Chapter 119: A Winter's Morning Miracle (Part Three: The Holiday Star)


Something precious that was long lost is now found.


The three timberwolves in blue police winter jackets stood at the entry to the city dump and looked over at the red fox in a matching blue coat. Behind them were towering piles upon piles of the city's refuse, and when the wind shifted, the smell of decay was almost overwhelming. "Wilde, are you sure this is where he tossed the knife?" one of the uniformed wolves asked as he crossed his arms in disgust. It was a cold crisp morning, so when he spoke there were white puffs of condensation which appeared before his muzzle. "Do you have any idea how hard it is going to be for us to pick up a scent in this mess?"

"Listen Howlsworth, that is exactly why I picked you three," Nick answered. "You, Barkschi, and Wycie have the best noses on the K-9 team and yes, I know exactly how difficult it is going to be to find that blade. It should smell like blood and at least we haven't had any rain or snow since the murder."

"Just how did you get that idiot to confess?" Barkschi asked as he contemplated with trepidation the seemingly monumental task before them.

"He's a fox!" Wycie sarcastically answered as he pulled on a pair of blue latex gloves. "Old Slick Nick probably talked him into confessing even though he wasn't guilty."

The fox slightly frowned at that comment before he answered, "Matthew Antlerstein killed his childhood friend over a pretty doe who they both were courting. We all know how crazy young bucks can get during this time of year."

"All of that and he just spilled the beans to you during his interrogation?" Howlsworth asked as he cocked his head in surprise. "Didn't he first claim that the murder was a mugging gone wrong?"

"Yep, but the clues said otherwise and so I began talking about the victim. I got him to tell me about all the fun times that they had as children and soon his guilt overwhelmed him. Despite his lawyer's advice, he finally confessed to the stabbing," Nick replied as he pulled his own gloves over his paws and gave them a snap.

"As I said, old Slick Nick strikes again!" Wycie laughed. "So where do we start?"

"Right up here in the dump's front area," Nick answered as he looked at the rusty wire fence which blocked off the entry. "He said that he threw the knife over this fence, so it couldn't have gone too far."

"Well at least he didn't toss it over where they are now dumping!" one of the wolves sighed before he leaned over and began sniffing around, trying to find the deer's trail but it had become too faint to track. Soon all the officers were inside the dump and had their noses to the ground, including Nick.

"Watch it, this area is a bit unstable!" one of the officers called out as he backed away from a small mound of trash, a few cans and an old cast iron sink shifted slightly and fell down with a clatter. The fox dodged the avalanche of junk, only to trip and then fall backward. More of the slope suddenly gave away and went crashing down upon him.

"Wilde!" Wycie cried out as he stumbled towards where the half-buried fox was sprawled. "Wilde, are you okay?" Desperately they pulled a few old rotting bags of house trash from above the fallen detective. Gripping his brownish-red paw and pulling him free, Nick was covered with grimy trash and spluttering, but in his other paw was a knife covered with dried blood.

"You actually found it?" Howlsworth barked out in surprise.

Nick handed the knife to one of the officers, who slipped the blade into an evidence bag, and then he shook himself. As he did so, something caught his eye and he leaned over to pick up a weather-beaten wooden box. His eyes narrowed in surprise when he saw that it had once been engraved with a fancy capital "R" which still had a few faint traces of gold paint in the letter's groves.

"What do you have there?" Barkschi called out.

"I'm not sure," Nick softly answered, more to himself than he did to the others, as he gently opened the box. Inside was a rotted purple cloth, which fell apart as he pulled it back, and he saw that underneath there was a ragged tinsel star. "It can't be…can it?" he muttered when he removed the star and held it up in the sunlight.

"That looks like some ratty old holiday decoration which someone threw away years ago!" Wycie scoffed while the timber wolf carefully walked towards the nearby gravel road.

"It looks more like a winter's morning miracle!" Nick said as he gently returned the star to its box and tucked the newly found treasure under his arm. "Something precious that was lost, but now has been found. Only the gods know how?"


A few days later, an elderly possum in a faded red checkered flannel shirt squinted at the box which the red fox had laid upon the table in front of him. All around the light gray furred shop owner were dusty shelves full of merchandise for sale. Most of it had been pawned years ago by some poor soul desperately needing a few quick bucks for some reason and afterward, the goods were never reclaimed. The building around him had once been a gasoline station, but it was now a pawn shop with a large sign which read Big Bob's Pawn and Gifts hung outside. The townsfolk called the rather trashy looking establishment, and its owner, as both being eccentric. However, the locals also knew that if you needed something unique. the old possum could usually find it for you.

"Yep, that is Richard Runnel's work," Bob softly said as he ran his calloused paw over the weather-worn box. "Nick, I can remember getting that mahogany box for him years ago, just after both his wife and youngest son died in childbirth. The poor guy was still grieving and had found himself suddenly being a single father with a newborn child. My daughter used to babysit little Jake when Richard was working, sometimes she would set his crib up in the back of the store."

Nick watched while Big Bob gently opened the damaged box and carefully removed the old tinsel star from within. "Rick sat at that table over there and carefully carved out the letter "R" on the top of this box and then painted it gold inside the grooves. He told me that it was going to be used to store the only holiday decoration that he and his late wife kept every year. Heck, you know how those raccoons are when it comes to decorating for the holidays? They always used to fill their Winter's Eve tree branches with candies, strings of popcorn, and paper ornaments, not like everyone does nowadays with all the fancy plastic stuff. This star belonged to her and I think she got it from her grandmother?"

"So, you are positive that this once belong to Jake's father?" Nick softly asked.

"Yep, how the hell did you ever find it?" the possum asked as he set the star down. "I figured it got trashed when they tossed Jake out onto the streets."

"I just stumbled upon it," the fox answered as he carefully placed the star into the worn box.

"You should give it to Jake as a Winter's Eve gift," Bob said with a devious looking grin. "In fact, I know just the box to put it inside of instead of wrapping it in some holiday paper."

Nick watched as the old possum limped into the back of the building and after a few minutes, there were the muffled sounds of a few choice curses. Finally, Big Bob returned with an ancient-looking black iron strongbox with gold plating in his paws. "There is a key to this box, but you know how Jake is always boasting that he can pick any lock? This one should give him a bit of a challenge, so why don't you put the star inside of it?"

The fox just couldn't help but laugh while he pulled out his wallet.


It was the late morning of the Winter Solstice and Jake gave a toothy yawn as he opened the door to let the fox and rabbit standing outside into the house. "It sure looks like everyone had a busy morning," Nick chuckled as he looked at all the torn wrapping paper littering the floor around the tall, but prettily decorated artificial fir tree.

"Uncle Nick! Aunt Judy!" Freddie called out as he ran to hug the red fox and then the gray bunny. "I want you to see the guitar that Santa Paws brought me!"

"Hey Uncle Nick, hey Aunt Judy," Nicky called out from the kitchen as the young raccoon poured himself yet another glass of egg nog.

"What, no hugs this morning?" Judy answered as she tapped her right footpaw in pretend agitation.

"Aw come on, I'm getting too old for that!" the raccoon kit halfheartedly protested as he stepped into the rabbit's arms and let her hug him.

"You are never too old for me to hug you!" Judy said as she reached over and rubbed his ears, but you are getting taller than me."

"Hey, where is my hug?" Nick demanded as Nicky wormed his way out of Judy's embrace.

"Uncle Nick!" the young raccoon whined when the fox quickly lunged over and covered him in his arms. "Guys don't hug!"

"Just keep telling yourself that squirt!" Nick chuckled before he kissed the squirming raccoon on the top of his head.

Freddie followed his brother out of the room. "Why can't guys hug?" he asked Nicky.

"Because it's girly."

"No, it is not!"

"Yes, it is."

"I hug Cheri all the time."

"She's a girl!"

"So, I still hug her."

"You are such a dork!"

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are!"

"So how was your night?" Jake asked as he gave first Judy a hug and then he gripped Nick's paw to shake it. "I hope it was a nice quiet Winter's Eve at the station."

"I was bored and sat around filling out paperwork while chewing on candy canes," Nick answered the raccoon's question while they both watched the two bickering boys leave the room. "Thank the gods there were no real crimes which needed a detective."

"Same here," Judy said as she gave Marie a hug. "Just the usual, a few domestic disturbance calls and a couple of drunk drivers. The normal stuff we cops deal with on most nights."

"So I see y'all come bearing more presents?" Marie said as she pulled a platter of sandwiches out of the refrigerator. "I'd offer you lunch first before we open anything, but the boys are eying those packages."

"It's not as if they haven't gotten more than their fair share, they can wait!" Jake laughed out as he waved Nick over to the bar in the billiards room. "Come on over and I will make you a warm cranberry toddy to help banish the winter chill from your bones."

A few hours later, after they had nibbled on some lunch, the raccoons, fox, and bunny sat back down in the den to open their presents next to the holiday tree. The eight-foot-tall artificial tree mimicked a real Noble fir and was prelit with sparkling white lights, it was further decorated with shiny plastic ornaments. However, following raccoon tradition, there were a few homemade construction paper chains hanging from the branches and several snowflakes cut from white paper tucked in the tree's fake boughs. At the tree's very top was a fancy illuminated plastic angel mouse, but Nick remembered years ago when Jake first got the tree that the raccoon had said that he could never find "the right star to put on the top" and so he had settled for the angel instead. For some reason, as pretty as it was, the angel just never looked right atop this particular tree.

Jake looked over at Nick as he held up the gift that the fox had handed him. "So, there is no key for the box?" he asked as he held the antique strongbox's lock toward the light.

"Of course I have the key," Nick snickered back with a grin. "I just wanted to see if you can still open any lock like you always used to boast."

"A challenge!" the raccoon laughed in anticipation as he looked closer at the lock.

"Hey Pop, do you need your tools?" Nicky asked.

"Nope!" Jake replied as he inserted a claw into the lock and after a few moments, the lock clicked open. "This was no more complicated than a pair of standard issued police pawcuffs."

"The picking of a pair of pawcuffs is another fine and wholesome skill which you have taught both of our sons to do, Sugar!" Marie sarcastically drawled out. "Thank the gods that they never had to use it."

The older raccoon just rolled his eyes at her comments before he opened the box and pulled out a few wads of green and red colored tissue paper to reveal an old weathered wooden box inside. He hesitated as he just stared in surprise at the familiar box. "This can't…" Jake whispered softly when with trembling paws, he slowly reached inside to remove the box. "There is no way!"

"What is it, Poppa?" Freddie asked as he set his guitar down and walked over to peek over his father's shoulder.

There were tears in the older raccoon's eyes as he gently opened the box and lifted out the old tinsel star inside. "It was something precious which was lost long ago and now has been found," Jake answered with a sniffle. "But, but how?" He looked up at Nick who was sitting on the sofa next to Judy. "How?"

"What is that, Sugar?" Marie asked as she walked over and put her paw on her husband's shoulder.

"My mother's Winter's Eve tree star," Jake sniffled again as he reverently held the old ornament in his lap. "It was one of the few things my father kept that belonged to her and it disappeared when I was evicted from the apartment after his death." Standing up, he turned towards Nick and asked, "How did you ever find it?"

"We foxes do have our ways," Nick softly chuckled while he hugged his best friend in his arms.

"See, guys can hug," Freddie said to Nicky. The other young raccoon just rolled his eyes in reply, for he would never admit that his brother was right.


Watching from a nearby room, invisible to any mortal's sight, stood a tall raccoon. He had a long strand of beads and feathers hanging from his left ear and he was dressed in a simple loincloth. The black "bandit's mask" almost looked as if it had been burned into the fur around his eyes. "Azeban, what game are you playing now?" a handsome coyote, who was similarly dressed, asked as he stood next to the raccoon. "I know that you didn't have anything to do with the murder, but you used your powers to compel that murderer to drive all the way to the city dump just to throw away the knife so the fox can find that trinket?"

"He may be your Thief, Apesi," the First Raccoon answered the coyote. "But, he is still one of my children and you promised your Thief a reward."

"Look around, I gave him his reward, what he desired most…a family. He has a loving wife and two children. He even has a best friend who is like a brother to him," the First Coyote replied as he pointed toward the fox.

"But he still needs something to bind himself to his past ancestors. You, of all the Creator's children, should know how important that is! After all, every year your children gather at Howler's Mountain to howl to their loved ones who have passed over the Great River, and then they tell the tales of those departed kinfolk and the legends of their packs and tribes."

"You've always had a soft heart for that raccoon," Apesi chuckled as he watched while Nick helped Jake set up a small ladder and then hold it while the raccoon climbed up so he could replace the angel with the tinsel star. "But you can't fool me with that story about ancestors, I know you are just trying to appease the ghost of that other raccoon who still refuses to cross over the Great River and to the Other Side!"

"Ezekiel can be rather annoying," the First Raccoon admitted.

"Come on cousin, let us go a-wassailling like in that old song!" Apesi proclaimed as he heartily slapped the raccoon on his back.

"Who even makes a bowl of wassail anymore?" Azeban asked before the two godlings disappeared leaving Jake, Nick, Marie, Judy, Nicky, and Freddie to their holiday celebrations.

High above the raccoon, his family, and his best friends, the once lost old tinsel star on the top of the tree seemed to be shining a tad bit brighter than ever before. It was as if it had always belonged there, which it did, for Jake's mother's star had finally returned home.