{{As previously mentioned, the corporate entity known as "Disney" closely guards their properties, so I'm treading lightly here with references.
And our episode title is a song from my favorite Broadway musical: The Man of La Mancha.—tmw.}}
Ace reporter Tom Herald wanted to kill his alarm clock as it rang that morning.
Of course, that's how he felt about his alarm clock practically every morning, but today was different.
For some reason, Tom barely got any sleep.
Or at least, none he could swear to.
Tom kept dreaming throughout the night of animated foxes and their equally animated mates.
Of Robin Hood and his beloved Maid Marion, and at moments of both at the same time.
During his long, "get to know you" conversation with his date Alice Stevens for one of the many dances Seattle would be hosting on Halloween that Saturday night, the topics of dead criminal Lionel Ulysses possibly having a real rat tail, the possibility of whether or not such creatures actually existed let alone what rights (if any) they might have, and Tom's first childhood crush over a certain furry Maid Marion were all discussed in earnest.
Alice said it was a shame that dreams die, although now Tom couldn't remember whether or not he had confessed to her he still had a DVD copy of the only movie that character ever appeared in.
Staggering to the lone bathroom in his one bedroom apartment, Tom answered "nature's call" and then went to see whether or not he needed to shave today when he got a shock in the bathroom mirror.
There was a furry, anthropomorphic fox staring back at him!
At first Tom thought it was just a hallucination, and moved his right hand to feel his forehead.
But when the fox in mirror moved his right front paw in unison with Tom, he took a step back.
"What's the matter mate?" the fox asked, with a British accent no less.
Cautiously, Tom approached the mirror again, but the fox image barely moved.
Puzzled, Tom took a closer look at it.
He looked nothing like the animated Robin Hood.
Despite the great attention to detail, for Tom swore he could make out every single strand of its pelt, the fox in the mirror didn't even look CGI'ed.
If anything, this one might be... REAL???
Yet whatever the answer was, Tom also felt there was something... distinguished about the furry image.
Black fur lined the outer edges of orange/brown ears. A white chest among an orange furred body. His hands, paws, looked relatively human with 4 fingers and an opposable thumb on each; yet it also looked like he was wearing black gloves too.
Curious, Tom was about to turn to attempt checking the rest of himself out, when his image said, "Don't bother mate. You make one fine handsome fox."
"What? Who? How?" began Tom, to which a smile crossed the fox's furry muzzle.
"Always the inquisitive reporter, aren't we?" asked his mirror image, to which Tom simply shrugged his shoulders.
"Everything you've ever wanted in your life is within your grasp mate, if you're not scared to take a chance and go for it."
"What do you mean?" asked Tom.
"What do you think I mean?" the fox asked in return.
"You mean Alice Stevens?"
"I know you've had two bad marriages and several ex-girlfriends in your life mate, but take heart in the fact that they just didn't work out because they were just Miss Right Now and not YOUR Miss Right."
"Really?" asked Tom, thinking that maybe...
"No. It was NOT because somehow you were always secretly comparing them to your childhood Maid Marion," revealed the fox.
"Now how—" began Tom.
"Don't you get it?" asked the fox, shaking his furry head in disbelief. "I'll spell it out in simpler terms for you since it's still early in the morning and I know how you are before you get your first cup of coffee. All those past relationships didn't work out because none of them were your life/soul mate."
"My what?"
"You know. That one REAL love everyone has, whether they've actually met yet or not. You may be over 40 and think that love's passed you by, but I'll let you in on a secret. True love's never given up on you even if you've might have given up on it for awhile," said the fox, before he winked his eye at Tom in a cartoonish manner.
"Well, Alice is interesting. After all, she did ask me out to a Halloween Dance Saturday night," began Tom, recalling the recent past.
"She's a WHOLE lot more than interesting mate, if you just give her, and especially YOURSELF a chance," replied the fox, while pointing a paw at him.
"What do you mean?" asked Tom.
"GAWD! Do I have to spell it out for you man?" wondered the fox, while holding up his furry arms in exasperation.
"Well..." began Tom.
"You're a smart bloke with a bright future ahead of you Tom Herald. Go into it with your heart and eyes wide open, especially now that it's time to—"
Ace reporter Tom Herald wanted to kill his alarm clock as it rang that morning.
Of course, that's how he felt about his alarm clock practically every morning, but today was different.
For some reason, Tom barely got any sleep.
Or at least, none he could swear to.
Tom kept dreaming throughout the night of animated foxes and their equally animated mates.
Of Robin Hood and his beloved Maid Marion, and at moments of both at the same time.
During his long, "get to know you" conversation with his date (potential girlfriend?) (something more?) Alice Stevens for one of the many dances Seattle would be hosting on Halloween that Saturday night, the topics of dead criminal Lionel Ulysses possibly having a real rat tail, the possibility of whether or not such creatures actually existed let alone what rights (if any) they might have, and Tom's first childhood crush over a certain furry Maid Marion were all discussed in earnest.
Alice said it was a shame dreams die, although now Tom couldn't remember whether or not he had confessed to her he still had a DVD copy of the only movie that character ever appeared in.
Staggering to the lone bathroom in his one bedroom apartment, Tom cautiously approached the mirror, but all that appeared was his lone, human image.
Wondering what the heck was going on internally, Tom pulled himself together and got ready for the day.
But as he started fixing himself what would pass for breakfast that day, Tom took another look around his lonely, empty apartment and realized maybe it was time for a change in his life.
He was originally planning to attempt to figure out a new lead on the whole "Tail Gate" situation with Lionel Ulysses, or even see if he could dig up any new leads on who Ulysses' murderer might be.
Yet he saw that there was still plenty of time before he had to get to the football field and continue his pre-game coverage of the upcoming Seattle Seahawks contest that Sunday.
So instead of taking breakfast to go and wasting his time and energy on what could amount to nothing but another batch of dead ends, Tom went back to his living room.
There, he dug out his favorite movie hidden in the back of all his other DVDs and watched it over a leisurely breakfast.
Tom Herald would be the first to admit he didn't know what the hell had been going through his mind the last few hours (years?), but as the animated foxy Robin Hood won the paw of his beloved Maid Marion, Tom did know what he was going to do for a costume when he took Alice Stevens to that Halloween Dance Saturday night!