Bogo's Smartphone
Judy managed to go nearly a year without missing a day of work. And she performed at or above average in her assigned duties in just as many days. She, along with several other officers, was going to close out the year with near perfect marks. Today Judy was focused on paperwork in her cubicle. Nick was stationed in the cubicle adjacent to hers. Oddly, this was the first time that they both worked on desk jobs on the same day.
Chief Bogo walked through the cubicles with a smile and an unusual pep in his step. Nick watched the happier than usual buffalo with curious amusement.
"Officer Wilde," Bogo nodded in acknowledgment then turned to Judy. She lifted her gaze to him, also interested in what had made Bogo so happy.
"Judy," he began, "I just sent you and a select few officers a private e-mail. Please be sure to check it before tomorrow evening. I will get back to you early tomorrow to hear your answer."
"Oh, yes sir," she replied. Chief Bogo knocked on her desk wall twice and hummed to himself while walking away. Nick turned to Judy and asked, "Ever seen a jolly buffalo?"
"Not like that, no." Judy shrugged then resumed working on her report. Nick stood up from his seat, unable to remain still. He wanted to move around and expend energy. He wanted to annoy someone.
Phones chirped, and chatter bubbled up around the cubicles as the officers worked. Noises pervaded the room then it would quickly go quiet again. Nick sighed as he looked at his workload: There were five sheets that needed to be completed and signed. And he had two folders full of documents to file. He needed to send some messages to Clawhauser and report back to senior detectives about various crimes including a mugging in the Rainforest district. But he couldn't focus enough to work up the motivation to complete the tasks.
"I have to get this over with," he muttered.
"Keep stalling and thinking and you won't be getting to doing anytime soon," Judy responded to his audible thought. Nick looked at her, nettled.
"Yes, dear. I know."
"Eww, don't call me 'dear' it makes me sound old." She squirmed in her seat.
"Well, how do you think I feel, being eight years older than you all the time?" Judy rolled her eyes and stifled a chuckle.
"What was Bogo saying about an e-mail?" Nick asked.
"Oh, I'll get to that later. When I read it, I'll tell you. I am almost done with this report."
Nick dropped back into his seat and took a deep breath. He blinked slowly then turned to his papers.
"I can do this." Just as he was beginning to write something, Judy's voice disrupted his thoughts again.
"Oh, that's nice." Judy smiled and turned to Nick. He forced himself to ignore her and was grateful that she stopped herself from speaking further after taking a breath. But chatter around the office suddenly picked up again,
"Cool!" Francine walked past the cubicles to Grizzoli with a big grin on her face. She spoke loudly, "I was just invited to a dinner by Chief Bogo. I wonder how many people are going?" Nick's ears perked up. Judy facepalmed herself. Nick put down his pen and moved his papers to the side. He logged into his e-mail and searched for a message from Bogo. No new messages were present.
"Yeah, I think it's only for certain officers with good records," said Grizzoli. Nick sank back in his seat, disappointed.
"So I didn't make the list then."
"Aww, sweet cheese and crackers." Judy turned to Nick with droopy ears.
"No, no, don't worry about me. You go and have fun, A+ student," Nick said.
"Is that alright?" Nick looked at her quizzically.
"Of course it is. What a silly question. I think I could use the alone time anyway." Nick resumed working on his assignments. He privately wondered what it was that caused him to be excluded from the surprise dinner. Was it his repeated lateness? Or maybe it was that one time when he contaminated evidence at a crime scene with spilled coffee? The more he thought about possible reasons, the bigger the list grew. He was surprised by his poor behavior to the point of amusement.
"Yeah, I don't deserve to go," he said with a chuckle. Knowing why he was overlooked by the Chief oddly put him at ease. Nick turned an eye to Judy and saw that she still sulked in her cubicle.
"Oh for the love of justice, Fluff. Just go and have a good time." She blinked and looked at him, then smiled.
"Fine. I will, Love."
"Maybe buffalo butt will do something crazy that you can catch on camera." Nick grinned.
"I'll try to come home with a story," she said. With that settled, they both returned to their individual stacks of papers left to complete.
"It's lunchtime and I'm just starting to get into the work." Nick sighed. "Screw it, I'll just take a later lunch." He gave in to the urge to stretch his muscles and watched as Judy began cleaning up her workspace.
"Done?" Nick asked, surprised. She turned to him and laughed,
"No, silly. Lunch! But I'm three-fourths of the way done." She winked and walked swiftly out of the office, dialing her parent's number. "Show-off," Nick mumbled under his breath and resumed writing. He worked for twenty minutes more before taking his lunch break. "I'm craving fried eel right now."
The next day, the officers hand-picked by Bogo gathered at a popular street bar called Savanna Stream. Judy expected something a bit more classy and arrived at the bar in a black dress. She brushed her fur and wore a pearl necklace she purchased a month ago. But as she left her home, she suddenly felt over-dressed. When she arrived and noticed the other officers dressed up in their suits and classy attire, she relaxed. It was only Bogo who arrived casually. He wore an expensive brown t-shirt and cargo pants and greeted the other officers with a hearty laugh,
"Look at you bunch. All dressed up! You all thought this was going to be some high-end classy joint? We're here to let loose!" Bogo walked past the officers then waved everyone inside. He turned to a nervous mouse waiter wringing his hands by the counter.
"Party of eight!" said Bogo. The waiter confirmed their reservation. They were seated in a private corner where a large crest shaped bench was placed to accommodate such large gatherings.
Judy walked in last. She waited for her eyes to adjust to the indoor lighting before walking confidently inside. Despite being a street bar, the green walls were freshly painted and bore no blemishes. The professional paint job hid the cheap construction of the bar well. Even the benches were glossed, concealing the age of the furniture. But despite the paint, the tables held many marks from mammals with claws, thick nails, heavy hands and other sharp objects that have marked them over the years.
Judy suspected that Chief Bogo chose this bar because the price of food and drinks were reasonable and the atmosphere was not often flooded with noise. The music was low, and televisions did not line the walls of the bar. The environment at Savanna Stream was kinder to the senses as opposed to other bars.
The officers shared several drinks from different brands of beer. They told stories about past encounters with different Zootopians. When the zebra, Luis finished his tale of a hippo mother dancing in traffic, Judy chimed in,
"There certainly are a lot of weird folks out there."
"Judy, that's a nice dress." Officer Erin said. Erin was a ferret. Like the other officers invited by Bogo, he excelled in his own way and was invited to the dinner because of perfect attendance and an eye for detail. He was a strict by the books officer with a habit of volunteering to pick up after the sloppiness of others.
"Thanks. The straps can get a bit itchy," said Judy. Seeing the other officers relax and converse openly inspired Judy to try speaking up more. Though she worked hard, she didn't mingle much on the team. Many of the other officers were always eager to greet her and were courteous. And yet, Judy still seemed to feel like she never really connected with her coworkers.
Judy reached into her left pocket and pulled out her phone. She smiled and started recording a video of the other officers. Grizzoli played to the camera by waving and making faces. A large fly that landed on Bogo's shoulder. She drew her focus to the bug.
"How about we play spot the fly?" Erin said, noticing what Judy was doing.
"Sounds fun. I'll see how long I can keep an eye on it while it buzzes around." Judy grinned and watched as it jumped up to fly and landed back on Bogo. It danced from shoulder to shoulder and then to the top of his head. The buffalo didn't notice it. He did manage to notice some of the officers staring at him as Judy focused the phone in his direction.
"What's going on here?" He asked with a smile. "Are you all expecting me to break out into a song?"
"Do it!" one officer shouted.
"No, no." He shook his head. The fly was now lost from view. But Judy kept the video playing. "I'll show you some real talent." Bogo grinned. He took out his phone and a small bag from his pants back pocket and placed it on the top of the bench just neighboring their booth.
"I need to make sure I can walk around right. So I just needed to empty my pockets," he explained. He then began observing the bottles of beer on the table, feeling their weight. When he was satisfied he had enough empty bottles of similar weight, he began to place them one by one along his horns and snout.
The crowd watched as he added three, four, five bottles to his load. His head soon resembled a candelabra of sorts. He carefully stepped left and right to the officers' amusement. They lightly applauded and watched as he gracefully balanced the bottles and swayed playfully. Then, as if his balancing act wasn't good enough, he slowly knelt and hopped up, launching the bottles into the air. And with a swift swipe, caught the five bottles with his hands in the air with a loud clink!
"And not a crack to be found!" he gloated. The officers applauded.
"Who knew you could be so graceful?" An officer said.
"Buffalos are a very graceful species," Bogo smirked.
A cheetah waiter walked over to the group holding a large platter that contained fruit pies, a worm salad, and chocolate jello.
"Desserts for the party." The officers reacted excitedly.
"Yes!"
"Best part of the meal."
"Don't drop my jello!" As the dishes were handed out, Judy sighed as she got her dessert, a carrot cake. She went back to the video she had just recorded and messaged Nick. She sent him the video and added,
"I wish you were here to see it. Maybe you should come by so that I don't go home alone." She was so distracted waiting for his reply that she barely listened to Francine as she spoke.
"Chocolate jello is my favorite," the elephant said.
After ten agonizing minutes, Judy finally got a reply,
"The Chief is a wizard! Sure, I'll be around. Where are you?" Judy couldn't resist leering into her phone. Her ears twitched to Grizzoli suddenly saying,
"Ooh, she must be texting the fox." Grizzoli elbowed Francine. Judy ignored them, continuing to leer into her phone and typing.
"Close by, actually. You could walk here. I'm at the Savanna Stream."
"Oh wow. I'll be there in twenty minutes, no problem. Just tell me when." Nick replied.
The night was fast approaching an end for the officers. Bogo began to show signs of weariness and the chatter had faded significantly. They sat in the comfortable silence of each others company. Judy had alerted Nick beforehand, and she expected he would be outside the bar to meet her.
Francine spotted him first and said, "Oh, here comes the handsome red devil now." Chief Bogo burst into a smile and greeted him enthusiastically,
"Hey! Someone couldn't resist reeling you in, huh?" Bogo's speech slightly slurred as he spoke. His breath reeked of alcohol.
"Oh, leave the bunny alone, Sir," Nick said as he made his way to Judy. He affectionately brushed the top of her head with his chin. She curled her shoulders and hid her face behind her ears. The group broke into low audible aww's at the public display of affection.
"They are so cute I could just die," Erin said. Nick sat next to her as the other officers began to stand and stretch. He whispered into her ear,
"You look lovely tonight." The mess of their meal summoned a dutiful waiter to their table. The skunk swiftly worked to remove empty plates and bottles from the table as he passed by. The officers said their farewells for the night and left one by one.
When Nick and Judy were alone, they walked out of the restaurant together.
"Thanks for showing up," Judy said.
"Of course. You ask and I arrive." Nick stared at her outfit and grinned. He lingered on the curve of her chest. "Did you have fun?" he asked.
"Yes. It was nice. Quite the family we have, huh?"
"Family seems like a strong word, But I guess it's appropriate."
"The camaraderie is true," said Judy. Chief Bogo was seen hurrying back to the restaurant with a worried expression.
"Hey! Guys," he opened up his arms and upon approaching, motioned for them to huddle in as he pushed them back to the restaurant.
"What's going on?" Judy asked, concerned.
"I can't find my phone!" Bogo said. "It has sensitive information on it. I'm the chief of police damn it. We have to find it."
"Shit..." Nick mumbled under his breath. He turned back to the restaurant and glanced at the tables around him. He saw nothing but the old tables in all their scratched and abused splendor.
"Where was it last?" Nick asked.
"I remember pulling it out of my pocket with my bag and..."
he tried to reenact what he had done, pointing to where they all sat down for the evening. He looked at the spot where he placed his bag and phone last, but could not remember if he picked up both items or just the bag. Considering that he only had his bag with him, he was becoming convinced that he had misplaced it and could not remember how or exactly when it happened.
"What does it look like?" Nick asked.
"It's brown and wide. A new smartphone. The company is GrapeTech"
"I'll ask around," said Judy, trying to ignore the effects of the drinks she had.
"Good! Good, do that." Bogo said, frantically. Nick and Judy agreed to split up as they searched the restaurant. Nick approached a drunk beaver stumbling down the right corner of booths.
"Excuse me, have you noticed any phone around?"
"Eh? Whose phone?" The beaver looked up at him with half-lidded eyes. He slightly lurched forward then regained his balance.
"This phone belongs to a friend of mine. It is brown and flat. Wide, with a Grape logo on the back."
"Oh!" The beaver smiled.
"Yeah, yeah. Just see, I have this thing like you described. Yes."
"That's great" Nick smiled, "Can you hang here for a second? I'll get my friend right away."
"Sure, I'll show it to you guys when you come back." The beaver coughed and rubbed his eyes. He grunted and mumbled to himself as Nick walked away. Nick found the Chief outside the Bar, anxiously looking around and swearing to himself.
"Hey, Chief."
"Did you see it?"
"I found this beaver guy who might know something. But he is pretty hammered."
"Fair enough, take me to him!" Nick led Bogo into the bar and to the spot where he talked to the beaver. But as they approached, the beaver was nowhere in sight.
"Wait, he was right..."
"Damn it, Wilde," the Chief looked around to nobody.
"But, he was right here."
"I'll check the bathroom," Bogo said and hurried inside. Judy approached Nick.
"Bogo going off on you again?" She asked with red tired eyes.
"No, just..." he stopped and looked out the window, noticing the beaver stumbling outside. "How did he?" Nick ran out of the bar, forcing Judy to chase after him.
"Hey! Did you find anything?" she asked as she ran to him.
"Hey, you!" Nick pointed to the beaver.
"What?" he replied in a rasped voice.
"The phone. Remember? You said you had a flat brown phone?" Nick waited for an answer. The beaver smiled with heavy half-closed eyes. He swayed as he turned around,
"Oh yeah! Here it is! Here's your brown flat thing! Ha ha ha!" The beaver smacked the street with his tail.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Nick scoffed and turned away from the beaver. Judy stood between the two of them confused as the beaver clumsily jogged away. Chief Bogo walked out of the restaurant and approached.
"Judy, please tell me you have useful information?"
"Nope. The bartender said people just casually packed up and left. There wasn't anybody that approached the front to leave a phone." The Chief rubbed his face and sighed.
"This is not good. And It's so late." He stared at the dark empty streets. Nick turned to Bogo,
"So sorry, Sir. It turns out the beaver was just a drunk comedian and didn't have the phone."
"Hopps, Wilde, I know it's much to ask, and it's late. If you could keep searching, I'd be so grateful. I think I'm going to head home."
"Why can't we call your phone?" Nick asked.
"Because he turned it off," Judy said. Her ears stood straight up and she excitedly added,
"Wait! I'll call some of the other officers! Maybe one of them grabbed it?"
"If so, one of them would have given it to me," Bogo replied. "But it is worth a shot." He then scowled and wrinkled his brow as he stared at Judy with his hands on his hips, "Except, I can't give you the numbers to the other officers' phones because I don't have them as contacts. And I don't have my phone to give you their numbers anyway!" Nick bit his lip, struck by mixed feelings of panic and amusement.
"Ugh, forget it," said a frustrated Judy.
"Let's just call it a night. Maybe early tomorrow something will happen that will lead to it turning up. So long as nobody hacks into it." The Chief walked away anxiously but abruptly turned to add, "It was a good night. Thanks for coming."
"Sure thing, Chief. Thank you," Judy replied. Nick scratched his head as he stood with Judy on the sidewalk. If he had been part of the party, maybe he could have questioned more people present at the restaurant. He looked at Judy and noticed her weariness.
"Why don't you go home?" Judy looked up at him with a blank expression.
"Judy?" He grabbed her left ear and gently stroked it from her head to tip. She smiled lightly and shook her head, "I'm trying to remember who I saw in the bar."
"Hah! You are not going to be wandering the streets close to midnight dressed like that questioning random crazy nocturnal mammals asking about a cop's phone," Nick said.
"Ugh..." Judy slumped her shoulders and nodded. She rubbed her face and sighed.
"Fine, forget it."
"Good. You go home." She looked at him and froze.
"You said, 'you' and not 'we.' Wait, what are you going to do?" Judy asked.
"I'll keep looking,"
"By yourself?" she asked with mild bewilderment.
"Yes." She placed her hands on her hips and bit her lip,
"I know you're a jokester, but you weren't even with us. Why in the world would you try looking?" Nick knew he was attempting to do something ridiculous. The motivation behind this decision was no better. He believed that finding the phone would be a good start to being a better cop for next year. He wanted to get on the Chief's good side and figured finding the phone would help him win the buffalo over.
"I just..." he weighed his words, not wanting to reveal the embarrassing reason for choosing to continue searching. "I just want something to do for the night. It might be fun."
"You are so odd sometimes. You better call me if anything happens," Judy said, too tired to continue the conversation.
"Yes, boss." Nick hugged her and said, "I won't be out too late." He watched Judy walk away and stared at her tail as it swayed left and right. The black dress made her fur stand out. She glowed under the copper tinted street lights.
"Bronze bunny," he mumbled. Nick then turned his attention to the restaurant in front of him once more and began walking toward the back of the parking lot.
Nick passed by a row of garbage cans that were color coded for recycling. Next to them sat one large dumpster for miscellaneous trash. He jumped up and peeked over the open rim of the tall dumpster looking left and right. Not noticing anything of interest, he hopped down from the edge and continued further back. In the parking lot were a pair of skunks chatting in low anxious voices. One wore a blue beanie hat with a long-sleeve shirt and pants. The other was dressed in a worn-out red buttoned shirt and white shorts.
"Look, let's see about that guy," Nick heard one skunk say.
"Hey, you." The other skunk began walking toward Nick, putting him on alert.
"Sir, you interested in some tree spice?" The skunk flashed a small plastic bag containing a mixture of ground tree bark and an unknown mixture of other powders. Nick slumped his shoulders and stared slack.
"Oh, no I'd rather not, thanks." He took a step back, watching the nervous skunk in the back.
"Come on. You look like you could use a good kick to those senses. This will wake you up fast!"
"You guys are so lucky that I'm not working right now," Nick muttered.
"Whatever, guy. Just buy some or something," said the nervous skunk.
"Hey, did you guys happen to see a phone around here?" Nick asked.
"No, but we'll help you out if you buy some spice." Nick rolled his eyes. He knew it was illegal but not seeing anyone around, he needed to find a way to get rid of the skunks.
"Fine. If it will get you to help me by going away, I'll take some."
The skunks cheered, "Alright, we got a customer! Good choice." The skunk in the white shorts approached Nick and stood uncomfortably close,
"Easy fellas. Little breathing room here?"
"Forty bucks," said the skunk in the blue hat. Nick paid the skunks and took the bag of spice, frowning.
"Good thing I always carry cash on me," he muttered as the skunks walked away, encouraged by their illegal sale. "Note to self: arrest delinquent dealer skunks." Nick looked around the empty lot unsure of what to do. His ears twitched to the sound of a car slowly rolling by. Nick turned and was blinded by a flashlight being pointed at him.
"Sir, can you come on over, please?"
Oh no...
"Sure thing, Officer," Nick said. He discreetly stuffed the drugs into his shirt pocket and nervously walked towards the police car.
"What can I do for ya?" The raccoon officer looked at Nick and said,
"You want to tell me why you are wandering a parking lot at midnight?" It seemed like a fair question. The officer lowered his flashlight and studied Nick.
"Well, I was helping a friend who lost his phone, and when he got sick of searching and left, I decided to stay just a moment longer."
"When did you think you it got lost?"
"Oh, we think it must have been lost about an hour or two ago."
The officer considered the foxes replies then said,
"Just standard procedure, can I see some identification please?" Nick sighed in relief when he remembered he had an updated license that showed him registered with the ZPD.
"Sure thing." Nick reached into his pants pocket.
"Slowly, sir," the officer said as he eyed Nick's hands closely.
"Oh, I understand," Nick replied. "Can't be too careful, huh?"
"Not in my line of work," the officer replied. Nick pulled out his wallet and handed the officer his ID.
"Oh, look at that." The raccoon smiled as he looked at the license. "Alright. This will be just a second." The officer rolled up his window and performed a security check. Nick turned to look back at the parking lot. He took a deep breath to calm the anxiety under his fur from carrying drugs in his shirt pocket. As soon as he drifted in thought, a voice pulled him back to alertness.
"You can go about your business, Officer Wilde."
"Thank you, sir." Nick nodded, took his license and swiftly walked away. Damn, that was too close. Rattled by the midnight encounters, Nick submitted to his failure and headed home.
Nick opened the front door carefully and walked through it as if he were entering a trapped house. He pushed the door closed behind him, attempting to use the knob for leverage but his paw slipped off the handle.
"Whoops," Nick cringed as the door slammed shut.
"Ah!" Judy sat up, "What was that?" She jumped out of bed with a fright.
"Sorry, the doorknob slipped from my paw," said Nick. Judy rubbed her nose,
"So, how did your impossible task go?" Judy took a deep calming breath to relax her still shaking nerves.
"About as good as it was going to. I ran into some funny looking skunks in the parking lot."
"Oh yeah?" Judy asked curiously.
"In order to get them to go away, I bought spice from them." Judy rested her paws on her hips. Nick lowered his head as he prepared to be scolded by the cutest annoyed bunny he's ever seen.
"You silly fox!" Judy chuckled. "You stood behind to look for the Chief's phone. Not purchase drugs..."
"I threw them away," he assured her.
"Why didn't you report the skunks?" Judy asked. Nick sighed and scratched his right ear, "I just didn't want to get involved. Besides, I wasn't on the job. Can't I be a civilian for just a few hours?" Judy growled. Nick resisted flinching as Judy reached out with a stretched paw.
"An off-duty cop is still a cop, Nick." She scratched the underside of his chin. The forced affection was perhaps a substitute for her wishing to do something more unpleasant.
"Ooh, that's nice. Right there." His tongue lolled out of his muzzle.
"Clean up and get to bed. You smell like a dumpster."
"Oh, you're a mean bunny." Nick awoke at 7:00 A.M. to the sound of Judy's phone beeping with a text message. It was Chief Bogo, and he was texting from his smartphone. When Judy got out of the bathroom, Nick gave her the phone.
"Look, Judy. A happy ending." Judy took her phone and read the message:
"I managed to get my phone back. A tundra fox was at the bar last night and confused it with hers. She picked up my phone as she was leaving the bar. When she noticed the different home screen, she figured it wasn't hers. By this time the bar had already closed. She didn't know how to unlock the phone to make an emergency call, so she decided to drop it off here at the station!"
"Good fortune, Chief Bogo!" Judy replied.
"Dang, I was hoping I'd find it," confessed Nick.
"Oh yeah? Trying to look good?" Judy teased.
"I'll do better next year," Nick said. "No more lateness. Or accidents." Judy walked to their shared closet and pulled out his uniform. She tossed it on the bed then said, "How about we start today since you're up early?" Nick looked at his clothes then picked up the badge pinned to his shirt. He felt the engravings and grooves along its surface and said, "Sure. Today."