Hi, all-
 
I met a little girl coming across the Bridge the other day.  Her name
was Trinity, and her Business was waiting with me to greet her.  They
call themselves the Athens Carpet Monkey Society.
 
Well, I was a little worried about meeting her, because she was a
champion biter!  You never know with a biter if it's just hoomins they
wanted to bite, or the world in general that they wanted to chew down
to size.
 
It turns out that I didn't have anything to worry about.  Trinity said
that she got it all out of her system in the World of the Living. (Phew!)
 
I asked her if she was mad at her Mommy for having the vet give her that
fatal shot.  She was so shocked that she threw her four feet out in four
different directions, as if she was going to run everywhere at once!  She
stood there that way for a few moments and narrowed her eyes at me, and
for a few instants there, I had to wonder about that biting thing all
over again...but then she recovered herself.  She said simply "No.  My
Mommy loved me."  And that was the truth.  Her Mommy always, always,
always loved her, and Trinity will always, always, always love her Mommy
Tasha.  It was an accident.  A vaccination accident, and nobody is to
blame.
 
Trinity crossed the Bridge with a plan.  She whispered it in my ear, and
I whispered it to the Big Boss.  The little tree we were standing under
burst into huge pink cherry blossoms.  They rained down on our heads and
on our backs and we knew his answer.  We were going to plant an N-bone
forest.
 
N-bones were Trinity's favourite treat in the World of the Living.  They
look like little dry sticks, about as long as the palm of your hand is
across.  They are brown, and taste of meat or seafood.  Trinity used to
gnaw on them for hours.
 
Well, we found a grassy field and planted about five hundred of them in
the soft soil that afternoon with the help of the Athens Carpet Monkey
Society.  Five hundred little brown sticks poking up out of the grass.
What will grow from them?  Only time will tell, and we have lots of that,
up here!
 
(P.S. Trinity says that Sniper says to Yeti,"You the man.  Go for it.")
 
I met another little girl, Felisha, coming across the Bridge, too.  Her
Brother in Fur, Bear, was waiting for her with me.  We helped Felisha
strap on her brand new crisp white wings and fly with us to the Buffet.
 
We all love the Buffet!  Melon chunks!  Rasins!  Prunes!  Cheerios!
Chicken!  Foamy Fries!  Ice cream!  A big tub of Sticky Vitamin Treat!
Bandits!  Chewy cat treats!  Apple slices!  Ten flavors of baby food!
FIFTY duck soup recipes to sample!  And for the discriminating palate,
blockage-free pencil erasers!  So soft, so pink, so...rubbery!
 
We *helped* Felisha (well, actually we had to knock her down and sit on
her to keep her from diving in face first) take off her wings so they
wouldn't get messy.  Then she stuffed her mouth so full of rasins that
she couldn't close it, and some fell out when she grinned.  Now that's
a happy ferret!  Then she did the same thing with chicken chunks a few
minutes later.
 
After we ate, Felisha asked about going to the Kitty Afterworld in order
to meet her friend, Kitty Bob.  Actually, I had already made plans for
Kitty bob to come here, and to visit with her and Bear.  (I liked that
idea better.  Being surrounded by all of those small mammal predators...
kind of gets to me.  I like it so much better when they come to visit us
on our turf!)  Felisha was happy with that.  Guess where they are going
to meet?  The Buffet!
 
I went to check up on two very special ferrets, Shilo and Rocket.  They
loved one another dearly in the World of the Living.  When Shilo crossed
the Bridge, Rocket followed just a handfull of days later.  He literally
could not live without her.
 
SShhhh!  Do you see them under that clump of red and white tulips?  They
are curled up on top of a little pile of assorted socks that Rocket
stashed there for himself and his lady love.  That's her left foot
beneath his right ear, her tail on the grass, and his draped across her
belly.  Their hearts are beating together, they are sharing the same
breath, back and forth.  Her turn, his turn.
 
Look under the yellow tulips to the right of them!  That's her green
beanie baby turtle, and his blue nerf ball with all the bite marks in it.
 
Let's not wake them!
 
Sandee
[Posted in FML issue 4405]