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I was standing outside of Clark Halibuts, shivering in the low temperatures of Tundratown, where my partner, Nick Wilde, and I had been patrolling. As I leaned against the police cruiser, I observed a musk ox and a snow leopard strolling leisurely through a park nearby and I thought about how far the relations between the predators and prey in Zootopia had come. What would've been an odd sight to behold not long ago was once again becoming commonplace. Of course, many in the city were unwilling to surrender their prejudices, but slowly, less and less were persisting in clinging to their bigotry.
As I continued to wait while Nick paid inside—wishing my fur was a little more insulating—a young elk calf sprinted toward me, vaulting over a snowbank in his haste. In his hand he clutched a very wrinkled newspaper clipping, obviously held and read and looked at many times. He skidded to a stop in front of me, slipping ever so slightly on a patch of ice, eyes wide with barely contained glee.
"Are you Officer Hopps?" I felt a warm glow ignite in my chest and work its way through my tolerably chilled body. I had labored so hard to have people take me seriously as a cop and this young elk had called me "Officer" as if it were the most natural thing in the world. I gave him a big smile.
"Yep, that's me. What's your name, little guy?" Either he ignored my question or he was too filled with exuberance to hear it because he immediately thrust the newspaper out toward me (so quickly that it startled me) until I could read the heading.
It was two months old and sported the headline, "Predator and Prey Save the Day". Underneath was a picture of me and Nick in civilian clothes, not our uniforms. I smiled as I remembered how thrilled my parents had been to see me in the newspaper.
I barely had time to read the caption before the calf began to bounce in excitement.
"I can't believe it! This is so cool! Can I have your autograph? Please, please, please?" I nodded while I pulled my favorite pen from my pocket.
"Of course!" I reached for the paper and laughed as he quickly shoved it into my hand, continuing to bounce on his toes. The calf was all eyes and mouth as I handed the signed paper back to him. He stared at it for a moment as a big grin slowly spread across his face. The next instant, my arms were pinned to my sides as he crushed me in a big bear hug, or an elk hug, I suppose.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you! This is the best day ever!" The restaurant door opened and I looked up to see Nick walking over, chuckling as he surveyed my predicament. His aviators, which he had taken off while in the restaurant, were still propped on his head, so I could see the teasing look in his eyes quite clearly as he drew closer, smirking as he sipped from his almost empty cup. I looked down at the calf, who was gazing up at me with adoring eyes. His smile hadn't faded even a little.
"You're welcome, little guy." As he let me go, I pulled my arms free and gestured in Nick's direction.
"And this is my partner, Officer Nick Wilde." Nick stuck his free hand in his pocket, smiling down at the little elk.
"Heya, kiddo. How's it going?" The calf stared up at him for a second before turning and bolting around the corner he'd first come from without a word. I watched after him for a moment before looking at Nick. The grin had dropped from his lips.
"Nick, I'm sorry." As lame as it sounded, I wasn't really sure what else to say. He shrugged, dropping his sunglasses back down over his eyes and throwing the empty cup in a nearby trashcan.
"Eh, it's no big deal. We'd better finish our patrol before Chief Buy-One-Get-One chews us out for being slower than Flash." His expression slipped into an easy-going smirk but I could see the hurt hidden behind his habitual deflection. He walked toward his side of the car as I reached for the door handle on mine. I stopped short at the sound of running footsteps. We both turned to see the same elk coming toward us with a young polar bear cub beside him. When they reached us, the elk pointed at Nick and announced loudly,
"See? I told you! I told you I saw him!" The polar bear stared at Nick like the elk had stared at me. In an awed voice, he mumbled, more to himself than to me or Nick,
"You're Officer Nick Wilde." Nick nodded and gave him his signature smirk, this time not forced.
"Yeah, I know," Nick replied to the non question. The cub grinned and pulled a duplicate newspaper clipping to the one I'd signed from his pocket, this one also wrinkled and much used.
"Can I please have your autograph?"
"Me too!" added the elk, holding out his paper. Nick's smile grew a tiny bit as he took first the polar bear's paper, then the elk's. When he'd signed them both, the cub handed me his paper and I signed it also. After they thanked us again, they turned and walked back toward the corner, both staring and pointing at his own paper and talking at the same time.
After they'd gone, Nick and I climbed into the police car without a word. He didn't seem eager to voice his thoughts and I didn't want to break the comfortable silence anyway. Although we never talked about it, I could tell that those two boys had touched him in a special way that no one else ever could, even though they would never know it.