Chapter 1
The wild sounds of ancient predators soundeed out repeatedly through a large farm building in Bunnyburrow.
A young bunny named Judy Hopps appeared on a temporary stage.
She was trying to find her way through a fake rain forest made of recycled paper and pieces of thick cardboard.
Judy’s voice rang out loud and clear.
“Fear, Betrayal. Desire for blood! Thousands of year ago, these were the forces that ruled our world.
A world where prey were scared of predators.
And predators had an uncontrollable desire to attack, injure and kill and–”
Suddenly, a jaguar sprang at her from the shadows!
“Blood,blood,blood!”Judy screamed as she collapsed under the attack.
“And death.”
After a terribly long moment of silence, Judy sat up, faced the confused audience, and smiled as she continued her speech.
A poster reading “Carrot Days Talent Show” Hung over the astonished crowd.
“Back then, the world was divided in two: deadly predator or defenseless prey.”
Two cardboard boxes dropped down from the roof.
The first, labeled deadly predator in crayon, landed on top of the jaguar, and the second, labeled defenseless prey, landed on Judy.
The boxed settled on their shoulders so their heads, arms, and legs stuck out.
“But over time, we evolved and moved beyond our ancient, savage ways.”
A young sheep wearing a white gown and a cardboard rainbow on his head did an unprepared dance across the stage.
Judy and the jaguar burst out of their boxes, now wearing white gowns, too.
“Now predator and prey live in harmony.”
No longer actig as a deadly predator, the jaguar now looked like just another friendly youngster.
He shook hands with Judy.
Meanwhile, the sheep showered them with flowers.
“And every young mammal has countless oppirtunities,”Judy said.
“Yeah. I don’t have to tremble in fear in a herd of sheep anymore,” said the sheep.
Then he tore off hie gown.
Underneath his gown, he was wearing an astronaut costume that had clearly been made by hand.
“Instead, I can be an astronaut.”
“I don’t have to grow up to be a lonely hunter,” said the jaguar, showing a business suit under his gown.
“Today I can hunt for tax relief. I’m gonna be a tax accountant!”
“And I can make the world a better place–saving lives, defending the defenseless! I am going to be…”
Judy tore off her gown and stood in a blue uniform.
“A police officer!”
In the audience, an unpleasant fox kid named Gideon Grey laughed secretly with his two friends.
“Bunny cop. that is the most stupidest thing I ever heard,” he said.
Back on the stage, it seemed as if Judy had heard his remark.
“It may sound impossible… to small minds,” she said, pointing at him.
“I’m looking at you, Gideon Grey.”
Judy snapped her fingers and a backdrop showing a bright city with outlines of tall buildings unrolled behind her.
“But just two hundred and eleven mile away stands the great city of… ZOOTOPIA!
Where our ancestors first joined together in peace.
And declared that Anyone Can Be Anything! Thank you and good night!”
Judy proudly bowed, as it she had just given the performance of her life.
Sound of dutiful claps came from the audience, including her parents, Bonnie and Stu Hopps.
Moments later, Judy, still wearing her police costume, excitedly exited the building with her parents.
Outside, the Carrot Days Festival was in full swing as everyone enjoyed boothsm games, and rides.
“Judy, ever wonder how your mom and me got to be so terribly happy?” Stu asked.
“Nope,” Judy answered.
“Well, I’ll tell ya how,” Stu continued, as if he hadn’t heard Judy.
“We gave up on our dreams and we settled, right, Bon?”
“Oh,yes,” Bonnie agreed. “That’s right, Stu. We settled hard.”
“See, that’s the beauty of being self-satisfied, Jude.
If you don’t try anything new, you’ll never fail,” Stu said.
“I like trying, actually,” Judy said.
Bonnie looked at their daughter.
“What your father means, honey… it’s gonna be difficult–impossible, evev–for you to become a police officer.”
“There’s never been a bunny cop,” Stu said.
“I guess I’ll have to be the first one!” said Judy as she quickly jumped onto a fence for fun.
“Because I’m gonna make the world a better place.”
“Or…okay, you wanna talk about making the world a better place–no better way to do it than becoming a carrot farmer,” said Stu.
“Yes! Your dad and me and your two hundred seventy-five brothers and sisters–we’re changing the world one carrot at a time,” said Bonnie.
“Exactly! Carrot farming is a noble profession,” Stu agreed.
But Judy stopped paying attention to her parents when she spotted Gideon Grey following some little kids.
Senseing danger, she was instantly alert, and she went after him.
“You get in, honey?” Bonnie asked Judy.
“I mean, it’s great to have dreams.”
“Yeah, just as long as you don’t believe in them too much,” Stu continued as he looked around for his daughter.
“Judy, Where the hell did she go?”
Chapter 2
Judy got closer and saw Gideon Grey doing what the fox did best – terrorizing some kids.
“Give me your tickets right now, or I’m gonna kick your defenseless little sheep behind,” said Gideon, before forcefully pushing the kid.
Then he took the sheep’s tickets and slapped her face with them.
“Baa-baa,” he teased.
“What’re yo gonna do, cry?”
“Ow!” the sheep cried out in pain.
“Cut it out, Gideon!”
“Hey!” said Judy firmly.
“You heard her. Cut it out.”
Gideon looked at Judy and laughed.
“Nice costume, loser,” he said, flashing his long, sharp teeth at Judy.
“What crazy world are you living in where you think a bunny could be a cop?”
“Kindly return my friend’s tickets,” Judy said calmly.
Gideon laughed and jammed the tickets into his pocket.
“Come get’em. But watch out, ‘cause I’m a fox.
And like you said in your dumb little stage play, us predators used to eat prey.
And that urge to kill is still in our Dunnahh.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s pronouced D-N-A,” whispered one of Gideon’s wolf companions.
“Don’t tell me what I know, Travis,” Gideon said, annoyed.
“You don’t scare me, Gideon,” said Judy.
Gideon pushed Judy so hard that she fell to the ground hard.
Judy’s eyes began water.
“You scared now?” Gideon said cruelly.
The other prey animals hid behind a tree, leaving Judy to face Gideon and his friends alone.
“Look at her nose tremble,” laughted Travis.
“She is scared!”
“Cry, little baby bunny. Cry, cry —” Gideon teased her.
Bam! Before Gideon could say another word, Juddy kicked him in the face with her back legs.
The kick knocked him down for a moment.
But he sprang right back up, and he was mad.
“Oh, you don’t know when to quit, do you?” Gideon said, drawing out his claws like a fist of knives.
He slapped Judy in the face, his sharp claws digging into her skin, making her bleed.
Then he knocked her down and held her face in the dirt.
“I want you to remember this moment,” Gideon said coldly, “anytime you think you’ll ever be anything more than just a stupid, carrot-farming dumb bunny.”
Gideon and his companions walked away, laughing, leaving Judy in the dirt.
She got up, wiped the blood off her cheek, and srarted angrily at their backs.
“Aw jeez, that looks bad,” said Gareth, a sheep.
“Are you okay, Judy?” asked Sharla, the sheep Gideon had taken the tickets from.
Judy took a breath and pulled something out of her front pocket, smiling wide.
“Here you go!” she said, returning the tickets that Gideon had stolen.
“That’s so cool! You got our tickets!” said Sharla.
“You’re awesome, Judy!” Gareth cried out happily.
“That Gideon Grey doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Sharla added.
Judy slapped her police hat back on top of her head, and there was a lool of determination in her eye.
“Well, he was right about one thing: I don’t know when go quit.”
Fifteen years later, Judy Hopps worked her tail off in the Zootopia Police Academy.
She was small compared to the rest of the trainee police officers–who were mostly elephants, rhinos, and bison–but she was strong-willed.
Because of her size, the physical training was the toughest part.
Trainee officers had to get through problematic barriers in simulators.
These simulators imitated the weather conditions in all of the twelve unique climate environments that made up the city of Zootopia.
From freezing Tundratown to the uncomfortably hot Sahara Square, each environment presented its own set of challenges.
The chanllenges varied from trying to climb an ice wall to attempting to survive in a storm of burning hot sand.
Judy fell down more than anyone.
In her mind she could hear the voice of her parents, her drill instructor, and Gideon Grey.
All of them were telling her how they doubted that there could ever be a bunny cop.
And it was those voice that made Judy work harder than anyone else.
Through constant hard work and determination, she managed to keep up and surprise everyone.
In the final weeks of training, Judy used her bunny skills, like her strong legs and her great hearing, to help prove her worth.
She sailed through the simulations of physical barriers and at times even passed the other trainee officers.
Once, she knocked down a male rhino ten times her size during a final boxing match!
Chapter 3
On graduation day, Judy took her place among the other graduates.
The ceremony included the rhino who she had beaten earlier.
He was sporting a fat lip and a black eye.
The mayor, a lion named Leodore Lionheart, stepped up to the stage.
“As mayor of Zootopia, I am proud to announce that my Mammal Inclusion Initiative has produced its first police academy graduate.
The best trainee officer of her class…ZPD’s very first rabbit police officer, Judy Hopps.
Assistant Mayor Bellwether, her police badge?” the mayor said to small sheep standing nearby.
“Oh! Yes. Right,”said Bellwether.
“Judy, it is my great privilege to officially assign you to the heart of Zootopia: Precinct One, City Center,” Lionheart said.
Judy walk across the stage to the sound of deafening cheers and claps—the loudest coming from her parents, even as Stu sobbed.
Mayor Lionheart handed Judy her diploma while Bellwether stepped forward and pinned her ZPD badge onto her uniform.
“Congratulations, Officer Hopps.”
“I won’t let you down. This has been my dream since I was a kid,” said Judy.
“It’s a real proud day for us little guys.” Bellwether whispered.
“Bellwether, make room, will you？” said Lionheart, smiling broadly.
“All right, Officer Hopps. Let’s see those teeth!”
A photographer positioned Judy with Mayor Lionheart and Bellwether to take a photo.
But Lionheart edged Bellwether out of the photo.
Days later, Judy’s parents, along with several of her brothers and sisiters, accompanied her t the train station.
“We’re real proud of you, Judy,” said Bonnie.
“Yeah.Scared, too,” said Stu.
“Really, it’s combination of ‘proud-scared.’ I mean, Zootopia. it’s so far away and such a big city.”
“Guys, I’ve been working for this my whole life,” Judy told her parents, trying to hide how thrilled she really was.
“We know,” said Bonnie. “And we’re just a little excited for you, but terrified.”
“‘The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,’” said Judy.
“And also bears,” said Stu. “We have bears to fear, too. To say nothing of lions, wolves…”
“Wolves?” Bonnie asked, confused.
“… weasels…,” Stu continued.
“You play cards with a weasel,” said Bonnie.
“And he cheets like there’s no tomorrow. Pretty much all predators do–and Zootopia’s full of’em. And foxes are the worst.”
“Actually, your father does have a point there,” added Bonnie. “It’s in their biology. Remember what happend with Gidoen Grey?”
“When I was nine,” said Judy. “Gideon Grey was a jerk who happened to be a fox. I know plenty of bunnies who are jerks.”
“Sure. We all do. Absolutely,” said Stu. “But just in case, we made you a little care package to take with you.” he held out a bag.
“And I put some snacks in there,” said Bonnie.
Judy looked inside and saw a bunch of pink spray cans.
“This is fox repellent,” explained Stu, picking one up.
“Yeah, that’s safe to have,” said Bonnie.
“This is to scare off foxes…,” Stu said, pointing at something that looked like an air horn.
“That’s all she needs,” Bonnied said, trying to stop Stu from getting carried away.
“Check this out!” Stu said as he pulled out a fox Taser and turned it on.
The sudden, sharp sounds of electric currents began issuing forth from the Taser.
“Oh, for goodness’ sake! She has no need for a fox Taser, Stu.”
“Come on. When is there not a need for a fox Taser?” asked Stu.
“Okay, I will take this to make you stop talking,” said Judy.
She took the pink can of fox repellent as the train approached.
“Brilliant! Everyone wins!” Stu cried out happily.
“Arriving! Zootopia Express!” called the conductor.
“Okay. Gotta go. Bye!” said Judy, hearing for the train.
Stu and Bonnie held back tears as they watched their daughter walk off.
Suddenly, Judy turned back and ran to her parents.
She hugged them both tightly. “I love you guys,” she said.
“Love you, too!” said Bonnie.
After one more hug, Judy jumped onto the train.
“Aw hell, here come the tears,” said Stu sa fat teardrops started flowing down his cheeks.
“Ahhahoho jeesh…”
“Oh, Stu, pull it together,” whispered Bonnie.
The big crowd of bunnies watched Judy go, and as the train pulled away, they ran next to it, waving and shouting their goodbyes.
“Bye, everybody! Bye!” Judy called.
When their faces disappeared into the distance, Judy climbed to the observation area, looked ahead out of the glass window and took a deep breath.
She pulled out her phone and clicked on some music, feeling like her life was about to begin.
As the train came around a bend, Judy looked intently out the window at the remarkable sight in the distance: Zootopia.
She pressed her face against the glass and watched each district of the city pass by.
Judy exited the train at Centrel Station, which served downtown Zootopia, and made her way outside into the city’s central plaza.
It was astonishing! She took out her ear-phones and let the lound and confusing city sounds wash over her as she looked around in amazement.
Animals of all shapes and sizes rushed by, hurrying this way and that.
It was a far cry from Bunnyburrow!
She looked down at her phone and checked her maps app to figure out which way to go.
Chapter 4
When she found her apartment building, the owner of the building, Dharma, an armodillo, led her to a little apartment.
“Welcome to the Grand Pangolin Arms,” said Dharma, stepping aside to let Judy in, continued “We offer free delousing services once a month. Don’t lose your key.”
At that moment, Kudu and Oryx, Judy’s neighbors, passed in the hallway.
Judy greeted them warmly. “Oh, hi, I’m Judy. Your new neighbor.”
“Year, well, we’re loud,” said Kudu.
“Don’t expect us to aplogize for it,” added Oryx.
The two hurried off, banging the door of their apartment loudly behind them.
Dharma had left as well, leaving Judy alone in her apartment for the first time.
She looked around.
“Oil-covered walls…broken bed…,” said Judy.
Then loud voices came from the other side of the wall:”Shut up!”
“You shut up!”
“NO! You shut up!”
“Crazy neighbors,” Judy said, as she lay down onto the bed with a big smile.”I love it!”
Beep. Beep. Beep.
At the sound of her morning alarm, Judy sprang out of bed.
She washed, brushed, and bathed.
Then she put on her vest, pinned on her badge, and fastened her belt.
She was ready to protect the city! She glanced at the pink can of fox repellent sitting on the bedside table and walked out, leaving it behind.
But after a moment, she reached back in the room and took it with her–just in case.
She left her apartment and headed toward the Zootopia Police Department for her first day on job!
Judy’s eyes widened as she entered the disordered and loud ZPD.
Big strong cops pushed criminals through the entrance hall as people rushed around in every direction.
She avoided a few large, Well-built animals before finally finding her way to the front desk.
There, a round, fat, friendly-looking cheetah sat chatting with some other cops.
Judy smiled at him as she approached, but he couldn’t see her because she was shaorter than the desk.
“Excuse me!” Judy called up to the desk.
“Down here.
Down.
Here.
Hi.”
The cheetah moved forward over the desk and saw Judy standing there in her uniform.
“O-M goodness!” he said.”They really did hire a bunny. What! I gonna tell you; you are even cuter than I thought you’d be.”
Judy made a face. “Oh, uh, I’m sure you didn’t know, but for us rabbits…word ‘cute’ is a–it’s a little–”
“Oh! I am so sorry. Me, Benjamin Clawhauser, the guy everyone thinks is just a fat, donut-loving cop, generalizing like that…,” he said apologetically.
“It’s okay. Oh, um, actually you’ve–actually–” Judy hesitated as she tried to figure out how to say it.
“There’s a–in yout neck–the fold…there’s–”
Clawhauser removed a small donut from user a rall of neck fat. “There you went, you little troublemarker!” said Clawhauser to the donut.
Then he joyfull put all of it into his mouth.
“I should get to roll call, so.. which way do I…?” Judy asked.
“Oh!” Clawhauser said with his mouth full of donut. “The office is over there to the left.”
“Great, thank you!” Judy said, and hurried off.
“Aw.. that poor little bunny’s gonna get eaten alive,” he said, watching her go.
Inside the office, rhinos, buttalo, hippos, and elephants prepared for work.
They towered over Judy, but she didn’t mind.
She excitedly climbed up into a massive, elephant-sized chair and looked around the room.
“Hey, Officer Hopps,” Judy extended her paw to an enormous rhino sitting next to her.
The name on his badge read “McHorn.”
“You ready to make the world a better place?” she asked sincerely.
McHorn rolled his eyes and gave a short, loud laugh through his nose.
He then gave her an unwilling fist bump, nearly knocking her off her chair.
“TEN-HUT!” shouted one of the officers as Police Chief Bogo, a no-nonsense buffalo, entered the room.
Everyone instantly fell in line and started banging ther tables with their fists.
“All right, all right. Everybody sit,” said Bogo. “I’ve got three things on hand that I need to talk about.
First, we need to acknowledge the elephant in the room.” He nodded toward an elephant officer. “Francine, happy birthday.”
The shy elephant turned red from embarrassment as the cops clapped and cheered.
“Number two: there are some new police officers with us I should intoduce. But I’m not going to, because I don’t care.”
Bogo moved toward a map.
“Finally, we have fourteen missing mammal cases,” he said, gesturing to the map.
“FOURTEEN CASES. Now, that’s more than we’ve ever had, and City Hall is right up my tail to solve them.
This is our most important case. Tasks!”
Bogo began barking out tasks for the cops as one of the officers handed out case files.
“Officer Grizzoli, Fangmeyer, Delgato: your teams take missing mammals from the Rainforest District.
Officers McHorn, Rhinowitz, Wolfard: your teams take Sahara Square.
Officers Higgins, Snarlov, Trunkaby: Tundratown.
And finally, our first bunny, Officer Hopps.”
Judy sat up, she’d been waiting anxiously for her task.
Bogo took the last case file from Higgins and held it dramatically in the air as he looked at Judy.
“Parking duty. Dismissed!”
“Parking duty?” asked Judy quietly. She hurried after Bogo. “Uh, Chief? Chief Bogo?”
Bogo looked around and saw no one until he looked down to see Judy at his ankles.
“Sir, you said there are fourteen missing mammal cases.”
“So?”
“So I can handle one. You probably forgot, but I was top of my class at the academy.”
“Didn’t forget. Just don’t care.”
“Sir, I did not join the police force to keep up appearances. I can help!”
“Well, then writing a hundred tickets a day should be easy,” said Bogo, walking out and shutting the door loudly behind him.
“A hundred tickets,” said Judy, stamping her foot on the groud.
She turned toward the closed door and shouted, “I’m gonna write two hundred tickets! Before noon!”
Chapter 5
Sporting her traffic-police hat and a bright-orange vest, Judy climbed into her tiny traffic-police cart, fastened her seat belt, and put on her shades.
She pressed the cart’s gas pedal down with her foot and took off…very slowly.
Judy’s ears twisted and turned as she used her excellent hearing skills to listen for parking meters that had run out of time.
Each time one of the meters ringed, she dashed over and wrote a ticket.
She ticketed dozens of cars of every size–moose cars, mouse cars, and everything in between.
“Boom! Two hundred tickets before noon,” she said proudly.
She returned to find out that the parking meter for her own traffic-police cart had also run out if time.
“Two hundred and one,” she said with a self-satisfied smile as she wrote herself a ticket.
Then the sound of a car horn and an angry sheep yellong out his window interrupted her moment.
“Watch where you’re going, fox!” the sheep yelled.
Judy saw a red fox across the street and eyed him suspiciously.
Then she shook her head and scolded herself for being suspicious without a real reason.
But when she saw him look around before sneaking into Jumbeaux’s Cafe, she crossed the road and looked in through the window.
He was nowhere to be seen.
Now completely suspicious, Judy unbuttoned the pink can of fox repellent from her waist-belt and headed inside.
The cafe sold extra-large sized ice cream that were made and served by elephants.
The elephants used their trunks to pick up and put ice cream into bowls.
Then, they used their trunks to pour pieces of nuts and small slices of fruit on top of the ice cream.
Judy spotted the fox at the front of the line.
Jerry Jumbeaux, Jr., the elephant working behind the counter, yelled at the fox.
“Listen, I don’t know what you’re doing sneaking around during daylight hours, but I don’t want any trouble here.
So hit the road!”
“I’m not looking for any trouble either, sir,” said the fox innocently, “I simply want to buy a Jumbo-pop for my little boy,” he said, reaching behind him.
“You want the red or the blue, son?”
When Judy noticed the little child holding on to the fox’s leg, she felt awful for jumping to conclusions.
“I’m such a…,” Judy whispered to herself as she turned to leave.
“Listen, mister. There aren’t any fox ice cream shops in your part of town?”
“There are. It’s just, my boy–” The fox patted the boy’s fur.
“This silly little fella–he loves all things elephant.
Wants to be one when he grows up.
Who am I to destroy the little guy’s dreams?”
The boy pulled up the top of his elephant costume over his head.
Now he looked like a tiny baby elephant.
He made a cute little toot-toot soud with his toy elephant truk.
Judy smiled.
Realizing she still had it out, she quickly put her fox repellent back into her belt.
Jerry pointed to a sigh behind him.
“Look, you probably can’t read. fox, but the sign says: ‘WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO REFUSE SERVICE TO ANYONE.’ So beat it.”
“You’re holding up the line,” said an annoyed elephant, waiting behind the two foxes.
The baby fox looked as if he was about to cry.
Judy marched up to the counter and flashed her police badge at Jerry.
“Hello? Excuse me?” said Judy.
“You’r gonna have to wait your turn like everyone else, meter maid,” said Jerry.
“Actually…I’m an officer. Just had a quick question.
Are your customers aware that they’re getting digusting nose fluid with their cookies and cream?”
“What are you talking about?” asked Jerry, annoyed.
“Well, I don’t want to cause you any trouble, but I believe dealing ice cream without wearing gloves over trunks is illegal, which is kind of a big deal.
Of course, I could let you off with a warning.
But only if you were to glove those trunks and–I don’t know–finish selling this nice dad and his son a…what was it?” Judy smiled at the fox.
“A Jumbo-pop,” said the fox.
“A Jumbo-pop,” said Judy firmly.
Jerry started for a moment, then said, “Fifteen dollars.”
The fox turned to Judy.
“Thank you so much. Thank you.”
He dug through his pockets before stopping in disbelief.
“Are you kidding me? I don’t have my wallet.
I’m sorry, son, worst birthday ever.” The fox bent down to give the child a kiss, then turned to Judy.
“Thanks anyway.”
Judy put some cash on the counter.
“Keep the change,” she said.
Once Jerry gave them the Jumbo-pop, Judy held the door as the fox and his little boy exited the cafe.
“Officer, I can’t thank you enough,” said the fox.
“So kind, really. Can I pay you back?”
“Oh no, my treat.
It just–you know, it burns me up to see folks with such narrow-minded attitudes toward foxes,” Judy said.
“well, I just wanna say, you’re a great dad and just a…a real smart fellow.”
“Ah, well, that is high praise. It’s rare that I find someone who does not look down upon me… Officer…”
“Hopps. Mr. …,” Judy said, not catching the sarcasm that was evident in the fox’s voice.
“Wilde. Nick Wilde.”
Judy bent down toward the little fox.
“And you, little guy, you want to be an elephant when you grow up…
you be an elephant–because this is Zootopia, and anyone can be anything.” She placed a ZPD badge sticker on the boy’s chest.
“All right, here you go–” Nick said, handing him the huge Jumbo-pop.
“Two paws. Yeah. Aw, look at that smile, that’s a happy birthday smile! Give her a little bye-bye toot-toot.”
The cute little fox blew through his fake elephant trunk.
“Toot-toot!” said Judy happily.
Then she walked off with a spring in her step.
It felt great to help somebody in need!
Chapter 6
A little while later, Judy was writing parking tickets in Sahara Square when she noticed Nick and his kid a few blocks away.
“Oh! Hey, little toot-toot!” she called, waving, but they didn’t see her.
She started toward them but stopped suddenly when she realized what they were doing.
They were heating the large Jumbo-pop ice cream she had bought for them in the hot sun.
Then they were channeling the juice from the ice cream into little jars.
Not sure what to make of this, Judy continued to watch Nick and his kid pack the full jars into the back of a van.
Her eyes nearly fell out of her head when she saw Nick’s little son get into the driver’s seat! Then they drove off.
Judy was shicked and confused.
She jumped back ino her cart and followed them to the coldest section of Zootopia–Tundratown.
Nick’s son was pushing his little paws into the snow to make paw-like shapes.
Nick then put sticks at the bottom of each of these shapes.
Then the two poured the juice from the Jumbo-pop into the paw-like snow shapes to create dozens if smaller ice pops! Judy looked on, horrified.
She couldn’t believe it!
Judy followed them again, this time to Savanna Central, where they set up a stand and sold “pawosicles” at marked-up prices to lemmings.
“Pawpsicles! Get your pawpsicles!” barked Nick.
One lemming bought an icy treat, and then the rest of them followed.
In an instant, the frozen desserts were completely sold out!
Once the lemmings finished their pawpsicles, they threw the sticks into a recycling can.
When the lemmings were gone, a small door opend in the recycling can.
The little fox–who, Judy realized, was not a cute child but a fully grown Fennec fox named Finnick–stepped out of the can.
He had a pile of used pawpsicle sticks with him.
Judy was having trouble believing her eyes.
She continued to follow Nick and Finnick to Little Rodentia.
There, Nick set down the pile of used sticks in front of a mouse construction worker and shouted, “Lumber delivery!”
“What’s with the color?” asked the construction worker.
“The color? it’s red wood,” answered Nick, disregarding the question as he accepted his payment.
The construction workers dragged the sticks away, and Judy watched in wonder as Nick handed Finnick his share of the cash.
“Thirty-nine…forty. There you go. Way to work that cute child act, big guy.
What, no kiss bye-bye for Daddy?”
“You kiss me tomorrow, I’ll bite your face off,” said Finnick in a deep, grown-up voice.
“Later.”Finnick jumped into his van and drove off, playing loud rap music as he rode away.
Judy appreared in front of Nick, her face burning with anger.
“I stood up for you. And you lied to me! You liar!” she yelled.
“It’s called a hustle, sweetheart,” said Nick coolly.
“And I’m not the liar, he is.” Nick pointed behind Judy.
She turned but saw no one standing there.
When she turned back around, Nick was gone! Then she spotted his tail disappearing behind a corner.
“Hey,” she said, hurrying to catch up as Nick walked along.
“All right, tricky Nick, you’re under arrest.”
“Really, for what?”
“Hmm, I don’t know.
How about selling food without a permit, transporting undeclared commerce across district lines, false advertising–”
“Permit.” Nick smiled as he showed Judy the document.
“Receipt of declared commerce.” He showed her a receipt.
“And I did not falsely advertise anything. Take care.”
“You told that mouse the pawpsicle sticks were redwood,” Judy said.
“That’s right,” said Nick, looking satisfied with himself.
“Red. Wood. With a space in the middle. Wood that is red. You can’t touch me, Carrots.
I’ve been doing this since I was born.”
“You’re gonna want to stop yourself from calling me Carrots.”
“My bad,” said Nick.
“I just naturally assumed you came from some little carrot-choked Podunk, no?”
“Ah, no,” Judy replied, as if to say “obviously not.”
“Podunk is in the Deerbrooke County. I grew up in Bunnyburrow.”
“Okay. Tell me if this story sounds familiar.” Nick’s voice changed as he began to talk quickly and bravely.
“Innocent little country bunny with good grades and big ideas decides,
‘Hey, look at me, I’m gonna move to Zootopia, where predators and prey live in haymony!’
Only to find–whoopsie, we don’t all get along.
And that dream of being a big-city cop? Double whoopsie! She’s a meter maid.
And whoopsie number three-sie, no one cares about her or her dreams.
Soon enough those dreams die and our bunny sinks into mental and literal despair, living in a box under a bridge.
Until, finally, she has no choice but to go back home with that cute furry tail between her legs to become–You’re from Bunnyburrow?
So let’s say a carrot farmer?
Sound about right?”
Judy stood speechless.
She couldn’t believe Nick had figured out her fears so quickly.
Chapter 7
A passing rhino almost pushed her down, knocking her out of her thoughts.
“Be careful now,” warned Nick.
“Or it won’t just be your dreams breaking down into little pieces.”
“Hey, hey!” she said, trying to pull herself together.
“No one tells me what I can or can’t be!
Especially not some jerk who never had the courage to try and be anything more than a pawpsicle hustler.”
“All right, look, everyone comes to Zooyopia thinking they can be anything they want.
Well, you can’t. You can only be what you are.” He pointed to himself.
“Smart Fox.” Then he pointed to her.
“Dumb bunny.”
“I am not a dumb bunny.”
“Right. And that’s not wet cemment.”
Judy looked down to see that her legs were stuck in sticky wet cement.
She cried out in horror.
“You’ll never be a real cop,” Nick said in an unpleasant voice.
“You’re a cute meter maid, though. Maybe an administrator one day. Hang in there.”
Annoyed, Judy watched as Nick walked off.
Then she set about pulling her paws out of the cement.
Shhhk! Shhhk! Judy dragged her cement-covered paws across the welcome mat outside her apartment before going in.
A sad song filled the air when she turned on the radio.
She switched stations.
It was another sad song.
And that was how her day was going.
After listening to a few joyless songs, she dragged her feet over to the kitchen and popped in a “Carrots for One” microwave dinner.
Beep! Beep! Once it was done, she removed the cover, uncovering a single, tiny dried up carrot.
With her ears hanging low from sadnedd, Judy sat down at her small table and ate her dinner alone.
Brrring! Brrring! Judy’s cell phone rang.
It was her parents calling for a video chat.
SHe shook her head, sighed, and forced a smile before answering.
“Oh, hey! It’s my parents…,” she said, trying to sound cheerful.
“There she is!” said Bonnie. “Hi, sweetheart!”
Stu’s face popped onto the screen.
“Hey there, Judy the Dude! How was your first day on the force?”
“It was real great,” said Judy, knowing this was a complete lie.
“Yeah? Everything you ever hoped?” asked Bonnie.
“Absolutely, and more! Everyone’s so nice.
And I feel like I’m really making a diffrence–”
“Wait a second,” said Stu, popping his head onto the screen again.
“Holy hell, Bonnie! Look at that!”
Bonnie stared into the screeen trying to see what Stu was so excited about.
“Oh my sweet heaven! Judy, are you a meter maid?”
Judy had forgotten she was still wearing her vest and that her hat was on the chair.
Feeling embarrassed, she tried to save face.
“What? Oh, this? No. It’s just a temporary–”
“It’s the safest job on the force!” Bonnie cried out happily.
“She’s not a real cop! Our prayers have been answered!” said Stu, filled with joy.
“Glorious day!”
“Meter maid! Meter maid! Meter maid!” chanted Stu.
“Dad. Dad!” said Judy, feeling uncomfortable and just wanting to end the conversation.
“You know what? This has been great, guys, but it’s been a long day–”
“That’s right. You get some rest!” said Bonnie.
“Absolutely. Those meter aren’t gonna maid themselves,” added Stu.
They said goodnight and Judy hung up, feeling even sadder than she had before.
As she took off her vest, she turned on more sad music.
Through the wall, Oryx yelled: “Hey, bunny! Turn down that cheerless music!”
“Leave the meter maid alone!” yelled Kudu.
“Didn’t you hear her conversation? She feels like a failure!”
Judy turned down the music as Oryx and Kudu continued to yell and argue.
“Tomorrow’s another day,” she said quietly to herself.
“Yeah! but it might be worse!” yelled Oryx.
Sad and tired, Judy settled in for the night, wondering what tomorrow would bring.
The next day, Judy was back to ticketing cars parked at parking meters that had run out of time.
She set a ticket down on a van, ans a moose yelled at her: “I was thirty second over!”
As another meter rang, Judy wrote the ticket and place it on the front window of a tiny car.
“You’re a real hero, lady!” yelled an angry mouse.
Ding! Judy wrote out a third ticket, which a hippo picked up.
Her small child looked at Judy and said,”My mommy says she wishes you were dead.”
An angry driver shouted,”Uncool, rabbit. My tax dollars pay your salary.”
Later, Judy got into her cart and turned the key.
But the engine wouldn’t start.
She banged her head against the driveing wheel, accidentally sounding the car horn.
“I am a real cop,” she whispered to herself, weakly.
“I am a real cop.
I am a real cop…”