[A/N] I hope everyone had a lovely New Year. Here is Judy's perspective for this little short story. Instead of putting the whole story into one single chapter like I did for Shakedown I decided to break this one into separate parts. The first part was Nick's point of view and this is for Judy, but I am thinking of having two more parts for a total of four chapters. If I can manage to keep each part small enough I think this will work. I do not intend to make this idea into a full 20 plus chapter story but if anyone else is interested please feel free to run with it. For me this was a plot bunny I had to chase down, so I hope you enjoy the little tail.


Chapter 8 - The Wall - Part 2

Judy skipped along the outside the thick stone wall. It was very early in the morning and the sun had not yet risen over the easterly mountains. The gray rabbit wound her way along the twisting passages as she followed the wall. When the wall was built it was almost perfectly straight, but cut through the middle of old homes and factories alike creating numerous passages where a small rabbit could hide.

It was not that the small mammal needed to hide but the thought of encountering one of those gruff sounding guards on the other side of the wall always made her want to duck for cover. She had never seen the soldiers before but could always hear their loud pawsteps as they marched by in unison.

Despite the rubble of broken and crumbling buildings, the rabbit skipped along the wall merrily. She always enjoyed these early morning hours where she could be outside in the fresh air and watch the city come alive. With a faint sigh, she always wondered what it looked like on the other side of the wall.

For a rabbit the wall was immense. Her gramps said that it had been built stone by stone by the trunks of elephants. Some of the stones near the base of the wall were tremendous and she believed that only a very large mammal could move that colossal weight. She had been told that it was even twice her age which she felt was also quite impressive.

It had always been there, for as long as she had been alive the wall seemed to loom over the city like a dark splotch of paint that no one wanted to talk about. Most mammals seemed to forget that it was even there, but Judy knew better. There was an entirely other city full of mammals practically sitting in her backyard.

As a child her large ears had heard voices from over the wall and she was curious to know what they were saying. She had tried to climb a tree once to see if she could catch a glimpse of the other side, but her dull claws would not grasp the rough bark and she slid back to the ground. In another attempt she had snuck out of church to climb the bell tower. With her small paws clutched to the railing that guarded the precious church bell she marveled at what she saw.

The city on the other side of the wall looked exactly like the one she lived in. It had stone and mortar homes and factories. There were tall buildings and small ones, fancy ones and plain ones. From this distance she could not see or hear the mammals living there so she decided then and there that she would find a way to talk to them.

At first she had tried yelling over the wall, but no one replied. When she had built up enough courage she tried yelling when she heard the guards passing. They either did not hear her over the sound of marching paws or they chose to ignore her.

For several years she gave up on the idea until she started delivering packages for her family's store. Her mother had taught her how to tie a bundle of carrots together so they would not spill all over the floor. And she learned how to make a firm little bow that she could use as a handle to carry the packages. That was when the beginning of an idea began to form, she only had to figure out how to deliver a package across a wall that was bigger than an elephant.

It needed to be simple and to the point. Delivering a bundle of carrots would not convey the right message. Weeks and months passed as she practiced her writing skills. At least that's what she told herself while she was trying to come up with the right words to put in a little note.

Once complete, Judy tied her message to a small but heavy rock. Using the strongest twin she could find in the store, she tied the prettiest little bow around the stiff parchment. She had no idea if anyone would find her note, but she wanted to make sure that it would still be there after a few days rain.

When she got to the wall, she discovered that she was not strong enough to throw it all the way over the top. She eventually found a narrow alley where she could jump between broken walls to gain enough height to lob the rock with her message over the stones and through the sharp, twisted wire that sat on the top.

Judy returned to that alley every morning for weeks to see if there was a response to her message. Had any mammal seen her note? Had it fallen off the rock or got caught in the wires when it sailed over the wall? Was it too small for the large mammals to see? Did the grumpy guards that passed by simply throw it away?

An entire season had passed when Judy decided to try again, only along a different section of wall. She had a new note in paw when she strolled past the narrow alley again looking for another spot to toss the new rock. Laying at the base of the enormous wall something small fluttered in the morning breeze.

Her rock had returned, after all these months. The rock sat at the very base of the wall with a piece of brown paper tied to it with a sloppy packing knot. She rushed over and quickly untied the lazy knot, unfolded the paper and read the message. "Everything is fine here. Why do you want to know?"

That was nearly two years ago. Today, Judy found her faithful rock once again resting in the shadow of the wall with a brown paper note attached. She gleefully scooped up the rock in her paws and held it close to her chest like she was hugging a beloved, plush doll from her kithood.

Skipping like a schoolgirl she found her way back to her family's house. The house was only a few blocks from the alley but it was still one of the closest homes to the wall. Her family had lived there for generations and had refused to move even when the soldiers tore down the local neighborhood to build their great wall. She could not wait to get home to read this new letter.

Inside the Hopps burrow, her family was starting to stir and waken. She never understood why her gramps insisted on calling the house a burrow. It was built entirely above ground without even a single basement, but he continued to call it the burrow.

When Judy rushed through the front door, her mother was busy in the kitchen frying up the morning's meal of hashed brown carrots and cabbage. As she passed she gave the older doe a soft peck on the cheek and charged up the stairs to her private room. She was the oldest of the twelve surviving kits and thus got her own room where she could focus on her school studies.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry, dear," Bonnie called before her daughter's hurried paws even touched the stairs.

Judy quickly hid the rock and its precious letter behind her skirt as she turned. "Oh nothing mother. I just want to get started on practicing my letters." She skipped up the stairs without another word.

"Don't be too long dear," Bonnie yelled up the stairs with a hot skillet in her paw. "Breakfast is nearly ready." She looked back at her husband who had his muzzle pressed between the folds of a newspaper. "I can't believe how much time she spends in her room studying instead of trying to find a nice young buck to take care of her."

Smiling, Stuart Hopps replied, "Yes dear. At this rate she will be able to take over the shop in a few years."

"But she can barely focus on the shop as it is," the doe said, shaking her head and waving a grease-covered spatula around in the direction of the stairs. "She spends all her time daydreaming and practicing her letters. How much practice does a young doe need?"

Ignoring the daily morning argument between her parents, Judy quickly closed her door and leapt to her writing desk. Sitting in her three legged stool that wobbled slightly under her tail she placed the rock gingerly on the smooth desktop.

She smiled warmly at the neat little attempt at a bow that had been tied into the well worn packing twine. Her penpal from across the wall seemed to be getting better with tying the small knots. The rabbit knew that this mammal, whoever they were, must have been larger than she was because they seemed to alway have trouble tying a pretty bow. She also guessed that they were male, mostly due to their paw writing.

Carefully untying the clumsy bow, she unfolded the thick packaging paper and read the words scribbled there. She enjoyed reading this mammal's letters and would always laugh at how they were both neat and sloppy at the same time. Every letter marched across the page in a perfect line like the author had used a straight edge to mark their path, yet each letter was written in a nearly juvenile scribble.

Greetings,

The shop is doing fine this season, thank you for asking. Summer is over and all the mammals here are starting to look for new coats or to have their old ones mended so I am starting to get a long list of orders. Materials are low however and even though I requested a new shipment months ago, what I have been able to receive is nowhere near what I need to complete my work.

Terri had her second litter last week and will no longer be able to help with the sewing. Three kits survived the birth and we are grateful, but her husband will now have to work weekends at the steel mill to feed the extra mouths.

My other sister Rena has finally decided to move in with her husband and his family. She is now taking care of his ailing mother, but she gets the benefits of living with a decorated officer in the army.

Mother is doing well, she keeps herself busy and the house clean. On Sunday she visited her friends who were knitting warm paw straps for the young ones so their little paws don't freeze when the ice finally gets here. Last week I mentioned that we ran out of tea and mother has not been herself since. Well one of her knitting friends showed her how to steep bark from the birch tree and that seems to have calmed her nerves a bit. Her paws are still too shaky so she has not been able to help out in the shop.

For myself, I am getting on fine. They say the food shortage will be coming to an end soon once the mountain pass is clear again, but I still have my stash of jerky in case things turn bad again. Please don't tell my mother that it is under the creaky step on the cellar stairs.

I guess that is all for this week, I hope to hear from you again soon.

N

Judy read through the letter three times as she cherished every word. At the bottom was a strange red smudge that sort of looked like the letter 'N' but with the writer's shaky paw she could not be sure what it was.

She carefully folded the brown paper and stuffed it into the desk drawer with the dozens of other letters that she hid there. Turning the key in the lock she sealed the drawer and placed the key on a chain around her neck. With a bright warmth in her heart she strolled down the stairs and joined her family for breakfast.