Zootopia - The Story of Nick Wilde

Chapter 12 - Uncle Nicky (POV Nick)

"Thank you, Mrs Hopps!" I said, as she offered me a place to sit at the giant table.

"You're welcome, just feel like at home! Oh, and please call me Bonnie, everyone does that!"

Then she headed for the Kitchen as I started inspecting the room I was sitting in. It was an old but solid house with a beautiful interior completely made of wood. The dining room was actually higher than I had expected it to be, and the table we were sitting at was big enough for at least forty people.

Judy sat down beside me, still talking to that other female bunny, who must nearly be in the same age as her. She took a seat right next to her and started talking again. I pretended to not be listening, but nevertheless she lowered her voice to a whisper.

Even though I wasn't supposed to listen, I tried to, just to find out what they were so excited about. And of course, I was interested why they didn't want anyone to listen.

"...and he...did he really...how did he even do that in the first...", were some of the phrases I was able to understand, and it didn't took me long to figure out that they were talking about me. I was pretty sure that it was about the hostage taking yesterday, but I wasn't able to find out why they were whispering. But before they could continue with their conversation, Bonnie returned to the dining room and put a giant bowl of stew onto the table. It smelled really delicious and everyone stared at it in anticipation.

There seemed to be some sort of eating routine in this household, because each of the bunnies took themselves a big spoon of the stew and moved the bowl to the next four people, sitting at the table. Just half a minute later the bowl arrived at our end of the table, and we helped ourselves to the food.

However, as everyone finally had a full plate of food in front of them, everyone became quiet for a second and looked towards Mr Hopps, who I just noticed was sitting right next to me, and listened to the little speech he just started: "Before we eat, I have to say a few words! First of all, thanks to everyone who is sitting at this table right now! Thanks to Bonnie and the cooking crew of today, it's smells great, as ever! Thanks to today's team of field workers. Thanks to everyone who helped me repair the harvester, and finally...thanks to my daughter Judy and her partner Nick, for visiting us on this wonderful evening!"

Everyone smiled happily and started knocking against the wooden table gently in applause, and I joined them after a few seconds. "Enjoy your meal!" Mr Hopps concluded, as the cheerful knocking stopped. Then everybody started eating. Myself included.

I wasn't expecting to admit this to myself this evening, but my mood had risen from good to fantastic in that moment, because her father's little speech really showed me the cool team spirit, that existed within this giant family. Everybody was respecting this speech ritual and everybody seemed to respect me as a guest and as Judy's partner. And also because the food tasted fantastic.

"You really like our vegetable stew, don't you?" Judy asked with a giggle, as she noticed that I had cleared my first plate before everyone else, already looking out for the bowl of stew again.

"I do! This is fantastic!" I agreed, just before the bowl was moved into my direction once again and I helped myself for another scoop out of the bowl.

"So Nick..." Judy's mother began, she was finished with her meal and put her spoon beside her empty plate, "...did you want to be a police officer since you were a kid as well?"

"No, I didn't. Judy forced me to, and that was the best thing that ever happened to me..."

"How did she do that?" The female bunny beside Judy asked with interest, before Bonnie was able to ask herself.

Judy hit her side with an elbow just slightly, but wasn't able to hide her tiny grin. Since I didn't know why she did that, I decided to just answer the question by telling them the whole story.

...

"...and that's how I became a police officer." I finally finished my story, which everyone listened to closely. The story of Nick Wilde, or at least its beginning.

"So that's why Judy was talking about the predators all the time! Because she told the press that they turned back into some sort of beasts!?"

"I guess that's the reason, yes. But this is history now..."

"...yes, and to be honest, I don't really want to bring that topic up again!" Judy interrupted me.

"Alright, topic change!", Judy's father yelled with some brought up excitement, which explained itself a second later. "Can I take a ride in your police car please?"

Judy sighed in disbelief and searched for the keys of the car, but I had them and handed them over to her father, after a short moment of eye contact between me and her.

"Please don't use the blue lights on the roof, that could cause some trouble!" Judy told her widely grinning father, just before he left the table.

"Sure thing Judy! I'll be careful!" he yelled while leaving the room.

"Is that even allowed?" Bonnie wondered laughing, who already started collecting the used plates on a service cart.

"No, I don't think so..." Judy replied with a slight grin. "But who cares out here?"

"Well, as long as he stays below 120mp/h" I stated while shrugging my shoulders. "Otherwise the ZPD thinks it's a high speed chase and orders support units..."

"Nick is right! I have to tell him that!" Judy shouted, before jumping off her seat to chase after her father.

Bonnie just shrugged her shoulders as well and then headed for the other plates on the table.

Now I was sitting alone at the table, except for the other female bunny Judy was talking to the whole time before. But now Judy was gone, she seemed to be too shy to start a conversation with me. "Am I allowed to talk to you?" I asked carefully, after an unbearably long moment of silence between us.

"Y-yes you are!", she stuttered and turned her attention towards me finally. Now I noticed that she was blushing hardly, but I tried to not show her, that I noticed.

"Are you scared of me?" I asked carefully.

"N-no, I'm not! I'm just..."

"Phew, that was close!" Judy interrupted, and took a seat beside me again. "He really was about to max the car. Typical!" Judy's sister used this distraction to get off of her chair, she left us quietly before we were able to say anything. I found this behavior a little strange, but I didn't want to mention it just yet, so I kept my mouth shut.

"Maria?" Judy asked, sounding a little confused as she walked past. "Well...the days start early out here, maybe she is just tired..."

I just shrugged my shoulders and noticed a little paw, which pulled on my right paw slightly, and carefully tried to pull me off the chair. It was one of Judy's very young brothers and he wanted to show me something, as he told me then.

"Good idea, Robin! Why don't you show uncle Nicky the barn a little?"

"Yeah! Follow me uncle Nicky!" the little one said, and I stood up from my chair.

"I'll be back in twenty minutes, I'll talk to my sister a little more, haven't seen her in a while..."

I sighed a little but nodded then.

"Alright, I'll go sightseeing in the meanwhile. See you later!"

"See you later, uncle Nicky!", she joked for the farewell, before walking away somewhere.