Chapter 123: Dream a Little Dream of Me
Jake tells Nick about one of his dreams.
"Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you -
Sweet dreams that leave all worries far behind you.
But in your dreams, whatever they be,
Dream a little dream of me."
Song lyrics by Gus Kahn.
"As usual, I was dressed in my black pullover shirt and black pants while I slowly crept through the cold metal ductwork, sometimes having to shimmy my way past a tight spot or two. The whole time I was crawling, something was nagging at the back of my mind and finally, I realized that I could not remember how I got there! I also just knew that I had to find whatever it was that I was so desperately seeking so I continued my silent trek. My ears flattened and I paused when I heard voices below me, someone was talking about signing a contract for a role in a movie and it dawned on me that I must have been inside of a film studio.
Still confused, I quietly continued to move towards my goal and finally paused at a small air duct grate cover. Pulling a small device from inside of my tool kit, I extended the silvery telescopic arm and slipped it through one of the grates. It was a small periscope which I used to look into the room before I was fully satisfied that no one was inside. Twisting slightly, I then pulled out a small saw and began to slice the screws which held the cover in place. Carefully I lifted the grate off and set it aside before I finally squeezed out of the opening and dropped to the carpeted floor below.
It was daytime, I usually never break into a place during the day because it is too dangerous. The room before me was a humble office, with a large wooden desk and a few chairs. Along the walls were framed paintings and drawing, along with a bookcase. The office must have belonged to an artist for there was a drawing table with several sketches haphazardly strewn about. Pulling out a shim, I carefully pried open one of the desk drawers and saw several files inside. Quickly, almost frantically, I began to dig around and found the file that I knew I was looking for, pausing once again to listen for anyone nearby. Satisfied that I was alone, I opened the file and was surprised to find inside there were even more sketches, but these were of someone I knew very well. "What the hell?" I remember saying as I picked up a drawing of a uniformed rabbit that I knew was Judy, and behind it were several sketches of other animals that I also recognized, including Chief Bogo.
I paused when I saw a copy of a movie script inside and wrinkled my nose in confusion when I read the title…"
"Wait coon, were there any drawings of me in that file?" a lanky fox interrupted as he pulled a sack of bread crumbs from the pocket of his tacky lime-green ski jacket. The sight of the sack in the fox's paws set off a chorus of quacks as the white ducks in the pond below began to swim excitedly across the cold water towards the bridge in anticipation of being fed. "Surely if there were drawings of Carrots, there had to be some of me."
The raccoon in the fashionable black wool pea coat crossed his arms while he gave a slight shiver from the cold breeze which blew across the small park around them. The sun was shining in the clear blue sky and shadows from the nearby trees and tall buildings darkened the snow-covered ground. The busy and rhythmic sounds of traffic were almost soothing to the two animals who grew up in the city. "Really Nick, just what would make you think that I dream about your ugly mug all the time?" Jake finally huffed out.
"Aw, are you saying you don't love me anymore?" Nick teased as he flicked a morsel of bread at Jake.
"Stuff it fluff butt!" Jake snickered as he kicked at the fox's tail, which flicked away before his footpaw could connect. "Do you want to hear about my dream or not?"
"I liked that dream about you and Meredith in a bathtub full of whipped cream better."
"Hey, that wasn't a dream and I was young and single when we tried that! Besides, it was rather gross and sticky. I should never have told you about us doing that!"
"Sure, coon."
"As I said, this dream was really strange," the raccoon continued as he watched while the fox began to toss chunks of bread to the ducks below.
"What could be stranger than not having sketches of me in the file?"
"Shut up, fox! Do you want to hear about the dream or not?"
"Okay, don't get all uptight! So, whose office were you in?"
"All I remember was that it belonged to some guy named Bill…Bubba…no, it was Byron. After a few moments, I found the file and opened it up."
"So what was the title of the movie?"
"It was the script for a movie about this city!"
"So what, they have made plenty of movies about this city? What was so special about this script?"
"Well, for one thing, you and Judy were the main characters…" Jake began and then he frowned when he saw the fox's smirk.
"So you did dream about me and you lied earlier!" Nick laughed with one of his infamous gotcha grins.
"Shut up, fox!"
The fox kept grinning at the raccoon who rolled his eyes before he continued, "So there I was in this office, which looked very normal. It was then that I realize that something odd was going on."
"Let me guess, there were no drawings of Clawhauser?"
"No, I looked down at my arms and realized that I was a 3D computer-animated cartoon character!"
"You've always been a little cartoonish to me!"
"So there I am standing with the file in my paws panicking because I was a cartoon character..."
"Wait! Have you been eating pickled herring, raw onion, and Limburger cheese, with ketchup on rye bread again? You should have remembered that it gave you bad dreams before Halloween," Nick asked in an accusatory tone as he pointed at his best friend.
"No," Jake defensively answered. "Okay, we were out of rye bread and so I ate it with pumpernickel."
"Well, that is proof that raccoons will eat anything."
"Har…har…not funny, fox!"
"So what was the name of this movie?"
"Zootopia 2."
"Huh, I don't recall any movie called Zootopia, so why would they make a sequel?"
"It was a dream, Nick. But, they should make a movie about when you and Judy first met and how you two solved both the Missing Mammals Case and the Night Howlers Case. Maybe they could call that movie Zootopia?"
"That would be a dumb name for a movie. I think 'How Nick Saved the World' would be a better title."
"They could always call it 'Hoops and Wilde', kind of like that old movie 'Tango and Cash'."
"Even better, they could call it 'WildeHopps'!" Nick chuckled as he tossed the last of the crumbs to the ducks below. "That sounds so much more dramatic."
"Do you always have to get top billing?" Jake scoffed as he lightly punched the fox on his arm. "What would Judy have to say about that?"
"Fluff, wouldn't object," the fox replied and then he noticed the raccoon's disbelieving look.
"I think they should make a movie about how a dashing, handsome, and somewhat rogue of a thief of a raccoon saves the city, along with you and Judy," Jake proclaimed. "So I wrote a short note about my idea and left it on the desk."
"Then what?"
"I woke up."
In another reality, a well-known film screenwriter, animator, director, story artist, voice actor, and producer picked up a discarded file that had been left upon his desk and wondered how it got there. It was then that he realized whoever had broken into his office had left a note. Picking it up, he read the scribbles before he looked at someone standing in the doorway. "Hey, Rich, did you leave this note about wanting to add a raccoon into the story?"
"No, why would we do that?"
"Huh, there is a note on my desk and whoever wrote it suggests we add a dashing raccoon thief who helps Nick and Judy save the city."
"A raccoon thief and a fox cop? That has already been done with Sly Cooper and Carmelita Montoya Fox."
"Oh yeah!" The human named Byron crumpled up the note and tossed it in the garbage bin.
So there we have it, Jake is the reason why the sequel is taking so long! At least there has been some recent good news that Disney is apparently going forward with a project they call Zootopia+.
