Flapjax gulped. A tall woman in a dark suit with gold bands along the sleeves and a cap that looked very official stared down at him.

“Well, hello,” she said, kindly, bending down to pick Flapjax up. “What are you doing here?” Flapjax proudly pointed to himself and then to the rows and rows of soundly sleeping humans behind him. “Ahh, so you’re a helpful bear?” she asked, and Flapjax nodded seriously. He always tried, at least. “Well then, how would you like to help me fly the plane?” Flapjax nodded again excitedly. Boy, did he ever!

The pilot carried Flapjax into the cockpit and sat him down next to her while her co-pilot stared at Flapjax curiously. She strapped them both in safe and sound with a thick seatbelt. Buttons, dials and levers covered the dashboard in front of them. But Flapjax wasn’t looking at the dashboard, he was staring out the windows that covered the little room. They were on top of the clouds! He couldn’t even see the ground!

Flapjax was scared at first, but the pilot patted his back until he had calmed down. She had everything under control. Flapjax stared at her as she navigated their big plane with ease. He was in awe.

Flapjax watched with wide eyes as the world got bigger and bigger out the windows. They were almost there…although he wasn’t quite sure where “there” was. He had to get back to Mom.

Flapjax tugged on the pilot’s uniform and pointed toward the doorway. She understood him perfectly and called a flight attendant to come and pick him up. The man from earlier came to the doorway and a guilty-looking Flapjax was handed over. They left the cockpit and the pilot behind, but they didn’t go back down the aisle. Instead, the man grabbed a speaker that was hanging on the wall and spoke into it.

“Good morning, everyone. We are preparing for our descent into Los Angeles. It is a gorgeous LA day – 80 degrees and sunny. Before we land, is anyone missing a fluffy white teddy bear? This one seems to have escaped…” he announced, holding Flapjax up for the passengers to see. Flapjax glanced around and finally spotted Mom who had a very surprised look on her face. He waved, and Mom waved back.

“Flapjax,” Mom said, staring at him with questioning eyes as his new flight attendant friend handed him over. “How in the world did you get here?” Flapjax sighed. It was a long story, and he was quite tired now. He laid his head on her shoulder and she thanked the man. “You saved the day – my daughter would have been very upset if Flapjax here had been lost!”

“Not a problem, ma’am,” the man said. “Although, he seems like the kind of bear who gets lost quite a bit.”

Flapjax would have argued if he hadn’t been so tired. He tried to keep his eyes open. He wanted to see Los Angeles! But as Mom placed him gently back into her suitcase, he fell fast asleep, dreaming of flying through the clouds.

*****

Flapjax woke up later that day on a big white bed in a room he had never seen before. Where was Libby?? Then he remembered his flying adventure. He ran to the window across the bedroom and stared with awe at this new place. Big, tall buildings stared back at him. He could see mountains in the distance, and a big white sign with a bunch of letters: H-O-L-L-Y-W-O-O-D. He wasn’t sure what that meant, but it looked like it was important.

Suddenly the door opened, and Mom walked into the room dressed in her work clothes. She smiled when she saw Flapjax and came over to look out the window with him.

“Someone had a pretty big adventure last night,” she said with a laugh. Flapjax looked at her worriedly. How was he going to be punished?

“The pilot told me how helpful you were to everyone on board. You were a bad bear to sneak into my bag, but you were a good bear to make everyone feel better when they were so scared. So instead of a punishment, your new friends from the plane asked me to give this to you.”

She held out a sparkly, gold pin in the palm of her hand. It was shaped like wings. She gently pinned it to Flapjax’s fluff, and he grinned.

“Libby is going to be very proud of you,” Mom said as she took a picture. Flapjax beamed. He was quite proud of himself, too! “And maybe a little bit jealous…she’s never been to California!”

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