Chapter 121: Winter Tales
Winter has returned to the metropolis of Zootopia.
A Winter's Morning
With a toothy yawn, the thin raccoon in the burgundy and white checkered flannel pajamas reached over and pulled on his thick velour bathrobe while he slowly padded his way across the bedroom's polished wooden floorboards towards one of the nearby windows. He scratched a slight itch under his left ear before he finally reached over and pushed aside the dark blue curtains so he could peer outside. Beyond the silvery frost encrusted glass panes, he could see the dark gray clouds which hung low in the sky overhead and he frowned while he watched several big wet-looking flakes of snow as they lazily floated down from the heavens above to join those which were already covering the ground outside in a deep wintery blanket of fluffy white.
The raccoon's ears twitched when he heard the rumbling, thumping, and scraping of one of the city's large yellow snowplows as it attempted to clear the icy street in front of his restored Victorian home. Pulling his robe even tighter around his neck, he gave a little shudder as if he was chilled even in the warmth of his home, and then his gaze momentarily turned toward a nearby tree. The old maple tree's stark brown branches were reaching upwards towards the gray heavens above and they seemed devoid of life, but the watcher at the window knew that at the tips of the branches were small buds promising life once again when spring finally returned.
A cardinal fluttered through the air, its scarlet red plumage was a welcomed sight against the dreary-looking world outside of the window. The colorful bird momentarily landed on one of the tree's barren branches and the raccoon watched with amusement while its head bobbed around slightly as if it was seeking refuge from the frigid wet snow. Suddenly with a flurry of flapping wings, the small visitor soared around the side of the house and out of sight.
It looked bitterly cold outside, which it was.
"Sugar, I can't see the clock, can you please tell me the time?" a muffled voice called out from under a pile of thick wool blankets and a large goose down stuffed comforter. The female raccoon's cute muzzle was poking out and it was all that her husband could see of her, for she had burrowed herself deep into their comfortable warmth.
"It's wintertime!" Jake joked even as he quickly fled across the room, dropping his robe into a heap upon the floor, before he slipped back into the bed to join her in their cozy makeshift den.
Song of the Snowfox
The slivery white curst of snow gave a crunching noise beneath his footpaws while the raccoon in the fashionable black wool pea coat trod his way towards the old Victorian house's backdoor and with a shudder, Jake pulled his scarf tighter around his neck in an attempt to banish the bitter cold. Before he could reach for the doorknob, he hesitated when he heard the sounds of children joyfully laughing and he realized that it was coming from the nearby side yard. Parental curiosity quickly overcame the raccoon's earnest endeavor to flee into the warmth of his home's kitchen and his plans for a piping hot mug of honeybush tea. After giving a long sigh of resignation, he trekked his way towards the nearby sounds of merriment.
Where once a pristine blanket of snow had previously existed, there were now the beaten tracks left by two young raccoons in their heavy ski jackets and those of their friends showing that they had stomped through it, along with long grooves where the snow had been tightly rolled up into three huge balls of varying size. These balls had been stacked one atop of the other to make a snowmammal with pointy ears and a snowy muzzle which also came to a slight point. Jake smiled because it was crudely shaped like a fox, although it lacked the long fluffy tail.
Snapping on his dark sunglasses against the reflective glare of the sunlight upon the snow, Jake watched as Freddie gripped Cheri's paws and began to sing a familiar song. Much to his surprise, his oldest son Nicky and the young raccoon's coyote friend Billy joined in on the impromptu dance around their snowy creation while they joined in singing,
"Do you want to build a snowfox?
Come on, let's go and play
I never see you anymore..."
With a disbelieving shake of his head, the older raccoon silently slipped back into the house's shadow while he watched. Jake realized that despite getting older and their being on the very cusp of becoming teens, that there still was plenty of time left for these young animals to enjoy the wonderment and excitement of childhood for at least a few more seasons of magical wintery days.
Look Out Below
"Hey!" the raccoon objected as he dodged the white sphere of compacted snow which had shot past his right ear.
"I almost got you!" the fox in the lime green winter jacket laughed as he leaned over to grab yet another pawful of snow to compact in another snowball.
"Nick, do you really want to challenge me in a snowball fight?" Jake called back to his best friend.
"Just don't go crying to your wife when you lose, coon!" came the fox's answer.
"Oh, I won't be the one crying!" the raccoon yelled as he too scooped up a pawful of the snow. The lanky fox easily dodged Jake's throw, but not the surprised bunny who had stepped out of the house at the wrong moment. With a splat, the snowball smacked into the chest of the uniformed rabbit doe.
"Jake Runnel!" Judy hollered as she glared over at the raccoon, who was glancing around for someplace to hide.
"It wasn't my fault!" Jake whined out. "Nick should not have moved."
"Coon, are you saying that it was my fault for dodging your wimpy throw?" Nick snickered at first until he saw the look his wife was giving him. The fox's ears drooped and his tail curled under his snow-covered footpaws when he saw the very large snowball which was now in her paws. He didn't have time to move or defend himself and soon he was sputtering out a few choice curse words while spitting snow from where the cold missile had smacked him in his muzzle.
"Now it's your turn!" Judy called out as she sprinted across the icy yard after the fleeing raccoon and soon she had chased Jake into his own backyard and had the raccoon cornered against his teahouse's wall.
"Wait! Wait!" Jake pleaded as he held both his paws out in surrender. But the bunny's toss went too high to hit the cowering raccoon. "You missed?" he muttered in surprise as he stepped slightly forward away from the wall.
"I wasn't aiming at you," Judy smugly answered as she glanced from the raccoon and upwards over his head.
"Then, who were…?" Jake began to ask as he looked up and before he could finish his words, his eyes widened in shock as what appeared to be a sheet of white began to tumble down onto the raccoon's head and shoulders. The rabbit's aim was perfect enough to dislodge the piled snow upon the teahouse's tiled roof and cause a small avalanche upon her unsuspecting victim.
"I learned that from the movie we all watched together this past Friday during our weekly pizza and a movie," Judy smugly said to the snow-encrusted raccoon. "I figured if the heroine could use her rocket to bring down the side of a snowy mountain upon the bad guys, I could do the same with my snowball."
"I've been done in by a Disney cartoon," Jake softly complained as he shook the snow off of himself.
