Zootopia Short Stories: Good Morning Again!

***A rallying cry to all writers!***

This virus has us all on edge and feeling the blues, so we need more stories from the many talented writers on this site and AO3 which can give us a literary escape from the problems of the world around us. All you readers can also encourage the writers to keep "pounding the keys" by making comments about their story. How about a corny tale this time?

The old goat yawned as he sat down in the dirt and stared with satisfaction at the rows of peas with their green tendrils running up the old brushwood sticks that he was using to hold up the pea vines. He had just planted another row of beans and another of carrots, crops which held great promise for a summer's bounty on the table. It was peaceful here in the garden, unlike back at his house where his wife was still listening to some news channel's talking head drone on and on about whose fault this illness was…

…God I hate politics!

"I know that you raccoons really love to eat sweet corn, but this is ridiculous Jake!" Nick Wide laughed as he stood next to the smaller raccoon. Lovingly, he reached over with his paw and teasingly ruffled the fur between his best friend's ears. "I really hate to say this again, but Judy told you so!"

"Aw come on Nick, you have to admit it's a fine crop of corn!" Jake Runnel replied with a grin. He stared up at the corn and shook his head. "I'm just going to need a ladder or something to pick the ears, who knew that they would grow so tall?"

"Eight feet tall, little buddy and as for who knew? Well, that would be my wife Judy and your wife Marie, both of them warned you about this. I distinctly remember Carrots telling you to buy a dwarf variety."

"Yeah, how did two city boys like us end up married to two country girls?"

"Hey Jake," Nick called out as he walked out of the garden towards the backyard's pavilion. The smaller structure had a definite oriental flair with its upturned roof edges, it did not match the renovated Victorian house's more traditional facade. "What do you get when a corn cob is run over by a truck?"

"I don't know?" Jake called back as he picked up his hoe and followed the fox.

"Creamed corn!" the fox laughed as he slapped his knee in mirth at his own joke. "What do corn cobs call their father?"

"Please tell me that you're not going to spend all day telling me jokes?" the raccoon groaned.

"Pop corn!" Nick snickered.

"Gods, please no more jokes!"

"What do you call the best student at Corn school?"

"Just stop!"

"An A Corn!"

"You've been spending too much time around your father-in-law Stu," the raccoon groaned out as he found the kettle and filled it with water. "You want some tea?"

"Sure," Nick chuckled as he plopped down in a chair. "Hey, here's a joke you might like! One day two corn cobs, who were best friends, were walking together down the street. They stepped off the curb and a speeding car came around the corner and ran one of them over. The uninjured corn cob called 911 and helped his injured friend as best he was able. The injured corn cob was taken to emergency at the hospital and rushed into surgery. After a long and agonizing wait, the doctor finally appeared. He told the uninjured corn cob, "I have good news, and I have bad news. The good news is that your friend is going to pull through." "The bad news is that he's going to be a vegetable for the rest of his life"."

"Okay, I've got one for you!" Jake sighed out as he added the tea into their cups. "Why didn't the raccoon laugh at the fox's jokes?"

"Tell me why, my ring-tailed friend."

"Because they were too corny!"

"That was good! I'll have to remember that one."

"Please don't!"

After a few minutes, the two friends sipped their tea as they looked out at the rows of really tall corn. Finally, Jake looked back at Nick with a grin, "Hey Nick, do we know any giraffes that I could get to pick the corn when it's ready?"

Jake Runnel is from my story titled, Zootopia: A Raccoon's Redemption and Zootopia: A Raccoon Returns.