Crackin' that Safe Crime
The sun rose over the peaceful, self-explanatory town of Nice and Friendly Corners and illuminated it in the morning light as a rooster in the distance let out his proud wakeup call of “Cock-a-doodle-doo!”. It was the beginning of yet another great day for all of the townspeople, and boy, were they going to make the most of it. Inside the cabin of the town’s reliable Sheriff Callie, the female feline was snoozing without a care in the world in her bed when she heard another “Cock-a-doodle-doo!” from the rooster and slowly opened her eyes. Sitting up from her bed, Callie stretched out her arms, yawned all of her sleepiness away and rubbed away the crust that had accumulated in her eyes, while her loyal steed Sparky trodded by the window next to her bed and nuzzled her affectionately as his way of saying “Good morning”.“Good mornin’, Sparky”, Callie said to her quadrupedal friend, tenderly rubbing his chin and stroking her hand against his head, all while he whinnied happily. “Another day, another gold nugget.” Callie then licked her paws, arms and legs to clean them up and jumped down from her bed, slipping her pawed feet into her pink boots, then walked to the mirror to put on her hat and adjust her golden badge, making sure she looked as neat and tidy as possible for her daily sheriff duties. “Alright, now that I’m all set, it’s time to get to work!”, Callie proclaimed as she went out of her cabin and hopped onto Sparky, after which she cried out, “Giddyap, Sparky! Let’s ride like the wind!”. And with that, Sparky did as he was told and made his destination towards Nice and Friendly Corners, carrying the calico cowgirl on his saddled back.Once they arrived in town, Callie and Sparky looked around their surroundings and saw everyone in Nice and Friendly Corners going along with their carefree and social lives. “Well, Sparky. Nice and Friendly Corners is lookin’ as nice and friendly as ever”, Callie commented on the pleasant scene, adding, “Now let’s meet up with Toby and Peck and see how they’re doin’.” Outside the jailhouse where Callie works at, Deputy Peck, her avian assistant, was sweeping dust away on the ground with his broom while the sentient cactus that was Toby watched him while eating popcorn from a bowl, this time being careful not to scatter any on the ground like last time, which resulted in Peck spitefully calling him a pinecone. Sheriff Callie and Sparky eventually met up with the woodpecker and cactus as the former greeted them with “ Good mornin’, fellas!”. “Oh! Good mornin’ to you too, Sheriff Callie!”, Peck responded as he tipped his hat, with Toby chiming in with “The same to you!”. “How are you two doin’?”, Callie asked. “Well, you see, sheriff, I’ve sweeped every nook and cranny in the jailhouse like usual,” Peck responded, adding, “And I even cleaned out those teeny little spider webs in the corners, so we won’t be havin’ any of those creepy eight-legged critters inside.”“Gee, Peck. That’s some splendid work you did, if I may ask”, Callie commended Peck for his cleaning duties, then turned to Toby and questioned, “How about you, Toby? How’s your day goin’?”. “Fine. I’m doin’ just fine, Sheriff Callie”, Toby answered, digging into his bowl of popcorn and stuffing a handful of the contents into his mouth. “Well, that’s great, you two”, Callie stated, hopping off from Sparky and making her way onto the porch of the jailhouse, and said, “Because today’s another day of keeping Nice and Friendly Corners in check, and not to mention, making sure no bad guys stir up any sort of trouble.”Just then, Callie’s stomach made that distinctive rumbling noise anyone could tell was a sign that they were getting famished. “Well, sweet sassafras!”, Callie exclaimed with alarm as she placed her hand on her stomach, which rumbled once more. “Can’t run Nice and Friendly Corners on an empty stomach. Come on, fellas, how about we stop by at Ella’s for breakfast?”. Peck’s stomach rumbled as well, so he admitted, “You know what, Sheriff? I’m famished down to feathers too. Count me in!”, and joined Callie as they both headed over to Ella’s saloon to have their meals. As they did, though, they momentarily stopped to look back at Toby, who has now emptied his bowl of popcorn and is licking his chops. “Well, Toby? You comin’ with us?”, Peck asked his prickly pal, to which Toby replied, “No thanks, fellas. I’m already stuffed.” He then let out a small but loud burp, to which he covered his mouth and giggled, “Excuse me.” Callie and Peck looked at each other, shrugged and continued their walk to the saloon.Making their way inside, Callie and Peck came upon Ella, who was serving a fresh, cold glass of milk to Priscilla, and made their way to the table to sit next to their skunk friend. “Good mornin’, Ella! Good mornin’, Priscilla!”, Callie greeted the two, tipping her hat for extra politeness. “Well, a good morning to you too, Sheriff!”, Ella greeted back. “So, how may I help you?” “You see, Ella. Me and Peck are feelin’ a bit famished, so what do you say you whip us up some of your famous milkshakes?”, Callie replied, patting her empty stomach. “Anything for you, Sheriff!”, Ella obliged and set to work serving up the aforementioned drinks while Callie and Peck waited patiently. During all of this, Priscilla finished up her drink and was about to make her way out the door when Callie asked, “So, Priscilla? What are you plannin’ for today?” “Nothing special, really”, Priscilla answered. “Just went here to get a quick drink like you two.” Then she went on her way.By that time, Ella was finally done and set the milkshakes on the table before the two. “Here you go, sheriff and deputy. Just like you wanted”, Ella said with a smile. “Thanks, Ella!”, Peck said to her as he and Callie clinked their glasses together and chugged them down until they were empty, then wiped their mouths dry and walked out of the saloon. “Gosh, that really hit the spot, Sheriff! I’m feelin’ full now!”, Peck exclaimed, patting his satisfied stomach. “Now we can get a move on and do our duties.” “That’s right, Peck”, Callie said, adding, “And if there are any, we better make sure to be on the lookout for any…”However, Callie was suddenly cut off by a loud, abrupt CRASH! coming from outside that made her and Peck jump and everything shake like an earthquake very briefly. “Holy jalapeños! What was that?!”, Peck exclaimed in surprise, having really been caught off-guard by the sudden crash. They then heard Priscilla screaming hysterically, prompting Callie to deduce, “Sounds like Priscilla! She might be really hurt!”. “Come on, Peck!”, Callie gestured to Peck to follow her as they both ran outside to investigate the incident, but what they saw before their very eyes certainly perplexed them beyond belief.It was Priscilla, screaming, not because she was in agonizing pain, but because her beloved pink hat was squashed by a big, heavy safe that had inexplicably fallen out of nowhere and onto it! Thankfully, the safe missed her just by an inch. “My hat!! My beautiful hat!!!”, Priscilla cried out with devastation written all over her pretty face as she looked down at a part of the hat that stuck out from underneath the safe embedded in the ground.Ella came out of the saloon as well, having also heard the sound of the safe’s collision and Priscilla’s shrieks, and once she saw what happened, she exclaimed, “Sweet buttermilk! Priscilla, what happened?!”. “I’m with Ella on this one”, Callie stated, with Peck asking, “Yeah, can you tell us what was goin’ on?”. Coming a bit close to breaking down in tears, Priscilla explained, “Well, I was just going along… when my hat…” Stopping momentarily to glance at her crushed hat again, she finished, “…my hat got squashed by that safe!”.As Peck patted Priscilla’s back in an attempt to make her feel better, saying, “Well, at least the safe didn’t land on you”, Callie, with some difficulty, pushed the safe out of the way to reveal Priscilla’s hat, torn and flattened, lying in the indentation left by the safe. Upon noticing this, Peck picked up the damaged headgear and handed it to Priscilla, saying a bit skeptically, “Well, here’s your hat back, Priscilla.” Reluctantly accepting the hat, Priscilla tried it on, but even though it was somehow still able to stay on her head, she still couldn’t get over the fact that it was damaged beyond repair and eventually broke down in tears for real, crying, “My hat really is ruined! What am I supposed to wear now?!”. “Don’t worry about your hat, Priscilla”, Callie assured her skunk friend as she placed her hand on her shoulder and rubbed it. “We’ll try to have it fixed, or if possible, find a replacement. In the meantime, we’ll try to figure out where that safe came from and who dropped it.”Suddenly, the group heard another loud CRASH! that made them jump and everything shake for a bit. “Sweet sassafras! Not again!”, Callie exclaimed as she, Peck and Priscilla ran to the source of the second crash, where they saw Uncle Bun having recoiled from another safe that also missed him by an inch. “Uncle Bun!”, Callie gasped. “Not you too!”. “Yeah, what in tarnation is happenin’ here?! Who keeps dropping those safes around Nice and Friendly Corners?!”, Peck chimed in, and Uncle Bun responded, “Well, you see, I’ve lost my keys again, and this time, they weren’t in my pocket, so I’ve taken to trying to look for them outside when that safe suddenly came out of nowhere and almost squashed me like a pancake!”.“I’m with you on this one, Uncle Bun”, Priscilla shared her pain. “Earlier, a safe nearly fell on me and squashed my pretty pink hat!”, she added as she shed and wiped a few tears from her eyes. “Well, then there’s no time to waste!”, Callie proclaimed, getting her game face on as she walked away with Peck. “We’re gonna get to the bottom of this if it’s the last thing we’ll do!”. Meanwhile, Priscilla found Uncle Bun’s keys hanging on his little cotton tail, so she picked them up and handed them to him, after which he said, “Hey, you found my keys, Priscilla! Thanks!”. “No problem, Uncle Bun”, she replied.Just then, Toby came by in his paperboy getup, chanting, “Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Two of the town’s residents almost get hit by falling safes!”, while waving copies of the newest newspaper about. “Toby? You knew about those fallin’ safes too?”, Peck questioned. “Uh-huh. Abigail heard about them as well and just had to make a story out of it”, Toby answered as he handed Callie and Peck two copies which they read. “Oh, this is bad! This is really bad!”, Peck exclaimed worriedly as he, Callie and Toby walked until they were just outside of the jailhouse. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s raining safes! This is not a good day at all for Nice and Friendly Corners!”. “Unless…”, Callie started. “…we remember that these safes were being dropped by someone and weren’t coming from the sky. We just have to figure out who’s behind all of this…”Unbeknownst to the trio, as they were trying to think, someone had managed to scale the jailhouse and get onto the roof, pushing in another safe identical to the ones that had nearly claimed the lives of Priscilla and Uncle Bun. This someone was a slender, scraggly coyote with messy fur wearing nothing but a black torn cowboy hat, vest, gloves and boots. His eyes were as yellow as the scorching sun, his pupils were as red as blood and his claws and teeth were as sharp as the thorns on a cactus, with some of them being broken off. Peering down below at his next would-be victims with the safe in his grasp, he gave the reader an evil grin and cackle before pushing the safe, which slid down the roof and towards the trio.Peck managed to hear the safe hurtling towards them and, in the most panicked tone imaginable, yelled, “Callie, LOOK OUT!!!”. Responding to Peck, Callie looked up just in time to see the safe falling towards her, but she was too paralyzed with shock to budge. Before the safe could land on her, Peck pushed Callie out of the way in the nick of time and was crushed by it instead. Getting up on her feet, Callie noticed the third safe that was stuck in the ground and cried out “Peck!!” along with Toby as they ran to it.Glancing for a moment at the safe that had fallen on the woodpecker, Callie and Toby started fearing the worst and hung their hats sadly to mourn their seemingly departed friend until they heard Peck inside the safe groaning in pain, after which they realized he could still be alive. Putting her ear against the door of the safe, Callie twisted the lock to and fro until the combination lock was unlocked and opened the door to reveal a dizzy Peck sitting inside the safe with tiny, star-sized safes revolving around his head. “Peck, are you okay?! Speak to me, buddy!”, Toby worriedly asked as he helped Peck out of the safe and shook him by the vest. The dizzy Peck, however, woozily sung, “99 bottles of milk on the wall, 99 bottles of milk…” As he continued to sing, “Take one down, pass it around, 98 bottles of…”, Callie slapped him across the face to fully recover his consciousness, after which he rubbed his head and wondered, “Ohhh… why does my head hurt so much…?”. “Peck! You’re okay!”, Callie and Toby exclaimed with relieved joy as the latter hugged him, predictably causing Peck to recoil in pain, yelping out, “Yeow! Watch the spines, Toby! Watch the spines!”.Just then, Callie finally saw the culprit on the jailhouse’s roof, who didn’t quite hide quickly enough to move his bushy tail out of their line of view, and pointed upwards to him, exclaiming, “Look!”. This caught the attention of Peck and Toby, who also noticed the outlaw. Realizing that he’s busted, the safe-dropper let out a meek, I’m-in-trouble “Uh-oh…”, still standing on the roof. “Well, well, well… it looks like we finally found who’s been droppin’ those safes…”, Peck remarked, repeatedly punching his hands together.Almost immediately, the culprit jumped down from the roof and made a quick run for it, but Sheriff Callie was not one to let a bad guy get away scot-free that easily. “Get him!”, Sheriff Callie cried out as she, Peck and Toby chased him on foot, hot on his bushy tail. “You’re not gonna get away that easy, you no-good safe-dropper!”, Peck angrily called out at the coyote criminal. “Once I get my hands on you, I’ll make you pay for trying to drop that safe on the sheriff, on account of I’m the deputy!”. However, the outlaw whistled using both hands, summoning his red-and-orange mustang which he then hopped onto. “You’ll never get me now, sheriff!”, the outlaw taunted the three heroes, then blew a raspberry at them and told his horse to “Giddyap, Breakneck!”. In response, Breakneck, which was the name of the outlaw’s horse, whinnied and zoomed off into the distance like a bullet, faster than any other horse in the west, including Peck’s former steed, Lickety-Split.Now slowing down and huffing with Callie and Toby, Peck eventually stopped and, breathing heavily in-between words, complained, “Oh, great… how are we gonna… get to that… safe-dropper now…?”. Just then, Tio the elderly tortoise passed by, prompting an equally-exhausted Callie to greet him with, “Oh… hello, Tio…”. “Hello, Sheriff Callie”, Tio greeted her back. “What are you three doing here? You seem really tired out.” “Well, long story short, there was this bad guy on the loose who tried to drop safes on Priscilla, Uncle Bun and then Sheriff Callie”, Peck began explaining the situation to Tio, and Toby added, “And when we caught him in the act and chased him down, he got away in that super-duper fast horse and now we lost him.”Now it occurred to the three that Tio had actually known about that particular bad guy before, so he began to explain, “Well, you see, the bad guy that you three are going after is the notorious Wily Woodrow.” “Wily Woodrow?”, Callie, Peck and Toby chimed, initially in disbelief that it was actually his name. Tio continued his story, narrating, “A few years ago, back when I didn’t live in Nice and Friendly Corners yet, Wily Woodrow became infamous for taking out many people in my previous hometown by dropping those heavy safes on top of their heads, and it was only now that I rediscovered him again, right here in Nice and Friendly Corners. In fact, my grandparents were actually two of his victims.”“Oh, dear! That’s horrible!”, Toby said, completely appalled by this fact. “Now that slimy safe-slinger has gone too far!”, Peck bellowed, just as appalled and also outraged. “But that’s not all there is to Wily Woodrow”, Tio continued. “He is very sneaky and stealthy, as he makes sure his victims never suspect a single thing before dropping his safes on them, so you better watch out.” “Watch out, right”, Peck took those last two words as a piece of advice.“But wait, how are we gonna know where he is?”, Toby asked, unable to determine the exact location of Wily Woodrow’s hideout. “He just escaped from us pretty quickly.” Sheriff Callie, however, found the solution to their problems, walking forward until she found a trail of closely-packed hoofprints on the ground that were left by Breakneck, and said, “I think we’re looking at it right here, fellas. Now come on, we’ve got a safe-dropper to stop!”. And with that, she whistled for her ever-trusty horse Sparky, who came in pretty quickly, and hopped on his back as he stood up in the air and whinnied with a kicking of his front legs. Peck climbed up Sparky and stood on his head while Toby grasped onto his tail, and the moment Callie told Sparky to “Giddyap!”, he took off following Breakneck’s hoofprints. “Good luck, Sheriff”, Tio said as he waved at the four, wishing them nothing but the best of luck.After following the hoofprints through fields of cacti and tumbleweeds as well as a few canyons, Callie, Sparky, Peck and Toby finally made it to the hideout of Wily Woodrow, which was a rickety old house with a few pieces missing, but unfortunately, it also had a booby trap at the entrance using a tripwire and… what else? A safe, and a really massive one at that.“Gee, this looks pretty dangerous, Sheriff Callie”, Peck remarked, gulping with fear as he took time to stare at the trap. “How are we gonna get inside his hideout now?”. Callie pondered for a moment, putting her hand to her chin, then snapped her fingers as it suddenly hit her. “Fellas, I’ve got an idea!”, Callie exclaimed. “An idea? What idea?”, Peck and Toby questioned in unison, and Callie responded with “Watch this.” Taking her hat off, she threw it into the path of the entrance, where it flew through the air for a bit before touching the tripwire and setting off the trap, causing the safe to fall on it.The three then hid as Wily Woodrow, who was alerted by the trap, went out the front door and saw the safe partially driven through the wood on his front porch with a part of Callie’s hat sticking out underneath. Thinking that his trap worked, he gloated with complete glee, “Hahahahaha! That stupid sheriff fell for my trap! She’s history! Hahahahaha!”, but his triumph was short-lived when Callie, Peck and Toby emerged from their places and assumed the most assertive, defensive poses imaginable. “Not so fast, Wily Woodrow!”, Callie declared, clearly intending to give the outlaw what’s coming to him after years of what he has done. “Your days of slinging safes on people are over! You’re coming with us!”, Peck added.However, Wily Woodrow quickly dashed back into his hideout, naturally not wanting to face punishment for his crimes. “Quick! Don’t let him get away!”, Callie said as she, Peck and Toby jumped over the safe and ran through the front door to pursue Woodrow, but when they looked all around the first floor of the house, they found no sign of him. “Where is he? I don’t see him”, Peck said, scratching his feathery head. “I think he might be upstairs, fellas. Let’s roll!”, Callie deduced as they all ran to the stairs, but just as they were about to traverse up, they saw Woodrow standing at the very top, sporting that sneaky, sinister smirk on his face.“Hello again, sheriff. Did ya miss me?”, Wily Woodrow mockingly greeted Callie, waving his fingers as he did so, before pushing in another safe and adding, “Well, ya certainly wouldn’t miss this!”, as he pushed the safe down the stairs, causing it to roll towards our three heroes. However, Sheriff Callie came prepared this time; she brought out her magical noodle lasso, twirled it in the air and flung it towards the tumbling safe, catching it and safely setting it down the stairs.“WHAT?!”, Wily Woodrow exclaimed with shock, baffled by the fact that Sheriff Callie used a lasso of all things to stop one of his safes from flattening them. “But… but how…?!”. Tucking her lasso back in, Callie marched up the stairs with Peck and Toby following behind; the further she stepped, the more anxious Woodrow became. During this, she spoke, “Over the years, you have subjected many innocent people to your deadly crimes, and now, the time has come for you to be locked away…”, then when she got up close to the criminal and stared daggers at him, she finished, “…for good!”. With no choice but to fold ‘em, Wily Woodrow got down on his knees and pleaded, “Okay, sheriff! I surrender! No more safe-droppin’ for me! Take me to jail where I will spend the rest of my life!”.However, this was actually all an act, and he had one more trick up his sleeve. Prior to Callie and company going up the stairs, he had hung up another safe from the ceiling with a rope as it was being burned off by a lit candle. So, when the rope was finally burned off and the safe started plummeting towards the three, they quickly got out of the way before it squashed them; instead, it sprung up a floorboard which caused Wily Woodrow to be propelled into the air. Looking up at the outlaw as he started falling towards the safe, Callie unlocked and opened it just in time for Woodrow to fall inside.“Peck, will you do the honors?”, Callie requested, and Peck, who was quite eager to repay Wily Woodrow for his atrocities, obliged, “Will do, Sheriff!”, and slammed the door shut, trapping Woodrow inside as he kicked around and mumbled for help. Putting his hands to his nonexistent ears as he listened to Woodrow’s misfortune, he retorted, “Serves you right, Wily Woodrow! Looks like you got yourself a taste of your own medicine!”, and topped that off by spitefully blowing a raspberry. “Well done, fellas”, Callie praised her partners, leaning on the safe. “Now that Wily Woodrow’s been taken care of, let’s take him back to town and lock him up!”.Back at Nice and Friendly Corners, Wily Woodrow was now free from the safe… but consequently is now confined in an area much worse than that: a cell in the jailhouse. As he grasped the bars of the cell in defeat and humiliation, he watched as Deputy Peck sweeped the floor of the jailhouse, who occasionally paused to glare at him.Meanwhile, Sheriff Callie walked outside, holding something behind her back, and came upon the bare-headed Priscilla, who was sitting sadly on the porch of the building opposite to the jailhouse. “Hey, Priscilla”, Callie greeted her, and the moment the latter looked up at her, she replied, “Oh… hey, Sheriff…”, in that gloomy tone. “Guess what? I have a surprise for you”, Callie added, making her intent to cheer up Priscilla clear. “A surprise? What is it?”, Priscilla said, her voice and emotions now feeling more hopeful than before. “Just show it to me, Sheriff! Please!”. Chuckling, Callie agreed, “Alright, Priscilla. Here you go”, and brought out the object hidden behind her back. To say it made Priscilla gasp with joy was a big understatement.It was Priscilla’s signature pink hat adorned with a bow, flower and feather, now fixed up and good as new! “My hat! It’s fixed! Oh, thank you, Sheriff Callie! Thank you so much!”, Priscilla happily showered Callie with gratitude as she took the hat and put it on her head, commenting, “Oh, and it still fits!”. Chuckling, Callie said, “You’re welcome, Priscilla. Anything for a friend”, as Priscilla walked off, admiring her hat which was restored to its glorious beauty. As Callie walked back into the jailhouse, she remarked, “And now, Nice and Friendly Corners is feelin’ safe once again. From safes, that is.”The End.
AldrineRowdyruffBoy
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