Chapter 15: The Bitter Truth

Jake spills his entire life story to Marie.

"I told you about my parents," Jake started, he was hunched down in the chair with his paw clasped together while he looked down at the carpet. "How I barely survived and that both my mother and my littermate died during childbirth. Am I still bitter about the fact that if my mother had been allowed inside a real hospital, instead of an understaffed and ill-equipped clinic in Happy Town, they both probably would have lived? The answer is hell yes! Zootopia wasn't like Warrenton, our kind was not welcome in prey facilities back then. They called it being separate but equal, but it was never equal and in some ways, it still isn't."

The raccoon pushed himself further into the plush fabric of the chair before continuing, "Pop tried his best to raise me as well as any single father could and he worked double shifts when he was allowed to do so for the money, but the city's sanitation department was always short in its budget. He brought home broken items, such as toasters and televisions, that he salvaged from the trash. He would repair them and sell them to pawn shops for extra cash just to make ends meet. I was in college when he was killed by a drunken driver...run over by a rich judge's wife. She just kept going and didn't even stop while she left Pop dying on the side of the street but I guess to her, he was just another damn pred that didn't count. I quickly found out that the judicial system is not fair for when they caught her, the judge just slapped her with a lame fine and some community service instead of sending her to jail. As for me, well they screwed me over really good because the city left me with having to pay the larger balance of the hospital bills and all the funeral costs. They even yanked his pension since I was over eighteen, so I could not pull from what he was due."

Marie leaned forward and briefly her paw started to reach toward him, he sounded so hurt and bitter, but then she sat back and sighed while he continued. "I was broke, so I had to drop out of school and try to find a job. You would have thought after all those years of college I should have been at least eligible for an entry tech job, but no one would trust a coon. Anyways, I found myself falling more and more behind, pawning what little we owned to pay the medical bills. Finally, I found myself homeless and on the streets, but in some ways I was fortunate that I ended up in a flophouse on River Street. By this time I was so angry and ashamed that I turned my back on Sonya, her grandfather, and everyone I knew. You've never known what's like to go hungry for days and to share a broken-down bed, shivering in an unheated room. I spent days digging in the trash for scraps of food and working backbreaking jobs for just a pawful of cash."

"I had hit rock bottom when some of my old pals came to me with an offer, you see I used to work for a locksmith and I had an interest in alarm systems along with locks and safes. I was a natural burglar and so I put those talents to work stealing from others. But as the money came in I realized it wasn't the stealing that I was thriving on, but it was the excitement of the challenge. Soon I had enough money to afford my own cheap room, regular meals, and even had some left to have fun with. But I was lonely, I had my questionable associates who I knew were using me, but no one else and so I turned to the street ladies…prostitutes," he sighed and watched as a group of businessmammals passed by their little corner.

He looked everywhere but into her eyes and she didn't stop him. "I learned a lot from the ladies, especially a wildcat named Meredith. She taught me how to pleasure a female, but more importantly, she taught me that I wasn't worthless and helped me rebuild my confidence. We spent more time talking than we did having sex, she became my friend and still is today."

"Do you still see her?" Marie asked.

"Yes, but only to talk," he quickly replied as he glanced up at her. "We haven't made love since I told her about you."

The female raccoon gave him a skeptical look, which he ignored. He looked down at the carpet again and continued, "Meredith wasn't the only friend I made down on River Street and I became part of the community. For me, that street is more my home than Happy Town ever was or even here. It's a place where I am welcomed and accepted, even loved and not judged. I was happy, but once again fate kicked everything out from under me. The more successful I became, the more the mob wanted me to join their ranks and I refused."

"Did the Northern Mafia ever make you an offer?" she asked. "Is that when you joined his mob?"

"Mister Big made an offer and I refused," Jake replied. "So did other mobsters throughout the city."

"Why?" Marie asked.

"I wanted to be independent," he shrugged, but then his shoulders slumped. "That's not true, it was because I knew what I was doing was wrong no matter how much I justified my actions. That was my undoing because my pals set me up to get caught by the cops and I went to jail. It was during the time I was locked up that I realized there was no future for my life in crime. Jimmy Ratzoilli was my cellmate for most of the time and he talked me into going straight, to start my life anew. He is twice my age and after all those years in crime, he had nothing to show for it."

She thought he was done because he stared over at the hotel's front door. He looks so venerable, just like a kit waiting on his parents to come to get him and take him home, she thought. He says River Street is home, but he's still lost and still searching.

Suddenly he continued, "Yeah, I got out on parole and was determined not to go back to being a burglar, but I was now a coon with a record. I was living proof that what others think of us isn't just a stereotype but still, I tried to change. I was wandering through my life, both physically and spiritually, and then I stumbled across an assassination attempt on Mister Big. You know the story about my bringing down Ronnie Charger, the rhino. What I didn't tell you was that Mister Big is the Godfather of one of the city's most powerful mafia gangs."

"That's when you joined his gang," she accused him.

"No, I turned him down again. But he paid me for my day's service with a nice bonus and then he got me an attorney, found me this place to live in, and encouraged me to start my business. At first, I thought he was setting me up, but he wasn't and gradually he became a friend. In many ways, he's like a mentor, someone I can talk to about mostly anything. We've always kept his business free from mine, taking care to avoid each other professionally. I've made other friends in his gang, some of who are dangerous, but I soon got to understand that there is more to the mob than just criminals. They are more like a family and Mister Big takes care of those who work for him, but he also takes care of the community. They call him the Guardian of the North and he has some kind of royal blood, I don't really understand how that works?"

He stopped and stared at the ceiling with a forlorn look. He's stalling, she thought. Why is he stalling?

"Did you know there are no homeless in Tundratown?" He suddenly asked, she shook her head no and he smiled at her. "Most of the charities survive on Family money. Tundratown Hospital is the second most advanced healthcare facility in the city and there is very little serious crime on that side of the wall."

"So why haven't you joined?"

"Simple, I like doing what I do now better than what I did before. So here before you sit with a sinner, a guy trying to find his way back into the world. I've got friends on both sides of the law and sometimes walk the fine line between them. As for going back to being a crook, I know Nick wouldn't stand for that and I doubt Mister Big would either."

"You think it's that simple?"

"It never is, Marie," he replied with a frown. "My life is a breeze compared to some mammals I know and that's why I believe in giving those who work for me second chances. Jimmy, Jerry, and Tails all are reformed cons, and so are a lot of my other employees."

"So that's it, everything?" she sat back and searched his eyes.

"No, there's more," he answered. "Twice in my life, I thought I was in love. The first was my college friend Sonya, but she didn't love me the way I thought I loved her."

"You told me about her."

"The second was with a cape jackal named Melinda Velt, I met her during the Winter Carnival in Tudratown and she was an insurance investigator who knew about me and my past. They called her Diamonds because she used to recover smuggled blood diamonds from her homeland and give the reward money to the refugees."

"She sounds like Robin Hood," the raccoon scoffed, Jake heard a hint of jealousy in her voice.

"She was no hero, but we did have a grand time together," he sighed. "In the end, we knew we couldn't give each other what we really wanted and now she's returned to her homeland."

"What was it she couldn't give you?"

"A family. My best friend is a fox married to a rabbit and they love each other deeply, but they will never have children. They tried a few times to adopt, but that didn't work out because there is still that underlining bigotry that exists within our society. Did you know that they still push abortions over adoptions for predators at those so-called family planning centers? Abortions over adoptions!"

She didn't reply, that would be a difference of opinion between them.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to go off that way, but Nick and Judy never got far enough with their attempts to adopt. Hell, Nick was even politely told that they didn't trust him with anything but a fox kit. I don't want to live my life like that, I want my own children."

"So how big of a family do you want?" Marie asked out of curiosity.

"Judy once told me that she comes from a family of over two hundred siblings," he replied with a huge grin.

"You don't need a mate, you need a harem of raccoons for that," Marie scoffed.

"I would really like at least two kits, everyone should have a brother or sister," Jake said as he shook his head. "I wish I did."

"Is that everything?" she asked.

"Can you forgive me?" he replied while he nodded. His eyes desperately search hers.

"I'm going to have to think about it, Jake," she sighed and stood up. He too stood and began to reach for her, but he let his paw fall to his side and nodded.

"Good night, Jake," she said before she turned and with tears in her eyes, she walked out of the hotel.

Across the room, the night shift had begun and a young black bear took her place behind the reception desk. She looked over at her favorite raccoon and saw there were tears streaming down his face when he turned and slowly walked towards the elevator. She fumbled for her phone and called a phone number that she was given back when the police were looking for Jake as a kitnapping witness. "Officer Wilde? This is Trisha at the Regency…it's Jake, he needs your company…I think he just broke up with his girlfriend."