The Time Traveler's Guide to Zootopia

Chapter 14: Preydator

"I can't find the chip reader!" Bonnie fretted.

"Huh?" Judy furrowed her brows, surprised as I was.

 "You know, the one for the Carrot iPhone," her mother clarified.  "We can't find it anywhere."

Judy's phone screen filled with her father's face as he spoke.  "Yeah, we checked the vegetable stand, the fruit stand, the potato stand... and don't know where the heck we left it."

"Mr. Growley and his family are here right now.  They wanna buy two crates of blueberries and cucumbers!"

"But they only brought a Furs National Bank credit card.  They didn't bring cash."

Judy humorously rolled her eyes. "Dad, it's in the center console. Under the seat."

"Where?"

"In the truck."

"Okay, I'm walking over there now."

As we watched Stu walk towards the truck through the phone screen, he awkwardly held his camera in a position right below his chin, and the angle made his face fill the entire screen. Judy was facepalming while I was containing laughter.

"I just checked there. I didn't see it Jude."

"Check again."

The phone screen tilted upwards, revealing only the interior of the truck cabin roof, while we could hear Stu struggling in the background, digging through stuff.

"Where is it?"

"It's there." Judy sighed.

"I can't find it!"

"Keep looking."

"But I can't find it! It's gotta be...oh...wait...nevermind...I found it!"

 "Oh, yes, thank you, sweetie!"

 "We're good now,"

"Oh, hello Cherry!" Bonnie greeted. "Didn't see you there. How was the run?"

Judy held the phone screen for me and tilted it my way. 

"It was great Bonnie. Thank you." I waved. 

"Did you get rained on by chance?" Stu asked.

Judy and I looked at each other.  "Rained on?"

"We heard a loud thunder a couple of hours ago and it scared the dickens out of your mother and I."

Judy and I both knew what they were referring to.

 "That's right Stu, they say it came from the forest. We got a little worried about you guys."

 "Mom, Dad, we're fine," Judy reassured. "We heard it, but...we're fine!"

"Oh, thank goodness!" Bonnie placed a paw over her chest, sighing in relief. "Alright, sweetie, we'll see you later then!"

"Tell Mr. Growley hi for me!"

 "Oh, we sure will!

"Love you Jude! Be safe."

"Bye-Bye!"

The call ended, and Judy put her phone away. That was my first 2D video call in a while, as we typically use 3D video calls in my world. They had many advantages, but one feature I didn't like was the 360-degree hologram view of the user I was chatting with, as I didn't care about their backside.

We took a moment to look around the area, then Judy and I looked at each other to figure out what to do next. She was waiting for me to speak, but I was also waiting for her to talk, so I just stood there and said nothing.