Judy and Nick were led inside the house and into a lavishly¹ decorated office. A large polar bear entered the room.

 

"Is that Mr. Big?" Judy whispered to Nick.

 

"No," he answered.

 

An even bigger polar bear lumbered² in behind. "What about him? Is that him?" Judy asked. "No," said Nick, frustrated³. An even bigger polar bear showed up, following the others. "Okay, that's gotta be him," Judy said.

 

"Stop talking, stop talking, stop talking—"

 

The largest polar bear held a teeny tiny chair in his giant paw. Sitting on the chair was a little Arctic shrew.

 

"Mr. Big, sir, this is a simple misunder—" Nick started.

 

Judy stared at the tiny shrew in wide-eyed surprise. He was Mr. Big?

 

Mr. Big held out his tiny finger, and Nick kissed the ring wrapped around it.

 

"This is a simple misunderstanding," said Nick.

 

Mr. Big motioned for Nick to be quiet. "You come here unannounced...on the day my daughter is to be married?" Mr. Big's raspy voice had an authoritative⁴ tone to it, but it also sounded like his body: very tiny.

 

"Well, actually, we were brought here against our will, so...Point is, I did not know it was your car, and I certainly did not know about your daughter's wedding," Nick said, chuckling⁵ nervously⁶.

 

"I trusted you, Nicky. I welcomed you into my home. We broke bread together. Gram-mama made you her cannoli." Mr. Big frowned and scratched his chin as he looked at Nick with cold eyes. "And how did you repay my generosity⁷? With a rug...made from the butt⁸ of a skunk⁹. A skunk-butt rug. You disrespected me. You disrespected my gram-mama, who I buried in that skunk-butt rug. I told you never to show your face here again, but here you are, snooping around with this..." Mr. Big gestured to Judy. "What are you, a performer? What's with the costume?"

 

Judy tried to answer. "Sir, I am a co—"

 

"Mime¹⁰!" Nick shouted, cutting her off. "She is a mime. This mime cannot speak. You can't speak if you're a mime."

 

"No," said Judy. "I am a cop."

 

Mr. Big shifted in his tiny chair, agitated¹¹.

 

"And I'm on the Emmitt Otterton case. My evidence puts him in your car, so intimidate¹³ me all you want; I'm going to find out what you did to that otter¹² if it's the last thing I do."

 

Mr. Big considered Judy and grunted¹⁴. "Then I have only one request: say hello to Gram-mama. Ice 'em!" he shouted to the polar bears.

 

"Whoa! I didn't see nothing! I'm not saying nothing!" Nick said, trying to squirm his way out of death by ice.

 

"And you never will," said Mr. Big coolly.

 

The polar bears picked Judy and Nick up, ready to throw them down into a freezing pit of ice and water the bears had opened in front of Mr. Big's desk.

 

"Please!" Nick begged. "No, no, no! If you're mad at me about the rug, I've got more rugs!"

 

The polar bears held Nick and Judy over the pit. Then Mr. Big's daughter, Fru Fru, who was as tiny as her father, entered, wearing a wedding gown.

 

"Oh, Daddy, it's time for our dance," she said. She noticed Judy and Nick and sighed, clearly annoyed.

 

"What did we say? No icing anyone at my wedding."

 

"I have to, baby," said Mr. Big. "Daddy has to." Then he turned to Nick and Judy and calmly said, "Ice 'em."

 

Nick and Judy screamed.

 

"Wait. WAIT!" Fru Fru shouted. "I know her. She's the bunny who saved my life yesterday. From that giant donut."

 

It was the stylish¹⁵ shrew from Little Rodentia.

 

"This bunny?" asked Mr. Big.

 

"Yes!" She turned to Judy. "Hi," she said sweetly.

 

"Hi," said Judy. "I love your dress."

 

"Aw, thank you," said Fru Fru.

 

Mr. Big motioned to the polar bears. "Put 'em down." Then he turned to Judy. "You have done me a great service. I will help you find the otter. I will take your kindness...and pay it forward."

 

Nick stood there, dumbfounded...and extremely happy not to be in a pit of ice.

 

朱迪和尼克被领进了一间装修奢华的办公室里。一头身材魁梧的北极熊走了进来。

 

“那是大先生吗?”朱迪悄悄问尼克。

 

“不是。”尼克回答道。

 

这时，一头身材更加魁梧的北极熊慢吞吞走了进来。朱迪问：“这个呢?是他吗?”尼克沮丧地说道：“也不是。”不一会儿，一头比前两头身材还要魁梧的北极熊跟着出现了。朱迪说：“这回总该是了吧!”

 

“别说话了，别说了，别说了——”

 

那头最魁梧的北极熊用他的大爪子护着一个小小的座椅，座椅上坐着一只小北极鼩鼱。

 

尼克说道：“大先生，这只是个误——”

 

站在一旁的朱迪瞪着大眼睛看着那只北极鼩鼱，他就是大先生?

 

大先生打断他，伸出他的小指，尼克见势立刻凑上前去吻了吻他手指上的戒指。

 

尼克接着说：“这只是个小误会而已。”

 

大先生示意尼克不要说话。他说：“你们不请自来，而且还是在我女儿大婚的日子?”他的声音刺耳而权威，音量却和他的体形一样。

 

“呃，其实不是我们自己想来的……问题是，我不知道那是您的车，更不知道您女儿今天结婚。”尼克讪讪地笑道。

 

大先生说：“小尼克，我相信过你。我把你请进家门，我们共进晚餐，我奶奶给你做了奶油煎饼卷。”大先生冷眼盯着尼克，眉头紧锁，挠着下巴：“可是你拿什么报答了我的慷慨?用一条毯子……一条臭鼬屁股毛做的毯子!一条臭鼬屁股毛做的毯子!你侮辱了我!我拿这条毯子给我奶奶下葬时，你也侮辱了我奶奶!我警告过你不要再让我看到你，但是你竟然又鬼鬼祟祟地来了，和这个……”大先生转向朱迪，对她说：“你又是谁?小丑吗?你穿的是什么啊?”

 

朱迪答道：“先生，我是警——”

 

“哑剧演员!”尼克忽然大喊着打断她：“她是个哑剧演员，不会说话，哑剧演员不会说话的。”

 

朱迪反驳道：“才不是，我是警察!”

 

大先生在他的小椅子上紧张地移动了一下身子。

 

朱迪接着说：“我在调查艾米·奥獭顿的案子。我的线索都指向了你的车子，你就尽管吓我吧，我会尽全力查清你到底对水獭先生做了什么!”

 

大先生打量了朱迪一番，嘟哝了一句：“那我只想让你做一件事：去向我奶奶问声好吧!”接着他向北极熊喊道：“把他们冻起来!”

 

“啊，我什么都没看见!我什么都没说!”尼克边说边扭动着身子，想要躲开致命的冰块。

 

大先生冷冷地答道：“你永远都没机会了。”

 

北极熊打开大先生桌前一个装满冰和水的深坑，把朱迪和尼克举了起来，准备扔进去。

 

尼克央求道：“求你了!不要啊，不，不!如果你对那条毯子耿耿于怀，我还有很多别的毯子可以送你!”

 

北极熊把朱迪和尼克吊在冰坑上。这时，大先生的女儿露露走了进来，她身着一袭婚纱，身材和他爸爸一样娇小。

 

“哦，爸爸，舞会时间到了哦。”接着她看了朱迪和尼克一眼，叹了口气，明显不高兴了。

 

“我们之前说什么来着，我结婚这天不许冻人的!”

 

大先生说：“我也不想的，但爸爸不得不这么做。”说着，他转向尼克和朱迪，平静地说：“把他们冻起来!”

 

尼克和朱迪尖叫起来。

 

“等等!快住手!”露露叫道，“我认识她，就是她这只兔子昨天从大甜甜圈下救了我。”

 

她就是来自小型啮齿动物镇的那只时尚的鼩鼱。

 

大先生问：“这只兔子?”

 

“是的!”她转向朱迪，温柔地说：“你好呀!”

 

朱迪回答：“你好!你的婚纱真漂亮!”

 

露露说：“啊，谢谢!”

 

大先生示意北极熊：“放他们下来吧。”接着他对朱迪说：“你帮了我一个大忙啊，我会帮你找到那只水獭的。我是个知恩……图报的人!”

 

尼克愣愣地站在一边，暗自庆幸没被扔进冰坑里。

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