RJ the raccoon sat upon a branch one day, a pretzel in one paw, a fresh peach in the other, small black ears perked for any sign of danger, muzzle buried in the dripping flesh of the golden fruit, tiny, needle-like teeth working away, bottle-brush like tail curled around the thin offshoot of the tree, the midday sun shining over the grey, black and white fur of the raccoon.
"RJ?"
RJ looked up with blue eyes, peach juice dripping from his mouth, a few flecks of the golden fruit's flesh sticking to his nose.
Hammy the squirrel stood beside him, fluffy tail held up high and tiny hands held at his chest, the quivering red rodent stared with twitching eyes at the raccoon.
"Yeah, Hammy?" RJ asked through a mouthful of peach.
"Verne-told-me-to-come-and-get-you-because-he-said-that-something-was-wrong-but-he-didn't-tell-me-what-it-was-he-just-wants-to-talk-to-you-and-is-that-a-pretzel?" Hammy responded in one rapid breath, his mouth a mere blur to the untrained eye, his ears twitching with curiosity at the pretzel in RJ's grasp.
Merely blinking at the somewhat hyper squirrel, RJ just handed the pretzel to said rodent and slid down the trunk of the tree, his half-eaten peach held in his mouth, ignoring the 'I-GOT-A-PRETZLE! NOBODY-TOUCH-IT! IT'S-MINE! I-SAW-IT-FIRST! STAY-AWAAAYYY!' from Hammy, who was bouncing about and waving the pretzel above his head in sporadic and trembling motions of enthusiasm.
Landing nimbly on the grassy floor, RJ sauntered over to The Log where Verne was sitting, all limbs tucked inside of his shell, besides his head, watching RJ advance.
"'sup, Vernie!" RJ chirped, standing beside the turtle, a pink tongue flicking out to lick off the flecks of peach that were stuck to his nose.
"I told you not to call me that." Verne stated, his head slipping into his shell also, voice echoing slightly.
"Well, you wanted to talk to me?" RJ asked, taking a large bite from the peach in his paws, glancing at Heather and Ozzie the opossums, Ozzie adding to Heather's acting skills.
"That's right, honey! The fear!" Ozzie clapped the back of his paw to his forehead, staring up at the sky with unfocused eyes. "The fear must show in your eyes...!"
"When I was foraging by the hedge, I heard the humans speaking about clearing our bit forest." Verne stated from the depths of his shell.
RJ blinked, turning from Stella the skunk and Tiger the cat, who were snoozing in one of the thickets, back to Verne. "Clear it out?"
"Yeah."
"Dang." stated RJ simply, eating the rest of his peach, nibbling around the edges of the seed. He never had tried fruits until he had joined the Family, but now that he had tasted it, it wasn't that bad!
"My tail has been tingling all week. It's getting uncomfortable." Verne continued.
"We're gonna have to move, y'know." RJ declared, dropping the fleshless stone of the peach at his feet, licking his tiny fingers intently for any essence of the fruit.
"Are you out of your mind!"
RJ blinked, now face to face with a very green and a very bitter Verne, four of the raccoon's eight fingers still in RJ's mouth.
"We can't just leave! This is our home!" Verne declared, "But, I suppose, if we stay, we'll be killed! Oh, goodness, what will we do!"
"Jeepers!" gasped Penny the porcupine, having just head their conversation. "What do you mean we have to leave?"
All of a sudden, all of the occupants of the small amount of forest were staring at both Verne and RJ, complete and utter silence filling the forest, not even the crickets were making a sound.
Verne turned to RJ, wanting some sort of backup for whatever reason, whereas the raccoon just raised his eyebrows simply, his fingers still in his mouth.
The whole gang, Ozzie, Heather, Stella, Tiger, Lou, Penny, Bucky, Spike, Quillo and RJ stood around Verne as he explained about what he had heard about the humans wanting to completely destroy their little patch of forest for more human habitats.
Hammy chewed on a rock somewhere. "Oh, that does not taste very good..." Hammy dropped said rock and looked around his immediate vicinity. "OH NOES! MY PRETZEL! IT'S GONE! CURSE YOU, DARTH VADER!! CURSE YOUUUUU!!!!"
"You mean... We're like, gonna have to, like, leave?" Heather gasped, clinging to her father's arm.
"I'm not sure yet" sighed Verne, rubbing his scaled arms.
A distraught wail of "PRETZIEEEE!!" was heard in the background.
"My owner is not has not been present at the house for quite a while now. You could stay there, if you would like." Tiger offered from Stella's side.
"That's a very nice offer, but we're not even sure if we're leavin' yet." Stella smiled, rubbing Tiger behind the ears.
RJ sighed. "Well, whatever you decide, the humans have a way of making simple tasks take weeks. You'll have a few months at least." removing a twig from his ear, RJ made his way over to the hedge. "See you guys in a few minutes!"
"Jeepers..." whispered Penny, watching as RJ dissapeared through the hedge.
((TBC. I loved Over The Hedge. Hammy and RJ are the best. Anyway, this actually has a plot, unlike some of my fics. I hope you liked the first chapter, and i hope i got all the characters right!))