Hi, all.
 
Sorry I missed the last set of Greetings I promised but my Hoomin's
husband took her out for an unexpected movie and dinner.  It blew her
work ethic right to bits.  Hoomins!  How your species ever survived in
the wild!
 
Back to work.
 
A little guy named Merlin in the World of the Living wants to know just
where he can expect to meet his Daddy, who made his own Bridge crossing
four years ago.  Well Merlin, when it's your turn to cross you can expect
to meet your Daddy in a special meadow we reserve for Reunions just like
that.  It's the only place in the Ferret Afterworld where we have birds
and crickets and ladybugs (they are all volunteers on vacation from their
own Afterworlds.)
 
In the special meadow we keep a few fallen logs so that the Hoomins
have comfortable, dry places to sit.  They are not too good at curling
up on the ground for long periods of time.  There are bunches and bunches
of wildflowers; ox-eye daisies and lupines and prarie gayfeather and
columbine...so many different kinds!  My very favourite are the purple
coneflowers, especially when tiny seed-eating birds like bright yellow
goldfinches perch on their fat stems to peck at the flowers.  So
beautiful, Merlin!  There is so much I could tell you about those
Reunions, but I don't want to spoil the surprise.
 
I know you are feeling slow, and tired.  You are an old ferret.  But
don't carry this burden of worry.  At the proper time, you *will* see
your Daddy.  He's already spoken to me, and it is all arranged.  Your
days are like the last few links in a gold chain, now.  Precious.  Enjoy
them.
 
A few days ago I met a little guy coming across the Bridge.  His name was
Smokey, and he was practically skipping, he was so very, very pleased to
be restored to his full youth and vitality.  Even his whiskers shone in
the sun!  His Business, the Ferret-R-Gang stood with me to Greet him.
 
First we spent a little time getting oriented and re-acquainted, and then
it was time for a little action!  Smokey felt that he hadn't been quite
as active, quite as much of a risk-taker in his life as he had always
secretly wanted to be.  Oh, how he envied those bold ferrets who scaled
six foot bookcases!  They were his secret heroes.  Well...we could work
with that.
 
We all strapped on our wings and lifted off one by one.  Smokey was a
little awkward at first, he tended to spin in place rather than fly in a
straight line, but he soon got the hang of it.  And off we went!  We flew
over a few meadows of long grass that rippled in the breeze in complex
patterns.  Off on the distance we could see a few dots on the horizon.
As we flew closer we could see that the dots were actually rectangles,
and that the ground was white beneath them.  Closer still, and look!  A
little forrest of six foot bookcases!  On heavy white shag carpet!
 
We landed gently one by one, and close enough to the bookcases to see
that the carpeting beneath them was occasionally marred by a bright red
stain.  From what?  To find the answer one only had to look up!  There,
balanced on top of every bookcase, were a few glasses of CRANBERRY JUICE!
So cool, so refreshing, so delightful to knock over onto deep white shag
carpeting.
 
Now,some guys like to play a game of flying as close to the glasses as
they can, but we spent a very pleasant afternoon practicing for that,
just *climbing* the bookcases and knocking the glasses over.  I love
doing that!  It never gets old!  Smokey absolutely agrees.  Tomorrow, he
and I are going to try it with wings on!
 
I met a beautiful little girl coming across the Bridge.  Her name was
Cleopatra, and her Business of the LFFR Gang stood with me to Greet her.
In her lifetime she had a coat, and lost it to illness.  She grew it back
with lupron, but then lost it again.  Well, she's got it back forever,
now, and she says that even if a hurricaine blows her inside out like an
umbrella, she is going to keep this one, darn it!  I believe her, too!
 
She may look sort of dainty, but boy can she EAT.  The first place she
wanted to go was the Fruit Bar.  No problem!  Three kinds of melon, three
kinds of pineapple, spiced apple rings (drool!),cold stewed prunes,
(double drool!) bananna slices, honey nut Cheerios (you use them to clean
your palate between courses), and fat little figs.  Well, the figs did
her in.  Have you ever tried to pig out on figs?  They seem so harmless
at first, but after a couple you realize that they are really sweet,
sticky fruit plutonium with seeds.  She ate six of them.  Six!  She
became as fat around the middle as a beer can!
 
Well, it was definitely nap time then.  Fortunately, it was only a short
trot to the Fleece Mountain.  We all burrowed into the side of the
mountain quietly...so quietly...fleece is like that!  You even sneeze
quietly in fleece.  I found a really good winter hat with ear flaps, and
Cleopatra found a size twelve dark blue man's ski sock to curl up in.  It
had white snowflakes on the outside, very pretty!  The rest of the gang
found their own odds and ends and soon we had a slumber party going on.
Before you could whimper "food coma!" we were out for the afternoon,
especially Cleopatra!  (Figs will do it every time.)
 
Sandee
[Posted in FML issue 4585]