Chapter 7
Enter 'Podunk'
Blur of green and blue caused a spill of color to dart backwards in motion to the defocus of those in focus' frame. The deafness of speed brushed wind around the frame of the steel chassis, while the subtle rattles of plastic gave disturbance to the serene-type song.
"— because you guessed it, the draughts be comin' to an end! A colder front is entering our province with drenching amount of clouds. So get those harvests ready an—" the radio continued its course of information, but it was no longer listened to by the red ears of mild impatience.
With a trimmed-obsidian claw, one of the frontal canines were probed for any leftovers which might've found stuckness in his mouth. If he excavated with precision and patience, maybe he'd be able to extract the corrupted ore.
"That's unsanitary!" called the feminine voice of Judy, whose shock was replaced at the road she was steering on. The shout made Nick's fur to jump a little, yet he didn't take queue to stop his rummage of gums.
"Eyes," Nick drew and then pointed at the pristine windshield, "road." His claw dug further, as he was now certain there was something stuck there, due to the painful simmer which frustrated his mind. If only he hadn't indulged himself in those mouthfuls of popcorn, none of this would've bit him on the teeth.
"There's wipes in my bag. Please clean your paws. Then do that all you want, Nick," Judy fussed to a sway of the car, which got Nick's claw to probe hard into a painful grunt. Doing this in motion wasn't going to suffice. The already long journey was also failing to do him justice.
"Tell you what," Nick moved closer to the elevated driver's seat, the motion bringing her grey, black-tipped ears in great focus, "Find us a stop. I think my seat wants to harm me and I ain't risking its wrath." Judy's confusion moved at him, but he was quick to spring a finger to push her attention forwards.
After all, they were making a turn and there was a long truck just on the right side. Trucks were just an awful thing to try and get ahead of, because their drivers were stereotypically nonchalant to the law of conduct on the road.
Passing by several not so good-looking establishments, Judy parked the car on the gravel space of a blue-painted café. In front of them was the wood railing that separated a steep incline that led to a peaceful river. The coniferous trees whistled in the distance's opposite side of the road, giving forth a melting breeze through Nick's red fur as he jumped off the compact sedan.
His limbs stretched in all directions, including his matted tail, and the slaps of his jaw moved at the ducked frame of Judy, who was looking around the rim of the green car's rear. His snort was of derision to how she was holding her ears in one paw, so they wouldn't bite the dusty gravel.
"Whatever you're doing, I'll leave you two to it. Meet you inside," Nick flicked and gave steps to the establishment. He wasn't going to immediately go in, as his tired head wanted to feel more of this fresh and delicious air.
It surely had been a while since his last exit from the metropolis, despite its high levels of filtered environment to the healthy benefits of the residents, yet such didn't mean most cars were running on clean fuel. The one they were driving was still based on combustion, so the era was yet out of reach.
Behind the café the sights were of less savory nature, one would imagine, as there were scrapped old jeeps of rusty bodies and containers of the establishment's trash. Nick's goal was simple, so he stuck to its fulfillment, as he trod by all the rings of defiled grass and stomped dirt.
The tree before him was between old and young with groovy bark and thick roots dug into the earth. Without any hesitation, he fondled with his pants and sought to pay nature its respect.
Wrapping up after having done mark's deed, with great satisfaction from the lack of pressure, he were to just head back to the insides of the café to meet Judy, when he saw movement inside the infrequent forest just ahead. It looked like a small group of brutish beavers carrying some kind of plastic barrels…
His curiosity and experience nudged his legs to follow the strange group, but his mind cut in that thought of action immediately, as he was going to surely get himself and Judy in some kind of trouble. They had their destination, and meddling with such things would only put barriers before their road.
Legging back quickly, the bell's chime called for his entrance with attack's smell of cooking oil of quantities immeasurable. His mouth moistened at this recollection. Maybe he could give himself the treat of this long journey…
Yet, the pink-sleeved rabbit waved his attention to a table next to one of the windows. There was already steaming coffee on the free side and tea in her thirsty paws.
"Having fun?" Nick sat with a snort to his further observations, the cup of black liquid receiving a pointy finger as a free-roaming question.
"Remember the hole just after the city?" All Nick could say was a shrug as he drank the refresher. "Yea…"
"You were the driver."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Judy asked in crossing to her arms.
"Uh?" Nick's smirk strained its stiches. "Just you did your best." He could see the cogs in her eyes playing out the decipher of his words. No, it wasn't going to just go around her head, she had caught his obscured meaning.
"Where did you go to? I couldn't find you in here."
"You know... Don't want to spend my pennies when there's a perfect scenery just out back." Her shy snort got him to motion with his finger to why she shouldn't further ask what more was at the scenery, and she took it as a sip of tea.
"I got these out." Judy reached within the bag next to her and pulled out a vegetarian sandwich that got Nick's lips to wrinkle in a blind whine. "Thought we might not use them. But you're a city fox."
"Ouch. No need for teeth," Nick chuckled at the acceptance of the loaves and vegies. His similarly colored eyes stared at the plant flesh, and then his predator teeth dug in happily to have something in between. Yet, the aura of what was cooking in the kitchen was nagging at him like a parasitic bell.
"So… How long 'till we get to your shack?" His joke didn't get along well, Judy's ire dancing around her nose.
"It's a big farmhouse… You appear excited. The shack you're talking about can be arranged." Nick was quick to gulp down the food and shake his head quickly in damage control, much to the delight of the steamy giggle Judy chirped. "Three or four hours maybe?"
"Carrots, it's edging dusk. You sure you can find it at night? Isn't it like forests, fields and dirt roads?"
"Um, I can find it if we get close. Yes, I can find it!" She struck her fist in the air, which toppled the remnants of tea over the table to her remorse and to Nick's snort. The desire to help vanished as the same sensation on that same canine drizzled into the painful itch of something stuck, and it was maddening him at the persistence it was oozing all day.
"—tomorrow, The East Coast will be the first to be touched by the cold front—"
"Say, you think that might be an issue?" Nick asked with concern at the far away TV showing a stormy sea. Judy wrapped up the rest of the spillage with the napkin and brushed aside her ears.
"Hmm? Why would it be?"
"Tornadoes, hurricanes, heavy rain… those stuff."
"Well, as an experienced resident of the prosperous Bunnyburrow, I'll tell you that everything'll be fine. Just the awaited rain. Happens every year around here."
"Then why're we going?!"
"Nick, you said it yourself, we need a break. I've hardly slept these past weeks. There's too much noise, there's too much work, there's too many neighbors and not enough walls!" Nick couldn't find anything to add or retort with. For him, all this nature and open spaces felt as if he was in a desert.
Sure, it were no actual desert, but the lack of establishments, banks, transportation, water taps… it was as if he was stranded in the middle of nowhere. Certainty told him that her family farm wouldn't be that much different, despite her assurances that he'd love the serenity it'd provide his mind.
"Yea… I guess."
"Nick," Judy grabbed his paw in hers across the table, immediately focusing all his attention into her eyes and the act of closeness, "you've been working more than anybody else in our department, and I'm proud of you. But it's time you gave some time to yourself, just as I need to do. Neither you nor I need to prove ourselves to anybody. We just need to… be."
"You can tell that to Bogo, Fluff," he laughed to the withdrawal of paws, and a moment of incredible disappointment flashed in her expression, for which he was unsure to the reasons. Time was running away tho, and he didn't want them to be stuck on the road during the night, especially with this incoming storm, especially with this awful thing stuck in his damn gums.
"I'm ready when you are, bunny-bun," Nick drew at the removal of crumbs from his paws. Judy's eyes twinkled with annoyance, but it lived a short life to the path out.
"How about… you let me drive?" Nick pled, walking backwards with a swaying tail.
"No."
"Please-please with a pawpsicle on to—" the door's bash interrupted his tongue, those same brutish beavers, at least less of them, entering through without any kind of humility to who was in their path. One of them visibly was displeased at Nick's scrutiny and found way to voice his opinion.
"Chomp-what, gentlepaws?!" Nick's heart throbbed at the carried insult, but his body was none to show it.
"Pleasure meeting you too," Nick said in the politest manner, yet the beaver wasn't that thick after all, but one of his buddies slapped him on the thigh with their beaverish tail, and no further instigations were provoked.
"If you tell me that you have 100 brothers like this beauty, I think I'm hitchhiking back home." Judy scoffed as her glare peeled away from the aggressive beaver.
"No, but it's probably more than 10," she breathed through the stress of her flexing fists. "Let's go before I do something I'd regret, Nick."
Author's notes:
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