France, 1962, before travelling to US
"So what are you going to tell us about our dad?" Jack asked curiously, letting his long legs dangle from the stool he was sitting on.
"Well, your father's name is Jesse Krupnik," their mother said, seated across the kitchen table. "As you know, Jack has his looks," their mother said, gesturing at him, "and Rose got his eyes."
Jack nodded fervently with a casual slouch on his shoulders. Beside him, Rose leaned forward, her back a graceful arch.
"And we also know he's got good taste," Jack said, a serious look in his eyes.
Rhoda looked up thoughtfully to her floppy rabbit ears. "Well, he does dress nicely. Why'd you say that?"
He grinned, his own rabbit ears perking up. "Because he married you!"
Jack regretted his words as soon as it left his mouth. Their mother's eyes suddenly watered into shimmering robin eggs and she bowed her head, her bangs shrouding her gaze.
An elbow suddenly connected painfully on his ribs. Jack rubbed the injury with a resentful look at his sister. But Rose looked ahead as though nothing happened.
"Maman," Rose hastily said, "We know you're uncomfortable talking about our father. I can tell it, Jack can feel it despite his blunt sense of subtlety-"
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!"
"-but we would appreciate anything you will have to say about our father. Letting us meet him is more than enough. Je suis heureux comme un poisson dans l'eau."
Their mother sat there, her head still bowed.
They both suddenly yelped when their torsos were dragged across the table with each of their mother's arms wrapped around them.
"Aaw… how did I get so blessed with such wonderful children?" Rhoda cried, rubbing her cheeks against theirs.
"Ma…" Jack choked from their mother's one-arm embrace. Being rather long in frame, it wasn't exactly comfortable when he's halfway across the table.
With a vise-like arm around his neck.
Their mother must have mistaken his choking for something else because she began to rock them. Hearts began to project all over the room.
"Don't worry, Jack, I just felt so touched with your words then your sister just have to be a cherry on top!"
There was a muffled sound and Jack attempted to signal their mother to let go by patting her arm.
Apparently, she mistook it for something else again, because her grip became tighter.
"I love you two so much…" she whispered, love brimming in her voice.
Jack gurgled. Rose, however, was enjoying the moment with her legs tucked comfortably on the table's surface.
"So what do you have to tell us about our father, Maman?" she inquired.
Rhoda let go of them and Jack gasped, straightening up.
The twins leaned forward. Rhoda looked at each of them.
Tell them the truth, Mina said.
Her son and daughter were looking at her expectantly. The memory of Mina's voice echoed.
After what he did? They'll be turned off from meeting him, much less, hear more about him.
Rhoda took a deep breath.
"Okay kids, there are a few things you need to know about your father. We had been happy but then he wasn't, I decided to let him go. So I moved here in France!"
Jack and Rose stared at her.
"He's a very nice man. Quiet like Rose," she smiled, gesturing at her daughter. "People might think he's standoffish. But once you get to know him, he's quite warm-hearted."
Jack made hacking coughs that sounded like "Rose" and "except the last part".
Rose stretched out a delicate hand and shoved him without as much as a glance.
Rhoda beamed at them softly.
"Things didn't work out between your father and me. But given the chance, you two would be able to get along with him pretty well."
Hollywood, 1950
Leroy Hyena looked sadly at the sight with his hands deep in his pockets.
He sighed as he watched the workmen take down the metal fonts "MAROON CARTOON STUDIOS" on the front of the Administrator Building.
Some of the other toons loitered to watch the humans at work.
"So it's true. Acme is taking over," a gangly lion said.
The others grunted, mumbled and even barked in acquiescence.
"Don't mind it actually, Acme's done a great favor to us," one of them replied.
A frog in a bowtie looked at him with scorn. "Maroon had done a great favor to us."
Leroy remained silent, sensing the impending argument. ToonTown was split between two pro-toons –the fired founder that gave jobs to toons and the takeover master that gave her land to toons.
He rubbed his arm. What's the point of arguing about that? He slouched and turned to walk away.
"Heard that Jesse Krupnik took the part of sound mind and Acme of sound body."
His floppy shoe stilled in midair.
A goat with a cane chewed on a stem of hay. "Are ya sure you it wasn't the other way around?"
There was a ring of laughter. Leroy was numbly aware of his nails digging into his palms. ToonTown gossip column was full of Jesse running around with the middle-aged business lady. Ever since his wife left, Jesse was…
"That guy is such a power-hungry cad. Who knew he would be the one who'd turn two good people against each other?"
This time, there was a stronger murmur of assent.
Leroy bit his lip. He wanted to tell them that they got it wrong. Jesse wasn't like that. Jesse was one of the people who are good, who treated him like an actual person, who-
"Hey, ugly! Yer lookin' at me like I'm diarrhea yer trying to hold back. Ya got somtin' ta say?" the bulldog asked, folding his muscular arms in front of him.
Leroy blinked, realizing he had been shaking.
"Nothing," he mumbled, lowering his head.
Their attention was momentarily diverted when the marquee "ACME Studios" was replaced on the front of the building.
The old goat's eyes squinted as though condemning the sign. "That no-good son of a gun took away Maroon's everything."
Leroy looked sadly at the old poster of "Baby Mina" cartoon shorts, the rabbit frozen in gleeful rapture.
"Then I guess they're even," he mumbled to himself.
ToonTown, 1962: Night One in Hollywood
"They're hiding something, Maman and Aunt Mina."
Jack looked at his sister who was walking the entire length of his bedroom and back. The doe's face was impassive but her eyes were windows to grinding gears.
He patiently waited for her to continue. Rose always could pick up things that he wouldn't notice.
"We've never seen him" she said, standing in front of him. She shook her head at the fact that her younger brother was still taller than her even when seated.
Jack cocked his head, "Okay, and?"
Rose looked at him patiently. "We've never seen him, we've never heard of him, we wouldn't be able to meet him –not unless we had asked."
Her jaw tightened just a little when her dear humanoid brother still looked confused. "Okay, and? –aah!"
Soft hands suddenly pulled him close by the ears so that their foreheads rest against each other. Emerald gaze crashed with sky blue.
"It means our father is a sensitive subject to Maman."
Jack blinked at the close-up green-eyed intensity. His calm bunny sister did have her charged moments. "We already know that," he replied.
"But why?" she persisted.
He shrugged, his head still trapped between her hands and her forehead. "She said it didn't work out."
"So she let him go," she supplied. The doe let go of his rabbit ears. "Remember what you told me what the air feels like when Maman gets all quiet after she finally talked about our father?"
He sat back, his whole demeanor suddenly went blue. "Sad… enclosed."
She frowned thoughtfully, "Aunt Mina even said she doesn't like him-"
"Abhor."
Rose paused. "Huh?"
Jack gestured around. "Between the range of dislike and hatred, Aunt Mina sounds like she dislikes him but she felt," he grasped the air as though touching something tangible, "like she abhors him."
His twin sister stared at him.
"What?" Jack asked.
Rose shook her head. "Nothing. So Maman's upset about him and Aunt Mina abhors him," she concluded, holding her chin.
He looked at her. "I don't get it. Why? It sounds like they parted ways pretty well."
They both looked at the door they had enclosed for privacy.
"I don't think they parted in a good way," Rose said.
They looked at each other. Jack's eyes widened in horror.
"Mon diue, is that why she got upset when I said he's got taste for having married her?!" He scrambled across the bed for the door. "Maman! I'm so sor- Oof!"
Something collided on top of him and weighed him down on his spine.
"Ce n'est pas grave, Jack. We don't know why they hid it," Rose said.
"But Maman-"
"Is slow to anger and quick to forget," Rose simply said.
She waited for him to calm down before getting off him. The moment their eyes met, their minds clicked at one.
Jack felt himself smile, reading her mind.
"So what are we going to do about it?…" he asked, already knowing the answer.
Rose smiled a cool smile of her own. "We're going to find out why."
US/France, 1957
"I don't know what to do with those two," Rhoda sighed over the phone.
Mina grunted, listening to the clinking on the background. She could almost envision Rhoda washing dishes with the phone trapped between her shoulder and cheek.
"One time when they were four, there was a horrible crash then Rose was screaming. I ran to their room to find a giant hole on the ceiling and Jack out cold on Rose's lap. Turned out Jack bounced too high. Humanoids don't jump that high, Mina, but Jack did."
"Well," Mina drawled, "He isn't wholly humanoid, ya know."′
"That's the problem. Jack doesn't have the resiliency of an anthropomorph but he's as wacky as one –even now." There was a shifting sound as though Rhoda had shifted the phone to her other ear. "And I'm worried about Rose."
"Whaddya mean?"
"She's not very expressive. I have to rely on 'feeling' the air around her to know if she needs to laugh... or be left alone."
The "infant" lit her cigar, watching the embers glow. "I guess that's what you get when you mix paint with… you know."
The static crackled before Rhoda spoke. With her sigh, she could almost see the rabbit rubbing her temple.
"They'd always get into trouble."
Mina habitually raised her brows in agreement although Rhoda couldn't see her.
"Jack's a fighter with that defiant spirit in him. He can be brave but he can also be reckless." An exhale could be heard among the clinking of dishes.
"Rose doesn't have his fire, but she'd always question things if she thinks that ain't right. Adults hate to be corrected by kids and I won't always be there to act as a buffer."
Mina grunted in agreement. Only fools would suffer fools gladly.
"With the two of them together... Let's say it's a good thing I work in their school."
They both laughed, remembering the times the twins were herded into the principal's office for "causing trouble."
"But I have to admit I am glad," there was a tired smile in Rhoda's voice over the phone. "They're not going to be like me."
ToonTown, Mina's Manor, 1962; Day 2 in Hollywood
"Baby Mina, don't panic! I'll save ya!"
"Whee!"
Jack and Rose sat transfixed to the screen of Aunt Mina's home theatre. They were finally able to convince their mother to let them watch the "Baby Mina and Rhoda Rabbit" cartoon shorts.
The setting was in a high-class office. Somehow, the baby and the nanny ended up in it. Somehow, the baby found the air vent very fascinating. Somehow, the rabbit ended up in the only vent that was vertically aligned.
"Aaaaaaauuugghh!"
Unfortunately, for some reason, the vent wasn't also straight.
"Ow! Ooh! Ee! Ah! Ouch! Eek! Itai! Huy! Aïe! Aua! Ai, Porra!-"
A white ball of fur banged in every nook and cranny of the zigzagging vent.
"Av! Autsch! Akh! Aray! Eina! Ayah! Oy! Huy!-"
Jack whooped in laughter, clutching his stomach. He knew his mother rocks, but who knew she was this awesome! Such timing! Such style!
The scene changed into an office setting, a tall figure in a suit strode, carrying a briefcase.
"-aaaughh!"
Rhoda fell out of the vent and the camera focused on her dazed face, stars spinning around her head.
"Wha-?"
"Are you okay?"
Rose and Jack's jaws hang open when the camera zoomed out to show a man that looked like an older version of Jack–with their mother in his arms.
Mina laughed out loud at their reactions. "And that kids, is how she met your father," she joked.
The rabbit inside the cartoon short, however, stared at him like a deer caught in headlights. Slowly, her white fur tinged red. She suddenly squeaked over her closed fists, turning away so hard, she rolled off his arms with a crash.
"That's… our father?" Rose asked, awed. If Jack wanted to know how he would look like in 10 to 15 years, all he needed to do was look at the picture of their father.
Mina nodded. "Yep."
"Jeepers," Jack whispered, running a hand over red hair and rabbit ears.
Their mother on the screen suddenly stood up as though nothing happened.
"No, I'm fine," she giggled breathlessly, mushily twirling both of her ears.
Jack leaned away from the sight. "Was she also that crazy about our father before?"
Mina rolled her eyes. "Honey, you have no idea."
Jack flopped back to his bed, papers rustling.
Since their decision to find out more about their father, they've read every newsrag and magazine they could find that have "Jesse Krupnik" on it.
He raked his hand over crimson hair and rabbit ears. They've learned some in the "serious" journals. Their father was the first toon to be a board director to one of the largest animation studios. But most of them focused on events, not interviews.
It was nice seeing videos of their father, but he was acting in there. It wasn't like he was being himself.
He frowned, looking at the mags that had photos of their father in it.
"Hey."
Rose paused in turning a newsrag's page, slender rabbit feet tucked under her. "Oui?"
"How do you think our father and Maman got together?"
His twin sister shrugged. "We've yet to know."
Jack stretched, scratching his back. Only his quick reflexes saved the lamp that he accidentally knocked.
"It's just that Maman is so bright and cheery," he said, straightening up with the rescued furniture. "And in every pic of our father, I've never seen him smile."
"Maybe he doesn't have a sense of humor. Peut-être," Rose said offhandedly, going back to reading.
His streamlined ears went straighter in horror. "Why would Maman marry someone like that?"
Maroon Cartoon Studios, 1946
"No, I'm fine," she giggled breathlessly, mushily twirling both of her ears.
"AND CUT!"
Her sappy expression went off like a switch. "Jeepers! I finally got 'lovestruck' down the pat!" she exclaimed, hopping up and down in celebration. "Whoo-hoo!"
Jesse nodded in agreement but was suddenly pulled by the hands by the bouncing bunny.
"Thanks goodness girls flirt with you, Jesse! I've never seen such raw material!" she laughed, jumping around in a circle around him with their hands still connected.
A little smile tugging on his mouth was barely noticeable, as though the joy radiating from her was flowing through their joined hands.
He stared at their hands, wondering what hers would feel without her yellow gloves.
"The glazed gazes, the hair twirling, their giggly speech! It's actually a treasury of funny stuff! Who knew love would make people silly? Your fans-"
"It's not love."
Rabbit feet stopped bouncing. Their hands stayed entwined. "Huh?"
He stared at their hands, feeling the thumps resonate inside him.
"I would know," Jesse said quietly, meeting her eyes.
Rhoda blinked. A blind man who never saw the tremendous meteor that just passed by.
"Whelp, gotta go, Jesse! Thank you, thank you, thank you with lots of sugar and spice and everything nice on top of a giant cherry!"
With a quick hug, she zoomed off, calling for Mina.
The little smile was now more noticeable, like a fresh sprout on a crack of concrete, as he watched her go.
He had been letting her know, but she hadn't get it yet. But one day, he would tell her.
And he could only hope on what she would do next.
ToonTown, 1962, Day 5 in Hollywood
Even when she's safely in her car and away from the Nut Bar, Rhoda felt like sinking into her seat.
She shouldn't have met him. It was a bad idea. Just seeing him was a bad idea. Just he seeing her was a bad idea.
Everything had gone smoothly. But his face…
Rhoda slammed her head into the driver's wheel.
She knew him long enough to know that masked expression. It's what he wears when he's upset, or mad or sad but propriety states to keep up the front.
Her nails, if she had any, dug into the driver's wheel.
Didn't she tell him in the letter to be happy? Didn't she tell him she was letting him go? Didn't he want that? Did he hate seeing her again that bad that he had to have stones for eyes? What else did he want less from her so that he could be happy?!
She fumed and took a deep breath.
Calm down.
She exhaled slowly, letting it go out carefully from her mouth. A trick she got from Mina's Anger Management Therapist (which Mina ignored).
On the bright side, at least he agreed to let them meet him.
She perked, sitting up straighter. Jack and Rose would be thrilled.
Rhoda felt a little guilt that she had put this off for almost a week. She just needed some bonding time with Mina and… well, she was scared.
But not anymore, she puffed up her chest proudly. She had faced the dragon and she had accomplished her goal.
Her kids were going to be very happy on the good news.
And maybe, if seeing her caused him so much distress, she could always remove herself from his perimeters.
ToonTown, 1947
There were a lot of things Leroy Hyena had come to terms with in his life.
First of all, he knew he's dead ugly. He could have looked for an artist to redraw him to something more pleasing to the eyes. But aside from the fact that it would have been very expensive, it didn't parallel with his beliefs.
He was drawn this way and he'll stick with that.
Second, he's fully aware it will be hard for him to find a girl. But he's very optimistic that he'll find the girl who'll love him for his personality. He'll just have to be very active on the pursuit –no matter how many screams and headwhacks he would take.
Third, he may be ugly, but it helps getting friends who are actual friends. One of them was Jesse. Coincidentally, they share the same signature clothes although his bagged on the wrong places. In a distance, when the light played just right or when you squint really, really hard after drinking cobra tequila, people would say they almost have the same figure.
But even if Jesse was like an artist's gift to women and he was as ugly as sin (on the outside, mind you); Leroy knew he couldn't find a truer friend than him.
Said friend was now leaning on his doorway; completely, utterly and clearly drunk.
"What happened to you?" To say that Leroy was horrified was an understatement. In a world where he couldn't control how others treat him, Jesse liked self-discipline since it's the only thing he could control.
"Ineb… indeb… inbeburrrated… inberbriated," Jesse muttered, swaying a bit. His eyes looked exhausted and red. His clothes were disheveled.
This was not the Jesse he knew. His friend suddenly began to fall forward and he caught him. Together, he awkwardly got him inside his flat.
"I thought you went back home," he said although it was clear Jesse wasn't very vocal for now.
"Home… ish no more," was his friend's answer. It was getting surreal by the second. The alcohol was definitely blurring his vocal chords.
Leroy stared at him. "What are you talking about?"
Last night, Jesse had knocked on his door asking if he could stay for the night. There was sadness in his eyes that he didn't explain. He obliged although his friend didn't specify why.
Later on that morning, his friend was so distracted; he didn't even notice the headlines that Acme was almost murdered. Then Jesse said goodbye that evening.
He managed to pour Jesse into the sofa and he slumped on the floor, leaning against the furniture. He was literally skin and bones, for Warner's sake.
"A few weeksh ago… Maroon asked me to come into her office…" Jesse said, staring at something across the room and onto the wall.
Leroy stared, listening to his tale of blackmail and seduction, horror creeping into reality at what Maroon had done, what Jesse had done.
"I have to shtay here… can't face her." there was pain in his eyes at his words. Lying on his side, he looked like life was draining from him.
Leroy clamped his hand over Jesse's shoulder, if only to bring him at least a shred of comfort.
"Don't know what to do…. Had to go home…"
Leroy felt his throat tightening. In all the years he'd known him, Jesse was supposed to be the unbreakable one.
"Only there wash no home…"
Leroy wiped away the glimmer trailing down Jesse's face, panicking. He'd do anything to make it stop. "What are you talking about, Jesse?" he asked, frantic. "You still have a house, right? You-"
Then his eyes bugged, realization hitting him.
"Where's Rhoda?"
The next day, Jesse woke up like nothing happened. He got up and left after thanking Leroy. But his eyes were colder, harder.
Darker.
And that scared Leroy even more.
Hollywood, Valiant and Valiant Private Investigators Office, 1962
Maybe she should try cleaning from time to time.
Edna stood proudly before twelve rows of neater cabinet files. Already, the room felt breathable without the aged, dirty files.
Speaking of dirty...
Her eyes glanced at the Keep pile. She really shouldn't be displaying the scandalous photo of Acme and the toon out in the-
BANG!
Her head snapped to the window, across the road and into the bar-
"Doris!" she cried, haphazardly putting the photo inside its folder. Office door swinging, she was out in a flash.
France, 1952
"It's co-dependency," their teacher declared. "They should learn to be without each other."
Five-year-old Jack and Rose Rabbit never understood their teacher's logic. They're perfectly fine together. But the teacher requested Jack to be transferred to another class.
Five minutes later, Jack was sullenly facing the classroom's corner for being agitatedly disruptive. Yelling for his sister, demanding to go out, banging the windows (he tried to upend the teacher's table but was carried off). Meanwhile, Rose kept to herself and never interacted with other children.
But the teacher was firm. They should learn.
Before the day ended, she almost had a heart attack to see Jack happily seated behind Rose's desk beside his twin.
The next day, they were once again separated to different classrooms. Jack was once again beside Rose before Recess. This time, the teacher closed the door after escorting a protesting Jack back to his proper classroom. Rose spent the entire day looking down at her feet.
By Wednesday, the teacher locked the door before beginning the lessons. Just when they're finished Story Reading, Rose was telling Jack about Ali-Baba. Not only did Jack managed to sneak in again, the little rabbit girl had "borrowed" the advanced book and read that instead of their current story lesson.
The next day, the teacher closed both door and windows. It didn't took long to find out that Rose was unlocking windows behind her back.
By Friday, Rose was transferred to another class in the second floor. Jack still found her. She was then transferred to another class. And Jack still found her. This was repeated several times.
He didn't mind. It was like a big game of Hide-and-Seek with the entire school building. It didn't took long to find out their modus operandi. Rose would volunteer to sing whenever she was introduced to a new class. Jack, with his rabbit ears, would then escape and run around the school, following her voice.
That was the final straw.
The teacher finally called Maman to come to school and explained the problem. How Jack and Rose was disrupting class. How Jack is running around the school during class hours. How naughty Rose has been when she had always been a good girl.
Jack had stubbornly crossed his arms while Rose had quietly taken in to looking at her bunny feet.
And how Maman should tell them to get used to being separated.
The twins suddenly looked up to Maman.
There was silence as both teacher and twins looked at her expectantly.
"Kids," Maman finally asked quietly, "Is it true you've done nothing but try to be together?"
"That's right, a sign of co-dependency," the teacher agreed.
"No!" Jack said defiantly. The teacher sighed. They still haven't gotten to ruler-slapping that rebellious streak out of him. "We've done everything to be together!"
Rose said nothing. He already said all that needs to be said.
Maman looked at them for a long time.
"I think, Miss Charlotte, those were very independent thinking. It would be fine with me if they're in the same class."
Nobody likes to be wrong. But Jack and Rose never gave the teacher any problems after that.
Hollywood, 1962
"Doris!" Edna yelled, bursting from the entrance and pointing her pistol.
She was expecting someone crazy holding a smoking gun, having everyone held hostage.
She was halfway right. Somebody crazy was holding a gun and it was Angela. But nobody was being held hostage. In fact, all eyes were trained at her.
Her eyes scanned the whole area. "What's going on in here?" she slowly asked.
One of the barflies scuffed her fingernails on her coat. "Well, we've been all discussin' how are we goin' to get ya in here and Angela had a brilliant idea."
Her eyes zoomed to Doris who looked a bit nervous. "And you're allowing this shenanigans inside your bar?" she asked with a raise of a brow.
His hands flew up in defense. "It's not like they asked for permission."
She lowered her pistol. "Okay, I'm here now. What's going on?"
All of them expectantly looked at Doris. He sighed.
"They found out by accident," he muttered as he strode out from behind the bar.
"You've been keeping it for months now!" someone countered.
Edna scowled in confusion. "Keeping what?"
Doris kept walking, grabbed her and dragged her to the rotgut room.
"Nobody touches anything!" he yelled over his shoulder before closing the door.
"What is this all about?" Edna asked crossly.
"Sit," Doris ordered, pointing at one of the chairs.
Edna did for the sake of getting over it. "What now?"
Doris sat on the next chair and faced her. He took something out of his pocket. All the air in the room seemed to rush out when he slid it across the table.
"Will you marry me?"
The world suddenly stopped. Edna stared at the tiny rock glinting against the swinging lamp post.
"I know we're not the most conventional couple and I accept that. What matters anyway is… well, you."
Her mouth was still agape. All her years of being a detective didn't let her come into this conclusion. They were far from the most romantic couple. She would never expect Doris to bow down to one knee and proclaim undying love. She most definitely would never expect him proposing to be with her for the rest of his days. Doris was...
"You need to find yourself a good woman," she said, hating how her voice sounded so weak.
He smiled. "I already found one."
France, 1953
"Hey, Aunt Mina! Where do bébés come from?" Five-year-old Rose asked.
The middle-aged toon simply smirked at the twin tots before her. Being in a vacation leave, Mina decided to enjoy it by taking a private trip to France.
"Well, my boy, when a man and a woman love each other so much; they call the stork to bring a baby." But then Mina grinned like a wolf. "But that was back in the 1910s."
The little boy's blue eyes widened and Rose's floppy ears fluttered.
"Now, toons are drawn with girl parts and boy parts. So when a man and a woman love each other so much-" She paused for dramatization. "-the man would use his brush and use the woman's inkwell to draw a baby."
A few weeks later and back in ToonTown, Mina was rolling on the floor from laughter.
"Mina! What have you told them? It's not funny!" the mouthpiece of the phone yelled beside her. "The teacher said Jack told the visiting school board that his father made them by dipping his big brush into their mommy's inkwell!"
In the background, a little boy's voice piped up. "But it must be true! We're too big for those brushes in school!"
Mina recovered long enough to gasp. "See, Rhoda? Even your little boy knows!"
"Mina!" Rhoda exclaimed.
Valiant and Valiant Private Investigators Office, 1962, Day 5 in Hollywood
"What kind of detectives would leave their door unlocked?" Jack asked, looking around the empty office.
"A careless one?" Rose replied, daintily stepping over crumpled papers.
He threw himself backwards on one of the chairs inside the office. The chair tilted dangerously before righting again.
"It looks like the detectives live in here," Rose observed, sitting herself primly across him.
His rabbit ears gestured everywhere. "They must have loved their job that much. Home is where the heart is."
In a soundless conversation, they decided to wait for the detective. Jack immediately went for the framed achievements.
Rose would forever blame Jack's easy-going nature to talk to anyone. And the toon passenger they have the misfortune to ride with before. The old toon had talked about the glory days of two lady detective sisters who defended toons from heinous crimes. Jack had listened wide-eyed at the daring duo's adventures.
Just to make him agree to come with her to the library, they both went here like some kind of a tourist destination.
She opened the portfolio lying around the table. Yellowed newspaper clippings where pasted in the colored paper, proving toons innocent of theft and even espionage. There was even one of rescuing kidnapped nieces of Donna Duck.
Rose stood up straighter, inhaling determinedly. What they're up to was also kind of a detective work. Researching for their father had both been hard and easy.
Once that their mother was okay with them going out on their own, Rose wanted to go to ToonTown Library, much to Jack chagrin.
Rose rolled her eyes. It just made sense to go there. All they have to do was filter through magazines and newspapers from present and go backwards. Jack had looked at her as though she told him they should run through a field of cacti instead.
At least he was more bearable when they were watching Aunt Mina's cartoon shorts in her home theater. It was nice, seeing their father in some of the scenes. But he was acting in there, it's not like-
"I'm bored!"
Rose raised a perfectly shaped brow. "Arrête ça. You're the one who said we should visit the detectives."
She eyed the dusty end of the huge office table. It looked like it was untouched as though whoever use that end was gone for a long time.
"Yeah, well, they're not here," Jack said, hands deep in his pockets as he walked back to her.
Her brow raised higher when he went passed her and walked around the office table.
"Don't you dare touch anything."
He looked at her with innocent, blue eyes. "What? It's not like they'll kno-"
Something caught his eyes. "Hey, is that our father?"
With long fingers, he plucked a photo peeping out from one of the folders. He flicked it over to take a better look.
Blue eyes widened and Jack felt ice.
Dark, cold ice.
France, 1952
"Then we clap hands together like this…"
"Uh-huh."
"Then like this…"
"Uh-huh."
"Then we go faster and faster until the one that finished last wins!"
"Oh, oui!"
Rhoda once walked into a room when she found her four-year-old twins playing patty-cake. Calmly, she asked them where they learned it. They told her they saw some of the black and white toons playing it. Rhoda then gave them some toys to distract them and told them not to play patty-cake on public.
Then while they were asleep, she panicked for the innocence of her children over a long-distance phone call to Mina. It would cost her a huge phone bill after, but she didn't care.
A few years later, Jack and Rose would learn that 1910s toons who have no private gender parts, patty-cake was the closest thing they have for sex. Decades after gendered toons were drawn and born; patty-cake had become a serious form of flirtation in cartoon culture due to its history.
In a wordless conversation where they avoided each other's eyes, they vowed never to speak of that incident again.
End of Chapter 2