To Shlomo, your patience with my words was amazing. You are greatly appreciated.

Judy looked at herself in the mirror. She checked that her contacts were in properly and tugged at her garden green cotton dress with dancing magnolias spiraling down her skirt. She pulled on a thin matching lavender three-quarter-sleeve jacket. She didn't know why she was so worried over her appearance, she was just delivering blueberries. Then she smiled to herself. She was just delivering blueberries, but she was delivering them to Nick. She looked at herself once more in the mirror and made her way through the back door, dragging the basket filled cart around the house along the dirt path.

Once she reached the main road, she looked up the hill toward Gideon's house and then at the wagon with the pair of 5 foot tall baskets of berries. She sighed as she took off her jacket and hid it in the corner of the wagon. Then she pulled the wagon up the hill, looping one arm through the handlebar.

Fifteen minutes later, she was almost at the top when she tripped on a rock. The cart flew back down the hill taking Judy with it. She tried to use her foot to stop the cart. Blueberries spilled everywhere as she tried to tug her trapped arm cart went past her parents house, down the hill even farther. She was being dragged with it unable to wrench her arm from the handle bar, blueberries spilling everywhere when she saw something speed past her already speeding wagon.

"Hold on tight, Cotton Tail!" someone shouted.

Judy did as she was told and with a great kick of her powerful foot, her arm came loose as she swung herself up into the wagon. She slid down the handle into the small space where her jacket hid. Judy closed her eyes tightly and she held on to the sides. As the cart jostled to a stop a few dozen more berries spilled out of the baskets. Judy slowly opened her eyes and was met with the sight of feline eyes attached to the biggest cat she had ever seen. He was tall, very buff, and his fur had quite unusual markings. His pastel rosettes and harsh stripes beautifully contrasted against the bright orange fur.

"Are you alright Ms…. ?" the Feline asked, moving the handle of the wagon so Judy could get down. Judy slid down the handle and extended her paw.

"Ms. Hopkins, but my friends call me Jenna," Judy finished, propping herself on the wagon trying to be anyone but herself 'Sweet cheese and crackers! when did I get so comfortable with lying?' she looked him up and down. His leatherette jacket wrinkled at his arm movements as he bent down to shake paws. He was staring at her, not letting go of her paw.

"What's yours? Or should i just call you ThunderCat?" she said stifling a giggle

"Well.. umm... it's uh..." The big cat had been caught off guard, and he straighten himself finally letting go of her paw

"Are you always this articulate?" Judy asked as she hopped up and inspected the baskets of berries. She hadn't lost as many as she thought she had.

"It's James, Dr. James G White," the feline replied

"Oh, you're a doctor?" Judy said her interest peaked, she looked at the trail left going up the road

"Yeah, I got my Doctorate in Biochemistry." James said with a proud smile. "I run a pharmaceutical company"

"Thats pretty neat!" Judy hopped down again and winced as she reached for the wagon's handle

"Here," James said, pulling a small bottle of Tygonal: Extra Strength out of his jacket's pocket and breaking one pill in half for her.

"Thanks," Judy said swallowing the half a pill. She ran a paw over her ears to push them back.

"That's an... interesting mark on your cheek" he said looking at her suspiciously.

"You should see the other guy" Judy said playing it off as a bar-room brawl.

"I didn't think bunnies got into fights" James said still cryptically eyeing her.

"You don't have 162 older brothers." Judy heard herself say. 'why do i keep lying like this! i would never hurt my brothers and they would never hurt me!' She began to wonder if nick was rubbing off on her.

"No i don't, but i have a sister and 2 godbrothers." The feline's expression softened. "I'm actually on my way to our family reunion but I'm kind of lost."

"What reunion are you going to?" Judy asked

"The Grey Family Reunion," James said pulling out the postcard like invitation from his inside pocket.

"Well you're in luck, that's just where i'm taking all these berries." Judy began pull the wagon with her other arm leading the way, but then the wagon was going faster than she was, up the hill. she turned around and saw James pushing the wagon from behind.

"What are you doing?" she asked

"Helping," James said with a shrug "we don't want you to have another one of those cute little damsel in distress moments, do we?"

"Do I look like a damsel in distress to you?" Judy asked thumping her foot

"Not now, but if you try to pull these up that hill alone again you will" James smirked "you're just mad because I'm right and you know it"

"Fine," Judy said with a huff. they walked side by side up the hill and after a moment she looked him up and down. "That's quite a unique pattern on your fur."

"Yeah, My mother was a Snow Leopardess and my father was a Tigon." james said, "my sister is a melanistic leotigoness"

"Really?" judy looked at him in surprise "Wait, what's a tigon?"

"A tigon is a Tiger/Lioness hybrid," James explained "My grandparents on Dad's side were different species."

"So how are you related to Gideon?" Judy asked still trying to figure out how that could be possible.

"It's kinda complicated" James said looking away. They had just passed Judy's parents house and were still heading up the hill to gideon's family farm. "My sister, Mira, and I were taken in by our godmother, Panda, when we were kids. Our parents died in a wildebeest stampede. I learned then that everyone is just the same as they would have been thousands of years ago. we are all animals and everyone is just hiding behind this mask of civilized society..." James' voice had become uneven and his teeth began to bear only slightly

"James?" Judy said placing her small paw on his rather large one "Are... Are you alright?"

"hmm? Yeah..." James' features softened once more. "Just thinking... So how do you know Gideon?"

"He's an old friend of the family. My Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Stu are his business partners."

"So your family are obviously farmers, what other crops do you grow?"

"Oh we started out with carrot," judy said talking with her paws "but with the new technology for greenhouses, now we grow everything from Cocoa Beans and Bananas, to watermelon and Squash."

"You grow bananas?" James asked, his eyes lighting up "Those are my favorite!"

"Yeah, after the reunion you can-" Judy began

"James!" a deep voice called "James over here!"