The Time Traveler's Guide to Zootopia

Chapter 32: Confession

The door to my temporary office remained closed but the knocking continued.  It was now time to set things right with the ZPD.

"Come in!" I said louder.

The door opened and I was curious to see which ZPD officer would be brave enough to come unto me.  A young slender figure stepped inside and it was the same black panther I had encountered in the ZPD hallway right after I grabbed Nick by the neck.  In other words, the same panther who tried to tase me.

He held an ice-packet to his eye, gave me a flinty stare, and sat down across from me.  I waited for him to speak but he said nothing.  Was he being shy?   I couldn't tell so I decided to break the ice.

"How's your eye?" I asked with concern.

"Stings," he said flatly.

"That's too bad," I said while looking down at the desktop and then back at him.  "I'm sorry, officer."

"I don't care what you say," he growled.  "Your apology means nothing to me."

I scooted my chair closer to the desk.  "Then why are you here?"

He stopped to think.  "I'm here because...  I wanna know why you didn't drop."

"Drop?"

He grew irritated.  "I shot you, remember?  Any mammal would immediately drop on sight."

This panther had no idea.  "Doesn't always work that way," I said.

"Yeah?  Well, it should've." he insisted.  "I know I had you."

Since everyone in this world was a furry animal, I could see why he'd be disappointed to encounter a foreign animal that didn't drop like everyone else.  

"If the others couldn't do it, neither could you," I indicated.

He gave an inquisitive stare.  "But... how come you didn't drop?"

I said nothing and tried to get a visual on his shirt badge.  However, his arm covered it while he held up the ice pack.  The last thing I wanted was to be interrogated again so I had to divert the conversation. 

"What's your name?" I asked.

He hesitated but answered.  "Klawford.  Officer Klawford."

"Okay, Klawford, you seem like a good officer - who tries to learn from his mistakes - so I'll give you a hint:  If one tool doesn't work, use a different one."

By that, I meant that if his taser didn't work, then he ought to switch to something else on his utility belt.  Pepper spray, tranquilizer, flashlight, fly swatter, whatever.  Sometimes it's necessary and more effective to switch to a secondary in the heat of conflict.  Of course, he would've failed either way to take me down but at least he could've lasted longer.

The panther pondered for a moment and winced at the pain of his eye.  "That's... that's all you're going to tell me?"

I slowly nodded.  "That's it."

He gave a pensive frown, hoping I'd elaborate further but to no avail.  "Well then, I guess I'll keep that in mind," he noted.

"Anything else?" I asked.

"Yes, plenty.  I've got many more questions for you," he mentioned before turning his head to the door.  "But maybe next time... because there's a long line outside."

I was a bit surprised, hoping it wasn't true.  "Really?"

"Yeah," he confirmed.  "Thankfully, I'm not the only mammal who's been afflicted."