Chapter 101: A Conversation
Two friends are just having a conversation about life and children.
The Fox Den Bar was far from being one of the city's most prestigious drinking establishments and just finding the staircase, which was located behind a seemingly forlorn and abandoned storefront in a somewhat rundown neighborhood, was something that only a few of the citizens living in the large metropolis of Zootopia knew about and most of them were foxes. Once down the water-stained stairs and behind an unmarked stout wooden door, was a pleasantly painted dark green room which had a long richly polished mahogany bar along one wall and plenty of secluded booths for its patrons running along the other wall. When the door creaked opened the room became almost deathly quiet while reddish-orange, gray, brown, white, and tan furred faces turned to see who was entering. Once they realized who it was, their talking and laughing resumed back to normal. The former thief who had entered may not have been a fox, but many of the patrons knew who he was and that he had friends amongst their species.
"Geeze Runnel, you look frazzled," the small big-eared tan furred fox in a black bowling shirt said in a surprisingly deep voice as he looked over at the raccoon who had climbed up into the barstool next to his. "Have you been having a bad day?" The raccoon had pulled loose his tie, released the top button of his white dress shirt, and he had draped his dark gray pinstripe suit jacket over the back of the stool.
"Well Finnick, it all started when I tried to get Nicky to pick up his bedroom before I left the house this morning and I'm fairly sure he still hasn't," Jake answered as he waved for the bartender. "You know how it is with kits? It was one percent cleaning, forty percent complaining, and fifty-nine percent playing with the stuff he just found."
"Is Freddie the same way?"
"No, that little guy is very particular about where everything goes. He even picks up after Cheri when she comes over to play."
"They say that being a parent can be stressful sometimes."
"Let's just put it this way," Jake continued after he ordered his drink. "Before I had kits, I didn't know you could ruin someone's life by just saying 'brush your teeth and go to bed'?"
The small fox chuckled.
"I used to do cool things when I was single and now I just find myself arguing with a smaller version of myself about flushing the toilet and washing your paws."
More laughter came from the fox.
"You should know that the quickest way to get either one of those boy's attention is to sit down and look comfortable."
"Are they doing okay in school?"
"I don't think that either one of them is going to be a scholar. Shoot, I even offered to pay them twenty bucks for every A that they got on their report card and it hasn't cost me a dime yet."
The fox just laughed again.
"Sorry Finn, I didn't mean to unload on you like this," Jake finally sighed out. "You know that I really do love those two boys more than my own life."
"Yeah, no problem Runnel," the small fox said with a grin. "I'll listen as long as you keep buying the drinks. Besides, it's good to hear that someone is being a real father to his boys, not like my father."
"What happened to your dad?"
"He told me that he was going out for some smokes and beer, but he never came back."
"Sorry to hear that."
"We were better off without him, he was an unemployed deadbeat," the small fox said with a shrug of his shoulders.
"I don't think I have ever heard your talk about your mother?" Jake said before he took a sip of his drink.
"Oh, my mom went with him."
"She did not!" the raccoon scoffed and then he hesitated. "Did she?"
"Naw, she died when I was sixteen," Finnick answered. "She was killed in a car accident and that's how I ended up on the streets."
"I know the feeling, my pop was killed by a drunk driver and that's how I ended up living in one of the flophouses on River Street."
"Well, you didn't turn out too bad. You did your time, bounced back, cleaned yourself up, and now you got your own business and money. Me, I stayed being just another street hustling fox."
"Don't act so pathetic," Jake chuckled. "You saved Nick from doing something stupid and having someone on the streets killing him or starving himself to death after that idiot ran away from home."
"Yeah, the kit turned out okay. Still, I would have never have guessed he would have become a cop?"
"We can thank Judy for that."
"Cottontail did save his mangy hide."
"Yes she did and I've heard that she is now being considered as a captain over at the Sixth."
"Well, she is the department's little golden bunny."
"Judy is good at what she does. She is inspiring, capable, determined, and dedicated."
"Yeah, both the brass and the press love her," Finn added before he took another gulp from his mug.
"I'm sure that does help," Jake said with a smile as he reached for a bowl of turkey flavored kibble.
"Red must be a little jealous about that. He knows that he is going to be stuck as a detective for the remainder of his career and watching his wife keep moving on up has to be hard."
"Nick is talented, maybe one day…"
"Naw," Finnick cut him off. "Nick is one of us and they ain't gonna let a fox become much more than he already is, in fact, he'd still be a beat cop if it hadn't been for Bogo. Besides, his big mouth gets in the way. That oversized pup has never learned to shut up when he should."
"Have you ever thought about finding a study job? I mean times have changed and a lot more places are hiring foxes."
"I'm sixteen years older than you, so I'm just counting down the years towards retirement. Besides, I like to work only when I want to."
"You've not that old and you've still got a really, really long time before you can retire."
"I know, but can't a fox dream?" Finn replied with a shrug. "Do you ever think about what you will do when you retire?"
"Oh after this morning I have only one goal in mind," Jake proclaimed with an almost sinister grin while he rubbed his paws together as if in anticipation about doing something he knew he shouldn't.
"What's that?"
"That once the boys grow up, I'm going to go to their houses to break their stuff, eat all of their food, make a huge mess for them to pick up, and then I going to stand around complaining that I'm bored."
"That's evil coon!" the small fox laughed.
