Zootopia – Springtime Circumstances
Chapter 64 – The source of happiness
„Tell us about her…" he suggested, resting one leg over the other, "…will be quite a while now anyway…"
The countryside flew by outside the train-windows at quite a high pace in the meanwhile, and since we booked the highest class there was on this train, we had a closed room and the table inside of it all to ourselves, so nobody could listen or disturb us. This was really necessary, because even getting to that train in the heart of Zootopia was a real nightmare already.
"Yeah" his girlfriend agreed excitedly, "Did she already tell you what she thinks of the song you wrote for her?"
"You wrote a song for your mum?" Anita asked.
I was a little surprised that nobody had told her about that earlier.
"Pyro Heart…no, we haven´t seen each other in quite a while…" I told them with a little sigh, "She isn´t what you would call…modern…she doesn´t even have her own telephone I think…"
"Really?" Judy wanted to know.
"Sounds kinda nice if you think about it…" Nick commented.
"She always lived a very simple life. She moved from the UK over here, settled down in that little town by the coast, met my father, got pregnant with me a few years later and then he died in a very brutal storm on the ocean, just a few days before I was born…at least that´s how the story goes…"
"Oh, no!" Anita said in shock, "I never knew that! I feel so sorry!"
"No, it´s fine" I waved it off, "…anyway…she still lives there to this day. She always lived for the music. And for the sea. She had a local band and they even were rather successful for a few years. I believe she still plays gigs at some bars from time to time…"
"So that´s where that´s coming from" Nick chuckled.
"Oh, my mom is a great musician" Rico told us, "…but she´s always been happy with the just very few people who listened. I always thought she was a little scared of big audiences…"
"And why have you moved to Zootopia?" Judy wanted to know.
That was one of those question I already anticipated. Among many others.
"I got accepted at the university of music in the center of the city. That has always been my dream since I learned my first notes and sang with my mom back then…my music teacher in high-school had always pushed me to apply there as well…"
"Oh wow! Must have been quite a big step for both of you back then…" Judy guessed.
"It was" I affirmed, "But she didn´t held me up since she knew how much it meant to me. And she wanted me to be happy as well. She really is a good soul my mom…"
"I wish I had it that easy when I wanted to leave Bunnyburrow for the big city" Judy told me light-heartedly, "My parents were so scared something could happen to me…"
"Something did happen…" Nick commented with a big grin, "…remember the wet cement you stepped in when you-"
In that very moment Judy nudged her elbows into his ribcage and shut him up very effectively, causing quite a few chuckles therefore.
"Well…" I chuckled, "I just remember my mom saying: "Always remember little Rico, no matter where you end up, surround yourself with people who like music. People who like music are always good people, and people who don't like it don't deserve to hear you playing."
"Aww" Anita giggled, "That´s quite sweet actually…"
"And quite true I suppose" Nick added.
"Yeah" I agreed with a little smile.
"Oh I want to meet her so badly" Judy chuckled, "What´s her name by the way?"
"Her Name is Gillian, most people just call her Gill…"
"When was the last time you have seen her?"
"Well…I´ve talked to her on the phone about half a year ago. I´m not quite sure how she reached me, and since she doesn´t have a number or a phone, it´s pretty hard for me to reach her. But it´s been an eternity since I met her in person…"
"She´s going to be quite surprised I bet…" Nick chuckled.
"It´s funny, because she always said: You´ll be a big star when you come home to visit your old girl."
"Aww" Judy giggled, "And now she´s probably heard you on the radio or even seen you on TV…"
"Yeah, probably" he chuckled, "But I´m excited about it anyway, I surely missed her all these years…"
"Why didn't you visit her more often?" Anita wanted to know.
"I…I don't really know. I always thought I would come at a bad time. And since I couldn´t reach her I was never sure if I could stay at her place or if I had to take a hotel-room…I…I don't know…" he sighed, "…didn´t feel right somehow."
"But now it does, right?"
I just nodded with a little smile. There was nothing I wanted more right now. I needed to get away from the City for a while. At least until the hype has calmed down a little bit.
I didn´t want to hear any of that stuff right now. I ignored all the requests for collaborations from other musicians, I ignored all the big-label companies that wanted to record an album with me, I didn´t care about the countless invitations to TV and radio interviews and I especially didn´t care about all the people who waited outside my door day and night to ask for selfies or autographs. It really annoyed the neighbors in the meanwhile, and therefore it annoyed us even more. So I decided to change some things pretty drastically.
While Sarah and Ivonne took care of coordinating the moving company, that brought all our stuff to the big house I bought, Anita, Nick and Judy wanted to join me on the little time-out I took from all the stress in the last few weeks. The house I bought for us had three levels above ground, a pool in the garden, one more in the basement, I made them build a big recording-studio into it that had enough room for all my guitars and instruments, we now had three bathrooms, two guest rooms and a giant winter-garden on the roof. I had no idea what to do with all that space, but at least this place was all mine now. The thing I liked most about it was the privacy though. It was located on the outer circle of the City, I had a big garden with an even bigger hedge around it and a gate that would keep stalkers away. And it wasn´t in freezing cold Tuntratown.
But to fill that place with stuff, they would have quite a lot of shopping to do. So I gave them my second credit card and told them to do get whatever they liked for our new home.
I never thought I would be in this situation at any point of my life, but I got surrounded by people wherever I went at the moment, and it was highly annoying. Staying calm and friendly was hard work in the meanwhile.
I just wanted to surround myself with people I really liked as much as possible from now on. And since money was not a problem anymore, at all, I could finally do the things I had always dreamed about. One of them was finally doing something really nice for my mom, and it was just about to happen.
POV Nick (quite a while later)
When we left the train at the really rather tiny "central station" of Rico´s birth-place, it took roughly thirty seconds and we were completely surrounded once again. Just like when we entered the train in Zootopia.
At least here were not nearly as much people as at home.
"Officer Hopps, officer Wilde! Is that really you?" a little bunny boy asked us excitedly, "What are you doing here so far away from the big city?"
"We´re just getting a little time-out from the big city" Judy told him with a little wink while patting his head carefully, "We´re on vacation, basically."
"I-I´ve seen you on TV and on the internet! And also on that concert with Rico Cap-"
Now he just noticed that Rico was actually standing right beside us, talking to some other fans who had approached him.
"You like his music?" I asked him with a little smirk, because he had his paws in front of his mouth at this point.
"Y-Yeah!" he affirmed, "He´s the best musician in the world says my mom…"
"You know" I chuckled, before I lifted him up carefully, "She may has a point."
With that I walked around Rico quickly, who still had the guitar in the case on his back which he wanted to take with him at all cost.
"Hey Rico" I told him, "I just heard someone saying you´re the best musician in the world…is that true?"
"Haha, really?" he asked in amusement, "Who said that?"
"M-my…my mom said that…" the little bunny boy told him shyly. Now I couldn´t hide a little grin anymore, because I noticed that his mother actually was way within out hearing-range,
"…n-nice to meet you, Mr. Capaldi…" the young bunny stuttered.
"Nice to meet you too" Rico smiled while shaking his paws.
His mother now came a few steps closer shyly.
"Oh…" she whispered, "I´m so sorry for my boy…he´s a little stormy somet-"
"No, no, please! It´s really not a problem" Rico waved it off for her, before he gave the little bunny on my shoulder a high-five, "…you´re all just being very nice and friendly…
"Mr. Capaldi" somebody else asked, "Is it actually true that you have been here before? There were rumors…"
"Well…" he chuckled light-heartedly, "I´ve grown up here. So…yeah, you can say I´ve been here before…"
"Really?" the hyena-girl in the front row asked in disbelief, "…so you´re actually related to the Mrs. Gillian Capaldi?"
"Oh, so you know her?" he asked with an interested chuckle.
"She´s been quite popular a few years ago" somebody else chuckled, "She even had a song on a local radio station here…"
"What is she up to now?" he asked with great interest.
"I heard she´s still playing some gigs in a few bars sometimes…" the old hedgehog right next to Anita told us with gleaming eyes, "Last time I saw her playing down the road in the old tavern, she still knows how to make people sing and dance…"
"Any ideas where we could find her?" Rico asked with a little smile.
Nobody here really knew an answer to that question, sadly, but we still remained in a good spirit.
"Why are you searching her?" the little bunny boy on my shoulders asked.
"Well…" Rico told him with a friendly little smile, "She´s my mom, and I haven´t seen her in quite a while. I live in Zootopia, many hours away from here…"
"Oh that makes so much sense!" the young hyena giggled happily.
"Doesn´t it?" Rico grinned.
"I love your music so much by the way" she told him, "I can play ´someone you loved´ on the piano in the meanwhile…well, at least the chords…"
"Wow, that´s so awesome!" he told her proudly, "I feel very honored!"
"Thank you!" she whispered. "…and…and I also wanted to ask if I could take a photo with you, please!" she stuttered excitedly.
"Yeah, of course" he told her while laying an arm around her shoulders carefully, "Give your phone to Nick, he´ll take it for you!"
POV Judy
I just loved this place. Having grown up in the countryside myself, I just noticed how much I missed the easier, more relaxed lifestyle out here. The people were so much friendlier on average, they all respected our privacy and didn´t shove their phones and cameras into our faces without asking for permission. Now they noticed that they could actually ask us about this, some others wanted photos as well of course, but we were quite used to it anyway.
But I also really enjoyed talking to them right now, especially after that hour-long train ride.
I could tell that Rico felt at home here. He still seemed to remember quite a lot about this little town as it turned out, and eventually we found somebody who could tell us in which bar we could find his mom tonight.
It was half past 8PM in the meanwhile, so we decided to head straight for the pub which the friendly armadillo lady described us. On the wooden entrance door we immediately spotted the flyer:
"10PM; G. Capaldi and band perform life on stage tonight, first drink included in entrance fee" it said.
"Oh this is going to be great" Rico grinned in honest anticipation. Then he turned towards the few people who recognized us from across the street and came a little closer as well. He put his finger in front of his lips with a wink and a little grin, and they all nodded with big smiles.
This looked so promising already.
POV Nick
Since the gig was about start in half an hour, Rico thought it might be worth it to take a look into the little yard behind the bar and see if we could find her there. It was pretty dark outside at this time, but since it was summer it still was comfortably warm.
Rico´s suggestion struck gold right away as we found out soon later. There was a little grill in the ugly backyard behind a bar and quite a few people were standing around it. But they were not just standing around, they made music together. There was an old buck playing drums he just held in his paws, creating an uncomplicated but steady beat, there a wolf playing a contrabass, another one with some kind of trumpet, and then there was a black and grey vixen, playing a guitar and lowly singing in her rough but very controlled and beautiful voice. There was no doubt we found her. I was convinced right away. She was a little shorter than Rico and her fur was a little bit brighter over all, but you could surely tell she was related to him.
We silently came a little closer towards them and just enjoyed the moment. They really were good at what they were doing, and I found myself moving my feet to the rhythm.
Rico couldn't hide a proud little smile either, and that was just so wholesome. When their song was over soon later, he went even a little closer towards them, so there was no way they wouldn´t notice him now, and still with the hoodie over his head he asked his mother: "That sounded very nice, but how could you do that missing the second E string on your guitar?"
He was right. It seemed like the top string of her guitar had snapped earlier, because she really had just five to play with on that old and beat looking instrument.
"Well you sound oddly familiar, Kid" she chuckled in amusement.
"Oh really?" he asked with a big grin while pulling the hoodie over his ears and revealing his face, "Do I?"
It took her a moment to realize, then she hugged him stormily. "Rico!" she shouted with tears of joy in her eyes, "You came all this way?"
"Hey mom" he chuckled while hugging her back.
"I can´t believe you´re here!" she cried happily.
"Has been a while, hasn´t it?"
"It´s been forever! But I´m so glad to see you!" she told him in great excitement.
The others put down their instruments as well now and watched the reunion with amused little smiles.
"It´s so hard to reach you, so I decided to finally come and visit! I´m glad to see you too, mom!"
She nodded understandingly, but she still didn´t release him from her hug. A small tear of joy ran down her cheeks and her tail wrapped around his feet gently.
"So…why does your guitar only have 5 strings?" Rico still wanted to know.
"It snapped just a few minutes ago" she chuckled, "Couldn´t repair it during the song, could I?"
"Quite amazing that you still play on that same old thing…"
"Yeah…I really wish I could change it for something better someday…but it does its job the sturdy old thing…"
"Gill is that your boy who went to Zootopia to study music" one of the wolves asked her suddenly, and somehow it seemed like he was a tiny bit suspicious.
"Yeah" she affirmed, pointing at them, "Rico, meet the old rascals who still play with me."
"Sorry I didn´t introduced myself sooner" Rico told them in a friendly manner, "I´m Rico, nice to meet you."
The wolf just nodded silently, the others didn´t seem too amazed by that either. I really was a little astounded right now. None of them seemed to have watched TV or listened to the radio in the last few weeks. I guessed these folks didn´t trust anybody right away.
"Are you still doing that thing with the movie-scores?" his mom wanted to know.
"Yeah, occasionally…" he affirmed with a little smile, "…but mostly because I really like the people I´m working with…"
While he said that, he grabbed himself his mom´s guitar carefully and examined it with trained eyes. She just smiled contentedly about it.
"You don't have a set of strings with you by any chance?" she chuckled ironically.
"I do, actually" he replied with a little smirk, "But I also got something you would like much better…"
Then he turned around and got to the pile of suitcases and bags we had carried all the way over here and grabbed the case of the guitar quickly. He handed the whole thing over to his mom and signalized her to unpack with an encouraging smile.
He has been waiting for this moment the whole day, and now it finally happened. She got the delicate instrument out of its bag and looked at it in pure awe.
"W-w-what?" she stuttered, as she saw the very well-made and beautiful guitar she was holding in her hands now. Rico had shown it to us on the train already. The engravings in the real gold plates on the neck looked just beautiful, the dark-brown and red wood mixture looked quite exquisite as well, and all in all the whole thing looked like very skillful craftsmanship.
"Hope you like it" Rico grinned in amusement, "…brought it all the way over here for you."
All the other musicians stared at that guitar quite staggered as well.
"Rico…" his mom said in disbelief, "One of those is about three thousand dollars! Where…"
"Don't worry about it" he told her with a calm little smile, "I have one of those as well at home. They sound just fantastic. Don't be shy, give it a try!"
She played a few chords, still totally staggered about what she was holding in her paws. She looked totally blown out of the water.
She immediately tuned it a little and then played a few more really nice patterns.
"Do you like it?"
She nodded slowly, still in total disbelief. "But…Rico…"
"Must have paid off to study…" the wolf commented dryly.
"Yeah…" another of the musicians agreed, "…or to play the lottery?"
I could sense that Rico was equally confused about that as we were.
"Well…I didn´t win the lottery, but I have to confess that I got kinda lucky with the people I got to know not too long ago…"
"What kind of people do you have to know to make that kind of money?" someone asked curiously.
"Have you heard of those two police officers who have taken down three whole clans in the Zootopia and stopped a hostage taking?" Rico asked with a little sigh. It seemed like their suspiciousness annoyed him a little by now.
"Wilde and Hopps?" the old buck asked, "Yeah, I heard of em. There was a story in the paper about them taking down a polar bear or somethin…seem to be quite popular…was on the front page a few days ago…"
"Yeah, I heard of them too…" his mom said, "I heard a few funny stories about them already…"
"Yeah…those two I was talking about…" he affirmed, before leaving another short pause, "…they are standing right there by the way."
Now they all took a closer look and it got very quiet for a moment.
"You´ve all heard about some police officers in a city a few hundred miles away, but you haven´t heard of the two global number-one hit singles Rico had in the charts already?" I chuckled in amusement, because I had their attention now.
Judy and Anita giggled a little.
"Y-You…y-you were on the radio?" his mom asked in shock.
Rico just nodded a little.
"My little Rico?" she giggled proudly, "On the radio?"
"Yeah, mom" he affirmed once again, "Didn´t you always tell me it would happen someday?"
"I…I did, didn´t I?" she chuckled in total disbelief.
"You always believed in me" Rico told her proudly.
Now she put the new Guitar onto its case on the floor carefully and hugged him for a second time.
"I don't quite believe him to be honest" the Wolf behind her suddenly grunted harshly, "I want him to prove that he´s not just bullshittin you…"
Rico was just equally confused about that negative spirit, but it seemed like the wolf was not the only one here thinking like that.
"Nobody here has listened to a radio in the last few weeks?" Judy wondered lowly.
"Well…" Gillian said lowly, "I´m not getting around very much these days…but I am a little shocked that I haven´t heard of it earlier…"
"Or nobody has told you about it" I added, taking a suspicious look at the other musicians.
"Can´t be too hard to prove yourself when you´re a ´world famous´ musician, right?" the old buck with the drums asked, followed by a dirty laugh.
"May I, mom?" Rico asked his mother smoothly while pointing at the guitar he just gave her.
"Yeah, sure…"
He picked it up from the floor and hung the strap around his neck. Then he started playing some chords I was pretty sure I knew from somewhere. When he began singing it immediately became clear that he played "Someone you loved", but because of the lack of a piano he used guitar chords instead.
After the first few lines he sung, some of the guys around us have recognized it already, and they all kept on staring at him completely mesmerized. His mom couldn´t really believe her eyes as it looked like.
"And now the day bleeds
Into nightfall
And you´re not here
To get me through it all…"
Now they all looked differently at him all over sudden. They were completely staggered by that simple but still incredibly powerful performance of his hit single.
When he was done with the song, he simply reached the guitar back to his mom and looked at the staggered audience contentedly.
"…seems like I underestimated you, kid" the wolf with the contrabass grumbled lowly.
"Yeah…" the old buck agreed, "…just a very few people I know can do something like that…and…and they´re both right here apparently…"
Rico just shrugged his shoulders with another little smile,
"Wow" his mom chuckled, "Who the hell hurt you like that?"
"I´ve had this song laying around for years…" he waved it off, "…and then they needed a title-song for a romance drama movie or whatever…and people really seem to enjoy it."
"I enjoyed it too" his mom told him proudly.
"Thanks" he chuckled, "…but enough about me now. What I wanted to ask: Do you mind if we stay for your show tonight?"
"Could I ever mind about that? You´re getting in for free!" his mom grinned at him proudly, "But: Would you like to join us on stage tonight?"
POV Gillian Capaldi
My spirit wasn't very high for tonight at first, but now it was rising through the roof. Rico didn´t just agree when I asked him if he wanted to get on stage with me tonight, he seemed genuinely happy I asked.
I knew he was a talented musician, I taught him playing the guitar at the age of five, but I never knew just how good he has become. The way he controlled his beautiful voice I have barely seen in my whole life.
But I was in for a much bigger shock when he joined us on stage tonight, because just after the first two songs he sang with me, the pub was completely crowded with people. The security people really had trouble keeping the people out in the meanwhile. It must have spread throughout the whole city somehow.
Rico had fixed the broken strings on my old guitar earlier and used that old crook on the stage tonight. I offered him to play on the beautiful new one he gave to me, but he declined it light-heartedly and just blew us out of the water with whatever he got to work with. At first I was worried he might not know the songs we usually were playing, especially because some of them I had written myself, but apparently he had so much of a perfect pitch in the meanwhile, he just played along after listening to it for a couple of moments. I could to that as well to a certain level, but I had at least twenty-five more years of experience than him.
However, my favorite moment was jet to come: "Good evening you lovely people" he greeted them over the microphone after we finished the last song we were just playing, "…I wanna tell you a little story. As a few of you might have figured out by now, the lovely lady right next to me is my mom…and, well yeah…I haven't seen her in quite a while. But I can tell you, I really missed her and I really missed making music with her. And here is something which just very few people know: I´ve written a song dedicated to her. And this might surprise you, but you know that song already…"
He began using his one of his feet for a beat so my drummer could get into the rhythm and gently pulled a few chords on his guitar.
"So mom, this one is for you" he announced, "It´s called ´Pyro Heart´."
Just when he said that, the audience got really loud and excited once more. Then he began singing.
"I´ve been dancing, with the devil on my shoulder
´til the morning breaks…
And I get nervous…"
This was just one of the most beautiful moments of my entire life. It sounded just beautiful, the people seemed to know the lyrics and started singing along and slowly dancing to it and it felt just right to do nothing but enjoy it right now.
His paws moved over the guitar with total precision and confidence, his voice just carried so much feeling and now for the first time I noticed how much people really enjoyed a life performance like that. I noticed that in my performances as well, but I had to focus on playing normally.
Now I was just standing there and watched in pure awe.
When he was done with the beautiful song he wrote for me, the applause that followed was just heart-warming and the already fantastic mood had reached a whole new level. I was so flashed right now, I couldn´t do anything but get towards him and hug him tightly. The whole audience was still cheering for us and nobody was happier than I was right now.
"Okay" he chuckled, after the hype had settled a little, "That was fun…what should we do next?"
"I loved it, little Rico" I smiled back, now finally having my composure again, "I´m so happy you´re here with us tonight!"
The audience loudly agreed with me.
"What about…what about we play something for you now? Something to dance to, maybe?"
"Oh yes, please!" he agreed excitedly.
I nodded towards my drummer and he immediately began hitting the kick-drum loud but slowly.
Since this was one of our main acts, the grumpy but actually very kind wolf who played the contrabass in my band for many years now, knew exactly what to do and supported the drum beat with some powerful strokes. Rico clapped his paws in the meanwhile and immediately the whole audience was doing the same and elevated the beat to a whole nother level once again. I never had as much fun on stage as tonight.
POV Anita
I loved this so much. Seeing him on stage alongside with his mom was such a magic moment. When his mom started singing and playing the guitar with her band, he quickly got rid of the guitar he had hanging around his neck, jumped off the little stage and reached out for my paws to pull me out of the crowd and dance with me. The audience was going absolutely crazy around us when they noticed, but I was used to it anyway and just enjoyed the moment.
Now we all knew where his musical talent came from. His mom was rocking it out like there was no tomorrow. We danced and jumped around in circles quickly, then we switched partners and I was dancing with Nick and Rico with Judy. Then we changed again and I was paw in paw with Judy. Nick and Rico had no problem dancing with each other either, and overall it was just a riot. There was no place I would rather be in the world right now but this little pub right on the edge of nowhere.
But even here people were filming with their phone-cameras. Nick and Judy obviously where quite the celebrities here as well, and this little place was getting more and more crowded as the evening went on.
But we didn´t let that annoy us. We just had so much fun here. The time in here was just flying by, but it felt nice to just let go and be myself for once.
POV Rico (a few hours later)
"Hey" I said lowly when I joined her on the very end of the pier. It was quarter to midnight in the meanwhile, but I finally had the chance to talk to her alone for a few minutes.
"Hey little Rico" she chuckled, "Have you had fun tonight?"
"It was great!" I affirmed with an honest little smile.
"I never knew you were into dancing like that" she grinned.
"Anita really enjoys it" I replied with a big smile, "And the music was just right…you know…when everybody is in the mood for it…"
"That´s mainly why I´m still doing it" she said, before taking another sip of the beer she had in her paws, "It´s not about the money, it´s about the joy it brings to people…"
I nodded understandingly.
"Talking about money for a second" I used the opportunity, "How are you doing right now? What about the old house?"
"Nah…" she sighed after a short moment of hesitation, "Not too well. I still got the house, but it´s in a very bad way. The heaters have all died, the windows are not closing properly and the warm water is not really warm anymore…it´s become hard to live there through the winters…"
I had expected something like that, so I nodded understandingly once more.
"…you know…" she continued, "The neighbors are really annoying sometimes, and then somebody had broken in a few months ago…"
"What?!"
"Yeah…I came home from work and the entrance door was broken. It´s not like I have a lot of valuable things, but just replacing the door was very expensive and annoying…" she sighed.
"Yeah I can imagine…" I said in total displeasure of hearing it.
Now I looked her right in the eyes and noticed that a silent little tear was running down her cheeks slowly.
"It´s good you mention it…" she said lowly, "I wanted to ask you about this anyway…"
"What is it?" I asked her, because she left a little pause once again.
"What would you say if I sold the house? As long as it´s still worth something I mean...it´s much too big for me alone anyway, and... I wouldn´t be in debt anymore…I would search myself a little flat or something…"
I noticed that she really had a hard time telling me this, so I didn´t chuckle about her suggestion, although it wasn't worry about her future living situation at all.
"I…I mean…I have no emotional connection to that house…" I began, "…but you really don't have to sell it. I can help you fixing it up if you want."
"Rico…" she sighed, "That´s a lot of work and money…I don´t want you to…"
Now I couldn´t hide a little smile anymore. She just stared at me in confusion.
"Mom, really…" I told her, "Money is not an issue. And I´d be glad if I could help you!"
"…but there really is a lot to do…" she sighed, "I would barely get anything if I sold it right now, because it needs a complete renovation…"
"Like I said…" I repeated myself with a confident smile, "Money is not the point."
She still looked at me like she didn´t believe me.
"…I just bought a three story house with two pools, a giant garden, my own recording studio and three freaking bathrooms. And that in the most expensive part of Zootopia because I have the most privacy there…" I told her "…and I still don't know what to do with all that money…"
"Wait…are you fooling around with me?"
"No, mom…" I chuckled, "…I never spent a lot of money in the last few years. I never really needed much in life. I lived in a shared apartment with two roommates, my salary isn´t bad as a composer and head of a twenty-man orchestra and the only things I bought occasionally were guitars or other instruments. And now I had two insanely viral hit singles on the radio…"
"That´s so unbelievable" she said while shaking her head slightly, "Is that why they all knew who you were in the pub?"
"Probably, yeah…" I sighed, "…but trust me, it gets really annoying very soon. I can't even walk through the streets of Zootopia anymore. I´m surrounded wherever I go. That´s why I bought a house with a big garden and a gate, so I have a tiny bit of privacy left…"
"I…I mean…I knew you would make it one day… but never could I imagine…" she chuckled.
"Me neither, trust me…" I agreed with a little chuckle.
"I like how grounded you´ve remained" she told me, "I´m very proud of you!"
"Thanks, mom" I told her while hugging her smoothly.
"So tell me" I asked her then with a curious smile, "Do you want to keep that old house or do you want a new one? And don't be humble now! You know you deserve it!"
That question made her think for another moment.
"I…I don't know…"
"I never really liked it to be honest" I told her the truth plainly, probably for the first time ever. But I was pretty sure she already knew that.
"It reminds me of your dad" she sighed, "And all the good times we had…"
"Yeah…" I said understandingly.
"…but you´re right, it´s not in the most-pretty spot of town, it´s noisy and the neighbors are really loud. And fighting all the time. And I can´t see the sea anymore since they built another row of houses in front of it…" she listed.
"It´s all up to you" I told her once more, "I just want to make sure you have a good and secure life from now on…"
"That´s so nice of you" she whispered with tears of joy in her eyes.
Now I just noticed how much I really had missed her all these years. It was just like in the old days, just like when I still lived with her. She still was the same lovely lady with the golden heart but the slightly mischievous attitude, and I was glad that never changed.
"So?"
"Oh…I don´t…I don´t know, little Rico" she sighed, "Let me get some shut eyes first, that´s all a little too much for me tonight…"
I nodded understandingly. I could understand how many big developments this night contained for her.
"So that beautiful girl you were dancing with" she asked with a mischievous grin, "Anita was her name?"
"Yeah" I affirmed with a big grin.
"You like her?"
"She´s the love of my life. I´ve gotten to know her before I got famous, and she likes me for just who I am, not because of the fame and the money…"
"I was just about to ask…"
"No, really! I almost lost her because I was such a big thing all over sudden. It almost killed me. You can´t believe how hateful and aggressive people could become because of grief and jealousy…"
She nodded understandingly.
"What about you?" I asked with a curious little smile, "You like her?"
She grinned to that question first of all.
"She seems nice" she chuckled, "And as long as she´s nice to you and your friends…"
"I don't surround myself with people who´re not nice to me and my friends" I chuckled, "You know that."
She nodded with a little grin.
"So…when am I becoming a grandmother?" she asked plainly.
I knew this would come eventually, but I wasn´t sure if I should really tell her this tonight. Now that she asked I had to tell her anyway though.
"Well…" I said, leaving another pause which probably told her everything she needed to know already, "…it´s funny you should mention that…"
"Really?" she asked excitedly, "My little Rico is becoming a father?"
"I…uhm…yeah"
Now she wasn´t to be stopped anymore. She hugged me stormily and wouldn´t release me anymore.
I had mixed feelings about this right now though.
"…but its…it´s a little complicated…"
"How?" she asked, nevertheless in a good spirit.
"You know…I really love all my friends, and so does Anita…and it does get kind of intimate between us quite often…I mean between all of us…"
Now she covered her mouth in shock of hearing it.
"…yeah I know, sounds bad at first…but…"
"I…I mean…I could never have anything about your lifestyle or your choices…" she giggled.
"Nono, hear me out!" I stopped her, "…Anita can´t get pregnant. I mean physically, she´s had a very severe case of endometriosis a few years ago…"
"Oh no" she whispered with sad eyes, "That´s so horrible!"
"Yeah…but she told me about how badly she wanted to have kids…and before we could even ask her about it, my very close friend and roommate Ivonne got pregnant just by accident. She had to take antibiotics and apparently that can have an effect on birth-control…"
"Oh god, you were right, that is complicated…" she chuckled, still quite amused though.
"That´s not even all of it yet" I sighed.
"No?"
"No. As I told you, I do have a lot of sex with and around my friends…it´s just a common thing we really enjoy…"
I couldn´t believe how much she enjoyed listening to this right now. I knew she wasn´t shy of talking about certain topics, it annoyed the hell out of me in my puberty, but I wasn´t expecting her to be this interested.
"What´s so funny?" I asked, because she wouldn´t stop giggling.
"It´s…it´s just…" she grinned, "…I never thought you would be that much of a ´wild-one´ one day…I always imagined you to become a hopeless romantic for some reason…"
"Well…you´d be surprised, that´s for sure…"
"…it does make sense when I remember your dad…he was quite the lover too…" she chuckled with a dirty grin and nudged me a little, "…you must have inherited that from him…"
"Well there´s a thing I really wanted to know…" I sighed ironically, but still in amusement.
"Don´t worry, I´m sure you would do him justice…" she grinned, "…but I´m gonna ask her myself later …"
"I can´t stop you doing that, can I?"
She just nodded with a little chuckle before taking another sip from her bottle.
"…anyway…when I was talking about it getting even more complicated: I was not the only one who´s had sex with Ivonne around that time…" I continued.
"What…so you don´t know who the…"
"We´re pretty sure it´s me" I interrupted her immediately, "…but what is for sure that Ivonne won´t get an abortion. She could never bring it over her heart, and we don't want to force her into it either…"
She just nodded with a warm little smile and put her bottle of beer onto one of the wooden planks of the railing behind me. Then she hugged me again.
"…those guys mean the world to me, I wouldn´t want to live without any of them…" I whispered lowly.
"I´m happy as long as you´re happy. And I´m glad you told me about it, however it comes out in the end."
I wasn´t entirely sure why, but a silent little tear ran down my face right now. I knew my mom would understand it, so I was pretty sure it was a tear of joy in the end.
"Thanks mum" I whispered, "Means a lot me to hear it from you!"
POV Judy
"Have you seen the Capaldis lately?" Nick asked us after coming back from the restrooms, "They´ve been gone since quite a while now…"
Anita and I just shrugged our shoulders.
Most people have left the bar by now. Today was a Sunday and they all had to get to work in the morning, presumably.
"It´s past midnight in the meanwhile" he reminded us then, "And we haven´t even found a hotel yet."
He surely had a point with that.
"Let´s check the backyard" Anita suggested, "They can´t be far away, can they?"
We thought that wasn´t a bad idea, so Nick and I followed her towards the back-door we came in through earlier.
The backyard was empty as well. But Nick and Anita seemed to have spotted something in the darkness shortly afterwards.
"There is a pier over there" Nick pointed out for me, "And there are two foxes on it."
My night vision wasn´t at all good enough to compete with theirs, but I followed them nevertheless.
They were right, the pub was pretty close to the water as it turned out, and the pier on the coastline wasn´t empty either.
We went all the way to the end and got recognized way before we arrived them.
"…speaking of them" Rico told his mom, "There they are."
"Oh hey, guys" Gillian greeted us warmly when we arrived, "I´m very sorry for not introducing myself properly earlier…call me Gill…"
"Oh, don´t worry about it" Anita chuckled, "We didn´t do that either…I´m Anita, so nice to meet you!" she told her while hugging her chummily.
"Very pleased to meet you, mama Capaldi" Nick told her while shaking her paw, "I´m Nick."
She gave him a little smile and a gentle nod and shook my paw as well.
"Judy" I told her warmly, "So nice to finally meet you!"
"You two are the police officers of Zootopia who took down those criminal clans, right?" she asked, "…I must apologize, I was a little overwhelmed earlier…"
"That´s no problem" I comforted her, "…but yeah, that´s us."
"It´s an honor" she said, "Hope you´re not too bored our here in our little town…"
"How could it ever be boring?" I chuckled in amusement, "We had so much fun tonight! The people here are so nice, the music was just awesome and it´s really relaxing to get out of the crowded city for a few days…"
She nodded understandingly.
"So…is it true what Rico told me? About him being a big star? He wasn´t making that up?" she asked with a mischievous grin.
We all nodded in unison. I could understand that she still couldn´t quite believe it, but I liked how she was dealing with it.
"Has he told you about the house he bought already?" Nick asked her.
"He has" she chuckled, "And he has told me about a few other quite interesting things as well…" she added with a dirty grin.
Rico just sighed about this a little. It didn´t seem like he had her under control at all.
It was obvious that Nick wouldn´t miss that chance: "Yeah!" he grinned, "He´s one of the best musicians I´ve ever heard, but apparently, there is something he´s even better at…and I´ve seen him doing that as well…"
Gillian couldn´t hide a grin about that either. She shook Rico´s shoulders with a big grin and Anita really enjoyed that moment as well, because she couldn´t stop herself from giggling either.
"Yeah, yeah…" Rico sighed, "…thanks Nick."
"Not a word of a lie…" Anita grinned, "…I can´t complain actually."
"I´m really proud of you, son" his mum chuckled at him with a wink towards us.
"Yeah, thanks mom…" he sighed ironically, "Glad we brought that up…"
"Well…you can´t just brag with your music all the time…" Nick grinned.
"Looks who´s talking" Rico sighed ironically, "…the SMA…the bedroom-wall poster of every vixen in Zootopia, probably…"
"SMA?" Gillian wanted to know.
"Anyway…" Nick steered away from that topic all over sudden, which made us all grin very widely, "…shouldn´t we talk about a place we could stay for the night? I saw a hotel down the road earlier, but I´m not sure they´ll still let us in…"
"Not very likely" Gillian told us with an unsure expression, "It´s past midnight already…"
"Hm…" Judy thought loudly, "We should have thought about that earlier, shouldn´t we?"
"I…I mean, you could stay at my house for the night" Rico´s mom suggested, "It´s nothing special, but…better than nothing I suppose…"
"Really?" Judy asked gladly, "That´s so kind of you!"
"We really don´t need much" Nick agreed, "We´d be very glad about a spot on a sofa or on the floor even…"
"I think we can arrange that" Gillian chuckled, "But now tell me: what does SMA stand for?"
Now it was Rico who grinned widely. The fact that Nick tried to avoid that topic made her really curious.
"Goddammit" Nick sighed.
"Oh, we have to show you a lot of interesting stuff you can find on the internet about him" I grinned, "You´ll not be disappointed."
Rico still grinned about it contentedly.
"Oh, I can't wait so see it" she grinned, "There must be a reason he´s trying to get away from it…"
"Let´s postpone that to tomorrow, shall we?" Nick chuckled tiredly.
It was pretty clear that we all were a little exhausted from the long trip and the quite eventful night, so we slowly but surely headed back towards the harbor.
We got all our luggage from the room behind the bar and then followed Rico and his mother. After about half a mile down the road, we came to a halt in front of an old, but still quite charming little house. Gillian unlocked the door for us and waved us in.
After a quick tour through the place, she showed us the two couches in the living room. We couldn´t be happier about that right now. That really was all we needed.
"Tomorrow is a big day" Rico told his mum, after she wished us a good night and slowly began walking up the stairs to the first floor, "We have a tight schedule after breakfast…"
"Alright" she chuckled, "I´m excited for what you´ve planned. See you tomorrow. Sleep well!"
There we are. Sorry for the long waiting times. But for the very few of you who are still interested I hope it was worth the wait. Let me know what you think, feedback is always appreciated ;)
See you "soon" ;)
~furr
