"And the look that was on Bellwether's face when Judy showed her that recording," Nick said. "Gosh, was it priceless!"
A chorus of laughter, coming from familiar voices both young and old, filled the wide and spacious living room of Judy's childhood home. The evening was approaching across the Hopps Family farm, and everybody had just taken their loads off after finishing up a delicious home-cooked meal.
Nick sat in the middle of couch as he told his little anecdote about how they arrested former Mayor Bellwether yet another time. Most of Judy's youngest siblings, as well as her parents, sat idly in there seats, attentively listening in as the vulpine told the tale for what once again with a great amount of detail. Even though he had repeated the same stories about the big cases that he and Judy solved together time and time again, it always seemed like the little ones couldn't get enough of hearing about their adventures.
As Nick finished up the very last parts of his narrative, a trio of Judy's overly enthusiastic siblings (two boys and one girl) started raising their paws and loudly chorusing out questions and the like:
"Oooh! Tell us the story about when you two were on that train again!"
"He told us that one last time!"
"I want to hear the story of about when he and Judy were-"
"Now now," Stu interrupted, getting the attention of all three of the ebullient young bunnies. "I'd say that's enough stories for right now. Say, why don't y'all head back over to the table and grab Uncle Nick what ya made for him the other day?"
The rabbit trio nodded their heads and listened to the words of their father, sprinting off and making their way back over to another decorative table that was near the dining room. Stu took a sip of freshly-squeezed lemonade from his cup, set it back down on the nearby coaster, and put his paws up as he reclined back in his chair.
The three bunnies came back quickly, in their paws were various different things that they made specifically for Nick.
"We did arts and crafts, Uncle Nick," the one rabbit said.
"Here," another one chimed in, stepping up to Nick and handing him a folded piece of paper. "I drew this for you."
The vulpine placed a paw on his chest. "For me?" he remarked.
Nick unfolded the paper and looked at what Judy's younger sibling drew for him. Inside was a drawing done in crayon, portraying him and Judy surrounded by, from the looks of it, was a depiction of what the family farm looked like. The two of them had wide smiles drawn upon them, standing happily by a large tree that was in the middle of the doodled page.
Nick turned to Judy and showed her the drawing, to which she smiled widely upon looking at it.
The small bunny gasped excitedly at the pleasent reactions of both Judy and the fox. "You like it?" he asked them both, enthusiastically.
"Absolutely," the vulpine replied. "I'll definitely cherish this. You captured me quite well in this one." The fox pointed to a particular spot on the page. "Especially, uh..."
The fox was confused upon seeing something that seemed a little bit different in the drawing when compared to his true self. In the doodle, Nick seemed to have his pointed ears colored in a shape of blue that unequally blended in with the rest of the russet-like color used to outline him. Little did the fox know that the crayon that resembled his fur's color ended up missing when the little bunny was working on the art project, so he was unfortunately left with no choice but to improvise and use something that was unusual but hopefully capable of not sticking out on the page.
"Especially the little touch you did on my ears there," the fox said. When the words came out, Nick first thought for a quick second that the rabbit would be upset upon him making that observation. But he wasn't in the slightest. In fact, the young one seemed happy to see "Uncle Nick" was noticing the little artistic touch that he added to the drawing for him.
"That's called creative liberty, sweetheart," Judy remarked slyly remarked to Nick, getting a small, innocent chuckle out of him. "If anything, it makes this piece a lot more abstract."
"Couldn't agree more, Fluff," The fox replied. Turning his attention back over to his companion's younger sibling, he remarked, "And you, good sir, are quite an artist." The vulpine miserably failed at holding back the grin that was now starting to take form upon his muzzle. "Keep on practicing and ya might just get in the art museums one day."
The young buck laughed happily as he ran out of the room and went to another spot in the house. Nick took a look at the small crafts that Judy's other two siblings made for him, the smile never leaving him as he glimpsed at the crafts that seemed to be ever-so-meaningful to him. The vulpine was so glad that he was able to get along well with the Hopps family, and Judy was equally happy about it, too.
Another one of Judy's sisters came down to the living room from her upstairs bedroom. Bonnie and Stu turned their heads as she came down the steps one after the other. The rabbit fumbled a paw over the shiny rows black and white keys of a small upright piano that sat idly in the far left corner of the space. When she pressed down upon them, the sounds of mismatched notes resonated loudly from the corner.
"Oh, that just reminded me of somethin'," Bonnie said, looking over at Judy. "Was wonderin' if you wouldn't mind playing us a little tune. It's been forever since you went over there and played us something."
Nick looked over at both Bonnie and Judy for a second. Wait, Judy played piano? he thought. She never brought that up to me, come to think of it.
"Uh, I dunno," Judy said, hesitating a little bit. "It's been awhile since I played. I think my ability to play might've worn off a bit since then."
"Oh, I'm sure you'll do just fine, dear," Bonnie said. "Go on over and play us something."
The doe made her way over to piano. It had been there for a long time occupying the corner, but it only seemed to get its fair usage on less than occasional moments like this. Judy pulled the piano bench out and shifted in her seat, hoping that those piano lessons she took in her youth payed off and that she would be able to play something that was at least decent to the ears. The doe pressed down on a few of the keys, refreshing her memory. Pressing down the pedal and getting her paws into their proper placement, she officially started to play.
Everyone gathered within the living room paused from their conversations and attentively listened to the slow, simplistic melody that Judy was attempting to play. While their was occasions in which a note or two would be slightly off from what it should have been, the doe continued to play through the gentle tune.
Nick simply watched his companion play with an expression of pure awe, astonished by yet another one of the doe's additional talents. When the tune slowed down and the final twinkling notes resonated across the room, the vulpine was the first to clap for Judy. Everybody else around joined in with a round of applause, some of her siblings even asking for an encore.
"Thank you," the doe jokingly remarked. "You've been a wonderful audience."
After taking a bow, Judy walked back over to the couch and sat right by Nick's side.
"That was beautiful, Carrots," he whispered, placing his paw on hers.
Gazing out to the large window, Nick glimpsed and saw that the sun had now fully set across the horizon.
Turning his head back around, the vulpine continued to look around at all of the sincere smiles surrounding him. It was serene evenings such as these on the family farm that Nick wished he could stay in forever.