Solving World Hunger

The city of Zootopia is a wonderful urban center in which all manners of animal can live. From Little Rodentia to Tundratown, there’s a place for everyone. Though the city isn’t necessarily as segregated as it may seem. For instance, Viola lives in a ‘co-ed’ apartment in downtown, which refers to the building being home to a variety of sizes and species. Viola prefers this, actually, to any segregated experience. Not because of the social opportunities provided by the diversity, but because of the dietary opportunities. Larger herbivores like say, her neighbor, a deer, require much more food to support themselves. Viola is a small gray and purple mouse; she can easily sneak off portions of their food without them noticing, and thus easily obtaining food for herself that can last potentially for weeks.

Viola was sorting through the kitchen for lunch, when she noticed that she was pretty much out of food. Her pantry, fridge, and cabinets were all devoid of anything but some empty canisters that she had neglected to throw out earlier. She threw them out now, grumbling as she did so. She stood in her kitchen, tapping the ground when an ear perked up. She heard a door open very nearby, and darted to her door. She peered through the peephole, watching as her neighbor closed her own door and left. She did a fist-pump and ran back to her wardrobe, grabbing a black, skin-tight suit that she used on such occasions. All set up, she headed back to her door and left her apartment.

She briefly stood in the gargantua hallway, which was made so to accommodate everyone from her size to an elephant’s. She quickly scurried across the hall before anyone could see her, and squeezed herself under the doe’s door. Just like that, she was in! The apartment was much bigger than hers, of course. And more importantly, much better stocked. She rubbed her paws together as she scanned the room. What was going to be the least noticeably lost? Her eyes settled on a wooden barrel that didn’t stand out very much. It had a small spigot near the bottom of the barrel, which would be used to dispense seeds. She smiled as she realized her target. The bigger herbivores often had these industrial-grade barrels of seeds, as it was cheaper to buy in bulk. Nobody keeps track of the individual seeds, so it’s a ripe target for the taking.

She dashed over to the barrel, climbing up the side until she reached the top. She briefly searched around for the bung hole, and dived right in once she found it. She landed in a pile of seeds a good distance down from the beam of light above her. She guessed the barrel was maybe only half-full, but that was fine. She didn’t even need an eighth of a full barrel. Now she just had to work her way down through the seeds to where the faucet is. Looking at the hole in the barrel for reference, she walked over to the proper side and started digging. In short time, she was able to locate it, and started tunneling into it. She rather didn’t like the claustrophobia, but it was only for a short while. She just needed to manually twist it open from inside. She couldn’t accomplish it outside because of her size and positioning.

Viola was in the middle of turning it when she heard the door to the apartment open again. She immediately started closing the faucet again, hoping that the doe wouldn’t notice. She listened closely to plan her next move. If she kept going past the barrel, some quick work should get her out, albeit with no food for the trip. Well, except for one seed that she started nibbling on. She listened closely, and heard hooves stop in front of the barrel. She froze entirely, not making a single movement or sound. The barrel was suddenly lifted in the air, which jostled Viola around within. She wasn’t sure if she heard another noise while the seeds settled, but then the barrel also turned sideways and threw her against the barrel wall, or floor now. She wasn’t sure what was going on, was the barrel being transported somewhere?

She decided she needed more info than sound alone, so she started to scurry towards what she presumed was the top of the barrel. When she got closer, she started to notice seeds being poured forward, so she quickly stopped and hid herself within the seeds. She could always escape another barrel, but she didn’t wasn’t so sure about a jail. As she fell with the seeds, she could hear some being damaged, cracking from the fall. Luckily, this didn’t include her, and she continued right on falling with the seeds. Eventually she landed onto more seeds, sighing at the somewhat stable ground. She could hear more seeds pouring on top of her, so she decided to wait until the flow stopped. And after a few more minutes it did.

She perked her ears up, once the pouring stopped, listening for another noises. She couldn’t hear anything that stood out at all, so she started to shuffle for a bearing. Once she had a feel for the gravity, she decided to first go up, to determine the layout of the new barrel. Not to mention it felt unbearably hot surrounded by all the seeds. She took a gasp as she reached the surface, and looked around. She couldn’t quite make out her surroundings, but she could tell the barrel was much smaller by the distance of the walls. She walked over to one, and felt it. It was very hot, soft, and gooey. This sensation alone gave her quite the shock. She decided to burrow down now, checking the bottom of the container. Before she even reached the bottom, she reached a liquid that was pooling at the bottom. It made her eyes and lungs sting, as well as irritating her skin. She hurriedly dug back up.

Viola knew exactly where she was. She wasn’t sure how, but she was in the stomach of some animal. It was packed to the brim with seeds, with helped smother the acrid atmosphere. But that didn’t help her problem. At this point, she would have preferred jail. She wasn’t sure what to do, so instinctively she started pounding on the walls of the stomach and yelling as loud as she could. She hoped it would attract the attention of whoever ate her. Though in all likelihood, this was no accident, and she knew it.

*/^\*

Mary had just finished binging on her barrel of seeds which she felt the oddest sensation. It felt kind of like a stomach cramp but a lot more pinpoint. She felt around the spot with her hoof, unsure of what that feeling was. Then she felt it again, repeatedly around the same area. It was definitely something. She rubbed over her tummy, which was rather tight and slightly rounded with seeds. Maybe it was a big bunch of seeds poking her insides? She had an odd feeling about it though. She decided to bend over and press and ear against her belly. When she did so, she could hear a little mouse girl’s cries from her stomach. She squeaked out, “Oh no,” and started working to get her out.

Viola was very worried when the stomach walls started to seize around her. They dilated and contracted, crushing her a bit and also getting some lighter stomach juices all over her. She shrieked as she expected digestion to come, but instead she found herself being forced up a very tight tube. The throat! She was going to escape, though now she started to panic on what she’d do when regurgitated. She didn’t have too much time to think as suddenly she was up in the doe’s maw, then flew from there to a paper towel on a table.

After they both recovered, they shared a stare of disbelief. Mary was the first to talk, “Um, hi there! I, um, how’d you get in there?” Viola shook her head and immediately got up, making a mad dash for the door. She could still escape. She’d be fine. Mary got up and tried to pursue, but then the mouse darted under her door and vanished. She looked through her peephole into the hallway, and was able to barely catch her slamming the door to her own apartment across the hall. Mary rubbed the back of her head in confusion and headed back to her couch. She flipped on the TV, though she kept glancing at the bottom of her front door every so often. She wondered how that mouse lady even got into the situation she got in.