Chapter 60: Labor Pains
Sometimes Jake is an idiot! He should be paying more attention to his pregnant wife and not playing games with his best friend.
Plink! Whack! Pong! Whack! SNARL!
"Gods, Judy they are at it again!" a very pregnant raccoon huffed out as she tried to get more comfortable in the wooden chair. The miserable-looking raccoon and her rabbit doe friend were sitting at a table filled with the remains of dinner. The sports bar around them was full of animals who were chattering and laughing, while they drank and ate. There were the sounds of pinball machines, vintage video games, the clink of pool balls hitting each other, and the sounds of a small plastic ball bouncing on a hard green wooden board. Momentarily the raccoon glanced towards a window and gave a slight smile as she watched the evening snow come down. Tundratown at night was rather scenic in its perpetual blanket of white glistening snow, scenic but cold. "I knew we shouldn't have let those two loose inside of this bar."
"You know how completive those two can get?" the smiling rabbit said as she watched the slim male raccoon in blue sport shirt frantically trying to hit the oncoming white ping pong ball with his paddle. The raccoon gave a frustrated growl when he missed. "Well, I'm running to the restroom, are you going to be alright or do you need to come with me?"
"I just got back from there. Ever since I got knocked up, all I do is eat and pee!" the raccoon named Marie chuckled. Then she noticed an uneaten pickle on one of the plates and with a sigh, began munching on it. The rabbit grinned when she saw the raccoon eating again, but didn't say a word before she left the table and weaved her way through the crowd.
"My point!" the lanky red fox in a green sweater laughed as he jubilantly and victoriously pumped his paw in the air. "What's the matter, Jake? Are you getting slow in your old age?" A tall white polar bear in a black suit, who had been watching the two friends, just rolled his eyes at the fox's antics.
"Old age?" Jake play growled back to his friend while he picked up the ball. "Wilde, you are almost old enough to be my father."
"Coon, I'm only a few years older than you!" the fox scoffed.
"You are eight years older," the bear added with a shake of his head.
"Stay out of this Kevin!" Nick said before he looked over and gave the raccoon one of his trademarked infamous smirks. "Coon, I'm not old enough to be your father, just your better looking and more handsome brother!"
"Well my friend, you should know that I have been holding back," Jake teased as he bounced the ball on the table. "I've only been letting you win so that you would become overconfident and now prepare to lose!"
"Oh great, now we've got trash talk coming from a raccoon!" Kevin sighed as he sipped his mug of beer.
"Ha…ha…not funny bear!" the raccoon snapped.
"Jake…" the female raccoon called out. But her husband was still verbally sparring with his best friend and not paying her any attention.
"Once I teach you how to really play ping pong, I'm going to drub you playing pool!" the raccoon boasted as he pointed his paddle at Nick.
"You're all talk and no action!" Nick laughed as he picked up and sipped from his own beer.
"Oh my!" Marie softly exclaimed in embarrassment. She felt another contraction and then something wet trickling down her legs. "Jake…Jake, my water broke!" she called out.
The male raccoon still didn't hear her over the other noise in the bar.
"Come on Coon!" Nick growled. "Less talk and more action, so serve that damned ball."
"Oh, it's on now fox!" Jake snapped back, with a grin. He lifted his paddle to prepare to serve. "I'm going to wipe the floor with your tail."
"Jake!" Marie frantically called again, before she grasped her stomach and moaned.
An older tiger looked over and saw the smaller female was in distress. "Oh honey, you've gone into labor!" she exclaimed as she quickly came over and took the raccoon's paw. "You need to get to the hospital, is there someone here with you?"
"My husband Jake, but he can't hear me over all this noise," Marie answered.
"HEY, JAKE!" the tigress loudly roared. The whole bar went quiet as everyone looked her way in surprise. "YOUR WIFE IS IN LABOR!"
With his ear's flat on top of his head and his tail bristling behind him, Jake jumped a foot off the ground in shock when he heard the tiger's yell. The male raccoon dropped his paddle and almost tripped over his own feet as he stumbled through the crowd towards her. "Marie!" he desperately called out in a panic tone when he reached her. "Do we need to call an ambulance?"
Nick was right next to him and gave the raccoon a strange look. "Jake, the hospital is just one block away!"
"Oh yeah!" the frantic raccoon muttered as he gripped his wife's paw. "Can you walk that far?"
"I…" she began to reply, but a pair of large white paws scooped her up.
Kevin looked over his shoulder at the fox and raccoon as he carried Marie towards the door, "Are you two coming?"
The fox and raccoon quickly grabbed their coats and ran out of the bar after the huge bear.
A few moments later Judy returned and looked around in confusion. "Your friend went into labor," a server said as she stood there with a mop staring in disgust at the puddle under the chair. "Those guys you were with panicked and they ran down the road towards the hospital with her in their arms. But here, they left you this and I'm expecting a big tip for having to clean up this mess."
Judy's ears drooped when she was handed the bill for the food and drinks. "But Nick has my wallet!" she exclaimed as she held the white cash register slip in her paws.