Early morning at the Bridge and Muldoone was doing his favorite thing;
snoozing in his hammy.  Hearing a KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK at his door he
yelled to whoever was on the other side who had dared to disturb his
sleep to comes back watter, he was sweeping.
 
Instead the door opened and in walked Nanna.  "Good morning Muldoone"
Nanna told him.  I hope you are ready to get back to work, there is a
ferret due to arrive this morning and you have been assigned to greet
him."
 
"Geezums Nanna, I be sweeping, wetts MustyPete or SaraFewet dooes it"
Mully told his boss.
 
"Nothing doing young man, it is time for you to get back to work.  The
ponkie on your head is all healed, you have had plenty of rest and by
the way, I hope this has cured you of showing off to the others.
Muldoone, you had us all very very worried and you were asleep for a
long time, some of us wondered if you would ever wake up" Nanna told
her junior Bridge greeter.
 
Upon closer inspection, Muldoone could see Nanna's eyes were filled with
tears, she had quickly turned away from him but not before he had seen
the tears.  Going over to his friend he took one of her smaller paws in
his, "Nanna, I be sworry I scares you and da odder fewets" Mully told
her.
 
"Well you did give us all a good scare but we are happy you are ok and it
is time for you to get back to work so get yourself up and get moving,
there is no time to waste" Nanna told him.
 
Mully headed off to his necessary corner and then set about preparing
himself for the day.  After spending a great deal of time trying to
calm his hammy-head-hair only to loose the battle again, he heard Nanna
calling out to him.  "Muldoone, I am not getting any younger you know,
we need to get going."
 
Smacking his ballcap on his head and making one final adjustment to the
angle, he reappeared before Nanna.
 
"The hair Muldoone" she said and then trailed off.  Replacing the frown
on her face with a gentle smile, "you look fine and I am so happy to
have you back as my junior greeter, I just wish we could do something
about the hair."
 
To be at the Rainbow Bridge early in the morning was the most beautiful
place in the universe.  The sun was just coming up and the sky was being
painted with bold streaks of lavender, pale blue, gold, peach, and each
color seemed to give itself over to another, continuing this cycle until
the sky was fully lit with the beautiful morning light.
 
On the fringes of the Rabbit Village, Muldoone and Nanna paused to watch
mother bunnies getting the youngster bunnies together for breakfast.
One of the mama rabbits was busy tying bibs on each smaller bunny seated
at a round table.  Tables everywhere, bunnies of all colors were seated
and they were all clamoring for their breakfast.
 
Along the way to the Bridge to greet the newcomer, Nanna and Muldoone
encountered another of the Bridge helpers; NellieFerret.  NellieFerret
loved running through the dandelion fields at the Rainbow Bridge and one
of her favorite pastimes was looking for the dandelions that had matured
to the seed stage; a round puffy seedhead, with hundreds of little spiky
things.  What NellieFerret enjoyed the most was to find one, pick it, sit
down to study it and then taking in a deep breath, she would blow on it,
and watch all the seeds catch on the air and drift away.  To NellieFerret
this was not the latter stage of a dandelion, Nellie knew these were tiny
immature angels that grew from the seeds planted in the soil by the
Creator.  With new residents arriving at the Rainbow Bridge every day,
there was always a need for new angels to help care for them all.
NellieFerret considered herself to be a very important helper at the
Bridge.  Oh she knew the breezes would eventually cause the release of
the seeds but she was convinced the angel perches needed her help at
releasing the angel seeds.
 
When Muldoone saw NellieFerret, he felt himself turning red under the fur
on his ferrety cheeks.  NellieFerret was so beautiful and he was always
tripping over his feet and getting his words messed up when he tried
talking to her.  Nellie was a quite unusual-looking ferret; she was very
tiny and had the most delicate china doll-like features but the most
striking thing about her was her beautiful emerald green eyes.  Most
ferrets had shiny black button eyes except for the albinos; they had red
eyes, but not Nellie.  Another thing about the little sable ferret, she
always smelled of gardenias.  Nellie had been the smallest in her litter,
she had to compete for mom's milk and mom's care, she was always being
crowded out by the larger ferret kits and then one day she woke up at
the Rainbow Bridge.
 
"Good morning Nellie" Nanna told the little ferret.  "We were just on
our way to find you, there is a newcomer due to arrive this morning."
It was always such a sad occasion when a new fuzzy arrived, but it also
brought about the release of pain and suffering for the one who passed
from their earthly home and arrived at the Rainbow Bridge.
 
The ferret gathering all took their places; Muldoone, Nanna, Bailey,
Freckles, Dude, Libby, and NellieFerret all joined paws forming a perfect
circle of love.  The group of ferrets closed their eyes and concentrated
on the one making his way to the Bridge.  In the hearts of the group,
they were sending their love for the one being brought by MoonBeam Molly,
the magical unicorn who brought ferrets to the Rainbow Bridge after they
had passed.  The group of ferrets were not only helping to light the way
for the ferret named Shadow but also they were sending prayers of love
for Shadow's mom who had loved him so much.
 
The lights over the Bridge began to dance and swirl; colors more
beautiful than ever seen on earth now painted the sky.  The colors
blended and then changed again; shades of pink gave way to peach and
yellows then changed to a soft green that blended into a delicate
blue that gave itself over to shades of lavender.  A fine soft fairy
dusting began to swirl all around Muldoone, Nanna, and the others.
 
In the center of the circle stood a tall and handsome sable ferret named
Soda.  With both an expression of pain and a perfect expression of love
on his face, he closed his eyes and began to sing.  SodaFerret sang a
song of love to the ferret making his way to the Bridge.  His voice was
deep and rich, every note sang perfectly, every word wrapped in love for
the one coming.  The Ferret Promise Song now filled the air with its
bittersweet refrain.  The melody of love told the story of hope and
promise and also of sorrow and loss all tied to gether in the cycle of
life.  The song explained pain fading away, of limbs being made strong
again, and eyes once more bright, it told of the sorrow of passing and
the joy waiting in the Promise.  As Soda sang the sad sweet song, he had
tears rolling down his furry cheeks.  The song he sang was also a song
of love for the human whose hearts had been shattered by having to make
the decision to end his suffering and help Shadow to cross over to the
Bridge.
 
Arriving at the Rainbow Bridge, MoonBeam Molly lowered herself to the
ground so her tiny passenger could climb down.  The little male ferret
disembarked cautiously, not exactly sure where he was at.  Off in the
distance the new arrival could see a group of ferrets standing at the
other end of the Bridge.  The wooden timbers of the Bridge were worn
smooth from time and also from the many ferrets that had made the
crossing, having left behind a world as they knew it and coming to the
Rainbow Bridge to wait to be reunited with their humans.  Shadow took a
deep breath and then slowly began to make his way across the Bridge to
the group at the other side waiting to greet him.
 
Just as Shadow stepped off the end of the Rainbow Bridge, Muldoone
offered his nose to the newcomer in a friendly greeting.  "I be Misser
Muldoone, officialist Wainbow Bwidge Gweeter and wees be here to
welcomes you."
 
"Hello Shadow" Nanna told the new arrival, "my name is Nanna and I have
come to welcome you to the Rainbow Bridge" and gesturing to the small
group of ferrets, Nanna introduced each one to him.  "There is nothing
to be afraid of" Nanna told him, "you each have touched the horizon with
your heart, your journey is now at an end, and you are home."
 
SodaFerret stepped forward to introduce himself.  "Welcomes to da Wainbow
Bwidge, my name be SodaFewet.  I will teaches you how to cwinbs da
winglets on d wainbow soos you can peek in on yur mom and sees her and
all da odder fewets.  I missteted my familee a wot too but den I sneaks
back and give my mom whiskery kisses when she sweeps, she tinks she be
dweaming but she not, I bees dere in da dark.  And I will teaches you
how to doos dat too."
 
The little ferret known as Shadow sat down on a toadstool and looked all
around at his new surroundings not saying anything for a long time.
Nanna and Muldoone were getting a little concerned about him when he
finally spoke.
 
"I not wants to come here but I bees sick for a wong time.  My mom take
me to da dock-tor and he dooes sumptin and I goes to sweep and I wakes
up here."  The little ferret's eyes filled with tears and spilled over
as he stood and looked at the ground for a long time.
 
Nanna hurried over to the newcomer and put a loving arm around him.
"Shadow it is ok, everything will be fine, you are no longer sick, you
are young again, and you will see your mom again, I promise" Nanna told
him.
 
"I knos all dat, I bees sad acause I bites my mom today afore I wakes up
here and I not wants her to be mad at me for dat."
 
"Shadow, listen to me" Nanna told the new comer speaking in a soft and
gentle voice.  "We all did a lot of things while we were still on earth,
things we wish we hadn't done once we arrived here and looked back on
our behavior but I am sure you mom is not mad at you, your mom loved you
very very much."
 
"But Nanna, I bites my mom hard, I bites the dock-tor, I bites wotts of
people 'specially today acause I hurt weally bad" Shadow told Nanna.
 
"Shadow it is okay, I am certain your mom and the doctor and everyone
else understood, they knew you were sick and in pain and they also
realized you were scared.
 
"So you tinks my mom forgibbs me?" Shadow asked with tears streaming down
his furry little cheeks.
 
"Yes Shadow" Nanna reassured him, "I am certain your mom forgives you.
She is very sad because you had to go away and she will miss you and
never forget you so don't worry about her being mad at you.  Go with
Muldoone and let him show you around the Rainbow Bridge and help you get
settled and then later, SodaFerret can show you how to climb the rings
on the Rainbow to peek in on your mom."
 
Down the path Muldoone, Shadow the newcomer, and SodaFerret went.  Shadow
was beginning his first day of a new life at the Bridge waiting for the
day he and his mom would be reunited.  Off in the distance Nanna clearly
heard Muldoone asking Shadow, "Uh Shadow, dooes you knos about gurl
fewet fwannel nightiegowns?"
 
~~Muldoone~~
Caring for your ferrets at the Rainbow Bridge.
http://mrmuldoone.bravehost.com/index.html
[Posted in FML issue 5366]