Chapter 63: A Fat Fox?
What is it about Judy and ketchup?
The food trucks were parked along the street's curb by the seaside park and there were lines of animals queued up in front of them, all waiting to order their favorite foods. Nearby, a raccoon in a blue suit and a fox in a dark blue police uniform were sitting at one of the many picnic tables. Behind them, the ocean surf's rhythmic sound was soothing to their ears and the sun shone warmly down upon them from a cloudless blue sky above. There were the peals of laughter from the many animals playing on the beach and surfers rode the waves offshore. It was a pleasant, almost idyllic, place to enjoy their lunch.
"So my client is a multi-million dollar tech firm and what do they use as their passcode to enter the building?" the raccoon named Jake Runnel was telling his best friend Nick Wilde. "The last four numbers of their zip code! The owner just stared at me in disbelief when I walked up and set the alarm on my second try." The fox named Nick Wilde just smiled and shook his head.
"Oh no, you don't!" Jake snapped at the fox as Nick attempted to snatch yet another one of his fries from his food container. "You could have ordered your own!"
"I'm trying to be good, Carrots said I've put on a few pounds recently," Nick grumbled as he shoved his fork around his own tray. The fox was staring with a lack of enthusiasm at the salad in front of him with his ears flat and tail curled near his foot paws.
"Hanging around the front desk with Clawhauser has its drawbacks. How many donuts did you eat this morning?"
"Shut up coon!"
"That wasn't an answer," the raccoon snickered as he slowly bit into a fry. He purposely over-exaggerated his bite and chewed slowly as he grinned at the fox.
"You're evil, Ringtail!" Nick huffed out. "Being my best friend, I would think that you'd be more supportive during this hour of my great distress!"
"That was very dramatic! All of this fuss over a little diet? Frankly, you've gained a little weight but not that much."
"Judy said that I'm getting a little belly," the fox put his paw down over his stomach.
"It's probably all that beer you drink with Finn. How that little guy can drink so much and not gain weight is a mystery to me?"
"He pees a lot!"
"So how long have you been on this diet?" Jake mumbled out as he chewed a muzzle full of his worm burger. "It couldn't have been too long, you were just over at our place playing with Nicky and Freddie. I think you ate half the pizza we ordered."
"Since this morning," Nick admitted before he speared a chunk of lettuce and held it up on his fork. "It's been a really long morning."
"Oh come on fox, you're acting like you've been suffering for weeks! If you had told me, I would have ordered a salad too."
"Why have my friends suffer for my sins?" Nick sighed as he munched on a carrot. His other paw was tapping the table as he watched Judy return from one of the food trucks and then sit down next to him.
The rabbit leaned back from the table as she cautiously watched the raccoon tear at a packet of ketchup and then as he carefully poured it over his fries. "What?" Jake finally asked as he looked over at her.
"You don't have a very good history of handling ketchup around me," Judy reminded him. "I don't want to get my uniform stained again because of your carelessness."
"Hey, those were all Nick's fault and not mine!" the raccoon objected.
While they were talking Nick slowly reached over and tried to steal another fry from Jake's plate, the raccoon saw the movement from the corner of his eye and slapped the fox's paw. His blow caused Nick to lose the ketchup covered fry and it soared high into the air above their heads. As if by slow motion, the three friends watched in horror as it seemingly slowly began to descend straight down towards the rabbit's startled eyes. Suddenly a flurry of gray and white feathers appeared above them as a seagull swooped down and snatched the ketchup covered morsel with its claws before it triumphantly soared away with its prize.
"That was a close one!" Jake exclaimed as he looked both relieved and somewhat in shock at Nick and Judy. Then they heard the cries in the air above them, for the success of one of their flock had emboldened a dozen or more gulls and they fluttered towards the raccoon's basket containing his burger and remaining fries.
"Oh snap!" Nick yelled before he dove under the picnic table, only to be quickly joined by Judy and Jake. The table above them was engulfed in a swirling mass of feathers. After a few moments, the aerial bandits finally fled with the remnants of Jake's meal.
Nick stood up and cocked his head in surprise while he looked down at the remains of their lunches, which were strewn across the table. "Well, it seems that they don't care that much for salads either?" he muttered.
