The Big Adventure Ends: Charles and Chance Fly Home to Windsor

Chance and me and Grandpa James are going home. I get to help fly the plane.

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, Grandpa James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. He's so newborn he doesn't have any teeth! He just drinks chocolate owls' milk from his bottle. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful!

It's hard to say 'good-bye- to the people we love but if we say 'au revoir' it's not so hard. So Chance and me are saying, "au revoir" to Uncle Glen and Auntie Juanita. We'll be back!

It's time for us to go home. Grandpa James says all good things must come to an end. Our trip is almost over. We have to say 'good-bye' to Uncle Glen and Auntie Juanita. Wait! We don't have to say 'good-bye.' I forgot! We can say, 'au revoir'. That's French for until we see you next time. Miss Ines taught me that when we visited her in St. Pierre and Miquelon. We got to sleep overnight at her pretty yellow house. It's called Chez Ines. I know where Saint Pierre and Miquelon are. They're islands in the Grand Banks. They're in France. Bien sur!

Know how we'll get home from St. John's? We're gonna ride in an airplane!  We're flying on Porter Airlines. We show Miss Brenna, the purser, our tickets and we climb on board. We're going to fly from St. John's to Halifax and then we go to Ottawa and then we go to Toronto and then we get to go home to Windsor. That's pretty far. I think it's farther than the moon. I can see the moon but I can't see Windsor from St. John's. Can you?

I get to wear the headphones and Captain Henry's pilot hat. Chance thinks he's helping but he's not. He's too newborn to know how to fly a jet.

 Captain Henry and First Officer Brenna will take us all the way home. They're good pilots, you know. We help them fly the jet. Captain Henry asks, "Charles, where did you learn to fly a big jet?" I tell him I'm five and I learned how to fly airplanes at the Scruffy Maple Daycare Centre on Sandwich Street. Grandpa James says that learning to fly a jet is part of the Harper government's pre-school anti-terrorism initiative. I don't know what that means but my teacher, Miss Sephorah says it's our job to stand on guard for thee, you know.

I could be a pilot when I grow up. I could be a First Officer. Those are important jobs. They help people go to Newfoundland and Labrador and they help people who are from Away, you know.  I think they help people go anywhere and everywhere. That's good 'cuz O Canada's really big! 

Miss Brenna is our Purser and Miss Laura is our Flight Attendant. They have very important jobs. Miss Brenna let me wear her hat.

Miss Brenna and Miss Laura help on the plane, too. They remind us to sit up straight and put on our seat belts when we take off and land. They make everyone feel safe and happy.

Miss Brenna and Miss Laura bring us yummy food to eat. It comes in the box They didn't have any chocolate owls' milk for Chance but Grandpa James is smart. He brought some to put in Chance's bottle to drink.

Can you see us? We're flying home today.

Know what? They have washrooms on the plane. Grandpa James says it's a good thing they're indoor washrooms. Grandpa James says silly things sometimes. 

 Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? Grandpa James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find Grandpa James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

We have to get in our seats and buckle up 'cuz we're gonna land in a couple of minutes.  Auntie Debbie will meet us at the airport. Know what? The airport has a name. It's YGQ. We can give her hugs. We got her a present, too.

Wild blueberries are yummy and that's one of the four food groups in Canada's Good Guide. Grandpa James says they're full of antioxidents but I didn't see any. Sometimes Grandpa James is full of baloney.

We got her wild blueberry jam from Bidgood's grocery store in St. John's. She has to be careful about wild blueberries. They're wild and they might jump out of the jar and try to run!

When Chance and me are in Windsor, we're not from Away anymore 'cuz Windsor is our home. In case you forgot, Windsor is in O Canada. Windsor is the centre of the known universe and the nicest part of Detroit!

 This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Be kind to friends and neighbours. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can take a trip together! We can go Away! Okay! Over and out!"