The Fox and Crow in Strike Two, You're Out, a misc. cartoons fanfic

The Fox and the Crow in "Strike Two, You're Out!"

by Mike O'Donovan

(with a bonus cameo appearance by Heckle and Jeckle)

Based on both the Aesop's Fables characters and the Columbia Pictures animated cartoon series, and inspired by the 1953 Heckle and Jeckle cartoon "Ten Pin Terrors" (The cartoon characters Fox and Crow are trademarked by Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. Heckle and Jeckle are trademarks of Viacom International)

The scene opens at a bowling alley somewhere in a large city. Fauntleroy Fox, a refined gentlefox aspiring to become a good sportsman, is trying his luck at bowling. Mr. Fox releases the ball onto the lane for a 10-pin strike.

But wouldn't you know it, Crawford Crow, his arch nemesis, just so happened to be in the neighborhood and was driving by when he saw what was happening. The streetwise crow, naturally, decided to get in on the action.

The Fox wasn't happy that the interruption had disrupted his game, so he grabbed the Crow and threw him down the alley, right into the standing pins. End result: they were knocked down. Mr. Crow wound up being chuted through the bowling ball return lane towards the return deck.

Finally the Crow retaliated, and he decided to tamper with the Fox's bowling ball. He put glue into the holes just before the Fox was about to roll the ball down the lane. Then Mr. Crow attempted to provoke him by standing in front of the bowling pins.

"Hey Foxie! Nyah-Nyah-Nyah-Nyah!"

The enraged Fox, seeing an opportunity, threw the ball towards the pins and Mr. Crow. But as he threw it he quickly realized too late that not only was the ball stuck on his hand but also pulling him away.

"SUCKER!" crowed Mr. Crow, who quickly got out of the way.

Before Mr. Fox realized it, he and ball crashed headfirst into the bowling pins for a strike that left Mr. Fox woozy. Then Mr. Crow decided to administer the coup de grace: he threw a bowling ball of his own, only it turned out to be loaded with dynamite.

"Have a nice blast, Foxie!" Mr. Crow crowed as the ball headed towards Mr. Fox.

Mr. Fox let out a big howl as the explosive-laden ball scored a direct hit on both Mr. Fox and the pins. Then came an immediate explosion – a very big one.

KABOOM!

The explosion was big, and when it was all over, the area where the pins had been had sustained considerable damage, not to mention the lanes next to one another. There was a pile of pins, wood pieces and bricks left in the wake of the explosion.

As Mr. Crow watched, Fauntleroy Fox was blasted very high into the sky, far away from the bowling alley. This time, Mr. Crow would get the last laugh.

"Well,

So Mr. Crow finished off his bowling game with a strike, and then marked on the last box of the scorecard three X's – or three strikes in a row and lit his cigar in triumph.

And what happened to his adversary Mr. Fox?

Well, Mr. Fox was rocketed into out of the atmosphere and into the galaxy. Then as Mr. Fox came near the moon, he began a steep descent back into the Earth's atmosphere and ultimately crashed right into the ground, right near the entrance to a baseball stadium, far from where he came from. When the Fox regained his senses, he heard someone hawking some food.

"Peanuts! Popcorn! Cotton candy!" he heard the voice call out.

When Mr. Fox turned around, to his dismay, he was greeted by the sight of what he thought were two crows. In fact the two were not crows, but magpies. Specifically, Heckle the refined one with the British accent and Jeckle the fast-talker with the Brooklyn accent.

"Allright, mister," said the one with the Brooklyn accent "You want some tickets for the game too? Get three hot dogs for 50 cents!"

Mr. Fox reacted with a double take that looked like it came from the school of Tex Avery, then let out a howl and ran away from the two magpies as fast as he could.

"No, no not you!" I can't stand it! I can't stand it!"

Both magpies looked on with a considerable amusement.

"I say," Heckle told Jeckle "he looks like he's gone batty!"

"He sure is, chum," replied Jeckle.

Mr. Fox kept on running and running into the distant background, with the tune of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" playing in the background, just as the iris closed (like in the good old days of animated film).

FINIS.

Author's note: I included Heckle and Jeckle as a cameo appearance, since they looked similar to Crawford Crow. All copyrights acknowledged.