Disclaimer: Zootopia and all related characters are owned by Disney. All other characters, product names, trademarks, and copyrights, belong to their respective owners.
…..
Getting out of the cruiser, Nick took a look around. The colorful, sometimes outlandish, color palettes of the town proper had given way to more standard looking housing like you might see in Zootopia. Pinks and bright blues became earth tones and grays. A number of the buildings he saw had doors and windows that were larger than bunny-average so that they could accommodate medium-sized mammals. Nick hadn't seen any large mammals in town, but he had seen a variety of mammals larger than rabbits. This section of Bunnyburrow was outside the main business and warehouse sections of the town, 'across the tracks' if you will.
Originally, Buckstein had another wide-ranging tour planned, but after talking with Mrs. Bunnley yesterday, Nick was interested in staying closer to town and exploring a few areas he hadn't seen yet, especially Predville.
Buckstein explained that a decent number of the town's prey that weren't rabbits, and most of the predator families, that weren't living on farms, called Predville home. Crossing over into the unofficial district, Buckstein planned on making it a driving tour when Nick asked him to pull the cruiser over so they could make it a foot patrol instead.
"We don't do much in the way of foot patrols around here, not sure what you're interested in seeing, but if we walk that way, there's a diner I may have stopped at once or twice before that makes a mean avocado eggs Benedict," said Buckstein as he waved a hoof down the street.
Nick snorted, leave it to Buckstein to have all the 'rest areas' in and around town mapped out. "Alright, why don't we zig-zag our way there, and we can explore a little before stopping for second breakfast."
Buckstein nodded enthusiastically at that and motioned for Nick to lead on.
Nick cut over a block and walked along the road, the area looked a little like Foxburg except the streets were gravel and the houses were a mish-mash of styles and sizes. "Hey, Buckstein, over there, that looks like fun."
Nick spied some kits playing basketball in an open space where someone had set up a basketball hoop. The two cops walked over, and Nick watched as the group of predators played their game.
Nick waved at the kits waiting on the sideline for their turn to play when he saw, out of the corner of his eye, a basketball rolling his way.
"Sorry, Mister," came a voice from the group as Nick picked up the ball.
About to throw it to the kit with his paws up, Nick instead stepped closer to the basket, dribbled the ball a couple of times, positioned himself, and took a shot. The ball hit the backboard, rolled around the rim of the basket, and fell through.
"Good for three points! Sign that fox up to play for the Sahara Heat."
A few of the kits laughed watching as Nick prance around, and then when he sank another long shot, both teams were suddenly trying to recruit him. Nick begged off, exchanged a few high-fours, and went back over to where Buckstein was waiting, and they both watched the kits play for a few more minutes.
"Nice bunch of kits, are there any leagues in town for them to play in?"
Buckstein shook his head, "Not really, most of the rabbits play soccer. I've seen a few playing lacrosse, but not enough play basketball for there to be anything organized."
Disappointed for the kits, Nick made to leave when he saw an old van pull up to a house across the street from where the kits were playing and then watched as a badger, a civet, and a mink, all wearing janitor's overalls, came out of the house and headed toward the van. About halfway there, the mink noticed the two cops standing next to the small basketball court, and nudged the civet who then stopped and looked at Nick.
Not sure if something was wrong, Nick motioned toward the mammals and said, "Hey, Buckstein."
Buckstein looked over at the three mammals stopped near the van, and nodded to the civet that seemed most concerned. The civet relaxed and waved for his roommates to load up so they could get to work.
As the van pulled away, Nick, having watched the whole interaction between Buckstein and the civet, asked, "What was that all about?"
Buckstein waved toward the kits and motioned for Nick to follow him. They continued on their patrol until they were out of earshot of the kits, and Buckstein said, "Zoning, they were worried we might write them up and maybe get them kicked out of their housing."
Nick looked confused, "What about the zoning?"
Looking a little uncomfortable, Buckstein replied, "The zoning rules around here put some restrictions on predators, one rule is that unrelated predators aren't allowed to live together unless they work on one of the farms."
"So, those guys…"
"Probably, but Sheriff Hoofson gives us a lot of latitude in enforcing those rules, which means unless there's a real problem, the Sheriff doesn't want us hassling anyone over it."
Nick shook his head, there were plenty of abuses in the city that involved trying to keep foxes and a few other species down, so he was used to this kind of thing, but it didn't mean he expected it here or had to like it.
Nick nodded, "What other rules are there that we have to watch out for?"
Buckstein nodded toward the diner that had come into sight down the block, "There are restrictions on predators running businesses out of their homes, or trying to lease space for a business in town."
Nick went quiet for a few more steps and then asked, "What about Gideon Grey, his bakery is in town, did he have any trouble getting approved?"
Buckstein chuckled, "No, no problem at all. Of course, the town council was fit to be tied when they found out they'd been bamboozled into approving a predator run business."
Nick looked a little confused as he asked, "Bamboozled?"
"It was that ewe, Sharla Woolston, that did all the paperwork, and after everything was approved, she added Grey onto it all, and now they run the bakery together. The town council tried to undo the permitting, but Ackerbunn interceded and let the paperwork stand. One of the funniest things I've ever seen, a bunch of apoplectic rabbits debating baked goods in their council chamber, makes me hungry just thinking about it."
Nick started laughing, "I've always loved a good hustle, nice to hear the Mayor likes one too."
Buckstein went serious as he replied, "Yeah, she's good people, but standing up for Grey cost her with the council as far as trying to get them to pass her predator equal rights bill. The council killed her bill in committee without debating it for even a minute."
The two officers walked in silence for a few minutes until Buckstein clapped his hooves together and turned the conversation to something much more near and dear to his heart, "And here we are, the best eggs Benedict this side of town, and good French toast too."
Nick shook his head, 'He'd have to introduce Buckstein to Clawhauser sometime just to see what the two of them would do to the town's pastry supply."
…..
Judy walked to the museum entrance and saw a group of kits and their parents waiting.
"Coach Judy!"
All the kits came running up to meet Judy as she held her arms wide and gave them all a big hug. Laughing and pulling her back to where their parents were waiting, everyone was jumping and hopping around.
As she finished greeting everyone, the remaining kits on the team showed up, including CJ and his mother, both wearing team jerseys. Judy went up and hugged CJ's mom, "I love the jersey."
"Thanks, Toni ordered it for me," turning around, she showed Judy the back of the jersey, "I had them put CJ's number on it too."
Toni joined the two girls, and after a few more hugs, she let Judy know that everyone on the team, including a few siblings, were all there.
Handing Toni the bag of ZPD badges from Chief Bogo, and warning her about Clawhauser's contribution toward kit hyperactivity, Judy led the group to the VIP entrance to check-in. A museum guide was waiting for the group with wrist bands, meal tickets, and passes to all the exhibits and shows.
Quieting everyone down, Judy waved a paw toward a twenty-year-old coyote, "Guys, this is Miss Franklin, she'll be our guide for the day so, if you have any questions just ask."
"Can we see where you and Mr. Nick tricked that rotten old Mayor Bellwether into confessing what she did to all those innocent mammals?" came a voice from the back of the group.
Miss Franklin waved her paw and happily yelled out, "This way to the most famous exhibit in the museum."
Judy hadn't been back to the museum since the day that Bellwether had tried to shoot Nick with a Nighthowler pellet in the hopes that he would go savage and kill her. If it hadn't been for Nick's quick thinking in swapping the pellets out for blueberries, she'd be dead, and Nick would be in prison, and all the city's predators would be living in restricted compounds or collared, or worse.
Bringing up the rear, Judy was the last to reach the newly refurbished pit exhibit, Judy smiled to herself as she saw the sturdy new railing that framed thick plexiglass and ran around the entire lip of the exhibit, 'No way anyone's ever falling in there again.'
Once all the kits were gathered near the railing, Miss Franklin looked at Judy and said, "Would you like to tell the story? I think you'd do a better job than I would.
"Yeah, Coach Judy, please!"
"Mr. Nick said there was like an army of evil bad guys."
"Were there Ninjas?" asked Jeffrey.
"Yeah, tell us about the Ninjas," added Devin.
"There's no such thing as Ninjas anymore, now they're only in the movies," said Miss Franklin.
"Are too, Ninjas train in secret camps in the mountains, and only come out when it's dark," replied Jeffery.
Toni stepped up and quieted the kits, "Alright everyone, if you want to hear the story, you have to quiet down and listen to Coach Judy."
"But…"
"Jeffrey, there weren't any Ninjas, just some bad rams."
"Are you sure? In the movies, they can hide almost anywhere."
"Yes, Jeffery, I'm pretty sure there weren't any Ninjas hiding in the museum when Coach Judy was being chased."
"Okay…"
Judy had covered her mouth to keep from laughing at Toni's efforts to settle the kits. She figured it was time to help Toni a little, "Alright, you guys, here's what happened.
"Mr. Nick and I had a case with important evidence in it, and we were being chased by Mayor Bellwether and some bad Rams through the museum because we were trying to get it to the ZPD."
"The Nighthowler dart gun, right?" yelled out Rory.
Judy nodded, "That's right, we needed to get the gun and some of the Nighthowler pellets to Chief Bogo.
"When Mr. Nick and I were running through the museum, I hurt my leg on the tusk of a display animal and fell down."
"Oh, no. Did they get you?"
"No, silly. She wouldn't be here now if they'd gotten her," said Rory
"Rory's right, Mr. Nick was able to bandage my leg before they could find us, and then we tried to run away again." Pointing to the other side of the pit, Judy said in a more dramatic voice. "We were running right over there; I wasn't able to go very fast because my leg was hurt, and Mr. Nick had to help me. When we got to about there, a ram chased us down and knocked both of us into the pit."
Jeffery popped up and was about to ask a question when Rory pulled him back down by his jersey and whispered, "He wasn't a Ninja, just a regular bad guy."
Judy's voice went quiet as she continued, "We were trapped in the pit with no way out. There wasn't a ladder, and we didn't know where a door was. That's when Bellwether came up to the edge of the pit carrying the dart gun that we'd dropped when we were knocked into the pit."
All the kits' eyes went wide with worry. Everyone knew what a bad mammal Bellwether was, and now she had the dart gun.
Judy paused for a dramatic moment, and then she continued, "Bellwether laughed, and then without warning, she shot Mr. Nick with a pellet from the Nighthowler gun."
"Oh, no!"
"Some of the kits covered their eyes, and one held his mom's paw."
Judy's voice started to quiver, "Mr. Nick started to growl and act savage. He saw me and began to stalk me. My leg was still hurt, and I couldn't walk, so I crawled away from him as best as I could, but he kept growling and coming after me."
Pointing down in the pit, Judy continued, "There was a stuffed prehistoric deer near that rock, and I pushed it toward Mr. Nick, and he tore it up. I crawled away, and then as Mr. Nick came closer, I yelled up to Mayor Bellwether and got her to tell me her plan and why she was darting predators. She finished telling me her entire evil plot just before Mr. Nick trapped me against the wall, opened his jaws super-wide and…"
Judy looked at all the kits focused on her every word as she smiled big and yelled out, "He licked my neck and pretended like he was biting me."
"Whew, that was close," said Tyler.
"Ewww, fox spit, how gross," called out Rory.
"I thought the Nighthowler pellet made him go savage," stated another kit.
"He was never actually shot, a Ninja caught the pellet in midair and saved him."
Judy rolled her eyes, "Jeffery, it wasn't a Ninja, Mr. Nick had swapped the Nighthowler pellets for blueberries when he bandaged my leg. When Bellwether shot him, he faked going savage so that we could get her to confess while I recorded everything she said on my carrot-pen recorder. And right after she finished confessing, Chief Bogo showed up with a whole bunch of ZPD officers and arrested Bellwether and all of her henchmammals. The end."
All the kits, along with their parents and Miss Franklin, clapped at how smart Miss Judy and Mr. Nick were to get evil Mayor Bellwether to confess her plan. Once Judy took a quick bow, the kits broke into groups, some looked down into the pit in awe at how scary it must have been to be down there, while others went with Jeffery to look for where Ninjas might have hidden.
CJ went up to Judy and lightly touched her paw, "Coach Judy, Aidan told me that Mr. Nick is a fox, and I know that foxes have really sharp claws and scary teeth. Weren't you afraid when he pretended to stalk you? Or when he almost bit you?"
Taking CJ's hoof into her paw, Judy went down on one knee and said, "I could never be afraid of Mr. Nick. He is my best friend, and I trust him more than any other mammal I know. No matter what Bellwether or anyone else ever tried to do to him, he would never, ever hurt me.
"CJ, sometimes it's hard to see past claws and teeth, but if you can, you'll see that predators and prey aren't all that different. We all have jobs and families, and we like to play games and go to movies. We're all the same inside, it's just a few things on the outside that are different, and after a while, you stop noticing even those things."
…..
Nick was walking by himself down the sidewalk a few blocks away from the diner, enjoying the morning air. When Buckstein was halfway through the diner's door, Nick had let him know that he wasn't hungry yet and would rather wander around a little more, and eat later.
Buckstein hesitated at letting Nick wander solo, at least until the smell of strawberry and butter creme stuffed French toast hit his nose, and then he waved Nick away and told him to meet him back at the diner in an hour.
Nick walked down what looked like the main drag and saw several shops. A small grocery store, a daycare facility, a laundromat, an old-style ice cream shop, an auto repair shop, and at the end of the block, a fur salon.
Nick walked from shop to shop, and introduced himself around. Everyone was very nice, and he was surprised to find that so many of the mammals, especially the female predators, already knew his name. Nick got a kick out of the pawful of kits that asked him for an autograph, and he couldn't wait to tell Carrots that it wasn't just her that was so popular anymore. Of course, he'd probably need to leave out the part where an otter doe had wanted him to autograph her halter top.
As Nick made his way down the street and met more and more mammals, he realized something, all the businesses were staffed by predators, but they were run by prey mammals, and none of those prey were rabbits. Thinking back to what Buckstein had said earlier about permitting, he came to the conclusion that prey mammals running everything made sense since they were the only ones that could submit the required business paperwork. Chuckling, he made a note to himself to compliment Sharla on pulling the 'wool' over on the town and getting Gideon his bakery.
Having visited all of the open stores, Nick was hurrying out of his last stop, the fur care shop, with a raccoon stylist's number in his paw. Well not exactly just her number, Nick had been checking out a flyer advertising a live band karaoke bar when the twentysomething stylist had written her name and number on the flyer and then spent the next few minutes telling Nick that he needed a fur trim and a long, long massage and he should call her for an appointment as soon as possible. Making it to the sidewalk with his tail un-moussed, Nick stealthy dropped the flyer in a trashcan as he spied an open space park a block off the main drag and headed over to take a quick look around.
Walking toward the tree-lined space, Nick noticed a small area with picnic tables and barbecue grills set up for mammals to use. Nick nodded, more often than not, when prey were out with the kits for a picnic, raw vegetables were fine, but for some predators, a nicely barbecued chicken breast or fish steak couldn't be beat.
About to turn and head back to the diner, Nick saw a mammal asleep on one of the benches. Nick scratched the back of his neck, it was mid-morning, and most of the mammals around here weren't the type to take their morning naps in public.
Walking over to the bench, Nick checked on what turned out to be an old meerkat. "Excuse me, sir. Are you alright?"
Nick heard a jumbled response that he couldn't quite make out. Not sure of his condition, Nick leaned closer to his muzzle and asked again, "Sir, are you alright?"
" 'm kay."
The meerkat's response had Nick pull back from his muzzle, "Great, he's drunk." Nick could smell the fruity odor of alcohol on his breath, and his drunk was bad enough that he could smell it on the guy's fur too.
Nick heard the meerkat cough and mumble out, "Nit drink, I bed, sleep."
He'd seen plenty of mammals in the city that couldn't hold their alcohol, but not too many that were three sheets to the wind this early in the morning, "No sir you're drunk, and I think our best bet is to take you down to the station and let you sleep it off there."
"Not go, head spin."
Nick was about to say something else to the soused mammal when he heard a familiar young voice behind him, "Mr. Nick, that's Mr. Pawland, is he okay?"
Nick turned and saw the young ferret kit he'd helped last week, "Hey, Charlie, you know this guy?"
"Yes, sir, he's an English teacher from my school, and he tutors one of my friends a couple of times a week." Charlie added, "I heard what you said about him being drunk, Mr. Pawland doesn't do that, I know because he told my class that alcohol made him very sick once and he spent a long time getting better and we should never drink so much that we get sick like that too."
Nick shook his head, sounded like the old guy was a recovering alcoholic. Probably fell off the wagon. Sighing, Nick said, "Alright, I guess that means taking him to the hospital."
"No, no hospital," Nick practically jumped at the first lucid, clear thing the meerkat said. Bending down, Nick gently said, "Please, sir, you have to see a doctor, they'll be able to help you, I promise."
Mr. Pawland whispered, "No…"
"Mr. Nick, there's a doctor at the clinic over there, he might be able to help."
Nick looked where Charlie was pointing and only saw more houses, "Where?"
"The house with the snake wrapped around the mailbox post."
Focusing, Nick finally saw it, the post had a serpent curled around it with the head just touching the underside of the mailbox. Turning back to the old-timer, he asked, "Mr. Pawland, how about I take you over to the clinic?"
" 'kay"
Gently, picking the old mammal up, Nick headed over to the clinic, "Hey Charlie, do me a favor and run over to the diner and tell Deputy Buckstein that I'll be busy at the clinic for a little while and to meet me there when he finishes eating."
Reaching the front of the 'clinic' Nick stopped and looked around, "Looks like every other place around here, I hope Charlie was right, or I will have to call an ambulance."
Expecting a mumble in return, Nick looked at Mr. Pawland and just saw his head lolling against his chest, 'He must have had more to drink than I thought.'
Pushing open the door, Nick walked in and did a double-take, the kit had been right, the place was a nondescript house on the outside, but it was very much an old-style medical office on the inside.
"A little help, I've got a mammal here that I think has had one too many to drink and needs a doctor."
As Nick stood holding Pawland, a Skunk in a white lab coat came out from the back saying, "What can I…" Seeing the old meerkat in Nick's arms, the doctor pointed to where he'd come, "Back here, officer. Put him on the bed."
Setting Pawland down on the bed, Nick shook his head, "Sorry, Doc, he reeks of alcohol. I didn't see any empties around the bench, but he's three sheets to the wind."
"Let me take a look," said the skunk as he bent down to sniff Pawland's breath and then check his eyes. Pulling open a drawer, the doctor grabbed a small blood test device and pricked the meerkat's finger and waited for a moment. As the quick test finished and the device beeped, the skunk's eyes widened. Signaling to Nick, he said, "Officer, please step back," and then he called out, "Lou, I need your help immediately."
"What's wrong?" asked a female skunk in a blue lab jacket coming in from another room.
"He's suffering from DKA and maybe HHS. He needs to be rehydrated before we can give him any insulin therapy. Run a line of Ringers Lactate with D5W."
Nick watched as the nurse quickly hung a bag of solution on an IV pole and wheeled it close to the bed as the doctor deftly shaved the fur off the inner arm of the meerkat, sterilized the spot and inserted an IV needle into a vein.
Nick inhaled deeply, the last time he stood this close to a doctor who was working on someone, that someone was his mom.
"Officer, I think it'd be best if you waited out front."
Nick nodded, "Yes, Doctor," and made his way to the front room.
…..
Miss Franklin clapped her paws together and gathered everyone up. "Alright kits, next stop is the dinosaur exhibit, and as a special treat, we all get to watch one of the museum's paleontologists work on some bones that were found last month in the Meadowlands."
"Ooh, ooh, I bet I know why all the dinosaurs died."
Rory balled her fist up and glared at Jeffery, "If you say Ninjas, I'll pound you."
Miss Franklin led the group through the dinosaur exhibit and then made sure all the kits were able to spend time watching fossil bones being cleaned. A few of the kits used the microphone-speaker in the glass to ask questions and then listened as the scientists described what they were doing and talked about the animal whose bones they were.
On the way to the planetarium, Miss Franklin led the group through the prehistoric mammal displays and pointed out how different each of the kit's ancient ancestors were from how the kits were now.
All the kits surrounded the display of ancient Canids as Miss Franklin pointed out how scientists thought that foxes were descendant from the same mammal as wolves, coyotes, and jackals.
Aidan was standing next to CJ as Tyler pointed to an extinct species of Arctic Fox and whispered, "Look at how big and sharp his teeth are."
Aidan moved closer to CJ and trembling a little said, "Yeah, they're scary."
Putting his arm around Aidan, CJ whispered, "Don't worry, you're part of my herd now, and we watch out for each other when we see scary mammals around."
"Really? Thanks, I've never been part of a herd before."
Jeffery yelled out from the next display over, "Hey, everyone, look at Rory's great-great-grandpa!"
All the kits gathered around a display showing a prehistoric Saber-toothed Tiger stalking a prey mammal.
"Hey, Rory, how did you guys eat with teeth like that?
"Boy, I'd hate to fall down on my face, my teeth would get stuck in the ground."
"Do you think they had to go to the dentist a lot back then?"
"I hate flossing."
"Do you think they bumped tusks when they kissed their mates?"
"Eww, no talking about kissing, that's gross."
Jeffery pulled on Judy's paw and pointed over to another display, "Is that a prehistoric rabbit?"
Judy was pulled along by Jeffery to an out-of-the-way display, and once there, Judy had to smile. She remembered this display mammal, Nick had used it to distract one of Bellwether's henchmammals in their attempt to get away with the dart gun.
Now that she wasn't running for her life, she took a closer look at the display. It was of a prehistoric rabbit dressed in animal skins and holding a spear. She'd read about how rabbits back then tried to protect themselves from predators with sticks and spears, and she'd also learned how they weren't very successful at it until they banded together in burrows and eventually ended up with Border Warrens and the like.
"Yes, it is, although I'm not so sure about the tusks and antlers, I think those are a myth. Someone a long time ago must have pulled a fast one on the archeologist who found this because none of my history or biology teachers ever talked about prehistoric rabbits having them."
Jeffrey gasped, looked around like he was being watched, and then whispered to Judy, "Do you think it was Ninjas?"
Judy's eyes went wide, and she quickly hushed Jeffery with a whisper, "I don't know, but just in case, we better get back to where everyone else is."
Walking back to the group, they were just in time to see Rory open her mouth and show everyone that her teeth were regular-sized, and she went to the dentist only two times a year just like everyone else.
Seeing that the prehistoric mammal part of the tour had devolved into a dental discussion, Miss Franklin ushered the group into the next planetarium show and let the parents watch over the kits while she made arrangements for the group's lunch.
…..
Nick sat for a little while in the waiting room, flipping through an old 'Mammal' magazine dating back to when Brittney Steers was a big deal. Having read everything up to her second breakup, Nick set the magazine down and walked around the waiting room. Behind the small receptionist's desk, Nick saw multiple certificates and degrees posted in frames. Taking a closer look, he saw that Doctor Stoan was a Commonwealth certified plastic surgeon, and had spent time working in two different East coast hospitals.
As Nick was reading the university graduation certificates, Doctor Stoan came out from the examination room. Turning, Nick asked, "Hey Doc, how's he doing?"
Shaking paws with Nick, Stoan said, "Doing fine now, you did the right thing bringing him here. The old coot went off his meds, could have ended up in bad shape if you hadn't come along."
Nick shook his head, "It wasn't me, I thought the old guy was drunk as a sku-"
"Ahem."
"Sorry, my bad, uh, if it hadn't been for Charlie, I would have taken him to the station and let him sleep it off. I'm guessing that would have been a bad idea."
"That's right, I'll need to thank Charlie when I see him, too much longer and Gene might have been in real trouble. As it is now, all he needs is to be rehydrated and given some Insulin therapy."
"I heard you say DKA in the examination room?"
"Yes, he suffered a DKA attack, Diabetic Ketoacidosis, and two of the symptoms are a fruity-scented breath and general confusion, either of which a lot of mammals, even cops, mistake for being drunk."
Nick sighed in relief, he hated that he'd made that kind of mistake, "So, he'll be okay?"
"With me, yes, with his mate, I'm not so sure. She's headed over and will be here as soon as she can."
Nick chuckled, "Maybe I should stay around until she gets here, I might get a missing-mammal collar out of it. You know they give you a special cop merit badge for solving those, I can sew it right here next to my one for giving out five hundred parking tickets in one week."
As Stoan laughed, Nick waved a paw around the clinic, "So, what's up with this place? It's a plain-looking house on the outside and fully outfitted clinic on the inside. Not very good for business if you don't advertise, and no one knows your here."
"Well, that depends."
"On what?"
"You're new in town, so am I talking to a Deputy, or am I talking to a fellow predator?"
Nick pulled his badge off, slipped it in his pocket, and sat down, "As my ZPD partner says, I'm all ears."
Stoan sat down in a chair next to Nick and said, "I can't advertise because I can't let certain rabbits in town know about this place, if the Town Council or any of the other speciest rabbits in town ever came down to Predville and saw this place, they'd shut me down in a heartbeat."
"Why?"
"Permits, business licenses, zoning variances."
Nick groaned, "The town council stonewalls predators if they apply for business paperwork. Buckstein filled me in on that."
"Yeah, I may be licensed to practice medicine by the Commonwealth, but that doesn't help with getting a business license in Bunnyburrow, so I do what I do quietly, and hope the wrong rabbit doesn't catch on."
"You don't treat rabbits?"
"Well, I would if one wanted me to, but there aren't too many rabbits around here that are going to let a predator doctor, especially a skunk, anywhere near them. No, I treat mostly predators along with some of the area's prey mammals that aren't rabbits.
"For the most part, my patients can't afford insurance or only have catastrophic coverage and can't pay what the hospital would charge them for simple treatments, and some of them just don't want to have anything to do with going to the hospital."
Nick scrunched up, "What's wrong with the hospital, I mean, I hate hospitals too, but the docs and nurses there took good care of me. The only problem I had was not being able to find a gown big enough to cover all of me up." Nick shook his head, and added, "Don't ever try to carry on a conversation with the Mayor wearing just a dishcloth, talk about awkward."
Stoan put up a paw, "No, no, it's not the medical staff, they're all good mammals, it's the hospital administrator and his damn cronies, they set up a gauntlet of obstacles that a predator has to get through just to be admitted for treatment, after a while, some of those predators give up and start coming here instead, sometimes even if they have insurance."
Nick thought back and asked, "Like the Purrbrooks, I remember they talked about being sent to the hospital by someone at a clinic."
"Yeah, that was me. Chloe broke her arm, and I don't have an X-ray machine. I was a little worried the break happened on a growth plate, and it might need special attention, so I had to send her to the hospital to get it set and cast."
Smiling, Doc Stoan added, "I heard from Margaret that you stepped in and helped Chloe get seen."
"Yeah, I made an express appointment and got her in to see Doc Livingston right away."
Stoan leaned in closer to Nick, "I heard you also got that bitch, Hayes, fired too. She's been a pain in our tails for a while, so I owe you one for that."
Nick chuckled, 'Yeah, you should have seen her face when the Mayor canned her tail, it was glorious."
"I bet. The Hayes' are one of those families that go out of their way to keep us predators down. One of these days, it'd be nice to see that old rabbit fall into a pit of fresh fertilizer, or maybe a charging rhino could squish–"
Trying to keep the conversation with the skunk from turning into a Finn-like rant, Nick pointed to the wall of certificates, and asked, "So how did someone with all that going on, end up in a place like this?"
Stoan glanced toward the wall and replied, "It kind of just happened. I was driving through town on my way to an interview with a top west coast cosmetic surgery practice when I sort of got waylaid."
"Waylaid? I'll show you waylaid tonight if you don't tell the story right, mister," said a female voice from the other side of the curtain.
Nodded toward his hidden mate, Stoan whispered to Nick, "Let's just say I had a change of heart about spending all day every day performing muzzle lifts and snout jobs. I decided to take over this practice from old Doc Pawliday, who'd been wanting to retire for a while, and Louise and I have been taking care of the local mammals ever since."
Nick looked up as Lou poked her head through the curtain and said, "Hun, his fluid levels are better, I think you can administer the insulin now."
Stoan patted Nick on the knee, "Duty calls."
As both mammals stood, Nick heard a commotion as the clinic door was opened and two mammals herded in.
A concerned looking female meerkat said, "Doc Stoan, is he okay? Please say yes, so I can smack him for being so forgetful."
"Of course, ma'am, right this way, he'll be right as rain and ready for a beating as soon as I'm finished."
Stoan opened the curtain, let the meerkat queen through, and turned to Buckstein, "Deputy, you can tell the Sheriff that his recruit did well today."
"Will do, Doc. You take care," turning to Nick, he chuckled and led the fox out of the clinic. Reaching the sidewalk, Buckstein realized he was walking alone and turned to see Nick staring at the clinic.
"The Sheriff knows all about the clinic and Doc Stoan, doesn't he?"
"Yup."
"And he hasn't tried to shut him down?"
"Nope."
"Why?
"Because the mammals here in Predville need the clinic. The Mayor hasn't been able to get her predator equal rights bill passed, and without that, some of these mammals end up being left high and dry when it comes to some services.
"Old Mayor Burns moved code enforcement under the Sheriff's office back when he was in office, and ever since then, there's been an unwritten policy that the clinic is hands-off."
Nick raised an eyebrow, "The Mayor knows too?"
"Yes, she does. As a matter of fact, she's asked the Sheriff to relax enforcement on a lot of things until she can get her bill passed."
Nick shook his head slowly, he'd already given the Mayor brownie points for helping Sharla and Gideon out with the bakery permitting, now he added even more to her tally for helping Doc Stoan. Rejoining Buckstein as he led the way to the cruiser, Nick silently wished Ackerbunn luck in getting her agenda passed.
…..
After lunch, the kits met a retired astronaut who described flying to the space station on one of the first shuttles ever launched. He let the kits touch an old spacesuit and gave each of them a food bar just like the ones he used to eat on his space mission.
The rest of the afternoon, the kits explored the paws-on exhibits in the Science Adventure Zone. Three levels of activities kept the kits busy until Miss Franklin and the parents had to round everyone up to head home. On the way out, Miss Franklin had one last surprise. The head curator met the group in the lobby and passed out museum ball caps and passes to come back another day to all of the kits and adults. Miss Franklin even found a plushie of a prehistoric teenage turtle, dressed it as a Ninja, and gave it to Jeffery while Rory groaned. Everyone thanked Miss Franklin and the Curator and let them know that this was the best trip ever.
Judy led the group out of the museum toward their Metro stop. A couple of blocks away from the stop, the group had to wait for a crossing light. As the stragglers caught up, Judy was about to press the button when she saw Aidan run toward a black limousine parked in front of a City administrative building not too far away. Judy could see two ewes talking, and that one of them had just finished handing a folder to the other and was walking back into the building.
Asking Toni to keep the kits with her, Judy ran after Aidan, "Aidan, where are you going?"
Judy watched as the older brown furred ewe slid into her limo while at the same time, Aidan was reaching down into the gutter under her car and pulling out an expensive looking wallet.
Before the car door could close, Aidan held the case out and said, "Ma'am, you dropped your wallet."
Judy slowed to a walk and smiled at how helpful Aidan was being. He still needed to be cautioned about running off like that, but Judy understood why now.
As Judy approached the limo, the ewe suddenly stepped out and started to angrily wave her hoof at Aidan and yell at the young kit. Judy hurried over and caught Aidan in the shoulders as he was backing away from the angry ewe.
"Ma'am, what's wrong?" Judy asked.
"This little mongrel stole my wallet, and I want him arrested." Turning, she yelled at her driver, a muscular bull moose, "Earl, call the police immediately, I want this little creature in jail where it belongs."
The driver started to pull out his phone, but stopped and pointed at Judy instead. As the ewe turned back to the bunny, he said, "Ma'am, she is the police."
Judy had pulled her badge out of her back pocket and now had it clipped to her waistband.
Aidan looked stricken, "I didn't steal your wallet, you dropped it while you were talking to that other lady. I saw it roll under your car, and I was afraid you would lose it." Looking up at Judy, he started to cry and said, "I'm sorry Coach Judy, I didn't mean to get in trouble again. Will I have to go to jail now?"
"Of course not, Aidan, you were doing the right thing trying to help this lady, don't worry, everything will be fine."
Just as Judy finished, CJ came running up and stood next to Aidan. Putting his arm around Aidan, he spoke defiantly to the adults, "Leave my herdmate alone, I saw everything that happened, you dropped your wallet, and he was trying to help."
"What's going on out here?" came a loud voice from the other side of the limousine.
Everyone looked over as a large black woolen ram made his way around the vehicle to the group.
Judy looked up and cringed, Aidan took a step back, and both of them heard CJ say in a quavering voice, "Coach Woolerby."
Woolerby practically spat out, "That's the animal I told you about, she's the reason I was suspended from coaching by the Association."
Judy put her arms around Aidan and CJ and whispered to them, "You guys go over to where your moms are and wait for me there, okay."
Both boys ran back to the group and hugged their moms while Judy put herself between the kits and the two speciest sheep.
"I didn't have anything to do with you getting benched, that was all you and your abusive attitude. I still can't believe you yelled at your own players like that."
Waving at the group waiting on the corner, Woolerby shouted back, "And what about you poaching my players?"
"Enough!" the ewe yelled. Focusing on Judy, she growled out, "How dare you protect that animal, he's a criminal and should be arrested and thrown in prison along with the rest of his species."
"No ma'am, he's a good boy whose only crime was trying to help an ungrateful stranger."
Judy turned to go as the ewe stopped her by saying, "You have no idea who I am, do you?"
Turning back to the sheep, she said, "No, but I know what you are, and no matter what you say or do, I won't stand by and let you hurt my friends. I will not be arresting anyone, and there are witnesses to the fact that the boy was trying to help. I am done here, good day."
Woolerby watched the small bunny walk back to the group and then lead them across the street to the metro station. Once they were out of sight, he said, "You aren't going to let her get away with that, are you? She's corrupting that young buck and his mother, and there's no telling how many other decent prey mammals could be infected by her deviant attitude."
His mate pulled her phone out and tapped out a text before replying, "I'll take care of it, she'll be sorry she ever crossed us."
…..
A/N: I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. Everything medical was made up from the internet and an old TV show. In a real Emergency, please get help from a qualified medical professional.