Completely unaware that his whole reason for coming to Bunnyburrow had been so close and yet had slipped right past him, Nick stepped away from Gideon and pinched his nose, then shook as much flour off of him as he could. After creating a cloud of flour for his efforts, he then took a hurried step away and breathed deeply. He had stopped coughing, but a few more sneezes escaped him.
"Hey!?" Travis questioned as he scurried through the back door to see what had happened. "Are you two alright?" Wringing his paws, Travis looked the two white foxes over and couldn't help but think they might have found their costume for Halloween—the Twin Ghosts of Bunnyburrow.
Legend had it that about a 100 years ago, two brothers, after hearing that lightening had set fire to their family home and trapped many of their siblings inside, were racing home in a violent thunderstorm and lost control of their Model T near a ravine. The brothers never arrived home and their Model T was found a tangled heap of metal at the bottom of the ravine the next day, with the brothers' bloody and broken bodies still trapped inside. Ever since then, mammals claimed that whenever a violent thunderstorm raged through Bunnyburrow, that the brothers could still be seen haunting the highway near the ravine, unable to find their way back home.
Of course, after the story had been told so many times over the years, the exact species of the brothers had been was lost to history, as some mammals claimed they'd seen a pair of ghostly rabbit bucks haunting the highway, while others claimed it was a couple of rams appearing in the pouring rain. Still others claimed it was a couple of coyotes moving through the wind-lashed trees lining the road. Travis personally thought it was a pair of foxes, as they were extremely loyal to their family and wouldn't be scared off by the raging thunderstorm (like the rabbit and sheep were, and the coyotes living in town were a more recent addition).
Nick waved his paw dismissively at the helpful ferret, even as Gideon said, "Yeah, Travis, we'll be okay. The flour just got away from us."
"Sorry about that," Nick spoke up. "My fingers were resting near the power switch on the mixer when the dishes fell, and my paw jerked." They were mixing up some cake batter in the large, industrial-sized mixer and Nick was helping Gideon pour in the flour when gravity got the best of a stack metal mixing bowls that were waiting to be washed. The sudden loud noise, startled Nick and his paw jerked which knocked the power switch to high and sent the powdery flour flying everywhere.
Waving his paw, Gideon said, "Don't worry about it. I, I can't recall how often I, I coated myself in flour when I, I was learnin'."
Nick nodded even as he sneezed again. Stepping farther away from Gideon, Nick shook himself off a second time, and then had to quickly escape the second cloud of flour he'd shook up. Coughing again, Nick looked over to see Travis had run in and grabbed a couple of hand towels to help brush the flour off.
Seeing Nick look up, Travis waved his paw for Nick to move back over towards him and Gideon so he could help brush him off, too (he was already dusting Gideon off).
Nick stepped over and Travis dusted him off with the towel in one paw while continuing to brush Gideon off with the towel in the other paw. After getting the worst of the flour off with the towels, Nick made a suggestion. "Travis, why don't you go get that big fan I saw in the storage room. We can use it to blow the rest of the flour off." Nick wanted to get as much flour off as he could before hitting the shower. If he knew nothing else about baking, it was that flour and water made a very sticky mess. He used this knowledge in middle school to get back at the kits that muzzled him in elementary school.
By then, Stan (the woodchuck in charge of muzzling him all those years ago), and his little posse of delinquents had shaped up to be quite the bullies, and not just to foxes or other predators. A lot of the smaller prey mammals were picked on by them, too. And it wasn't just the woodchuck and his minions at his middle school who were bullies. There was also a gang of predators that picked on a lot of the 'weaker' mammals, prey and predator alike. They and the woodchuck's gang were always getting into arguments, and sometimes event fights, though the fights were rare and only happened off school grounds (they had their school image to maintain if they wanted to continue bullying and getting away with it—lying to the teachers was too easy for them as they had long-since perfected their innocent act).
At any rate, Nick used the two's grudge to get back at his woodchuck arch-nemesis (at least that's how it felt when he was in elementary and middle school) and his hateful gang of prey ruffians without getting caught (his actions were blamed on the rival predator gang of bullies).
Towards the end of his 6th grade year, Nick had snuck into the boys' locker room while Stan and company were outside during gym class (Nick was playing hooky during his history class—they were discussing prey history and he wasn't interested) and rigged it so that when Stan and his gang came in from gym and hit the showers (they always took the showers first and made everyone else wait), that a large bag of flour opened up and dumped on all of them. It was a hilariously sticky mess.
Stan and the others started yelling and screaming their heads off as they jumped out of the shower. While trying to get the gooey white stuff off, they ended up smearing it even worse into their fur and caking it on their paws and ruining several towels.
Nick was laughing his head off with his paws clamped over his muzzle to keep the noise down. If Stan and his cohorts hadn't been yelling so loud (and a lot of the other mammals snickering behind their backs), Nick would have been found out a couple of times when his laughter broke free. Luckily, he wasn't in their gym class, so no one suspected him. Instead, he was hiding in the locker they thought it was fun to stuff him in (they'd never think to look for the culprit in here) while enjoying every minute of Stan's outraged misery.
And to ensure no one suspected him, he left some flour on the handle of the locker of one of the rival predator's lockers and flour on the bottom edge of one of the other predator bully's lockers, along with some very convincing feline paw prints made from the flour (there was this serval cat that was extremely loud in her threats to Stan and his gang if they continued crossing her, along with an African golden cat who went out of his way 'bump' into Stan's gang—usually when a teacher was around so Stan couldn't retaliate). The rest of the predators in the gang were made up of a couple of African wild dogs, a dingo, and three meerkats, with a hyena named Vincent as their ringleader.
As it was, Lee, (Stan's zebra cohort), finally suggested they hop back in the showers and rinse the goo off (which at first only made it worse), but they eventually got most of it off. Once they came out and discovered the flour at their rivals' lockers, they hunted them down and started a big fight and all of them were suspended. And with their true characters exposed to the teachers and the principle, they could no longer get away with bullying the other kits and playing their innocent act and getting away with it.
Nick had felt quite proud of himself that day as he not only avenged himself, but also many of the other kits who were bullied by both gangs. And getting back at Stan and Lee and the others helped him move past the whole muzzling incident to some degree. He still hated muzzles, but now when he saw one, he remembered Stan's outraged face and the sticky gooey mess he had become and then the muzzle didn't seem so bad anymore.
Travis perked up at hearing Nick's suggestion. With a wide grin, he said, "Not a bad idea. Why didn't I think of that?" Spinning around, he disappeared back into the bakery.
Glancing over at Nick, Gideon said, "Well, that's a right-smart idea, Nick. I, I would never have thought of it myself."
Nick merely shrugged. "When you live in the city, you learn to improvise and use what you got to solve problems."
Gideon nodded. "I guess so. Me—I, I never had to do much. Never had to think much either." As his gaze dropped to the ground, he murmured sadly, "My pa wasn't around much when I, I was younger. He worked out of town a lot." With a heavy sigh and a slump in his tail, he added, "I wish he'd been home more so he, he could teach me stuff. I, I really missed that. It made me real jealous sometimes to hear the other kits talkin' about their dads and what they did together."
Nodding as he understood how Gideon felt seeing as his own dad was gone a lot before he was falsely accused and jailed, Nick chose to remain silent. He, too, had felt jealous of many of the other kits after his dad lost his business and had to work out of town. But Nick didn't feel like bringing up more of the sad past, so instead, he simply rubbed his paw back and forth through his head fur to dislodge more of the flour.
After a few moments, Nick glanced over at his new friend who was patting flour off of his clothes. Hearing that Gideon's dad hadn't been able to teach him anything helped Nick understand his fellow fox a bit better, for it was obvious Gideon wasn't the sharpest tool in shed. He was an awesome baker but didn't seem too bright in other areas. But regardless, Nick wouldn't trade him as a friend for anything because when it came to foxes, finding a real friend was a difficult task. This fact was more so for him, as he came from a harsh environment like Zootopia where a lot of mammals thought it was their right to step all over foxes and kick them while they were down.
That's why Judy's words hurt so much. He thought he'd found a real friend in her, and then to hear such specist words coming out her mouth—and then not only seeing, but smelling her fear back at the press conference when bared his teeth and claws at her—it felt like she'd gouged his heart out with a spoon. But now, knowing what Gideon had done to her all those years ago, Nick would give anything to go back and change that one pivotal moment in time. He wouldn't have scared her, and he certainly wouldn't have disappeared from her life. He might have left to cool his head, but he would have met back up with her and discussed what happened and let her explain herself. But the past couldn't be changed. All he could do was work at changing the future. With a shake of his head, he tried to push the dark memory back down.
Still thinking of the past, Gideon shook his head and added, "My ma always said I, I was born too early and came out before my brains were done cookin'." With a half-smile, he continued, "My ma would always give me a hug and a kiss after tellin' me this, saying that it didn't matter. I was her gift from God and she wasn't tradin' me for nothin'." Gideon's smile slipped a bit as he added, "My teachers always complained I, I was several eggs short of a dozen and why couldn't I, I understand what they were tryin' to teach me?"
Nick's ears flicked back as he'd had a similar experience. Well, not the being born early part. He was right on time and healthy as a crocodile. But the schooling part . . . well, it wasn't quite the same—okay, it was the complete opposite of Gideon's problem.
Instead of getting yelled at for not understanding his schoolwork, he was being accused of cheating since he usually knew the answers before the teachers even asked their questions—at least for any subject that interested him. Eventually, he stopped answering questions and started playing dumb. It was amazing what you could do and hear when mammals thought you were too stupid to understand what was going on. This was a valuable life lesson he learned in school and it served him well in his hustles to pompous, stuck-up rich mammals who couldn't understand how stupid they really were (most thought money equated to intelligence—a mistake Nick happily exploited).
While thinking of his past, Gideon's words, and how Judy treated him back in the city he suddenly had an epiphany on her actions. Glancing sharply over at his fellow red fox, Nick slapped a paw over his face and groaned.
Gideon looked up from dusting off the bottom part of his apron and asked, "What's wrong Nick? Did a rheafly bite you or somethin'?"
Nick kept the paw over his face while waving his other dismissively towards Gideon. After a moment, he said, "Judy said some things to me when we first met that were pretty patronizing at the time. But, being here in Bunnyburrow and seeing more of the place and the mammals she grew up with—her actions make perfect sense now and I realize she was actually giving me some high praise."
If Gideon was the only red fox Judy knew, and he was the standard by which Judy was judging all red foxes by—then, of course, she would compliment him by saying he was an articulate fellow. It always bothered him to see her surprise at his intelligence and ability to think ahead in the game whenever he made a contribution to her case. And Judy was quite impressed with his skills when she called him junior detective and suggested he might actually make a pretty good cop.
But now, seeing how Gideon was the standard by which she was judging him by, her surprise and praise made perfect sense. Gideon had mentioned that he was finally able to apologize to her a month ago, so if Judy only knew Gideon when he was struggling in school, then Judy must have assumed he also struggled in school. She probably assumed that his sly fox nature only spoke of his ability to deceive others and had nothing to do with him being a mammal of intelligence.
With a heavy sigh as he rubbed the fur between his eyes, Nick wished he had asked Judy more about her life back when they were chasing down Otterton. That he had tried to see better where she was coming from instead of just assuming he understood her. It was obvious now, after learning more about her, that he hadn't understood her at all.
Gideon flicked an ear and nodded at Nick's words as he glanced around the small town while his tail swished slowly behind him. "Yeah, l, I imagine life is a lot different here than the big city." Glancing up at the blue sky with a few cotton-ball clouds blanketing part of the blue, he then glanced back at Nick and said, "Life moves much slower in these here parts."
Nick studied his friend for another heartbeat, then said, "Yes, yes, it does." Glancing around the alley they were in while remembering the parts of town he had seen so far, Nick glanced back at Gideon and said, "Gideon, please don't ever change."
Gideon's ears immediately perked up and he cocked his head as he said, "Huh?"
With his tail swaying comfortably behind him, Nick explained, "You're a good mammal, Gideon." Pointing a finger at him, he added, "I mean, I'm glad you changed from the bully you were as a kit, but I'm proud of the mammal you've become." Nick waved a paw through the air to indicate his fellow fox, "You've grown into more than just an amazing baker. You didn't even hesitate to give this down-on-his-luck fox a helping paw—you're a good mammal and a great friend and I'm glad to have met you. So, please don't change. We need more mammals like you in this world."
Gideon stared at Nick for a moment, then glanced away as he suddenly felt dirt in his eyes. Rubbing an arm across them, he mumbled, "Ah, shucks, Nick, I, I ain't done nothin, really." Other than his ma and granny, no one had ever said anything so nice to him—or about him—before.
A compliment of this magnitude he never thought to hear in this lifetime, nor did he imagine anyone would ever think so highly of him. He had done a lot of stupid and mean things in his past, and so he didn't have a very good opinion of himself. Which made Nick's praise seem more like something out of a dream or a fairytale than reality. Not sure what to say, Gideon rubbed his arm across his eyes again. Luckily, he didn't have to say anything as Travis walked outside and distracted him.
"Sorry for the wait," Travis said as he walked out carrying a large box fan. "The fan was stuck behind some boxes and then I had to hunt for the extension cord." Setting it on the ground facing the two foxes, he looked up and grinned. "It's all set to go, though. You two ready?"
Gideon was glad for the interruption. Having never had such a high compliment, he didn't know how to respond and was therefore left speechless. But nonetheless, he felt a lot of gratitude towards Nick and considered himself extremely lucky to have met such an understanding, supportive friend. And although he hated what was happening in Zootopia with all those poor predators going savage, the unrest did send Nick his way, so for that he was grateful. Now if Nick could just meet Judy and fix things with her, everything would be perfect.
Looking up to meet Travis's helpful grin, Gideon stepped closer to the fan, along with Nick, and nodded to Travis, who turned the switch on, then watched the flour fly. Gideon did a small body shake to get a bit more of the flour out of his fur (his wide girth and lack of regular exercise prevented him from doing more), but Nick did a full-body shake. Letting the strong wind of the fan blow through his fur and over his clothes, Nick did another full-body shake as he did not want to experience firsthand the sticky mess he'd left Stan and his cohorts in back in middle school.
After the flour stopped flying, they picked up the fan and headed inside. "I'm going to put the fan away and then check on our customers," Travis said as the door shut behind them. Gideon nodded, then he hurried into the large shower attached to the bathroom at the back of the bakery (which was installed for just such an occasion) while Nick headed upstairs to use the shower in the apartment. Gideon had extra clothes stored in the downstairs bathroom, so they didn't need to fight over the shower. The apartment also had its own water heater, so they weren't fighting over the heat, either.
….….
With the blue sky and sun above her and the wind blowing in her face, Judy took a deep breath and enjoyed the peace and beauty of the land around her. It had been far too long since she had been outside and simply enjoyed nature. A few of the black and white magpies were flying overhead, and she caught sight of several robins down in the grass searching for worms. There were also white and pink morning glories growing among the grass in the fields left fallow this season. Closing her eyes for a moment, Judy felt the movements of her mount's body beneath her and the steady beat of Pebble's strong legs as she sped across the land.
Taking another deep breath as she opened her eyes, Judy felt the last of the stress from the last several months blow away in the wind. Much of her stress had dropped off during last night's ride, but she had been too preoccupied with her surprising feelings for Nick to fully relax. But that was behind her now. She accepted her feelings for the sly todd who deftly stole her heart and then ran away with it. And after working a season with Search and Rescue, she would use the money she saved up to head back to Zootopia and look for Nick.
But in the meantime, she would ask some of her predator friends to check at the predator refugee camps that have sprung up and see if Nick wasn't hiding in one of them. If he was in one of the camps, she hoped to persuade him to come to Bunnyburrow with her. Although he probably wouldn't like living in a small hick town after growing up in the big city, living here had to be better than living in a noisy, over-crowded refugee camp. But regardless of where she found him—a refugee camp or Zootopia—or when she found him (she refused to even entertain the thought that she might not), she was going to do her very best to not only win back his friendship, but steal his heart in return.
With a small smirk on her face at the thought of stealing Nick's heart, Judy slowed Pebbles down as they neared the train tracks and stopped to look both ways, even as her ears twitched slightly to catch the faintest sound of an engine. Seeing and hearing no trains coming, she gave Pebbles a slight nudge with her heels to get the bird moving forward. As they crossed the metal tracks, the flightless bird's large feet kicked up some of the gravel that filled in the space between the wooden slats that the rails rested on.
Once back on the open ground, she urged Pebbles back to her ground-eating gait and covered the last several miles to George's farm, all the while she thought of Nick and the likelihood of her finding him sooner rather than later. She didn't have much hope of finding him quickly, but a girl could dream, couldn't she?
As she neared George's farm, Judy turned her thoughts back to the mission at paw and the rabbit family she was about to meet. And though most rabbit families in Bunnyburrow kept their numbers around the 80-100 kit mark (her parents being an exception), George's burrow only had about 60 kits. His farm was one of the smaller ones and so he and his wife, Leslie, didn't have the acreage to house more kits. But that didn't mean theirs was a rundown farm. They had a thriving orchard that not only supplied tree-grown fruits (her family mostly dealt with berries, melons, and grapes, but they did have a few fruit trees) and fruit juices to the populace but also supplied a lot of fruits to the birds many families still raised and used. They also had several acres of alfalfa which made up the bulk of the rheas' diet.
Passing by the Hoppersan's orchards on the one side of the road, Judy took note of the various trees loaded with bright red apples, fuzzy orange-colored peaches and apricots, and yellow pears. Looking to the other side of the road, she saw that these trees were loaded with the native Australian fruits loved by emus and cassowaries, such as the red and blue quandong fruit (that looked a lot like pomegranates), bright red bushels of riberries, and bright-green finger limes. There were also several large cassowary plum trees with their dark blue, egg shaped fruit. Cassowaries loved the fruit (hence the name) and were about the only animals able to stomach their poisonous sap.
After passing by the orchards, Judy sighted the homestead up ahead at the end of the lane. The Hoppersan's had a log cabin theme for the main floor of the burrow that jutted out from the side of a small hill, with several windows built into the side of the hill to allow natural sunlight to penetrate into the burrow built into and below the hill. As Judy rode closer, she caught sight of George Hoppersan, a dark tan buck with dark chocolate ears and markings around his muzzle, sitting in a rocking chair out on the front porch with a glass of ice-cold lemonade sitting on a small table next to him. He was also wearing medium-blue overalls that many farmers in town favored, along with a pale-yellow shirt and a white cowboy hat.
While riding up to the porch, Judy watched George sit up straighter and tip his hat back a bit to get a better look at her. He also had a long stock of grass sticking out of his mouth that he'd been chewing on while rocking comfortably in the early afternoon sun and enjoying the light breeze (with as late as Judy had gotten up, it was now well-past noon).
With a wide grin, George said, "Well, if it isn't Judy Hopps. To what do I owe this visit?" He'd heard Stu's daughter Judy had quit her job and come home not too long ago, but that she wasn't doing too well. Her speech several months past seemed to have hurt her as much as it did the predators of Zootopia. It was crazy to hear what was happening back in the city and made him wonder what the world was coming to. He couldn't imagine how scary it must be to be near one of the predators when they went savage. He thanked Heaven every day that no predators here in Bunnyburrow had yet to go savage—and prayed they never did.
"Good afternoon, George." Stopping Pebbles near the porch, Judy dropped from the saddle and held the reins in her paw as she walked up to the porch. "I heard from a little birdie that you had some riding-aged emus up for sell and I was wondering if I could take a look at them."
"Well, I don't know who told you that. I don't own the birds." With a wide grin and flick of his long, black ears, he explained "My son's girlfriend does, so if you're looking to buy, you'll have to talk to Patty-Mae. She's one of Jonny Leaps' girls down by the river." Waving his paw in the general direction, he explained, "Go back down the road two and a half miles, then take the dirt road on your left. Ride another three miles almost and you'll come to a bunch of mailboxes at a 4-way junction. Take the east rode and ride until you come to a Y in the road and take the right-hand turn. Ride to the end of the road and you can't miss her family's place. It has this big gate with a sign above it that reads: The Lazy L Ranch. The 'L' is laying on its side." With a wide grin, George repeated, "Like I said, you can't miss it."
Judy's ears drooped at hearing she had to go on a wild-hare chase (the Leaps were a family of jackrabbits) just to get her bird. With a deep breath, she pasted on a smile and said, "Thanks, George, for the directions." With a nod towards the older buck, Judy added, "I guess I'll be seeing Patty-Mae, then."
George returned Judy's nod and added, "I'll be seeing you later, then." With a wave, he watched Judy turn Pebbles around and head back the way she had come. He was truly surprised to see Stu's wayward daughter here looking for an emu to buy. With her dream of being a big city cop, she hadn't had much time for birdriding since she graduated high school.
Tipping his head back, George thought of those days when Judy would come over to work on a school project with a couple of his kits. Steve and Sandy always complained, but were so proud when the teacher gave them A's on the school projects they did with Judy. He never did thank her for helping his kits out back then, and not just Steve and Sandy who had class with her. Many of his other kits would always pull their homework out whenever Judy came by, since she was always willing to help them out on any problem they were stuck on. Some days she would even stay hours after her school project was done just so she could tutor some of the other kits who were needing her help.
He will definitely have to thank her the next time she came by. With a light chuckle, George closed his eyes and enjoyed the light breeze blowing in from the orchard with the smells of all the fruits ripening on the trees and which would soon be ready to harvest.
With another chuckle, he thought again of Judy and was glad to see she was beginning to act more like her chipper self again. While thinking of how he still needed to thank her for all the help she was to his kits back when she was in high school, George knew it wouldn't be long before he got his chance. With a twitch of his nose, he knew Judy would be back soon enough. Although he didn't own the emus for sale, and so couldn't sell one to Judy, the birds were indeed here on his property. Patty-Mae had gotten fed up with some of her brothers teaching the birds dumb tricks and so had brought the birds she was raising to sell over here for safe keeping.
Opening his eyes briefly, George pulled out his pocket watch and looked at the time. Putting the watch back in his pocket, George closed his eyes once more while wondering how long it would take Judy to ride over to Patty-Mae's and then back over here again. Stu had worried that Judy was spending too much time cooped up in their burrow, so this would give her a chance to get plenty of fresh air and exercise. This should make Stu happy and lessen some of his worries for his daughter's health.
While trotting Pebbles down the country lane, Judy wondered how her mom had gotten the information wrong about the emus. Bonnie was always meticulous when it came to information floating around town (she hated passing on unbiased rumors and gossip and so made sure she had the facts straight) so she was rarely wrong about the information she had to share.
With sigh, Judy turned her attention back to the task at hand and wondered how many birds Patty-Mae had for sell. Her family raised emus, rheas, and dodos, so it was no surprise that they had some available, but it sounded like Patty-Mae was branching out and was now raising her own to sell. Patty-Mae's older brother, Harry, had never cared much about the family business, so maybe Patty-Mae was hoping to take over when their pa retired. With a shrug, Judy figured she would find out when she found Patty-Mae.
….….
On the other side of Bunnyburrow, Shaylee leaned over the booth's counter as she twirled the little envelope with Nick's message in it back and forth between her fingers. Would it really help Judy if she knew the fox was in town? Would meeting him really help her overcome her depression and move on with her life? Or would meeting the fox only make things worse? Judy was the only one who could say one way or the other. It would be interesting to see how her sister reacted to the news about the red todd being in town. After what happened between Judy and Gideon when they were kits, Shaylee was surprised that Judy would even trust a red fox.
Then again, this Nick character was a lot different from Gideon. He was confident and carried himself well, not to mention, he seemed quite intelligent. He had also won out in the looks department. Not that she had any interest at all in the red todd (she couldn't understand anyone looking outside their own species for romance—a thought most rabbits shared), but she could appreciate good breeding when she saw it. And Nick definitely had good breeding—with his deep, green eyes, shiny coat, and lean body that filled his cowboy outfit out nicely. And Judy always did get along better with the predators in town than she did other rabbits, so maybe meeting Nick again might actually help her sister out. She would be finding out later today.
"Hey, Shaylee," a white-tailed deer buck said as he walked up to the booth. "I need 3 bushels of carrots, 5 celery bunches, and 4 cartons of strawberries."
"Sure, Bentley," Shaylee said as the little envelope disappeared into her back pocket. With a smile on her face, she began filling the two large cloth bags the young buck set on the counter. Bentley was easy to recognize as one of his antlers was slightly crooked. After filling his bags, Shaylee said, "Here you go. Have a good day."
"I will. And you too." Picking up the two bags, Bentley turned and strode back to his silver SUV.
As Shaylee watched him go, a family of sheep stepped up and about cleaned them out of all their lettuce and turnips. As they gathered up their bags and left, Shaylee sighed, feeling glad there wasn't anyone else in line. Pulling the little envelope out of her pocket, she flipped it around again as she once again wondered about the red fox who had come all the way from the big city to find Judy and apologize (or so he claimed). Shaylee wondered what would make a city fox do that.
Still looking at the envelope, she couldn't figure out what would make a predator come all the way out here to apologize to the prey mammal who ruined the city for predators. And if predators from the city really were reverting to their savage past, didn't that mean the fox stood a chance of going savage, too? Shaylee frowned at this thought, but before she could think any more on it, she was interrupted out of her worrisome thoughts.
"Hey, Shaylee," her black and white sister, Mandy, said. "What's the frown for? And what's that in your paw?"
Shaylee glanced up and smiled. Holding the little envelope up with its message inside, she answered, "Hi, Mandy, this is a note for Judy."
"Oh?" Mandy asked as she reached for it. "Who's it from?" With a grin she guessed, "A secret admirer perhaps?"
Shaylee rolled her eyes. "Nope. It's from Nick Wilde. He said they met in Zootopia but then they had a falling out after her press conference. He's here to apologize to her and hopefully mend their friendship."
"Really!?" Mandy's ears immediately perked forward as she snatched the little envelope from her sister's paw so she could read the name on the front. To Judy from Nick, it read. With a bright smile, she exclaimed, "Oh, this is great! Judy is going to be so happy!" Her smile faltered, though, when she brought the envelope in for closer inspection. With her nose wrinkling in disgust, she asked, "Why does this reek of fox?"
Shaylee was happy to hear Judy would be happy to see Nick, but then tilted her head slightly in confusion at her sister's odd question. "What do you mean: why? Nick is a red fox. What else would it smell like?"
Mandy's ears dropped as did her jaw. "Wait!" She exclaimed while holding her paws up. "Back up." Taking a deep breath, she asked, "What do you mean Nick is a fox? Nick is a hare."
"Uh, no, Nick is most definitely a fox. A tall, red fox with these vibrant green eyes and a shiny reddish-orange coat. I'm not sure if all city foxes are as good-looking as Nick, but it was obvious he had better breeding than Gideon." With a shrug, Shaylee added, "I didn't think she'd trust a red fox after Gideon clawed her, but I can definitely see his appeal to Judy. She always did get along better with predators than most rabbits."
Mandy simply shook her head in denial. "No, no, no. Nick is a hare. He has to be a hare. Otherwise Judy wouldn't be in . . ." Mandy trailed off as she just now realized that Judy never actually said what species Nick was. Only that they couldn't be together because he wasn't a rabbit. "Oh, no, Judy, you didn't." With a groan, Mandy looked down at the little envelope in her paw that most definitely reeked of fox musk. "Judy, how could you?" she muttered under her breath.
The town wasn't completely against inter-species relationships, with the larger prey mammals and predators being most receptive of relationships outside their species, but the majority of rabbits were still pretty insular in their thinking, with most still insisting on staying within their species when it came to love and romantic relationships. Even so, hares and rabbits were practically cousins, so more and more relationships between them were popping up (a far cry from how things were when she was a little kit). You could even find quite a few relationships between rabbits and pikas (distant cousins to rabbits and hares), with a handful of prairie dogs jumping on the bandwagon and dating rabbits, hares, and pikas, as well.
Mandy personally didn't understand the appeal of pikas and prairie dogs—pikas were too small and round (though fluffy) and prairie dogs were too chubby—and both species had such tiny ears, that they just looked funny to her. But that was beside the point—the point being that there was no way Judy had fallen for a fox. A chubby prairie dog would be preferable to an over-sized fox!
Leaning over the counter, Mandy dropped her elbows on the hard surface and then dropped her forehead into her paws as she lamented over her sister's bizarre mental state. How could she fall for a fox? A predator who used to eat their ancestors! It was ludicrous—and yet Mandy couldn't deny how Judy had been acting in regard to the sly vulpine.
What did that fox do to make Judy fall for him! Mandy wondered. Yes, he was there for her when no one else was, but still, how could Judy see him as anything more than a friend!? A really good friend, yes, but still just a friend. He was a fox! Sharp claws and pointy teeth! Judy should be avoiding them (and him) with a passion—not passionately seeking after such dangerous weapons or the fox they belonged to!
"Um, Mandy?" Shaylee interrupted her sister's dismal musings. "Are you alright? And why would you think Nick was a hare? I never even heard Judy mention him before."
Mandy sighed with her face still in her palms. Sliding her paws up over her eyes, she then gripped her ears as she stared at the counter (and effectively scared off several potential customers—she looked like she might be sick). "I found Judy crying in her room a little over a week ago after Mom sent me to wake her up." Tugging on her ears in thought, she continued, "She was crying over Nick, a friend she met in Zootopia and helped her out a lot in finding all those missing mammals. But what she said at the press conference and how she acted towards him afterwards really hurt him and he stormed off and refused any contact with her. Judy is sure he hates her now as she keeps having these recurring dreams of him storming off and leaving her."
Looking at Mandy's depressed actions confused Shaylee further. So, Judy was friends with a fox? So what? She had a lot of predator friends, what was one more? Especially if this fox helped Judy out a lot while she was in the city. Scratching her head a moment in thought, she then said, "Okay, so Judy is feeling depressed about ruining her friendship with the fox. What's the problem? Nick doesn't hate Judy, I can attest to that. And since he came looking for her, he obviously wants to fix what they both broke." Resting her forearms on the booth, Shaylee leaned over it as she smiled brightly at Mandy while saying, "So, it's a good thing, right? They can both apologize for the words they said and Judy will be happy again. Life can finally get back to normal."
Mandy lifted her head and stared at her gray-furred sister. Keeping her voice low, she asked, "You don't get it, do you? Judy isn't just depressed because she lost a good friend—she was heartbroken over losing Nick. She's smitten with him, but he thoughtlessly stole her heart and ran off with it."
Shaylee's soft brown eyes widened in shock, but after a moment she stammered, "Well . . . okay . . . that's . . . that's a new one." Taking a deep breath while thinking of Judy falling for a fox, she then said, "But if we're talking about Judy, I can't say I'm really surprised. She always did prefer the company of predators."
Mandy's jaw dropped a second time since showing up at her family's booth that day. "Shaylee, this isn't a joke."
"And I'm not joking. The fact Judy might have feelings for a predator makes complete sense." With a wave of her paw, Shaylee added, "This is Judy we're talking about. She's the most un-rabbitish rabbit I've ever met."
Mandy scowled, then hissed under her breath, "We're talking about our sister wanting to—" She froze as she heard the crunch of shifting gravel. Glancing over her shoulder, she caught several customers inching forward as they were highly interested in the two sisters' heated argument. Turning her scowl on them, Mandy walked around the booth and grabbed Shaylee's arm, then hauled her over to her sunset-orange pickup truck.
"Hey, Mandy!" Shaylee protested on the way to the truck. "What are you doing?"
Ignoring the protests, Mandy opened the door and shoved her sister in before climbing in behind her. After situating herself in the seat next to her gray sister, Mandy's pink nose twitched as she stared pointedly at Shaylee. "Do you really want to start rumors about Judy wanting to date a fox?"
"Oh, right." With her black-tipped ears drooping as she shook her head, Shaylee added, "No, not really."
"Ahh!" Mandy cried in exasperation while grabbing her ears and pulling them down. "Shaylee, are you listening to yourself? You sound as if Judy dating a fox is the most natural thing in the world! He's a fox—a predator! How can you be fine with that!?" She released her ears to throw her paws up in the air.
"Well, I certainly wouldn't want to date a fox, and I was a bit afraid of Nick when we first met, but that was only because he kinda snuck up on me." With a quick headshake, she continued, "But if we're talking about Judy, I can totally see her dating a predator." Holding up her paws, palms out, she wiggled her fingers and explained, "I can count on one paw the number of kithood friends she had who were prey." She waved just one paw. "But if I were to count how many predator friends she had—and still does—I'd need to use both hindpaws, too, to count them all." After pointing to her furry toes, she then raised an eyebrow and dared Mandy to refute her claim.
Mandy's scowl deepened. "Okay, say you're right about Judy. But can you say the same about Nick? He's a fox so what makes you think he'd look at a rabbit as anything more than a friend?"
Shaylee shrugged. "Who's to say he wouldn't? If Judy can see him in a romantic light, then why can't he see her in a similar light? He did seem pretty earnest about finding Judy. I don't see him driving all the way out here if he didn't feel something for her."
"Oh, I don't know," Mandy said as she sat up straight and waved her white paws in the air. "He's a predator whose ancestors used to eat ours. If he saw her in any light, it should be to eat her, not mate with her!"
Shaylee had rolled her eyes at the 'eat her' part (it seemed like Mandy had been listening to Pop-Pop a bit too much lately), but at Mandy's mention of them possibly mating, her eyes grew large and her ears drooped. When supporting Judy's likely desire to date the sly todd, Shaylee hadn't thought ahead enough to see where it would lead. And Nick was quite a bit bigger than Judy. But then again, Judy always did like a challenge.
Meeting her sister's upset gaze, Shaylee said, "But I still don't see what the problem is. Judy has been missing Nick and even dreaming about him, and he's now here in town looking for her. They can kiss and make up and both can get on with their lives." With a shrug, she added, "Problem solved."
Mandy's jaw dropped at her sister's completely blasé attitude about their older sister taking a fox as her mate. It was insane and completely unnatural. Rubbing her forehead, she stated, "No, the problem isn't solved. That press conference Judy spoke at was the morning of her fourth day on the job, which meant she knew Nick at most 3 days. There's no way she could be feeling anything more than an intense crush on him. But if she meets him now, then her feelings will deepen and there's no way she'll be able to get over him."
Shaylee's eyebrows furrowed. "Why would she need to get over him if he never leaves? I told you, he seemed really determined to make it up to Judy."
Mandy rolled her eyes. "Shaylee, the chances that Nick feels the same way is so slim, it's not even worth thinking about. And maybe he'll stick around for a time, but then he'll move on. They always do. He's a predator fleeing the city and once he gets bored or decides that he can make it better somewhere else, he'll leave her. It's not like there's a lot of jobs around here that a fox could get."
It was Shaylee's turn to roll her eyes. "Mandy, I don't think you're giving the fox enough credit. He's staying with Gideon, so I don't think he'll be going anywhere. And even if he did, that's just part of life. Judy's a big girl, she can handle it. And who knows, she might just follow him." With a shrug, Shaylee pointed out, "She already left once to chase her dream, so what would keep her here this time?"
Mandy felt like tearing her fur out. "How can you be fine with her chasing after a predator! That has to be the most unnatural thing in the world!" With a shake of disgust, Mandy added, "How could any doe want a predator to put his claws and teeth all over her? That's just asking for trouble!"
Ignoring Mandy's outburst, Shaylee settled back in the truck's dark-gray cushioned seat as she considered Mandy's words. Although she had never once considered a predator as a potential mate before, but after advocating for Judy she realized maybe her sister was onto something. She would have to wait and see how it went with Judy and Nick first.
Turning her attention back to her sister, Shaylee replied, "I don't know. If he used a light touch, it might actually feel pretty good." Tilting her head in thought, she then added, "I guess it all depends on the predator you're with."
Mandy's jaw dropped, her eyes widened, and her ears drooped, then she exclaimed, "Are you serious, Shaylee! Now you want a predator mate, too?"
Shaylee's eyes widened as she just realized what she'd confessed to. Waving her paws out in front of her, she hurriedly said, "No, no, not me. We're talking about Judy here. Judy's the one interested in a predator, and I'm just saying, from Judy's perspective, she would probably enjoy it." Turning her gaze out the side window of the truck to avoid her sister's death glare, Shaylee added, "I guess we'll find out soon enough, right. Once Judy hears Nick is in town, she'll race over there to find him." Still avoiding her sister's glare, she studied the little purple flowers that lined her family's fields. The flowers were such a beautiful shade of purple and had such a pretty shape, that Shaylee could hardly believe how well they kept the nasty bugs off their crops. She wanted to pick a bunch to put in her room, but her parents were adamant that the flowers were not to be picked as they were a class 3 botanical flower.
Mandy sat up and grabbed Shaylee's arm, startling her, then said, "No, no, no. We cannot let Judy know Nick is in town. That's a really bad idea."
Shaylee's eyes widened again. "What!? Why!? Judy needs to know Nick is looking for her."
Mandy shook her head. "No. If Nick leaves her a second time it'll utterly crush her."
"And if he stays, then what?" Waving a paw through the air, Shaylee said, "Judy must already know that her feelings might never be reciprocated, so I'm sure she's prepared for that. But if she can still find some happiness simply being his friend, then who are we to stand in her way? And who knows, Nick might actually feel the same way, in which case her dearest wish will come true. But whether he does or doesn't, it's up to Judy to decide if she still wants to be with him."
Mandy opened her mouth several times while trying to come up with a decent argument, but finally had to concede Shaylee's point. But that didn't mean she was willing to give up. She was positive that it would be in her sister's best interest if the fox packed up and went away. He came from the city, so who knows, he might just go savage himself one of these days and then where would Judy be?
Taking a deep breath, she turned back to Shaylee and said, "Fine, you're right. It is Judy's decision." Raising her finger to forestall her sister's relief, Mandy said, "But just give me one week. One week to prove whether or not Nick is worthy of Judy. We won't tell her about him right away and see whether he sticks around or not. If he stays, then I was wrong about him and you can tell Judy." At Shaylee's eager look, Mandy pointed her finger at Shaylee's chest and added, "But if I'm right about him, then he'll be long gone before the week is up and Judy will never have to know he was ever here."
Shaylee sat back in her padded seat while quietly considering her sister's proposal. Although she didn't like the idea of hiding anything from Judy, she was curious to see just how committed Nick was to Judy and their relationship. Glancing out the front window to see a line of customers milling about, her ear twitched. Some were impatient to receive their goods while many more had an avid interest in the argument going on inside the truck.
Turning back to her sister, Shaylee said, "Okay. I'll keep quiet—but only for a week. If Nick hasn't left by Monday morning, then I am personally taking Judy to meet him. Deal?" Sticking out her paw, Mandy eagerly gripped it.
"Thank you, Shaylee. I knew I could count on you." Mandy beamed at having averted disaster for their headstrong sister.
Shaylee shook her head. "Don't be thanking me just yet. I agreed to keep silent, but that's not to say all our siblings will. And you're forgetting that Judy might bump into him herself while she's in town. And you can't forget about all her predator friends I'm sure will be all too happy to tell her about the new fox in town should they bump into her first."
Mandy was quiet a moment, then said with a knowing grin, "You just leave our siblings to me. And if Judy never goes to town, then how is she supposed to meet anyone, hmm?"
Shaylee chuckled darkly. "Oh, and what would keep Judy from running into town? I admit she hasn't been going very often, but she still goes into town occasionally."
With a shrug, Mandy replied, "Oh, I'm sure we can come up with several different reasons to keep her at the burrow."
"Oh, no," Shaylee said while shaking her finger at her black and white sister. "I don't want to hear any of this 'we' crap. I agreed to keep silent—that's it. If you want to deceive our sister further, you'll have to do it without me. I am not helping."
Mandy shrugged, not at all put out by Shaylee's lack of help. "Okay, fine. I won't ask. But remember your promise—you can't say a word to Judy."
Shaylee nodded. "I'll keep silent, but on Monday morning I'm telling Judy if Nick hasn't left yet." Mandy flicked her ear in agreement and then Shaylee added, "But you better not do anything mean to him in your effort to drive him away. If you hurt him in any way, I will not only tell Judy about him and what you did, but I'll also tell mom and dad."
Mandy's eyes widened at the sudden threat, but after a moment of thought, she agreed. "Deal. I won't harm a hair on his head or that bushy tail of his." All foxes had bushy tails, which was another reason why she found it hard to understand her sister's fascination with the sly vulpine—a small, petite tail was the only way to go.
"Good," Shaylee replied. "Then if you'll excuse me, my shift is over and you have a line of customers to attend to." With an evil grin and not an ounce of guilt for leaving her sister to deal with such a long line of impatient customers, Shaylee hopped out of the truck and skipped over to her pale, clover-green two-door jeep. Hopping in, she revved the engine, then took off down the paved country lane while leaving her sister staring at her taillights.
It still irritated her that Mandy was willing to leave Judy in the dark about Nick. If she really was heartbroken over losing the fox's friendship, then she needed to know that Nick didn't hate her and that he came looking for her. Not telling her was hurting her worse.
Taking a deep breath, Shaylee tried to stamp down her irritation. She promised to keep quiet, but that didn't mean she had to quietly follow her sister's lead like some thoughtless sheep. She said she wouldn't talk to Judy, but she never said anything about not talking to Nick. If he was this interested in her sister (and vice versa), then Shaylee was going to find out everything she could about him. And if Mandy was going to insist on playing this dumb game, then she would play too—but on the opposing side. She would join forces with the fox.
With a determined grin on her face, Shaylee passed the turnoff to her family's burrow and continued speeding towards town. She had a fox to befriend—starting right now.
WingedKatt here. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Here's some interesting facts:
Model T was introduced in 1908 by Henry Ford. Ford revolutionized how cars were built when he was building the Ford Model N which was introduced in 1906. Ford standardized the different car parts so that they were interchangeable between the different cars of the same model, which allowed Ford to produce a 100 Model N's a day. With his success with the Model N, Ford then moved on to the 4-cylender, 20-horsepower Model T, which was easier to drive and easier to repair. Its high chassis was built to get over the bumps on rural roads, and its vanadium steel made it a lighter, tougher car. With new methods of casting parts the price of his Model T was kept low as it was a car designed for American farmers and others of the middle-class, and so was made affordable to the middle-income working American. By the time the Model T was removed from production in 1927, over 15 million cars were sold.
Servals are a medium-sized wild cat of sub-Saharan countries of Africa. It has a golden coat and black spots, a small head in comparison to its body and has the longest legs of any feline compared to its body size. Although a close relative of the African golden cat and the caracal, it does not live in the rainforests. As a side note, it has been bred with the domestic house cat to form the hybrid Savannah cat, which has become quite popular in recent years. But if you're thinking of getting one, be careful as it can be quite a handful as a pet depending on how many of its wild serval traits it still retains.
African Golden Cats are a medium-sized wild cat living in the rainforests of central and west African. It has a golden cat with many of them having darker gold spots and rosettes covering most of its body. It's a close relative to both the caracal and the serval and is an extremely elusive cat so not much is known about it.
Deerfly are a common pest here in the south-western United States. They're about the size of a housefly, but are brown with a narrow body. They also bite which hurts. I changed the name to rheaflies since rheas are a common 'herd' animal in my story.
Pikas are distant cousins to rabbits and hares that live in the high mountains of North America and Eurasia. Living in colder climates, they have short limbs, a round body, a fluffy coat, short rounded ears, and no external tail. The long-eared pikas of the Himalayas are found 20,000 feet above sea level—one of the highest of any mammal.
Chapter 8: It's A Start, will post in 2 weeks. In it, both Nick and Judy will have an interesting conversation with some unexpected company.
If you have any thoughts or questions, I'd love to hear them. Have a great weekend and stay safe.