The Cover Says It (Shifty X Handy)

Chapter Twelve

Skid marks were visible to the naked eye as the marks took a turn and off the roads path. Smoke emitted out from a vehicle that had crashed onto a tree. The front of the vehicle was almost damaged beyond repair. A car accident had happened while Handy was inside the house a second ago.

And the first thing he did was to scout the area, making sure Cub didn't caught himself between the tires of the wreckage before him. He was familiar with the vehicle he was inspecting, a white van with only windows at the front seats. The only citizens who owned this kind of vehicle is quite obvious for Handy to even say it.

He was relief to find no blood stains anywhere around the van, allowing himself to calm down a bit from the short panic attack just now. Cub must be far off from the crashed, he could still be at the living room as far as he knows. But that would contradict the front door being left open when he was sure he had closed it properly.

" Urgh.. that old fucking geezer and his damn kid."

Handy flicked his gaze over to the van, where the driver seat was located. He had forgotten there were people in the vehicle for a moment. He walked towards the driver seat, where the door burst opened by a familiar arm. Emerged a raccoon with fedora and a coat this time. Handy didn't seem fazed, he wasn't hoping to see him again, " Hey Shifty, did you see Cub around?" he asked bluntly to someone who could've lost a life to a mere tree.

Shifty stopped holding his fedora when he recognized that yellow hard hat again, " That infant? Yeah i did.. look at what he did to my van!" He exclaimed. Handy took another good look at the damaged, acknowledging his loss. Surprisingly, Shifty didn't seemed to have a scratch on him, " Could've just pull a roadkill..." He spoke his morbid intention in front of Handy without a care. Handy was slightly disturb by it knowing Cub isn't his own kid. However, in this situation, he felt the need to give some commentary to the felon.

" Learn to keep things to yourself?" Handy said, " Is your brother in there too?" he craned his neck to further checked the inside of the van. Shifty waved his hands off, " Nah, you could've see me arguing with him when i exited the van." The beaver nodded and something began to dwell in him, he found himself franticly looking around, " And Cub?" he inquired another.

Shifty scratched under his fedora with his hand, " He was on the road before i chose to turned the steering wheel.." He turned to face the road, where Cub was supposed to be when the incident happened. Handy followed his direction, he groaned to himself, " Don't tell i have to search for him.." This was starting to feel like a test to his patience. Who knew being a babysitter was this difficult.

" Relax, it's not your kid. It's that geezer's fault for letting his son out of their home." Shifty said nonchalantly. Handy was a bit conflicted to tell him, " Um, the issue here is that i'm taking care of him today..." he corrected him, feeling abashed for taking the fault here. Shifty whipped his head to Handy, silently amazed. He gazed him up and down, " How did you managed to slip up a mistake? Didn't Pop said you were.. a rational man?" There was a slight sneer at the edge of his sentence.

Handy's face flushed, shocked that he remembered that specific compliment. He averted his gazed, realizing he was wasting time here, " I'm done talking to you. Enjoy your wrecked van." Just when he tried to end their conversation, a different voice reached out to his name across the road. Handy and Shifty turned to stare to find an indigo skunk standing at the sidewalk, holding the one thing Handy was searching for. The baby rested in her arms as he sucked on to her finger.

All the bitterness inside him, had perished when he saw Petunia in sight. He didn't bother to check if any vehicles were close by and crossed the road without a second thought. He halted when he was now standing beside her, leaving Shifty with his poor damaged van, " There you are Cub!" Handy felt his worries lifted off his shoulder. Petunia appeared to be understandably confused, " Handy, what happened here?" She asked, still holding onto Cub, " I heard a crashed while i was heading to work and saw Cub wandering around the area. Is everything alright?"