Chapter 04: The Great Happy Town (Almost) Rumble

Jake spent most of his life running away from home, whether it was his pursuit to become more successful in his life than his father was or his disdain of the poverty ridden part of the city he was born in. Ultimately, both he and Nick would both be drawn back to the section of the city called Happy Town and make it their final homes. In their old age, both would become regulars at the Main Street Cafe.

The café wasn't anything special, but to the residents of Happy Town it was a landmark and even as the town around it sank into economic decay, the Main Street Café survived and served meals to generations of locals. As the town recovered, thanks in part to block grants issued under former Mayor Leo Lionheart's administration, the café remained unchanged. It was so unchanged that the patrons actually joked that they were using the same frying grease since the place first opened, but the food was good and cheap.

For Jake Runnel it was part of his childhood, where his father used to go and meet his friends for breakfast on Saturday mornings and joke about the bad coffee. It wasn't uncommon nowadays for the town's residents to find the raccoon eating breakfast with his best friend Nick Wilde on Friday mornings.

Nick also had a connection with the café, although his father was killed when he was just a toddler, his grandfather used to bring him here for special occasions. Unlike Jake's father, his grandfather used to claim the café had the best coffee in town. However, Nick's grandfather also liked chicory coffee so there was no accounting for his taste and younger fox learned that adding blueberry syrup made the coffee palatable. He would teased the raccoon who somehow managed to drink his coffee black.

It was one of those lazy summer mornings in the city and the café was busy.

"You're my best friend," the young male fox said to the she wolf pup who was sitting next to him in the booth. "When we get older, we're going to get married right?"

"Kent, we're only eight and you might change your mind by the time we grow up," the wolf giggled. "You know we could never have a family?"

"Why not?" the tod asked, it was apparent that he was confused because he cocked his head in that cute canid way.

"We just can't," the wolf pup replied. "My cousin Mark is married to a red fox and they can't have puppies."

"What are you two scamps up too?" an older teenage she wolf asked as she came and sat down across from the young couple.

"Hey sis, why can't a fox and a wolf have pups, if a fox and a coyote can?" the younger wolf cub asked.

"They can't breed," the older wolf replied. "What's this about, last week you both were worried about catching cooties from each other?"

"There's no such thing as cooties, we asked the school nurse!" the younger wolf pub said in an exasperated voice. "I kissed Kent just to prove it to Sarah too!"

"Wait, you did what?" her sister asked. "Karen, you two are a little too young to be making out."

"What's making out?" her sister asked.

"What do you mean breed?" the fox tod asked at almost the same time.

"Ask your father," the now embarrassed teenager chuckled. "That is a father and son conversation."

"Then why did Mark and Betty get married?" the Karen asked. "I mean, why did they get married if they can't have puppies?"

"Because they love each other," the teenager replied. She was obviously becoming greatly amused by the conversation.

"You mean like Officer Nick and Officer Judy?" the fox tod asked. "They can't have puppies."

"They have puppies," the younger wolf giggled. "I see them all the time with puppies, although they look like little raccoons."

"Those are raccoons goofy," the teenager laughed as she reached over and patted her sister between her ears. "Those are Mrs. Runnel's kits."

"Oh, that makes sense," Karen replied. "Manny at school said that a long time ago foxes and wolves used to hate each other, until the coyotes came. Why did we hate each other?"

"That was when daddy was just a pup and some bad guys started a rumor that the foxes were trying to take the mill jobs from the wolves," the teenage wolf replied. "There were a number of fights and then you grandfather and his friends decided to run the foxes out of town, but the foxes wouldn't go. So his gang, the Snappers, got together with a bunch of other gangs and challenged the fox gangs to a fight at the school parking lot."

"Did they fight?" her sister asked as she sat up in excitement. "Wolves are bigger and stronger then foxes."

"Who won?" the tod asked. "Foxes are faster and have claws."

"Well rumor circulated that the foxes had gone to the coyotes, who were just starting to move into town, and asked them for help," the teenage she wolf said as she continued the story. "So your grandfather went to confront the coyote alpha and he said that they would help the wolves instead. The night of the fight, both sides turned up, there was about thirty wolves and just about the same number of foxes. Then the coyotes came, they had called their pack members from as far away as the Canyonlands and there was well over one hundred of them."

She stopped as the waitress, a middle aged coyote, delivered their juices. After thanking the waitress, she continued her story, "So, the coyote alpha walked over to your grandfather and told him that there was a problem, because some of his kin had fox blood in them. He then called for all the coyotes with wolf blood to go over to the wolf gang side of the field and every coyote walked over. The foxes now knew it was going to be a slaughter and their alpha snarled that the coyotes had promised to help them. So, the coyote alpha said for all the coyotes with fox blood to go join the fox gangs and all the coyotes then walked over to that side of the field. "

"Wait, that doesn't make any sense?" the tod asked, his head was cocked sideways again in confusion.

"Hold on and let me finish the story," the teenager chuckled. "So after the coyote alpha walked out between the two groups, both the fox and your grandfather angrily stormed over to him and demanded to know what was going on!"

"What was going on?" her little sister asked, her head too was now cocked sideways in confusion.

"The coyote told them that they couldn't fight the foxes because they were family and they couldn't fight the wolves because they were family. So your grandfather yelled that there had to be some pure blooded coyotes, to which the coyote alpha shook his head no. He then told them both that the First Coyote, Apisi, was the pup of the son of the First Wolf and the daughter of the First Fox. He told him that since they were both kin, he wasn't going let them fight and that they needed to talk instead. It was that night when the coyotes brokered a peace agreement between the wolves and the foxes, we have all been friends ever since."

"So, does that mean that if I marry Kent, we can have coyote puppies?" Karen excitedly said. The tod looked at her excitedly too.

"No!" the teenage she wolf groaned with a panicked look on her muzzle. "I didn't say that!"

"But?" her sister asked.

"The First Wolf and the First Fox are magical," the teenager sighed. "You're not!"

"Nice try sweetie," the waitress chuckled as she brought their orders of fried crickets and eggs.

Two booths over, Jake Runnel and his best friend Nick Wilde had been listening. Both the raccoon and the fox were now laughing.