I was weight lifting in the men's area after 2 hours of step and trim
class, as usual.  My life was around my business, and the health club,
and working out 12 hours a week, and the people who worked out as
seriously as I did.
 
A blond, bulging "Greek God" I had never once spoken to after years of
working out in the same weight room came up and asked me out.  I said I
would meet him for coffee after the work out.
 
I met him at a restaurant nearby-being cautious enough to have taken my
own car.  And for the first time I REALLY observed him.  I had never seen
him talk or smile.  Like me-he did a hard work out.  So, here he was now,
across a small table from me.
 
His teeth were bad, his grammar was course, his gaze and gestures were
leud.  He gave me the chills.  .  He was not right in the head.  Alarm
bells rang inside of me.  Fine.  No problem.  Just leave.
 
I told him I had to go shopping. Paid for my coffee. Good bye.
 
He followed me out of the restaurant in the mall, and I went into the
first store around the bend-a pet store-to lose him.  Following me was
obviously not normal, and I was even more concerned now about him.  I had
a second for that concern.  He grabbed me and assaulted me in the middle
of an isle of the store.
 
I thought-do not scream and make a scene.  You are a lady.  You are a
professional person.  I thought-if you report him to the police, he will
be arrested, and released.-He will see you again at the health club and
get you in the parking lot.  Any day.  Any year.  Just get away from him.
who knows what else I thought.  It all happened so unexpectedly and
quickly.
 
He was all over me with hands and tongue, trying to push me down on the
floor of a pet store.  I have no idea how I pushed him off of me.  I had
never spoken to the man until 20 minutes ago, and clearly not liked him.
The man was now assaulting me in a pet store.  He was clearly mentally
deranged and dangerous.
 
I ran up to the owner of the store.  The first words out of my mouth
were, of all things I could have said or screamed.................
 
 ...do you have any ferrets?
 
(Do not make a scene.  No police, going to court, having people point at
me, or looking over my shoulder in utter paranoia and fear all of my
life.  Just buy an animal.  crazy person will go away.)
 
The owner took me over to a pig trough that had dozens of baby ferrets.
Tears were falling down my face.  Everything was a blur.  I grabbed the
first thing I could.  Baby.
 
The owner sold me a large dog cage with spaces big enough between the
bars for an adult ferret to get through, and this huge bunch of heavy
useless dog food and large rubber toys, and had two of the teenage men
there come up front to carry everything he told me I needed to my car.
 
This 5'4'' man turned to the 6' body builder who had probably raped and
maybe murdered women, and said, "you ain't getting any tonight buddy."
And with that, two young burly men walked me and several hundred dollars
of useless dog stuff to my car, and would not leave me until my car door
was locked.  The maniac was right outside that door, having followed me
all the way out to the lot.
 
I never went back to my health club again.
 
And the thing I grabbed in a blur of shock and tears: this became the
purest love of my life.  She literally changed my life to allow me to
grow spiritually and emotionally.  I took her to movies, the bank,
shopping at malls and the grocery store, out to French restaurants.
Yes, I did.  I took her everywhere.  She was, and will always be, my
little girl.
 
The first night she cried in her sleep, whimpered, and tossed and turned.
She had nightmares!  I realized I had a baby-an honest to goodness baby
animal that needed a mother.
 
I promised her that I would make her life such that she would never cry
in her sleep again.  And I sincerely hope and believe that she died
knowing that I loved her with all of my heart.
 
I have not slept in my bed since the day she died.For months, I could
only fall asleep listening to comedies on tape I rented.  until there
were none I had not heard in the darkness.
 
Then I slept on the couch because I had no desire to sleep alone in bed.
Baby slept with me since that very first night, with a carrier for her on
one side cabinet, and a way to quicly get up and down to the litter box
on the other side.  Carrier and carpeted stairway are gone now..  it
became a habit at some point to sleep on the couch.
 
It has been almost 2 years now.  The bedroom is no longer mine.  It is
filled with cages, and shelves for ferret supplies, and containers of
ferret sleeping material.  Every animal here now is a rescue or from a
shelter.
 
I will not be taking any more ferrets in, as my mother needs all of us to
spend hours a week for and with her..But the road I travel started years
ago with a situation that could have taken many paths.  It could have led
to utter tragedy.  Instead, God opened up my heart and eyes and soul to
the plight of animals everywhere.  It all started with my little ferret
girl.  Baby.
 
Lisette
[Posted in FML issue 3998]