"Do make yourself comfortable; we have farm business to attend to, so catch you back when the sun starts to set!" Stu voiced out as the rabbit couple exited the farmhouse.
Bidding them a quick farewell, I sunk back down against the soft pillows of the couch. They were kind enough to let me rest indoors till evening when they come back from work. During the afternoon it was accessible to the community under the supervision of a few Hopps family members, most of them were manning the booths right outside while doing so. Seemingly, this place was opened to public visitors like myself; which I had clearly mistaken it for their actual living quarters.
"So many things happening today, huh," I muttered under my breath as l stared at the ceiling.
Multiple things all happened to me so chaotically that it did not feel like it took place on the same day. Speaking about time sense, time seemed to have stopped running during the whole moment which I was out and unconscious. Was there even a scientific explanation for such a mind boggling event? Perhaps I should have watched more science fiction; Quantum physics was Greek to me. I raised my "hands" to my face. I am a fox now – is that a good thing or a bad thing? I really needed a nice long look at myself in the mirror if I ever find one. I reached an arm under my shirt, ruffling the soft fur which had now covered my formerly bare chest entirely. Man, this was weird. For some reason, it felt strangely good that it was quite embarrassing. Luckily, no one was here to see me acting all strange and looking dumb. Maybe that was why dogs always loved a good old belly rub, I believed.
An idea sprung up to my mind. Seating up straight, I tried to produce a growl. To my disappointment, it still sounded like me – a typical teenaged human letting out a subdued grunt. I guess I do not know how to fox yet, I chuckled. The only fox thing which I had gained apparently was fluid control of my tail and a way better sense of smell. Even from the couch, I could distinguish the fragrance of the marketed produce outside. Now to hope that I would never come across anything foul smelling.
Living life here might take some time and effort to get used to how things work around here as an animal; but I would prefer to return back to the real world. My friends and family would be worried sick, especially my family. However, on second thought, I may have been eaten alive or clawed to death by that ruthless bear – resulting in me being transported to another world to continue my life as a new being. It was demoralizing to think of it that way but I do not see any other logical justification as to how I was brought here. I sighed, closing my eyes. How am I going to proceed from here? I needed guidance.
Guidance… Oh yes, my smartphone!
I sat up straight. If my clothes were still intact when I was brought here, it should have transferred along as well. To my relief, I did feel an object weighing down inside of my pants side pocket. Reaching into the pocket, I grabbed hold of the smartphone. I hesitated.
"This better have not run out of battery power," I pleaded.
To have a phone running on a flat battery was the most clichéd situation one could ever dared imagine when they are stranded and lost. I had seen plenty of scenes which played out just like that, though majority of those times were from extracts in various thriller or survival movies. But that did not rule out the possibility of me suffering from the same unthinkable fate when I pulled out my own smartphone.
Thank the gods, the phone was healthy and in working condition. And it had around sixty percent of battery left to spare. I would have figured the numbers to be way lesser than what it was right now since I remembered that I had carelessly forgotten to charge it back at home. Perhaps Mom had plugged it to charge when she was up in the morning. What a life saver! I squinted in confusion as I noticed some kind of title on the top left corner of my phone screen.
"Stam…pede?" I read out the white text which was labelled in the notification bar.
"Hang on a second… I am connected to a service provider?" I exclaimed in astonishment.
Hope growing inside of myself, I opened the web browser. It took a brief moment of buffering before the homepage started loading. But all of my anticipation went down the drain as soon as I saw the "Zoogle" webpage, which clearly meant that there was no chance of me trying to call home as the service belonged to this mammal populated city. I shook my head sadly - Humans had never existed in this world to begin with.
"There is always a catch to everything, is there?" I mumbled, typing random letters into the search bar.
To my utter discontent, I could not even browse through the city's internet. It consistently brings me back to an error page informing me that the phone's operating system was not compatible; and even suggested to me that maybe my phone could be outdated. Which was pretty obvious given that my phone was alien to this world as well. Nothing was going according to what I had yearned for. All that I could assume was that I had gloriously arrived at the steep slope where everything goes downhill – literally everything.
Turning around in my seat, I planted my face into the pillows and groaned. I would have cried and bawled out my frustrations if I was not that hard boiled of a guy. I had always believed that shedding tears never solved a crisis. Even with that motive instilled in my head, I still could not bat off the feeling of homesickness that occasionally washes back to me like a tidal wave that dissipates at slower rate than it arrives; leaving the sand damp and moist with the aftertaste of loneliness in its wake. Despite the fact that I was alive and well in Zootopia and not running for my life from a horde of reanimated corpses in an apocalyptic world, it still did not feel right. Ultimately, this would take a while to adapt accordingly to this new form of living.
I flipped onto my back, leaning against the curvature of the sofa's armrest. Perhaps a nap would clear up my cluttered mind and relief the stress. This technique had always proven itself effective for most circumstances, and I had been adapting it every time there was a major exam that I had to prepare for. I rested my hands on top of my body; taking in deep gradual breaths as I fixed my eyes on the ceiling. It did not take me long before I began feeling heavy-eyed.
"Richard! Richard, wake up kiddo! You would not want others see you dozing off now, would you?" Stu shook me by the shoulders.
I let out a self-content yawn, stretching myself from my slumber. I glanced dreamily at Stu as I sat up from the couch.
"How long have I been sleeping?" I asked.
"Well, we have just came back from our duties. I would say around four hours?" Stu regarded factually. He let off a hearty chuckle as he gave my shoulder a firm push. "You are quite the heavy sleeper you know that? It took me several attempts to get you up."
Darn. I slept for that long? Must have been a comfortable dream I was having; although I had already forgotten what it was about the minute I was awake. Bonnie was standing beside Stu as usual. She smiled when I turned to face her. Seeing her present soothed me on the inside; something incomparable which I believed all mothers possess – a calm embracing warmth. Maybe I was beginning to really miss my parents.
"Isn't it time for you to close the farmhouse? I must get going then, thank you two for the hospitality; I really appreciate it." I thanked the couple as I stood up. I did not plan to burden them any further with my problems.
"Hold up, we are able to hitch you a ride back to town if you are heading back," Bonnie offered, grabbing onto my paws as I was about to turn away.
"You know, you should take that offer since the train station is always packed full at Bunny Burrows," Stu agreed. "Squeezing with all the big ones might make you smaller."
I paused. True enough, I bet my life on it that my wallet would definitely not be of any help trying to purchase a one way ticket back to the bustling metropolis. The ticket counter would definitely not accept human currency as payment. I considered my options. Should I take on the offer? Or risk it?
"It is getting late and I do not wish to bother you folks any further," I answered back with a smile.
"It's all good as day, kid! Besides, it would not be us who will be driving you back to town," Stu exclaimed.
I tilted my head in question. "Neither of you are?"
"Judy would be paying us a quick visit today before heading back to the precinct. We were thinking that you could perhaps join us for dinner before you leave with her," Bonnie replied.
"Besides, it would be fun to watch Jude's reaction to when you munch vegetables!" Stu commented.
"It's fine, really. If it does make you feel uneasy, take it as one last welcome gift from us for your first visit to our farms today," Bonnie added. I looked back at Bonnie, not certain of what to decide upon. She gave my paws a soft reassuring squeeze.
"If you guys are fine with it… I guess I will stay for the meal," I conceded, smiling. The pair beamed in delight from my answer.
"Boy, Judy is sure going to like you!" Stu noted. "She really has a liking for foxes, you know."
I chuckled at his statement. Stu could not have said it any better. Over the entirety of the movie, she had made friends with three foxes within a mere frame of two days. Not considering the period of time where she had the rather unexpected conflict with Nick during the Night howler case, she had zero problems being close friends with the trio.
"I hope she does," I laughed. To be honest, it was quite exciting knowing that I would be socializing with the main protagonist of the movie just like that. It really makes me wonder of what the characters have been doing past what was shown in the film. Furthermore, I get to experience all of this phenomenal magic first hand. Maybe things are not as bad as I thought there were.
