- Becky's latest money making scheme is to get into the sky writing business. However her ace pilot Baloo and her navigator Kit can't spell worth beans. This spells trouble when the syndicate are using hire for hire to write their hidden messages.—Derrick Priest
- In school, Kit is having trouble spelling the word "spinach," saying he doesn't like eating it, let alone spelling it. Back at Higher for Hire, Kit soaks his aching hand, saying he finally got it right after his "two zillionth try." Baloo downplays the importance of proper spelling, saying it's like playing darts -- close is good enough. Rebecca tells Baloo to stop filling Kit's head with nonsense, as Higher for Hire is going into the skywriting business. Baloo tries to discourage Rebecca, but just then a customer walks in requesting some skywriting.
Baloo and Kit take off in the Sea Duck, but when Baloo pulls out the paper that has the message "Happy Birthday To You" on it, a gust of wind blows it out of his hand and out of the plane. Kit asks Baloo if he can write the message without the note. Baloo says that "any idiot can spell 'Happy Birthday.'" Rebecca uses that same line to scold Baloo when the message gets misspelled as "Hapee Burthday 2 U." Baloo says it's the thought that counts. Rebecca says that thanks to Baloo's bad spelling, they won't get another customer.
Just then, another customer by the name of Weazel walks in, asking for the message "Chicken Soup" to be skywritten. Though suspicious of Weazel, Baloo goes ahead with skywriting the message, but the note falls out of his pocket as he walks out the door and he misspells the phrase as "Chicken Soop." Meanwhile, in Cape Suzette, two bank robbers look up in the sky and see the message. One robber asks who spells "chicken soup" with two O's, but the other one says it doesn't matter, it's the second letter of the first word -- H -- that's important. The letter tells the robbers to report to their launch sites.
Weazel goes to his boss, Heimlich Menudo, who explains that he's using skywriting to communicate to his henchmen so that the police can't track him. Meanwhile, Detective Thursday of the Cape Suzette Police Department meets with his men, noting that there hasn't been a major crime in days. He suspects that something's happening, but the criminals are communicating in a unique way that they can't trace.
Back at Higher for Hire, Rebecca scolds Baloo for his bad spelling. Baloo says they aren't getting any complaints, and Rebecca replies that they aren't getting any repeat business either. Weazel then walks in with another message, "Eat At Joe's," which he wants skywritten at exactly 3:00 that afternoon. Confused, Baloo says that Joe went out of business last week. Weazel tells him to skywrite the message anyway, jumping up and down in a mini-tantrum and dropping a code book in the process. After Weazel exits, Baloo finds and picks up the code book.
Baloo and Kit take off to skywrite Weazel's message, but Baloo again loses the message when he tries to read it. Meanwhile, Thursday and one of his men notice the skywriting. Thursday comments that not only is the message oddly spelled, but Joe went out of business last week, and suspects the crooks are using the skywriting to communicate. He orders his men to track down the plane.
When Baloo and Kit return, Rebecca again scolds Baloo for his spelling, saying the way he spells is a crime. Baloo tries to downplay the incident. Thursday shows up, asks if Baloo is the skywriting pilot, then promptly arrests him when he says he is. Thursday takes Baloo and Rebecca to police headquarters, asking about the messages. Baloo confesses to being a bad speller, but Thursday mistakes him as one of the crooks involved. Rebecca tells Thursday that Baloo is telling the truth and asks him to give Baloo a spelling test to prove it.
Meanwhile, Heimlich's henchmen prepare their blimps as they get ready to execute the Heimlich Maneuver. At police headquarters, Baloo fails Thursday's test, but Thursday says he could be faking. Kit shows up with Baloo's report cards and gives them to Thursday, who can't believe how bad Baloo's grades were. Baloo says he proved he was a bad speller, and all he did was write messages for a Mr. Weazel. Hearing Weazel's name, Thursday describes him to Baloo, who confirms they met, showing the code book as evidence. Rebecca says they'll refuse the next time Weazel shows up with a skywriting request, but Thursday tells them to play along now that he has the code book.
As Baloo, Rebecca, Kit, and Thursday leave the station, they see the blimps. Heimlich addresses Cape Suzette through speakers in his blimps, saying he wants all the diamonds in Cape Suzette. Furthermore, the blimps are filled with explosive hydrogen gas -- any attempt to shoot them down will result in Cape Suzette's destruction.
Back in his office, Heimlich learns that the police have refused his demands. He tells Weazel to have the message "Wait Until Dark" skywritten. The message will tell the blimps to attack Cape Suzette. Weazel gives the message to Baloo, but after he leaves, Thursday changes it to read "Weight Until Dark." Thursday says the new spelling of "weight" will tell the blimps to scrub their mission. He tells Baloo that the message has to be spelled correctly and to also maintain radio silence, as the crooks may be listening in. To further ensure Baloo doesn't lose the message, Rebecca firmly attaches it to his shirt, to Kit and Thursday's amusement.
When Baloo and Kit head off to skywrite the message, Kit asks Baloo what the message is. Unable to read the message because Rebecca put it on his shirt upside down (from his point of view), Baloo takes his shirt off, but a gust of wind blows it out the window. Kit asks Baloo if he remembers the code, and after a bit of pondering Baloo remembers "Weight Until Dark." They skywrite the first letter, but then Baloo says the word they want is "weight," as in "how much does it weigh." Kit asks Baloo how they spell it, confessing that he didn't do his homework because Baloo said spelling wasn't important. Baloo says it's either spelled with an "e-i" or "i-e," but can't remember which.
Kit remembers a poem he learned in school -- "i before e, except after c." They end up skywriting the word "wieght," which tells the blimps to attack City Hall. Rebecca wonders how Baloo got it wrong, but just then Baloo's shirt -- with the note attached -- falls on Thursday. As Baloo and Kit finish the message, Kit remembers the rest of the rhyme -- "i before e, except after c, and when sounding like a, as in neighbor or weigh." Kit helps Baloo correct the message to "Weight Until Dark," and the blimps abort their mission. Heimlich and Weazel fly out to try to stop the blimps, but when that fails, Heimlich attacks the Sea Duck. Baloo uses the skywriting smoke to blind Heimlich and Weazel, and they crash, where they are picked up by Thursday's men. Rebecca and Thursday thank Baloo for his work. Baloo then takes Kit with him to study, saying that when it comes to spelling, "close is not good enough."
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