Chapter 66: Lunch with Friends
This chapter is dedicated to retired RCMP officer James Blackwood who has been caring for a family of raccoons and other wildlife on his Nova Scotia property for many, many years. He had one raccoon named Rascal who is documented as having lived at least thirteen years, a tremendously long time for a coon! You can find him on YouTube, where he is known as the Raccoon Whisper.
This takes place after Marie is attacked at the Coyote Cultural Center in Happy Town, the boys are now almost a year old.
***EVERYONE STAY HEALTHY & WASH THOSE PAWS!***
The raccoon in the dark gray suit stood up and waved to the two police officers as they entered the restaurant. It was a nice sized establishment, a sports bar that was not too far from Tundratown's main ice rink. The dark blue walls were decorated with all kinds of sports paraphilia, mostly hockey sticks, worn skates, and jerseys from the city's favorite professional team, the Tundratown Penguins.
The raccoon name Jake Runnel sat back down as he watched the two officers, a wolf named Alan Wolford and a fox named Nick Wilde, while they hang up their heavy police issued parkas. The wolf rubbed his paws together in an attempt to warm them as he approached the table, but he hesitated and tilted his head when he got a closer view of the raccoon. "Runnel, what the hell happened to your right eye?" he asked in a curious tone.
Before Jake could answer, Nick replied instead with a chuckle, "His father-in-law gave him a black-eye."
"How can you tell? I mean, with that black-furred mask?" The wolf made a mask shape with his paws.
Reaching up with his paw, Jake tenderly felt his swollen eye. "This isn't funny guys," he huffed out. "It still hurts a little."
Pulling out a chair next to the raccoon, the fox plopped himself down and ruffled the fur between his best friend's ears. "Poor baby, you shouldn't get in fights with farmers," he said while he gave one of his infamous smirks.
"You know it wasn't a fight!" Jake protested. "I had just gotten off the train and buckled the two boys into their stroller when he belted me a good one."
"Why did he do that?" Wolford asked as he sat down across the table. "What did you do?"
"It's more about what he didn't do," Nick once again answered before the raccoon could. "He had promised his father-in-law Fred that he would keep Marie safe and he didn't, you know she was attacked."
"Sarah Winstead!" the wolf said the name almost as if it was a curse. "That she-skunk was a crazy killer! She not only murdered a cop, but also an elderly couple and a whole family just to get at you and your family."
"She would have killed Marie and the boys too, if it hadn't been for Karen Southpaw," Jake sighed out as he gave a slight shutter. "Winstead may have been trained in knife fighting by her boyfriend Le Pew, but Karen was born to the blade, as they say on the streets of Happy Town. She learned to use the knife growing up in a gang and the vixen was a better fighter."
"That lunatic went after your wife because you killed her lover," Wolford added.
"I didn't kill him!" Jake objected. "Savage did!"
"Oh yes, that mysterious super-secret agent you keep talking about!" the wolf snickered. "A guy no one can find."
"Well, she's dead now," Nick quickly interjected, trying to change the subject because he suspected that the mastermind for most of Jake's problems was Fru Fru's no-good husband Anton and he had been found mysteriously drowned in Icy Lake not long after the attack. An intra-gang war within the Northern Mob had been averted and Fru Fru was now a not so grieving widow. Of course, none of this was known by Wolford or any other police officers who thought the overly ambitious shrew's death was accidental. "So why did you want to eat lunch here?"
"Remember how I've always wanted to go to Toronto for vacation and still haven't made it yet?" the raccoon began to answer.
The wolf looked confused, so Nick quickly interrupted. "It's a city up north where raccoons just about run everything." The wolf nodded as he looked back towards the raccoon across the table.
"Anyways, I've always used to tell Marie there is no reason to leave Zootopia when the whole world comes here. Well, I found that this place serves one of their traditional national dishes," Jake excitedly continued. "It's called Poutine."
"What is that?" it was the red fox who asked the question this time. He sighed as he sipped his water while he enviously watched the raccoon sipping a beer. Cops were not allowed to drink while on the job and it was a very strict rule. Since Jake was self-employed, he set his own rules.
"I guess you could call it a type of Northwoods nachos?" the raccoon answered with a grin. "It's sort of like that…just wait and you'll see what I mean when it arrives." He waved at another raccoon in a chef's cap, who nodded back before he went into the kitchen.
A few moments later a large waiter arrived at the table with a big tray of food which the moose gently set down in the center of the table.
The three friends stared at the culinary concoction, it was made up of a layer of fries upon which fresh cheese curds had been liberally sprinkled and then everything was smothered in goose gravy.
"You've got to be kidding?" Nick said as the fox poked the dish with his fork.
It was delicious
"Next time I think we should try a dish which the chef tells me is from the famous Blackwood Café on an island called Nova Scotia, the dish is Pictou County Pizza and it is made with something called brown sauce!" Jake contently burped out.
For Marie's brush with death and how she was saved by a vixen named Karen Southpaw, see Chapter 41 of Zootopia: A Raccoon's Redemption. Karen is the mother of Chery, a baby coyfox who will become little Freddie's best friend and soulmate.
Fru Fru's husband Anton was indeed the whole driving force behind much of Jake's woes, except for the mad priest. Mister Big's son-in-law was attempting to wrestle control of the Northern Mob.
I understand that traditional Poutine is made with beef gravy, which would be impossible in Zootopia. Have I ever tried the dish? NO, but I did try cheese curds when I was in Door County, Wisconsin. They are best when fresh and are squeaky to the bite…Yum! Sometimes I think I live in the wrong state until I see pictures of all the cold and snow…Yuck!
