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Wally thought the fields near their little neighborhood were beautiful. There were hundreds of flowers planted there, creating a sort of maze.
It was beautiful, and he wanted to bring it home.
Luckily, Julie invited him and Barnaby out to go pick flowers. It was almost calming. Wally’s peaceful mood didn’t last long, however.
“Barnaby! Can’t you save some daisies for me?” Julie whined. He held them away from her as she grabbed at them.
Barnaby huffed. “This is very un-daisy-like of you, Julie,” He smiled and let go of the daisies. They rained onto Julie and completely covered her.
Barnaby crouched next to the pile and took off the top. “Is that enough?” He asked, smugly.
Julie pouted. “How did you even carry that many daisies?” They stared at each other for a long moment, before giggling.
Slowly, he hoisted her out of the pile. “You should have seen your face!” Barnaby exclaimed. Julie nodded eagerly and grabbed one from the pile.
“Wow. You really know how to pick flowers!” She commented.
The two kept chatting and eventually continued to collect flowers. Wally stared at them, smiling. He would take this over peace any day.
Barnaby noticed him and ran over with various flowers cradled in his arms. “Heya, Wally! I see you’ve collected a lotta flowers,”
Wally looked down at his basket. It was full of sunflowers. He looked back up at him and laughed. “I only have sunflowers right now, Barnaby. You seem to be having fun,”
He nodded eagerly. “Yeah-“
Suddenly, they heard Julie scream. They dropped all of their flowers and ran over towards her. When they arrived, Barnaby immediately scooped her up. “What happened?”
Julie giggled and pointed towards the rose bush. “Guys, look! It’s a washbear!” She patted his hand. “I’m fine, don’t worry!”
Barnaby sheepishly let her down while Wally walked towards the bush. Curiously, he plucked one of the roses. A raccoon emerged from the bush, growling.
He turned to Julie. “What’s a washbear?”
She gestured towards the racoon. “That, silly!”
“That looks like a raccoon to me, Julie.” Barnaby interjected, backing away from the bush.
“I don’t think we should mess with it,”
Julie waved him off, reaching to pet the raccoon. “Washbear, raccoon, same thing! Look, it likes me-“
The raccoon bit her. She screamed again. Barnaby scooped her up and sighed in exasperation. “It sure does. Hey, Wally, let’s leave. We can come back another day,”
Wally nodded, staring at the raccoon with an unreadable expression. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Barnaby nodded and took off. He failed to check if Wally was actually following him, trusting in his best friend. Wally thought it wasn’t very smart of him as he stared the raccoon down.
He took a step towards it. For some reason, the raccoon tried to flee back into the bush. Wally tsked and, in one motion, plunged his hand inside the rose bush. He pulled the raccoon out by its neck and ignored the thorns stuck in his hand. It struggled against him fiercely. A quick squeeze to its throat made it quickly stop struggling.
Wally shook his head. “You’ve caused a lot of trouble today, neighbor,” He slammed the raccoon on the ground, still holding it. It seemed to be playing dead. Wally huffed.
“That’s not going to work. See, you bit one of my friends. And I-“ he brought it up to his face. “-And I don’t take kindly to raccoons who hurt my friends.”
It thrashed wildly in his hand as he stared at it. Was it painful, he wondered, to have your head bitten off?
The raccoon stopped struggling. He hummed.
Wally threw the body in the bushes. It wouldn’t be any good for his neighbors to find the body- knowing them, they’d ask too many questions.
He turned around and went to go look for his friends.
—
Wally opened the door to Poppy’s house and was immediately tackled by Barnaby. He chuckled. “Hey, neighbor! Is Julie alright?”
Barnaby scanned him for injuries, relieved when he didn’t find any. “Where were you, pal? I was worried,” He asked, leading him to where Julie sat.
Wally stared at her hand. It was bandaged and she had tear tracks on her face, but Julie didn’t seem to be in any pain. He slumped.
“I took care of the raccoon.”
At that, Barnaby looked unnerved. He was about to ask something, before glancing at the others and relenting.
Wally nodded.
Poppy was still fretting over Julie. “Are you positive you’re okay?” She asked. Julie smiled at her reassuringly and lifted her bandaged hand.
“I’m fine, Poppy, see? Good as new!” Julie turned her head toward Wally. “Aren’t I?”
Wally agreed with her. Poppy was still visibly worried, but they were able to leave her barn with minimal resistance.
“Now what?” Barnaby said. He was carrying both of them. When Julie asked him why, he stared at Wally.
“Hey, Wally, can we paint at Home?” Julie fiddled with her skirt.
Wally nodded his head. “Yeah. Come on, Barnaby, let’s go,”
They arrived in front of Home. As Barnaby was letting them down, Frank sped towards them.
Frank inspected Julie’s hand. “What happened?”
Julie told him about the raccoon. “It was so cute!” She exclaimed.
Frank stared at her, exasperated.
“To be Frank, Julie, washbears aren’t known to be the cuddliest animals. And we call them raccoons,” He scolded her. She smiled sheepishly.
Wally stepped onto his porch and addressed him. “Would you like to paint with us?”
Frank eyed him, Barnaby, and Julie. He sighed. “Sure. Quite Frankly, I don’t trust you to be alone,”
Julie cheered. They went inside, Home immediately taking out Wally’s paints. Julie gathered as many pinks and greens as she could with one hand.
“Frank! Let’s make something for Eddie. Your anniversary is soon, right?” Frank nodded his head. He and Julie started to paint on one canvas.
Meanwhile, Barnaby got out his signature blues. “Wally,” he called. Wally looked up from his drawing. “What do you call a raccoon that paints?”
Wally shrugged. Barnaby grinned and slapped his blue paint onto Wally’s half-finished canvas. “Leonardo Da Raccoon!”
Wally laughed, scooping up the red paint he was using and throwing it at Barnaby. He squawked and tackled Wally in retaliation. Soon, they were wrestling on the floor. It wasn’t much of a struggle though, since Barnaby was one of their tallest neighbors and Wally was the shortest.
Barnaby hugged him, dragging Wally into his lap. “Are you tired, pal?”
Wally shook his head and paused. Then, he snuggled into his lap, nodding. Barnaby chuckled.
The other two finished up their painting. “It’s beautiful!” Julie exclaimed. Frank nodded, although he was still frowning.
“It’s amateurish,” he stated. “Eddie will like it.”
Julie tsked and put it in a canvas stand to dry. “He’ll absolutely adore it, Frank,”
Frank just nodded again and looked towards Wally and Barnaby. He pointed at them. “Julie, do you think they’re in a relationship?”
She stared at them and shrugged. “Maybe. Oh. I can ask-!”
Frank shushed her and shook his head. “To be Frank, Julie, Wally is sleeping. Their relationship doesn’t matter, be quiet,”
She walked over to them despite Frank’s insistence. “Hey, Barnaby,” she whispered. “Are you dating Wally?”
He turned pink and shook his head. “No, we’re just really affectionate best friends.”
Julie grinned and gestured towards them, as if telling Frank he’s got his answer.
Frank facepalmed.
He gently grabbed his now dry canvas and dragged Julie outside. “We’re leaving. Have a good night, Barnaby,”
The door shut. They were alone. Barnaby basked in the afternoon light, before shaking Wally awake. They had to clean up.
“Hey, pal, it’s time to wake up,” He said. Wally opened his eyes and blinked up at Barnaby.
“I was awake,” He told him, indignantly. Barnaby chuckled.
“You were going to do your ‘sleep’ thing to avoid cleaning up,” Wally blushed and got up.
Barnaby followed Wally to the washroom, where they started to wash their hands. “Hey, pal,” Barnaby inquired. “What did you mean by ‘taking care’ of that raccoon?”
Wally washed his face. “I simply made sure it couldn’t hurt anyone anymore,”
They went to the living room and started picking up the various paints. “And how’d you do that?” Barnaby spoke.
Wally put his paints away. “I ate it,”
Barnaby raised his eyebrows and got the mop. “Wally, you can’t eat uncooked meat,”
Wally huffed and sat down on his couch, done with cleaning. “I only ate the head!”
Barnaby stared at him with a deadpan expression. “That doesn’t make it better,”
He threw up his arms in exasperation. “What else did you want me to do, neighbor? Let it hurt someone else? What if it hurt you?”
At that, Barnaby’s eyes softened, and he laid Wally down on his lap. “Don’t do it again, alright? There are other ways of dealing with wild animals,”
Wally nodded and curled into him.
They stayed like that for a few more minutes, before Wally broke the silence.
“It kind of tasted like chicken.”