Chapter 25: The Waltzing Rabbit Incident
Jake comes to Nick's rescue, proving that between the two of them they know just about every lowlife in the city.
Thump, bump, and finally CRASH! The small figurine of two rabbits dancing smashed onto the apartment's hard wooden floorboards. "Sugar honey iced tea!" the fox in a light green tropical shirt exclaimed as he stared in horror at the object which had fallen off the bookcase shelf he was dusting.
"What was that?" a raccoon named Jake, who was dressed in a light blue polo shirt and khaki pants, asked as he looked up at the fox from the sofa where he was sitting reading a magazine.
"I just broke the statue of two waltzing rabbits which Judy got from her grandmother!" the fox named Nick almost yowled in a panicked tone as he knelt by the broken crockery. " I think it was an antique family heirloom."
"I can see that! What I meant was what was that so called curse you yelled out?
"Spell it out dunderhead,"
"Sugar Honey Iced Tea..Oh…OH! The bunny's having a bad influence on you, but at least you didn't say sweet cheese and crackers again. You'd think after all these years of being a cop, she'd learn to properly curse."
"Carrots is going to kill me!" the fox sighed as he tried to piece the figurine together again. "I can glue it, but you can see the cracks."
"Why don't you go online to see if you can find another one for sale," the raccoon said with a shrug as he turned the base over and peered at it closely.
"It's antique!" the fox whined.
Pulling out his phone, the raccoon made a brief phone call and then grinned up at the fox. "Give me the parts, I think I know a guy who can fix this or at least fix your problem."
"Who's going to do that?"
"I know a guy."
"You know a guy?"
"Just trust me bro!"
"You've got that look on your face, what are you up to?"
"Get your jacket and come on," Jake scoffed as he pulled on his own tan canvas jacket and watched as Nick reached for a dark blue windbreaker. "You can't wear that where we are going, it says POLICE on the back."
"Why can't I … Coon where are we going?"
"Trust me, I wouldn't steer you wrong."
"You have before."
"Okay, the hippo ballet thingy doesn't count!"
"I just felt bad for those poor pet crocodiles," Nick chuckled as he slipped on an old lime green jacket.
"One of these days I've got to drag you down to my tailor," the raccoon sighed and then winced at what the fox was wearing. "It's an embarrassment to be seen in public with you sometimes."
"Oh oo-de-lally, listen to mister fancy pants who gets all his clothes tailored made and not at Moose-Mart like us poor underpaid civil servants have to do!"
"I don't get everything custom made, this shirt is from Mousy's and the belt from Targoat."
"And the pants?" the fox asked with a smirk.
"Shut up fox!"
"You didn't answer."
"Okay, the pants and jacket are from my tailor, Bollinger and Sons" The raccoon rolled his eyes at the smirk that is best friend was now giving him. "Why do I even try to argue with you?" He gave a good-natured huff.
"One of these days you'll learn that I 'm always right!" the fox snickered as he grabbed his keys and wallet from a small bowl, before he opened the apartment's door.
"You do know that you are not always right?" Jake laughed as he walked down the stairs toward the street. "There was that time with the blender…"
"Point taken," the fox sighed. "Are we doing Zuber, taxi or bus?"
"Nick, between the two of us we know just about every taxi driver in this city, so why would we take Zuber?" the raccoon replied as he waved his paw at the approaching vehicles.
A somewhat beaten up yellow taxi cab stopped, its driver was an elderly skunk in an old blue jean jacket with fading patches and a grey tweed flat cap between his ears. "Yo Runnel, it's kind of early to be heading to River Street!" he called out as the raccoon opened the front passenger's side door and sat down. "The ladies ain't come out ta work yet!" The skunk frowned when he saw Nick. "Well ain't it Slick Nick himself? I heard you're now a cop, who'd believe they let a fox become a cop!"
"Yes Patches, I am a police officer," the fox sighed as he slipped into the backseat. "I may be off duty right now, but don't try getting us to wherever we are going by the extra-long route so you can jack up your fare."
"I wouldn't do that to Runnel!" the skunk objected. "But a guy has to make a living. Hey, Jake where do you want to go? The meters running."
"Temple district in Little Amir, do you know Bennie's place on 25th?" Jake replied as the raccoon played with the car's radio, changing the station.
The skunk slapped the raccoon's paw, "You don't play with a cabbie's radio coon!"
"I don't want to hear any of that techno crap you listen to!" Jake snickered. "Come on, at least let me turn on a station which plays some coyote honky tonk!"
"Don't touch the radio!" Patches snarled again, but he was too late because the raccoon had punched a button and the voice of Gazelle filled the air. The cabbie looked at Jake and they both groaned before switching it off.
"Hey, I like Gazelle!" the fox called out from the backseat. "That was her new song, turn it back on!"
"You also like jazz," Jake scoffed.
"All foxes like jazz," Nick muttered. "I don't complain when you play hip hop!"
"I like hip hop too!" Patches added as he turned the radio back on and changed the station, soon the three mammals were swaying and bouncing to the beat as the cab drove down the street.
Little Amir is a section of the city that borders the Rainforest District and was settled by mammals, such as tigers, goats, pandas, and others, who came from the lands to the far East. Pagoda shaped buildings, conclave red clay tiled roofs, and other features from their homeland was carried into the area's architecture.
Jake's ears flattened as he looked out the window. He spent much of his college years in these neighborhoods, being mentored in spirituality by a friend's elderly grandfather. He sighed as they drove down several familiar streets. In his anger after his father's death and during the traumatic aftermath, he had abandoned a red panda named Sonya's friendship and that of her grandfather. It was another of the many mistakes he made as his life spiraled downward towards his becoming a criminal, it was a mistake that haunted him and he knew he needed to rectify it someday soon.
The cab finally stopped in front of a nondescript looking warehouse and Jake stepped out of the cab. "This might take a few minutes Patches," he said as he handed the cabbie some cash. "There's a great tea joint around the corner, have a cup or two on me and we'll meet you there."
Nick watched as the beat up cab rumbled out of the dusty parking lot. "Is this place legit?" the fox asked the raccoon as they walked towards a door next to the loading dock. "This looks like a place we cops might raid for drugs or smuggling? I thought I knew most places around, but not this one."
"You know Bennie!" Jake laughed. "He supplies most of the knickknacks and junk for the tourist market. You know those I heart Zootopia mugs and stuff."
"That Bennie!" Nick scoffed, "I remember him. He was arrested for money laundering for the mob years ago! So, this is where he has his warehouse now? But what does Benny have to do with a broken antique?"
"Runnel! Wilde!" A voice called out from the doorway and a fat weasel in a tan suit waved. "I heard you two are hanging around together. You do know coon that red there is now a cop? It's a good thing you've gone legit or at least are pretending that you have."
"Not funny, I have gone legit and you know that!" Jake called back as he shook his head. "Did you find one?"
The weasel reached around behind him and produced a exact replica of the broken statue. "This is it, right?"
"That's an exact match!" Nick happily shouted as he carefully took the statue in his paw. "How much do you want for this?"
"Sorry Wilde, I only sell wholesale by the case," Bennie answered. "A case of thirty six, but I'll give them to you for free since I owe your pal a big favor. Besides, I haven't been able to dump these damn statues since that old broad Hopps died in over in Bunnyburrow and I want them out of my warehouse."
"We'll take them!" Jake quickly called out. "Let Nick take this one with him and send the rest to my company's warehouse."
They got back with the statue in time to put it back on the shelf before Judy got home and she never realized anything happened to her beloved statue.
A few years later, it was Judy who broke the statue. While she was sweeping up the broken pieces, she mentioned to Nick that she really didn't like it anyways. Nick groaned because he knew that in some corner of Jake's warehouse, the raccoon was stuck with a dust covered crate of thirty-five more waltzing rabbit statues.