Hi, all.
 
A little girl with the most beautiful, lush fur came across the Bridge
today.  She was a little disoriented at first, so her Business of Sylvi,
Loki, and Natasha and I nudged her into a Recovery Hammie for a rest.
Her name was Dweezil, Grandmother Dweezil really, because she lived eight
years in the land of the living.
 
She napped quietly for a little while with Sylvi by her side, and she
felt much better for it.  She and Sylvi jumped down to meet us, and
Dweezil took in all of our scents with gentle sniffs to our faces.
 
She said that she had been in her hammie in the World of the Living, not
feeling very good, and thinking about the Bridge when she thought she
could detect Sylvi's scent on the faint breeze running through her cage.
 
It startled her, as Sylvi had passed some time before.  She said that she
saw the Bridge then, the wooden planks stretching out in front of her.
She tried to walk out of her hammie toward them, and toward Sylvi who she
then saw faintly in the distance, waiting for her.  She was so happy to
see her!  Then she felt herself falling.  That was all she remembered
until she found herself here.
 
I told her that she really *did* walk halfway out of her hammie, that is
how her Mommy Sherrie had found her.  Half in, and half out of her hammie
at home.  Her Mommy was so sad.  But some day, a long time from today,
her Mommy will be able to see for herself that Dweezil did make it all
the way to Sylvi!  And to Loki, and Natasha, and to me, and to all her
new Forever friends at the Bridge.
 
I met a little guy coming across the Bridge.  His name was Hoppy, and I
waited for him to cross with his Brother in Fur Luigi by my side.  Luigi
was so impatient, he could barely wait for Hoppy to make the journey all
the way.  By the time Hoppy walked to meet us, Luigi's tail had fuzzed up
into a bottle brush, and I could see that the Wardance was starting to
pound in his ears!
 
He yelled "HOPPY!", and jumped on his friend's back.  Hoppy rained kisses
on Luigi's face as the two rolled in the grass.  They finally came to a
stop, laughing.
 
I gave Hoppy his wings and his hammie, and Luigi told him to just leave
them there on the ground, nobody would disturb them.  (This is true,
nobody ever moves anyones wings or hammie, they are personal.  You can
leave them and come back to the spot days later, nobody will have touched
them, except maybe to give them a sniff.  It's especially important with
wings, who knows how far the owner flew before leaving them?  They will
need to be able to find them again to get back to where they came from!)
 
As I said, Luigi had a definite destination in mind.  We followed him
through a narrow track in the long grass.  After a few minute's trot we
came to the opening of Luigi's burrow dug into some soft ground, and a
tree.  It was a funny looking tree.  It was mostly fleshy green leaves,
enormous leaves in a big spray, like a fan.  I'm not much of a botanist,
but I was able to make an educated guess as to what it was.  The big
bunch of yellow banannas hanging from it was a clue!
 
Luigi walked up to his tree proudly and said "Hoppy, I grew this while
I was waiting for you.  Now we will have fresh bananna slices for ever!"
Hoppys eyes grew round, and I think he stopped breathing for an instant.
Then, together, he and Luigi yelled "BANANNA SLICES!"
 
They were very good.
 
I was asked to make a trip to the Reptile Afterworld, to check up on a
little red phased Veiled Chameleon for a friend of mine, named Jules.
I was chatting with some of my Brothers and Sisters in Fur about the
logistics of the trip when Duck asked "Can I go with you, Sandee?"
 
Do you remember Duck from yesterday?  He is a ferret.  His real name
is Marble, but we call him Duck because he is completely greasy from
splashing in his own personal Ferretone waterfall.  Water does roll off
of his back!  "I said sure, why not?  It would be nice to have company!"
 
Marble and I walked together across the worn, wooden planks of the
Bridge(Remember-there is only one Bridge, but it has many destinations!)
until the light grew misty around us.  We came into a land shrouded with
mists and fogs.  Very humid, very warm, and oh, so crowded and crammed
with vegetation!  Ropes of vines dangled from tree branches, emerald
green scum floated on the surface of the water in the marsh we could see
in the distance.
 
And there on the shore was my guide, one of the Greeters in the Reptile
Afterworld.  Please don't ask me if he was a crocodile or an alligator, I
can never tell them apart and I didn't want to embarass myself by asking.
He (she?) raised one scaly front foot to us, and beckoned.  Well, Marble
and I just looked at one another and shrugged.  And began to follow.
 
Our Guide lead us on a slow trip around the edges of the misty marsh, and
into a broad beam of sunshine.  Marble whispered to me "Look at how he's
stretching his back, the sun feels good to him!" And it was true, our
Guides kind are baskers, whatever that kind is!  Off in the distance we
could see that the marsh's waters had deepened into a sunny lagoon, and
hundreds of our Guide's kind lined it's shores, lolling and dozing in the
bright sun.
 
Our Guide had another destination in mind for us, though.  He lead us
away from the lagoon and into a drier stretch of forst cover made up of
slender trees and a variety of leafy green plants that I don't have a
name for.  The forest floor was littered with dried, fallen leaves.  Tiny
lizards darted in that cover, flicking here and there.  Our Guide's broad
greenish-black tail made a racket dragging through the dried ground
cover!
 
Our guide lead us to one particular bush, with thorn covered stems and
bright jade green leaves, and there, he stopped, and beckoned again.
Marble looked at me and whispered "Sandee, what does a red phased veiled
Chameleon look like?" There on the bush, I saw a flicker of movement.  I
pointed and said "That!"
 
There they were, Nemesis the red phased veiled chameleon and her brother
Clay.  He really was the color of good red Georgia clay!  So was she.
They were so small!  Four tiny eyes turned to meet our eyes, and I said
"Your Mommy wants you to know that she is really sorry she couldn't save
you, Nemesis.  She knew you were sick, but she didn't know how to help
you."
 
The chameleon closest to us closed its eyes, and dipped its head briefly.
Then, quick as a wink,the two jumped into the dry ground cover and
disappeared with barely a rustle!
 
"Wow!", said Marble.  "I think they understood you."  I said that I
thought so, too.
 
Marble and I had to tell our story again and again once we got back to
the Ferret Afterworld.  Everyone wanted to know what our trip had been
like, especially the kits!  I wish you could have seen Marble stomping
slowly on all fours, pretending to be our Guide, and snapping his teeth
at the kits to make them laugh and scream and run away from him!  They
called out "Do it again, Duck!  Do it again!"
 
And he did.
 
Sandee
[Posted in FML issue 4636]