The Good Old Days: An Animal Crossing Fan Fiction

Chapter 5 - Redd

The rain was starting to pour down heavy as I waited for Tom to arrive at the city bus stop. It was supposed to arrive at 1:00pm, but it was now twenty after, which meant that we were twenty minutes late for a very important business meeting. Jerry Lungorio, our business financier, was not going to be happy. I could already hear him yelling at me, with my ears ringing in pain. The only reason he didn't decline our request was because of his daughter. Her and I have this thing together, so she decided to ask her father if he could help develop my dream. It only took a couple of weeks of nudging, but she eventually did me a solid. Nook must be pretty thrilled that I snagged us such a great opportunity.

Fortunately I didn't have to wait much longer, because just then, the bus arrived and pulled into the bus stop. I tried looking for Tom through one of the windows, and spotted him sleeping with his head leaning on the window. Someone inside woke him up.

I went up to the bus as he walked through the doors. "Nook!" I said giving him a big hug.

He seemed surprised at first, but when he finally gained full consciousness, he smiled. "Redd! I almost didn't recognize you!"

I let go of him and then I told him about the meeting. "We have to hurry," I said while leading him to a taxi. " We have a meeting to go to."

"Already?" He asked.

"Yep... and we're late."

We both stepped into the taxi and got out of the heavy rain. I told the driver where we were headed, and we were off.

"So, what's new?" Tom asked as he placed his things on the floor of the cab.

"Not much," I answered. "This is pretty much the biggest thing that has happened yet." I began to recall events about my past with Tom back in Animal Village. Those days were so exhilarating and wonderful. Sometimes I regret having left there, but then I remember what awaits me here, and can't turn back. How are the Able sisters?" I asked looking out the taxi window.

"Oh... they're fine, hard workers just as they've always been" he told me.

"And Sable?" I asked turning my head to get a good look at that old raccoon smile I used to know.

"We're engaged." he said with a smile that he couldn't hide.

"Good on you! I knew it was meant to be!" I was happy for him, gave him a pat on the back and we both reminisced for a while.

Soon, we arrived at the Lungoriorio building, tall and magnificent in all of its glory. After I payed the driver, we both walked inside, entered an elevator and designated it to stop at the 44th floor.

"Who exactly are we meeting?" Tom asked.

"Jerry Lungoriorio, but it'll be 'Mister Lungoriorio' from here on out" I replied. "He's the one who'll be financing our business venture."

"Must be pretty rich," he said looking at the gold plated buttons on the elevator walls. "How do you know him?"

"Well, I'm dating his daughter."

"Really?"

"Yeah, sort of."

"What's her name?"

The elevator doors opened, "Gracie!" I yipped, trying my best to sound excited.

"You're late, darling."

We both walked to the end of the hallway, and came to a door with a metal plate on it that read 'Senior Director - Jerry Lungorio'. I opened the door and stepped into a room with a large oval shaped table in the middle. Seated around it was, our insurance lawyer Lyle, across from him was a weasel with a fancy suit and a sketchy smirk who was Jerry's lawyer, and beside him was the king pin himself. Jerry was not happy at all.

"You're late," he said in an irritated voice.

"Sorry," I said trying to sound sympathetic. "I had to pick up Tom."

"Well, we better get started," he remarked. "You're not getting those 20 minutes back, so you better make good use of the remainder of my time."

We took a seat next to Lyle who's paws were clearly sweaty. Gracie went over to give her father a peck on the forehead.

"Oh please forgive them daddy, you know how traffic is in this city." Gracie said as she went over to pour herself some tea from the refreshments counter.

The meeting felt long and tedious. Mr. Lungorio asked so many questions that I thought my head might explode from answering them. There were papers to sign and policies to agree to. Occasionally, I would look over at Gracie, and she would sip on her tea and be twirling a pencil. She smiled at me and I smiled back.

"Mr. Nook," said Mr. Lungorio. "there is a license that you require in order to run this business. Do you have it?"

"Uhh, umm.." Nook started to stammer.

"Might I remind you fellows the license is mandatory!" snarled Grendal looking at Jerry for approval of his remarks.

I quickly jumped in. "-Yes," I said. "Yes he does! He's got the license. Don't you Tom?" I nudged his shoulder and looked at him.

He obviously seemed to understand, because he came with a quick, "Yes, yes I do," as he signed the very last paper.

Finally, The meeting was over. Tom and I shook hands with everyone, then we left the room and entered into the long hallway.

"You know very well that I don't have that license Redd," Tom whispered.

I smiled. "Just relax Tom," I told him. "It wont matter once we've got the place and we're rolling in bells."

He chuckled. "Redd, you're Crazy."

"That's what they call me!" I said smiling. "Crazy Redd sure knows how to strike a good business deal." Tom and I both laughed as we waited for the elevator.

"Darling," came a voice from behind. I turned around to see Gracie behind me. "You did good in there," she said. "Usually you wouldn't be able to get through ten minutes of a conversation with Daddy without him yelling at you."

"Well Thanks Gracie, I guess I was pretty good in there, huh?" I said. I introduced Gracie to Tom and Tom to Gracie.

"Well... I'll see you tonight darling," She said, then she left. We stepped into the elevator.

"What are you doing tonight?" Tom asked me.

"I think we all deserve a little celebration tonight, don't you?" I said as the elevator door's closed shut. 

----- Author's Note -----

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