brother’s logic.

“Yeah, and Mom would throw a hissy fit if you dented the floor with a hammer…” Jeffery said. “Ha, ha, ha. Oh boy, Wildcat’s nuts, nice but nuts.”

“You don’t know the half of it…” Kit said, grinning.

“Ha, ha, ha, I would have to agree with you, cuz.” Jeffery said, laughing at Kit’s comment “But I still like Uncle Wildcat, no matter how nutty he can be.”

Jeffery then fished out a nickel from his pocket and handed it to Chris.

“Here you go, cuz, you can flip this,” he said, smiling kindly at his cousin.

“Wow, thanks Jeffery!” Chris said brightly and then he flung himself onto Jeffery and hugged him tightly. It was amazing how much gratitude Chris was showing toward a simple gesture as giving him a nickel. One would think that Jeffery gave him a coin that was worth millions.

“You’re welcome, cuz.” Jeffery said, hugging Chris. It was a good thing Chris wasn’t very strong or he would be saying: ‘Ack! Can’t breathe.’ “Well, aren’t you gonna flip it?’

“Okay, head’s bunny rabbit, tail’s ghost.” Chris said, releasing
Jeffery and holding the nickel in a fist. He flipped it and tried to catch it again but it landed on the floor instead, but no matter, he looked down at the nickel. “Head.”

After the coin landed, Jeffery and Kit both shouted in unison:
“Bunny!” And they suddenly jumped Chris and all three cubs disappeared in a cloud of dust.

When the smoke cleared, Chris stood between Kit and Jeffery, wearing his bunny rabbit costume. Obviously, Kit and Jeffery forced it on him. Kit zipped up the front zipper and stood back with Jeffery to get a good look at Bunny Rabbit Chris.

“Aw, he’s a cute wittle wabbit.” Jeffery cooed, patting Chris on top of the head between his rabbit ears.

“One last thing,” Kit said, and he started tying a boy-blue bow around Chris’ neck.

“Aww, do I have to wear this bow?” Chris asked in dismay.

“If you want people to know you’re a boy, you do.” Kit said as he finished tying the bow. “There, it’s not too tight, is it?”

“No, but I hate wearing it.” Chris whined, tugging at the bow.

“Well, it’s either that one or the pink one…” Jeffery said slyly, holding up a pink, girlish bow.

Kit laughed while Chris glared daggers at Jeffery and swatted the pink bow out of his hand.

“Fine, I’ll wear a bow—the blue one.” Chris said. “And Jeffery, I don’t like that joke. I’m a boy, got it?! A B-O-Y, boy!” he added, stomping his right rabbit foot.

“Yeah, Chris, I know that.” Jeffery said, his face turning crimson red, embarrassed by his own joke and stepping back a little. “I was only joking with you; I know you’re a boy.”

“C’mon, Chris, let’s show Aunt Melissa how you look in your costume.” Kit said, steering Chris toward the door.

“Oh boy, Mom’s gonna eat you up, Chris, so prepare yourself for a rib-crushing hug.” Jeffery warned Chris as he followed them out of the room.

Jeffery’s prediction came true as they entered the kitchen a few minutes later.

“Mom! Hey, Mom, look at Chris.” Jeffery said loudly, smirking sideways at Chris.

Melissa looked up, saw Chris and let out an exclamation of delight.

“Oh, aren’t you just an adorable little rabbit!” she cried happily, rushing over to Chris, picking him up and hugging him very tightly. “Aw, what a cute little rabbit you are!”

“Kit… help….” Chris croaked, his voice was muffled in Melissa’s hug.

“Er— Aunt Melissa? He can’t breathe!” Kit said, rushing forward and trying to loosen Melissa’s arms around his little brother.

“Oh my, I’m so sorry, Chris dear.” Melissa said guiltily, kissing him on the cheek. “I just got a little overexcited and forgot to be gentle with you.”

“It’s okay, Aunt Melissa,” Chris gasped. He hugged his sweet aunt around the neck. “Other than my back hurting, I’m okay. I love this costume, thanks for making it for me.” he planted another kiss on his aunt’s cheek in a display of gratitude.

“Oh, you’re ever so welcome, sweetheart.” Melissa said, massaging Chris’ back, rubbing the pain away like magic. “You just look adorable in it. Oh how I would love a picture of this —Hold on, I’ll go get my camera.”

She put Chris down and ran to fetch her camera from her bedroom on the first floor.

“Heh, she’ll be wanting a picture of you from every angle.” Jeffery said to Chris, chuckling in amusement.

“You’re the one who got her attention onto Chris in the first place.” Kit said, frowning a little. “You owe him, Jeff.”

“Sorry …” Jeffery said, bowing his head in shame. Why was it that every time he tried to have a laugh, it backfires on him?
Melissa returned moments later without her crazy camera.

“I couldn’t find it, dears,” she said, looking disappointed. “Jeffery, are you hiding my camera again?”

“Who, me? No!” Jeffery said innocently, though Kit saw him crossed his fingers behind his back…

“Well, why don’t you three go on to bed,” Melissa said while trying to remember where she had last seen her camera. “I’ll find it in the morning.”

They all went upstairs to bed. As Kit and Jeffery were changing into their cotton-made nightshirts, green for Kit, royal blue for Jeffery, Chris was struggling with the zipper of his rabbit costume, no matter how hard he tugged on his zipper, and it just won’t come down.

“Chris?” Kit said after a moment, finally noticing Chris straining with something. A closer look told him that Chris was struggling with the zipper. “Do you need help with that?”

“Uh-huh,” Chris nodded, and he stood up straight front of Kit, like a soldier ready for commander’s inspection.

Kit took the zipper under Chris’ chin and tugged down on it, but it wouldn’t budge.

“Jeff, can you undo Chris’ zipper? I can’t.”

“Sure, Cuz.” Jeffery tried and failed, just like the other two. “Uh-oh, I think this is one of my Mom’s special zippers to be sure you stay cute for a few days.”

“Now just how do you know that, Jeff?” Kit asked, looking puzzled.

“Cuz she’s done it before, Cuz.” Jeffery said. “When I was five, I was stuck in a lion costume for a week.”

“Oh no, don’t tell me I’m going to be a rabbit for a whole week.” Chris groaned. “It’s bad enough I have to sleep as a rabbit tonight.”

“I thought you liked being a rabbit, Cuz…” Jeffery said slyly.

“I do, but I don’t wanna wear it to bed!” Chris said indignantly.

“C’mon, Chris.” Kit said, steering Chris toward his bunk. “Time for bed. Now, do you want me to sleep with you again, or d’you think you’ll be alright by yourself tonight?”

Memories of the previous nightmare came flashing to the forefront of Chris’ mind and he let out a little whimper.

“N-no, th-thanks, big brother.” Chris said timidly. “I-I’ll be a-alright on my own t-tonight.”

Kit and Jeffery both raised an eye brow at Chris, but decided to just let him try sleeping by himself.

“Alright, little brother,” Kit said, giving Chris a kiss on the cheek. “Good night.”

And he and Jeffery climbed their top bunks, while Chris moved slowly toward his bed and got in. Above him, Jeffery clapped his hands and the lights went out, the bunny rabbit nightlight was the only source of light in the room now.

Tonight turned out to be a repeat of the night before, with Kit and
Jeffery being awoken by Chris’ screams. But this time, they both came down to wake and comfort Chris and both ended up sleeping with Chris together.

There they were, on Chris’ bottom bunk, with bunny rabbit Chris squeezed between Kit and Jeffery. Both his big brother and surrogated mid-brother had an arm protectively around him as they slept on either side of him.

The next morning, the Cloudkicker Trio went down stairs to find Melissa waiting for them with her—Jeffery gasped—there on her lap, was the Mad Camera of Doom.

“How did you find that?” Jeffery blurted out before he could stop himself

“I found it in the Christmas closet, and guess where it was.” Melissa said, her eyes twinkling.

“Uh….” Jeffery said, playing dumb. “I don’t know, where?”

“I found it in the box that usually has the Christmas tree star in it.” Melissa said, still looking amused. “And I found the star in the shoe box in my bedroom closet. Nice try, Jeffery.” She raised her camera. “Smile!”

FLASH! Jeffery flinched and raised his hand in front of the camera.

“AH! Mom…” Jeffery groaned. “I’m not wearing my safety glasses…”

“Well dear, that’ll teach you not to hide my things from me.” Melissa said sweetly, before turning her attention unto Chris. “Chris dear—oh good, you’re still wearing your adorable bunny costume. Now, hold still while I take your picture, dear.”

FLASH! True to her son’s words of the previous night, Melissa took a picture of Chris from every angle. First his front, then his back, his right side and then his left. All the while, she did not notice Chris flinching at every blinding flash, if she had, she would have stopped instantly. She kept clicking and flashing until, to Chris’ relief, she was out of film.

She’s got to be the craziest picture taker I’ve ever met! Chris thought, but glad it was over. Ow…my eyes. He tried to rub the stars out of his eyes.

“Hang on, let me get a new roll, I want one more picture.” Melissa said and she left for her bedroom.

“Mom! Please stop! Me and Kit need to tell you something.” Jeffery tried to yell, but it was too late, she was gone.

“Oh no…” Chris groaned. “I can’t take it anymore! I’m still seeing spots from those camera flashes!” He glanced around frantically for a hiding place and then bolted for a nearby coat closet and hid inside among the coats and jackets.

Kit and Jeffery both sighed and shook their heads at Chris’ attempt to hide, clearly he doesn’t know that he can’t hide from Melissa in this house. She knows all the hiding places and a coat closet is the first place she’d look.

Look at how fast she found her camera… Jeffery reflected dully.
Melissa was back again, clutching her crazy Mad Camera of Doom.

“I’m back!” she said brightly, and then she frowned. “Where’s Chris? Oh my, where did my cute little bunny go?” She looked around, saying: “Chris, oh Chris?” she looked at Kit and Jeffery with a grin and a knowing expression. “He’s hiding from me, isn’t he?”

“More like hiding from your camera, Mom.” Jeffery said, grinning slyly. That remark earned him another flash from his mother’s camera as Melissa took a quick picture of him. “Ahh! Mom… Don’t do that unless I have my glasses on.” he whined, rubbing the spots out of his eyes.

“Sorry dear, but anybody else making a wisecrack at my camera will get flashed. Everybody watch out, I’m loaded,” Melissa said fiercely, acting like a bank robber and her camera was the machine gun.
She begin to sneak around the living room on tiptoes, her camera at the ready, as if her camera was a gun and she was fighting in the war, trying to get a clear shot at her target.

“Aunt Melissa, please don’t—” Kit begin but Melissa gestured at him to be quiet. “But Chris—” he tried to protest.

“Mom, listen to us, please!” Jeffery begged, but Melissa waved at them to be quiet.

“Shh! The enemy is close by, I can feel it,” she hissed, edging closer to the coat closet.

“Oh no!” squeaked a high-pitched voice from the closet, sounding fearful.

Melissa smiled in triumph as she pulled the closet door open and flashed the camera at Chris, who was attempting to hide himself in the coats.

“Ha, ha, ha, ha! Gotcha!” Melissa cackled, and then she smiled her pleasant smile. “Oh, come out of there, Chris dear, I’m done taking pictures. This one’s going to be so cute, ‘Bunny Chris Hides in Coat closet.’ –Huh? Chris, what’s wrong?” for she suddenly noticed Chris with his hands over his eyes and whimpering. “Chris dear, come out, I promise I won’t take another picture of you today,” she said with concern in her voice.

“How about promising never to take pictures again?” Jeffery muttered. “AHH! Mom!” he yelled as Melissa sent another camera flash his way. “Are you trying to blind me or something?” he asked, rubbing the spots out of his eyes. “I wasn’t wearing my glasses, ya know.”

“Sorry dear, but I did warn you about wisecracking my camera.” Melissa said, her eyes twinkling in the direction of her son. “Now I got another cute picture of you to add to my vast collection.”
Kit walked around his aunt and tried to coax Chris into coming out of the closet.

“Come on, Chris, she’s done taking pictures, you can come out now.” Kit said, hugging Chris and steering him out of the closet.

Chris looked nervously around as Kit brought him out of the closet. When he spotted Melissa’s Mad Camera of Doom in her hand, he let out a whimper and ducked behind Kit.

“Chris, are you okay?” Kit asked in concerned.

“…Hate camera…. eyes hurts ….” Chris muttered, his face pressed against Kit’s upper back.

“Oh, Chris.” Kit said sympathetically, turning around to face Chris and embracing him. “It’s okay; she’s not going to take another picture of you today. Calm down…”

“My eyes still hurts...” Chris said in a small voice, his face buried in Kit’s chest to shield his eyes from the light in the living room.

“Uh-oh, Aunt Melissa… I think Chris’ eyes are too sensitive to flashes of light from your camera.” Kit said with deep concern for his brother. He had his hand on the back of Chris’ head, pressing his brother’s face to his chest, trying to protect Chris’ eyes from the
brightly lit living room.

“That’s what we were trying to tell you, Mom.” Jeffery said, gesturing toward Chris.

“Oh my—I’m so sorry, Chris!” Melissa cried, tossing her camera aside, which landed safely on the sofa. “Hold on, you poor dear, I’ll see if I have some sunglasses.”

“Mom,” interjected Jeffery. “He might need some eye drops too.”

“Yes, of course, Jeffery dear.” Melissa said, going into full nurse mode. “You get the sunglasses and I’ll get the eyes drops.”

And they split up, each going in different directions, leaving Kit and Chris alone in the living room.

Kit wrapped his arms around Chris’ waist and lifted him a few inches off the floor and carried him over to the sofa, reflecting to himself how soft and cuddly Chris felt in his bunny rabbit costume.

Carrying Chris wasn’t so hard, considering Kit was strong for his age and Chris was underweight. He sat down after tossing Melissa’s abandoned camera into the armchair opposite the sofa. He laid Chris down on the sofa, laying his brother’s head in his lap.
Chris whimpered and had his eyes shut tight as Kit stroked his hair sympathetically.

Kit then had an idea; he took off his baseball cap and laid it on his brother’s face, shielding his eyes from the sunlight pouring in through the window.

“Is that better, little brother?” he asked kindly.

“Mm-hmm.” Chris nodded from beneath the cap.

Kit continues to stroke Chris’s hair through his rabbit hood until Jeffery came back into the living room with a pair of sunglasses.

“Here you go, Chris—hey…” Jeffery said, noticing Kit’s cap on Chris’ face. “That’s a good idea, cuz,” he said approvingly to Kit.

“Thanks,” Kit said, taking the sunglasses and removing the cap from Chris’ face.

Chris flinched and moaned, covering his eyes. Kit quickly placed the sunglasses on him.

“There, is that better, Chris?” Kit asked anxiously, helping his brother up into a sitting position on the sofa while Jeffery went to close the curtains over the window, darkening the room slightly.

“Yeah, big brother, that’s much better. My eyes aren’t hurting anymore!” Chris said happily, flinging his arms around his brother's neck hugging him. “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome, Chris. I'd never let anything hurt you.” Kit said comfortingly, joining in Chris' embrace. “I love you, little bunny,” he added, chuckling as he patted Chris on top the head between his rabbit ears.

“Chris, are you okay, cuz?” Jeffery asked anxiously, feeling guilty that he hadn’t picked a better spot to hide his mother’s camera. “Chris?” he said slowly, approaching the Cloudkicker brothers. “I’m really sorry; I should’ve hid my Mom’s camera better. Please forgive me, Chris.”

He stood there, his emotional side starting to take over, causing him to whimper a bit, until he felt two pair of arms wrapping around him. His head jerked up to see that Kit and Chris were both hugging him consolingly.

“Don’t cry, Jeffery.” Chris said, hugging him from his right side. “I forgive you.”

Jeffery burst into tears while hugging both of his cousins and surrogated brothers tightly.

Chris blinked confusedly. “Jeffery, why are you crying? I said I forgive you.”

“Y-you mean it? Do you r-really m-mean it, Chris?” Jeffery sobbed, his emotional side was getting the better of him as tears were rapidly flowing down his furry cheek.

“Yes… yes, Jeffery, of course I do.” Chris said, hugging Jeffery tighter. He was really confused now, for he has never seen Jeffery in such a state before. “Jeffery….are you alright?” he asked.

“He’ll be fine, Chris,” Kit assured him, who, like Chris, was hugging Jeffery tightly on his left side. “He’s an emotional bear, he gets like this sometimes. I’m sorry you had to see him like this, he was hoping you’d never see this side of him.”

“But, why would he hope for that? I would’ve wanted to cheer him up too.” Chris said looking a little sad that they’ve been keeping a secret from him.

“B-because, I was a-a-afraid that you’d think of m-m-me as a w-w-wimpy b-b-baby...” Jeffery sobbed between the two brothers holding him in an embrace.

Kit shushed him, trying to calm him down.

“But I don’t think you’re a wimpy baby, that’s me, not you.” Chris said, hugging Jeffery tightly. He didn’t really mean that about himself, but he thought that if he belittled himself, it would make Jeffery feel better. He was mistaken, however…

“N-n-no, C-C-Chris, you’re n-not, don’t ever s-s-say that about y-yourself.” Jeffery cried, letting go of Kit to fully embrace Chris. “Y-you are not a b-baby, Chris!” he continued to cry, hugging Chris tighter.

“But, I’m not very strong and I have bad dreams that make me cry.” Chris said miserably, bowing his head.

“Chris, just because you’re not physically strong, or that you have bad dreams, it doesn’t mean you’re a wimpy baby.” Kit told him firmly. “You’re just weak from malnutrition, you can’t help that.”

“Y-y-yeah, cuz, Kit is r-r-right.” Jeffery said; trying to sound firm but his overflowing emotion ruined the desired effect. “Y-you are not a b-baby at all! I-I have my b-bad dreams t-t-too.” Jeffery continued to sob but his tears were lightening up through the Cloudkicker twins’ comforting embrace. “A-and m-my worst n-nightmare is losing M-mom, y-you, K-Kit o-or any of my f-family. Y-you’re very spec-special to me.” Now Jeffery’s sobs were becoming more of a slight whimper, losing himself in Kit and Chris’ embrace.

“What is going on here and what’s with all the water works, Jeffery dear?”

Melissa has entered the living room, holding a bottle of eye drops and looking concerned for her son, seeing him in tears.

“What’s the matter, sweetie?” she asked Jeffery again, walking over to the three of them and pulling out a flowery pink handkerchief from her pocket.

“M-Mommy, i-it's m-my fault C-Chris's eyes w-were hurting. I-I s-should have h-hid your c-camera b-better somehow." Jeffery said sniffing as he gently raised his head.

“Jeffery, calm down, I could barely understand you, dear.” Melissa said gently, wiping his tears from his eyes with the handkerchief. “Blow,” she ordered, holding it to his nose. He blew his nose on the handkerchief with the sound of a horn honking. “Now then,” she said, throwing the handkerchief into a nearby bin in the corner. “Could you repeat that, more slowly, please? I believe you were saying something about it being your fault Chris’ eyes were hurting.”

“Mommy, I’m so sorry....” Jeffery started explaining slowly. “I-I know how much you l-love taking pictures, but the flashes bother my eyes and they hurt Chris’, so I tried to hide it from you. I-I know it was w-wrong to take your things and hide ‘em, but I didn’t know what else to do, you wouldn’t stop….”

“Oh, Jeffery,” Melissa sighed, picking Jeffery up off his feet and hugging him to her chest, her cheek brushing against his. “It’s not entirely your fault, dear; I led you to it, if only I took fewer pictures. And as a former nurse, I should’ve realized that Chris was flinching to every flash, but I thought he was just camera shy and didn’t want his picture taken.”

“Mommy, I feel so guilty, I knew it was wrong to take your things and hide them. I promise I’ll never do that again.” Jeffery proclaimed

“Jeffery dear, I appreciate that and I forgive you, baby.” Melissa said, kissing Jeffery on the cheek. “Now, quit being so hard on yourself, we all make mistakes, dear, that’s how we learn.”

“Your Mom’s right, Jeff. I've made my mistakes too.” Kit said, at this, Chris looked over at his brother in shock.

“You, big brother?” Chris asked incredulously, as if he thought Kit could do no wrongs. “What mistakes have you made? It’s not like you were a pirate or anything…”

“Chris, I'll explain it all to you one day, I promise you.” Kit said, accepting his brother's comforting words.

“Aw, does this mean I have to wait?” Chris asked, sounding thoroughly disappointed. When Kit nodded, he pouted, crossed his arms and grumbled. “I hate waiting… I hate waiting till I’m older….”

Kit watched Chris sadly, he really didn’t want to tell the tale, but he didn’t want to disappoint his brother either, at the same time, he feared that Chris wouldn’t think so highly of him once he told his story.

“Chris dear, if you’ll lie down on the couch, I’ll apply the eye drops to your eyes.” Melissa said gently.

“Does it stings?” Chris asked, eying the eye drops in Melissa’s hand through his sunglasses with apprehension.

“Don’t be silly, dear,” Melissa said with a slight chuckle. “I wouldn’t be using it if it did. Now come over here, sweetie.”

Chris went over to the sofa and lay down on his back, staring up at the ceilings.

“Kit, be a dear and dim the lights, please.” Melissa said, sitting down next to Chris.
“Sure, Aunt Melissa.” Kit went and turned off a few of the lights. And then, Melissa lifted the sunglasses off of Chris’ face and applied the first drop.

Chris’ entire body jerked as the eye drop made contact with his eyeball, and now he was blinking like crazy. It didn’t sting like he assumed it would, it just surprised him and he never had eye drops applied to his eyes before. It was a strange feeling that he couldn’t even describe to himself.

“Are you alright, dear?” Melissa asked.

Chris hesitated, he wasn’t sure if he was alright or not. Was this how he was supposed to feel? Since he couldn’t describe the sensation of having eye drops applied to his eyes to himself, he doubted he could explain it to Melissa. Finally, he decided to dismiss it as nothing and lay perfectly still for Melissa to apply the next drop.

“I’m okay, Aunt Melissa, I just—just never had eye drops before and—”

“I understand, dear. It’s a kind of ticklish feeling.” Melissa said kindly.

“YEAH!” Chris exclaimed, glad for a name for this feeling. “Yeah, that’s what it feels like.”

“Chris, I don’t mean to rush you,” Jeffery said, “but—hurry up! We’re supposed to be practicing before we go to Jason’s.”

Kit frowned at Jeffery in disapproval. “Jeffery, his eyes are more important than our practices.”

“Yeah, I know…” Jeffery said, turning scarlet with embarrassment as he hung his head. “’m sorry.”

“Alright, hold still, dear.” Melissa said kindly to Chris as she dripped the last drop onto his eye. Once again, Chris felt that ticklish sensation in his eye and he blinked rapidly, before Melissa pushed him into a standing position beside her. “Now, go on and help Kit with practice,” she said, patting him on the back.

“Okay, Aunt Melissa.” Chris said brightly, and he went to join Kit and Jeffery climbing up the stairs. “Guys, wait for me!”

“Hurry up, Chris.” Jeffery said without slowing down. Kit however, stopped in his tracks and waited for Chris to catch up.

“Jeff, if you rush my brother one more time, I’ll be doing the disappearing act sooner than we planned.” Kit said, frowning.

“Sorry, cuz.” Jeffery said, stopping in his tracks and looking sheepish, “I’m just so excited, I can’t wait! I just love magic so much."

“We know, Jeff, but that’s still no reason to be rude.” Kit said as Chris caught up with them, panting like a dog on a hot day. “Chris doesn’t have strong legs like we do, he can’t run very fast, and it wasn’t fair for you to tell him to hurry up like that.” He then turned to Chris, who was still panting for breath. He put an arm around his brother’s shoulder, looking concerned. “Are you okay, Chris?”

“....Yeah.... I’m fine.....big brother.” Chris said between each intake of breath. “...I.... just need....to catch.....my breath…”

Seeing Chris like this made Jeffery even more regretful that he had shouted at him, telling him to hurry up. He walked over to Chris’ side and placed a hand on his chest and back.

“Chris, calm down and breathe slowly.” Jeffery instructed. “And I’m sorry I made you run like that. Kit was right; it wasn’t fair of me…”

Chris calmed himself down enough to breathe more slowly. When his breathing was back to normal, he threw his arms around Jeffery’s neck.

“It’s okay, Jeffery.” Chris said, smiling and snuggling his cheek against Jeffery’s. “You were just impatient; we all get like that sometimes.”

“I don’t mean to be.” Jeffery said; a note of desperation in his voice as he hugged Chris.

“We know that, Jeff.” Kit said, joining Chris in hugging Jeffery. “But Chris here is a special case; he requires a little more patience and lots of care.”

“Yeah, I know.” Jeffery said, still feeling slightly ashamed of himself, but enjoying the embrace with his cousins and adoptive brothers. “Thank you, both.”

Suddenly, Kit and Chris put Jeffery under a headlock between the two of them and gave him a twin-double nuggie.

“Hey! Ha, ha, ha! No fair!” Jeffery laughed as two knuckles were rubbing into his scalp. “Ha, ha, ha! You guys teamed up on me!”

“Well, we’re all a magic team, right?” Kit laughed slyly. “Of course we could team up on nuggies to you, Jeff.”

“Oh no,” Jeffery groaned. “You two are gonna rub me bald and I’ll have start using hair regrow products that never works.”

Chris patted the top of Jeffery’s head. “Well, be a good boy and we won’t nuggie you so much.” He said in imitation of Melissa’s voice.

“Okay, okay, anything as long as I can keep my hair till I’m well over forty!” Jeffery said, holding the top of his head with both hands, as if to protect his hair from falling out.

Kit chuckled as he let Jeffery go. “C’mon you two, we still got to practice before we go babysit Jason… And Jeffery, if I catch you being so down on yourself again, we’re really gonna rub you bald!”

“Yeah,” Chris agreed, casting Jeffery a playfully threatening look.

“What, I’m not allowed to be sad?” Jeffery asked, pretending to look shocked.

“NOPE!” Kit and Chris said in unison with sly grins.

“Oh, why me?” Jeffery groaned.

“We're just kidding, Jeff.” Kit and Chris laughed in unison as they all shared a playful laugh.

Author’s Note: Dear readers, fans and friends. We apologize for the long delay on chapter 6. We took a break over the Holidays and we did some going over this one with a fine tooth comb to make sure all was in place. We had over-brainstormed on this chapter for a while. Happy Holiday and Chapter 7 will be on its way soon.

[eclipse]

Be-awesome!! an update XD

Alright, first things first... Dang cuwte bunny Cwis! It has left a permanent image in my head XD As for the story itself. It was pretty good, I especially enjoyed those funny, hearty scenes of emotion play. Kinda felt like getting tossed back and forth. (at some point I imagined my character, a nine year old, being in the scene. Not much different to how I reacted to everything with all the awe-ing and 'oh-my-goodness' moments lol Not really sure why I did though o.o)

As for comments for possible improvement. I would like to suggest that at the beginning of this chapter, when Chris wakes up from his nightmare, to describe that it is still night time at that point. Personally the image that popped into my mind was that it was already morning when Chris woke up from the nightmare. Oh and you might want to change this line:

“What if I get up on stage and freeze up or—or forget to do a trick or something?” he confided some of his feelings to Jeffery on Friday, the night before Saturday.

I just want to point out in this one that the "...Friday, the night before Saturday." is a bit redundant. You could possibly word it like "...Friday, the night before the big day" or something like that.

EDIT: Well I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing but anyway I just noticed that there's quite a lot of sorry's in this particular chapter. Just thought I'd mention. Not sure if it is problem though so don't mind it that much I guess. It's just something I noticed.

Other than that great job! Looking forward to reading more! ^^
~Eclipse

[Kit_Lee]

Dec 10, 2009 9:46:53 GMT -5 eclipse said:

Be-awesome!! an update XD

Alright, first things first... Dang cuwte bunny Cwis! It has left a permanent image in my head XD As for the story itself. It was pretty good, I especially enjoyed those funny, hearty scenes of emotion play. Kinda felt like getting tossed back and forth. (at some point I imagined my character, a nine year old, being in the scene. Not much different to how I reacted to everything with all the awe-ing and 'oh-my-goodness' moments lol Not really sure why I did though o.o)

As for comments for possible improvement. I would like to suggest that at the beginning of this chapter, when Chris wakes up from his nightmare, to describe that it is still night time at that point. Personally the image that popped into my mind was that it was already morning when Chris woke up from the nightmare. Oh and you might want to change this line:

“What if I get up on stage and freeze up or—or forget to do a trick or something?” he confided some of his feelings to Jeffery on Friday, the night before Saturday.

I just want to point out in this one that the "...Friday, the night before Saturday." is a bit redundant. You could possibly word it like "...Friday, the night before the big day" or something like that.

EDIT: Well I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing but anyway I just noticed that there's quite a lot of sorry's in this particular chapter. Just thought I'd mention. Not sure if it is problem though so don't mind it that much I guess. It's just something I noticed.

Other than that great job! Looking forward to reading more! ^^
~Eclipse

Thank You! Eclipse,

That review really made our day we appreciate it very very much.
On fixing any thing Kc5 can look at your suggestions. We spet alot of time actually tryin to make this Chapter Perfect. we did really well Actually.

We thought you would love The Inter actins and bunny Chris.

He is cute I sent you a picture for request that has Him in it.

Thanks again for the wonderful review and words of encuragement. Pal.

Much apprectaited.

I sent you all that I remembered Request wise by the way.

Thanks again.

Sincerely

Your friends,

~Kit Lee and
~Kitcloudkicker5285

:0)

[Kit_Lee]

Dear Friends and Fans.

Kc5 and I have not given up on this story we've been busy in our personal lifes and plus holidays and all.

I know everyone can understand that. Holidays are for Family and things we have in our normal lifes do come up. And all.

But was wanting to let you all know the story is still in the works and Chapter 7 is nealy finished just doing final touchues here and there.

Sorry for the delay and Hope you all are still intrested in our story.

Thank you with best regards.



God Bless you all
and hope all is well.

Kit the Magician Writer and Co writer .
CMB Mod and Assistant Mod.


Sincerely

Your friends,

~Kit Lee and
--Kc5285.

:0)

[Pashka Geraskin]

Sure, Kit, I beleive you finish it soon. Please forgive me that I cannot translate my big fanfiction into English, where main character is adult Kit and publish it here.

[Kit_Lee]

Hey! Guy's

Kc5 and I just put the last touches on Chapter 7 and 8 and we'll be posting it very soon.

We sincerely appolgize for the long delay. Hope not to many of you have given up on the story. But the good thing is we did Two Chapters out of one that way we could get things finished for you all.

So with out futher ado... Kc5 and I Bring you Kit the Magician Chapter 7 & 8. We hope you all enjoyed or first story and we have many more planed.

Happy reading and Comments and feed back are welcome.

Sincerely.

CMB Assistant Mod
And Mod.

Your Friends.

~Kit Lee &
-- Kc5285

:0)

[KitCloudkicker5285]

Title: Kit, the Magician
Authors: KitCloudkicker52885 and Kit_Lee
Disclaimer: We do not own Tale Spin, Disney does. But we do own Chris Cloudkicker, Jeffery and Melissa.

Chapter Seven
The Three Magician Babysitters

Kit, Jeffery and Chris shared a humorous laugh at their own jokes, as they entered the rehearsal studio.

"So, what should we do first?" Kit asked, looking around at all the tricks and magic items and rubbing his hands together, eager to start work. "A sword box trick? Making someone levitate? Sawing, disappearing? Wow, so many tricks, so little time." he continued, eyeing every tricks ever so eagerly.

Jeffery stared at Kit as though he was thinking: 'You've got to be kidding me…'

"We start with the basics, cuz," he said, holding up a coin. "Like making this coin disappear."

"Uh, sure…okay, Jeff." Kit sighed, clearly disappointed. He was hoping for something a little more challenging. Nevertheless, he took the coin, closed his fist over it and opened it again, showing that the coin was gone. "Ta-da…" he said half-heartedly. "…You know, Jeff, this is a bit too basic for me, I was hoping for more of a challenge." Kit sighed again, making the coin reappear by reaching out to one of Chris' long rabbit ears and withdrawing it from there.

"We'll get to that, cuz." Jeffery assured him. "Just be patient. This is the way my Mom taught me: review all the tricks you know so far before learning new tricks."

"Yeah, I understand…" Kit said with a sad sigh. "But Jeff, this is so boring, it's like taking algebra and I hate algebra."

And so they practiced, but within a few minutes into reviewing the most basic of tricks, Kit let out a huff of frustration, he felt like he was spinning his propellers but wasn't getting anywhere. So he decided to take it up a notch.

"Cuz? What are you doing?" Jeffery asked nervously, as Kit took a newspaper and rolled it into a cone.

"I'm going to try the disappearing milk trick." Kit announced. "As soon as I get the milk that is…"

"Kit, cuz, that's not exactly a basic trick..." Jeffery protested weakly, his voice squeaking slightly. "C'mon, cuz, try separating these rings first." He held up three hoop-like rings that were joined together.

Kit eyed the rings for a moment then sighed sadly; he wished Jeffery would have a little more faith in him and show some encouragement.

"Aw c'mon, Jeff, I'm not doing any of that kid stuff." Kit said. At these words, Jeffery looked a little offended. "I can do this, trust me." He turned to his currently bunny rabbit brother. "Chris, go get the milk please."

"Aye-aye, big brother!" Chris said brightly, with a salute and sounding like an army boy obeying his commander; and he left, hopping down the hall like the bunny he was dressed as and leaving Kit and Jeffery alone in the room.

"Kit," Jeffery said warningly, trying again to make his cousin see reasons before it was too late. "My Mom won't like it if you waste her milk on a trick gone wrong."

"Nothing's going to go wrong, Jeff." Kit said confidently. "This will work. Trust me."

"Alright…" Jeffery said in defeat, not wanting to damage Kit's self-confidence. "You better hope this works, cuz! Because my Mom is going to be madder than a hornet if you get milk all over her clean floor."

Before Kit could reply, Chris returned, walking into the room with the milk jug. He had abandoned his bunny hops, so that the milk wouldn't slosh around in the jug.

"Here you go, big brother." Chris said happily, handing Kit the milk jug. "I can't wait to see this neat trick! Are you going to turn the milk into marshmallow?" he asked as his stomach gave a little rumble. He had obviously spotted some food in the refrigerator while getting the milk, making him a little hungry.

"Thanks, Chris." Kit said, taking the milk jug and pouring milk into the newspaper cone. "And no, I'm going to make it disappear."

Chris looked a little disappointed. "Aw, but I was hoping I could eat it…"

Ever since Baloo and Melissa started persuading him to eat a little more, Chris' appetite has increased a little bit, and as a result, he was ready for a little snack more often. Though still eating a little less than Kit and Jeffery, he was eating more than he usually did.

Jeffery had his hands together, as though in prayer and begging the Lord for a miracle, talking fast and in a low voice: "Please, oh please let Kit get it right the first time or Mom will have my hide!"

Kit threw the newspaper cone open. "Ta-da! As you can see, there is no milk in the cone!" he said, sounding very thrilled.

"Uh…that's because it's on my feet, cuz…" Jeffery muttered in a hollowed voice, looking down at his feet. "Oh, Mom's gonna kill us…"

Kit gulped as he and Chris looked down at Jeffery's feet too, which were white and wet, surrounded by a puddle of milk.

"Eww, yucky! You got milk on his feet!" Chris moaned loudly, with a look of disgust on his face. "Yuck! We're not going to drink that, are we?"

"Ew, no!" Jeffery said with a disgusted look and a shudder. He lifted one foot off the floor and examined it, wet as it was. "That'd be nasty, Chris."

"Oh, Jeff…" Kit said faintly, backing away. "I-I'm so sorry, Jeff!" he cried, and he threw the newspaper down and ran from the room.

"Kit, wait!" Jeffery called after him, but too late, Kit was long gone. He sighed and turned to Chris. "Chris, why don't you go find Kit while I clean up?"

"Okay, Jeffery," Chris said, and then he sniffed in Jeffery's direction, his nose picking up a mixture of sweaty feet and milk going bad. He suddenly grabbed his own nose and exclaimed: "Ugghh! P-U, Jeffery, you stink! You need a bath!" and then he turned on his heels and ran from the room.

"Oy! You'd smell too if you were covered in milk!" Jeffery yelled indignantly after Chris' retreating back.

With a sigh, Jeffery begins cleaning up the puddle of milk on the floor. When he was finished and the floor was spotless once more and after spraying the room with the air refresher spray (he'd sprayed a little bit of it on his own feet), he was off in search of his two cousins and surrogate brothers.

Jeffery had a pretty good idea of where Kit would go, and when he climbed up to his attic bedroom a few minutes later, he turned out to be quite right.

Kit was sitting on Chris' bed, arms wrapped around his knees and his chin resting on top of them. He wasn't crying, but he did appear depressed. Sitting next to him on the bed was Chris, patting Kit gently on the back while giving him a one-arm hug across his chest.

"There, there, big brother." Chris was saying comfortingly. "You didn't mean to make that mess. I'm sure Aunt Melissa would understand…."

Kit made no reply, but looked up as Jeffery approached them.

"Jeff, I'm so sorry about the mess." Kit said sincerely. "I'm so stupid! You tried to warn me and I didn't listen. I'm sorry; I'll go clean up…"

Kit made to get up but Jeffery pushed him back down.

"Kit, cuz, relax." Jeffery told him. "I've already cleaned it up. And if you call yourself stupid again…" he pulled out his wand from the inside of his sweater and raised it threateningly. "I'll turn you into a rabbit and keep you as a pet! You just made a mistake, that's all. That's no reason to beat yourself up about it. You're not stupid, Kit, and if I remember right, I failed that same trick five times before I got it right."

"Hey, can we both keep him as rabbit?" Chris asked cutely

Kit cracked a smile at that, and then an image of Jeffery and Chris taking turns cuddling a little brown non-anthropomorphic rabbit in their arms, cooing Kit's name flashed to the forefront of Kit's mind after Jeffery and Chris' jokes and he had to suppress a laugh.

"And anyway," Chris continued. "You're not stupid, big brother." he said, hugging Kit. "Stupid is Mrs. Cole."

"And Karnage and Trader Moe's minions." Jeffery added with a humorous grin, tucking his wand back inside his sweater.

These words from his two brothers and best friends cheered Kit up a great deal. It meant the world to Kit to hear them say that and he could not emphasize strongly enough of how much he appreciated and love the pair of them.

"Thanks guys," he said with a grateful smile. It was all he could think of saying.

"You're most welcome, cuz." Jeffery said. "Just remind me next time to wear my rain boots," he added, laughing while playfully shoving Kit.

"Ha, ha, ha, cut it out, Jeff." Kit laughed, playfully shoving Jeffery back. "No, you'd better wear a wet suit next time," he added slyly.

"Well, I do have one—huh?" Jeffery said, looking confused "You're not thinking of the cake in the top hat trick, are you?"

"Oh, yeah… I am." Kit said, grinning slyly at Jeffery.

Jeffery groaned in dismay, but then he was interrupted by Chris tugging on his sleeve.

"Jeffery? I'm a rabbit, so does that means I'm your pet?" he asked innocently, referring to Jeffery's joke threat about turning Kit into a rabbit.

"What?—Oh no, Chris, it doesn't. I was just joking." Jeffery said, patting Chris on top the head between the costume's rabbit ears. "But you can be my pretend pet if you want to."

"Okay!" Chris said brightly.

And as Jeffery sat down on the bed beside Kit, Chris laid himself on his belly on top of Jeffery's knees. Jeffery chuckled as he stroked Chris on the head.

"Good little bunny rabbit." Jeffery said, hugging Chris around the neck while still stroking his head. Chris smiled in self-satisfaction at being called good.

Kit watched Chris playing the rabbit for a moment with a smile. He could imagine that Jeffery was thankful that Chris was light in weight or he'd be complaining that Chris was crushing his thighs

Jeffery then tucked Chris by the waist under his arm and stood up.

"C'mon, Kit, we got to get back to practicing." And he walked out of the room, carrying Chris under his arm. Only when they reached the step ladder leading down from the attic bedroom did Jeffery put Chris down and allowed him to walk on his own. He may be light in weight, but Chris was still too heavy for Jeffery to carry like a real rabbit around the house.

They went back to the rehearsal studio and resumed practice, this time starting with the basic and moving up to the more advanced tricks.

"What do you think you'd like to do for a grand finale?" asked Jeffery, as Kit successfully separated the three rings that were joined together.

"I have a trick in mind." Kit replied. "But I'm not gonna tell you, it's a secret."

"Aww, c'mon, tell me." Jeffery begged him, with his best puppy-dog pout.

Kit, who was becoming cute-proof since he started spending time with Chris, the King of Cute, said firmly: "No."

"Aw nuts," Jeffery said, kicking his foot against the floor, clearly disappointed. "It's doesn't have anything to do with me, does it?" he read the answer in Kit's sly grin. "Oh no…" he groaned. "It does! Oh, why me?"

"Guys, it's time to go." Chris said. "C'mon, let's go, we gotta babysit Jason—oh, I wish I can take off this rabbit suit." He tried to pull down the zipper again, but still with no success. "I hope this thing comes off, I'd hate to have to cut it open just to get out of it."

"You won't," Jeffery said, grasping Chris' zipper and tried to tug it down but it wouldn't budge. "This is one of my Mom's special zippers, to keep you looking cute for days."

"Oh," Chris said, looking slightly disappointed.

"There is a trick to get this undone, but I forgot what it is…Sorry, cuz." Jeffery said with an apologetic expression.

"Heh-heh, c'mon guys, or we're gonna be late." Kit said, grabbing a coat and putting it on Chris. "Here, Chris, this will protect your costume from getting dirty," he said as he zipped up the coat for Chris.

"Thanks, big brother." Chris said gratefully, hugging Kit.

"You might want to put your hood down, so Mrs. Robinson'll be able to recognize you." Jeffery said, grasping both of Chris' rabbit ears over his head and pulled it back, revealing Chris' natural bear ears.

"And take your rabbit feet off." Kit said. "I'll put them in my bag."

Chris sat down on the bed and pulled his white rabbit feet-like socks off and handed them to Kit, who tucked them deep inside his school bag. Then, he rolled up the legs of the suit up above his knees, so that they too, would be protected by the coat.

They all went downstairs, with Jeffery muttering: "Wish we had an elevator," yet again. They met Melissa at the bottom of the stairs.

"Aunt Melissa," Chris said, approaching his aunt and opening up his coat to reveal the zipper of his rabbit suit. "Can you undo this, please?"

"Oh dear…" Melissa's smiling face fell as she took hold of the zipper and tried but failed to pull it down. "Oh, my goodness, it's one of my trick zippers, I haven't seen one of these in years."

Chris' heart sank a little. "You—you do know how to unzip me, don't you?" he asked desperately.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Chris dear." Melissa said earnestly. "But I haven't used these on Jeffery's cute outfits for so long, I'm afraid I forgot the trick to unzipping these."

"What?" yelled Jeffery in an accusatory tone of voice. "So you did put those on some of my clothes. Why did you make them in the first place?"

"Well, Jeffery dear…." Melissa said, her eyes twinkling. "When you were two years old, you made the unfortunate habit of stripping off your adorably cute outfits, so your granddad thought it would be amusing if you couldn't take them off, so he and I created a few undoable zippers and put them on your clothes…Oh, how frustrated you were when you couldn't take your clothes off…" she chuckled

"Mom…." Jeffery groaned, blushing tomato red. "Did you have to tell them that?" he asked, gesturing to Kit and Chris

"Well, it looks like I accidentally put one of my spare undoable zippers on Chris' bunny suit…" Melissa said, casting Chris an apologetic look.

Chris sighed sadly. "It's okay, Aunt Melissa, you didn't do it on purpose… I'm sure we'll find a way to unzip me without ruining my costume,"

"We will, Chris, I promise." Jeffery said, placing a comforting arm around Chris.

"C'mon guys, let's go." Kit said, opening the front door and holding it open for the other two. "Bye, Aunt Melissa, don't forget to come to our show tonight," he said as Jeffery and Chris filed pass him through the door.

"Oh, don't worry, dear," Melissa said smiling. "I wouldn't miss it even if some dark forces from another universe come to enslave mankind."

"Heh-heh, yeah, like in the Adventures in Space…" Kit said, chuckling a little bit. "Waiiit… you've been reading Jeffery's comic books again, haven't you?" he asked with a sly grin.

"Well, I had to make sure they were age appropriate, didn't I?" Melissa said defensively. "I can't have my baby reading bad comics, now can I? You know how sensitive he is, one of them is bound to give him nightmares."

"Yeah, I know," Kit agreed, knowing that Jeffery would be so embarrassed if he knew his Mom said that. "We can't have that… Well, I'll see ya later, bye." And with that, he took off after his brother and cousin.

"Bye, dears. Be safe and have fun!" Melissa called after them before she closed the door.

The three bear cubs walked down the street together, Kit and Jeffery holding each of Chris' hands, who was walking between them. Walking on either side of Chris, they look like bodyguards, determined to protect the youngest in their group.

They reached Jason's house within three minutes, and they walked up the steps and knocked.

The door opened and Mrs. Robinson stood before them, smiling.

"Ah, Chris, come in, come in—oh…." She suddenly noticed Kit and Jeffery standing on either side of Chris. "And who are these two?"

"This is my big brother, Kit." Chris said, gesturing to Kit. "And this," he moved his gesture to Jeffery. "…is my cousin, Jeffery."

"Oh, are they dropping you off?" she asked.

"No, they have to stay with me while I babysit Jason and help me when I need help." Chris said, and then he sadly hung his head. "I'm sorry; I wasn't supposed to accept any jobs without asking my Daddy first."

"And because of his conditions, he can't really handle a job by himself." Kit added, giving Chris a one-arm hug around his shoulders. "So I hope you don't mind that we had to come here with him."

"Conditions?" Mrs. Robinson asked in concern. "What are his conditions, is he sick?"

"No, he's just weaker and weighs far below average due to being fed very poorly at his old orphanage." Jeffery said, wanting his turn to speak for his cousin, like Kit did. And since his Mom was a nurse, he felt that this was his place to speak.

Mrs. Robinson gasped and clutched at her heart. "Oh my goodness," and tears begin to fall from her eyes as she imagined her precious Jason in that situation.

She picked Chris up and hugged him, very surprised at how light he was, almost the same weight as Jason.

"Oh, you poor thing!" she cried, mentally cursing the people who had done this to this child to oblivion.

She carried Chris to the kitchen and set him on a stool at the bar and gestured for Kit and Jeffery to come and sit at the bar.

She then begins making piles and piles of sandwiches and urged them to eat, particularly Chris.

"Eat as much as you can, dears," she said, putting on her car coat. "Jason is taking his nap now, when he wakes and if he's hungry, give him one of these sandwiches, I think I made enough to feed an army." She turned to Kit, who in her opinion looked the most responsible type. "Here's a list of emergency numbers. Don't bother with the third one, that's my sister's and she's gone on vacation."

"Okay, ma'am." Kit said, accepting the list of phone numbers and studying them. He then took a pencil and a clipboard out of his bag. "Where is the best place to hide, in case someone tries to break in on us?"

"Thinking of everything, are you? I like that." Mrs. Robinson said admiringly, as Kit started scribbling away on the clipboard. "My bedroom is the only room with a lock, so you might want to go in there, lock the door and then hide in the closet with a telephone in there with you."

"And where's the fire exit and place to go in case of a fire?" Kit asked, still writing on his clipboard. This was the same clipboard he had when he babysat Molly and is also the same one he used to pinch Baloo's behind, to wake the large bear up.

"Well, the doors or the windows are the fire exit," Mrs. Robinson said, looking impressed with Kit's ability to ask all the right questions. "All the windows have the fire escape in front of them, so you should be able to get out alright. As for the meeting point, it's on the bench outside the meat shop across the street from here."

"Okay," Kit said smiling as he finished writing. "Got it. I think I got everything. Oh—and where's the first aid kit?"

"In the medicine cabinet in the bathroom." Mrs. Robinson replied, glad that Kit thought of that.

"Okay, I think that's all we need, thank you." Kit said with a bow to Mrs. Robinson. He then turned to Jeffery. "You better let me handle the first aid kit, Jeff, in case there's some bleeding going on."

Jeffery shuddered before saying with one thumb up. "R-r-right, cuz."

"I hope you boys don't mind my asking," Mrs. Robinson said pleasantly. "But do any of you know CPR?"

Jeffery's hand shot into the air. "Ooh, I do!" he said enthusiastically.

"I know it, but I'll let Jeffery handle that," Kit said, smiling sideway at Jeffery. "Seeing as his Mom was a nurse."

"What's CDR?" Chris asked innocently.

Kit and Jeffery both sighed.

"CPR, Chris," Jeffery corrected him, with a strong emphasis on the P. "And we'll tell you later, I promise."

"Well, it's good that two of my three babysitters know it," Mrs. Robinson said, smiling. "But let's hope you won't need it."

"Yeah, let's hope not." Kit and Jeffery said in unison. They looked at each other, startled that they've spoken in unison.

"Uh, Mrs. Robinson? Where's Brad?" asked Chris, remembering Jason mentioning his older brother in the waiting room back at Dr. Bagheera's office.

Mrs. Robinson frowned before saying curtly: "He's in I.S.S today. Spray-painting disrespectful images on the school building…." she muttered angrily. "I don't know where we went wrong with him…."

Suddenly, Jeffery felt very uncomfortable, for Brad Robinson was a member of Gorgon Cornmat's gang. Brad never hit him or anything, but he did taunted him along with the rest of Gorgon's gang.

"Uh…Mrs. Robinson…." Jeffery begun, but Mrs. Robinson went ranting on.

"It's as if he hasn't got any brains!" Mrs. Robinson said irritably, clearly talking to herself and stuffing her purse up with everything she could reach, including the old black telephone on the table, which she pulled clean out of the electrical socket in the wall. "I told that boy that he'll end up on the streets or in prison if he keeps this up! And he had the nerve to say to me, 'yeah, whatever Mom.' Ooh, I grounded him for a month!" Finally grabbing a lamp and stuffing it in her purse. How she managed to shut her purse was anyone's guess, as it was so bulging full, that it looks unlikely ever to close at all. In fact, it now looks more like a bowling ball bag than anything else.

The Cloudkicker Trio stood still, too nervous to make a sound, each of them staring at her bulging bag of a purse and wondering how on earth did she fit everything into one little purse?

"Well, I must be going now, take care." Mr. Robinson said and she left the house.

"Uh—Mrs. Robinson, the phone." Kit said quickly, before Mrs. Robinson closed the door behind her.

"Wha—oh my!" she gasped, looking at her purse and she turned scarlet. "Oh, how embarrassing…." She groped around inside her purse for a moment but gave it up as a bad job. "Oh, I was so angry at Brad that I didn't notice what I was packing in my purse… Oh well, you'll have to use the one in the kitchen, I guess." And she left, looking awkward, shutting the door behind her.

"How did she fit all of that in her purse?" Jeffery asked, still staring at the place where the purse had been seconds before. "My Mom has a trick similar to that, but that….that was no trick. It's just not possible!"

"You got me, Jeff," said Kit, who looked just as confused and puzzled as Jeffery was.

"Maybe it's a magic purse." Chris suggested simply, looking innocently cute as he said it.

Kit and Jeffery stared at each other, each thinking the same thing: 'Nah, it couldn't be…' and then they laughed humorously and hugged Chris.

"Oh, Chris, you're so silly sometimes, you know that?" Jeffery told him, smiling. "But you sure have a way of makin' us laugh."

"I like making people laugh," Chris said, smiling as he hugged Kit and Jeffery back. "It was the one thing Mrs. Cole wouldn't let me do."

Kit frowned.

"Chris, you gotta stop bringing her up," Kit told Chris firmly as Chris bowed his head in sadness. "You're never going to be able to move forward if you keep dwelling on the past. Put it behind you, little brother. She's not worth a space in your memory."

"Yeah, cuz, Kit's right, you have to let go of the past to be able to move on, otherwise it'll haunt you all your life." Jeffery said placing a comforting arm around Chris

"T-thanks, guys." sniffed Chris, and he threw his arms around Kit and Jeffery's necks and hugged them very tightly.

"Hey, we're not your brother and cousin for nothing, Chris." Kit said, hugging his little brother even tighter. "Me and Jeffery are here whenever you need us."

"Yeah, c'mon Chris, give us a smile." Jeffery said encouragingly. "You have a lot to be happy for, and Kit's right, we're always here for you—always."

Chris' face split into a big and very joyful smile.

"There, that's my happy little brother." Kit said happily, with one arm around Chris' neck. "Forget about that evil woman, you're stuck with us now."

Just then, there was a shout from upstairs, followed immediately by the sounds of hurried footsteps rushing down the stairs. A moment later, something collided against Chris' stomach and he fell backward onto the floor.

"Chris!" Kit and Jeffery shouted in unison out of fear that Chris might be hurt.

Whatever it was, it was now sitting on Chris' stomach. As Chris opened his eyes, he saw Jason staring back at him with a big grin on his face.

"Chris, Chris, you're here!" Jason shouted joyfully and he hugged Chris' neck as Chris pushed himself up into a sitting position on the floor. "You're finally here! Oh, we're gonna have so much fun!"

"Uhh…" Chris said, looking dazed, slowly registering the fact that he has just been pounced upon by a six-year-old anthropomorphic golden retriever. "Jason, is that you? Ow, Jason, that hurts…"

"Sowwy…." Jason muttered sheepishly, and he slid off of Chris' stomach.

"Hey, Jason. I'm Kit, Chris' older brother." Kit said as he grasped Chris' hand pulled him to his feet. "Are you alright, Chris?"

"Y-yeah, I'll be okay, big brother. Ow…" Chris said, massaging his head.

"Hi, Jason, I'm Jeffery," Jeffery said as he moved to stand next to Chris. "You need to be careful with Chris, Jason, because he can be hurt pretty easily, so please don't get rough with him."

Chris gave Jeffery a look that said sarcastically: 'Gee, thanks a lot.'

"Okay, I won't." Jason promised, looking up at the three older boys. Then he looked Chris up and down and laughed. Chris' coat had slid off his shoulder during his fall "You look funny as a wabbit, Christ, are you going trick-or-treating as a wabbit tonight?" Jason then jumped onto the couch so that he was at the same height as Chris and reached behind Chris' back and pulled the rabbit hood up. "There, that's better."

"Yes, Jason, I'm going to be a rabbit for Halloween." Chris said, smiling. "Hey, do you wanna go to your room and play?"

"YEAH!" Jason exclaimed, he then grabbed Chris' hand and pulled him down the hall toward his bedroom.

As Chris and Jason disappeared in to an upstairs' bedroom, Kit turned to Jeffery.

"Where do you do think we should set things up for practice?" he asked Jeffery.

"Uh…" Jeffery said, scratching his head. "I guess right in front of the couch would be good, Jason can have a nice view of the show and be comfortable." he suggested.

"Okay, then we'll have to move the radio aside to make room." Kit said.

"Right you are, cuz," Jeffery said as he and Kit picked up either sides of the television-size radio, picking it up and carrying it to the corner of the living room. "There," he said as he and Kit set it down carefully. "That'll do, now let's get things set up."

Jeffery pulled six boards out of his bag and started putting them together.

"Is that a portable Saw-in-Half box?" Kit asked in amazement, pausing in putting on his magician jacket.

"Yeah, my Mom and I sometimes do a magic show at kids' birthday parties, to earn a little extra money." Jeffery explained, still focused on putting the box together. "We got tired of having to carry our Saw-in-Half box from house to house, so Mom and I made a portable one."

"Clever," Kit commented, smiling and he bent down to help Jeffery with putting the box together.

"Thanks, cuz, but I got it." Jeffery said with a wave of his hand that meant he didn't need help. "You just practice some while I set this all up."

"But Jeff—" Kit protested, he didn't want Jeffery to do all the work.

"I insist, cuz." Jeffery cut in, sounding very firm.

"No, we're in this together, Jeff." Kit said, sounding determined.

"That we are, cuz," Jeffery agreed. "But you're the magician of the show, you need to practice a little before the show, it's what my Mom and I do before every show—well, that's different, we had hired hands setting everything up for us."

"Are you sure you don't want any help?" Kit asked, clearly torn between wanting to practice as Jeffery insisted and wanting to go against Jeffery's wishes and help anyway.

Jeffery grinned and shook his head, looking amused.

"You always want to help people out, cuz, I like that about you." Jeffery said with the pride of having Kit as a cousin and surrogate brother. "I noticed that when you were helping Oscar get into a club and make friends. But okay, you can help with this."

"I couldn't help it, he was lonely at school, and hardly anyone ever talked to him." Kit said, getting down on his knees beside Jeffery and started helping him connect two boards together. "I've lived on the streets; I knew what it felt like to be an outcast and lonely," he added, his head slightly bowed, his eyes in shadows.

Jeffery froze and stared at Kit for a moment, before he cast his boards aside and threw his arms around Kit, hugging him tightly. He was a little surprised but pleased when he felt Kit hugging him back.

"Kit, what's wrong?" Jeffery asked in concern as they broke apart and he'd got a good look at Kit's face. Kit's expression was sad and a single tear was running down his cheek.

"I've gained everything I've ever dreamed of since my days on the streets." Kit said, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. "A home, a family and siblings. But I had to go through hard times to get there."

Jeffery threw his arms around Kit again, so many things were left unsaid in the embrace and then they broke apart and started setting things up.

"Okay, I think that's everything." Jeffery said, looking around the living room, which now looks like a very small magic show stage. "Do you want to practice a little bit before Jason and Chris comes down? I told him to keep Jason busy for at least an hour."

"Yeah, sure," Kit said, giving his wand a wave, which turned into a bouquet of flowers.

"Oh, good one!" Jeffery cheered, and then he added very slyly, elbowing Kit lightly in the ribs. "The ladies just love that trick... Do you have your eyes on one of those girls? Is it that lead cheerleader, Cindy? She's so pretty, cuz."

"Yeah, she's pretty…when she's not being rude and snobby." Kit muttered. "I just thought this was a classic magician trick, I wasn't thinking about girls."

"Sure you weren't, cuz…" Jeffery said, even more slyly.

"Jeffery!" Kit groaned. "If you want me to practice, then stop teasing me!"

"Okay, cuz." Jeffery said sheepishly. "Sorry, couldn't resist."

Kit grabbed Jeffery, put him under a headlock and started giving him a nuggie. Jeffery squirmed and laughed as Kit continued his assault. Then he forced Jeffery to lie on his back on the floor and he started tickling Jeffery's belly and ribs.

Jeffery burst out in uncontrollable laugher, his limbs flailing everywhere.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha—no fair!" Jeffery gasped between fits of laugher as Kit kept on tickling him. "Ha, ha, ha, ha—you know I'm super ticklish! Ha, ha, ha, ha—stop, Kit, c'mon! I'll do anything!"

Kit paused. "Anything?" he asked slyly.

"Yes!" Jeffery panted, gasping for breaths. "Anything, as long as you don't tickle me again!"

Kit grinned, this was just too easy.

"Okay, I want to saw you in half at the show tonight."

Jeffery's jaw dropped like a stone.

"Uh, did I say 'anything'? I meant—AHH!" Jeffery yelled as Kit started tickling him again. "Ha, ha, ha, ha—Okay, okay! Heh-heh-heh—I'll do it! Just stop—ha, ha!—tickling me!"

"Without resisting me?" Kit asked as he paused in his tickle torture once more.

"Well…" Jeffery said slowly, with the word 'no' clearly written on his facial expression. He regretted saying that at once as Kit resumed his tickle torture on him. "I mean, yes! I'll do it and I won't resist you, cuz! Ha, ha, ha, ha—now stop tickling me!"

Kit smirked as he stood up and helped Jeffery to his feet again. Thoughts of "Revenge! Revenge!" crossed Jeffery's mind as he stood there in front of Kit, but decided against it, Kit was just too strong for Jeffery to hold down and tickle for long, he'd have to set something up with Chris later….

They were just putting the finishing touch to their temporarily stage for their practical magic show, when Jason came bounding into the living room, looking very excited, closely followed by Chris, who was panting from running after Jason.

"Oh boy, oh, boy, oh boy!" Jason shouted excitedly. "Are you gonna pull Chris out of your hat?" he asked Kit, pointing at the top hat on his head.

Kit smiled at Jason. "Maybe, Jason," he said, placing a hand on the pup's shoulder while Jeffery steered Chris into an armchair. "But first…" he presented Jason with a fan of cards. "Pick a card, any card."

Jason pulled a card from the deck and looked at it.

"Okay, now put it back." Kit said, and Jason put the card back into the deck. Kit shuffled the deck and then drew a card from the middle—a king of diamond. "Is this your card?"

Jason giggled. "No…"

Kit's face fell. "Oh," he said nervously. He tried again and pulled the next card—an ace of heart. "Is this your card?"

"No…" Jason repeated, still giggling.

Jeffery, who was watching from the sideline, wondered if the pup was pulling Kit's leg somehow.

"Uh, Jason?" he said, stepping forward to Jason's side. "Tell me what your card was, just to be sure."

Jason smiled. "Okay!" and he whispered the identity of his card in Jeffery's ear.

"Okay, cuz." Jeffery said, turning to Kit, "Try again."

Kit, who was slowly losing self-confident, pulled a card from the deck, but only half-heartedly—a nine of spade.

Jeffery frowned in puzzlement as Jason announced that it wasn't his card. What was Kit doing wrong?

What am I doing wrong? I'm doing the trick exactly like Aunt Melissa taught me! Kit thought in panic.

"Uh, cuz? May I see that deck of cards for a minute?" Jeffery asked, holding out a hand for the cards.

Kit handed over the deck of cards and Jeffery scanned through it.

"Oh, no, cuz…" Jeffery groaned. "You got the wrong deck; this is just a regular deck. Where's your trick deck?"

Kit bowed his head in shame and muttered something indistinct, but whatever it was, Jeffery must've heard it, for he let a loud exclamation.

"What? What do you mean they got burnt?!" Jeffery asked, sounding shocked beyond belief. "How did that happened?"

"It wasn't Wildcat's fault!" Kit said desperately, as though he didn't want to get the oddball mechanic in trouble. "He didn't know he made a flame blower out of a leaf blower! Anyway, I was playing with them in his shop and left them in there. Then Wildcat decided to test his leaf blower on the cards on the table where I left it, and instead of blowing them away, he shot fire at them."

Kit finished his story with a single tear sliding down his cheek.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Jeffery said, putting a comforting hand on Kit's shoulder. "It wasn't your fault. Here, you can use mine." He pulled a deck of cards from his secret pocket and handed it to Kit.

"Thanks, Jeff." Kit said gratefully, accepting the new deck and turning to Jason, holding the cards in front of the pup in a fan. "Now pick a card."

Jason drew a card and looked at it, with Jeffery looking over his shoulder at the card in the pup's hand so that he couldn't fib about what card he had. Jason placed the card back into the deck in Kit's hand after memorizing his card.

Kit shuffled the deck and drew a card—King of Clubs.

"Is this your card?"

Jason stared at the card in awe. "Wow, that is my card! How did you do that?"

"Magic," Kit said, smiling and gaining a little of his confidence back. "And now, for my next trick…."

For the next half hour, Kit had performed countless small magic tricks with Jason getting more and more delighted with every trick.

"And now," Kit said, taking off his top hat and placing it on the special table. "I will pull a rabbit out of my hat.

At the mention of rabbit, Jason looked all around for Chris, but did not see him, Meanwhile, Kit plunged his whole arm into the hat, groping around inside, until he pulled the head of a bear in a rabbit suit out by the rabbit ears of his suit. It was Chris.

"Ta-da!" Chris said brightly, and Jason clapped loudly.

Kit pulled Chris up so that his shoulders and arms joined the head. Placing his hands under Chris' armpits, he pulled the rest of Chris out of the hat, setting his light-weight brother on his hip, an arm underneath Chris' cotton ball of a rabbit tail to support his weight as Kit held him.

Sitting on Kit's hip, Chris had one arm around Kit's neck; the other was waving at the audience.

The 'audience', which was just Jason and Jeffery, applauded loudly and cheering, all the while, Jeffery was wondering how did Kit managed to pull Chris fully out of the hat.

"And for my final trick, I'll saw Jeffery in half!" Kit announced, pushing the box on a padded top cart with two pillows at each end, to the center of the living room. "Jeff, come on, step up," he said, beckoning Jeffery forward.

Jeffery gulped. "N-no way, cuz, I'm not getting in there."

"Are you a chicken?" Jason asked Jeffery slyly.

"Well…" Jeffery said as Jason started to imitate a chicken. "I'd rather be a chicken than be Thanksgiving dinner. And n-n-no I'm not a chicken, Jason. I've done this trick at least hundreds of times with my Mom. B-but Kit's just a beginner.

"Hey guys," they turned to see Chris' legs hanging out of the neck hole of the box. "Is this right?"

"Chris!" Kit exclaimed exasperatedly, while Jason and Jeffery roared with laugher. "Get out of there!" he opened the lid of the box.

"Aww, do I have to?" Chris asked whiningly, giving Kit a pout. "I wanna do this, big brother! C'mon, let me try it. Jeffery doesn't wanna do this trick anyway, do you, Jeffery?"

"I don't care, Chris, you're not doing this trick." Kit said firmly. "Now get out."

Chris' lower lip begins to tremble. "But, big brother…I'm not scared of this trick anymore. If you're okay, then I'll be okay too."

"Kit, you been sawed in half before?" Jason asked curiously to Chris's comment

"Uh, yeah I have actually." Kit said slowly.

"Please, big brother…" Chris said again with his bottom lip trembling and his eyes were big and shining like a puppy dog.

"Aw, let him do it, cuz." Jeffery said weakly, easily giving in to Chris' trembling lips. "It's not like you're going to hurt him or anything, you can do this as well as I can."

"I don't know…" Kit said doubtfully looking down at Chris in the box.

Chris looked up into Kit's eyes. "Please, big brother?" he begged, with the most persuadable puppy-dog pout in the history of the world.

"Yeah, pwease!" Jason cooed, adding his own pout.

Jeffery bit his lips, trying to fight down a laugh that was threatening to burst out. He decided against adding his plead or opinion on this, lest Kit decided to give him another Tickle Torture session.

Kit, meanwhile, seemed to be struggling with himself, torn between a desire to get Chris out of the box and a wish to honor his little brother's request.

"Kit?" said Chris in concern; he hated to see his big brother under stress. "Are you alright?"

Kit looked down at Chris while the war inside his head wages on.

—Get him out of that box! NOW!—

—No, he wants to do this trick…—

—C'mon, he's like a little kid, he doesn't know what he wants!—

—Yeah, but still… it's his choice to make, I-I have to let him make his own decisions.—

—Do you want to be responsible for anything that might go wrong?—

Kit staggered forward, catching himself on the edge of the box, a tear sliding down his face.

"I—I c-can't do it," Kit said in a croaky voice. "I just…can't, not with my brother."

Jeffery dashed at Kit and threw his arms around him, holding him in a comforting embrace. Kit buried his face in Jeffery's chest while Jeffery patted the back of his head.

"Shh… it's okay cuz." Jeffery said soothingly, knowing full well that Kit was fearful that he might hurt Chris in some way, even though it was just a trick. "It's always hard the first time doing it with a very close relative."

"R-r-really?" Kit asked, choking back tears.

"Yeah, my Mom fainted the first time she tried to do me." Jeffery said, he couldn't help but grin slyly at the memory. "Well, at least you're faring better than my Mom did—don't tell her I said that."

That cheered Kit up a little bit; he chuckled and then looked gloomy again.

"But I still don't think I can do this, not with Chris."

"Aww, but I really wanted to see this trick," Jason whined, pouting.

Jeffery looked from Kit, to Jason and finally to Chris, thinking and then coming to a decision.

"Kit, cuz, why don't you take a break?" Jeffery said, taking Kit's top hat. "I'll saw him in half—relax, cuz," he added as Kit opened his mouth to protest. "I'm a professional; I've done this hundreds of times. Besides, you need to rest if you're gonna be ready for the show tonight."

Kit sighed in defeat. "Alright Jeff, just be careful with him."

"You know I will cuz." Jeffery said, playfully shoving Kit into an armchair. "Chris will be fine, I promise. Beside, I love him too; he's my cousin and little brother. Do you really think I wouldn't be careful with him?" Jeffery strode over to the box and opened the lid. "Uh, Chris cuz…you're facing the wrong way," he said, pulling Chris' legs out the neck hole of the box. "That's where your head is supposed to be."

"Oh," said Chris as he allowed Jeffery to shift him in the right position. "But I was comfortable the other way," he added, pouting as Jeffery closed the lid on him.

"I know, cuz, but you're supposed to be on your back, not on your belly." Jeffery said as he locked the lid into place. "Beside, if I tried this with you laying on your belly, the trick might go wrong and then Kit would have my hide."

"And your nutty head..." Kit muttered from his corner.

"Eeek!" exclaimed Jeffery in a high-pitch voice. "No, anything but that, cuz!" he cried, clutching his own neck with both hands. "I'm rather attached to my head—please don't chop me!" he fell to his knees with his hands together as though in prayer.

"Jeff…I was just joking." Kit said with a humorous smile. "Now get on with the trick before I take Chris out of that box."

"I know, but I wanted to make you smile." Jeffery said, playfully sticking his tongue out at Kit.

"Come on!" cried an impatient Jason. "Cut him in half already!"

"Okay, okay," said Jeffery, signaling Jason to calm down "And now, without further ado..." he reached behind his back and with classic cartoon style, withdrew a saw from nowhere. "I will now saw Chris in half." He bent down and whispered in Chris' ear: "Cuz, don't pretend to groan in pain, Kit is worried enough as it is…"

Chris casted a look of concern toward his brother. "Okay," he whispered back.

Jeffery held the saw up high, where the sharp edges glinted in the light. He then bend the blade back and let go, as a result, it wiggled back and forth on its holder.

Kit covered his eyes with his hands and moaned as Jeffery positioned the saw on top of the box and begin sawing through it.

As the trick unfolds and Chris was sawed in half, Jason clapped loudly and cheered.

Jeffery continued sawing while Jason and Chris were getting even more excited at the climax of the trick. As Jeffery finished sawing through box, he slid two mirror boards in the gap he made in the box and separated Chris in two. Just then, they heard a voice at the door.

"Hello, boys! I'm home, did you have a good—" Mrs. Robinson called from the door, entering the living room. And then she stopped dead in her tracks, horrified by the sight of Chris being divided in half and Jeffery froze like deer in the headlights, his hands on the two halves of the box. "AAHH!" she screamed. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HIM?—Ohhh..." she fell to the floor in a dead faint.

At the sight of Mrs. Robison on the floor, Jeffery and Chris all looked at each other in a worried way.

"Uh-oh…" they said in unison.

"Mommy!" cried Jason, rushing over to her and shaking her. "Wake up, Mommy, it's only a magic trick! I asked them to saw Christ in half."

Jeffery and Chris hurried and finished the trick. Jeffery quickly combined the two halves of the box into one, took out the mirror boards and opened the lid, letting Chris out, unharmed. They then rushed forward to Mrs. Robinson, followed closely by Kit.

"Is she okay, Jeffwie?" asked Jason worryingly, as Jeffery took his mother's pulse.

"Hey Jeffery, do that CDR thing." Chris suggested.

"Eek! Cuz, you don't do CPR on fainting ladies!" Jeffery squeaked, horrified by the idea of giving HER mouth-to-mouth.

"Anyone got a smelly sock?" Kit asked

"Why would you need a smelly sock for, cuz?" asked Jeffery, confused

"Trust me, it'll wake her up." Kit said grinning

"Well, I don't have a sock, but Jeffery's feet still smell bad from the milk trick earlier, will that work big brother?" Chris asked.

Jeffery looked back at Chris with a look that said: 'Ah gee, thanks Chris!' He then swung an arm around Chris' neck and gave him a light nuggie.

"Hey! What was that for?" Chris asked as Jeffery released him.

"For being silly," Jeffery replied, sticking his tongue out at Chris.

"Ohhh…" Mrs. Robinson groaned as she slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position, rubbing her head.

"Mommy! Are you okay?" Jason asked as he hopped onto her lap and hugged her around the neck.

"I think so," she said, uncertainly. "But never do that again!" she directed these words at Jeffery and Chris, both of whom grinned rather sheepishly.

She seized Chris' arm and pulled him to her, placing her hands on his hip, feeling him for traces of a gash across his belly, but to her relief and confusion, she couldn't find a single injury on Chris.

"B-b-but, you had him sawed in half!" she stammered confusedly. "How is it that he's not bleeding?" She wrapped her arms around Chris and hugged him.

"Come here, Mrs. Robinson…" Kit said gently, prying her off of Chris and leading her over to the Saw-in-Half. There he explained to her how the trick was done and assured her that what she saw wasn't real.

As they were getting ready to leave for the talent show, Mrs. Robinson handed them each a five dollar bill.

"Here's your pay for babysitting," she said. "And dears, Jason's birthday's coming up and I would be delighted if you did a magic show for his party."

"YAY!" cried Jason happily, hugging the three of them. "Please come to my party, please, please!"

"Okay, we will." Chris said, hugging Jason.

"Bye boys, we'll come to watch you at your talent show." Mrs. Robinson said, causing Jason to whoop with happiness again.

The Cloudkicker trio smiled and waved. "Bye!" And with that, they left the house, closing the door behind them.

[KitCloudkicker5285]

Title: Kit, the Magician
Authors: KitCloudkicker52885 and Kit_Lee
Disclaimer: We do not own Tale Spin, Disney does. But we do own Chris Cloudkicker, Jeffery and Melissa.

Chapter Eight
The Grand Finale

In no time at all, the evening came and the audience was slowly filling up as people came to watch the school talent show. Behind the red curtain on the stage, kids were having some last-minute practice with their tricks.

In Kit’s corner, behind the portable wall he and Jeffery set up, Chris had his arm out of one sleeve of his bunny suit as his brother did some last-minute practice with Jeffery and discovered that he could unzipped the suit from the inside!

“Hey!” he exclaimed excitedly, pulling the zipper all the way down to reveal his baby blue-sweater beneath. “It came undone!”

Kit and Jeffery were at his side in an instant to investigate. Jeffery took the zipper between his fingers and examined it.

“So that’s how it works!” Jeffery exclaimed in delight. “The trick is that this is a two-face zipper, goes up at the front and down at the back. This is genius! Very clever, Grandpa!” Jeffery said with a slight sniff, looking toward the heavens, a single tear dripping down his cheek.

The talent show begins and the Cloudkicker Trio used the time they had before their turn to plan a few new tricks.

Up first, was Ernie from the Jungle Aces in a gray suit with a red bowtie , who demonstrated a talent of juggling eight balls at once for a full minute before he lost control and the balls all came down and rolled across the stage in every directions and poor Ernie had to scramble, blushing scarlet, to pick them up.

Despite the applause, Ernie came backstage with a raincloud over his head. Remembering him in his overalls and a cooking pot on his head, Kit thought he looks strange in a suit with a bowtie.
Jeffery took pity on Ernie and went to cheer him up.

“Hey Ernie, cheer up.” Jeffery said encouragingly. “You juggled eight balls in a whole minute! I couldn’t have done that, I still have trouble with two!”

Ernie smiled weakly, still looking embarrassed. “Thanks, Cunningham.”

Next up was Oscar. He came up on stage and ran toward the piano, his foot caught the leg of the stool and he feel down on his face.

“Oscar!” Kit cried as he ran out on stage to help Oscar up. “Are you alright?” He half-lifted Oscar and set him on the stool.

“Aww…” cooed the audience.

“Y-yes, Kit, I’m—I’m fine…” Oscar said, looking up at Kit through broken glasses. “Kit, why are there eight of you?”

“Oh, no, Oscar…” Kit groaned. “Your glasses are broken. Can you still play?”

“Uh, I think so…” Oscar said uncertainly.
“Okay, I’ll be backstage if you need any help.” Kit said and he went backstage.

Oscar started playing Heart and Soul on the piano, though badly, having to see through scattered leans.

The audience held its ears until the end of the badly played song and despite the poor performance, they applauded politely, all except one jerk who shouted: “BOO!” but fell silent at glares everybody were giving him.

Oscar heard the “BOO!” and ran backstage in tears and bumped into Kit.

Kit caught Oscar before he fell and hugged him,

“It’s okay, Oscar, I think you did great.” Kit said gently, leading Oscar over to Jeffery and Chris.

"R-r-really?” Oscar sniffed.

“Of course we do, Oscar.” Jeffery declared, hugging Oscar with Kit. “Your glasses were broken and you did the best you could in that circumstance. That guy was just a jerk, don’t pay attention to him.”

“Yeah, he was mean!” Chris said, looking angry for Oscar’s sake and joining Kit and Jeffery in hugging Oscar. “I thought you played really well.”

“T-Thanks, Jeffery's Mom gave me a few lessons.” Oscar said, wiping his tears on the sleeve of his suit. “W-who are you?”

“I’m Chris,” said Chris, shaking hands with Oscar. “Kit’s brother.”

“You didn’t tell me you have a brother.” Oscar said to Kit

“Oscar, I didn’t know I had a brother until recently.” Kit said defensively. “And I haven’t even introduced him to Ernie and the Jungle Aces yet, so don’t feel bad. You got to meet him before they did.”

The thought of meeting the brother of Kit Cloudkicker before any of the members of the Jungle Aces did cheer Oscar up a bit. He smiled up at Chris, while continuing to shake his hand.

“I’m Oscar Vandersnoot, nice to meet you, Chris.”

Just then, they heard Mr. Pomeroy’s voice onstage.

“That was Oscar Vandersnoot, played very well for someone with broken glasses and I want that guy who booed out of here!”

“Hey-hey, leave it to me, Prince-o-pal.” said Baloo’s voice

“And me!” said Melissa’s voice, sounding angry.

They heard the sounds of punches and then the sound of someone being thrown from the building.

“You’ll be hearing from my lawyer soon!” shouted Oscar’s mother’s voice.

Backstage, Jeffery and Oscar bowed their heads and blushed as they clapped a hand to their face and groaning in unison: “Mom…!”

Behind them, Kit did the same and groaned: “Papa Bear…!”

“Why is everyone so embarrassed for?” Chris asked, innocently confused.

“Never mind, Chris.” Kit said gently, “I don’t think you’d understand.”

“Oh, okay.” Chris said simply and he didn’t pursue the subject.

Just then, a hippo kid came up on stage and demonstrated his talent, which is swallowing twenty whole pies at once.

“Whoa, that kid just beat my record by five pies!” shouted Baloo’s voice from the audience. “YOWL!”

Kit heard his Papa Bear’s yell and suspected that Rebecca had grabbed Baloo’s ear in an iron grip.

Next, a cloud of blue smoke appeared on stage and when the smoke cleared, there stood a white duck kid, who took a bow before a second cloud of smoke engulfed him. And when the smoke faded away, the duck kid was gone.

“That was William Mallard, who just demonstrated his smoky entrance and exit act.” said Mr. Pomeroy, applauding along with everybody else.

And then there was a geeky chicken girl with black pigtails and purple diamond-shape glasses, who claimed to be a turtle trainer and that she taught her turtle to jump through the hoop. She held the hoop close to her turtle and ordered it to jump. The turtle did not move, but to just stared at her, looking rather bored.

“Heh-heh,” the chicken girl chuckled nervously, uncomfortably aware that the audience was starting to buzz like a thousand crickets. “JUMP THROUGH THE HOOP!” she screamed at her turtle, which remained immovable. “WHY AREN’T YOU JUMPING?!”

“That will do, Miss Little.” Mr. Pomeroy said kindly, gently pushing her off the stage with her so-called jumping turtle, and she left, crying uncontrollably.

“Who’s that?” Kit asked, feeling sorry for the chicken girl.

“Who, that lame-o turtle trainer?” Ernie asked, pointing a thumb at her. “That’s Tootie Little and she’s weird. I’d avoid her if I were you.”

“Ernie!” Kit exclaimed reprovingly.

“What?” said Ernie defensively. “She is weird, how many people do you know try to train a turtle to jump through hoops?”

“I know, but you didn’t have to be mean about it.” Kit said, deciding not to introduce Chris and Jeffery to the Jungle Aces, not with the way Ernie was behaving.

Next to come up on stage was a panda girl, who demonstrated her talent by walking around on the stage, balancing five heavy books on her head. She walked until her time was up and not once did the books wiggled on her head or even threatens to fall off. To show the audience that the books weren’t glued together, she took the books off her head one by one.

“That was Linda Ping,” Mr. Pomeroy said as Linda departed from the stage. “Marvelous wasn’t she, folks? And now, may I present…he’s a model student, five-time winner of the honor roll and only been given detention once! Give it up for Kit Cloudkicker!”

In the audience, Baloo looked sheepish while Rebecca and Melissa glared daggers at him, clearly saying without speaking: ‘that detention was your fault!’

Kit blushed at the introduction his principal made out for him. He gulped before moving forward, Jeffery right behind him, rolling the cart with the Saw-in-Half box on top of it.

“Were you really in detention?” Jeffery whispered as he pushed the cart.

“That was Baloo’s fault; and I got in trouble for covering for him.” Kit whispered back.

At the center of the stage, Kit stopped and so did Jeffery. He spread his arms wide as if to embrace to the whole audience, his wand held tightly in his right hand.

“I am….” Kit paused for what appeared to be dramatic effect, but it was actually a pause to swallow the lump in his throat, his wand still held high. “KIT, THE MAGICIAN!” he shouted, bringing his wand swishing down through the air to point at the audience, and a shower of ribbons and confetti shot out of it with the sound of a firework, which left the crowd exclaiming in awe. The cheers and applause that followed made Kit feel better and calmed his nerves.

“And his assistance— Star Bear!” Jeffery shouted with a bow to the audience. He wasn’t as nervous as Kit, he’d been on stage a thousand times and so he’s not the least bit stage shy.

“And for my first trick,” Kit said, holding a hand out to Jeffery and Jeffery handed him three rings that were joined together. “I’ll separate these rings!” He separated the three rings, to which, the audience applauded. He put the rings back together and gave them to Jeffery, who tucked them away in the bag-o-tricks.

“Kit, there’s something up your sleeve.” Jeffery said, reaching into Kit’s jacket sleeve and withdrew a red scarf. He pulled it out and behind the red scarf was a blue one that was tied to the red. He pulled out the blue and behind the blue were orange, then yellow, then green, purple, red, pink, black and finally white, which was the end of the scarves line.

Kit laughed. “You finally found my handkerchief. Now let me find yours.”

Kit raised the wand and pointed it at Jeffery’s sleeves. At once, playing cards shot out of both sleeves.

“Oops, wrong spell.” Kit said, smiling slyly.

“Oh gee, thanks, Kit…” Jeffery said very sarcastically. “I’ve always wanted to be a living card trick.” He held up his arms so that he was showering the audience with playing cards.

The audience laughed and clapped, while Kit pushed Jeffery’s arms down, He then raised the wand again, and the flow of cards stopped abruptly. And then they both bowed to audience.

“And now for my next trick,” Kit said, taking off his top hat and setting it on the table while Jeffery pulled a broom out from within his suit and started sweeping the cards off the stage. “I’ll pull a rabbit out of my hat.”

“Be careful, O great magician.” Jeffery said, still sweeping cards off the floor. “Remember the last bunny you pulled out of that hat? It was enormous and it tried to eat me!”

“Aw, it was just trying to give you a hug, Star Bear.” Kit said as he plunged an arm down his seemingly bottomless hat.

“It had my head in its mouth and you called that a hug?!”
The audience burst out laughing at Jeffery’s words.

Kit groped around inside the hat and then paused, pressing a finger to his lip.

“Shh… this bunny is very sensitive, so please don’t scare it off.”
As the audience held its breath, Kit gave a great tug and out of the hat, came the head of a bear cub in a rabbit suit—Bunny Rabbit Chris!

“Ta-da!” Chris exclaimed cutely.

“Aww…” cooed the audience

“See Jeffery? He’s not going to eat you.” Kit said, pulling Chris’ torso and arms out of the hat along with his head. “He just wants a hug.”

“Well, this bunny is different,” Jeffery said, coming out from behind Kit’s back. “It was monstrous and hungry, not like this one, this one is cute and cuddly.” And he wrapped his arms around the torso of Bunny Chris, and Chris hugged back.

“Aww…” The audience cooed again

Chris jumped and stared wide-eyed at the crowd like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Uh-oh, folks, you scared the bunny.” Kit said, and he pushed Chris’ head gently back down the hat, trying to protect Chris from becoming more scared.

“Aww…” the audience said, this time in disappointment. They all loved the bunny rabbit Chris.

Upon hearing the “aww” of disappointment, Chris shyly poked his head and arm out of the hat to wave at the crowd in thanks.

“Isn’t he cute?” Kit asked, patting Chris on the head, between the rabbit ears. He then pushed Chris back down the hat, took the hat off the table and pushed the table to Jeffery, who wheeled it off backstage, with Chris secretly inside the table. “And now…” he said, pulling a sheet out of his pocket. “I’ll make I disagreeistant, Star Bear, disappear before your very eyes.”

He threw the sheet over Jeffery, who stood there, looking like a classic sheet ghost.

“Send me to someplace warm, cuz.” Jeffery said. “If you send me to Thembria, I will turn you into a rabbit and I will not turn you back into a boy again….”

“Fine, fine, fine,” said Kit airily, and he tapped Jeffery’s head three times with his wand. “Hocus pocus, twinkle toes, send Star Bear to a desert island!” He shouted, waving his wand and then pointed it at Jeffery.

Everyone started laughing at Kit’s choice of magic words, but stopped when the body inside the sheet vanished, causing the sheet to fall to the floor in a heap.

Kit picked up the sheet and held it up. Then he bowed to the audience, which started applauding loudly. Over the cheering and clapping, Kit could’ve sworn he heard Baloo chuckled: “Twinkle toes…hoo-hoo., oh Kit-boy, you are something else.”

Kit smiled as he straightened up. Just then, Jeffery’s voice filled the whole room,

“Nice one, cuz…” Jeffery said approvingly. “Though, next time you decide to send me to Louie’s, tell me ahead of time. I had to charge my sundae on Uncle Baloo’s tab.”

In the audience, Baloo groaned and banged his head on the seat in front of him. Rebecca and Melissa glanced at him, half amused, half sympathetic. Molly, who was sitting on Rebecca’s lap, pouted and mumbled something about not getting her some ice cream too.

In a cloud of purple smoke, Jeffery reappeared on stage with half a coconut shell in his hand as a bowl for his ice cream. He took one last bite, saying: “Mmm, good!” before he discard his coconut shell bowl in a random direction and took a bow with Kit as the crowd applauded wildly.

“Thank you! Ladies and gentleman.” Kit and Jeffery shout in unison.

“And now, for our next trick I'm going to try and have Kit escape this trunk while handcuffed and placed in a magic bag.” Jeffery announced smiling broadly. He pointed his wand at Kit and Kit was suddenly engulfed in a cloud of smoke. From within the smoke came the sound of Kit fake coughing. When the smoke faded away, it was to reveal Kit wrapped from neck to ankles in a rainbow color scarf. His hands were pinned to his back by the straightjacket scarf and handcuffs. Jeffery looked at his wand and gave it flick. “I asked for a bag straightjacket, and I get a scarf straightjacket… Heh, heh, heh…Oh well, this works even better.”

“Hey!” Kit protested, struggling against his bonds.

“And now…” Jeffery said, twirling his wand a bit. “Into the trunk you go!” and with a wave of his wand, levitated Kit off the floor and made him glide into the trunk. Another wave and the trunk closed shut with a snap. Jeffery then wrapped the trunk with chains and padlock. “Oh!” he exclaimed, clapping himself on the forehead. “I forgot the keys.”

“WHAT?!” came Kit’s muffled voice from within the trunk.

“Not to worry, cuz, good thing for us, we’re magic.” Jeffery said.

“Yeah, and good thing for you, I can’t turn you into a duck for forgetting the keys!” Kit retorted sarcastically.

Jeffery grasped the front of the trunk and walked, moving the trunk in a circle motion and disappearing behind it. But it did not stop moving, and when the front came back around, it was Kit pushing the trunk instead of Jeffery!

There was a storm of applaud, to which, Kit took a bow. And then, he raised his wand and tapped the trunk. The chains and padlocks fell off the trunk and the lid opened up to reveal Jeffery inside, wrapped in the scarf straightjacket.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Kit said loudly, twirling his wand and levitating Jeffery out of the trunk, still wrapped in scarves. “For my grand finale, I will saw I disagreeistance in half!”

The curtains behind Kit rose up to reveal the saw-in-half box. He walked toward it, levitating Jeffery in front him. He then lowered Jeffery into the box and closed the lid.

“Uh, Kit?” Jeffery said worryingly. “You’re supposed to let me out of the scarves first… C'mon, this isn't fair here.” He then gulp: Why am I suddenly getting a bad feeling about this?

“Aw, c’mon, Star Bear…” Kit said, positioning the saw on top of the box. “This won’t hurt a bit.”

“Gee, that’s comforting….” Jeffery said sarcastically. “Considering you already forgot your sawdust goggles.”

Kit made a small exclamation; he stopped sawing and turned his back on Jeffery, bowing his head slightly as he put on his sawdust goggles.

He repositioned the saw on the box and was just about to start cutting through the box, when a glance at Jeffery made him stop. He stared at Jeffery with wide eyes, because for a moment he thought he saw Chris’ face instead of Jeffery’s. But no, this was definitely Jeffery. He resumed sawing through the box.

He was just about to have the box and Jeffery half-way sawed, when he stopped again. Jeffery’s face morphed into Chris, looking as innocent as a lamb. He shook his head vigorously and Jeffery reappeared. But this time, Kit found it a difficult task to start sawing again, his hand holding the saw shook as he push the saw back and forth through the box.

Every third push of the saw, Kit would pause, thinking he’d seen his brother in his cousin, and therefore making it hard to carry out the trick.

He was beginning to get nervous, and the awareness that he was now sweating like a donkey in August didn’t help.

“Kit, cuz…what’s wrong?” he heard Chris whisper in Jeffery’s voice, and a moment later, Chris morphed back into Jeffery again. “It’s just a trick…”

“Yeah…” Kit mumbled and he started sawing and then stopped. “I—I can’t do it, Jeff…” he said, tears were starting to leak from his eyes.

In the audience, Baloo looked concerned for his navigator.

“What’s wrong with Kit?” he asked the two she-bears sitting by him. “Why’d he keep stopping?”

“Because he doesn’t really want to go through with the trick.” Melissa said. “It all looks too real for him. He really cares for my Jeffery and he doesn’t want to hurt him. He knows in his heart that it’s fake but his mind is playing tricks on him,”

“Yeah, well, he’d better think o’ something fast,” Baloo said, looking up at the clock. “Because he’s only got one minute left to do the trick before the time runs out.”

Rebecca glared sideways at Baloo. Does he have to remind them of THAT?

“Baloo dear, Kit needs time to think. I'm sure they can work it out.” Melissa said holding her hands in prayer while thinking: Oh, Baloo, ye of little faith, you’ll soon see what Kit can do.

Back on stage, Jeffery was watching Kit’s tears sympathetically.

“Kit, just do the trick.” Jeffery said to Kit. “I’ll be alright, I promise…Just do the trick, and don’t cry, cuz, please.”

“Are you sure?” Kit sniffed, wiping his tears away on his sleeve.

“Yes, I’m sure. You’re the best, cuz.” Jeffery said with an encouraging smile. “Just do it, Kit, you don’t have much time left.”
But Kit stood there; a wall of doubt was threatening to overpower him.

“You can do it, big brother!” yelled Chris’ voice from behind them. Kit snapped out of his trance and turned his head to look at the back curtain to see Chris’ head poking out between the openings of the back curtain. “I believe in you, Kit!” he said, giving Kit the thumbs up

Kit smiled warmly. “Thanks, Lil brother,” he said gratefully, as the wall of doubt shattered and fell.

With his courage restored, he begins sawing away until he had sawed through the box. Then he took two mirror boards and slid them, one after the other, into the gap he made in the box. Then, he split Jeffery and his lower body apart.

The audience went wild with cheers and clapping. Kit smiled and bowed. He then put the box and Jeffery back together and removed the mirror boards.

Jeffery kicked the lid of the box open and he stood up with his feet still in the box.

“Ta-da!” he said, raising his arms above his head, showing that he somehow escaped the scarves while he was being sawed in half.
Kit took Jeffery by the hand and helped him down from the box. Still holding hands, Kit and Jeffery bowed together.

As the cheers and applause started to fade away, Kit and Jeffery retreated backstage, where they were greeted by Chris dashing toward them and throwing himself at them, hugging them very tightly.

“You two were great!” Chris shouted happily as Kit and Jeffery hugged him between them. “That was amazing, you guys! I didn’t even know how you did most of it. How did you get out of those scarves when you were being sawed in half, Jeffery?”

Jeffery just winked mysteriously as Mr. Pomeroy got up on stage and addressed the audience through the microphone.

“There you have it, folks. As you saw, we have some remarkably talented students here at Cape Suzette Middle School.” His words were greeted by applause from the audience. “And now, I’ll call out the winners.” He cleared his throat and held up a bronze medal hanging on a blue ribbon. “In third place, for his amazing musical talents—being able to play the piano despite having his glasses broken—Oscar Vandersnoot!”

Oscar looked very surprised and startled. “M-m-me? But I didn’t play that well.”

Chris and Jeffery clapped and cheered for Oscar while Kit gently pushed Oscar on stage to accept his medal, as his legs didn’t seem to want to move.

He walked shyly over to Mr. Pomeroy, who placed the medal around Oscar’s neck and then took Oscar’s broken glasses off and put a new pair on. (The school always kept a spare pair for Oscar.)

“Vandersnoot, I’d like for you to give us an encore.” Mr. Pomeroy said kindly, gesturing to the piano.

“Um… O-okay.” Oscar said nervously, he walked over to the piano and this time, he played Heart and Soul perfectly and by the end of the song, the cheers and applause were louder than the first time he played.

“Bravo, Vandersnoot! This goes to show that you really deserved third place.” Mr. Pomeroy said with a kind smile and a hand on Oscar’s shoulder. “Your mother must be very proud.”

Oscar looked out at the audience and saw his mother sitting next to Melissa Cunningham. She was crying happily, wiping away happy tears with a handkerchief. He smiled with pride as he thanked the audience with a bow and went backstage again.

“Congratulations, Oscar!” cried Kit, Jeffery and Chris in unison, all three of them engulfed Oscar in a three-way hug.

“You were really good on the piano.” Chris said to the smaller bear cub. “I’m really glad you won.”

“T-t-thanks guys,” Oscar stammered, not out of nervousness, but out of overwhelming gratefulness.

And from that moment on, Oscar Vandersnoot took all three of the Cloudkicker Trio as his very best friends.

“Second place goes to Linda Ping, for her amazing balance,” Mr. Pomeroy said to the audience, holding up a silver medal. “Very few people can balance a set of books on their heads for ten minutes, very well done, Miss Ping, brava!”

She bowed proudly and Mr. Pomeroy placed the medal around her neck. She took a few more short bows and then went backstage.

“And now,” Mr. Pomeroy said, holding up the gold medal, and an unnatural hush fell over the crowd as they awaited for the first place winner to be announced. “For the most amazing display of magic this school has ever seen in fifteen years, it is my pleasure to present this first place medal to…Kit Cloudkicker!”

Kit stood there in awe, only partly aware of Jeffery jumping up and down like a manic while clapping him on the back, and Chris hugging him tightly in celebration. He laughed as he started to move forward, Chris letting go of him and Jeffery giving him one last clap on the back.

Mr. Pomeroy stood waiting for him as he made his way toward him. Kit took a bow and Mr. Pomeroy started place the gold medal around his neck, but he held up a hand.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t accept that.” Kit said solemnly.

“What are you talking about, Cloudkicker?” Mr. Pomeroy growled, frowning at Kit. “You’ve earned this.”

“No, I didn’t earn that by myself,” Kit said. “I had help from my cousin Jeffery and my brother, Chris, without them, there’s no way I could’ve done all of this… Can’t you make that out to the three of us? We worked together as a team, and as a team, we’ll accept that medal together.”

Mr. Pomeroy’s expression softened as the crowd cooed and he nodded.

Kit turned around and beckoned Jeffery and Chris forward. “C’mon guys!”

Chris looked momentarily frightened at the idea of going back onstage again, until Jeffery grasped his hand reassuringly. Chris looked at Jeffery and Jeffery gave him an encouraging smile and a nod. Feeling slightly braver, Chris walked forward with Jeffery holding his hand the whole way.

When they reached Kit, Kit took hold of Chris’ other hand, and as he did so, Chris felt so much better about standing on the stage.
Still holding hands, the Cloudkicker Trio bowed to the audience as Mr. Pomeroy presented them with the medal.

Jeffery and Kit each took hold of the ribbon. Between them, Chris let go of their hands to cup the medal in his hands with a mixture of awe and pride on his face. They stood there, holding the medal together, while in the audience, Melissa was on her feet, taking picture after picture with her crazy flashing camera. Baloo and Rebecca sat by her, both wearing sunglasses while the rest of the crowd ran for cover, shielding their eyes.

“That camera of hers should be illegal…” Jeffery muttered quietly, clapping a hand to his forehead in embarrassment.

Chris, meanwhile, turned his back on the audience when the first flash went out. He seemed to have developed a phobia for camera flashes.

Baloo, noticing Chris’ back to the audience, snatched the camera out of Melissa’s hands and shoved it deep inside Rebecca’s purse.

“Baloo…!” protested Melissa, looking outraged.

“Look at Chris.” Baloo snarled, pointing. “He turned his back on you because he’s scared the camera flashes will hurt his eyes again.”

“He’s right, Melissa, look.” Rebecca said, also pointing toward the stage.

“Oh dear me,” Melissa gasped with a hand over her mouth. “Oh, poor Chris, I grabbed the wrong camera. Ah, fiddlesticks!” she pouted, sitting back down with her arms crossed..

“Daddy Bear, we won! We won!” shouted Chris joyfully, running down the aisle toward them and jumping into Baloo’s arms. He was wearing the medal around his neck, as Kit and Jeffery had put it on him, deciding that he should wear it for a while.

“Hey-hey, good for you, kiddo.” Baloo said, hugging Chris and then giving him a playful nuggie.

“Heh-heh, Daddy Bear…cut it out.” Chris said, giggling. He wiggled free of Baloo and hugged Rebecca, Melissa and Molly in turn.
Kit came walking down the aisle too and gave his Papa Bear a hug just like Chris did, smiling as he did so.

“We won, Papa Bear,” he said with pride in his voice.

“Yeah, kiddo, I’m proud of ya.” Baloo said, hugging his young navigator. “But how did ya escape the trunk?”

Kit grinned slyly. “Sorry Papa Bear, but it’s against the Magician Code to reveal the secret to a trick.”

Jeffery put their things away and packed them up, and then he came bounding down the aisle in high spirit, jumping straight into Melissa’s arms.

“We won! We won, Mommy! Ya-hoo!” Jeffery shouted joyfully with his arms in the air and then he swung them around Melissa’s neck.

“Oh, I’m so proud of you, baby!” Melissa cried, happy tears in her eyes as she hugged her son.

“Mom…” Jeffery said, going red in the face. “X-nay on the aby-say.”

“Oh, Orry-say.” Melissa muttered, looking a little discomfort that Jeffery would be embarrassed by her nicknames for him in public places.

“When can we go trick or treating?” Chris asked Baloo eagerly, bouncing on Baloo’s knee in excitement.

“Whoa, easy there, Lil Buddy.” Baloo said, holding Chris still in mid-bounce. “We gotta get a bite to eat first, and then we’ll go.”

“Aww, but I wanna go now.” Chris said in disappointment, crossing his arms and pouting.

Baloo just chuckled as he cuddled his Lil Buddy.

“Aw, don’t give me that look, kiddo,” he said, ruffling Chris’ hair. “We’ll go after we’ve had something to eat, okay?”

Chris sighed. “Okay, Daddy Bear,” and he hugged Baloo around the neck.

“That’s a good boy.” Baloo chuckled approvingly.

“Well, we’re going to go change clothes.” Jeffery said, and he and Kit went backstage toward the dressing room.

Half an hour later found the Higher for Hire crew and family at Melissa’ boarding house; all seated at the table.

“I hope everyone is hungry.” Melissa said, coming into the dinning room from the kitchen, holding a big rectangle-shape pan, bearing at least three dozen pigs-in-a-blankets (hotdog weenies wrapped in biscuits), her hands protected from the heat of the pan by a pair of cooking mittens. “I’ve made some for everybody. Jeffery dear, would you say grace?” she asked as she set the pan down on the table.

Baloo reached for a pigs-in-a-blanket, but Rebecca and Melissa both smack his hand at the same time.

“Ow!” said Baloo, rubbing his hand and looking reproachful at the two women.

“Not until Jeffery says grace, buster!” Rebecca said, glaring at him

“Alright, alright, keep your hair on, lady.” Baloo said with a reproachful frown. He then turned, grinning to Jeffery. “Jeffers, hurry up and say grace before we all starve.”

“Okay, ‘grace!’ Let’s eat.” Jeffery said humorously.

Everybody at the table started laughing, except for Melissa, of course.

“Jeffery, you nut!” shouted Kit, playfully giving Jeffery a nuggie.

“Jeffery….” Melissa said sternly, with her hands on her hips, though she couldn’t help grinning with her eyes twinkling. “Say it the right way, or no deserts.”

“Okay, Mommy… but please don’t take away my desert.” Jeffery begged with the cutest pout. He then folded his hands and bowed his head, everyone at the table then imitated him. “Dear Lord, thank You for watching over us and for giving us this meal we’re about to retrieve. Bless our family and keep us safe from evil. Amen.”

“Amen,” echoed everyone around the table, and then Baloo quickly grabbed five pigs-in-a-blankets at once, earning disapproving glares from Rebecca and Melissa.

“Is this any way to set an example for the kids?” Melissa asked, a vein in her forehead started to throb.

“Mm?” Baloo asked through a mouthful of food, much to Melissa’s disgust.

Rebecca grabbed Baloo by the ear.

“OW!” Baloo cried.

“Excuse us, sister.” Rebecca said politely, and then she went into the living room, pulling Baloo along by the ear.

Everyone in the kitchen listened closely as Rebecca started hissing at Baloo like an angry goose, saying things like: ‘…if you want meals in this house, you’ll learn some manners!’ and ‘…your behavior at the table was disgusting!” and finally: “Now go apologize to my sister!”

“Is Mama mad at Daddy Bear?” Chris asked with innocent curiosity and worry.

Everyone in the dinning room stared at him, surprised at what he called Rebecca.

“What?” Chris asked, getting a little nervous at all the stares he was getting.

“What did you called Miss Cunningham?” Kit asked, still staring blankly at Chris.

“Mama… is that okay?” Chris asked uncertainly, starting to fear that he might have committed some unknown crime. “I-I mean, she IS our legal Mama, isn’t she?”

Kit hugged Chris consolingly. “Yes, Chris, she is. I’m sorry we scared you, we were just surprised, that’s all.”

“It’s alright, big brother.” Chris said, hugging Kit in return.

Rebecca came marching back into the dinning room, followed by Baloo, who was massaging his poor ear. They both retook their seats and Baloo glanced at Melissa, still rubbing his ear.

“Sorry, Aggie,” he mumbled.

“Apology accepted.” Melissa said with a smile.

When everybody had eaten as many pigs-in-a-blankets as they could, Baloo and the kids started putting on their costumes.

Baloo was wearing his hotdog costume from the Friendship Festival.

Kit was just wearing his regular green sweater but added a pilot scarf and goggles.

Chris just put his bunny rabbit costume back on (he took it off before dinner).

Molly was dressed as a princess and Jeffery was dressed as a wizard, also known as Star Bear.

“Stand together; I want a picture of this.” Melissa said excitedly, taking aim with her camera.

“Aw, Mom…” Jeffery groaned, holding a pumpkin-shape candy bucket.

“Come on, dears, get together,” she urged them.

Baloo picked Chris up, who was trying to hide behind Kit, and held him in his arms.

“Aggie, is the flash turned off?” Baloo asked, setting Chris on his hip. “We don’t wanna hurt Chris’ eyes again.”

Melissa checked her camera and made sure the cursed flash was turned off before taking the picture.

The moment Melissa took the picture, Jeffery yanked open the door and dash outside onto the front steps before Melissa could take another one.

“Jeffery….” Melissa groaned despairingly. “Must you spoil my fun?”
Baloo, Molly and the Cloudkicker twins laughed at the look on Melissa’s face before following after Jeffery.

“Boys...” Melissa muttered under her breath while rolling her eyes.

Rebecca smiled as she placed a hand on Melissa’s shoulder. “Yeah, I know what you mean, sister. But we love ‘em anyway.”

“Yeah,” Melissa said, smiling as she closed the door behind the ‘boys’ and the princess. “Want a game of checkers? I may even beat you this time.”

“Oh,” Rebecca chuckled. “Dream on, sister.”

Meanwhile, Baloo and the kids made it to the first house. They knocked on the door and waited. The door opened and they all said, while holding out their candy buckets to the smiling goose wearing a witch’s hat:

“Trick or treat!”

---

End of TaleSpin: The Cloudkicker Trio, Story One, but look for more of the Cloudkicker Trio as the adventure continues in Story Two: An Angelic Christmas.

And now for a little Q&A to better understand our stories.

Q: Why are Kit, Chris and Jeffery are replacing Baloo as the main character?
A: No one can replace Baloo and we’re not replacing him, we’re just focusing less on him and more on Kit. Besides, Kit was SUPPOSE to be the star of the original TaleSpin series. We believe that due to the faults and evils of Michael Eisner, Kit was reduced to a supporting character and he was even left out in fourteen episodes. We intend to make up for Kit Cloudkicker’s lost screen time through these stories,

Q: What inspired Chris, Jeffery and Melissa?
A: Chris was created by KitCloudkicker52885, and from the inspiration of what he viewed as a perfect angel of a child who had a difficult life beforehand, but even perfect angelic children are not perfect. Chris had a difficult childhood which caused a lot of phobias to develop, and yet, due to the lack of association with the outside world and was neglected in education, Chris remained as simple-minded and pure as he was when he was a small child, which makes him mentally the youngest of the trio.
Jeffery was created by Kit_Lee and was inspired by his desire to be an honorary member of the Higher for Hire crew. Jeffery’s personality is based on Kit_Lee’s, who is a child at heart. Jeffery is very kind, despite the occasional pranks. He loves his family (Kit and Chris included) and would go as far as to face his fears or risk his life to save them from mortal danger. Jeffery is basically a character who has all that Kit_Lee wants in life: a decent home, a decent family and to be around people he loves and have them love him back, and of course, to have Kit as a family relative. Growing up in the association of his mother’s friends and fellow nurses and doctors, away from peer pressure and influence of the rest of the world and always being cuddled by his mother has made his mentality a couple of years below his actual age. He is a little more childish than he is matured, which makes him the middle child of the trio, making Kit the oldest.
Melissa was created by Kit_Lee, but was further developed by both authors during the character development and writing of this story. Melissa was created to be Rebecca’s sister, to make Jeffery an actual family relation to Rebecca and Molly, as well as Kit and Chris through Rebecca co-adopting them. Her personality is based on actress Debbie Rynolds as Aggie Cromwell from Halloween Town

Q: What was the reason for sawing Kit in half to begin with and what made you think of it?
A: It's a classic illusion and one we both like, which happens to have been very popular among magicians of the 30's and it's a classic Disney joke.

Q: Why the overuses of the trick throughout the story and at the talent show?
A: When it comes to magic in a cartoon, there’s no such thing as an overuse. Besides, while Kit was just a beginner, the cartoon logic still applies to him (how else could he pull Chris as a bunny out of his hat?) and we wanted Kit to shine in front of the whole school

That’s all for the Q&A, if you have any questions, ask them in your reviews, and if it’s appropriate for us to answer, we will, otherwise your questions will be ignored and removed.