“Nick, it’s been a while since you’ve seen your mom right.
Want to go back for a visit?” Kevin asked.
“Yeah, I haven’t been back in a while either.” Nick nodded, and that settled it.
Raymond was driving this time, with Kevin riding shotgun and the other three crammed in the back.
Nick gazed out the window at the passing streetscape.
Aside from wiring money home like clockwork every month, he truly hadn’t set foot through that door in a long time.
He’d made a point of bringing Lepp and Finnick along.
He wanted his mom to see that he had friends.
Raymond’s Jeep was wide and rugged, when it rumbled over the potholed roads, it barely swayed.
Finnick couldn’t sit still the moment he got in.
His paws first pressed into the leather seat cushions, then bounced up to tap against the window glass, producing a crisp thump-thump.
“Nick, this ride is something else.” His eyes sparkled.
Nick smiled and spread his hands.
“I don’t know much about cars.” “Must’ve cost at least a hundred grand,” Finnick remarked.
“That expensive?” Lepp shrank his neck a little, his paws instinctively tucking in.
His eyes darted around before he patted Nick’s arm.
“Your friend’s really loaded.
Look at that gem on his hand, that’s worth a pretty penny.” “When you strike it rich someday, get one for each of us Lepp,” Nick said with a laugh.
Lepp gave a rueful grin, though there was a bitter edge to it.
He laced his paws behind his head, leaned back into the seat, and said in a muffled voice, “For regular animals like us, maybe this is all there is to life.” The Jeep rolled through increasingly rundown neighborhoods.
Building facades grew mottled, and utility poles tilted at odd angles.
Nick’s mom lived far from their cramped rental, far enough that even Nick couldn’t say whether it was because they couldn’t find anything cheaper nearby, or because he didn’t want her to see him, scrambling for every meal.
The Jeep pulled up at the Grand Pangolin Arms.
The building dated back to the 1950s, its red brick exterior weathered into uneven grooves by wind and rain.
One of the hallway lights was out, leaving the corridor dim and shadowy.
Nick stepped out, tilted his head up toward the familiar window on the fourth floor, took a deep breath, and pressed his lips into a firm line, forcing a bright smile onto his face.
He walked to the door and knocked three times.
Rap-rap-rap.
Light footsteps shuffled from inside.
A moment later, the door creaked open.
A vixen peered out, flour still dusted across her apron.
Her eyes lit up the instant she saw Nick.
“Oh, Nick!
There you are, it’s been ages since you came home.” His mom opened her arms wide and pulled him into a hug, patting him gently on the back twice.
She released her son, her eyes drifting past his shoulder to the unfamiliar faces behind him, and paused briefly.
“They are…?” “My friends.” Nick stepped aside and gestured to each one in turn.
“Kevin, do you remember?
That little white wolf who used to come over when we were kids.” He pointed to Lepp and Finnick.
“And these two are my… partners, yeah partners.” His mom blinked, then recognition dawned as she placed Kevin, her eyes growing warm.
“Oh my, it really is Kevin!” She waved them in eagerly.
“Come in, come in, all of you.” The smaller animals filed in one by one, but Raymond stood frozen in the doorway, his massive body nearly filling the entire door frame.
He raised a huge paw and said quietly, “I’ll just wait out here.” Nick’s mom caught herself, gave an embarrassed smile, and turned back to the kitchen.
She returned with half a chilled fruits and a glass of ice water, carefully handing it to Raymond.
“Please, make yourself at home.” Kevin stepped into the living room and instinctively scanned the place.
Two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, and balcony, all there.
The wooden floors were spotless, not a speck of dust in the corners.
Nick’s mom invited everyone to sit, and in no time, the coffee table was piled high with fruit, sunflower seeds, and little cookies.
She asked each of them if they wanted this or that, her voice soft and gentle, as if coaxing children.
Finnick, being the smallest, was relegated to a low stool.
No sooner had he settled in than Nick’s mom laughed and ruffled the fur on his head.
“Whose little one is this?
So well-behaved.” Finnick’s mouth twitched.
Then, in a gravelly voice that didn’t match his tiny frame at all, he rumbled, “I’m almost thirty.” “Ah…” Nick’s mom flinched, yanking her hand back as if burned, and quickly apologized.
“Oh, I’m so sorry…” They chatted for a while, the usual things: how was work, was he eating properly.
Nick sat to the side, watching his mom laugh and talk with his friends, and felt the heavy stone that had been pressing on his chest ease just a little.
Kevin figured it was about time.
He stood and shot Nick a look.
“Auntie, I need to borrow Nick for a quick word.” “Of course, go ahead.” His mom graciously went back to talking with Lepp.
Kevin dragged a bewildered Nick into the bathroom and shut the door behind them.
The faucet hadn’t been tightened all the way, drip, drip, drip, each drop loud in the silence.
Kevin lowered his voice.
“Nick, your mom’s been through a lot.” Nick dropped his gaze, the smile at the corners of his mouth crumbling.
“I know.” His voice carried a trace of bitterness he couldn’t hide.
“I’ll be blunt.
I want to give you some money…” “No.” Nick cut him off immediately.
“Let me finish!” Kevin grabbed his snout and held it shut.
“This money is for your mom.
Get that straight, it’s for her, not you.
She’s in her forties.
If she keeps working this hard, her health is going to give out.” Nick was silent.
He hung his head, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down.
For a long time, he said nothing.
Kevin let go and softened his tone.
“I know what you’re thinking.
Your mom was always good to me too.
This is my way of showing my appreciation, it’s got nothing to do with you.” He deliberately emphasized the words “nothing to do with you,” as if afraid of breaking something fragile.
Finally, Nick nodded, his voice barely audible.
“Thank you, Kevin.” Kevin breathed a sigh of relief.
He reached into his pocket for his wallet, and came up empty.
He patted his jacket pockets, then his inner pockets.
All three were completely empty.
“Huh?” He frowned and scanned the floor.
“Where’s my wallet?
I could’ve sworn I didn’t leave it in the car…” At that, Nick watched Kevin pat himself down, and his eyes caught on two yellowish-brown strands of fur stuck to Kevin’s pant leg.
A terrible thought surfaced in his mind.
“Kevin, look, is that it on the ground?” Nick pointed behind Kevin.
Kevin turned to look.
“I don’t see anything.” “Maybe I was wrong.
Could’ve dropped it in the hallway.” As he spoke, Nick sidled past Kevin and, in one quick motion, plucked the two strands of fur and closed his fist around them.
“Yeah, I’ll go check the car.” Kevin didn’t think twice.
He pulled the door open and left, waving at Nick’s mom on his way out.
“Auntie, I left something in the car, be right back.” The moment Kevin was gone, Nick opened his palm and studied the two brownish-yellow hairs for a few seconds.
Then he brought them to his nose and sniffed lightly.
The scent made his face go dark.
—— He finally found Lepp on the balcony, leaning against the railing with a cigarette, the smoke scattering in the wind.
Nick cut straight to the point: “Lepp, something of Kevin’s went missing.
Did you see anything?” He looked Lepp up and down, but nothing about him seemed out of place.
“No, I…
I don’t know.” Lepp’s gaze flickered briefly, then darted away.
Nick knew that flicker too well.
That was exactly how his eyes used to drift when he lied.
He held up the fur in his palm.
“This is yours, isn’t it?
I found it on Kevin’s pant leg.” Lepp’s expression changed, his voice suddenly sharp.
“You suspect me?
Nick?
You think I stole his wallet?
And besides, it could’ve gotten stuck at the rental too.” “I’m not accusing you,” Nick said, waving a hand.
“I just wanted to confirm…
wait–” He stopped mid-sentence.
“How did you know it was a wallet?
I haven’t told you anything, and you weren’t even in the room just now.” Lepp froze, then slapped a paw over his mouth, but it was too late.
He nearly cried at his own stupidity.
Giving up the act, he dropped his hand with a scoff and pulled a black leather wallet from the inner pocket of his jacket, Kevin’s wallet.
“Nick, the three of us scrape together a few coins a day.
In a city like Zootopia, what’s that good for?
It’s barely enough to get by.” He weighed the wallet in his hand.
“Your friend’s loaded.
Losing this is pocket change to him… Trust me, he won’t even miss it.” “But it’s theft.” Nick’s jaw tightened, his pupils narrowing to slits.
“Give it back.
Say you found it.
I’ll pretend I never saw this.” He stepped forward to grab it, but Lepp sidestepped him.
“I’ve got a bird in my hand, and you want me to let it fly?
Besides, this is what foxes are supposed to do anyway.
I just did it for you.
I’ll even split the money with you and Finnick.” Lepp opened the wallet, revealing a stack of bills.
“Look at this, we couldn’t save this much in five years.” Lepp was so lost in the thrill of sudden wealth that he didn’t notice Nick’s expression darkening.
“‘What foxes are supposed to do’?” Nick’s voice dropped, the last traces of humor wiped clean from his face.
Lepp finally realized he’d misspoken.
He scrambled to correct himself: “I didn’t mean it like that, Nick… I’m saying, with this money–” Smack.
Nick knocked his outstretched paw away.
The air in the room froze solid.
Neither of them noticed the balcony door crack open.
“You want to say that again?” A low voice squeezed through the gap.
Both of them turned.
Finnick was standing at the bathroom door, his tiny body taut as a drawn bowstring, his face dark with fury.
His jaw clenched, round eyes sweeping over Lepp, and then he snatched the mop handle from the corner, leaped up, and brought it crashing down across Lepp’s face.
“I’ve been blind.
Nick, stay away from this scum!” Nick lunged forward and grabbed the furious Finnick, but the little guy squirmed like an eel, slipping out of Nick’s grip.
He spat at Lepp, slammed the door behind him, and was gone.
Lepp clutched his face and crumpled to the floor.
Footsteps hurried closer.
Nick’s mom pushed the door open and gasped at the scene.
“What happened?
Where did he go?
What’s going on…” “Nothing, Mom.
He had an emergency at home.” Nick quickly stepped in front of Lepp, his voice dry.
“Oh…
then why is your friend on the floor?” His mom bent down to help Lepp up.
Just then, the door swung open again.
Kevin poked his head in, looking frustrated.
“Still can’t find it.
And hey, what was that little guy running off about?” Nick’s heart seized.
He hurriedly guided his mom toward the door.
“Mom, we need to talk about some business.
Could you give us a minute?” Click.
The door shut again.
Nick’s mom sighed and went back to tidying the living room.
On the balcony, three animals remained.
Nick’s face was frozen in a stiff smile.
He took the wallet from Lepp’s hand and held it out to Kevin.
“Kevin, we found it.
Lepp picked it up by the door earlier, he was just about to tell you when you stepped out.” Kevin took the wallet, glanced down at it, then looked at the injury on Lepp’s face, and finally at Nick’s white-knuckled fists.
He understood instantly.
His face betrayed nothing, but inside he was screaming.
‘Oh, for crying out loud.
Why does this keep happening to me?
Yesterday I got robbed, today I got robbed.
Clearly I can’t carry a wallet anymore.’ He also made a mental note: invest in some app developers.
Mobile payments needed to happen, yesterday.
He was getting traumatized by all this theft.
Kevin didn’t call him out.
Instead, he pulled the bills out of the wallet one by one, counted them, and then beamed as he pressed the stack into Nick’s hands.
“Well, thank you very much, Lepp.
Nick sure is lucky to have a friend like you.” He put extra weight on “lucky.” Lepp’s face went sour, and even Nick’s ears burned, flattening against the back of his head.
“Here, that’s ten thousand.” Kevin turned the empty wallet inside out and pulled out a business card.
“If anything ever comes up, give me a call.” “And the money, give it to your mom in installments or she’ll get suspicious.
Make sure she keeps it safe.
Unlike me, you know.
Walking around and you know, maybe she will ‘lose’ it too.” He paused meaningfully, then clapped Nick on the shoulder and turned to leave.
As he passed Nick’s mom, he nodded politely.
“Auntie, we’ll be going now.” Raymond’s silhouette shifted in the doorway, and the Jeep’s engine rumbled to life and faded away.
The door clicked shut.
Nick seemed to have all the strength drained from him.
He slumped to the floor, staring blankly at the business card in his hands, not moving for a long time.
Lepp stood to the side, holding his face, his voice muffled.
“Nick…
I’m sorry…” Nick looked up, exhaustion heavy in his eyes.
He opened his mouth, gesturing helplessly, not knowing where to start.
“You have no idea what kind of family he comes from…
even the cops don’t mess with them…” His voice trembled.
“Don’t treat other people like fools.
If that polar bear had caught you…
he really would’ve killed you.” He dropped his head, pressing his palm to his temple.
“Now.
Get out of my house.
From now on, we don’t know each other.” “Nick, I…” “Out.
Go.” Lepp lowered his paw, hung his head, and shuffled out the door.
Footsteps echoed down the hallway, fading until the wind swallowed them.
Nick sat alone in the living room.
From the kitchen came his mother’s voice, “Honey, I don’t need this much money.
You keep it.” He closed his eyes.
For a long time, he didn’t open them.
————•★•————★ Author Note: Thanks for reading!
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