Chapter 25: Dinner with Mister Big
Marie is surprised when she is whisked away to have dinner with the mobster and Jake's friend Mister Big and she finally meets Fru Fru.
For what Jake has been up to, read Chapter 13: Lost Mountain; Chapter 14: Odd Family Tradition; and Chapter 15: Enter the Thief of Zootopia of A Raccoon's Redemption.
"Excuse me, Marie," Larry said in his heavy northern accent before the arctic hare stepped between the angry raccoon and the obnoxious beaver. "I need to speak to you about doing me a favor."
"Hey Kevin, I have your coffee here," Elouise said while she approached the polar bear with a massive coffee mug in her hoofs. She seemed to slip and with a gasp, the warm liquid spilled from the cup and doused the beaver with the black steaming liquid. "Oh my…I slipped!"
"Dammit!" the now drenched self-righteous accountant cursed while he shook himself. "You did that on purpose!"
"Of course, I didn't," Elouise exclaimed with her hoofs in the air. "I tripped, sorry!" There were snickers from the other conference members when their comrade stormed away towards the elevator.
"Thanks," Marie whispered while the ewe helped the polar bear start to blot up the spilled beverage.
"As I was saying before our friend's unfortunate accident, I require your assistance," Larry continued. "I had a conversation a few minutes ago with Mister Woodster about a couple of my client's accounts that I have not been able to provide the level of service that they require."
"You spoke with my boss?" Marie asked in surprise.
"Yes, of course, Harold and I belong to the same club," the hare smoothly answered. "Anyways, I have these accounts that I am prepared to transfer to your firm with the understanding that you will personally handle them. But first, my client insists that you have dinner with him tonight."
"Tonight? But I'm supposed to be here at the conference tonight, I can't just take off."
The hare took her paw and smiled. "Of course you can, my dear. Mister Woodseter is rather insistent that you have dinner with my client, Mister Big. These are a couple of significant accounts."
Her ears dropped as she looked at the white-furred artic rabbit in the blue blazer. "Why do I have the feeling that I've been set up?" she sighed.
"Because you have been, sweetheart," Kevin chuckled. "Now we will be leaving around four this afternoon, dress for dinner, that black dress in the picture Jake showed me would be fine. It'll be late by the time you finish, so pack your stuff, you're not coming back."
After lunch that afternoon, she began to pack her things. "Sorry to leave y'all to drive back alone," the raccoon said to her temporary roommate.
"Actually, Larry is riding back with me tomorrow but why do you seem a little nervous about this whole thing?" Elouise asked.
"I'll be okay, it's just that Mister Big is Jake's friend and I want to make a good impression," Marie answered. She didn't want to tell her coworker that she was having dinner with one of the city's most powerful crime lords.
She refused to sit in the backseat of the black sedan but sat in the passenger's seat so she could talk to Kevin. She was aware the affable white bear in the black suit was probably a trained and merciless killer, but she felt safe when she was with him. They talked and laughed while they drove the many miles from the hotel to Tundratown. She always marveled at the great wall that separated the snowy cold part of the city that was nicknamed T-Town from the rest of the metropolis. After passing through a long tunnel, the roads became slick and icy, but the big bear handled the large vehicle as easily as he did on the other side of the wall. While they drove along, he began to point out many of the town's famous and infamous snow-covered sites.
"This side of the wall is much more pred friendly," Kevin added with a smile. "As you can see from the businesses, we have a lot more restaurants that serve both preds and prey. You and Jake being coons can eat just about anywhere, but we big bears prefer some fish or poultry with our meals."
"Was that just a fish market?" she marveled when they drove by and then she exclaimed. "Blubber Chef? Does that place serve whale meat?"
"Of course not!" Kevin laughed. "The chef is a sea lion and is making fun of his girth, we don't eat other mammals!"
He pulled the black sedan down an icy road and stopped at a huge iron gate that was dripping with icicles. Behind the heavily guarded walls stood a large imposing grey stone snow-covered mansion and as the gates opened, from out of the snowfall two large armed polar bears in black suits and ties appeared. Kevin greeted them as they warily checked out the vehicle before allowing it to enter the compound.
"This is a rather large place for a shrew," Marie observed as they drove towards the mansion's front door.
Kevin just smiled before he stopped the sedan by the entryway and watched while a snow leopard in an attendant's uniform rushed down to open the door. "I'll see that your bag is taken to Jake's room," he said. "Have fun tonight and don't worry, everyone here loves Jake and they'll love you too."
"Jake has a room here?" she asked.
"Of course he does, he's like one of the family," Kevin replied with a grin.
Her ears were flat in nervous anticipation and she clutched her handbag before she stepped out of the vehicle. "Oh my Gawd, you're as beautiful as Jake said you were!" a small voice called out from the stairwell and she looked down the see a grinning fashionably dressed female shrew with poofy black hair looking up at her.
"Thank you," the raccoon replied. "And you must be Fru Fru, Jake has told me so much about you. That is a lovely dress you are wearing and such a pretty hairdo."
"Thank you!" the shrew grinned as she excitedly waved her forward with her diamond-studded paws. "Come on inside, it is so good to finally meet you!"
She followed the shrew into the large entrance hallway, which had huge paneled walls that led up to a set of stout oak stairs. There were large paintings of shrews on the wall, obviously famous members of the Big family from centuries past. Several black-suited polar bears watched when she bent over to greet the small shrew. Then a pretty arctic fox in a maid's uniform joined them and put her paws down for Fru Fru to step onto and picked her up so she was the same height as Marie. "Thank you, Sarah," the shrew smiled. "This is much better, now we can talk without you having to stoop over. So our Jake is in the mountains, freezing his tail off while we are nice and warm here inside the mansion. I am sending him a package of warm clothes tomorrow, he really didn't pack for the weather and it looks like he will still be there tomorrow night."
"He didn't tell me that he was stuck up there, but with the snow falling like it is in the mountains I'm not surprised," Marie replied while she walked alongside the shrew and the fox. They entered a large den and she was shocked at the size of the smiling polar bear who was standing inside, like the other bears he was wearing a black suit but with a white turtleneck shirt and several gold chains around his neck.
"There she is!" a voice called out from the desk. She looked to see an older shrew in a black suit peering at her through his black bushy eyebrows. "Come in my dear, I'm Bartholomew Big and this is my associate Koslov."
Unsure what to do, Marie curtsied. "It's a pleasure to meet you, sir," she nervously replied. But then the shrew threw his paws open and she stepped forward to let him kiss her on her cheeks. She stepped back and shook Koslov's large paw.
"Well my dear, please sit down," Mister Big waved towards one of the chairs. "Let's get to know each other better over an aperitif, would you care for a glass of apple brandy?"
They spoke for about an hour and then over dinner, where she met Mrs. Bigg who looked very much like an older version of her daughter. Fru Fru's husband Antonio was conspicuously absent, he had sent a message that he was detained at the office and Koslov gave an involuntary low growl when he heard the news. Outside of that minor incident, Marie found that the shrew and his family were very charming. By the end of dinner, she was relaxed and actually was having a good time. "So Marie, I have hatched a plot to surprise Jake and I need your help," Fru Fru giggled.
"What kind of plot?" the raccoon suspiciously asked as they entered the bedroom that the maid had called Jake's room.
"I promised him that a special package was going to be delivered to the campground tomorrow," the grinning shrew added while the arctic fox sat her down on the oversized bed and then left.
"So what is in this package?" Marie asked as she sat down near her.
"You!" Fru Fru giggled before she gave the raccoon a wink. "Poor Jake is alone up there in those cold, cold mountains and he could use some warm company...if you know what I mean?"
Marie looked down at her in surprise. "I can't do that…I don't…I…" she began to object.
"Yes you can, if you want to!" Fru Fru laughed and then seeing the look Marie was giving her she added. "Don't tell me that you two haven't made love yet?"
"That's not…well, no…but…" the flustered raccoon began. Then she remembered the revealing photo that the male raccoon had sent her and began to reconsider her objections. "But I didn't bring any winter clothing suitable for camping."
"Is that all?" the shrew clutched her paws together and leaned forward with a devious smile. When after the raccoon nodded, she laughed, "Time to go shoooopppping!"
"But aren't all the stores now closed?" Marie asked.
"Not when you own the biggest winter clothing boutique in Tundratown!" Fru Fru called out while she clapped her paws together in apparent happiness.
She had the hardest time keeping Fru Fru quiet when Jake finally called and she surprisingly lied while she talked about the conference that she wasn't attending and listened to him tell her all about the day's events. When she hung up, she looked over at the shrew. "I can't believe I just did that!" she sighed. "I never have lied to Jake before."
"You didn't lie, you just misinformed him," the shrew replied as she waved her paw in a dismissive manner.
"You sound like a lawyer," Marie dryly observed to the grinning shrew before she picked her up.
Half an hour later the raccoon found herself inside of a luxury clothing boutique that was empty except for the shrew, her bodyguard Kevin, and another larger, older polar bear named Raymond. "Now, that is definitely the ski suit that you need!" Fru Fru exclaimed Marie tried on her third outfit of the evening. She admired herself in the mirror and the medium blue winter coat and lighter blue snow pants did look good on her, then she glanced at the tag and winced at the price.
"I'm not sure, I mean I doubt if I'll need such an expensive outfit in the future...?" she replied.
"Girlfriend, that's the retail price!" Fru Fru interrupted with a laugh. "I own this store, so there's no charge. It'll be worth the price just for you to see Jake's face when he sees you in it."
The two of them had been into the Champagne a little too much and she couldn't help but blurt out, "I don't want him to see me in anything!" Then realizing what she said, she blushed at the shrew's laughter. She could hear Kevin's deep chuckling from near the front door and Raymond just looked over at them with a smile.
"Honey, that is the general idea," Fru Fru clapped her paws again in glee. "But you can't freeze to death before you get that far! Besides, you'll need that outfit plenty of times when you come with Jake to visit us."
"Good point!" Marie hiccuped. "So we can skip the display of flannel pajamas since I don't plan to wear them!"