The story begins.

It was an early winter morning in Cape Suzette when twelve year old Kit Cloudkicker awoke to the sound of his alarm clock. He hurried to get his green sweater on and went to his parent's room. Instead of finding his mother and father, he only found a note saying that they had to gone on some important business and he was to stay with friends at the Higher for Hire company. Kit called the office and asked to stay with them until his parents came back, so Rebecca Cunningham and her daughter, Molly, picked him up.

Kit's best friend and mentor, Baloo, worked at Higher for Hire. With these friends Kit felt safe. Six months after moving, Kit awoke near midnight to hear someone banging on the front door. Rebecca hurried to find out who was making such an infernal racket.

When she opened the door a large, heavy, tan cat came into the living room. He carried a black duffel bag and wore a blue pilot's hat. The fur on his hands was ragged and his teeth were yellow and nasty.

"And what would your name be?" asked Rebecca.

The cat turned to her and said, "Captain-you may call me that. I see you have a room for rent."

Baloo came to see who was making all the noise. He stopped and stared at the captain in astonishment. Both men stared at one another, but said nothing. It was clear to Rebecca and Kit that Baloo and the captain knew, but disliked each other. The captain paid for the room, and left without saying a word.

The next morning, Kit and Molly were playing under the dock when they overheard Baloo and the captain arguing.

"You should have not come here," Baloo snapped, "I am not the man I used to be." The captain only shook his head.

"You know that you will always be the man who left your friends for a female," the captain said with a laugh.

The anger in Baloo's eyes made the captain stop laughing. "Rebecca is the woman I plan to marry," Baloo said pushing the captain to the dock. "And I plan to be the best father Molly can have in spite of my past."

The captain just scoffed and left the dock.

That night the captain was a very silent, but kept a close eye on little Molly and Kit, as if they were part of his crew. Every day he would walk to the cliffs overlooking the sea, and with an old sniper scope he would watch the horizon, as if he feared something was coming after him. During the evening, he sat with his back up against wall facing the door to the office, smoking a cigarette and drinking lots of rum. Every day when he came back from walking he would ask Rebecca if any pilots had come looking for him, but her answer was always no.

One day after school the captain took Kit aside and promised him ten dollars on the first of every month if he would only keep a sharp lookout for a brown wolf with a blue captain's outfit. Kit was to fetch the captain the moment the wolf appeared.

The image of this frightening wolf haunted Kit's dreams and caused him to wake up in the night. The captain had told dreadful tales of pirating, murder, and wild storms that could bring down a fleet of B-17 bombers. When the captain told his stories, his face would turn red, and he would raise his voice so that anyone could hear him.

One day a cat who knew Rebecca very well came to Higher for Hire. Her name was Abby Sinian, and she was a doctor in medicine and history. During the following months, Dr. Sinian visited her friend many times. She took an immediate dislike to the captain because he made crude remarks about her. One evening the two of them came to sharp disagreement. In the middle of the argument the captain drew a large knife from his pocket! "Listen to me, woman," he growled, as he waved his knife in front of her face. "You will show me respect, or I will pin you to the wall with this blade!"

The doctor never so much as flinched at the captain's threat, but spoke to him in a calm tone of voice, "If you do not put down that knife, I will make sure that you will spend the rest of your life in jail." The captain had to control his temper around the doctor or risk being arrested.

A few days later, Kit got terrible news that his mother and father had been killed in a car crash. Kit stayed in his room all day crying. Baloo could hear him, and made up his mind to adopt Kit if it could be arranged.

A few weeks later, Molly told Kit that Baloo had asked her mother to marry him and that Dr. Sinian had advised her to accept his proposal.

"Baloo is such a clown," Rebecca said, scratching her head. "Why would I want to do that?"

"It would be good for Molly," said the doctor, "and you could provide a home for Kit as well." For the rest of the day, Rebecca thought long and hard on what Sinian had said. Finally she decided to marry Baloo, but it would have to wait for the right time.