Settling in for a bit, the Sandleford rabbits prepare for their next phase at the Hopps house in:
Chapter 14: The Gift Package Initiative
"Hazel?" Something was shaking Hazel's shoulder. Slowly the buck began to stir.
"Hazel, wake up."
"Mmm…" Hazel groaned as he recognized the voice and slowly lifted himself up, which was more difficult than usual considering how comfy the double bed was.
"M'rning, Fiver," he mumbled, "Wha' time is it?"
"5:00," his brother answered, still dressed in his pajamas. "I'm sorry, we wanted to let you sleep but Mister Stu is here, he's got news for us."
Hazel's eyes shot open and he bolted upright, then winced and collapsed back on his side as he was painfully reminded of his hurt leg.
"Don't worry, it's nothing to do with yesterday," Fiver assured him as if he had read his mind, "He said it's about helping Zootopia, they're starting some kind of project today."
"Really?" Hazel sat up again, "Well, then let's not keep him waiting. Help me, will you?"
Fiver nodded, and helped Hazel quickly dress and grabbed his brother's crutches from the far wall, and the two made their way downstairs to the kitchen where they found all the others surrounding Stu at the table, all of them save Holly still dressed in their pajamas.
"Good, morning, Hazel!" greeted Stu as Hazel limped over, "How is your leg this morning?"
"Urrgh – better, thank you," Hazel answered with a wince as he was helped into a chair. "Your wife did a really good job. Mister Stu, I'm so sorry-" But Stu waved it off.
"It's alright, Bonnie explained everything to me last night. And she usually handles the punishments in our family, so whatever she did to you was enough. Now, to business!" He stood up, his eyes casting around the room, "Last we heard from Judy, things have started to cool off in Zootopia since the earthquake, but there are still a lot of mammals who have lost their homes and are going without food, so myself and other farms in the district are starting a new project to help them out: the gift package initiative."
There was a small chorus of *oohs* around the room.
"What's that? What's that?" Pipkin eagerly asked, jumping up and down next to Stu.
"Oh, it's very simple," Stu chuckled while patting Pipkin on the head: "Every day we'll collect a portion of our day's harvest, wrap them up in nice neat baskets, and ship them off to the big city. Here's where all you come in: we need some rabbits to volunteer to help sort and wrap the packages."
"What do you mean by 'volunteer'?" Bigwig asked with a slight air of suspicion.
"Because since I'm not selling this produce, I won't be able to pay people to package it," Stu answered delicately, "I'm losing money on this project, all of us farmers are."
"Why not just ask some of your relatives then?" Bigwig questioned again.
"Because nearly all of them have families to tend to, and other obligations," answered Stu. "You guys are the best choice for this, and it would only be for an hour or two per day, on top of your usual work. You'll get bonuses when I can give them, and of course it'll be volunteer work for your resumes, and I'll give any of you a glowing reference when you need one. That's, uh, it. What do you say?"
A hushed silence fell over the group. The rabbits and mouse sat there for a moment, blinking and looking at each other as if waiting for someone else to speak up. Even Pipkin, who clearly wanted to do it, looked back and forth between Bigwig and Blackberry to hear one of them give their approval.
However, the rabbit who answered Stu first was the one sitting in next to Hazel: "I'm in, Mister Stu." Fiver stood up, "I couldn't help before the great wave hit Zootopia, so there's something I can do to help now, I'll do it."
Slowly and ainfully, Hazel stood up, and put his arm around his brother's shoulder: "I'm in too."
"And me," said Holly next.
"And me," said Blackberry.
"I'm in, too!" piped up Pipkin.
"I'm down!" stated Buckthorn.
"Me too!" said Violet.
"Splendid!" Stu exclaimed and then turned his attention to the others. "How about you guys, are any of you up for this too?"
One by one the group all affirmed their yeses, until only Hawkbit and Hana left.
Hawkbit's eyes looked side to side, clearly not as into the idea as the rest of them. "Oh what the heck, it's good for the resume. I'm in too," he mumbled.
"I'd love to help, but what can I do?" Hana asked, "I can't lift a basket, or even a carrot."
In response, Stu pulled a 6-inch red ribbon out of his pocket. "Do you think you can tie a bow?" he asked, "No reason we can't make our packages look pretty."
Hana's eyes widened. "I – I dunno," she admitted, "I've done bows for presents but that was years ago, and they were mouse-sized."
"Well, see if you can tie something on my wrist," Stu requested, extending his paw to her and passing her the ribbon. Hana nodded, jumped onto Stu's arm with the ribbon and tied a bow around it by using her leg to hold the knot in place while her forepaws did the work. It was a standard bow knot that she did, but the end result was a much neater and straighter bow than any of the group could have tied in as short a time. Nonetheless, Hana seemed off-put by the seeming insignificance of her work.
"I'll go on ewetube, see if they have videos on making fancier bows," she offered.
"Do it if you'd like, but this is really nice," Stu complimented, admiring her handiwork. "Alright, I'll leave you all to get ready for work. Strawberry, come see me at lunch, and we'll go over the packing procedure. We'll start you going after lunch at high noon, in front of this house." "Yessir!" Strawberry called out, and Stu thanked the rabbits and left.
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"Okay!" Strawberry clapped his paws, "Everyone eat quick, then go get ready! We've got a big day ahead of us!" Holly grabbed a big stack of bowls out of the cupboard and passed them around while Blackberry got cartons of rice milk out of the fridge and Bigwig opened the larder and pulled out variety packs of mini-boxes of cereal: corn flakes, raisin bran or fur-rosted flakes for all of them. While everyone picked their cereal and started eating, Strawberry gave everyone their work assignments for the day, and there was some chattering about the new gift package initiative before everyone had licked their bowls clean.
Holly stood up, "Alright, you all go get ready, I'll clean up," the buck stated as he started picking up bowls to take them to the sink. Everybody else started heading up the stairs, save for Hazel and Bigwig.
"I'm helping!" Hazel announced as he started gathering bowls at his end of the table.
"You'd better not, Hazel – you really should go back to bed," Bigwig said to him, "Don't want you to overexert yourself after what happened yesterday."
"Don't worry, I'm just helping with the dishes," Hazel replied with a note of touchiness in his voice.
"Hey, hey, just looking out for you," Bigwig said noting the tone in Hazel's voice, "We appreciate your eagerness to help everyone, but it's that attitude that caused you to rip your stitches in the first place. Don't overdo it again." He clapped a paw on Hazel's shoulder, and headed upstairs without another word.
With a slight limp Hazel slowly carried a stack of bowls over to the sink, where he set them on the counter next to Holly who was filling the sink with water.
"He's right, you know – you need to take better care of yourself," said Holly gently. "Please, just this once, take it easy today. Frith knows you deserve a break."
Hazel let out a little sigh, still frustrated with himself after yesterday. "Very well, but don't think I'm not helping with those gift packages later."
"Of course, but you'll be sitting down for that," Holly replied. And as the elder buck started washing bowls, Hazel thought of something else: "Speaking of breaks, I notice you've gotten up early to make breakfast every day since we got here. How about tomorrow I do it, and you sleep in a little?"
"Er, no thanks," said Holly, "Maybe some other time – right now you need your rest."
"You do too – you are older than the rest of us, after all," Hazel noted. "Don't worry about me, I've always been an early riser, I'm fine," Holly stated. But Holly did not look fine to Hazel, in fact up close the elder buck's eyes looked baggier than usual, like he was getting up earlier than he should.
Hazel frowned a little as he went back to the table to collect everyone's used spoons. Holly was hiding something, but what could it be?
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Just as Holly and Hazel were finishing up the dishes, Fiver came downstairs dressed for the day.
"All set for day two, little brother?" Hazel asked.
"Oh yes, we're picking berries again today," Fiver answered. "I can't believe it's only our second day of work, so much has already happened since we got here."
"I know; already we owe so much to the kindness of the Hopps and their hospitality," Hazel beamed. "Just wish my injured leg could magically heal, I don't enjoy the feeling of being limited in my duties here."
"I'm sorry you hurt yourself yesterday, but I'm sure glad it's all out in the open now," replied Fiver, "And I'm glad it gives you a day off, you really deserve one."
"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Hazel wondered aloud as he put the last stack of bowls away, "I know I got hurt, but everyone else has had a traumatic past few weeks as well, I don't think I deserve off-time more than the others." He was still unaware that the group had been listening in on his conversation with Bonnie the day before.
"It's not just that, Hazel - I've watched you work your paws to the bone every day as long as I can remember," Fiver said with a sudden note of firmness. "School, working, cleaning the house, taking care of me; now you have to take care of yourself. Please?"
Hazel's eyes widened a little at how insistent his brother sounded, but he had to admit Fiver was right; his life had been a nonstop stream of work to do for as long as he could remember; might as well try to enjoy his week of recuperation.
"Very well, Fiver," he said, "You're right, I'll try to relax today. Except when we're doing those gift packages."
"Good!" Fiver leapt up and hugged him, "Holly, let's get him back upstairs!"
Holly nodded, and put one of Hazel's arms over his shoulders while Fiver got the other, and they marched the wounded buck out of the kitchen and up the staircase. Along the way rabbits greeted them as they passed to head down for work:
"Good luck, Hazel!"
"Happy resting, Hazel!"
"G'day, mate!"
'Huh, that was very nice of them," Hazel muttered as he watched the of the group head down the stairs. "Where do you feel we should take you, back to bed?" Holly asked him.
"No, I'm wide awake; can you take me to the sauna?" Hazel asked. "Okay, sure!" and with that Fiver and Holly guided Hazel over to the sauna and left him inside to warm his aching leg, his cane propped against the door.
0000000000 After lunch at high noon, the whole Sandleford group was gathered around a long table under a tent outside of their guest house. Surrounding them were barrels of produce lined up in a row, and atop the table were stacks of Easter-style wicker baskets, rolls of plastic sheeting, and various craft supplies.
Some members, including Hazel, were sitting at the table while others stood, and all eyes were on Strawberry as he faced them: "Alright, we got our supplies," the orange buck paced in front of the group like a drill sergeant, his paws behind his back as he spoke. "Baskets – check. Plastic film – check. Ribbons – check. Scissors – check. Produce: carrots, cucumbers, berries, apples, lettuce, oats, jam. Everything is washed and ready to go, all we have to do is package and load the truck."
He gestured at a long white cargo truck parked in the driveway, "It's refrigerated so that the produce can make the trip, there are shelves inside that we'll be able to stack the baskets in. Every basket gets the following: three carrots, one cucumber, four apples, half a pint of blueberries, a head of lettuce, a scoop of oats and a jar of jam. Everybody got that?"
"Sir yes sir!" Bluebell yelled in a faux-military voice.
"Thank you," Strawberry said, putting on a confident air, "I think I got this figured out: we got enough for about a hundred food baskets here, and we can get them all done in an hour if we work in an assembly line, and those poor mammals in Zootopia will get their rescue packages sooner. And don't forget when we're done, we still have a few hours of our regular work to do. Now," he clapped his paws together, "Are you ready to give it all you got?"
"Sir, yes sir!" Bluebell yelled again.
"Cut that out. Now," said Strawberry: "Okay, here on my left I want four rabbits to prep baskets, like this."
He went over and pulled a 2-foot length of blue plastic film from a roll, sheared it off with scissors, grabbed a basket from the pile and used the film to line the bottom of it. "Three of you will take the baskets and load them up, like this," He followed the barrels and little tables of good in a line: first went in a jar of jam, then three carrots with the green heads trimmed off, then a cucumber, then a wrapped head of lettuce and four apples. He stopped when he came to a barrel of oats and stacked pallets of blueberries.
"Two of you will work here," he instructed, pointing at another little table in between the oats and berries. "One of you will be prepping bags of oats," He ripped a plastic bag off a roll on the table, scooped some oats into it and twist-tied it shut, "And the other will be loading blueberries into these half-pint cartons," He picked a plastic carton off one of the stacks on the table, scooped some berries into it and snapped it shut. "Now," he went over to the next table in line, "Two rabbits will sit here, twist-tying the bags shut," He pulled up the corners of the plastic to wrap up the food in his freshly-loaded basket, and used a long twist-tie to seal it shut. "And for the finishing touch, here Hana and another rabbit will be tying ribbons onto the finished product," He gestured at the final table in the line, which had several spools of ribbons along with a special rodent platform for Hana to stand on so that she could reach the tops of the packages. Hana inwardly gulped as she realized how fast she would have to work in order to keep up with the rest of the group.
"Finally, the last three rabbits will be loading the truck," Strawberry finished. "As soon as something runs out – baskets, apples, whatever, we stop. This is all the food we're allowed to send out to the city today. Some days there will be more, some less. Are there any questions?"
"When do we eat?" Bluebell asked.
"You eat, when we say you eat! Now buck up!" Bigwig gave Bluebell a light smack on the ear and stood back at attention: "We have no more questions."
Bluebell turned away, grumbling under his breath.
"Excellent, let's get packing and give some cheer to Zootopia!" Strawberry shouted happily.
A chorus of cheers came back at him, and after some job assigning and deliberation everyone got to their posts: Hazel, Holly, Acorn and Speedwell began prepping baskets. Dandelion and Pimpernel got to their stations filling oat bags and berry cartons respectively. Once they were picked Fiver, Bluebell and Silver went around filling baskets.
Once they had filled each basket they brought them over to Hawkbit and Blackberry, who tied them shut and then slid them over to Hana and Pipkin. Pipkin busied himself with cutting pieces of ribbon and wheeling Hana's little work platform into position, while the mouse finished the job by tying bows as nice and neatly as she could. Determined not to slow the others down the mouse worked like lightning, going faster than all the rest.
Finally Bigwig, Buckthorn and Violet were on truck-loading duty: as soon as each package was finished they carried them over to the refrigerated truck, where they were carefully loaded and tied down to shelves inside.
The group moved like clockwork after a few minutes, building up a natural rhythm, and after forty minutes Silver made the call: "That's it, we're out of apples!" the grey buck called out.
"And we're down to the last of the lettuce too," said Fiver.
"Very good, excellent timing! Okay, fill up what you can, and let's start putting everything else away!" instructed Strawberry. "Bigwig, what's our count?"
"I counted one hundred and two baskets," Bigwig announced.
"Great!" Strawberry whipped out his walkie-talkie: "Connor, you hear me? It's Strawberry, we got a hundred and two packages ready to go. Over."
There was a short pause, and then: *Kxxxt*, "What, already? I'll be right there!" came Connor's chipper voice.
A minute later the white buck came pelting out from behind the barn house and ran up to the group. He glanced at the tiny pile of baskets they had left over, then went over and looked in a few of the near-empty barrels, and then sprinted over to the white refrigerated truck (some of the other rabbits following him) and dramatically opened the double doors, taking in the sight of beautifully wrapped packages stacked and ready to go.
"Wa-HO! Nice timing, guys!" Connor praised. He disappeared into the truck for a minute, presumably to do a quick inspection, and emerged. "Excellent! Wonderful! And it's not even one o'clock, some people are getting a good dinner tonight, folks!"
"How long will it take to drive all this to Zootopia?" Strawberry asked him. "It's a four-hour drive, but I'm not going all the way," Connor answered, "We have a contact in the city who's gonna meet me at a rendezvous point two hours from here – he'll take this truck to the city while I take a different one home. And back and forth and back and forth until this is all over."
Connor dug his phone out of his pocket and dialled it: "Dad? Hi, they got the packages ready. Yeah, I checked… Yup, gonna head out. Love you, bye." Then he dialled again: "Hey Love, they're done the gift baskets so I'm gonna head out now, see you at dinner. Love you too Marcus, bye,"
He ended the call and tucked the phone back in his pocket, "Tuh-duh-lee-duh-lum…" Humming to himself Connor dug a set of car keys out of his pocket and clicked the biggest one. The group heard a little woop-woop as the car unlocked, and then Connor walked around to the driver's side and opened the door.
Suddenly his eyes widened: "Oh no…" the white buck whispered.
"What? What's wrong?" Bigwig asked concernedly.
"The door wasn't closed all the way, the lights were on!" Connor answered loudly, "No no no no no…" He climbed frantically into the truck and turned the key: "Chk chk chk chk chk!" went the engine.
"CHK CHK CHK CHK CHK!"
"FUCK!" Connor swore before anyone could cover Pipkin's ears, "The battery's dead!"
Panting loudly he dug out his phone again: "Dad? The truck battery's dead! Get someone to bring the pickup and jumper cables, quick!"
"Will the packages be okay?" Pipkin asked, looking almost as frantic as Connor.
"Don't worry, they'll stay cold in there, we just need to jumpstart the truck!" Connor answered as he ran around to the front of the truck, the keys still in his paw. He reached under the hood, popped the latch and lifted the hood up, but in his haste he failed to put the hood rod in properly, and as soon as he let go the hood fell- CLUNK! "OW!"
Clank! There was a sudden silence as the last sound reached everyone's ears: it was small and metallic, like keys hitting metal. Connor quickly lifted the hood up again from his head, set the rod in place properly, and frantically began looking inside the engine: "Oh no no no no NO!" he cried.
"Now what's wrong!?" Bigwig asked loudly.
"The keys fell in here! I CAN'T SEE THEM!" Connor yelled, frantically feeling around inside the engine works with his paw. "FUCK!"
This time Blackberry did manage to cover Pipkin's ears just in time, and then she ran up next to Connor, shoved him aside and started feeling inside the engine herself. Her arms were thinner than Connor's, but it was to no avail.
"I can't find them either, it's too crowded in there!" she stated, "We need something small, like a fish hook, or…" Suddenly her ears shot up, and her head jerked in the direction of the ribbon table: "HANA!"
Standing on her work platform still tired from her work earlier, Hana gave a little jump at her name being called out, but she instantly got it. "Of course, I can fit in there, I'll get the keys back! Violet," she signalled the doe standing, "Grab this ribbon spool and bring me over there!"
"Right, Hana!" Violet grabbed a spool of thin red ribbon, picked up Hana in her other paw and brought her over to Connor and Blackberry.
"Woah, woah!" Connor waved his paws in front of him, "Are you sure? We can barely get our paws in there, if you get stuck we can't get you out!"
"You don't know much about mice, do you, dear?" Hana asked as she began tying the end of the ribbon around her waist, "My bones are collapsible – I can fit through a hole as small as a dime! This is no problem!"
She finished tying the ribbon and held the end up to Blackberry: "Okay, I'm going. Connor – give me some light, would you?"
"How… oh, yeah!" Connor dug out his phone once more, turned on the flashlight, and shone it into the engine as Blackberry began slowly lowering Hana into the truck engine. Hana slipped through a small opening in the mess of hoses and wires, and was gone. Thirty tense seconds went by in silence, Connor and Blackberry and Violet anxiously watching the twitching ribbon line while the others stood by in silence, and then: *Shrrrip!* "OW!"
"Hana? Are you alright? Talk to me!" said Blackberry.
"I'm fine, just tore my shirt," came the mouse's voice. "They're not here, can you move the light over?" Connor obliged, and he and the does listened to more tiny squeaks and sounds of struggle coming from the engine.
Hana carried on trying with all her might to maneuver the interior and find the keys, before her voice rang out: "I FOUND THEM!" The jingling of keys that came next was music to Connor's ears.
"Great job Hana!" he exclaimed happily. "Ready for pulling out now?" He got a tug and her voice shouting "Yes!" back.
Blackberry reeled the ribbon in and soon Hana emerged, clinging to the string with her torn shirt and fur covered in grime and the key ring wrapped around her neck. Everybody cheered as Connor picked Hana up in his paw and she passed the keys back to him, her little face beaming with triumph. She had done it, she and her small size had made a difference after all. It was such a small matter, but to her she might as well have just saved the farm.
"Thank you, Hana," Connor said, fondly stroking her dirty head with a white finger, "I owe you one, big-time."
"Think nothing of it, Love," Hana replied happily, "I'm just glad to be a help around here for once."
"Ohh, you didn't have to prove anything to us, we all believe in you," Blackberry said fondly.
Hana blushed at those words, "Oh, the truck's here!"
An old blue pickup truck bearing the pink HOPPS FAMILY FARM logo came pulling up and came to a crawl in front of the refrigerated truck. The rabbits and mouse got of the way and the truck inched closer, Connor signalling it, until it came to a stop with their bumpers a foot apart. A brown buck holding a set of jumper cables stepped out of the truck: it was Marcus.
"Connor, I've got the cables," Marcus called out. "Is everything else fine?"
"Yep, we're fine, Love," said Connor, looking at Hana. "We're just fine."
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The truck was jumpstarted, Marcus moved the blue truck out of the way, and then Connor got out and, with a kiss, invited his mate to join him on the trip. With some none-too-subtle convincing Marcus agreed, and soon the two were off to deliver the gift baskets. With that done the Sandleford group (with the exception of Hazel) returned to their work, feel a strong sense of accomplishment at what they had done that afternoon.
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Later on at 5 o'clock, when everyone was starting to think about going to the main house for dinner, a knock came at the guest house door: "Knock knock! Pizza party!"
Connor's voice rang out as he let himself into the house, Marcus following him carrying five large pizzas in his brawny arms.
"Pizza? OH BOY!" Pipkin ran into the kitchen to greet them first as Marcus set the boxes down on the table, jumping for joy at the smell of his new favourite food. Slowly other rabbits began to emerge from the stairway, smelling the air eagerly.
"Connor wanted to thank you all for the fine job you did on those packages," Marcus said.
"Why, thank you, this is a very nice surprise," said Blackberry, "I wish you'd called though, you almost missed us."
"Yeah, we couldn't call if we tried – we gotta hook up the phone in here," Connor replied as he started pulling large bottles of soda out of a bag he was carrying. "Okay everyone, we got 4-cheese, Greek, Deluxe and Rabbit-Special (that's three kinds of carrots on it). And where's our guest of honour? We got something special for her!"
Given how few females there were in the group, it didn't take long to deduce whom he was referring to, and all eyes turned to Hana who was being carried over by Holly. The mouse hopped onto the table and looked up in anticipation at the white buck.
Connor regarded her fondly, "First off, a big round of applause to our friend whose small size and big heart saved the day!" he called out as he started clapping, and soon everyone in the kitchen joined in his applause, the mouse on the table blushing furiously.
"Two minutes of looking for keys, we all did the real work," Hawkbit grumbled under his breath.
"Hey, if she didn't find those keys, the whole day's work might've spoiled before we could get another truck!" Holly hissed at him.
"And secondly," said Connor to Hana, "We couldn't help but notice that this rabbit-sized house has no mouse-sized amenities for you. Basic things like furniture and kitchenware, for example."
"Oh, I really don't needs that, I'm used to making do," Hana answered.
"Regardless, you're sort of an honorary Hopps rabbit now, and we look after our own," said Connor dramatically, "Now there's not many stores in this town that cater rodents, but while we were on the road we texted Kevin, you remember Kevin, and asked if he could look around the basement for us, and he found wonderful old dollhouse with accessories that should be just your size!"
And out from another bag he began producing miniature dollhouse toys just right for a mouse and putting them on the table: a bed, a couch, a little cabinet, a set of dishes and cutlery, and a dining table with a pair of chairs that Hana could use for eating.
"Ooh, this is lovely, and just for me?" Hana beamed, examining the toy plates.
"It's the least we could do," Connor replied. "Essential workers need the proper accommodations to work their best!"
"Well, it'll be so nice not to have to eat with my paws anymore!" Hana agreed as she set a dish on the table and her new knife and fork next to it.
"Allow me," said Connor, as he pulled out the tiny chair for her like a gentlebuck. Hana sat down as he pushed the chair in, and then he cut a tiny triangle off a slice of cheese pizza and put it on her plate. And then as a finishing touch, ever so carefully poured a measure of orange soda into a mini-cup and handed to her.
Quickly he then grabbed more cups, filled them with soda and started passing them around. Once that was finally done he raised his own cup: "To Hana!" he called out.
"HANA!" everyone cheered and drank, and then started filing up in line to collect their own pizza slices.
"One more thing," Connor said to Hana once everyone was served and had started to eat, "Kevin also found this old remote control car in the basement, and I got a cousin who's good with electronics. I bet he could get it going again, and rig it so you can drive around and not need everyone to carry you! How's that sound?"
Hana's ears shot up, her face alight at the thought of not having to be carried around anymore. "OHHH!" she leapt up and planted a little kiss on his paw, the closest part of him she could reach. "Thank you," she said, "Thank you."
Connor gave her an affectionate little head rub with his finger. "Hana," he said, "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
Whew, this took quite a bit of work but man, we got a friendship established between Connor and Hana after she saved the day with finding the truck keys! Seems Zootopia will getting supplies for the Wave victims after all! There is hope for the city!
Next time, Hana tries out her new car and Holly gets a bit more reveals about his past life!
